Double-Cut During the War of Resistance: My Wife Came from 1937

On the living room sofa.

Ma Hongwei said to Xia Weiwei, "Speaking of which, you've been here for so long, but I haven't taken you sightseeing yet!"

"Why isn't it there?"

Xia Weiwei said, "You forgot that you took me to the museum in Ancheng before, and we also had a delicious meal at the Fengshen Yuyan restaurant."

Ma Hongwei said, "Although we are under the jurisdiction of Gui'an City Management, I am still a native of Lincheng. You will be my wife in the future, so naturally you need to understand our Lincheng!"

"Who wants to be your wife!"

Xia Weiwei felt a little embarrassed upon hearing this.

"So you don't like me?"

Ma Hongwei joked, "In that case, I'll go find other young wives... Ouch!"

Before he could finish speaking, Xia Weiwei had already pinched the soft flesh of his waist with her slender hand.

"Weiwei, I know I was wrong, I won't do it again, I only love you!"

Ma Hongwei quickly apologized: "Wife, wife, darling, please forgive me this time!"

"snort!"

Xia Weiwei snorted coldly and said, "Let's see if you dare to deliberately provoke me again!"

"I will never do it again!"

Ma Hongwei put his arm around Xia Weiwei and said, "The scenic spot I'm taking you to this time isn't an ordinary one. You'll see when you get there."

While the two were deeply in love, Zhang Aiying contacted Ma Weihong and Ma Weixiang to ask her two daughters if they wanted to go to the Red Flag Canal.

Ma Weixiang said she had already been there and didn't want to go again, while Ma Weihong said she wanted to go together.

That evening, Ma Weihong and his wife drove to the village.

"Brother-in-law, you're here!"

Upon seeing Li Jianguo appear, Ma Hongwei greeted him with a smile.

He then introduced them to each other: "This is my girlfriend, Xia Weiwei. Weiwei, this is my older sister's family!"

"Brother-in-law!"

Xia Weiwei called out.

"Zhuo is my sister-in-law, she's really pretty! Not bad at all!"

Li Jianguo praised it in his local dialect.

"sit!"

Ma Hongwei pointed to the sofa and asked, "Brother-in-law, what would you like to drink? I'll go get it for you!"

"No!"

Li Jianguo said with a smile, "Just give me a pack of Hongqiqu cigarettes!"

Upon hearing this, Ma Weihong couldn't help but frown and say, "All you do is smoke all day long. You're always at your cigarette stand, no matter where you go. Can you smoke less?"

"Okay, okay, I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!"

Li Jianguo gave a wry smile and changed the subject, saying, "Hongwei, I heard your work sold for 100 million in copyrights? That's really good, much better than me working a regular job and getting a fixed salary."

"It's all just luck, just luck!"

Ma Hongwei casually replied modestly.

He knew his true situation; that money came from reselling antiques, not from selling copyrights.

As Ma Hongwei spoke, he picked up his phone and started ordering food.

His older sister and brother-in-law had helped him a lot, and since they had finally come all this way, he naturally had to treat them well.

……

The next day.

Everyone got up very early.

Breakfast was corn porridge cooked by Zhang Aiying, and the main dish was fried rice made from the leftover rice from last night.

After eating a little something, they packed some snacks and water in plastic bags and went outside.

Zhang Aiying said to an elderly neighbor, "Ju-lai, the supply and marketing cooperative is in your hands now. Hongwei has labeled all the goods with prices; just follow those. Eat whatever you want when you're hungry, and drink whatever you want when you're thirsty!"

"That's fine, just give me the supply and marketing cooperative, you guys can go have fun!"

The old neighbors chuckled.

The group then got into two cars.

The eldest sister's family got into their own car, while Ma Hongwei, Xia Weiwei, and Zhang Aiying stayed in the van.

During the journey, Ma Hongwei introduced to Xia Weiwei: "The Hongqi Canal is a large-scale water conservancy project built by the people of Linxian County in the 60s on the cliffs of the Taihang Mountains. It is known as the man-made river in the sky and the eighth wonder of the world."

"Premier Zhou once proudly said during a meeting with foreign friends: 'Our new China has two great miracles, one is the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, and the other is the Red Flag Canal in Linxian County.'"

"Oh?"

Upon hearing Ma Hongwei's words, Xia Weiwei immediately became interested.

After all, not many people receive such praise from the Premier.

Ma Hongwei explained, "Our Linxian County is located on the eastern foothills of the Taihang Mountains. The terrain is characterized by seven parts mountains, two parts ridges, and one part farmland. The limestone landform simply cannot retain surface water, but groundwater could not be extracted at that time. It can be said that there is drought nine out of ten years, and water is as precious as oil!"

"In the 500 years from 1436 to 1949, there were 104 major droughts, 38 of which resulted in total crop failure. More than 300 villages had to travel more than ten miles over mountains to fetch water year-round."

According to the old saying, people in Linxian used to wash their faces only three times in their lives: once when they were born, once when they got married, and once when they died. Back then, a bucket of water could be exchanged for a wife.

"Let me tell you a story. One year on New Year's Eve, an old farmer set off before dawn, traveled more than 20 miles through the mountains, and queued at Huangyaquan for a whole day before he could carry a full load of water back."

"The newlywed bride felt sorry for her father-in-law and went to the village entrance to meet him, wanting to help him carry water. However, because it was dark and the road was slippery, and she was walking on bound feet, she accidentally fell to the ground, and both buckets of water were spilled."

"No one from her in-laws blamed her, but she knew how precious those two buckets of water were, so she hanged herself that night, filled with remorse."

"After that family buried their daughter-in-law, they fled with their entire family and never returned."

"what?"

Upon hearing Ma Hongwei's words, Xia Weiwei's eyes widened in disbelief.

Just by spilling two buckets of water, a living life was lost.

Water is truly more precious than human life!

"That's how Linxian used to be. People like Hongwei's second uncle's lineage, who were his grandfather's brothers, fled to Shanxi Province because they thought Linxian was too poor. They only came back once or twice every few decades!"

Zhang Aiying, sitting in the back row, chimed in, "My mother-in-law was willing to marry into this village from the mountains because there's a well here, so we don't have to climb mountains to fetch water. Life was really hard back then!"

Ma Hongwei continued, "Yang Gui, the county party secretary of Linxian at the time, made up his mind to cut through the Taihang Mountains and bring the water of the Zhanghe River in Shanxi into Linxian after hearing such a shocking story."

"Speaking of splitting the Taihang Mountains, I can still sing that song!"

Zhang Aiying sang in a dialect that was half Mandarin and half local dialect.

"Splitting the Taihang Mountains,"

"The Zhanghe River flows through the mountains."

"The people of Linxian are full of lofty aspirations."

"We vow to rebuild our land!"

"..."

"A red sun rises in my heart."

"A thousand troops and ten thousand horses battle in the Taihang Mountains!"

"..."

Hearing that story, and then listening to this tragic yet stirring song, Xia Weiwei's eyes inexplicably turned red.