In 1959, what's wrong with me pedaling a tricycle?

In life, hardships are inevitable.

What is truly precious is not the absence of setbacks and hardships, but rather the ability to maintain one's belief in the good even amidst immense suffering, and to live this one and only short life without wasting it.

On January 20, 1966, Wang Xingguo was finally able to be discharged from the hospital.

Today is Lunar New Year's Eve. Wang Xingguo received a letter from home four days ago and wrote back.

The letter included a family photo, which Wang Xingguo carefully put away before leaving the hospital with his belongings.

The world won't stop turning just because someone is missing. Because Wang Xingguo was hospitalized, the transportation team has been replaced.

In fact, he had a vague idea that the old leader probably knew Grandpa Lin.

Because of his attitude towards younger people, although he always seemed to be doing things in a businesslike manner, he could not fool Wang Xingguo's sensitive intuition.

Upon arriving here, Wang Xingguo was pleasantly surprised to find that all the comrades who had been transferred with him were gathered with their old leader.

There were four tables full of people, some acquaintances and some strangers. The old leader's side had a table full of leaders, and everyone was chatting happily.

Wang Xingguo greeted the old leader and was about to sit down with the comrades who had come with him when the old leader stopped him.

"Xiao Wang, come sit here. This young comrade of ours is doing a great job. I heard that during that risky ammunition transport, our soldiers shot down several enemy planes. He deserves a lot of credit!"

Wang Xingguo smiled a little embarrassedly. This was not his achievement at all; it was clearly the result of the heroic efforts of the anti-aircraft artillery soldiers.

One of the leaders asked, "Xiao Wang, are you fully recovered now? Is there anything still bothering you?"

Wang Xingguo quickly replied, "Reporting to the commander, I have fully recovered. The doctor said that as long as I am not unlucky enough to be hit by the shock wave of the shell again, there will be no problem."

The leaders laughed heartily. Those who could become military leaders at this time were all seasoned veterans with rich battlefield experience.

It's unlikely that someone in his situation would encounter another one like this.

He survived because he was lucky.

If this happens a second time, I'm afraid I won't be so lucky.

So the leaders weren't laughing at Wang Xingguo, but rather at the fact that what the doctor said was somewhat superfluous.

The old leader also laughed and said, "If you really encounter this situation again, then you'll be really unlucky, Xiao Wang."

Wang Xingguo smiled and then asked, "Sir, I've recovered. Can I go back to work now?"

The old commander nodded and then said, "The US military has launched even more intense air raids. The railways are being attacked almost daily, making the upcoming transportation tasks extremely difficult. We can only rely on road transport. Xiao Wang, your new job is to arrange whether to use trains or road transport teams to ensure the smooth completion of the transportation mission."

After thinking for a moment, Wang Xingguo shook his head and said, "Commander, I'd better take charge of the frontline transportation work. No one knows the road conditions better than me. I know exactly which sections of the road have cover to avoid reconnaissance. If someone else is in charge of this job, I'm afraid it will be easy for mistakes to happen."

A commander at the supply depot laughed and said, "Xiao Wang, you guys were seconded here to help train new recruits. We wouldn't dare send you to the front lines to risk your life all the time. Just focus on your dispatching work. The transport brigades at the front are all led by experienced veterans, and with the new recruits you've trained, they're already capable of handling things on their own. There won't be any problems."

Everyone agreed with the leader's words. In fact, everyone had seen Wang Xingguo's performance and liked this young man very much.

Not everyone can be like him, with courage and guts. Knowing that if the train was spotted by American reconnaissance planes during the day, bombers would be dispatched to attack it, he still volunteered to risk his life to deliver the ammunition.

However, there was a real shortage of ammunition at the time, so it was a risky move out of desperation. If there had been enough shells, no one would have agreed to let him take this risk.

Actually, none of them knew that Wang Xingguo wanted to go to the front lines to find an opportunity to take revenge!

It is said that a gentleman takes revenge even after ten years, but Wang Xingguo does not consider himself a gentleman, so he cannot wait that long.

Unfortunately, no one agreed that he should go to the front lines, so he had no choice.

Dinner was ready, and we all had a drink together. We couldn't drink too much tonight, just two ounces of baijiu each as a token gesture, because after dinner, everyone should either go back to work or rest.

The enemy's bombing operations will not stop just because we are celebrating the New Year.

After eating and drinking their fill, Wang Xingguo chatted with his comrades who had been transferred with him for a while before they all went back to rest.

Wang Xingguo returned to his room and took out the photos to look at.

Counting the time, my wife is six months pregnant with our third child. I wonder if her emotions are stable now.

My daughter and son seem to have grown taller. I wonder if my daughter, who's too young to remember things, will still recognize me as her father when I get back from this mission...

As Wang Xingguo pondered this, he unknowingly fell asleep, still clutching the photo tightly to his chest.

The next day, Wang Xingguo was assigned to a new post, responsible for arranging shifts for the transport team and receiving messages from the front lines to arrange transport tasks according to the situation.

Actually, it's not complicated. If the highway is bombed too badly, or even if it's broken in multiple places, the engineering corps will carry out emergency repairs as soon as possible and notify Dong Dang of the repair schedule. Dong Dang will then relay the information back to the Pingxiang command, which will then notify Wang Xingguo.

Wang Xingguo arranged transportation tasks based on the repair time of railways and highways. If the railway could be restored to traffic relatively quickly, then he would prioritize arranging transportation by rail at night.

If the highway can be reopened to traffic relatively quickly, then priority should be given to arranging transportation by highway during the daytime.

Walking on the road at night is extremely dangerous, and walking on the railway during the day is also extremely dangerous!

Fortunately, communication remained smooth, so Wang Xingguo's work started very smoothly, and the first night's transport was completed very successfully!

The next morning, Wang Xingguo got two lunchboxes of corn porridge. He had drunk so much corn porridge here that he had gotten used to the food.

In the morning, we have porridge made from cornmeal and rice. At noon, we can eat rice porridge or rice and steamed buns. In the evening, we have rice or steamed buns.

Because it's not very cold here, there are still plenty of vegetables available, including bok choy, cabbage, spinach, mustard greens, lettuce, white radish, celery, kale, and garlic sprouts!

Wang Xingguo doesn't get tired of eating these dishes every day here, unlike in Beijing where he only has a few dishes all winter.

In addition, they also provide pickled bamboo shoots, pickled cowpeas, pickled radishes, pickled mustard greens, pickled cabbage, dried radishes, dried cowpeas, and dried cabbage on a rotating basis.

Wang Xingguo finally understood why people from Guangdong and Guangxi always order a side of green vegetables when they eat out. Anyone who grew up under such conditions, eating all kinds of fresh vegetables every day of the year, would also develop this habit.