Chapter Thirty-Seven

  The landlord's affair was barely settled, but after that incident, the restaurant really didn't last a few more days before closing its doors.

  Everyone in the army who knew about this matter felt that the landlord's brother was wronged, and who would still go to that restaurant? Other cargo drivers also thought that the restaurant owner was not kind after learning about the incident, and naturally they wouldn't go if they didn't have to.

  So, a person's heart is like a balance scale. As long as someone has lost their conscience, they will eventually suffer misfortune.

  As spring arrives, some tree trunks that were lifeless in winter have sprouted new buds, and the riverbeds that dried up all winter are gradually flowing with gurgling snowmelt, which has also caused the edges of some riverbeds to be covered with a layer of green grass.

  Every year at this time, the troops will gather a group of people to go to the small county towns around the garrison to carry out some activities, which is a kind of military-civilian joint construction, and it's also a way to tacitly understand the relationship between the local military and civilians.

  Generally speaking, the military and civilians work together to do some practical things that require hard work. For example, a group of people use shovels to clear the ice on the road surface, making it easier for local residents to walk. Also, clearing the winter-clogged ditches, so that spring crops can be irrigated smoothly when they need water sources.

  There is also a most tiring and thankless task, which is to help certain government agencies and schools clean up the trash that has been compressed for an entire winter, so as to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes and the spread of diseases when spring arrives.

  I don't know how to describe the massive pile of garbage I once saw, and I dare not imagine how people living nearby managed to accumulate such a huge amount of domestic waste over an entire winter without doing anything about it.

  To be honest, I never thought that these people living next to the garbage dump had poor living habits, they were just spoiled.

  Everyone knows that these soldiers wearing horse jackets don't charge for their work, and when spring begins, they will come to help clean up domestic garbage in a timely manner.

  What's the point of doing it yourself?

  Just wait! In half a month, spring will begin and those soldiers will come to help clean up the trash!

  So when I wielded a shovel and led my brothers to rush to the garbage dump and start working, I really did have some hatred for those who produced the garbage!

  With a bit of resentment in his heart, he worked with a bit of brute force, and within about ten minutes or so, the five-ton cargo truck was almost fully loaded.

  I was just about to put in a bit more effort to fill up the car and get the driver to leave, when suddenly an old lady appeared out of nowhere, carrying a stack of porcelain bowls and a black tea pot, smiled at us and said "You young men must be tired, come have a bowl of water and take a break before continuing."

  We brothers didn't pay attention to that old lady at first.

  How can you ask us to drink water with such a heavy weird smell and being covered in dust all over our body and face?

  How do you say it in Beijing dialect?

  Still no glasses?

  The fragrance of the tea was really wafting to my nose, and it even made me stop what I was doing with embarrassment, staring blankly at the thin old lady's teapot in her hand.

  That's the scent of jasmine tea.

  Jasmine tea from Hunan is not really considered a top-notch tea, to be honest. But it's hard to resist the feeling of being far away from home that lingers in my heart...

  As long as one is a Hunanese person struggling outside, smelling this tea fragrance can't help but feel a little homesick. Missing home...

  I put down the iron shovel in my hand and smiled at the old lady, saying thank you! Is this jasmine tea? Brick tea is popular in Xinjiang, why do you like this one?

  That thin little woman also smiled a bit unexpectedly and said, "Young man, your nose is quite keen, isn't it? This is Hunan's jasmine tea. This is our hometown tea."

  Huh?

  In this poor and remote place, I unexpectedly met an old fellow villager? Moreover, listening to the accent of this old lady's speech is entirely authentic Xinjiang Mandarin, without any hint of Hunan flavor at all?

  I watched the old lady put the bowl on the stone bench beside her, smiling and pouring tea. Then I said to the old lady: "You are also from Hunan? How come your accent doesn't have any Hunan flavor?"

  The old lady smiled and said that I was a Xinjiang who followed the Construction Corps, it's been many years since then. The accent and taste of Hunan have changed almost completely. If not for the few relatives in my hometown, I'm afraid even the flavor of jasmine tea would be forgotten.

  I and Jiang Kuan Yang Ke several Hunan soldiers were all stunned.

  I may be ignorant, but I know the story of the 8,000 women from Hunan who climbed Mount Tian in those years!

  They were all young women from Hunan, leaving their hometown and parents with backpacks to come to Xinjiang. Then they took root and gave their whole lives to the Construction Corps. Many people lived in Xinjiang for generations and never returned to their hometown again.

  The hardships of life and work in those years can be felt by looking at the astonishing irrigation canals on the Gobi Desert and the flat road surface of several hundred li of dry riverbed.

  So many construction corps people relied on a stinky water pit to fetch water, and then added some dehydrated vegetables and rough noodles to make Wonton soup on the Gobi Desert to open up water channels and repair highways.

  If this were told to those pampered children, they might think it's just a fabricated fantasy story!

  Several brothers quickly went over to take the water bottle from the old lady's hand and said, "Auntie, you rest, we are all used to physical labor and won't get tired. The smell outside is not good, please go inside first, we'll clean it up and then you can come out again."

  The old lady just smiled and didn't say much more before going back into her house.

  The brothers just drank tea and then tasted different flavors from the tea water.

  At that time, the Construction Corps came to Xinjiang for a long-term garrison, and the work was basically done in order to enable the local people to become self-sufficient as soon as possible and avoid the suffering of famine.

  For whom did they sacrifice their lives?

  Can they get some benefits by themselves and take a few points advantage?

  It's just cleaning up trash for people, but we actually have so many ridiculous ideas.

  We still owe ourselves some practice!

  The wind in Xinjiang is still quite kind, when we are working hard to blow away the unpleasant smell far away, even the dust also goes with the wind, far away from us.

  The soldier wearing a cuirass has always been particular about being efficient and never lazy, and in less than two hours, the household garbage that was as big as a small hill was cleared by half.

  Look at the truck taking away those garbage again, I sat down on a stone stool beside it and lit a cigarette, on the one hand to get rid of the strange smell on my body, on the other hand to relieve fatigue.

  Not having taken two puffs yet, a shrill cry suddenly came from the row of low houses next to me.

  When I was learning Uyghur, I didn't pay much attention, but when the old lady shouted for help, I could still hear it. At that time, I threw away my cigarette butt and grabbed a nearby tree to climb onto the roof.

  Other brothers are also not ambiguous, although they didn't bring guns, but the engineer's shovel is not a vegetarian! The engineer's shovel, which originally had a hand-to-hand combat design concept, was in the hands of the brothers, and it was no different from a rifle with a bayonet.

  Hula's combat formation unfolded instantly, and the arc-shaped encirclement surrounded the house that shouted out. Jiang Kuan, that grandson, didn't slow down either, and climbed onto the roof, his engineer's pickaxe flashing cold light in the sunlight of Xiaoyang, meaning that if there was anything sneaky going on downstairs, Jiang Kuan would immediately become a chest-piercing axe head seeing red!

  The flat-roofed houses in Xinjiang are basically just a reed mat covered with a layer of mud, and at most there are a few small beams on the roof to provide some support.

  Neither Jiang Kuan nor I have a slender figure, and stepping on the flashing roof tiles really gives us a feeling of floating up to the moon. After carefully making our way to the house where the shouting came from, we looked inside the courtyard and suddenly saw a third-class military merit badge smiling and waving at us!

  In a large courtyard, an elderly Uyghur woman was tied up inside the yard, with something stuffed in her mouth that prevented her from making any sound.

  Two and a half children holding knives in their hands were watching in the yard, listening to the noise inside the house where one or two people were rummaging through boxes.

  No need to say more, this is definitely a robbery, and I estimate that the thief is a novice who has reached the extreme. Knowing that there are so many troops in this small county town today, how dare they take action?

  Isn't this looking for death?

  I took a look at Jiang Kuan's excited face, so I quickly patted Jiang Kuan's shoulder, meaning "brother, be gentle later". The flat shovel was used to pat him lightly, just a hint.

  If he had done it in the usual way, with a flying tackle and then a chop to the head, I reckon those two young robbers would have been chopped in half by Jiang Kuan!

  Silently, Jiang Kuan and I jumped into the courtyard, as quiet as a swallow or a sly cat, without making any noise, we suddenly appeared in front of those two little guys.

  I'm a master of the wrist lock, and I've got an empty-handed knife grab. I reckon Jiang Kuan's kid was looking at his opponent and thought he was too weak, so he didn't even bring his gun. With a swift and clean move, it was like a refreshing breeze in my ear, and that little brat was instantly slapped out with a mouthful of white foam.

  So I said Jiang Kuan that little boy I called him a grandson is really not wrong!

  We knew there was still a thief rummaging through the house, but let's deal with this first. You were in such a hurry to untie the old lady that you hastily pulled out the rag from her mouth?

  This is great!

  The old lady's mouth had just regained its freedom and she blurted out - Grandson! Oh, grandson!

  I haven't figured out how the old lady knew about Jiang Kuan's nickname yet. Suddenly, a child's cry and a man's hysterical shout came from inside the house - Get out! Or I'll kill these two kids!

  Huh?

  Are they still two children?

  This is going to be troublesome!

  The Uyghur old lady saw that her two grandsons were being held hostage by the robbers and almost went crazy on the spot! She was speaking in Uyghur, fast and urgent, with loud wailing and shouting. After our brothers took full control of the house, there was already a crowd of people surrounding the yard outside.

  This is great, now those robbers are definitely not going to get away!

  He had also provoked the robber to a certain extent, and he slammed things towards the door, shouting in his throat that if he didn't let him go, he would kill two children and make Yingjisha see the blood of Tongzi.

  Does Yingjisha see the blood of Tongzi?

  Old man, I've been practicing for so long, specializing in martial arts, and even that's not enough to impress you? You're just an amateur who can't even compare to me. Do you think you can show off in front of me?

  Grandma!