Chapter Thirty-Six: The Great Mother

  Huh, looking for me to help read a letter? Drunken Qu Mingjun looked up in confusion.

  Oh, I see. This soldier is the new recruit who ran out to help open the water when Qu Mingjun first arrived at the company, named Chang Er, from Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, reportedly a minority ethnic group, but Qu Mingjun couldn't quite recall which one.

  "Huh? What does it mean? How come your letter looks like this?" Qu Mingjun asked.

  "Paichang, I don't recognize characters, help me take a look at this letter." Chang Er's face turned bright red.

  Qiu Mingjun was a bit shocked, he couldn't recognize characters, how did he get recruited? Now the army requires at least a high school diploma. Later Qiu Mingjun came to understand that the living conditions in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces were relatively low, and the cultural level of people like Chang Er was also low. In order to meet the recruitment quota, sometimes they had to lower their standards. Chang Er wasn't completely illiterate, according to himself, he had attended school for three years, which was considered good in his local area. However, when it came to reading letters, it wasn't that easy.

  Usually, the letters were read by Class Leader Ding Qiang or the older students. This time, several of the older students in the class were all fast asleep, and it just so happened that Qu Ming Jun was there, so Chang Er, who was anxious to know about his family's situation, had no choice but to ask Qu Ming Jun to help him read the letter.

  It's nothing, Qu Mingjun casually responded with a "yes" and took the letter, gesturing slightly before tearing open the envelope.

  Chang Er hastily moved a small stool and sat down beside Qu Mingjun's bed, staring at him with eager eyes.

  "Son, it's been a long time since I wrote to you. Are you doing well? Mom is fine here, and Dad is also good, nothing big happened, don't worry about us. It's just that your sister ran out saying she was going to work, but we don't know where she went, I'm worried about her. If she writes to you, remember to tell the family. Everything else at home is fine, and the government takes good care of us, so you can rest assured, don't worry about home.

  You should do a good job in the army, leave a good impression on your leaders, strive to achieve something, learn some skills, that way mom will be at ease. You're not making much money now, so don't send any back home, just focus on building good relationships with your comrades and leaders.

  It's hot now, make sure to dress properly..."

  Qu Mingjun read in a low voice, the dense mother-son affection poured onto a thin sheet of paper, simple and unadorned words yet conveyed the deep longing of a distant mother for her son. Qu Mingjun's heart suddenly began to think of his own mother, Ren Qing. He had been interning for almost half a month now, and hadn't even written a letter to his own mother, how despicable.

  A child travels a thousand miles and the mother worries, but when the mother travels a thousand miles, the child does not worry. Qu Mingjun secretly blamed himself and decided to write a letter home to ask about their well-being soon.

  The letter was brief, and Qu Mingjun soon finished reading it. His eyes sparkled with tears.

  Qu Mingjun was a bit worried about Chang Er, this kid usually performed very diligently and hardworking, but due to cultural and knowledge reasons, he was very introverted and didn't like to speak. Now it seems that because of his low cultural quality, many professional military skills were not mastered well or quickly enough, and being illiterate, he couldn't stand out in the company, how could he possibly gain favor from the cadres and get opportunities for further education or technical training? Even as a volunteer soldier, there was no chance for him.

  Qu Mingjun sighed and shook his head silently, while Chang Er simply stared blankly at the letter paper, as if he could see his mother in it.

  Huh? Why is there still one more paper? Qu Mingjun was puzzled. He had just seen the signature and date, so why was there another one.

  Qu Ming Jun flipped out the paper with ease and took a look, which made Qu Ming Jun take a cold breath!

  "Dear Chang Er, I am XXX and I'm currently a teacher at our village elementary school. This letter is written by me but dictated by your mother. There are some things that I really can't hide from you anymore. To be honest with you, your family is having a very tough time right now. Your father's illness has relapsed recently and he ran out of the house three days ago and hasn't been found yet. Your sister was originally promised to marry your paternal cousin's son, but she didn't want to get married and secretly ran away. Your paternal cousin had given 500 yuan as a betrothal gift, but now they're asking your mother for it back. However, your mother doesn't have any money left after buying medicine for your father. This time, your paternal cousin is demanding 1500 yuan in compensation, and when your mother couldn't pay, they brought people to smash up your house and broke your mother's right leg. She's still lying at home now, and it's said that they're going to come back and cause more trouble. The harvest was also bad this year in our village, and a mudslide occurred on the mountain behind our village, washing away the two acres of cornfields that your family planted. Chang Er, please come back, your family is really falling apart now, honestly, please hurry back."

  What's going on? How could this be? Qu Mingjun's hand holding the paper began to tremble.

  Cháng èr nà mèn, "pái cháng, pái cháng?"

  Translation:

  "Second brother is puzzled, 'queue long, queue long?'"

  "Ah?" Qu Mingjun finally came back to his senses.

  "What does it say on this?" Chang Er pointed at Qu Mingjun's letter in his hand.

  "Ah, it's nothing, nothing, just the same." Qu Mingjun hastily comforted Chang Er, "Don't worry about it, go rest for a bit, you've been holding it in for too long, go to the bathroom."

  Qu Mingjun almost stuffed the letter into Chang Er's hand and fled in a hurry.

  Standing in the bathroom, Qu Mingjun thought of his mother's words on the first letter again.

  Don't worry...

  Things at home are pretty good...

  Good job...

  What kind of mother is this, Qu Mingjun's eyes were hot. Have you reached the point where your family is about to be destroyed, and you still want to hide it from your son? Do you still care about your son's future and life? Has she ever had a place for herself in her heart?

  What a great mother she is.

  Qu Mingjun's mind went blank, and he just kept thinking about the words on the letter over and over again.

  After returning to the classroom, Qu Mingjun saw that Chang Er carefully put away the letter and solemnly placed it under his pillow. Then he took out a Xinhua Dictionary and continued to practice writing characters.

  Ding Qiang woke up and was called by Qu Mingjun to the clothes drying area outside the building, where he told him about this matter.

  Ding Qiang's face changed and became very ugly.

  The two of them discussed it for a while and couldn't think of any good solution, the class's power was also small, so they could only take this letter to show Battalion Commander Li Li first.

  Back in class, the two people were surprised to find that the atmosphere in the classroom was actually very heavy.

  Qu Mingjun looked around, all the soldiers were staring at Chang Er, while Chang Er was holding that letter with his head down, and next to him stood a new recruit with an awkward face.

  "What's going on?" Qu Mingjun hastily asked an old soldier standing by the door.

  "Damn it." The old soldier cursed before speaking, "Something happened at Zhang Er's home, and they started looking for us to read letters for him. We didn't dare to read the second one, but that little bastard Xiao Sun actually read that letter to him once, what kind of thing is this?"

  What? Little Sun read the letter to Chang Erniang again?

  Ding Qiang's face turned red with anger, and he strode over to kick Little Sun in the buttocks, sending him tumbling onto the bed beside Chang Er.

  Xiao Sun anxiously looked at Class Monitor Ding Qiang.

  "You're so cultured, the old soldiers don't even read letters and you're showing off? Damn it, if something happens to Chang Er, I'll never be done with you." The normally refined and elegant Ding Qiang was furious, like a crazed lion.

  This kid is so unreasonable, Qu Mingjun is also hateful to the point of itching in his teeth. But why did Chang Er still find someone else to read the letter? It seems that it's still his own fault, even if he had fabricated the second letter and read it to him earlier. He must have been suspicious because of his own attitude.

  Ding Qiang glared at Xiao Sun, controlling himself from going over to beat him up. It was only with great difficulty that he managed to calm down the anger that had been building up inside him. He hastily went over and squatted beside Chang Er, embracing him and softly comforting him. Qu Ming Jun also walked over, as did several old soldiers, one of whom even pulled Xiao Sun to one side.

  Little Sun looked wronged and stood aside, patting away tears, but at this time no one in the class went to care about him.

  Chang Er sat on a small stool, holding the letter in his hand, lowering his head and not making a sound. Tears fell to the ground one by one. Ding Qiang couldn't even take the letter out of Chang Er's hands.

  "Second brother, listen to my advice. Ah, I'll think of a way for the family matters, you don't worry, ah." Ding Qiang patted Chang Er's shoulder heavily.

  "Second brother, don't worry, you have us several brothers, we're not afraid." The old soldiers comforted.

  "Chang Er, don't cry anymore. I'll tell you something, we'll definitely resolve this matter for you inside. Don't cry first, okay?" Qu Mingjun sighed as he looked at Chang Er who was still shedding tears.

  "Stop crying! Crying won't solve anything. Don't cry, and we can discuss how to resolve the issues at your home, okay?"

  ……

  It was easy to persuade Chang Er not to cry, and Ding Qiang finally pulled the letter out of his hand, instructing an old soldier to take care of Chang Er in a low voice, and exchanged a glance with Qu Mingjun, and the two rushed straight to the company headquarters.

  Li Li's face also looked terrible after reading the letter. He asked about Zhang Er's current situation and was so angry that he cursed Little Sun a few times, calling him a son of a bitch.

  "Let him go on leave for a few days then," said Qu Mingjun after some thought.

  "You don't know, in our unit, only second-year soldiers are allowed to have family visit leave, new recruits are generally not given leave." Ding Qiang said.

  "Why is this?"

  "Because new recruits have just arrived at their troops, they are allowed to return home in the first year, and their hearts cannot be stabilized in the troops."

  "This is an exceptional case after all, isn't it said that exceptional cases can be exceptionally handled?" Qu Mingjun said.

  "I'll go try at the headquarters." Li Li spun around in place a few times, snatched up the letter, grabbed his hat and rushed out of the door of the regimental HQ.

  Qu Mingjun and Ding Qiang looked at each other, sighed, and didn't want to go back to class to see Chang Er's absent-minded appearance, so they waited in Lian's office.

  Unexpectedly, I ended up waiting until almost dinner time in the evening.

  Li Li strode into the department with large steps, slamming his hat onto the table with a loud bang. Qu Mingjun and Ding Qiang looked at each other in surprise.

  "Alright, Commander?" Qu Mingjun asked tentatively.

  "Nonsense!" Li Li cursed loudly, "Damn it, what's the point of investigating this clearly, what's the point of stabilizing the new recruits' minds, my soldiers' families are all damn near collapse, and you still want to investigate, my soldiers are all damn heartbroken, what stability is that?"

  Li Li scolded for a while, but still sat down weakly, pressing his head in frustration.

  "Let's not go on, how about sending some money back to Chang Er's family first?" suggested Ding Qiang.

  "That's for sure," said Li Li, "I just got my August salary and haven't even touched it yet. Take it all."

  "This won't do, Lao Zhang." Ding Qiang loudly opposed, "Your family also has a situation and needs this money, besides even if you donate it's only counted as one share, can't take it all."

  "Alright," Li Li hesitated for a moment, "then let's organize a donation."

  Inside, they also came up with over 2,000 yuan. The leaders in the regiment heard about this and organized a donation from the whole regiment. Qu Mingjun also donated a lot of money. In order not to draw too much attention, he donated 500 yuan like Li Li, the company commander. The total amount reached nearly 5,000 yuan.

  Although Qu Mingjun has been trying to keep a low profile, his generous and open-handed behavior also made the soldiers in the camp look at him with admiration and affection.

  Then Qu Mingjun took up his pen and, on behalf of the delegation, wrote a letter to the local Civil Affairs Bureau, demanding that the bureau properly resolve the problems of military dependents. Then Battalion Commander Li Li took it to the regiment to stamp it with an official seal.

  "No way!" Captain Li shook his head. "Just sending the money over won't solve the problem, we need to send someone over to take a look and do something in person before we can rest assured."

  Ding Qiang stepped forward voluntarily, "Lian Zhang, I'll go."

  "Then your family visit leave this year will..." Li Li thought for a moment, "You?"

  "It doesn't matter, many soldiers didn't get to visit their families until the third year." Ding Qiang also hadn't returned home since joining the army. He was originally supposed to enjoy family leave during Chinese New Year, but now it seemed he would have to give that up.

  After a few days, Ding Qiang set out with the full donation from the team and a letter to the local civil affairs bureau, and Chang Er was reluctant to part with him on the way.

  Qu Mingjun took advantage of the opportunity to send a station and ran into the county to find a public phone.

  "Is Uncle He here?" Qu Mingjun looked around outside and saw no one was paying attention.

  "Master?" He Litie's voice on the phone was full of surprise, "Master, didn't you go for an internship? Are you looking for your wife? I'll transfer the call right away."

  "Wait a minute, I have something to ask you first." Qu Mingjun whispered about Chang Er's situation and asked He Shu to see if he could find someone from the family business in Yunnan and Guizhou to go to Chang Er's house and help solve his mother's problem.

  He Liti thought for a moment and agreed.

  Several more gloomy days passed, and Qu Mingjun's internship period was over. They had to return to Shimen Luyuan, but by this time, they still hadn't waited for Ding Qiang to come back, and didn't know what had happened to him.

  It wasn't until later that Qu Mingjun heard from He Shu that a lawyer had been sent by the family to basically rebuild the home of Chang Er's family and resolve the dispute between them and their uncle. Chang Er's father was also found and sent to a mental hospital for treatment, and Chang Er's sister, who was working outside, had already made contact with her family, so the problem was completely solved.

  On the day of farewell, the whole team set out again, especially the soldiers of the artillery company, who were reluctant to part with Qu Mingjun. After Qu Mingjun and his comrades got on the truck, all the soldiers standing on both sides of the road, under a unified command from the team, collectively bid farewell with a military salute.

  Qu Mingjun happened to be standing by the truck, and he also gave a standard military salute to all the cadres and soldiers of the whole regiment!

  The truck drove far away, and the song of the soldiers in the team could still be heard: "Sending fellow warriors, embarking on a journey, silently..."

  Qu Mingjun thought he would never meet a machine gunner again, but fate is mysterious...

  This thing is true, but the solution wasn't as perfect as I wrote. Later, I heard that the soldier mainly requested to return home in advance, and after consulting with the company, the regiment approved it. That mother really made me unforgettable for this life.