Chapter 4: A Distant Home

  Clang, clang. After a journey of more than a day and two nights, the green train finally arrived at its final destination, Hongcheng Railway Station. After saying goodbye to Li Zhenbang and his daughter, Fu Xin got off the train with a sore waist and back, dragging large and small bags, looking tired.

  Looking at the empty station square, Fu Xin couldn't help but feel a little worried. The bus from Hong City to Yi City only runs once a day and it's already 9:30 in the morning, I don't know if that bus has left yet.

  Shaking his head hard, forget it, let's take a look first.

  "New Brother!"

  Under the sunset, Fu Xin dragged his extremely tired body and walked into this quiet small mountain village. At this time, a clear and crisp call came from far away.

  "Elementary school fifth grade!"

  A sense of intimacy from a deep blood relationship, which had seemed to have been estranged for many years, made him involuntarily call out in the direction of the sound.

  As I approached, I saw a six or seven year old child running towards Xinhuai from afar.

  Xiao Wu, Da Ming Fu, only because he was the youngest in the family, ranked fifth, so everyone called him Xiao Wu. When Fu Xin left, he remembered that Xiao Wu was still a crying and sniffling little nose, didn't expect now, actually grew into a porcelain doll-like young man. However, due to the playful nature of children, his hands and face were not so white, covered with mud.

  "Xiao Wu, how did you know that your brother is coming back?" The news of Fu Xin returning home was not informed to the family by Fu Xin himself, so he found it a bit strange that Xiao Wu came all the way to welcome him.

  "I was playing and building a house there, I saw you coming back, brother, so I knew! Brother, look, that's the house I built." Little Wu said proudly, pointing to the house made of mud in the nearby field.

  "Xiao Wu, you're playing with mud again! Where are your brother and sister? Didn't you go out to play with them?" Fu Xin put down his luggage, happily picked up Xiao Wu, and pretended to be displeased as he pinched Xiao Wu's cheeks.

  "Brother and sister have gone to school to gain knowledge, but Xiao Wu is not yet at the age of going to school, so he stays at home to help his mother with chores." Xiao Wu was a clever little ghost, knowing that his big brother was not blaming him, so he put on a serious face and said in a grown-up tone, which delighted Fu Xin.

  It wasn't until then that Fuxin remembered today was not the weekend, and his other siblings had already gone to school. Although the sun was setting in the west and school was over, the kids at home had a habit of doing their homework at school, so they might still be there now. Of course, it's also possible they just went to play at a classmate's house.

  "By the way, Xiao Wu, how's your dad?" Xiao Wu didn't mention his own father in his words, which made Pei Xin secretly worried. After all, it had been more than two years since they last met, and communication was not as advanced as it would be in the future, so Pei Xin wasn't very clear about the situation at home.

  "Dad is working overtime at the factory in the countryside! He hasn't come back for several days, but Dad promised Xiao Wu that when he returns from the countryside, he will bring him a tin of sugar." Xiao Wu was indeed naive and carefree, not worried that his father hadn't returned for several days, but instead remembering that Fu Zhenbang had promised to bring him a tin of sugar.

  This so-called "Ding Dang Sugar" is actually malt sugar, usually made into a large round block shape. When sold, some are knocked off from the top. It's just that there were people collecting broken shoes and waste products who would knock out a "ding ding dang dang" sound while walking through the village streets, so many children call this kind of sugar "Ding Dang Sugar".

  In the 21st century, in a world where business is extremely prosperous, this type of sugar has almost become extinct. Even if it exists, it's that refined kind, and its taste is far inferior to the unrefined one, no longer retaining its original flavor.

  "Oh, let's go back first." Pei Xing knew that his father worked in a factory in the countryside.

  Before Fu Xinru joined the army, Fu Zhenbang was already a technical group leader in the factory who was about to take up the deputy factory director position due to his education at a higher school in the provincial capital when he was young and his understanding of many techniques.

  "By now, Father must have become the deputy director of the factory, or even higher. What happened during this time, Xiao Wu is too young, asking him won't yield any results, let's go back home and ask Mother first." With these thoughts, Fu Xin took Xiao Wu and headed back home.

  Fu Xin has been away from home for two years. Entering the village, he found that there was no change in the village. The roads were still the same, the houses were still the same, and everyone's conversations were still the familiar local accent Fu Xin was used to.

  "It seems that the spring breeze of reform and opening up has not blown here yet, and everyone is still living in poverty!" Fu Xin couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

  Although the Fu family was considered to be one of the better-off families in the village due to Fu Zhenbang's reasons, the Fu family did not live on the outer roads of the village. On the contrary, the Fu family lived at the foot of a remote mountain in the deepest part of the village.

  Because of the rain two days ago, the village road was still muddy. Fu Xin carried big and small bags, steadily following behind Guang's little bare feet, running while looking back at Xiao Wu's footsteps, heading in the direction of home. Along the way, Fu Xin began to see some familiar faces.

  Some were playmates who grew up with Fu Xin; some were elders in the village, and everyone greeted Fu Xin in various ways. Some people enthusiastically invited Fu Xin to spend a couple of days at their home, have a good drink, while others simply said "welcome back" calmly. Fu Xin responded to each one, as the villagers were simple and honest. If you didn't respond, they would think you had become arrogant after going out for a trip.

  However, most of these people just said a simple "welcome back" because before Ping Xin joined the army, some idiots in the village didn't have as good relationships with him as they did with his father.

  No one in the village noticed that Fu Xin's return had caused a stir, and Fu Xin followed his younger brother's footsteps into the house.

  As soon as he walked into the house, Fu Xin saw his mother possibly having heard the news, anxiously standing at the door, waiting for Fu Xin's return.

  As soon as he walked in, his new mother Li Fanghua grabbed his shoulder and took a good look at him, excitedly saying: "Hmmm, you've grown up, your body is also sturdy! Not bad, not bad... Heaven bless!"

  Li Fanghua is a typical rural woman. When she first paid to join the army, people in this era should have worshiped the People's Liberation Army and her family should have been very supportive of joining the military.

  But Li Fanghua didn't think so, joining the army might mean going to the battlefield, and going to the battlefield might mean death. Li Fanghua was not willing for his son to take risks. In the end, it was under Fu Zhenbang's strong pressure that Li Fanghua reluctantly agreed to let his son join the army.

  Recently, I heard on the radio that the People's Liberation Army severely punished a white-eyed wolf in the southern part of our motherland. Li Fanghua was nervous every day, and now seeing her son return safely, Li Fanghua is of course happy, and can't help but be moved to tears to vent the repression of these days.