New Year's greetings

  "Luozige, stop singing, you've made Xiao Jing cry." Zeng Shan gently pulled on Luo Yi's sleeve. This kind of sentimental song didn't have much impact on Zeng Shan, she didn't know why Yuan Jing was so enchanted and moved.

  "It's nothing. I just miss home..." Yuan Jing said. At that moment, she felt a soft spot in her heart being touched by Luo Yi's singing voice, and a strange feeling surged up. Her mind was in disarray, and she hastily picked up the wine glass in front of her to take a sip, covering up the turmoil inside.

  That night, everyone laughed and chatted, unknowingly getting drunk. The southern New Year's wine had a very sweet and smooth taste at first, like sugar water, but it was very potent. By the end, no one remembered what they had said before, only speaking their inner thoughts. Later on, Zeng Shan fell asleep in Zhang's wife's arms, while Yuan Jing leaned against Luo Yi's shoulder, also entering dreamland.

  "These two girls have fallen asleep. They'll catch a chill soon. Let's just let them go back to sleep. We've had enough drinking for tonight," said Mrs. Zhang.

  Lu Yi pushed the two girls, neither of whom moved, clearly having had too much to drink. Lu Yi smiled and said: "Mrs Zhang, why don't you help Mr Zhang rest? I'll just send these two back to their room."

  Mrs. Zhang glanced at Luo Yi, but didn't say anything. Zhang Tianyou was in a good mood and drank more than anyone else, but now he couldn't hold on anymore. Mrs. Zhang supported him back to their own room. Since the mining production had stabilized, Luo Yi had arranged a room for Mr. and Mrs. Zhang in his own mansion, so they could often come to town to live.

  After Zhang Tianyou and his wife left, Luo Yi carried the two girls back to their own room one by one, helped them take off their outerwear, put them on the bed, and covered them with a quilt. Then, Luo Yi turned off the lights for them and went back to his own room to sleep. He was actually also drunk and fell asleep as soon as he lay down.

  The next morning, Luo Yi was woken up by the girls' cries. It turned out that when Luo Yi left their room last night, he locked their door from the outside. Now that the girls were awake and couldn't get out, they naturally started shouting. Luo Yi hastily put on his clothes and ran to open the door for them.

  "How did you wake up? It's just dawn."

  "How did we get back last night?" Zeng Shan walked out of the room and greeted Luo Yi, asking.

  "Uh..." Luo Yi scratched his head, "Of course I'll be the one sending you back."

  "Was it you who brought us two back?" Zeng Shan's mouth was close to Luo Yi's ear, asking in a low voice, while using the corner of her eye to secretly glance at Yuan Jing in the room.

  "Really?..."

  "You think I sleep that soundly? You hug me and I still wouldn't know?" Zeng Shan pinched Luo Yi with her hand, "You even took off my clothes, I knew all along."

  Ruo Yi smiled awkwardly: "I'm completely kind, I didn't do anything." In his heart, he secretly rejoiced, fortunately, last night was really too tired, otherwise, sneaking a touch on the girls would be hard to avoid. Originally thought that these two girls were drunk and unconscious, unexpectedly they still had consciousness.

  "Are you also holding Xiaojing? Did you take off her clothes too?"

  Luo Yi fell silent.

  "When someone lets you hold her, you have to take responsibility for her, understand?"

  "Unbelievable?" Luo Yi said, "How can I be responsible for you?"

  "You have to marry her, no excuses."

  "Ah?" Ruo Yi couldn't help but turn his head to look at Yuan Jing. Yuan Jing was also already out of bed, standing in front of the mirror combing her hair. Seeing Ruo Yi's gaze fall on her, she smiled and returned a glance. Ruo Yi felt many indescribable emotions from her eyes, including shyness, expectation, and even a hint of resentment. Ruo Yi thought that perhaps Yuan Jing was also awake last night, she should have known he hugged her too?

  "Luozige, can you teach me the song you sang yesterday?" Yuanjing walked out of the house and said to Luoyi.

  "Okay, I'll copy the lyrics for you first."

  "This song, how come I've never heard it before? Where did you learn it from?"

  "This is a school song, sung by university students. ... I also happened to hear a university student sing it once and remembered it."

  "Luózi gē, have you gone to college?"

  Lu Yi hesitated, unsure of how to answer. In reality, Lu Yi had attended university, but the Lu Yi from back then had not. He decided not to answer this question and instead asked Yuan Jing: "Xiao Jing, if you have the chance, would you like to attend university?"

  Yuan Jing's face flushed slightly: "When I was young, my father hoped that I would go to university. If I hadn't joined the Red Army, perhaps I would have had the opportunity to do so."

  "What if I give you an opportunity?"

  Yuan Jing thought for a moment and shook her head: "I won't go. I won't leave the revolutionary ranks until the reactionaries are overthrown."

  Luo Yi sighed: "An author once said that war drives women away. Especially you and Shan Er, such girls shouldn't belong to the battlefield. You should wear beautiful spring clothes, hold a famous book under the big oak tree, and read it. Let countless young men cast fiery glances at you."

  Zeng Shan interrupted, "How can I go to college? I can barely recognize a few characters. Little Jing should be the one going to college, and then she'll become a female teacher in the future. My godmother went to college too, just look at how knowledgeable she is."

  Luo Yi said: "Shan, from now on you should learn more culture with your godmother and Xiao Jing. You're still young, study hard for a few years and you'll have culture too. In the future, I'll find an opportunity to send both of you to university."

  Everyone laughed and joked, the girls sent Luo Yi back to the house. They went to boil water and came back to wash and dress up, put on new clothes, and lightly powdered their faces before going out to pay New Year's visits. The first object of their visit was naturally Zhang Tianyou and his wife. According to the rules at that time, both girls knelt down and kowtowed, shouting "Uncle and Aunt". Mrs. Zhang had already prepared red envelopes and gave one to each of them. Then, the two girls went out to stroll around the town, Zeng Shan had a few good friends in the town, they invited each other to play together, and Yuan Jing soon became familiar with them.

  Although Luo Yi was very sleepy, he didn't dare to go back to sleep. He washed his face with some cool water from the water tank in the yard, changed into a combat uniform, and went to Zhang Tianyou's house for a visit. However, he did not kowtow to the couple, nor did he receive their red envelopes. The terms "Dry Father" and "Dry Mother" were just used in last night's gathering, but they still had work relationships, so Luo Yi still had to use honorifics when addressing Zhang Tianyou in public. However, it didn't matter that Zhang Tianyou continued to call Luo Yi "Luo Zi", as everyone called him that.

  After visiting the Zhang family, Luo Yi went directly to the barracks of the assault regiment. Last night, except for a few soldiers on guard duty, everyone else in the assault regiment had also drunk until midnight. When Luo Yi arrived, many people were still sleeping.

  "Congratulations, Captain, may you get rich!" An early-rising soldier saw Luo Yi and greeted him with clasped hands according to old custom. The soldiers were all from rural areas, so their New Year's greetings still followed the rural way. The peasants' New Year wishes were simply to get rich, actually, following the superior-subordinate relationship in the army, the soldiers should have wished Luo Yi "promotion and wealth" instead.

  "Congratulations and prosperity!" Luo Yi returned a courtesy, "What about Shuang Yong and the others?"

  "Deputy Regimental Commander Lu is dressing up." The soldier said mysteriously.

  "Dress up?"

  Luo Yi came to Lu Shuangyong's room with a suspicious mind, and saw that Lu Shuangyong was indeed dressing up, with a happy glow on his face. The leather shoes, which were rarely worn once or twice a year, were polished brightly, and the military uniform seemed to have been ironed before, completely different from its usual crumpled appearance.

  "What's up? Double Courage?" Luo Yi asked.

  "Heh heh, I'm going out for a trip. To give New Year's greetings to others."

  "Isn't it to pay New Year's greetings to your father-in-law?" Luo Yi joked.

  Lu Shuangyong was surprised and said: "Luo Zi, how did you know?"

  Luo Yi was taken aback: "You really went to pay New Year's greetings to your father-in-law? Aren't you a bachelor? When did you get married?"

  Lu Shuangyu's face showed a few shades of shyness: "Last time, Fei Lele introduced me to a female worker from a garment factory. I met her a few times and we both thought it was quite suitable. I wanted to take the opportunity of the Spring Festival to visit her family. If my father-in-law agrees, after the festival, I plan to ask someone to propose on my behalf."

  Luo Yi smiled and said: "You guys are quite fast. What about them?"

  "Everyone has a share, Xiaofeng, Dacheng and Lele have all found one. Right, Lele said this was your instruction, we are treating this as the camp leader's order to execute. Lele said, this is called 'executing an imperial decree to pick up chicks'."

  "Alright, alright, I usually say something and you guys aren't this enthusiastic. How come when it comes to flirting with girls, you're all so proactive? And another thing, you guys don't even invite me when you're flirting with girls. Am I not in need of... that kind of thing?"

  Lu Shuangyong said: "Luo Zi, you're too greedy, aren't you? You already have two houses, what more do you want?"

  "It's so unfair!" Luo Yi shouted.

  Two people were talking, Su Xiaofeng and several other battalion commanders also arrived. Everyone's attire was similar to Lu Shuangyong's, all dressed up neatly with shaved beards, looking quite handsome. In fact, everyone was still young, just over 20 years old, at the prime age of youth. People rely on clothes and horses rely on saddles, Luo Yi's specially made assault camp uniform was designed according to the military training uniform of that era, and had recently been modified by the technicians of the garment factory, which was considered very stylish clothing at that time.

  "Come on, today you not only have to visit your in-laws but also follow me to pay New Year's greetings to all the residents of the town." Luo Yi said, "Today is our shock camp's first year in Zhushan Town. All our officers will go from door to door to pay New Year's greetings to the townspeople. From now on, we should establish a rule, which is called 'the unity of military and civilians like one person', let's see who can be an enemy of ours."