Part 3

Bloody War

Chapter 11

To the sky[]

Section 1

The Eyes of an American Journalist (10)

Webber was awakened by the sound of speaking in the yard. He opened his eyes and picked up the watch next to him and looked at it. It was already four o'clock in the afternoon. He slept for six hours. He sat up and smoked, and then felt his stomach gushing. He felt a strong sense of hunger. He got up and put on his clothes and pushed him out.

The landlord and aunt had heard the movement in the room and quickly poked the stove open. When Weber pushed her out, the landlord was putting the prepared food into a bag. When he saw Weber coming out, the old man greeted Weber. Weber also responded vaguely. The old man brought out a basin of water and placed it on the stone table. Weber was not polite and started washing with the water.

Everything seemed very natural, as if they had lived together for a long time. When Weber first moved in, the old couple was very worried about a foreigner coming to his house, but Weber paid a very high rent, twice that of **. The old couple barely accepted it for the sake of the money.

After Webber moved in, the old couple discovered that the foreigner was very kind to others and was not much different from the Chinese. Perhaps the only difference was that they like to sleep during the day but stayed up all night. The lights in the room were from late to early, and the oil in the house consumed several times faster than usual.

What satisfied the old couple the most was that Weber had no particular concerns about eating, and he ate whatever they ate. On the first day, the old couple made food for him, but he found out that he firmly asked to eat with the old couple, and even told them not to cook for him in the future.

After washing up, Weber began to help the landlord to prepare food. The landlord was not without children. They had two sons and two sons. The eldest son got married. The youngest son committed suicide after being ruined by the Japanese. All of the two sons joined the army. The eldest son participated in the ** in his early years, but later he didn't know where he went. After the youngest son died, he joined the Eighth Route Army guerrillas. Now he doesn't know where he is. There are only old couples left in the family.

Weber was not familiar with farm work, but he still did his best. The landlord seemed to be used to Weber's actions. His hands were much slower than when he was alone, and he was obviously cooperating with Weber. The two of them kept all the food they picked up by the landlord without saying a word, and the landlord also brought out the lunch temperature she had left.

"It smells so good." Webber took a deep breath, grabbed a steamed bun and bite it. The yellow steamed bun exuded the fragrance of yu rice. Lunch in the countryside is very simple, with a few pickled vegetables, a bowl of soup, and a plate filled with a few steamed buns.

"Wei Yangren," the landlord patted the dust on his body, looked at Webber who was eating voraciously, and asked: "What are you eating in the United States? It's also steamed buns?"

The title of Wei Yangren was thought about by the landlord for a long time before he thought about it. Weber once protested, but the old man just refused to change, leaving him helpless.

Hearing the old man's words, Weber was stunned and looked up at the landlord. The landlord's expression told him that this problem had been in his heart for a long time. Weber smiled: "Of course not, but we also eat yu rice, but we don't grate the yu rice, but cook it. In terms of eating, we Americans are this," Weber raised his little finger, and then changed it to a thumb: "You Chinese are this."

The old man laughed and showed a satisfied expression. The old lady came out with a dustpan, sat in the yard, and started to break the rice again. Weber knew that this was preparing tomorrow's things. She would not eat steamed buns for dinner, and she usually had rice paste for dinner.

"That's no different from us," said the aunt. "I heard that you Americans eat cows by themselves

o, I was thinking, that awesome

oHow do you eat raw?"

Weber understood what they were saying as soon as he heard this. He smiled and explained, "This is not bad. We call it steak. We usually grill steaks, and roast them for five or seven centimeters, so that the steak taste will not be bad."

Weber is not a chef or a nutritionist. He doesn't know how good this is, and how to maintain nutrition. He is worried that the landlord and aunt will continue to ask questions, so he immediately changed the topic: "Actually, awesome."

oI still like to eat Sichuan braised beef

o.”

The landlord Fu obviously doesn't know about braised beef

oWhat is it? Webber looked at the old man carrying the food into the house and asked, "How is the harvest this year?"

"Okay," the aunt smiled when she mentioned this, and wrinkles were piled up on her face: "This year, God is a rare good year. It's said that she drove away the Japanese to get such a good harvest."

"It's still the Commander of the Village who is a good official. We'll be relieved if we reduce rent and interest rates. If the Japanese are still there, no matter how good the harvest is, they won't be full." The old man came out of the house and said in a muffled voice.

"As it happened, after all, I met a good official," the aunt nodded seriously: "Even if the Japanese didn't come, life was not so stable. If you want to say that Commander Zhuang is better, alas, I just don't know how long he can stay here."

Weber nodded slightly. After the revival of Jidong, social reform began in Jidong, and its intensity even exceeded that of Pingjin. Zhuang Jihua had already looked at Jidong's territory. The Ministry of People's Republic and the National Salvation Association sent a working team in every county and town, and the army also sent a farmer team. After three months of publicity and implementation, the entire Jidong had reduced rent and interest rates, registered residents' household registration, and of course, unified purchase and sales were also implemented.

"I heard that D is also promoting rent reduction and interest rate reduction. Haven't you implemented it here?" Weber looked at his landlord Fu with interest.

d. The implementation of rent reduction and interest reduction in their base areas has become an important economic policy for them in the War of Resistance Against Japan, that is, relying on this policy to gain support from a large number of people at the bottom. d. There are also considerable base areas in Hebei, and they are also implementing rent reduction and interest reduction in these base areas. Weber is very curious about how these Chinese people evaluate the differences between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in this policy.

However, the landlord and the aunt obviously disappointed him. The aunt stopped the work in her hand and looked at him and said, "We have heard that when there were no Japanese in the village earlier, some people came to promote it. But after the Japanese came, they left quickly, and my son also left with them. Now I don't know where they are."

There was a deep sense of loss on the aunt's face, and Weber sighed, but the aunt changed the subject and began to care about him: "I said, big brother, you are here alone, don't you worry about your daughter-in-law at home?"

Weber thought for a while and realized that the aunt was asking his wife. Weber smiled bitterly. He had borrowed marriage, but it had been more than ten years of divorce. His wife was also a reporter stationed in China. The two of them were busy with their own affairs and had fewer separations. Gradually, their relationship faded and they separated.

"I'm divorced," Webber was very frank. He didn't intend to hide it from the aunt, but to his surprise, the aunt was stunned and stopped the work in her hands. She looked at Webber with a little confused and asked, "Divorce? What is divorce?"

Weber was also stunned. In his opinion, the word divorce is not unfamiliar to China. After the establishment of the Republic of China, there were divorces. There were often reports in newspapers that this village is not far from the railway, so it should not be a closed place, and there are schools in the village, and it should not be a backward place, but the aunt didn't even know about the divorce.

"Divorce is the separation of the couple," Weber began to explain slowly: "The couple applied to the court to terminate the relationship between the two parties and divide the property of both parties. After the court approved it, the two parties terminate the relationship between the couple, and this is divorce."

The aunt was still a little confused. The old man obviously had to know more. He made the aunt understand in one sentence: "It is to sue the official and let the government make the decision."

The aunt understood now, and her hands began to move quickly again, but her tone was a little unkind: "Why should I throw away your daughter-in-law? Isn't this Chen Shimei?"

Weber still knew who Chen Shimei was. He couldn't help but smile bitterly and said to himself: "No, it's because we both have no feelings. After we separate, we will find happiness again."

"You cultural people, you have a lot of reasons for talking in a lot of words. "The aunt seemed a little unhappy and expressed her concern at the right time: "I said, "Brother, you are not young, you should find an NV person and start a family, and don't wander like this all day."

Weber almost laughed out loud, but he still felt that Auntie was tempted, but now he didn't know how to explain it to Auntie. If his wife was still there, he might be able to explain it clearly, but now his wife has already returned to the United States with her husband.

"Actually, we didn't ask for our divorce, but my ex-wife," Weber said.

The aunt was even more surprised now. She seemed to look at him like a fantasy. Weber continued, "That was more than ten years ago, oh no, it seemed to be eight years ago. I went to India for an interview. Half a year later, we talked and she proposed to break up."

"Oh," the old lady seemed to understand a little, and then became surprised: "How can she do this? She is so naive, it's okay if she doesn't want it. I said, "Brother, what kind of thing do you want to find? There are many boudoirs in our village."

Faced with the sudden enthusiasm of the aunt, Weber was a little embarrassed. The old man suddenly coughed. The old man suddenly felt something, turned his head and looked at the old man, and shut up and stopped saying anything. Suddenly, a hint of embarrassment arose in the yard. Weber suddenly understood that the old man regarded him as a Chinese. The old man reminded her that Weber was not a Chinese.

Weber didn't want to talk about this topic, so he quickly tried to change the embarrassment. Before he could come up with a move, Charles and Bai Xiude appeared outside the academy.

"Weber, do you know? The Soviets launched an attack in the Far East and just received the news." Charles pushed away and couldn't wait to announce the news he had just obtained.

Weber didn't speak when he heard this. He swallowed the steamed bun in his hand in a few sips and drank the soup in front of him. Bai Xiude sat in front of him: "Don't worry, the War Zone Command has not held a press conference yet."

Weber hesitated and slowed down, thinking for a while and said, "I guess the attack on the Northeast may be ahead of schedule."

Zhuang Jihua has not launched an attack on the Northeast for a long time, and Webber and others have also discussed that Zhuang Jihua may solve the food problem before starting the attack after the summer harvest. But this sudden change made Webber think that Zhuang Jihua might start the attack immediately.
Chapter completed!