Master Liu was finally transferred back to the south. Before leaving, I insisted on seeing him off and invited him once in the small hotel in front of the bus station. We had a match between each other and we were both masters and apprentices. Master Liu took great care of me. Now that I have parted, I really don’t know that I can only meet again in the Year of the Monkey and Horse Month.

"Xiao Wu, as long as you are willing, after I go back to my hometown, I will find a way to transfer you there. In our hometown in the south, township enterprises are now very prosperous. As long as you have the skills, you will not have to worry about not being able to find a job, and you will make much more money than here." Master Liu expressed his thoughts again with a sincere look on his face.

"Master Liu, you graduated from an old technical school in the 1950s and have such excellent electrician skills, I can't compare with you." I responded guiltily.

"You have good skills and have been studying for half a year. You have theory and practice. As long as you accumulate some experience, you will definitely be better than me in the future." Master Liu encouraged me from the side.

"Okay, I will definitely live up to your hopes and hone your skills well, but... But now I don't work as an electrician and I do maintenance. Even if I want to work hard, I may not be able to use it." I said stutteringly.

"This bastard, Lao Hou, is too stingy. He doesn't focus on production at all. He doesn't know what evil deeds are doing." Master Liu couldn't help but sigh after hearing my words.

That night, everyone felt sour and was about to part, and there was an indescribable melancholy.

Since I returned to the preservation class, my life has returned to the past. Because the high school textbooks that Yuan Yuan gave me were too difficult, I lost the motivation to get them at first. I read them slowly. I only studied half of the courses in the first year of high school, and I still didn't understand all the problems.

Since the spring time of separation from Wolonghu, I have completely broken off contact with my master and Yuan Yuan. Sometimes I even feel that I have never known them and my lives have never intersected each other. I suddenly have no life goals and live every day in a self-sufficient and casual manner. I even believe that such a life will continue, just like my father until I retire, and let my children take over. Of course, the premise is that I have to get married and have children. However, I have also lost confidence in my marriage.

This year, the weather was very hot, and it felt like the heat just after May Day, which made people feel even more anxious. The sudden outbreak of war on the border of the southern country. Only then did I understand why the troops urged the young girl's father to return to the team. He was undoubtedly ordered to go back and immediately went to the front line.

Every night, in front of the cinema in the living area, there is a crowd of people because a new Polish-made 17-inch black and white TV was set up there, and the workers who were off work and off were crowded in front of the screen, paying attention to the war ahead thousands of miles away. Because there are wives of front-line soldiers here, they can't sleep or eat every day, and the war is very close to them, and even more worried than those who are in person. In addition to the propaganda of various propaganda media, some path information also comes one after another. Everyone whispers every day, inquire about the news, and searches for all the information on the southern border.

That morning, Senior Brother Xiao Cai and I repaired a yarn machine in the workshop. Since I returned to the security class, every time Xu Changjiu came to send a job, he asked to be with me. Perhaps because of my face, Xu Changjiu was basically satisfied. This made his original master Fatty Zhang very depressed. Because of his bad temper and easy to tease people, few people were willing to work with him. Now, he had to work alone with two new apprentices, and he had to deduct money if he couldn't work, which made him clamor all day long, and the two younger apprentices who took over were even more shocked.

Shortly after we started working, we started changing shifts in the morning and middle shifts. The one who came to take over was Sister Lu, whom she was familiar with. She was very happy to see me, and went up to say hello enthusiastically.

"Sister Lu, how has Brother Wu been doing recently?" I looked at Sister Lu and thought of her husband. He was the first employee to enter the guesthouse before the Spring Festival.

"They are still in the Gobi Desert, and they are very busy with experiments now. I wrote to you a few days ago." Sister Lu replied with a smile.

"They didn't go to the front line, are they?" I was full of this in my mind these days, and I couldn't help but ask casually.

"They are scientific research troops, how could they go to the front line? Hey--I think now that although they are too far apart and life is hard, it is so blessed to be worried all day long." Sister Lu turned around and looked around, and then sighed, "Look at the surroundings, there are several husbands on the front line just for the sisters in our class. I really don't know how they can endure it every day."

Sister Lu's words made Senior Brother Xiao Cai and me silent. After a while, Sister Lu raised her face and asked, "When will this machine be repaired?"

"Oh-we must step up. I guess after lunch, we will work overtime and not rest. We should be able to handle it before two o'clock in the afternoon." I know that after the old monkey received the floating salary, everyone's original salary dropped significantly, and now they are all piece-based. If our machine is not repaired, it will affect Sister Lu's monthly income.

At noon that day, Senior Brother Xiao Cai and I had a simple meal in the cafeteria, then returned to the workshop to continue working overtime. After two o'clock in the afternoon, we finally repaired the machine. Just as we were testing the drive, a group of people rushed into the workshop gate. In addition to Xiao Li's uncle and Office Director Tong, there were also several active-duty soldiers wearing military uniforms and a solemn expression.

Everyone felt a little strange, stretched their necks and watched them go to the second floor of the workshop. Not long after, the group of people hurried to our production site under the guidance of Director of Following the Fool. In front of everyone, they passed through a row of rumbling yarn machines and came to the front of a female worker blocking the car. I recognized her as the mother of the little girl who stayed in the guesthouse for a few days after the Spring Festival and her husband was ordered to return to the team.

The people in the workshop gathered over. The leading soldier whispered a few words, solemnly salute, and handed a huge envelope over tremblingly. The female moped blocker's face suddenly turned pale from grayish yellow. She pushed the envelope with both hands and refused tenaciously.

Someone next to him couldn't see it anymore and wanted to help him. The female worker snatched it and hugged it tightly in her arms. She slumped on the concrete floor, covering her face and burst into tears.

The workers on duty were busy over to help her, but she was as soft as if she had no bones on her body. The heart-wrenching sob almost covered the noisy roar of the machine.

"Hey...she is the first one."

Sister Lu sighed softly in my ear. Her sigh made the people around her sad, and many people also shed tears and wiped their tears.

The war stirred the small town so close, stirred the yarn mill, stirred people's peaceful life; sacrifice made us, those of us who enjoyed peace, feel the nobleness and greatness of soldiers for the first time. The female workers who received the "Martyrs Notice" intermittently in the factory went from one to another, and next to the woods in front of the guesthouse, a row of red bricks and gray tiles appeared. It was a simple house built temporarily in order to give full play to the widows of the three martyrs.

For these female workers who have housing, having their own home was once their greatest luxury. Now, when their lively husbands have always condensed into silent photos on the wall, they have received two simple houses. However, now, if a man's house is missing, can they still be called a "home"? Every day when I pass by this row of "widow's houses" (pick Zhang named them privately), I always feel an indescribable sadness and can't help but speed up and go away in a hurry, because I am afraid of seeing the little girl with big crystal eyes, eyelashes like two small brushes, and I can no longer call out "Dad".

After a season of hot summer, the sky began to become clear and transparent. When the autumn wind became cool, Senior Brother Xiao Cai and I went to Wolong Lake again. Standing by the lake where the water and sky were the same, the sky was full of dense clusters of swaying reeds. They comforted each other, resisted the heavier cold air, supported each other, and began to prepare for the northwest wind that was about to act recklessly.

"Wu Ping, do you think we are like these reeds, green and yellow, serving with the wind, living on their own, and not important." Senior Brother Xiao Cai stared at the distance with empty eyes, gently picking up a piece of reed flowers falling on his face, and said lightly.

"Although the reeds are light and weak, they should also have a strong sense of strength. When we see strong winds blow down wheat and corn, it seems that they have never blown up reeds." I pointed to a gull flying on the reeds and answered Senior Brother Xiao Cai's question.

"Is it because it's too light?" Senior Brother Cai murmured softly.

"No, because it is resilient." When I answered, my eyes were still far away.
Chapter completed!