Chapter 69
On Sunday, Yan Lei really did take Yan Xiang and went to the countryside in Xiao Zhang’s jeep.
Qiao Wei went to the Broadcasting Station alone on time for her shift.
Most of the offices in the Town Committee Residential Compound were empty, with only a few having someone on duty. It was especially quiet.
This was Qiao Wei’s first time broadcasting independently.
The residents of the small town once again heard that extremely standard Mandarin accent.
Especially during the afternoon’s autonomous broadcast, the entire session was read by the local Broadcasting Station’s announcer.
The script was nothing unusual, but this standard Mandarin was rare.
“Did someone come from Beijing?” the town residents asked one after another, waving their cattail fans and swatting mosquitoes.
From then on, everyone knew that a new announcer with a very standard Mandarin accent had come to the Broadcasting Station.
After finishing the broadcast, Qiao Wei locked the door of the broadcast room and prepared to go home. Before she had even left the Town Committee Residential Compound, while halfway there, she was suddenly called out to: “Comrade, Comrade?”
Qiao Wei turned around.
The person calling her was a middle-aged man around forty, with a sturdy build and a straight back.
Seeing that she was so young, the man was stunned for a moment and asked, “Comrade, is there something you need?”
Qiao Wei was confused: “Huh?”
The man said, “Today is Sunday, everyone is resting, and only a few offices have people on duty. If you have any business, please come back on Monday.”
Qiao Wei understood.
Because today was Sunday and the Residential Compound was basically empty, Qiao Wei wore her homespun cloth clothes and paired them with those handmade sandals.
The sandals had uppers made of indigo cloth, and the color matched the cloth strips on her top and straw hat.
Not only did it look good, but it was also super comfortable.
However, looking at her from behind, with indigo on top and the original color on the bottom, at a glance, it was easy to mistake her for a local old lady.
Auntie Ba has worn the exact same color combination as her.
“No,” Qiao Wei said with a smile, “I am an announcer at the Broadcasting Station, and I am on duty today.”
The middle-aged man suddenly realized: “Oh, was that you broadcasting just now?”
“Yes.”
The middle-aged man looked her up and down, a bit surprised: “Are you from Beijing?”
At that time, in the local area, people probably thought only those from Beijing could speak Mandarin so well. Because only the Central Peoples Broadcasting Station could have that kind of standard accent; that was the voice from Beijing.
Although this middle-aged man spoke in an easygoing manner, there was an air of official authority between his brows. His temperament was a bit like Division Commander Pan.
Although Qiao Wei didn’t know who he was, she guessed he must be a leader.
She made up a lie very smoothly: “No, I am from Lin City. My family is a working-class family. Since I was young, I followed my father and listened to the city’s radio broadcasts to learn, so I learned Mandarin very well.”
“Lin City… how did you come to Xiahekou?” The middle-aged man looked at her attire—a full outfit of homespun cloth, and even her shoes were not the popular plastic sandals of the time, but cloth-faced sandals with hand-stitched soles. “…Does your family have any difficulties?”
Qiao Wei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“No. I am married, I am a military dependent, and I came here to follow my husband. The Military District also arranged for me to work at the Broadcasting Station.”
Upon hearing she was a military dependent, the middle-aged man knew she probably didn’t have any financial difficulties.
He looked at her carefully again. Although she was dressed in homespun cloth, her every move was poised and graceful, and her expression was very confident. She clearly didn’t think there was anything wrong with her attire; on the contrary, she seemed to enjoy it.
It was he who had misunderstood.
Exactly, homespun cloth is just more comfortable than synthetic fabric.
He felt the same way.
But many people would rather spend more money to buy synthetic fabric that isn’t as breathable.
He had a good impression of Qiao Wei and said kindly, “So that’s how it is. Finished broadcasting? Go back early.”
“Okay,” Qiao Wei said, “Are you on duty too? You should go back early as well. I’ll be going now.”
Her voice was crisp and full of vitality. The back view of her turning to leave had a rhythmic gait, as if she were humming a song.
The middle-aged man smiled.
This young comrade is not bad.
Yan Lei had set off in the morning with Yan Xiang, and returned earlier in the afternoon than Qiao Wei.
“Mom!” As soon as he saw Qiao Wei, Yan Xiang rushed over, “I saw so many, many things today!”
The child’s face was filled with a happy smile. Words had turned into reality, abstraction had become concrete, and his little face was glowing because of it.
“Mom, I saw the vegetables planted in an old grandpa’s field, and the leaves were turning yellow. I told him he needed to supplement with nitrogen fertilizer. He didn’t believe me and even laughed.”
“Dad came over, saw it, and told him to supplement with nitrogen fertilizer, and then he believed it.”
“Mom, why don’t others believe me?”
Yan Xiang’s eyes were full of questions.
Clearly, he and his dad told the other person the same thing, because he and his dad were reading the same book. Why did others only believe his dad and not him?
“Because Xiangxiang is still a little kid. People don’t believe that little kids can understand more than adults.”
“Everyone feels that the older you are, the more trustworthy you are. That’s why when people get sick and go to the hospital to see a doctor, they like to find those grandma doctors or grandpa doctors, the kind with white beards. If it’s a young auntie doctor or uncle doctor, many people are unwilling, worrying they are too young, not believing they can cure the illness.”
Yan Xiang was surprised: “Even when they grow up to be uncles and aunties, will it still be like this?”
“Yes,” Qiao Wei explained, “After you grow up to be an uncle, the original uncles and aunties will have grown up to be grandpas and grandmas. When they look at you, they will still think you are very young.”
So that’s how it is, Yan Xiang nodded.
“In the future, whatever you see, you can come and tell Mom,” Qiao Wei said, “Others might not believe you, but Mom believes you.”
Yan Xiang happily said: “Okay!”
Yan Lei walked out of the kitchen, carrying a basin: “Come eat some melon.”
He didn’t know what variety of melon it was; it was likely an original variety that hadn’t been improved. It wasn’t very sweet, but it was fragrant.
“A local gave it to me,” Yan Lei said.
“The masonry team is booked,” he said, “I paid the deposit, and they are scheduled to come next Sunday to do the work.”
Qiao Wei asked: “Can they finish it in one day?”
Yan Lei said: “If you were building a mud-brick house, that definitely wouldn’t work. But you’re just plastering a layer of mud on the outside of the wall, so that’s no problem.”
The two of them ate the melon while looking at the outer wall of their house.
The main foundation of this house was a traditional stone house. It had very local characteristics.
It was originally very good-looking. Unfortunately, it was damaged during the war, and later the Military District designated this area to settle military dependents. When it was repaired, the building materials used for the collapsed parts were a hodgepodge.
There were stones, old gray bricks salvaged from who knows where, and a small amount of red bricks.
Even those stones were different from the original stone bricks.
This made the outer wall of the house look like it had been gnawed by a dog.
It would be best if it could all be changed to stone. But that was impossible; the project was too big and would cost too much.
Qiao Wei settled for the next best thing and chose the method of imitating a mud-brick house to beautify the exterior facade.
Actually, Yan Lei felt that the word “beautify” was really open to debate.
But Qiao Wei had previously caused a huge conflict with him over the house, which led to a long cold war between the couple. Now that she was full of sunshine and smiling, saying she wanted to “beautify” it, let alone plastering mud, even if she wanted to plaster cow dung, he wouldn’t object.
Everything was up to her.
Sister Yang brought over a plate of peanuts: “I fried some peanuts at home, so I brought some over for you.”
Qiao Wei and Yan Lei gave her melon to eat.
Sister Yang didn’t stand on ceremony with them and ate crunchily.
“I specifically went to the Residential Compound this afternoon, and I timed it,” she said, “As soon as you started broadcasting, I told them, this is The Yan Household’s, listen quickly.”
In an era with little entertainment, even a sesame-sized matter could be a big deal.
Sister Yang didn’t have much education and didn’t even have the entertainment of reading books, so she was even more enthusiastic about this.
Qiao Wei laughed until she doubled over.
“Qiao’s Mandarin, what’s the difference between that and the Central Station?” Sister Yang praised Qiao Wei vigorously to Yan Lei, “If I hadn’t told them, they would have thought it was a rebroadcast of the Central Station.”
She finished two slices of melon and went back.
Yan Lei held the melon and asked: “When did your Mandarin get so good?”
Qiao Wei looked up.
Yan Lei was watching her, confusion in his eyes.
“It has always been very good,” Qiao Wei said with a smile, “But usually there’s no need to put on an act, otherwise it would look like I’m trying to be something I’m not.”
“That’s true,” Yan Lei said, relieved, and finished the half slice of melon in his hand.
Qiao Wei took the empty basin to the hand pump well to rinse it.
Yan Lei looked up and watched her back.
On Monday, Qiao Wei wore a white shirt and green military trousers again.
She didn’t cut it close; this work schedule was very ample for her. She would always bring Yan Xiang out a bit early, so she didn’t have to rush while walking, and could come to work as if taking a slow, leisurely stroll.
So she generally arrived a little earlier than the cut-off time.
But today, Lu Manman also arrived a bit early.
As soon as she entered the room, she shouted to Qiao Wei: “Look at me quickly!”
Everyone looked up, and upon seeing her, they laughed.
It turned out that Lu Manman was also wearing a white shirt and green military trousers today.
“Does it look good?” she asked, “Does it look good?”
She had long hair, and today she also tied it into two low ponytails. The style had a very vintage feel.
Qiao Wei complimented her: “It looks good!”
Lu Manman smiled and linked her arm: “I thought it looked good when I saw you wearing it last week, so I quickly got my dad to get me the trousers. I bought the white shirt in the county town myself. Look, it’s the same as yours. Did you buy yours in the county town too?”
Qiao Wei said: “Yes.”
People at this time didn’t have the concept of “wearing the same outfit”; on the contrary, when they saw someone wearing something good-looking, their first thought was, “I’ll go buy one just like it.”
“Whoa, the two of you standing together look like two female soldiers,” Lu Tianming teased.
Station Chief Lu praised: “Very good, your morale is very good.”
Hu Sui was puzzled: “Qiao Wei, don’t you get tired of looking at military uniforms every day? And you wear them yourself? I find washing military uniforms so annoying; the material is sturdy, and it’s tiring to wash.”
Qiao Wei said from the bottom of her heart: “I really love uniforms.”
The absolute truth.
That was her kink.
Lu Tianming was a bit moved: “Me too. I originally wanted to join the army. My mom cried like crazy and forced me not to. It happened to be during the war at that time. But how could they let new recruits go to the front? My mom just couldn’t think straight. In the end, she forced me to go to the county to attend a training class to learn a skill. Sigh…”
“That was actually an idea I gave to Auntie Fourteen,” Station Chief Lu said, “You don’t even think about it; with your build, you couldn’t even handle militia training. If you went to the Military Unit and went through the drills, could you handle it? If you want to be a soldier so much, first run ten kilometers with a load for me to see.”
Lu Tianming: “…Actually I quite like working in an office.”
“Tsk,” Station Chief Lu clutched his notebook and pen, “I’m going to a meeting.”
“You two, stop preening yourselves. I’m talking to you two, Qiao, Man, go get to work.”
The two girls in white shirts went to the broadcast room with smiles.
Yesterday, on Sunday, Qiao Wei broadcasted alone very smoothly, and Station Chief Lu and the others heard it through the loudspeakers.
Starting from yesterday, it counted as a new round, and for these seven days, Qiao Wei would be the one broadcasting.
Station Chief Lu was on his way to the meeting when the broadcast started. Qiao Wei’s clear and standard Mandarin was truly pleasing to the ear.
Station Chief Lu hummed an opera tune and went to the conference room.
