A wild child becoming a hero made all the kids envious.
But little Shuai Shuai thought for a moment and said, “You’re wrong. The hero should be me.”
Chen Mianmian said seriously, “No, it’s Miao Miao. This is the weed killer bottle. She grabbed it because she wanted to prevent a disaster. And you, Shuai Shuai, you hit Miao Miao—you need to apologize.”
Shuai Shuai pouted, “Miao Miao didn’t take my bottle. I’m the little hero, boohoo.”
He had the nerve to cry?
Chen Mianmian pointed to a teacher, “She can testify. You clearly said she took your toy.”
Shuai Shuai rubbed his eyes, “I was lying, boohoo.”
Looking at the children, Chen Mianmian exaggerated, “So Shuai Shuai is a big liar?”
She added, “Your dad is a martyr, but you hit kids and lie. What kind of person is that?”
Huang Lin had put up with Shuai Shuai for a long time and said sternly, “Lying means losing your red flower, Shuai Shuai.”
For a child, losing a red flower was like the sky falling. Shuai Shuai cried loudly, “Kindergarten director, I won’t lie anymore, boohoo.”
But it wasn’t over. Chen Mianmian then pointed at Zhan Zhan, “Calling a little girl a wild child will also cause you to lose your red flower.”
Zhan Zhan immediately pouted and teared up, “I, I won’t do it anymore.”
Chen Mianmian looked at Miao Miao, “You’re the little vegetable-saving hero. If you’re bullied again, bravely tell the teacher, tell your mom, and you can also tell the aunties because we all love you.”
Children need attention.
Suddenly, Miao Miao was confident, holding her head high, “Okay!”
Being lifted by the teacher, she waved, “Auntie, I still want to go to your house to play.”
Watching her enter the classroom, then looking at her own belly, Chen Mianmian gently patted it.
The baby inside responded with a little kick.
Mommy helped a big sister today.
Miao Miao must be happy too.
Everyone knew Miao Miao was bullied.
Even with some favoritism, it had limits—everyone felt sorry for her.
Outside the kindergarten, Ma Ji laughed, “I never thought, Xiao Chen, you really understand early childhood education. Shuai Shuai and Zhan Zhan are little rascals—I think you should be the one to discipline them.”
They couldn’t do it?
No, as parents, they were biased.
Xue Fang was softer and wanted more kids, so she neglected Miao Miao and let her be bullied.
Chen Mianmian had disciplined these troublemakers before.
She said, “If you think I understand education, then I’ll teach Zhan Zhan and Shuai Shuai. I promise they won’t hit girls anymore.”
Ma Ji felt Chen Mianmian’s temper had become even harder to deal with.
Leaving that aside, he asked, “Do you know what ‘weed’ means in English?”
Chen Mianmian asked back, “You just said it: w, e, e, d—weed, weeds.”
Ma Ji, like Huang Lin, couldn’t believe it: “You actually learned something at Red Specialized School?”
English was actually a core subject and necessary to learn.
But because of the revolution, it was said Red Specialized students used foreign language textbooks as toilet paper.
Yet Chen Mianmian really learned?
She replied, “I’m a top student. I also studied Russian very well.”
As they walked, they passed a trash bin with a torn woven bag covered in Russian writing.
Ma Ji pointed, “What does the Russian on that bag mean?”
Chen Mianmian said, “That’s a fertilizer bag. The fertilizer is called urea.”
Ma Ji still didn’t quite believe it but only knew a little Russian himself, so he accepted it: “Not bad.”
He added, “Our logistics and security departments use foreign languages quite often. The experts are too busy; we can’t always bother them. If you have free time while resting, help us out.”
He continued, “You know, those old Soviets really screwed us over.”
This explained why English and Russian were dangerous to learn, yet Zhao Lingcheng wanted Chen Mianmian to study both.
Also, why she had to deliberately show her professional skills.
In the mid-1950s, China and the Soviet Union were friendly and progressing together in industry and agriculture.
But at the start of the ’60s, the Soviets suddenly turned hostile, withdrew all experts and technology, and demanded sky-high compensation.
Before this, most research materials were in Russian.
Experts like Zhao Lingcheng, who knew foreign languages, were lucky.
But logistics, security, and agricultural units became helpless because anyone who knew foreign languages was labeled a rightist.
In work, even a small mistake could cause incidents like what Jiang De did today.
In March, during spring planting, soldiers carefully fertilized the vegetables, covering them with blankets after frost.
But if one bottle of weed killer killed them all, two months of work would be wasted.
So today, Chen Mianmian used her limited English skills to help the entire base tremendously.
In the future, Ma Ji might also need her help and wanted to give her a heads-up.
Chen Mianmian remained steadfast, “I study English for the people, and only to serve the people.”
She emphasized again, “At Red Specialized School, I was not only a top foreign language student but also a living Lei Feng.”
The living Lei Feng title at Red Specialized School was a golden badge.
If she publicized it more, it would replace her old reputation.
Sure enough, Ma Ji rubbed his hands together, “That was from last year’s Lei Feng Campaign, right? You actually got the award at Red Specialized School?”
Red Specialized School, as the name suggests, was full of outstanding, tough children of martyrs.
The living Lei Feng title they sincerely selected carried much more weight than ordinary units.
Ma Ji asked again, “Where’s your award certificate? Why don’t you bring it back and put it up at our base?”
Chen Mianmian had sent the certificate back to her natal home and stuck it up at Red Flag Commune.
She smiled, “I’ll bring it back in a few days.”
Ma Ji nodded vigorously, “Good things can’t stay hidden. Xiao Chen, if you can save the vegetables this time, I’ll make sure to promote you well!”
He meant what he said.
After work, when he arrived at the family housing compound, someone called him.
Hearing it was Zhao Jun Laoyezi, he said hurriedly, “Please find Zhao Engineer. Sorry, he’s working overtime today.”
Zhao Jun knew Zhao Lingcheng was working late.
His call was actually to ask about his daughter-in-law’s condition.
Was she really so dull?
Did she have intellectual issues?
Would the baby inherit them?
He worried about all this.
Ma Ji said, “I don’t know much about Xiao Chen, but Old General, she really studied hard for two years at Red Specialized School and truly understands English. Today, she did the base a huge favor.”
Zhao Jun, a first-generation overseas student, was skeptical: “Foreign languages aren’t easy to learn, and I heard she’s slow to react.”
Ma Ji said, “I don’t know if she’s slow or not, but she definitely studied seriously. She says she’s a top student. Oh, and I have good news—she got the ‘Living Lei Feng’ title!”
Zhao Jun exhaled softly, thinking if she were really an idiot, how could she be a top student and a living Lei Feng?
It seemed the problem lay with his eldest grandson, Zhao Lingcheng—his ideological issues were serious.
Three days passed.
Zhao Lingcheng sent a clerk specially to the neighboring unit to notify Jiang Xia to accompany Chen Mianmian to the department store.
There was a reason—
Chen Mianmian had a family visit pass and couldn’t buy many of the special supplies available to military dependents.
The farm incident a few days ago was serious.
The vegetables were wilting, and soldiers were spraying water nonstop to save them.
Today, they were said to be slightly better.
One person’s mistake caused trouble for the whole family.
Jiang Xia was quietly keeping to herself these days.
She didn’t complain or argue; after work, she just closed the door, and Shuai Shuai was locked inside, not allowed to go out and play.
Shuai Shuai wouldn’t start trouble, and Zhan Zhan didn’t dare to bully Miao Miao, so Miao Miao had been quite happy recently.
Today was the agreed day Jiang Xia would accompany Chen Mianmian shopping.
It was also the day she received that roundabout letter from Xu Xiaomei.
How to put it?
Jiang Xia immediately came alive.
Joyfully running to the window, she shouted, “Xiao Chen, you’re pregnant and can’t move well. Take your time. After lunch, I’ll come right over.”
From the big picture, Jiang Xia and her brother were main players who had devoted their lives in the desert and were beyond reproach.
The female supporting character had indeed been excessive.
Jiang Xia felt sorry for Zhao Lingcheng and thus targeted her.
But Chen Mianmian didn’t want a bad reputation, so she had to tolerate Jiang Xia’s spite.
The weather was getting hotter.
She needed to buy a few pieces of clothing and supplies for Niu Niu’s birth.
There was also one especially important thing she had to find at the store.
She didn’t wait for Jiang Xia and arrived before noon.
Xiao Jia, who was now a sales clerk at the department store, warmly greeted her, “Sister-in-law, what do you need?”
Sales clerks had benefits and could freely snack on various treats.
Xiao Jia quietly slipped a Big White Rabbit milk candy to Chen Mianmian: “Here, eat while you look around.”
Chen Mianmian asked, “Xiao Jia, do we have oat flour here?”
Xiao Jia smiled, “Oat flour is in high demand. We definitely don’t have it. But for oats themselves, come on, let’s look.”
Even though the base’s store would become a future supermarket, daily necessities, clothing, cosmetics, grains, and vegetables were all supplied here.
Only two types of vegetables—potatoes and cabbage—were available.
And they were last year’s stock: the potato sprouts had grown long, and the cabbage’s outer leaves had become like cardboard due to dry weather.
The grain and oil section was a large room filled with various grains.
Millet flour, corn sorghum flour, arrow-tongue pea flour, soybean noodle flour…
Chen Mianmian stopped abruptly as she passed by.
There was a kind of milky white grain with a fuzzy outer shell.
She grabbed a handful, “How much is this oat?”
Xiao Jia said, “This is expensive—priced the same as rice, five cents per jin, and limited to five jins per household. Oat flour has to be ground, and since it tastes good, it’s always snapped up when it appears.”
But as food, not many people cooked with it, so some remained.
When the city gate caught fire, the fish in the pond suffered.
Xu Xiaomei had struck a combination blow against Chen Mianmian.
On one hand, she wrote letters to the base to ruin her reputation.
On the other, she pressured Lin Yan to death.
Chen Mianmian was determined to guard her own reputation.
She didn’t know exactly how busy Zhao Lingcheng was, but she guessed his mood wasn’t good.
Because Lin Yan—who had started as a Nationalist soldier but later switched sides and was now labeled a rightist—was in a lot of trouble.
Zhao Lingcheng could even shoot down planes but had no control over the militia.
If the militia wanted Lin Yan dead, they had plenty of ways.
But after careful thought, Chen Mianmian came up with a way to help Lin Yan.
One of the related items happened to be the oat grain she was holding.
She was looking at it when she suddenly heard laughter outside, then Jiang Xia’s voice: “Everyone’s busy?!”
She continued, “You know about Lingcheng’s ex-wife, Xiao Chen? She has a sister-in-law named Xu Xiaomei…”
Chen Mianmian was in the grain and oil section and turned to leave.
Some sales clerks asked Jiang Xia, “What’s going on? What happened?”
Jiang Xia smiled, “I heard from Xu Xiaomei that…”
Chen Mianmian had just entered the main hall: “Xu Xiaomei’s brother is a spy.”
She added, “Aunt Jiang, you’re actually in contact with a spy’s sister. What’s your relationship?”
Jiang Xia staggered back, her voice sharp, “What?”
She looked utterly confused, “I, I don’t know!”
She was the heaviest female comrade at the base and loved food, but that wasn’t really a problem.
Because with almost no staple foods, she could still make meals—a very capable cook.
The steamed flower buns she kneaded and steamed daily were especially fragrant.
The only flaw was that her mouth was too loose.
She had just received a letter that morning and only glanced at it briefly, busy cooking and not gossiping yet—just about to start.
But with Xu Xiaomei having a spy brother and Jiang Xia being linked to her, she’d be unable to stay at the base.
The sales clerks were all watching.
Jiang Xia quickly waved off the accusation, “I just heard some things about her. I, how could I be a spy…”
It was too late—this was a top military-industrial base, and spies were the greatest fear.
Xiao Jia told the director, “This, this might be serious…”
The director said, “Notify the Security Section immediately. If there’s a spy infiltrator, everyone goes to jail.”
He added, “Director Jiang, hurry to the Security Section to explain the situation.”
Jiang Xia was truly wronged, collapsing to the ground, “Damn spy, why do you want to ruin me, a widow…”
Unless it was important work, Zhao Jun wouldn’t call Zhao Lingcheng or discuss his private life.
He wanted his grandson to succeed at work and kept his personal life out of it—he was always very prudent about that.
But today, Zhao Lingcheng just returned from a trip and immediately got a call from Grandfather.
He said, “I’ve heard in the capital that Xiao Chen is a top student and a living Lei Feng. You damn Red egg, how could you think she’s stupid?”
Would he love a bourgeois spy more than a scholar who loved the people?
Grandfather yelled again, “Work overtime, finish the job, and then go remarry her! Or I’ll deal with you through military law.”
Chen Mianmian was a living Lei Feng at the school—
Zhao Lingcheng knew this early on.
She was like an old ox, only wanting to do one thing wherever she was: work hard and quietly store grain.
The living Lei Feng title was well deserved, but was she really a top student?
He didn’t believe it.
But today, her heroic deed of saving the vegetables was written on the blackboard bulletin.
Zhao Lingcheng’s pressing matter was his uncle Lin Yan.
He had to deal with that first.
But rushing out of the unit, he stopped at the blackboard and came back.
On it was the commendation: Chen Mianmian, Red Specialized top student, living Lei Feng, heroically saved the farm.
He had only been busy three days, and his ex-wife had already made a name for herself at the base?
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.