Chapter 438: Partially Unveiling the Historical Fog

Li Long did not expect that his casual question would cause Gu Bo Yuan's expression to change. He turned his head to look at Gu Xiaoxia, who was already preparing to get busy in the kitchen, and said in a low voice:

"Gu Shu, is this... something I shouldn't ask about? If so, just pretend I never said anything."

"There's nothing that can't be asked." Gu Bo Yuan sighed, turned around, walked to the table by the shed, and sat down, patting the table to signal Li Long to come over and sit.

Li Long didn't sit down immediately. He went into the room to find two tea mugs, poured two cups of tea, and brought them out. He placed one in front of Gu Bo Yuan and one in front of himself, then sat down.

Farm families usually don't drink plain water when working. The first thing they do every morning is boil a pot of water, fill two thermoses, put a few pieces of brick tea into a teapot, and pour the boiling water over it; that provides their tea for the day. In winter, the teapot is kept on the fire wall, so the water stays warm. In summer, it's left to cool naturally; if they want hot tea, they just mix in some boiling water.

"Now that you and Xiaoxia are married, I can consider one of my worries settled. Actually, many people in our team have asked me about her mother. I always said she was gone, but in truth, it's not that she was just 'gone'."

Gu Bo Yuan said this, picked up his mug to take a sip of tea, spat out the tea leaves that had gotten into his mouth, and continued:

"Back then, I graduated from Southwest University of Political Science and Law and was assigned to work in the city. I was truly high-spirited at the time, feeling that I was above everyone else, that I knew everything, and I looked down on many things at my workplace. However, because I had a high level of education, many of the older folks let me have my way, which made me feel even more... arrogant. But I didn't know how ugly I looked back then."

Listening to Gu Bo Yuan evaluate his past self this way, Li Long didn't know what to say.

"At that time, I met a beautiful girl at the city court. She was Xiaoxia's mother. We fell in love, got married, and had a lovely child. If I could have just been steady and content back then, perhaps I could have had a happy and fulfilling future..."

"What did you do?" Li Long had his suspicions, but he still wanted Gu Bo Yuan to say it himself.

"I had some classmates in democratic parties. I saw many articles from abroad through them and was influenced by some Western ideas. At the time, because some problems arose at work, I complained a bit and talked back to my leaders. I felt that my talents were being wasted, and I even wrote a few letters to the higher-ups. After receiving no reply, I went to communicate with those friends in the democratic parties again, venting my grievances..."

Li Long felt that for his father-in-law to have done these things in such an environment and still be alive and in one piece today was truly a miracle!

"Later... I was placed under isolated investigation. It was said that it was because a friend I was close to at the time was found to be a spy, and I was implicated. Although I didn't betray any secrets, I was close to him, so I was implicated. Plus, I was a bit cynical at the time; instead of making a proper confession, I acted recklessly. My wife, Xiaoxia's mother, was running around outside with my family, and it was only with great difficulty that they got me out. I couldn't stay at my unit anymore, and it was said they were still going to investigate me, so my family told me to come over here..."

Gu Bo Yuan stopped there, holding the mug of tea, staring at the tea with vacant eyes.

"Did you bring Xiaoxia over at that time?" Li Long couldn't help but ask.

"No." Gu Bo Yuan's voice sounded listless. "I came alone at the time. I thought I'd hide out until the storm blew over and then go back. I had thought it out well back then—at most, it would take a few years. Who could have imagined that two or three years later, I received a telegram saying my parents were both gone, and the child's mother, my wife, had been implicated and investigated because of my affairs, and finally went missing. Some said she jumped into the river, others said she ran away..."

"Then how did Xiaoxia get here?" Li Long asked, puzzled.

"When I got the news and rushed back, Xiaoxia was being raised by a relative of mine. Her younger sister was also gone. Some said her sister went with her mother, others said her sister died of illness. Xiaoxia had also been entrusted to the relative by her mother; at the time, they only sent her... Later, I brought Xiaoxia here, and later still..."

"Her younger sister?" Li Long finally reacted.

"Yes, her younger sister. Xiaoxia had a twin sister. Her mother was an only child, but her maternal grandmother had a twin brother. According to your theory, there is a twin gene."

Li Long didn't expect that by casually asking about twin genes, he would end up uncovering such a story.

"Does Xiaoxia know about these things?"

"I know a little bit," Gu Bo Yuan said. "When she was small and crying for her mother, I told her a few scattered things, but I didn't tell her everything. Later, when she grew up and became sensible, Xiaoxia stopped asking about these things."

"That phase has long passed. Gu Shu, haven't you thought about going back to look for them?"

"I looked." Gu Bo Yuan showed a pained expression, lowered his head, and said in a suppressed voice:

"Once that movement ended, I sent a telegram to my hometown. Later, they said my case was over. Although they didn't say it was a rehabilitation—actually, they hadn't wrongly convicted me; I really was close to that spy at the time, who could have known he was a spy? It's just that four years ago, all these things were investigated and cleared up one by one, and I was fine. But I had indeed been a bit extreme at the time. I certainly couldn't go back to my old unit. And my wife... there was no news at all. I was disheartened. Having lived here for so many years, there was nothing left if I went back, so forget it. Living here isn't bad..."

Li Long felt that Gu Bo Yuan just didn't want to return to that place of sorrow.

"Thinking about it now, the old man was right. If the line is wrong, the more knowledge you have, the more reactionary you are. At the time, I committed a line error, and coupled with my arrogance, I was easily provoked by others and fell into their trap, almost ending up on the opposite side of the people. I am guilty, but... but why did they have to visit these sufferings upon my wife and child? They were innocent..."

Gu Bo Yuan held his head in his hands, bowing down, his voice becoming choked with sobs.

Li Long didn't know how to comfort his father-in-law.

Indeed, for a very long time, that quote from the Instructor had been taken out of context. Before "the more knowledge you have, the more reactionary you are," there was a qualifier: "in the case of a line error."

Some people were truly malicious!

One can only say that the imperialists never gave up their desire to destroy us, and there are so many colonial dogs in the world!

After a while, Gu Bo Yuan recovered. He finished his water and said with a smile:

"What's this? Wanting to have twins? You've only just gotten married and you already have this plan?"

"You know, Xiaoxia is a state cadre and has to follow the family planning policy. Although our household registrations are currently in the countryside, her registration will definitely have to be moved to the city later. It's fine in the countryside; we have a rule here that if the first child is a girl, you can have a second child after four to six years. But once in the city, regardless of whether the firstborn is a boy or a girl, you can only have one... I was thinking about having more children later."

"That's true." Gu Bo Yuan scratched his head, nodded, and said:

"That makes sense. There are none on my side, but there are on Xiaoxia's mother's side. I don't know if it can be inherited; it's hard to say..."

At this moment, the influence of those earlier events seemed to be fading. After speaking about things he had suppressed for so long, Gu Bo Yuan's spirit was actually better. He began discussing having children with Li Long, and later, even started thinking about so-called secret recipes.

When Gu Xiaoxia brought out the cold dish to invite the two of them in for dinner, Li Long and Gu Bo Yuan were already thinking about how to contact relatives back home to see how to find a suitable traditional Chinese doctor to get a secret recipe for having twins.

Li Long knew the methods of later generations, which were nothing more than ovulation-stimulating drugs. That was the most scientific, but also the most uncontrollable, and in all likelihood, they didn't exist now. Even if they did, he wouldn't dare use them. If she had four or five at once, how would they raise them?

As for secret recipes, he just listened. Earlier, he was just going along with Gu Bo Yuan's words. After all, after such great joy and sorrow, his father-in-law's emotions were prone to issues. It was better not to let his mind be idle; having something to think about was the right way.

Sowing would start in two days, so there was no need to worry about him dwelling on other things.

There was wine on the table, Kuitun Special Brew, brought over by Li Long, and Gu Xiaoxia had set out three cups.

"You're going to the county today, right?" Gu Bo Yuan looked at the three cups and asked:

"Can you still drink?"

"I'll have a drink with you two." Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile, "Dad, the three of us have never had a drink together before."

"That's true." Gu Bo Yuan thought about it and realized it was indeed the case. They had eaten together, but never drank. "Then let's have a drink. Don't drink too much, just one cup is enough. I know your alcohol tolerance. In the future, let Xiao Long handle the drinking. He's a man; let him handle things at the dinner table."

This was the responsibility a man should have, and Li Long naturally agreed.

"He can't drink too much either," Gu Xiaoxia spoke up again, "He's going to the county with me today. We still have to treat the bureau chief and his colleagues to a meal. Dad, don't drink too much either. We need to prepare for sowing and farming tomorrow or the day after. We can't help, so can you handle it alone?"

"Don't you worry about that." Gu Bo Yuan said with a smile while pouring the wine, "If I can't handle it, I'll call people. Now that Xiao Long is my son-in-law, if I really call, which of his friends would dare not come?" "Haha, that's true." Li Long laughed. He believed that if Gu Bo Yuan really called Tao Daqiang and the others to work, Tao Daqiang definitely wouldn't have any objections.

The three of them had many topics to chat about, including Gu Xiaoxia's next step in work and the implementation of her household registration; Li Long delivering grain into the mountains and whether there would be any tasks later. Li Long also asked Gu Bo Yuan if he would still go to cook if there were jobs for a stretcher-bearer team, and Gu Bo Yuan directly refused.

"Why cook? I went last year because I had no money in my hands. This year, I have money, and I've been allocated more land. Getting the farm work done is the real business."

Although Gu Bo Yuan was a proper university student, right now he was more like an old farmer, more concerned about whether the grain in his fields could be sown on time.

Even though he said that, Gu Bo Yuan still lamented:

"Xiao Long, you're the most carefree. You do whatever you want and have money to spend. Your television is the first one bought in the whole team, and the tractor too. What else do you want to buy later?"

"Later? I'll get a television for the big courtyard in the county so Xiaoxia can watch TV when she gets off work." Li Long counted on his fingers, "Then I'll buy a washing machine to put in the big courtyard so Xiaoxia can use it to wash clothes. I won't talk about refrigerators and such for now. I'll get a tape recorder later so we can listen to songs..."

"Alright, alright," Gu Bo Yuan widened his eyes, "You just get all those gadgets. Why don't you want to get a car?"

"I have to have a license for that." Li Long waved his hand, "Forget about a car. Later, I'll see if I can get a three-wheeled motorcycle."

"Drink, drink." Gu Xiaoxia hurriedly proposed, "The three of us will have a drink together, to a better life ahead!"

!.

"Come, come, come, have a drink, to a better life ahead." Gu Bo Yuan picked up his cup, paused, looked at Li Long, then at Xiaoxia, and said:

"I used to wonder, which brat would Xiaoxia marry in the future? At the time, I even thought that no matter how I looked at that brat, I wouldn't be pleased. Xiao Long, well, that's alright. After all, he's not an outsider. Since you two are married, then live well. Don't worry about me. I'm not that old, and my health is good; I can take care of myself. You two work hard and strive to get me a grandson to hold soon! Come, have a drink!"

The three of them drank the wine in their cups, and for a moment, no one spoke.

There weren't many dishes on the table, three or four dishes plus a soup. The staple food was rice. Braising rice in a pot is also a technical job. Li Long turned his head to look and found a very complete golden crust at the bottom of the pot, and said with a smile:

"Xiaoxia, this rice is braised really well! This crust looks so fragrant."

"Fragrant or not, there's none for you." Gu Bo Yuan waved his hand, "This is my snack. If you want to eat it, wait until you go back to the big courtyard and let Xiaoxia braise some more for you!"

"Alright." Li Long wasn't angry at all and said with a smile, "That's definitely no problem."

Gu Xiaoxia was a little embarrassed. Even in the big courtyard, she hadn't actually cooked many times; either Li Long cooked or they went to eat at Sister Yang's place. Thinking that since they were now a family, when Li Long was at the big courtyard later, she would have to do more housework.

The three of them chatted and ate until the afternoon. Gu Bo Yuan had drunk half a bottle and couldn't hold his liquor, mainly because they had chatted so much. After finishing, he went to lie down on the bed. Gu Xiaoxia tidied up the mess, sat in the courtyard with Li Long for a while to soak up the sun, and then the two of them went home together.

They had to go back to the county today, so Li Long put both bicycles on the tractor. He also put some sacks in the back of the tractor and padded them with some grass so Gu Xiaoxia could sit more comfortably.

After saying goodbye to his father, mother, Li Jianguo, and the others, Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia drove the tractor toward the county town.

That night, the two of them studied how to have children in the big courtyard again, to their heart's content.

Li Long almost didn't want to do anything else. He now understood a little why there was that saying, "From now on, the monarch will not hold morning court." In his previous life, everything else was fine, but he was lacking in this aspect. In this life, after marrying Gu Xiaoxia, he made up for it, which made him feel that his previous life was truly a huge loss.

How many wonderful things he had missed!

Next, he invited Gu Xiaoxia's leaders and colleagues from the Education Bureau, the leaders and colleagues from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and also invited Sister Yang and Han Fang, letting them know that he and Gu Xiaoxia were married.

After everything was finished, Gu Xiaoxia went to work as usual, and Li Long reluctantly drove the tractor back to the team.

It was time to plant the melon seeds.

Returning to the courtyard, Li Long found that many vegetables in his garden had already sprouted. His mother, Du Chunfang, was dividing chive roots, preparing to plant them. He didn't know whose chive roots these were dug from, but they looked quite sturdy.

Planting chives here isn't done by sowing seeds, but by dividing the roots. After chives are planted for a few years, the stems become thin, becoming what people call "hairy chives." At this time, they must be divided and replanted.

Digging up the chive roots, one could see that at this time, the chives had too many hairy roots and too many thin stems, competing for nutrients, so the stems were naturally thin. As long as they were separated and replanted, the chives that grew out wouldn't be as numerous in each cluster as before, but they would be thicker.

"Mother, whose chive roots are these?"

"From the family across from your eldest brother's." Du Chunfang was very happy to see her youngest son return and said with a smile, "All the other vegetables in your garden are planted, except for the chives. You can't have a garden without them. Since the Lu family was just dividing their chive roots, I asked for some to plant here."

"Where's my father?" Li Long parked the tractor, entered the vegetable garden, and asked while working with his mother.

"He went to Little Haizi. Your eldest brother went to sow corn. He wouldn't let him follow, so he took the net to Little Haizi, saying he'd cast the net to sell a few coins in the street, otherwise, he'd just be idle."

Here, corn is called "baomi," while back home it's called "yushushu," and corn stalks are called "shujie." His eldest brother and sister-in-law had already changed their dialect, but his father and mother hadn't, and it was estimated they wouldn't be able to change it either.

"Then I'll go find my sister-in-law to soak the melon seeds. We have to plant them in the next two days."

Planting melon seeds was the first step in the Li family's economic agricultural development, and it was a task that had to be completed as soon as possible before Li Long went into the mountains, so he was quite anxious.

"Your sister-in-law also went to the fields. Your second sister-in-law is cooking at noon today." Du Chunfang said while planting chive roots, "I don't know if she can cook the rice properly..."

"Why wouldn't she be able to cook it properly?" Li Long laughed. The relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was better with the eldest sister-in-law because she had taken care of him, and his father and mother were now living with his eldest brother, so his mother had to endure it no matter what. But the relationship with the second sister-in-law didn't seem particularly good with his mother from the start, mainly because she had given birth to two daughters, and now that his second brother's work situation hadn't been settled, his mother might have been a bit petty.

"Mother, if someone is cooking, you should be happy. Why worry about so much?" Li Long meant to let Du Chunfang set her mind at ease. Why worry about so many idle matters when she had someone to enjoy?

Du Chunfang was just saying it. Li Long being able to chat with her so patiently made her quite happy. Du Chunfang always felt she owed her youngest son and hoped to make it up to him, so most of the time she was working here.

Now that her youngest son could comfort her, it really made her very happy.

Before noon, Li Qing Xia had already returned. He had ridden Li Jianguo's bicycle to the county to sell fish without telling Li Long. He was quite surprised to see Li Long when he returned.

What a father, like an old urchin.

They were all quite fun! (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 439 =====