Chapter 2: Fierce Reputation Inside and Out

Big Grandpa saw Li Xuewu following him and thought he had woken him up.

"Xuewu, why not sleep a little longer? It's still dark. Did Big Grandpa wake you up?"

Li Xuewu had already put on his cotton shoes and jumped off the ground, put on his shirt and cotton-padded jacket, and then put on his coat, replying in his mouth.

"Not at all! I'm used to getting up. I can't sleep in the morning, and it's uncomfortable lying in the quilt."

Big Grandpa walked out with his cotton jacket draped over his shoulders. Before long, he brought back a dustpan and an ash rake and began to scoop out the ashes from the stove pit.

Li Xuewu scooped a ladle of water from the water vat, added some hot water from the thermos, and began to wash his face, then unpacked the luggage he brought back last night, found a toothbrush, and brushed his teeth.

After a bit of tossing and turning, Big Grandpa had already poured out the ashes, added firewood, lit the fire, and boiled a pot of hot water.

Seeing Li Xuewu looking at him, Big Grandpa said, "The face-washing water in the thermos isn't enough for the morning. I have to boil a pot. The livestock need warm water in the morning, otherwise, they can't stand it."

Big Grandpa brought a large green horse and a horse cart, which were kept in a shed built on the right side of the house.

Li Xuewu responded and stood in front of the mirror of the cabinet in the room.

The mirror on the cabinet door reflected a young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, but a pale face.

He was wearing a Type 65 green cotton-padded jacket, the collar insignia had been removed, but it didn't hide his heroic spirit.

The clothes were the latest wave.

Only the scar on his face ruined his youthful heroism, and his whole temperament appeared fierce and tough.

Li Xuewu made a face at the fierce man in the mirror.

The three red marks on the collar reminded Li Xuewu that today was still that era.

Rendezvous 1965!

Li Xuewu habitually reached out to button his collar, paused for a moment, and then unbuttoned it.

This body still retained some of its original habits; sometimes he would make the habitual movements of the original body without noticing.

Just as Li Xuewu was telling himself to transform from the future to the role of an ordinary worker now and to adapt, his stomach "growled," and a strong sense of hunger surged up.

Since getting off the train yesterday afternoon, bringing his luggage to find his home, and simply tidying up, he had only had a mouthful of food before he couldn't control his exhaustion and dived into the quilt to sleep.

Big Grandpa looked at Li Xuewu's small movements and saw that he didn't care about the scar on his face, and smiled slightly.

"Xuewu, this heroic bearing is that of a good man. A man's face doesn't matter; it's better to have strength."

Although the attitude of his family members when he returned last night wasn't very good, Big Grandpa looked at him with kindness and care.

When he was naughty as a child, his summer and winter vacations were spent at Big Grandpa's house.

The Li family didn't pay attention to material things in life. Except for supporting four children to study, Li Shun's salary was all spent on food. The brothers were all tall; Li Xuewen was 1.8 meters, Li Xuewu was 1.83 meters, and Li Xuecai, who was 17 this year, was 1.78 meters. Even Li Xue was almost 1.7 meters tall.

Thanks to Li Xuewen's subsidies and Li Xuewu joining the army, the family could afford to eat, otherwise, they would inevitably go hungry.

Except for a small table clock, the family had no household appliances. The sewing machine was bought by eldest brother Xuewen when he was tight on money for his wedding. The couple didn't even have a bicycle and had always squeezed onto the bus to go to work after school started.

Li Xuewu left home at 17 and didn't have bad food in the south, so he trained a good body, otherwise, he couldn't have protected his comrades so sensitively.

"Big Grandpa, I'm not that delicate. It's been two months, I've seen through it long ago."

Big Grandpa saw the sincerity in Li Xuewu's words, smiled, patted his arm, and looked carefully at his face. Last night, one reason was that time was tight, another was that Liu Yin wouldn't let go of her son's hand, and the third was that he was afraid the child would be sad, so Big Grandpa couldn't bear to ask.

"Tell Big Grandpa, how did it happen?"

Li Xuewu squatted at the stove door and added two pieces of firewood, stood up, walked to the Eight Immortals table, and sat opposite Big Grandpa.

"It's all in the past. Dodging artillery shells, I threw myself to the ground, and my face hit a shell fragment in the dirt. It was knocked, and because my head hit the ground, it was also concussed. I don't remember many things from before."

midnight.

Big Grandpa opened his mouth in shock.

"How did you come back? Wasn't there treatment at the time?"

Li Xuewu raised his hand and touched the scar on his face.

"A comrade carried me back. When I was sent to the first-aid station, they saw I only had external injuries on my face, so they didn't care. A female doctor tore the flesh on my face, took a cotton swab to disinfect it, and then closed and stitched it up. The problem with my head was discovered after I woke up. My comrade said the doctor said my injury didn't count as anything. The first-aid tent couldn't hold everyone, so I was left outside for two days."

Li Xuewu laughed "hehe."

"That doctor re-examined me and noticed something was wrong when I didn't know who I was. She talked to me for a few sentences, called my peer, and I couldn't recognize him either, so they sent me to the rear. I spent two months in the hospital, and since I wasn't suitable for life in the south, I chose to come back."

At this time, Li Shun and Liu Yin also draped their clothes and got off the kang.

"You got up so early. I heard what you said on the kang just now. Child, why didn't you send a letter home?"

Big Grandpa lit his tobacco pipe and took two puffs.

"Coming back is also good. Let your mother nourish you. Remember the past slowly. Is there any arrangement for work?"

Li Shun put on his clothes and went out.

Li Xuewu looked at this middle-aged woman. Although he didn't observe carefully last night, hindered by his father's cold face, he could still feel the deep maternal love and care in her nagging and narration.

"It was so far away, and it wasn't convenient to go there, so I didn't write a letter. By the time I could move, I was already prepared to come back. The regiment said the local authorities would arrange it. Before I came back, the local authorities sent a letter saying it was arranged, according to normal demobilization resettlement."

Liu Yin looked at this second son, having long forgotten his naughtiness and mischief in the past, and only felt heartache.

The old saying goes, "Good men don't become soldiers, good iron doesn't become nails."

The second son joining the army was also a last resort. When he was in high school, he caused trouble every day, and finally, he was driven to his third uncle's place in GZ to be a soldier.

Li Xuewu's third uncle went to the south when he was young and struggled for many years. After receiving a letter from home, he arranged for Li Xuewu to join the army. Who would have thought the army would set off for the south?

The third uncle asked Li Xuewu for his opinion, patted him on the shoulder, said repeatedly that he was a good man, and let him set off with the army. He also wrote to his eldest brother and sister-in-law saying that Xuewu had great courage and was a good man.

Looking at this steady and fierce second son in front of him, Liu Yin couldn't connect the "little devil" in her memory with the person now.

Otherwise, why would they say that place is a melting pot? It really trains people. It's just that it won't be easy to find a wife with the scar on his face in the future, she worried secretly in her heart.

After chatting for half a day, Grandma Li also put on her clothes and got up. Xuecai and Li Xue saw that everyone in the room had gotten up and were chatting with their second brother, so they also got up, put on clothes, and folded the quilts.

Xuecai had been afraid of this second brother since he was a child. He wouldn't take him along to play, played ruthlessly, and hit people ruthlessly, causing a lot of trouble. Since he was a child, he didn't dare to follow his second brother, one because he was afraid of being beaten by his second brother, and two because he was afraid of being beaten by his old father.

Li Xue couldn't get close to her second brother when she was a child, so she watched and heard that he was terrible, but she didn't know how terrible the second brother in her third brother's mouth was. But since she saw this second brother return last night, with a fierce aura on his face, she was really startled.

Maybe she was young and didn't know this was called killing intent. ===== CHAPTER 3 =====