"What did they offer you to come and talk to me?" Meng Xinian asked indifferently.
"To wash my clothes and stinky socks for three days!" Zhao Xin replied immediately, puffing out his chest.
Meng Xinian continued walking forward, adding, "Tell them that they won’t receive any more letters until I get one."
In other words, if he didn’t receive a letter, others would still have to suffer!
"Captain, Captain..." Zhao Xin cried out, trying to catch up, but Meng Xinian turned and glared at him, making him stop in his tracks.
These days, Meng Xinian was a frequent visitor to the communication department. As soon as he arrived, the Supervisor Guard’s face fell, "Captain Meng, there’s no letter for you."
Usually, his words were useless, and Meng Xinian still insisted on checking for himself. But this time, Meng Xinian just hummed in response and didn’t search through the letters; instead, he headed for the telephone.
Meanwhile, Chiang Xiao was holding four letters, staring blankly at Secretary Yao’s apologetic face.
"Chiang Xiao, this really is my fault. The front door of your house was locked these past few days, and I was worried that if I slid the letter through the crack, it might get wet if it rained. Then, I got busy with a work conference in town and completely forgot. You’ve had four letters during this period, and only today did I remember to deliver them to you."
Secretary Yao was genuinely embarrassed.
Their Siyang Village was too poor and remote, with terrible roads, so the post office hadn’t assigned a mail carrier; instead, someone from the village office or the militia who happened to go to town would bring back the mail. After the letters arrived at the village, they were usually left for the villagers to pick up themselves, and only the urgent ones would be delivered by Secretary Yao or someone else.
As a result, Chiang Xiao ended up with four letters delayed.
"I didn’t expect I’d receive any letters," Chiang Xiao said, glancing at the envelope. She recognized the handwriting piercing through the paper and instantly knew who the sender was.
Her heart skipped a beat at the thought.
Now she remembered what that person had said when he left. Write every day, send every three days. But until now, she hadn’t written a single one.
However, she had thought he was just saying that; didn’t he know what village life was like? Petty troubles, what was there to talk about?
And life in the military must be dull, too, right? What did he have to write about?
Squeezing the thick envelope, she pondered.
"Who wrote this? The handwriting is very beautiful and strong; it must be a man’s. I guess it’s Captain Meng!" Secretary Yao said with a teasing smile as he looked at Chiang Xiao.
Thinking of the tall young man, Secretary Yao felt quite envious. His daughter, Yao Chengshan, was fifteen this year. He used to think that girls shouldn’t marry too early, but upon seeing Meng Xinian, he thought that finding such a young man wouldn’t be bad, and he wouldn’t mind finding a son-in-law right now.
Chiang Xiao felt awkward at the tease about having a fiancé, and she wasn’t used to the idea of having a fiancé at all, so she almost fled.
Caijiao was just returning home with the letters when she saw Chiang Caijiao sweeping the doorstep.
Upon seeing her, Chiang Caijiao pursed her lips and approached, calling her softly, "Sister Xiao."
"Yes?" Chiang Xiao responded and was about to enter when Chiang Caijiao grabbed her clothes.
"Sister Xiao, everyone says you’ve found a match. Is it true? Where is your brother-in-law? I heard he’s in the Supervisor Guard."
Chiang Xiao raised an eyebrow, not expecting Chiang Caijiao to ask her such a question, and inquired, "Why do you ask?"