Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
His gaze landed on the greeting ‘To the respected Major Xia’. Xia Jinyuan felt his teeth hurting. That little girl must have done it on purpose. She actually used respectful expressions.
The letter was very simple. There was an apology at the start followed by what Ye Jian had been doing recently. Then, she said that she would be going to study at the Municipal No.1 Middle School. She would not be going to the provincial city. In the end, she added ‘Han Zheng had taken many photos of me. Can I have my pictures back?’.
There was nothing else.
How many words did she write on this small menu recording paper? Xia Jinyuan smiled and counted all the words carefully. There were 627 words, inclusive of punctuation marks.
He thought for a moment. He only wrote four words. 627 words were not bad already.
This little girl was really calm. He already left her such an obvious message but she didn’t give him any reaction.
Did she not understand his intention?
No, based on her intellect, she would be able to understand it. If she didn’t mention it in the letter, it meant that she was trying to evade the problem or she thought that he was kidding.
If she was evading it, he could still think of ways to make her face the issue.
If she thought that he was kidding... That would be troublesome. It meant that she didn’t believe what he said.
He looked at the 627 words again seriously and remembered them in his heart. Then, he carefully folded the letter and placed it back into this pocket... that was near his heart.
It was a pity that he couldn’t contact the outside world. He really wanted to reply to her with a letter.
Especially when she wrote at the end: Major Xia, are we penpals?
Her clear and refreshing voice seemed to be just beside him. He remembered all the moments he had with her.
There were eight months left until his year ended. When he went back, his little fox would be in high school. Unfortunately, she was still too young. She would still be underaged.
After keeping the letter, his heart felt warmer. He pondered for a moment before turning to ask Han Zheng who was preparing some bread, “Besides the letter, did she say anything else? Also, how did she send this letter to you? How did she know your address?”
“That is a long story. When my transfer order came, Brigade Commander Han didn’t want me to accept it. He kept it from me. However, a military order cannot be disobeyed. He was not able to keep it for long. If I don’t give up, he won’t be able to do anything to me. Hence, I kept pestering him all the way to the Southern Province. I met your little girl at the Provincial People’s Great Hall coincidentally.”
Han Zheng had already placed the hard bread on the table. He distributed a piece of sausage to each soldier. As he was working, he told Xia Jinyuan how he met Ye Jian and what they talked about.
“Your little girl is amazing. She asked me what will happen if she falls in love with me. I told her that that’s good. We can leave together...” A cold gaze landed on him. It was colder than the snow outside. Han Zheng was unable to continue his sentence. He laughed and said, “That is what she said. I just felt... weak in my legs. She didn’t say anything else.”
His little girl didn’t like talking to strangers. Xia Jinyuan smiled as he thought about this. “She is not familiar with you so she will not talk much with you. The bread is as hard as a rock. I will boil some water and cook some dried vegetables.”
During the winter season, the members of the Xueyu unit ate mostly bread. Sometimes, they would light a fire and throw some dried vegetables in the water that never boils so that they could replenish some vitamins.