Five years of marriage, always separated [1970s]

Ye Fan looked at the three men sitting on pins and needles, and couldn't help but sigh with his forehead propped up: "Geng Jingjing, who told you that if you pour the wind oil into the basin and wash your body, your body won't itch?" Then he asked, "Geng Zhiye, you and Dabao used the same basin, and you only found it after washing. Aren't you very vigilant?"

Geng Zhiye's face turned as green as the Fengyoujing: "Who should I be alert to at home? Besides, who would have thought that there was Fengyoujing in the water?"

Dabao whispered, "Actually, I don't feel uncomfortable at all."

Ye Fan asked: "If you are not uncomfortable, why are you shaking?"

Erbao whispered, "I forgot to wipe my face when I took a shower, and it made me feel uncomfortable."

Ye Fan was so angry that he was speechless but wanted to laugh: "Whose idea was it?"

Dabao looked at his sister subconsciously.

Erbao dared to take responsibility: "I thought pouring half a bottle of Fengyoujing into a basin of water was not a lot. It's just such a small bottle." Pointing to the small bottle on the coffee table, she let her mother look at it for herself.

A whole bottle of Fengyoujing is 9 ml, and half a bottle is 4 or 5 ml, which doesn't sound like much. Ye Fan nodded: "You thought it was okay to throw firecrackers into the manure pit."

Erbao felt sick when he thought of the scene of feces falling on his body like flowers from heaven, and he was too weak to argue.

Ye Fan asked: "Will you dare to do it again in the future?"

The brother and sister shook their heads together.

Ye Fan: "Go to bed."

Dabao and Erbao opened their eyes wide in disbelief and asked in unison: "Now?"

"What else?" Ye Fan asked.

Dabao said with a bitter face: "Don't you care about me? I can't sleep."

Ye Fan asked knowingly, "Aren't you feeling uncomfortable? Then why can't you sleep? I guess it's because you're not sleepy."

Dabao fell into his father's arms. His mother was so sarcastic.

Ye Fan asked again: "What's wrong with Captain Geng?"

The indescribable part was extremely sore, but he couldn't say it in front of the two children. Geng Zhiye was almost crying: "Give us some time, the pain will subside after the wind oil essence wears off."

Erbao blinked his eyes which were red from the wind oil and nodded vigorously, indicating that it was nothing serious and would be fine in a while.

Ye Fan got up helplessly and walked out.

Dabao sat up and pulled his father's arm worriedly, and asked in a low voice: "Is mom angry?"

Geng Zhiye felt uncomfortable and really didn't want to talk: "Your mother's eyes didn't touch the Fengyoujing, there's no need for her to be angry. She is just speechless about you two and doesn't want to see you two for the time being."

Erbao: "Because I poured Fengyoujing into the basin?"

"Because one crisis after another arises." Fortunately, he had pleaded for the two little brats before, but in the end he was betrayed.

When Ye Fan came in, the three of them sat down subconsciously.

"What are you doing?" Ye Fan wanted to laugh, "Waiting for the leader to inspect?" When he came to Erbao, Erbao said in a panic, "Mom, I was wrong." Ye Fan was shocked, "I'm not going to hit you, why are you yelling? Wipe your face."

Erbao instinctively leaned back.

Ye Fan sighed: "There is no Fengyoujing on it, this is the towel that Dad uses to wipe his face."

Originally, there were two bath towels and two face towels. Dabao and his father used two, and Ye Fan and Erbao used two. In the afternoon, in order to wipe the feces off their bodies, Ye Fan's bath towel became dirty, so he used the face towel to bathe Erbao, and now that towel is covered with wind oil.

When Ye Fan was bathing Erbao before, he smelled Fengyoujing and subconsciously thought that Erbao had applied Fengyoujing on his body because he was itchy. Because when Ye Fan was bathing Erbao, he only had a little water on his hands, so little that he didn't notice the Fengyoujing in the water. Unexpectedly, just as Ye Fan washed Erbao, the father and son came in shivering in their shorts and bare chests. Erbao couldn't help rubbing his eyes. Ye Fan wondered what was wrong with the three of them. After asking, he found out that Erbao and Dabao both had half a bottle of Fengyoujing in their basins.

Ye Fan asked Erbao to close her eyes, wiped off the remaining Fengyoujing on her face, and then turned the towel over to wipe Dabao's face, "Daddy, do you want to wipe it too?"

"Not on my face." Geng Zhiye was sweating from taking a hot shower in the hot weather. When he was about to wipe his face and his short hair, he smelled something wrong with the towel and said, "Why does it smell like wind oil?"

Dabao took the opportunity to show off his cleverness by mixing the Fengyoujing into the water without applying any of it. However, as soon as he finished speaking, the Fengyoujing took effect, and Dabao jumped in pain. Geng Zhiye threw down the towel, put on his shorts, and dragged him out.

When he got to the yard, the sea breeze blew through his body, and he felt cooler and cooler, as if he had been soaked in wind oil. However, Geng Zhiye was unable to scold him because the wind oil on his body was also effective.

Ye Fan asked: "Didn't you use a towel to wipe your face?"

"He exploded before I could use him." Geng Zhi glared at his son, "You are so smart!"

Erbao covered her face shyly. Ye Fan hurriedly took her hand away. Erbao was startled, "Mom?" Are you going to hit her?

Ye Fan: "Do you have any Fengyoujing on hand?"

Erbao hurriedly put his hands behind his back, afraid that he would accidentally raise his hands to rub his eyes.

Dabao asked cautiously, "Mom, I don't feel uncomfortable anymore. Can I really go to sleep?"

Ye Fan was happy: "Finally you told the truth? You didn't feel well just now, did you? Go ahead."

"You won't hit me secretly while I'm sleeping, will you?" Dabao asked.

Ye Fan: "The person you cheated is your father, not me, why should I hit you?"

Dabao jumped up and moved away from his father. Geng Zhiye was about to reach out to scare him, but he was a step too slow and missed. Dabao looked back and saw his father's hand was about to be put down. He was so scared that he took a few steps back and retreated to the door of his and his sister's bedroom.

Erbao was worried that her father would take his anger out on her because he didn’t catch her brother, so she quickly got up and hid in the bedroom.

Ye Fan looked at Dabao and asked, "Why aren't you sleeping yet?"

Dabao asked again: "You really won't beat me secretly?"

Ye Fan slapped him on the forehead, and Dabao climbed onto the bed with confidence after being hit. Seeing this, Ye Fan followed him in speechlessly and asked, "Are you hot?"

The eldest and second child didn’t dare to say they were hot, so they said they weren’t sweating.

Ye Fan piled up thin towel blankets where the eldest and second babies could reach them, because they needed to be covered in the shade at night.

When Geng Zhiye saw Ye Fan coming out of the children's room, he knew that the two kids were really asleep, so he asked softly, "Are you still reading?"

Ye Fan: "Are you still feeling uncomfortable?"

Geng Zhiye was speechless: "What do you think?"

Ye Fan sat down next to him with a textbook in his hand: "Then let me help you and distract you at the same time?"

Geng Zhiye nodded: "Speak!"

Ye Fan handed him the textbook. Geng Zhiye saw that it was a geography book and instantly understood what Ye Fan wanted him to do. Geng Zhiye closed the textbook and said, "You don't need to read a book for geography." After a little thought, he came up with a question, "Which is the largest hydropower station in the three northeastern provinces?"

Ye Fan was stumped by the question: "This?"

"You can't test this?" Geng Zhiye asked, "When Xiaoqin came to prepare for the exam, you reminded her to pay more attention to current affairs, but when it was your turn, you forgot?"

Ye Fan: "You know?"

Geng Zhiye nodded: "Baishan Hydropower Station. I saw it not long ago. But it's not completed yet."

"When was it repaired?" Ye Fan suspected that it was built in recent years.

Geng Zhiye saw what she was thinking and couldn't help but laugh: "It was approved in 1971, construction was prepared in 1972, and the main part of the hydropower station officially started in 1975. At that time, you had to work and take care of Dabao and Erbao. It's no wonder you didn't pay attention."

“I wasn’t comforted.”

Geng Zhiye said seriously: "The reason I asked this question is that I feel that you may be able to complete it before the college entrance examination. This is a big deal for the country and for individuals, so it is impossible not to mention it at all."

Ye Fan nodded to indicate that he had made note of it and asked Geng Zhiye to continue.

Geng Zhiye pondered for a moment but had no idea. Then a gust of wind came and he had an idea: "Where would a typhoon form an air vortex?"

Ye Fan was stumped again: "There are so many provinces and cities in our country, how can I know which place it is?"

Geng Zhiye laughed: "In the tropical ocean. You don't know which province specifically, but you can give a rough answer. It's like asking you where in our country rice can only be harvested once a year. You can answer the three northeastern provinces."

Ye Fan blinked and asked in disbelief, "Is that a good answer?"

Geng Zhiye: "Because there is more than one place in the three northeastern provinces where rice can be grown, you don't know the specific area, and the person who set the question must have thought of this. It is absolutely correct to give a general answer."

Ye Fan was taught: "Come again!"

"It will be difficult to come again." Geng Zhiye looked eastward, "There are two major seaports in Taiwan Province of our country. Which one is the southern port and which one is the northern port?"

Ye Fan was speechless: "And the one over there?"

"Isn't that our country's inherent territory?" Geng Zhiye asked.

Ye Fan blurted out: "Of course!"

"So it's not normal to have it on the geography test paper?" Geng Zhiye asked, "Did you only review the South China Sea Islands in terms of islands?"

Ye Fan suddenly felt so stupid: "Your question is simply - unpopular!"

It was the first time Geng Zhiye saw Ye Fan so frustrated. It was also the first time Ye Fan went to the island and was like the city people who went to the countryside and knew nothing. Five years have passed, and I almost forgot what she was like then. Today, seeing her frustrated and wanting to bang her head against the wall again, Geng Zhiye found it very novel: "Then I'll come up with a popular one? Where are the tea trees mainly distributed in my country south of——"

"South of the Qinling Mountains and the Huai River!" Ye Fan answered and looked at Geng Zhiye proudly.

Geng Zhiye: "You mean there is tea outside of Gusu City, on the shores of Taihu Lake?"

"Didn't you just say to give a general answer?"

Geng Zhiye: "But I haven't finished my question. What area is south of the Qinling Mountains and the Huai River?"

Ye Fan was speechless, unable to think of an answer, and said unhappily, "I don't know!"

"Qiu Ling." Geng Zhiye shook his head and sighed, "Ye Fanfan, what are you reviewing?"

Ye Fan hit him: "You still said——"

Geng Zhiye grabbed her hand and said, "In the previous exams, we didn't know the students' level. And because we haven't set college entrance examination questions for many years, the teachers must have been very careful when discussing the questions. They couldn't help but think about the candidates. With the experience gained in the past two years, next year's questions will definitely be very tricky. If you want to talk about unpopular questions, whether it's the three northeastern provinces, the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River, or even the desert, you can find them in geography books. You think these questions are unpopular, and when you see the test paper, you will be upset and will definitely perform poorly."

That makes sense! Ye Fan nodded: "Then I'll calm down."

Geng Zhiye: "How about changing history?"

"Then let's talk about history. I'll try. Don't make it too difficult." Geng Zhiye smiled and nodded: "Where was the capital of the Zhou Dynasty? We call the early Zhou Dynasty the Western Zhou Dynasty?"

Ye Fan's eyes lit up and he blurted out, "Haojing! It's the same place as the Western Han Dynasty and the Western Capital of the Tang Dynasty!"

Geng Zhiye thought about it carefully: "Correct. What about the next trip? The Treaty of Nerchinsk——"

"Stop, I haven't seen this yet, so I definitely don't know."

Geng Zhiye smiled and said, "There is progress, not a cold front."

"How could the Treaty of Nerchinsk be unpopular?" Ye Fan couldn't help but say.

Geng Zhiye: "It's not good to give oral questions about politics. How about we stop here today?"

"You go to sleep first, I'll take a look." Ye Fan snatched the geography book, moved a small stool to sit down, then took out draft paper and a pen to copy the knowledge points in the geography book.

Geng Zhiye didn't go to bed either and stayed with her until half past nine. Ye Fan couldn't help rubbing her eyes, so Geng Zhiye pulled her to rest.

The next morning, Ye Fan got up and recited the Qing Dynasty and modern history.

Geng Zhiye went to the market to buy some seafood and cooked seafood porridge.

Dabao and Erbao knew that their mother was going to take the college entrance examination. The two siblings hoped that their mother could be admitted to Beijing University, so they ran outside the door to practice Tai Chi, fearing that the noise would disturb their mother's reading.

The Liao family hadn't cooked yet, and Liao Miaomiao had nothing to do. She saw the two kids at the entrance of the alley and walked over to them: "Dabao, Erbao, you're not wearing yesterday's clothes?"

Dabao said in a low voice, "Speak softly, Sister Miaomiao, my mom forgot."

Erbao nodded: "Dad also forgot to ask us to change the clothes we washed yesterday."

Liao Miaomiao suspected that Ye Fan pretended not to see it, otherwise he would see the clothes in the yard when he opened the door, how could he forget it so easily, "Will you two watch the fun again in the future?"

Dabao shook his head: "Mom used to tell me to stay away so as not to get splashed with dirt. I thought she was used to saying this."

Erbao couldn't help but nodded: "I think so too. Sister Miaomiao, has my mother also encountered this?"

If Liao Miaomiao didn't go to the city to attend college, it would be difficult to answer. Because she had encountered this before, she asked, "Dabao, Erbao, have you seen a bus? When it rains, there is water on the road. If you get too close to the bus, will you get splashed with mud?"

The brother and sister suddenly realized that their mother was a city dweller and often took the bus, so it was no wonder that she knew so much.

Liao Miaomiao saw smoke coming out of her chimney: "My family is cooking, I'll go check it out."

When Liao Miaomiao arrived at her kitchen, she saw that her brother was alone, so she asked him to read a book while she made the fire. Liao's eldest brother was worried that his mother and sister would start a fight in the kitchen, so he said that making the fire was not tiring and he did not need his sister's help.

Liao Miaomiao said that Dabao and Erbao were practicing Tai Chi at the intersection. Liao Dadi immediately stood up, not because he liked Tai Chi so much, but because he liked the mystery of Tai Chi.

When he went back to his hometown last year, Liao Dadi performed Tai Chi. When the kids from his grandmother's neighborhood saw him, they treated him as the boss and said he was as good as the Kung Fu masters in old movies. Therefore, Liao Dadi always brought a group of younger brothers with him wherever he went. He looked so impressive.

However, when he went out, Dabao and Erbao were tired from practicing and planned to play something else.

Liao Dadi asked Erbao to practice military boxing, and in exchange, he took them to catch cicadas at night.

Dadi likes to eat cicadas, but Dabao and Erbao don't like them, but they like to go out and play at night. In order to explore with his friends, Erbao took the trouble to practice military boxing.

Dabao was more agile than Erbao, and he was better at military boxing than Erbao. Dabao corrected Liao Dadi's movements, and then watched Liao Dadi practice twice. Then the three of them went back home.

When Dabao and Erbao smelled the fragrance of rice in the living room, they pressed water to wash their faces without Ye Fan reminding them.

Seeing how sensible they were, Ye Fan put down his book and went to the kitchen to share with Geng Zhiye: "They behave very well every time they get into trouble."

Geng Zhiye: "Didn't you let them wear the same clothes they wore yesterday?"

Ye Fan: "I feel sick just looking at them. How can they eat after they put them on?"

Geng Zhiye: "You were so serious yesterday, I thought you really wanted them to wear it for a long time. It's better not to wear it, I don't know how many bacteria there are. But the two smart guys must have thought you forgot."

Ye Fan nodded: "Put it outside to dry in the sun. If they act naughty again, I'll remind them to put it on."

Geng Zhiye handed her the salad: "Sure. Just take the chopsticks and bowl, I'll bring the porridge over and you don't have to come back."

After dinner, Ye Fan went to the kitchen to wash the pots and dishes. Dabao and Erbao discussed whether to hide the clothes they wore yesterday. However, they were afraid that the clothes would suddenly disappear and their mother would remember them. The brother and sister had no better idea, so they decided to accompany their mother to read. Their mother was studying so hard that she didn't even know when they went out, so how could she remember yesterday's "threat"?

It was hot on the island during the day, and Ye Fan didn't want to go out. Until Geng Zhiye came back in the evening, Ye Fan didn't think about the "clothes stained with shit". Dabao and Erbao thought they had passed another hurdle.

After dinner, the brother and sister dared to "revert to their old ways" and wanted to go out to play. Geng Zhiye didn't want them to disturb Ye Fan from reading, so he said they would play until nine o'clock and come back.

The days are long and the nights are short. It was almost eight o'clock after dinner, and it was a bit early to play until nine o'clock, but the brother and sister did not dare to bargain and promised to be home before nine o'clock.

Hengshan Island has many mountains, trees and few people. Although there are children catching cicadas every night, you can still catch some, but the places we often go to are much less than before.

Erbao held the flashlight and Dabao was responsible for catching them. As a result, they caught three in ten minutes. Dabao thought it was too little and complained to Liao Dadi. Liao Dadi also thought five was too little and said he would go look somewhere else.

The children in the production team were still awake. Some of them heard Dabao and Dadi's voices and ran over, saying, "There are many people in the Martyrs' Forest. Do you dare to go?"

There are many trees around the Martyrs' Tomb, but they are in a mess and look like a mass grave at first glance. Geng Zhiye led his troops to repair it several times, planting flowers on the roadside, pine trees near the tombs, and other trees farther away. The Martyrs' Tomb is no longer a lonely and desolate tomb, but a martyrs' forest.

Because there are so many trees, it feels eerie. Some members of the production team passed by the martyrs' graves at night and heard people talking but didn't see anyone. They believed that the martyrs would come out at night and did not allow the children in the team to approach. As a result, no one disturbed the martyrs' forest and it became a playground for birds and insects.

In the past two years, the Martyrs' Forest has been particularly lively in the summer. The villagers living not far away can't sleep because of the cicadas chirping and the frogs croaking.

Dabao said, "I'm not afraid. Dad said that those buried there are all my dad's comrades-in-arms. My dad's comrades-in-arms are my uncles and they will definitely not scare me."

Liao Dadi was a little scared. When he heard Dabao's words, he couldn't help but say, "He is also my father's comrade-in-arms. Do you want to go?" he asked the children in the village.

Several children nodded: "Wait for us, we will go home to get the things." They quickly went home to get an enamel pot with a lid and asked Dabao to lead the way.

Dabao is so brave and foolish that he walks in front.

When we got close to the Martyrs' Forest, we could see several cicadas that had just crawled out by shining a flashlight. A group of children, both big and small, exclaimed, "There are so many!" and instantly forgot their fear.

Everyone returned home with a full load, and only realized where they had caught the cicadas when they got home. But nothing happened, there was no ghost as the adults had said, and these children became staunch atheists.

Because she was not afraid, Erbao showed off to her mother: "Mom, there are so many cicadas in the Martyrs' Forest. My brother and I caught so many in just half an hour. Mom, aren't we awesome?"

Ye Fan: "You are responsible for the quacks, and your brother is responsible for the random grabs?"

"No way!" Erbao climbed onto his mother's lap and held her face. "I'm warning you, take it back."

Ye Fan asked Geng Zhiye if the cicadas he caught were edible.

Geng Zhiye nodded: "Okay. We have raised the tomb by one or two meters in recent years. Even if the cicada was caught on the top of the tomb, it is impossible for it to crawl out from the innermost part."

Dabao asked: "Mom, what does Dad mean?"

Ye Fan: "What you mean is that I'm afraid the cicadas crawled out of the grave."

"We didn't go to the grave." Dabao thought carefully: "Big brother said it's impolite to step on the grave, it's like playing on someone's head. We caught it outside."

Erbao nodded to prove that his brother was not lying: "There are a lot of them on the roadside."

Ye Fan: "No one caught him?"

Geng Zhiye thought of the Shanxi production team members' belief that the martyrs would come out at night: "Except for the people who grow honey, no one should go in there."

Ye Fan recalled the time when she went to Shanxi Brigade to exchange rice cakes and saw with her own eyes that the members of the commune were running and walking when they passed by the tomb of the dead. "Then leave it there. I'll make it for you two tomorrow morning."

Dabao and Erbao said in unison: "Will you do it?"

Ye Fan: "You two do it yourselves?"

Dabao shook his head: "Mom, do it. Mom, I'm going to take a shower."

Ye Fan: "Do you want to add some floral water to the bathtub?"

Dabao didn't dare to try, and shook his head in fear, "Dad, hurry up!"

Geng Zhiye had finished washing, but he didn't mind rinsing it again.

Ye Fan gave Erbao a bath, and then wiped herself after washing her.

The two children went back to the house, and Ye Fan and Geng Zhiye returned to the living room again. Geng Zhiye accompanied her to study history.

The next morning, Geng Zhiye went to the army and wrote a letter to his second brother, saying that he would not be going back this summer vacation and asked him to help find a few sets of college entrance examination questions, even those written by others would be fine.

Several sets of test papers were sent to the army. Geng Zhiye copied down the questions and then took them home at night when he could go home to watch Ye Fan write them.

On the first test, Ye Fan answered half of the questions correctly. Geng Zhiye helped her correct the test and said, "With this score, you can only go to Hangzhou Teachers College. By the way, you may have to take English in the college entrance examination next year."

In the past two years, English majors have taken the English test. People like Liao Miaomiao and Su Yuanhang, who don't plan to study foreign languages, don't have to take the English test.

Ye Fan nodded: "I don't need to review my English. I just need to review it a month before the exam. But this score is a far cry from Peking University."

Geng Zhiye: "It's great that you can write like this for the first time. Besides, how long have you been reviewing? And you're not reviewing wholeheartedly. Do a few more sets to understand the pattern of the questions, and you will know how to review in the future."

"That's right. I still have a year." Ye Fan didn't care where his children went to play because he had to review. But he didn't expect that they really forgot the pain after the wound healed.

One day in early August, Liao Miaomiao suddenly ran to Ye Fan's house and said that Dabao and Erbao were going to the beach.

Ye Fan followed Liao Miaomiao to the beach. The two kids were playing with sand in the shade next to the rocks. There were several children in the sea, two of whom were Liao Dadi and Liao Xiaomei, floating face up.

Liao Miaomiao was so angry that she yelled, "Liao Lele!"

Liao Lele hurriedly pulled her sister up.

Liao Miaomiao's anxious heart finally settled down, so she asked, "Dabao, Erbao, why didn't you two go down?"

Dabao: "If daddy is not here and a big wave comes, I won't be able to see mom and dad."

Erbao nodded: "I don't want to go to the old Dragon King's house. It must be fishy and smelly!" After saying that, he walked away with a wrinkled nose and a look of disgust on his face.

Ye Fan was speechless but wanted to laugh: "You two are so obedient, then wait for dad to come back and ask dad to take you swimming."

Erbao turned to his brother and raised his eyebrows. Am I right? Mom will definitely ask Dad to accompany us into the water when she sees how obedient we are.

(End of this chapter)