“Alright, then we won’t go to the capital. Let’s eat, grandfather. I made your favorite potato and kidney bean stew today. It’s very delicious.” Qiao Mei put down the tableware to have a meal with her grandfather.
“Our Mei Mei’s culinary skills are getting better and better! That kid Xia Zhe really has it good,” Qiao Qiang said with a smile.
“Hahaha, I wonder how he’s been recently,” Qiao Mei said.
“Why, do you miss him, but it’s about time his letter gets here. Don’t worry, it’ll be here tomorrow or the day after,” Qiao Qiang said.
“Yes, yes, I’m not in a hurry!” The truth was that Qiao Mei actually counted the days in her heart every day, looking forward to the day his letter arrived.
It was really like what Qiao Qiang said. The letter arrived on the third day and it was the young postman who delivered it. Qiao Mei’s face had looked tense for the past two days but she was finally all smiles now. She had wondered if something had happened to Xia Zhe, preventing him from replying.
The letter was similar to his usual letters. He wrote about the many interesting things that happened during training and that he had won first place in a competition against his comrades in the army. In her last letter, Qiao Mei asked Xia Zhe to think of a name for their child. This time, Xia Zhe addressed her request in his letter, but she felt that the names he suggested were a mess.
Xia Zhe wrote that if the child was a boy, he would name him Xia Guo, Xia Zhuang or Xia Qiang. If it was a girl, he would name her Xia Lan, Xia Fang or Xia Juan.
Qiao Mei did not even want to hear these names and thought that she might as well name the children herself. There were countless names in the village using these same few words. No, no, definitely not. She could not let her children have such names. In the future, when they went to school and the teachers called out the names, there would definitely be a few other people who would reply to the same name. That would be too awkward and the children would have no recognizability at all. She had to think of other ways to name the children without dampening Xia Zhe’s enthusiasm. It appeared that this matter would have to wait until the children were born.
She still had not informed Xia Zhe that she was pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl, and she wondered about his expression on the day when she told him. Qiao Mei unfolded the letter to read it again and realized that Xia Zhe had also mentioned in the letter that he would not be able to come back for next month’s holiday as he had promised. He wrote that he was going to Gushan and that she should send letters and packages there in the future. However, he would only contact Qiao Mei when he got there as his trip was supposed to be a secret.
Qiao Mei hurriedly got up and looked at the calendar. It was the year 1971 and only one month and eight days away from the day of the great earthquake. The letter would have been posted a few days ago. In that case, Xia Zhe would definitely be at the earthquake zone when it happened!
She remembered it was recorded that hundreds of thousands of people died in that earthquake. Could Xia Zhe be one of them? No, there could not be such a coincidence!
The original owner of the body did not have many memories of Xia Zhe spending time with her, but Xia Zhe was a very responsible person. Every month, he would send his salary to the original owner of the body so that she would be able to support herself and the children. However, later on, the person who transferred the money eventually changed from Xia Zhe to his uncle, Qin Dong. Why did the change happen?
The original owner of the body was illiterate and she was satisfied as long as she received the money. So long as she had food to eat, she would not think about anything else. Could it be that he did not like the original owner of the body so he asked someone else to transfer the money on his behalf? Then why was it Xia Zhe’s uncle instead of the communications officer from the army?
No, something must have gone wrong somewhere. Could it be that Xia Zhe was there during that earthquake! That he did not abandon the original owner of the body! No, Xia Zhe could not die. Qiao Mei clenched her fists and stared at the date on the calendar. She carefully and repeatedly counted the dates, afraid that she would miscount and miss out on a day. She did not know whether Xia Zhe had already set off, as he did not mention when he would be going and only told her a rough plan.
The letter in Qiao Mei’s hand was extremely wrinkled. By the time Qiao Mei realized it, it had already been crumpled into a ball. Qiao Mei hurriedly took the letter to the brick bed and spread it out. She carefully pressed a book on it to flatten the creases, hoping that it could still revert to its original state. Qiao Mei sat on the brick bed and sighed. She took out the pendant that she wore on her chest as it glittered with a dark green light. Qiao Mei made up her mind and held the pendant tightly with both hands. She had decided to go and look for Xia Zhe!
Qiao Mei walked to the courtyard to look for Qiao Qiang and said firmly to him, “Grandfather, I’m going to Gu.. no, I’m going to the capital!”
Qiao Mei almost told Qiao Qiang of her real destination. She thought that it was better not to let her grandfather know about it so that he would not worry.