RPAGF Chapter 402 The Beloved Little Sister 37
Chapter 402 The Beloved Little Sister 37
Inside the envelope was a stack of blueprints. You Yong excitedly unfolded them: "Look at this."
The drawing shows a single-story house with a yard, labeled "Military-Civilian Joint Construction Pilot Project".
"This is......"
"The division headquarters approved my purchase of a residential plot in Lijia Village near the garrison!" You Yong explained excitedly. "The current policy allows the military and rural areas to jointly build housing. The land only costs 800 yuan, and we'll pay for the construction ourselves!"
Ji Xiaosong carefully examined the blueprints: four main rooms, two side rooms, a total usable area of 120 square meters, plus half an acre of vegetable garden.
"How much does it cost?"
"It'll come to about five thousand yuan in total," You Yong said in a low voice. "I've calculated it. Our savings plus this year's dividends from the medicinal herbs will be just enough."
Ji Xiaosong's eyes lit up: "That yard can be used to grow medicinal herbs!"
“That’s right!” You Yong nodded with a smile. “The political commissar gave special approval. This is a ‘military-civilian joint construction demonstration base for medicinal herb planting.’ The military provides the building materials quota, and we find people to build it ourselves.”
The two did a detailed calculation overnight:
Each red brick costs 3 cents, and 20,000 bricks are needed, which is 600 yuan.
The timber was cut from the mountains near You Yong's hometown; only the transportation cost was paid.
The roof tiles were made from old, decommissioned military train carriages, costing almost nothing...
"It's settled then!" Ji Xiaosong slammed his hand on the table. "If we're going to build, let's build the best!"
The next day, You Yong took personal leave and went to Lijia Village with the approval document to complete the formalities.
When the village chief heard that the "King of Soldiers" was coming to settle down, he immediately designated a sunny plot of land near the road.
"Commander You," the village chief said warmly, "our village construction team can help, and we'll pay the lowest possible wages!"
Meanwhile, Ji Xiaosong was not idle either.
She consulted with experienced traditional Chinese medicine doctors at a military hospital and designed a special drying platform and storage room for medicinal herbs.
He also asked Zhou Xiaomei to get some leftover materials from the textile factory to make curtains and duvet covers.
A month later, construction began on the new house.
You Yong led several veteran comrades to lay the foundation, while Ji Xiaosong was in charge of supervising the construction.
When the villagers heard that the "King of Soldiers" was building a house, they all came to help. Some brought their own pickled vegetables, and others volunteered to help with the work.
"This house is really impressive!" the villagers who came to see what was going on exclaimed in amazement. "There are four main rooms, two side rooms, and such a big courtyard!"
You Yong wiped his sweat and pointed to the planning map to explain: "We will live in two main rooms, one for my mother and one for the living room; one of the side rooms will be used as a kitchen and the other for storing medicinal herbs."
What pleased Ji Xiaosong the most was the design of the backyard: half an acre of land was divided into neat ridges, specifically for planting indigo and astragalus; a chicken coop and pigsty were also built in the corner, making it completely self-sufficient.
At the end of the year, the new house was finally completed.
The day of the move caused quite a stir in the military!
This is no ordinary farmhouse!
The courtyard with white walls and gray tiles, neat glass windows, and cement-plastered floors is even more sophisticated than the buildings in the city!
The political commissar came in person to offer his congratulations, and looking at the yard full of medicinal herb seedlings, he nodded repeatedly: "Excellent! This is a model of joint military-civilian construction!"
You Yong smiled憨厚ly: "It's all thanks to the support of the army. Look at these doors and windows, they're all made from steel plates from decommissioned armored vehicles; the roof beams are timbers used for training ladders..."
Ji Xiaosong then led the women in decorating the new house.
Wang Xiuhua arrived early and hung the red silk cloth she had prepared beforehand on the lintel of the main room.
Mother You was busy setting up the iron pot she had brought from her hometown in the kitchen;
Four children chased after their newly adopted puppy in the yard, their laughter filling the entire space.
As night fell, after seeing off the last group of guests, Ji Xiaosong stood in the courtyard, gazing at the starry sky.
You Yong wrapped his arms around her from behind: "What are you thinking about?"
"Thinking about how far we've come..." Ji Xiaosong said softly, "from a 60-square-meter dormitory to our current farmhouse..."
You Yong kissed the top of her head: "This is just the beginning. Once the medicinal herbs are planted, we'll build a two-story house!"
Under the moonlight, the silhouettes of a family of six were reflected in the brand-new glass window.
This farmhouse, built in 1986 at a cost of 5,000 yuan, may not be as grand as an apartment building in the city, but it has spacious bedrooms, a bountiful vegetable garden, a drying yard filled with the aroma of herbs, and the laughter of children running around.
This is their most precious home.
*
Life went on at a leisurely pace, and the four children grew up slowly.
In the blink of an eye, the four children are already six years old.
Spring came exceptionally early this year.
The willow trees at the entrance of Lijia Village had just sprouted tender buds when Ji Xiaosong's courtyard was already bustling with activity.
"Mom! Come and see!" Wei Guo ran out of the side room barefoot, holding a small stone slab covered with numbers, his little face full of excitement.
The six-year-old child has already grown to 1.2 meters tall, looking just like a tall, straight little poplar tree.
Ji Xiaosong put down the drying herbs, took the stone slab, and stared wide-eyed at it.
There were ten neatly arranged addition and subtraction problems for three-digit numbers, and they were all solved correctly.
"You calculated all of this yourself?" She squatted down and gently brushed the bits of grass off her son's hair.
Wei Guo proudly puffed out his chest: "Grandpa Wang taught me the long division algorithm yesterday, and I practiced it until midnight!"
Then, lowering his voice mysteriously, he added, "I've also discovered a pattern: when any number is multiplied by 9, the tens digit of the result is always 1 less than the original number, and the sum of the units digit and the tens digit equals 9!"
Upon hearing this, Mrs. You, who was feeding the chickens in the yard, almost dropped the winnowing basket in her hand: "Good heavens, how old is this child? He's already figured out the trick of multiplication?"
Before the words were even finished, Weimin rushed in from the backyard like a whirlwind, waving a wooden pistol in his hand: "Mom! I took Dad's model gun apart and put it back together!"
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a toy gun made by Yu Yong for the children using discarded parts, which had been broken for half a month.
"You... how do you know how to fix this?" Ji Xiaosong took the gun and found that every part fit perfectly.
“I watch Dad polish the gun every day!” Weimin blinked his tiger-like eyes, which were just like You Yong’s. “I even improved the firing pin; now it can shoot pebbles farther!”
Just then, a clear child's voice came from the herb garden: "Mom, this Isatis indigotica plant needs to be divided."
Five-year-old An'an was squatting in the medicinal herb field, gently touching the soil around the roots of the herbs with her little hands. "Look," she said, "the side shoots have already grown three true leaves. Now is the time when the transplanting success rate is the highest."
Ji Xiaosong walked over quickly and found that what her daughter said was absolutely true.
What surprised her even more was that the small wooden signs hanging on the medicinal herbs next to her had the words "Astragalus" and "Angelica" written crookedly on them, along with the corresponding plant shapes drawn. This was actually the "masterpiece" of four-year-old Kang Kang.
"Did you teach all of this?" That evening, when You Yong returned from training, Ji Xiaosong couldn't wait to tell him about the children's performance.
You Yong's hand, which was wiping sweat, froze in mid-air: "How could I teach these things? I've never even seen Wei Min repair a gun. He must have learned by secretly watching me maintain weapons."
The couple exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise and worry in each other's eyes.
In fact, they had already discovered the extraordinary talents of the four children:
Wei Guo could count to one thousand at the age of three, and taught himself to use an abacus at the age of four.
When Wei Min was five years old, he could fold You Yong's military uniform with sharp corners, which was more standard than many new recruits.
An'an's ability to recognize medicinal herbs even amazed the veteran Chinese medicine doctors in the army;
Although Kang Kang was the quietest, he could remember every story he heard and even imitated the tone of voice perfectly.
“The children are so smart, but there’s only one privately-run teacher in the village…” Ji Xiaosong stirred the porridge in the pot with worry. “Teacher Wang only graduated from junior high school. How can he teach them?”
Just as You Yong was about to speak, a melodious harmonica tune suddenly drifted from the courtyard.
The two ran to the window and saw Kang Kang sitting under the pear tree, playing "The East Is Red" on the wind in a very professional manner. Although he was still a bit unaccustomed to it, his pitch and rhythm were perfect.
"Where did this harmonica come from?" You Yong asked in surprise.
“It was missed when Staff Officer Li visited last month,” Ji Xiaosong murmured, “This child only listened to the radio twice…”
In the stillness of the night, after the four little ones had fallen asleep, the couple had a long talk under the lamp.
"We need to find a way to give children a better education." You Yong flipped through a book on child psychology that he had borrowed from the military library. "The book says that if gifted children do not receive proper guidance, it can backfire."
Ji Xiaosong stroked the arithmetic problems Wei Guo had done that day, then her eyes suddenly lit up: "Do you remember Professor Zhang from the division hospital? He said his wife works at the provincial education department..."
Three days later, a military green jeep drove into Lijia Village.
Besides Professor Zhang, a refined lady wearing glasses also got out of the car.
"This is my wife, Lin Mei, from the Basic Education Department of the Provincial Department of Education," Professor Zhang introduced. "I heard you have four child prodigies, so I came to see you."
Lin Mei squatted down and used building blocks, drawings, and other tools she carried with her to conduct a simple test on the four children.
The test wasn't even over yet, but excitement was already gleaming behind her glasses.
"Incredible!" she exclaimed, grabbing Ji Xiaosong's hand. "Weiguo's mathematical talent is at least equivalent to that of a teenager; Weimin's spatial reasoning ability far surpasses that of his peers; An'an's observation and memory are phenomenal; and Kang Kang's musical talent is truly exceptional!"
"Then... what should we do?" Ji Xiaosong asked, feeling both proud and apprehensive.
Lin Mei pushed up her glasses: "The Provincial Experimental Primary School has a gifted children's class, but..." She hesitated, "...it only accepts children with urban household registration."
Seeing the couple's disappointed expressions, Professor Zhang suddenly slapped his thigh: "I have a solution! The military is currently conducting a 'military-civilian joint education pilot program' with the province, which allows for the special recruitment of children of military personnel!"
Thanks to the efforts of Professor Zhang and his wife, the four children qualified for the entrance test of the provincial experimental primary school.
On the day of the exam, all the teachers in the school came to watch this special "quadruplet prodigy test".
Wei Guo finished the third-grade math test in just ten minutes;
In his handicraft class, Weimin made a repeating crossbow out of wood that could launch rubber bands.
An'an accurately identified twenty kinds of Chinese medicinal herbs;
Kang Kang then used the school's paintbrush to spontaneously paint a picture of "Ji Family Village".
The principal immediately decided: "Admit all students exceptionally! Tuition will be waived!"
But new problems arose: the school was in the city, more than 30 miles from home.