AYLS – Chapter 126

After finishing her work, Lin Qiao sat under the oil lamp that evening and wrote a letter to Gu Huayuan.

“Dear Comrade Gu Huayuan, I greet you through this letter. Thank you for your concern about my work; I had been wanting to write to you as well.

Although the work has already begun, judging by the current progress, it will still take a long time before it reaches the results I anticipate.

And during this period of struggle, I’ve grown even more passionate about what I’m doing. So I have an idea now—I want to turn this chicken farm into the largest chicken farm in the entire country. It’s an ambitious goal, and by my estimation, it won’t be achievable in just eight or ten years. But I believe… you’ll understand me, won’t you?”

…“Looking forward to your reply.”

After finishing the letter, Lin Qiao slipped it into an envelope and went to sleep in a very good mood.

That night, she even dreamed of Gu Huayuan being angry—she smiled so much her mouth couldn’t close.

Early the next morning, she hurried to the mailroom to send the letter, even asking specifically how long it would take to arrive.

The soldier in the mailroom told her that internal military correspondence used a special channel, so it was quite fast—about a week.

Lin Qiao still felt it was too slow. She couldn’t help missing the old days when a simple text message solved everything.

Sigh… this world still needed many, many more years to develop.

If only she had learned some technical skills back then—after arriving in this world, she might have been able to help.

The only skills she currently knew were all things she learned after coming to this era. Honestly, it was a bit embarrassing.

When she returned to the poultry farm, she told Su Weizhen about the letter. “I told him directly that I’m putting down roots here. I’m not going to look for him. I love my work more now, and I’ll dedicate my life to the poultry industry.”

“He’s concerned about my work, right? So I wrote about work. I can’t spoil him. Tell me, isn’t it outrageous that he’s so stingy he can’t even say a few sweet words?”

Su Weizhen couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll ask Old Xu later and see what your Old Gu’s reaction is.”

“He’ll definitely be grinding his teeth in anger.”

“Not necessarily. Comrade Gu Huayuan has a high level of ideological awareness. Maybe he’ll support you.”

“Impossible! He’s not that generous. I know him too well.”

Su Weizhen smiled. Little Qiao’s personality really was like a child—impulsive and unpredictable.

She wondered whether Comrade Gu Huayuan would fall for the trick.

Wait—no, that wasn’t right. She had already told Old Xu she’d visit in a while… hopefully Gu Huayuan wouldn’t go looking for Old Xu.

A week later, sure enough, Gu Huayuan received the letter. He didn’t even eat first—just grabbed his lunch box and rushed back to his dormitory.

His single, unmarried comrades immediately teased him.

He always acted so tough, but the moment a letter from his wife arrived, he couldn’t keep up the act.

Everyone started guessing what the “sister-in-law” was like. Regardless of whether she was pretty, she must be fierce—otherwise, how could she keep the company commander in line?

When Gu Huayuan began reading the letter, his face was full of smiles.

Lin Qiao’s handwriting was as beautiful as she was.

Just looking at the characters felt like seeing her in person. His heart felt warm and light.

But after opening the letter and reading the contents, his smile stiffened… and stiffened more… until, by the end, the smile on his face carried a touch of coldness.

First, he let out a small laugh, completely involuntary, then he put the letter back into the envelope.

He opened his lunch box and began eating the now-lukewarm food.

After he finished, he cleaned his lunch box, tidied up, and went to find Xu Yuanzheng.

Xu Yuanzheng was also busy—even more so than Gu Huayuan. The construction tasks for the border fortifications were heavy.

Border defenses were no trivial matter. He had to inspect the area daily, checking for any weaknesses.

It had been a long time since he and Gu Huayuan had seen each other.

When Gu Huayuan arrived, Xu Yuanzheng was eating while looking at construction blueprints.

Seeing him, he was visibly excited. “Old Gu! How do you have time to come? Aren’t you busy? When did you get back?”

Gu Huayuan had only been back a few days before he immediately led his unit out again for training and reconnaissance.

“I came back last week,” he said. “You’re pretty busy too, huh?”

“Yeah, but it feels great,” Xu replied with a big smile.

Building fortifications was nothing like opening up wasteland.

“Take care of yourself,” Gu Huayuan said. “Don’t make your family worry. Speaking of that, did your wife write? When’s she coming to visit?”

“She did. I got her letter recently. She said she’ll be here by the end of summer at the latest.”

“Oh—by the end of summer.”

“Yeah. It’s too hot now, and I’d worry if she traveled.”

Gu Huayuan nodded with a smile. “My Xiao Qiao said the same thing.”

“Then why’d you even ask me? Of course the two of them planned it together. And honestly, our two wives get along so well. I’m really happy about it. My wife used to be like a lone wolf, but after making a friend, she’s completely different now—so much happier.”

He wanted to keep chatting, but Gu Huayuan wasn’t interested. He patted Xu’s shoulder, said a few encouraging words, and left.

“You’re leaving already?” Xu asked.

“Yeah. I need to go back and write to Xiao Qiao.”

He waved without looking back.

His reply came very quickly.

Meanwhile, Lin Qiao had completely forgotten she was waiting for a letter.

The warm weather meant the chicks’ survival rate was high. With more workers joining the poultry farm, they finally had enough hands—perfect for expanding operations.

Lin Qiao was busy from morning to evening. After finishing the day’s tasks, she still had to train groups of workers on rotation, teaching them how to manage the farm.

At night, she studied on her own to keep improving herself.

When a soldier delivered the letter, she suddenly remembered she had been waiting for one.

She quickly tore it open, eager to see how angry Gu Huayuan had been.

But after reading it, her eyes widened, and her lips pouted in frustration. “You want to act tough? Fine. Keep acting! If you keep this up, I really won’t go!”

In the letter, Gu Huayuan fully supported her dreams and her career.

He even wrote that no matter how long it took, he would wait for her.

He sounded so understanding it was almost excessive.

Lin Qiao was speechless. This was not the result she wanted.

She grabbed the letter and stormed off to find Su Weizhen to complain.

Su Weizhen laughed. “So he really got mad.”

“I seriously want to march over there and pinch him hard,” Lin Qiao said, rubbing her itching fingers. “He really doesn’t miss me at all, Zhenzhen. You were wrong last time—he truly doesn’t miss me.”

“How could that be? Comrade Gu Huayuan is just too principled. He keeps his love in his heart and doesn’t dare say it out loud. Even if he misses you, he wouldn’t put it into words.”

“I don’t believe it. He just doesn’t miss me. Look, I even said I wouldn’t go for eight or ten years, and he’s still not anxious at all.”

Su Weizhen laughed. “Then what are you planning to do now?”

“I need to hurry up and finish the work here. I have to go find him and settle accounts with him.” Lin Qiao huffed angrily. In her heart, she wished she could see Gu Huayuan immediately and make a huge fuss at him.

Su Weizhen: “…”

If she wasn’t overthinking it, didn’t Xiaoqiao sound like she had walked right into some kind of trap?

Forget it, she shouldn’t comment on this. Getting involved in a couple’s emotions was asking for trouble.

As the weather warmed, the chicken farm grew livelier. Everywhere you looked, little chicks were running around—some in the early stage, some in the growing stage.

What was especially worth mentioning was that the land near the chicken farm, where they had planted spring wheat in March, was now showing excellent growth.

Because the wheat and soybean seeds had come from the same source, and because of the high soybean yield last time, the brigade leaders were filled with anticipation for the wheat as well.

The brigade cadres often came by to check on the results here. The soybeans from before hadn’t been as visually obvious, but this time the comparison was stark—this wheat was clearly growing far better than wheat in other fields. Obviously superior to ordinary wheat fields.

The brigade fenced off the entire wheat field and then asked Su Weizhen again about the details of where she bought the seeds.

Because too much time had passed, Su Weizhen naturally couldn’t provide more clues, and the seller of the seeds couldn’t be found either.

The brigade leaders discussed it and decided that once this batch of wheat was harvested, they would send the seeds to the provincial agricultural research institute for study. They wanted to find out the reason.

They speculated whether the seeds were actually ordinary wheat that just happened to be especially well-suited to the soil here.

Otherwise, how could such good wheat seeds have gone undiscovered by others?

Hearing their guesses, Su Weizhen finally felt relieved.

No one in this era could ever imagine the existence of a spatial dimension.

When she left the office, Lin Qiao was waiting outside. Seeing her come out safely, she immediately ran over and pulled her away.

“Nothing happened, right, Zhenzhen?” Lin Qiao was extremely nervous, terrified that Su Weizhen had accidentally revealed something.

Su Weizhen shook her head. “They just asked about the situation back then. The leaders said the seeds might not be anything special—maybe they simply adapted well to the soil and climate here. So they grew well.”

Lin Qiao finally let out a long breath and nodded quickly. “Right, right, right. I’ve heard people say this before—‘oranges grown south of Huai River are oranges; north of it they become trifoliate.’ Some things really only grow well in certain places. Do the leaders have any plans?”

“They plan to send the seeds to the province for research after harvest. Anyway, whatever they do, when we leave, we need to apply to take some soybean seeds and wheat seeds with us, to grow in the new place.”

Lin Qiao said, “We need to take chicklings too!”

Both of them understood—what happened here could be explained away as coincidence, but if they suddenly started from scratch somewhere else, they really wouldn’t be able to explain it.

Better to take things from here.

The chicken farm now had several thousand chickens, with laying hens making up about one-quarter of them. They collected eggs by the basketful every day.

A large portion of these eggs was traded with the provincial chicken farm, exchanged for money and more eggs. This brought a significant income to their farm.

This income was much higher than what the military families earned through reclaiming wasteland before.

At the very least, the children could now eat one egg a day. The soldiers’ canteen also had some meat dishes.

The brigade planned to keep the chicken farm from expanding too big since manpower was limited, but they still wanted it to help other brigades develop their own chicken farms.

They hoped every construction brigade could eventually be self-sufficient.

But those plans no longer involved Lin Qiao and Su Weizhen.

Because after the wheat matured in July, they both planned to leave.

Management had people to take over; the technical work also had someone assigned. The chicken farm was stable now, and their presence wasn’t essential anymore.

It was better to leave early, while the weather was still warm, and start incubating new chicks in their next location to raise a new flock.

The brigade leaders had long known they were planning to leave, so they approved the application early and even communicated with Gu Huayuan’s border unit. That way, when Lin Qiao and the others arrived, they wouldn’t have to worry about having nothing to do.

When Lin Qiao heard they had even notified him in advance, she instantly felt disappointed. She had planned to catch Gu Huayuan off guard.

Su Weizhen said with a laugh, “Impossible. There are procedures and handovers all along the way. Otherwise, we’d hardly be able to move.”

“Fine. I’ll settle accounts with him when I get there.”

Once the application was approved, the military families working at the chicken farm all heard the news as well.

Everyone already knew they would leave sooner or later, but they were still reluctant to part with them.

Sister-in-law Wang held onto Lin Qiao and Su Weizhen’s hands and began reminiscing about the old days.

Back then, the children had to go catch wild bird eggs if they wanted to eat anything with nutrients. Now they could eat chicken eggs, and they had all grown healthier.

The military families used to go to the fields every day to earn work points just to get enough food. Now, with chicken farming, their lives were much better.

Others listened and also thought of the days before the chicken farm existed. Day after day of reclaiming wasteland, yet the harvests were low. Later they could finally fill their stomachs, but they still couldn’t eat a bite of meat all year. Adults could endure, but the children couldn’t—who wouldn’t be anxious? Things were different now. There was hope. Every week they got eggs, and every month they received a few yuan.

Li Ermei also recalled her old life and compared it with her current one—it felt like she had lived two completely different lives.

Li Yan didn’t speak. She gently touched her belly and quietly wiped her tears.

Even Lin Qiao felt emotional hearing all this. She forced a smile and said, “Comrades, all these changes are good things, and we should be happy. Even though Zhenzhen and I are leaving, we’re very at ease. Because your dedication to the chicken farm is no less than ours. You’re even more hardworking and attentive. I believe the chicken farm will only get better and better. And when we go to the new place, we’ll continue raising chickens so that more people can eat eggs. We’ll treat chicken farming as a lifelong mission.”

Sister-in-law Wang immediately took the lead in applauding.

The others followed with applause as well.

Lin Qiao gave an embarrassed smile. “Anyway, I really want to thank everyone for taking care of me and being so tolerant when I first arrived. I’m also very reluctant to part with all of you. In the future, I’ll think of you often.”

Goodbye, everyone. Once I leave this time… I’ll never see you again.

Li Ermei said, “Why are you being so sentimental? Seriously, you’re making me want to cry. Hurry and go back to pack your things. Don’t worry about anything here. When I have free time, I’ll come visit you. And you all have to come back often too.”

Hearing that, Lin Qiao couldn’t help hugging her. “Ermei, I really will think of you often in the future. Take good care of yourself, okay?”

Don’t quarrel anymore. Don’t go down the same old path again.

On her way around, she hugged Li Yan as well, telling her not to return to the capital—she should stay at the chicken farm and raise chickens properly.

She hugged Sister-in-law Wang and thanked her for always looking after her.

Then she hugged the other military wives, reminding them to pay more attention to their children’s growth. Make sure the kids keep studying—don’t let them slack off or go climbing trees.

Su Weizhen stood beside her, rubbing her forehead before coughing lightly. “Comrade Xiao Qiao, we still need two or three more days to finish packing. No need to say goodbye in such a hurry.”

Lin Qiao: “…”