Chapter 361 Peking Duck

Tang Cuimei knew that Zhou Xing had come to comfort her out of kindness, but she was still deeply troubled by her classmate's sudden death.

It wasn't that she was particularly kind, nor did she sympathize with her family or donate money or goods for her funeral arrangements.

No, she did nothing. She just watched coldly as her parents sought compensation from the school, made trouble with the military, and even caused trouble at the hospital.

Such a sensible girl, yet she has such a distressing family background.

No one was saddened by her death; instead, they kept demanding various forms of compensation based on it.

They even went so far as to ask, "If we sell my sister's body to your medical school for research, how much compensation will we get?"

The reason is that the journey is long, and by the time the body is brought back, it will have already started to rot. They wanted to dispose of the body on the spot and make some extra money at the same time.

What bothered her most was that this girl should have been able to make a name for herself, but instead, she tragically died young.

What's even more disheartening is the attitude of her family members. To be honest, they have the same attitude as the people from the Tang family's main branch, which is utterly disgusting.

She didn't know how much money they received when they left; all she knew was that Cao Limei remained at their medical school forever, becoming a great cadaver teacher.

Because of her death, her classmates remained silent for a long time. Although everyone knew it was an accident, no one was feeling good. Now, when Tang Cuimei saw Zhou Xing again, she couldn't help but recall the tragedy of that day from the green color on his clothes.

Zhou Xing, observing Tang Cuimei's expression, noticed that she looked a little unhappy. He assumed it was because of his earlier words and was trying to think of a sincere apology. However, Cuimei was also understanding and smiled gently at him to comfort him.

"Brother Xing, don't be nervous. I just don't have an appetite. We've got nothing else to do, so let's go for a walk around the neighborhood. Are you on temporary assignment, or will you stay in Beijing permanently?"

"My transfer to Beijing was a temporary assignment, but I was transferred from Chongqing to Shijiazhuang next door after May 1st. I am now under the jurisdiction of the Hebei Provincial Military Region."

Tang Cuimei glanced at his military rank: "I remember the last time you came home you were a lieutenant, deputy company commander, and now you're a captain?"

Zhou Xing smiled modestly, his eyes sparkling with pride: "I'm already a captain, a deputy battalion-level officer."

Tang Cuimei asked in surprise, "You've been promoted really fast! What about Niu Feng? Has he been promoted?"

"Hmm, he's not coming either. He's also a captain, a company commander, but he's already been transferred to the neighboring West Market."

A 22-year-old deputy battalion commander? He joined the army before he was 15 and has been in it for eight or nine years now. He is indeed a good candidate for military service.

Tang Cuimei didn't really know much about soldiers, but she knew that this guy's current salary and allowance should be around a hundred yuan.

Niu Feng and he had the same military rank, but different positions, and the difference in their salaries was negligible.

Such a salary was quite amazing in 1961.

Despite saying he didn't want to eat, Zhou Xing still dragged Tang Cuimei to eat roast duck. All the scallion sauces were only available to those eating roast duck, costing two cents per serving. The roast duck cost six to eight yuan each. They also ordered a few side dishes and a large bowl of duck bone soup for four cents. In the end, the bill came to ten yuan and eight cents.

A meal costs nearly eleven yuan, which is expensive for Zhou Xing and Tang Cuimei, but such opportunities are rare.

Especially since it's a delicious meal that requires queuing for an hour and a half, even if Cui Mei didn't have an appetite to begin with, she would get hungry after queuing for an hour or two.

"I'll take a bus back to Shijiazhuang after dinner. Are you a sophomore or junior this year?"

"I'll be a junior in college this fall."

"Okay, I'll send you some local specialties from Shijiazhuang later. By the way, did you go back home after the disaster?"

Tang Cuimei shook her head, "I only sent one hundred yuan back."

"Uncle Tao sent me a telegram to let me know I was safe in the mountain city, and my old work unit called to inform me."

I called my uncle again and found out they were all safe and sound. I only sent back fifty yuan.

Why are you sending so much money? Don't you have enough money of your own?

"I'm currently helping out at a traditional Chinese medicine clinic near the school, and I earn about 10 or 20 yuan a month,"

This is the money she has publicly displayed. She also helps the clinic with patient care on the side. Her skills have been proven, and she even passed the medical qualification exam ahead of schedule. So Tang Cuimei is not short of money, and she now has nearly three thousand yuan in personal savings.

So sending 100 yuan home wasn't a big deal for her.

The reason she sent so much back at once was to show the villagers that even though the Tang family had fewer workers, they were still better than them, and to save them from being constantly accused of taking advantage of them.

Tang Cuihua would write to her every now and then to tell her about the situation at home, so Tang Cuimei knew everything very well even when she didn't go home.

After seeing Zhou Xing off on the bus, Cui Mei returned to her dormitory, only to be met with a question from someone as soon as she entered.

"I heard you left with a soldier? Who is it? Is it your boyfriend?"

Seeing her roommate's beaming face and gossipy expression, Cuimei patted her shoulder weakly.

"Are medical students supposed to date? Have you memorized all the materials your advisor gave you? You'll be in the anatomy lab next class, so don't be clueless when they ask you questions."

In the eight-person room, there were two medical students. Coincidentally, the one who was gossiping about her was also studying clinical medicine, so Cui Mei bombarded her with questions, making her feel overwhelmed and prompting her to pack her books and head to the library.

Meng Jiaojiao, a law student, didn't care about any of that and, driven by curiosity, went over to investigate.

"Why are you medical students not qualified? I think you're excellent. Tell me, who's that soldier?"

While tidying her desk, Tang Cuimei said something without looking up.

"You said he was my soldier brother, so he must be my brother! He's my neighbor, he was just transferred from Shanxi Province, so he came to see me, okay?"

"Wow, I get it, childhood sweethearts, right? Is he good-looking? Is he handsome? I heard soldiers are all very cool, what branch of the military is he? What rank is he?"

Faced with these young girls who were just beginning to experience romantic feelings—or rather, older girls, since some were four or five years older than her and seemed to be at the age where they should be dating—it was normal for them to be so concerned and curious. Unlike her, she felt that her studies were the most important thing right now.

It's better to wait until she has a stable job before talking about dating.

But other people are different from her. At the age of first love, they always fantasize about what their other half will look like, right?

So he said to them very seriously, "My brother is a good person. If any of you are interested, you can become pen pals or something and get to know each other better. But don't be too obsessed with their clothes. It's just a profession. Once they take off their clothes, they're just a pair of eyes and a mouth. There's nothing different about them."