"We still can’t rush it. If it starts raining on the way, the kids will suffer."
Actually, Wei Kaiyun had been anxious for a long ti, but not about going back—he was worried his kids and wife would suffer. The tarp over the truck bed was just ordinary canvas; it couldn’t keep the rain out at all.
They stopped in a small village at eight-thirty. They decided to rest there for the day.
To be honest, this little village wasn’t much bigger than Li Family Village, and it looked just as poor.
"Xinyu, let’s just rest up ahead for a bit." The way they were like this was way too eye-catching.
"Since we’re already here, let’s go ask around—how far is the county from here? If it’s out of the way or too far, then forget it."
Jing Chu and Zhang Qiu’e got down and took the kids out to move around a little.
Wei Kaiyun knocked on a door. At this hour, only old folks or kids were ho, and he didn’t manage to get any useful information.
In the end he had to go out to the fields, and only then did he learn this village was still far from the county, and the direction they pointed was different from the way they needed to go.
When he ca back, Old Yang laughed. "Should’ve just taken the road I ca by, huh?"
"Then let’s just stay here, and not go into the village. We’ll pull off by the roadside."
Looking at the three little ones, Jiang Xinyu thought it over. "Let’s just head out again. We’ll stop when it gets really hot in the afternoon."
Of course Wei Kaiyun had no objection. Everyone did a quick wash-up, then set out again.
"Xinyu, next ti we go out, we’ve got to wait until the kids are a bit older."
Looking at her son slumped listlessly to one side, Zhao Xiaoli’s heart ached a little.
"It’ll be better next year." Right now the three little ones didn’t really know anything; even if they knew they were out playing, they wouldn’t rember much.
They kept going until noon and arrived at a small county town. It was decent here.
"Let’s go straight to an inn and rest. We’ll leave again at night. This whole way has been tough enough." Even Shi Jing was a bit listless.
After getting the lodging arranged, they went to a restaurant to eat. It was just the standard canteen-style food, and no one had much of an appetite. After eating, everyone went back to their rooms.
It was hot here too, but at least the kids could recover a bit.
"Mom, there’s soone selling popsicles outside."
"Really? You three go out with Jing Chu and have so, but don’t eat too many."
They just couldn’t let the three little ones see it.
"Mom, when I’m done I’ll co back and switch so you can go eat one." Feifei said with a smile.
"No need, Mom won’t have any."
That made Shi Jing happy. Xiao Qiang also went along with them. As a half-grown boy, he was actually a bit embarrassed to eat one, but he still couldn’t resist the temptation.
"Sigh, ever since I had this little one, I’m restricted with everything."
"Just grit your teeth."
Actually, Jiang Xinyu wanted a popsicle too. But there was nothing she could do; she had to set an example. Otherwise she wouldn’t be able to get through to Shi Xian.
Seeing the kids eating popsicles, Wei Kaiyun went back into the room. "Xinyu, you go out. You watch these two."
Zhao Xiaoli burst out laughing. "Xinyu, go on."
In the end, Jiang Xinyu did get her popsicle, and even drank a bottle of soda. She had really missed that taste.
Their luck was actually pretty good. They didn’t run into any heavy rain along the way, and finally, after five days, they reached the city.
"Why don’t we stay here one more day?" Wei Kaiyun felt bad for his wife.
"No, let’s just hurry back ho." Right now Jiang Xinyu was desperate to get ho.
She didn’t care about the heat anymore. The whole family drove ho.
They reached the village at three in the afternoon. Once Shi Xian got out of the truck and back into the familiar surroundings, he instantly perked up.
Seeing how disheveled the whole family looked, Shang Zhenkun asked, "How was it?"
"Master Shang, next ti no matter what, we are not going out at this ti of year. If we do, it’ll have to wait until the three little ones are older."
"Heh heh, I’m not going with you anyway. I can’t handle it. I’ve only just recovered myself."
Nobody felt like doing anything; they were all getting ready to bathe.
When Li Yungui ca over and saw how quiet it was at the Wei Family’s place...
Wei Kaiyun still ca out; he couldn’t bear to wake his wife.
The two of them went straight into the study.
"Xiao Wei, so you’re back."
Wei Kaiyun almost laughed. This Li Yungui really was sothing.
"Village Chief Li, did you pay the bank back?"
"Yeah, the second day after Guodong ca back, I had him drive to the city. We also took the money from the inventory back.
But the interest really wasn’t much, not even two hundred yuan."
Wei Kaiyun found it funny. Li Yungui had seen big money now. He rembered when they’d first co, twenty yuan felt like a lot to him; now he thought not even two hundred was much.
"As long as it’s all paid off, that’s good."
"Xiao Wei, did you run into rain on the way?"
"We did, but none of it was heavy, and it always rained during the day."
They really had so luck. But being able to make it back smoothly and early was already very good.
"Xiao Wei, when are you going to return the truck? We still haven’t paid the freight, and I’ve still got a lot of money here I need to hand over to Teacher Jiang."
"Tomorrow. I don’t want to move today."
That extra day ant paying the owner more.
"I’ll co by tomorrow to see Teacher Jiang." Seeing how tired they really were, he decided not to hang around being annoying.
When work ended in the evening, folks in the village saw the big truck parked at the Wei Family’s gate and knew that Teacher Jiang’s family had co back.
Guodong was the happiest. Up ahead he ran into Li Cunshan. "Uncle, I want to buy two chickens. The younger brother and sister definitely didn’t eat well while they were away."
"Haha, now that’s a good older brother. Go on."
In the end, Guodong bought four big roosters and sent two over to Li Yungui’s ho; he wanted his aunt to have at too.
Qu Xiaoli was overjoyed. Honestly, these days she would be willing to spend money on a big rooster herself, but this was different. These were bought by her niece’s son-in-law; it felt different in her heart.
Guodong hurried ho, and by then everyone was already up.
Shi Jing and Jianbin saw the chickens in Guodong’s hands.
"Brother Guodong, are these big roosters for us to eat?"
"Yup, for you guys."
Everyone ca out. "Nice. Keep the tail feathers—they’re beautiful. I’ll use them to make shuttlecocks for the kids."
Everyone’s faces were full of smiles. They’d been living together this long; of course they’d missed each other.
They had a kind of mixed stew for dinner. The braised chicken pieces were cooked together with glass noodles and potatoes, and when it was almost done they added so baby bok choy.
Everyone ate their fill, especially the three older kids.
After dinner, Wei Kaiyun sat in the yard with his son, letting him play with water in a big wooden tub.
This was Shi Xian’s favorite thing. Ah Bao watched eagerly from the side, so Old Yang brought him over to join in too.
That was the start of it—after this, Ah Bao wouldn’t accept not playing with water.
Jiang Xinyu took Tingting out to play as well. The little girl loved it too, squinting her eyes as she laughed, looking especially adorable.
Wei Kaiyun was much nicer to her now, because her looks were getting more and more like his wife’s. Love , love my crow, he thought.
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