novelraw Chapter 37 He came to deliver the design fee to me today.
Chapter 37 He came to deliver the design fee to me today.
Gu Zhitao's family and Chen Liying's family came to see them off. Gu Zhitao borrowed a car from his work unit, put all their belongings inside, and took Tong Jiahui and Xiao Qi to deliver their luggage first.
Tong Jiahui told Chen Liying to go back and not go to the train station anymore. She hadn't rested well yesterday and had to go to work tomorrow. If she went to see Chen Liying off and came back too late, it would make people worry.
The sisters took a bus to the train station, a few stops away, and arrived in about half an hour. They agreed to meet at the entrance of the train station waiting hall.
Their train departed at around 11 p.m. and arrived the next day at noon. To let Gu Zhitao and the others get home as soon as possible, Tong Jiahui, carrying the children and their luggage, went to the waiting room early.
"Put all your luggage together! If you don't have a seat, sit on your bundle and rest. The train doesn't depart for several more hours!" Tong Yuheng said, looking at the packed waiting room. There were no empty seats to rest in, and standing for several hours was already quite unpleasant. And once on the train, there was still a long wait ahead.
They didn't manage to get sleeper berths this time; Uncle Gu had already pulled some strings to get so many consecutive seats. The hard-seat carriages are crowded and chaotic, so both people and belongings need to be carefully watched over.
It was almost nine o'clock when an announcement suddenly came over the loudspeaker: "Tong Yuheng, a comrade named Wei Wenbin is looking for you. Please come to the entrance of the waiting room!"
After hearing it three times in a row, Tong Yuheng quickly greeted his family and went out to see Uncle Wei.
"Why didn't you say you were going to the countryside! If I hadn't gone to your house to look for you and your neighbor hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known." Wei Wenbin was still panting, which showed that he had rushed over in a hurry.
Wei Wenbin gestured for her to go to a quieter spot in the square and said softly, "So, why did you decide to get that machine? Are you really going to use your knowledge to support rural development? You didn't even give me an address. Don't you want the design fee?"
"Uncle Wei, the design fee won't come down so quickly. Even if I wanted it, I couldn't possibly take it from you, could I?" Tong Yuheng really wasn't thinking about taking the money, after all, she had scavenged quite a few "scrap" items from his junkyard.
"They really did pay the design fee, not much, just a thousand yuan. I've already brought it for you; here's the certificate. If I hadn't been in such a hurry to give it to you, I wouldn't have had time to give it to you in time!"
"Thank you, Uncle Wei! I was just about to invite you and the other two uncles to dinner. How about this, you can give me six hundred, you keep two hundred, and the other two uncles can each keep one hundred." Tong Yuheng couldn't possibly let them work for nothing.
"No, no, we've already received our certificates and even gotten a raise, so we can't accept your design fee anymore. Take this and hide it well, don't let any thieves steal it on the train!" Without further ado, Wei Wenbin stuffed a thick kraft paper envelope into her handbag.
"Alright, I'm off now. If you come across any great inventions, send me the blueprints, and I'll build them for you! The design fee is yours!"
"Alright! Then I won't be polite! Please give this to Teacher Zhong!"
Tong Jiahui was filled with doubt when she saw her eldest daughter return shortly after. When did her daughter meet someone surnamed Wei? Could he be her boyfriend?
"Mom, Uncle Wei, Teacher Zhong's husband, just came to see me. I helped them with the motor they were tinkering with at home. A few days ago, I helped them design a threshing machine, and he came to deliver the design fee today. Look at this..."
Seeing her mother's hesitant expression, she took the initiative to explain, showing her the invention certificate with a proud look on her face.
"Oh my, that's amazing! My eldest daughter is just as good as an engineer!" Tong Jiahui laughed happily, praising her eldest daughter from the bottom of her heart.
Several other girls also gathered around, passing around admiring the bright red certificate with proud expressions.
"Big sister, you're amazing!" the younger sisters said.
"Yuyao, you're good at your studies, and you'll have a chance to use your skills in Chenjiatun. If we can design some useful farm tools, we can send the blueprints to Uncle Wei and earn some design fees!"
"Really? Then you can teach me how to draw!" Yu Yao's eyes lit up. She knew that her sister must have made money by designing machinery.
No one mentioned money, and Tong Jiahui naturally understood that in such a crowded and chaotic setting, everyone knew the importance of keeping one's wealth private.
The sisters sat in a circle, leaning against a pile of their own belongings, and soon the three younger ones fell asleep.
Tong Jiahui dared not sleep. She would drape a coat over one person and put something under another's head, while also keeping a vigilant watchful eye on the people around her, fearing that someone might be a child trafficker and steal her daughter away.
"Mom, don't be so nervous, like we've done something wrong. Hehehe, don't let the police mistake you for a human trafficker," Tong Yuheng teased her.
"Hehehe!"
"Hahaha!"
The older daughters who were awake also laughed. Tong Jiahui said irritably, "Still joking with me? There are so many people and it's so chaotic here. What if a child trafficker kidnaps your little sisters?"
"Mom, don't worry! I was just joking. Relax a bit. We'll be checking tickets soon, I'll go buy you some hot food."
Tong Yuheng ran to the state-run restaurant in the waiting room, which sold steamed buns, noodles, and wontons. He took out the enamel basin used for holding soup from his home from his spatial storage, intending to buy a few bowls of wontons.
Food here is free; a bowl costs 80 cents and contains about 12 or 13 meat-filled wontons. She scooped four bowls into an enamel basin and brought them to everyone, telling them to eat them while they were hot.
"Xiao Qi, wake up, have something to eat before we get on the bus!" Tong Jiahui shook Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu awake, and continued to call to the still sleepy Xiao Qi.
Smelling the aroma of wontons, the three children opened their eyes, and Tong Yuheng immediately brought the bowl to them, gesturing for them to take their own spoons to eat.
"Eat something warm, it'll be time to check your tickets and board the train soon. Remember to stay close to us and keep an eye on your belongings!"
The younger sisters nodded eagerly and began to eat heartily. Each of them ate five or six pieces and then stopped. They scooped up a few sips of hot soup, pushed the enamel bowl to their mother, and offered it to her.
"I've already eaten, Linglong, hurry up and eat all of these with your two older sisters!" Tong Jiahui ate three or four wontons, but drank quite a bit of soup, and her body had already warmed up.
"Mom, eat some more. I have two big boxes of food that I packed from the state-run restaurant last night. We won't go hungry."
After the family finished their late-night snack and packed their things, the loudspeaker began announcing that their train was about to start boarding.
This train departs from the first station, and ticket checking begins half an hour in advance, so there is plenty of time. However, people are in a hurry to catch the train, and it's crowded when checking tickets, when boarding, and when putting away luggage, just like a battle.
Tong Jiahui stood at the front, carrying a large green canvas tote bag in one hand and holding her youngest daughter's hand in the other. The three children each carried a backpack-like crossbody bag, with bedding packed into military bags on their backs, because it was lightweight.