novelraw Chapter 44 The more you explain, the more confusing it becomes.
Chapter 44 The more you explain, the more confusing it becomes.
"No, Uncle Zhang, it'll be too late after dinner, and we need to go to the brigade to say hello to Uncle Chen. We brought a lot of food with us; we can just heat it up when we get back!" Tong Yuheng declined.
"Then I'll go and meet my sister-in-law and a few nieces. If you need anything in the future, come and find me." Zhang Limin was determined to take them there, so he pushed his bicycle to the entrance of the commune to meet them.
"Mom, this is Uncle Gu's comrade-in-arms, Uncle Zhang Limin. He's the one who took care of everything here. Uncle Zhang, this is my mom, Tong Jiahui."
"Hello, sister-in-law!"
"Hello, Uncle Zhang, thank you both so much for your help!" Tong Jiahui quickly expressed her gratitude. Over the past two years, she was very grateful to them for taking care of her father and younger brother's family.
"It's nothing, just helping out. I told him to come to my place for a meal before you leave," Zhang Limin invited again.
"Goodbye, it's getting dark. Let's head to Chenjiatun soon. We can visit another day."
"Then I won't stand on ceremony with you. Put your bags on my bicycle, and I'll push it to take you there!"
The town was about seven or eight miles away from Chenjiatun, a journey that would take almost an hour. At that time, there were no oxcarts, tractors, or other convenient means of transportation available.
Just then, a military truck pulled up and stopped nearby. The door opened, and Li Chengsong stepped out.
Was this person specifically there to pick them up? Then why didn't they pick them up from the county train station? They had to go through all that trouble to get to town, and then they even got into a fight with some thugs!
Tong Yuheng knew that Li Chengsong would investigate her and her family, so he wasn't surprised that he knew her train number.
"Knowing your train was today, I originally wanted to pick you up earlier, but I had to come back because of a last-minute mission. I guess I'll only make it in time to get you from town to the brigade!" Li Chengsong explained.
"Hello, Auntie! My name is Li Chensong, and I'm a friend of Comrade Tong Yuheng. I'm sorry I'm late and have troubled you!"
As he spoke, he took the handbag and backpack from her hands and loaded the items into the truck bed.
"What are you looking at? Aren't you tired? Put your bags in the car!" Tong Yuheng urged her younger sisters, who were standing there dumbfounded with curiosity in their eyes.
"Uncle Zhang, this is a friend I met in Yan City. He's serving in the military region nearby. Let him give us a ride; you won't have to make the trip!"
"Oh, alright! Then I won't see you off. This young man is really good!" Uncle Zhang said, praising Li Chengsong.
Tong Yuheng knew he had misunderstood, and didn't want to explain. The more he explained, the more confused things would become. Didn't he see that his own mother and sister had also misunderstood?
Everyone put all their luggage in the truck. Except for Tong Jiahui and Xiao Qi, everyone else climbed onto the truck bed and sat inside.
It must have been cold sitting in the carriage at this time of year. The sisters climbed up and found several military overcoats and cotton hats inside. Li Chensong told them to put them on to keep warm. He explained that these were borrowed from his soldiers.
Tong Yuheng: He's quite thoughtful! Did he just come to pick me up, or is there something else going on? Or is there some news about those spies we arrested?
In less than twenty minutes, the truck stopped in front of their rented house. Everyone got out of the truck, and Li Chengsong even helped them unload their luggage.
Tong Jiahui invited him to stay for dinner, but Li Chengsong declined, saying he had to return to his unit. He then said to Tong Yuheng, "Comrade Yuheng, I have something to tell you."
"Okay, I'll see you out!" Tong Yuheng followed him to the door.
"The people arrested last time were from a huge organization called Cobra, which is very active in these northern provinces."
I heard that you rescued your two younger sisters when they were kidnapped last time, and that the human trafficking group is affiliated with their peripheral organization. So, you must be careful!
"Am I in trouble?"
"Those people don't know your situation yet, but it's better to be careful! Call me immediately if anything happens."
Tong Yuheng: How can I be in time? This team hasn't even answered the phone yet!
She went back dejectedly and saw that her mother and sisters had already started making beds in the west room.
Someone had recently died in the east room, so it wasn't a place to stay for the time being. Tong Yuheng said she wanted to dismantle the kang (heated brick bed) and renovate it. They decided to do it themselves; she had long-term plans in mind, so they didn't tidy up that room for the time being. They just left some luggage there.
Yuyao brought in some firewood and started a fire on the stove outside the west room. The pot that the brigade leader had brought was sitting on top of it. The newly sewn yellow mud around the rim of the pot had already dried completely.
Linglong steamed the buns that Cheng Damei had given her, and cooked some cornmeal porridge underneath. That's what everyone ate that night.
"Mom, let's go to the brigade leader's house. They should have finished dinner by now!"
Most families eat two meals in winter, around 8 or 9 am and 4 pm, finishing before dark. They go to bed around 7 or 8 pm to save food.
"Okay, I'll go with you!" She, as the nominal head of the family, always had to show up, but the real decision-maker was the eldest daughter. All she needed to do was offer her support.
When they visited the brigade leader's house this time, they didn't bring much. They brought a bottle of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) and a pound of brown sugar, which was not a small gift for ordinary villagers.
They don't have any major requests to ask for help right now; they just need to register as a group. Tomorrow they'll start preparing to renovate the house, and they need to get letters of introduction to buy some materials.
The original owner's father was a capable man, skilled in all kinds of tools, including lathes, pliers, riveting, electrical work, and welding. As a result, Tong Yuheng, the eldest daughter raised as a son, inherited all of her father's skills!
Moreover, as a transmigrated woman with various special forces skills, her knowledge and skills far surpass those of ordinary people. She plans to do most of the work herself, with her sisters helping out. Only tasks like repairing the roof and raising the walls will be outsourced.
The kang (heated brick bed) in the east room is no longer used for abacuses. Each of the sisters has a large desk, making it a study. In winter, they use several charcoal braziers for heating, and in summer, the spacious and well-ventilated house is not hot at all.
The kang (heated brick bed) in the west room is very spacious, and there is also an empty small stove at the end of the kang. Tomorrow she will install a pot that is placed in the space and boil water here to warm the kang.
Tong Yuheng wasn't used to sleeping on a kang (a heated brick bed), so he planned to set up the large bed and his single bed at home and sleep on it temporarily.
In the summer she could sleep in the east wing, so that room also needed to be tidied up before spring.
~
Tong Anfu had already seen his daughter and her family arrive. He wondered why they had come before the New Year, as this was different from the original plan, and he couldn't help but feel a little worried.
He knew they would come over that night, but there was more than one family in the cowshed, and he was afraid they would be seen by others, so he seemed very anxious.
"Dad, come in quickly. Make a couple more walks around; everyone can tell you're troubled!"
"Huh? Am I that obvious?" The old man was caught between the joy of seeing his daughter and the worry about her condition, unable to calm down.
Tong Yuchen nodded at her grandfather, a smile playing on her lips. "Great, my cousins are here!"