novelraw Chapter 999 - 872: The Wave Is Coming
Chapter 999 - 872: The Wave Is Coming
During the ten days of her business trip to Hai City, whenever there was enough time for rest back and forth, Zhou Jiao would always rush back to the village to accompany Grandpa Jiang, apart from visiting the Gu Family’s ancestral tomb.It’s not about reciprocation, nor about money, but for the kindness and reluctance in the old man’s eyes, and his tireless teachings on how to conduct oneself throughout life.
This grandparent-grandchild bond made her face full of tears the last time she left the village. Perhaps others couldn’t understand why the old man was reluctant for his granddaughter to leave and yet didn’t follow her to Beijing.
But Zhou Jiao understood...
Here was his lifelong beloved wife, the familiar sound of his hometown dialect, and the heart of a wanderer who had drifted a lifetime outside now finding peace.
This is the power of roots!
Just like her grandfather never left the motherland, she also never thought of immigrating overseas.
Returning to Beijing again, it was already the end of August. The station was still bustling with people, and after meeting Zhang Guoqing who came to pick her up, the street scenes viewed from the car on the way made her eyes dim slightly.
"Go home first or to the workplace first?"
Zhou Jiao glanced at the time on her watch, "Let’s go to the workplace first, I need to handle business matters so I can relax for the next two days later. There’s quite a bit of stuff this time, you’d better help out a little."
Zhang Guoqing chuckled and shook his head. He knew his wife wouldn’t take things for free domestically and deliberately asked, "How much money did you spend this time?"
Hearing this, Zhou Jiao blushed, "I splurged a bit. Apart from the visible tens of yuan, I spent almost six hundred yuan privately. Things were really cheap, and one careless move ended up with overbuying."
"Hahaha..." A joyous laughter escaped from Zhang Guoqing’s mouth. He was fond of this kind of wife; he wanted to take advantage of that loveliness, but what could he do?
"Bro?"
Zhang Guoqing stopped laughing, teasingly comforting her, "It’s fine. This isn’t considered wasteful, all are essentials. My wife really knows how to live."
"You’re just rambling on."
Zhang Guoqing’s side glance caught an elderly man with a lopsided haircut ahead and quickly diverted her attention, saying with a laugh, "Our son is waiting for you to come home, you better hurry up."
Talking about the child, Zhou Jiao perked up, "I bought quite a few pastries and snacks, enough for the three brothers to last a meal. Later, make sure to remind me to take out the hairy crabs, don’t forget."
"Okay." Without her prompting, Zhang Guoqing would also insist on checking for any omissions that might cause suspicion. "While you were away these days, our son and I planted quite some wild vegetables,"
"Went to the countryside to play?"
"Yes, and went twice to the Welfare Institute, sowed quite a few wild vegetable seeds when no one was watching. The fruit trees in three yards were also picked clean by the four of us."
"Wow, I thought you guys would miss me, turns out life has been quite lively."
Zhang Guoqing quickly took a swipe at her cheek, glancing at her with a smile, "Who said that? It’s hard to sleep alone. Our son said it’s tough days when mom’s not home."
Zhou Jiao gave him a side-eye, "Comrade, we are on the street."
So only when not on the street is it alright then? Zhang Guoqing knowingly nodded after misinterpreting her words, thinking it’s good enough! He didn’t like taking risks either.
On the way from the main street near the workplace, Zhang Guoqing knew her character and agreed to meet Wan Dayong next door first.
Seeing her enter the workplace gate, Zhang Guoqing pondered for a while but didn’t go into Wan Dayong’s workplace. These days weren’t peaceful, and running into something would be troublesome.
Waiting and waiting, it took almost an hour for her to come out, leaving Zhang Guoqing surprised as he raised his brow. He pushed the car door open, got out of the car.
Inside, as Zhou Jiao entered, she went through the usual process to submit documents, reported the business trip details, and then went to the finance room for reimbursement.
After a busy session, just as she was about to leave, she unexpectedly saw Jin Lijuan walking towards her, winking hard.
Zhou Jiao felt moved, quickened her pace, and followed her out to the restroom, hearing her mumble about a meeting later and urging not to leave.
With many eyes watching, these words must have deep meaning, Zhou Jiao nodded knowingly. After leaving the restroom, she bid farewell and left first.
Her husband was still waiting to go home with her, she wondered if he had returned from Wan Dayong’s place?
Just as she reached the gate, she saw Zhang Guoqing in military uniform coming toward her, Zhou Jiao couldn’t help but smile. What a coincidence!
"You can’t go?"
Zhou Jiao slightly nodded, signaling for him to follow her.
The couple headed to where the car was parked, Zhou Jiao opened the car door first, and seeing him follow suit, she said softly, "Sister Jin just advised me to attend the meeting, there’s no time for details. Although others didn’t require me to attend, it seems something is up."
Zhang Guoqing nodded.
"Then you go home first, okay? Take the things back, I’ll ride later; who knows what this meeting is, how long it might take, I can’t delay your afternoon work."
Zhang Guoqing showed momentary hesitation.
Zhou Jiao quickly persuaded, "Everyone at home must be waiting for us for a meal, you go back and tell them so they don’t worry."
"Just make sure you first go to the cafeteria!"
Zhou Jiao nodded repeatedly with a smile. While watching outside the car window, she began gingerly placing two small baskets of hairy crabs and half a bag of prawns into the car interior...
After thinking for a while, she placed a black bag of already steamed hairy crabs again.
"Enough, not too much." Zhang Guoqing looked at the back seat with the two pre-existing bags and quickly stopped her. He also asked her to leave an empty large hemp bag for him.
Having been away on a business trip for so long, with moments of not paying attention, staying back in the workplace wasn’t entirely without benefits, even if everyone hadn’t privately chatted, but still some issues have been noticed after all.
Saying a meeting was happening actually gathered everyone inside the cafeteria. Just after having a few bites of lunch, got the news that everyone should stay put. Yes, everyone, including the old man at the workplace gate.
The theme of the meeting couldn’t escape those sensitive topics, solemn and heavy. A usually loud cafeteria was transformed into the main stage compared to various meeting rooms.
While listening carefully, Zhou Jiao also noticed a few familiar faces missing. She didn’t go around asking if those absent were on leave or in trouble?
Soon enough, among those present, consecutive absences might start occurring.
Sure enough, in the end, it involved issues concerning those few.
In the venue, emotions ran high towards former colleagues disrupting stability, now new enemies, as if personal ancestral graves had been dug up, slogans shouted aloud.
Zhou Jiao had no intention of digging into how much sincerity lay within. When the waves come, whether typhoons or tsunamis, self-preservation gradually becomes mainstream.
And humanity once again faces challenges.
Like herself, isn’t she the same? With a smile watching the madness of the world, hold fast to the principles of conduct, that’s her sole request for herself.