Chapter 92: Return
“Hahaha~ That’s right, one cannot refuse what an elder bestows, cough, cough~”
After being ill for so long, Qu Feng laughed so heartily again, and after his mood greatly improved, his whole body and mind felt unprecedentedly relaxed.
With interest aroused, he took two books and, just as his father had taught him back then, carved an introduction for her.
While flipping through the pages and listening to the old man patiently explaining bit by bit in simple terms, Su Ning learned with keen interest.
From merely wanting to carve a few raw jadeite from the spring bottom to wear and play with, it turned into genuinely becoming interested now.
Even Little Qu Hui listened attentively and seriously, full of curiosity about the things Grandpa Qu talked about.
It turned out that such unremarkable even ugly stones could yield such beautiful treasures; it turned out that treasures could be turned into anything in the world according to one’s own mind!
The tools in the wooden box, which looked almost the same one by one, each had their own names, and it turned out each had special uses.
“As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Carving requires accumulation over time of practice; don’t be afraid of wasting the stone material…”
As he spoke, Qu Feng remembered the stone material left by generations of ancestors that his father had taken him to see, filling an entire room, and a trace of wistfulness crossed his face.
If only his son could really come back…
With his current body, it would be hard to trek over mountains and rivers to go back and let them see the light of day again.
Glancing at the undisguised, full-of-interest expression in his little grandson’s eyes, he couldn’t help but think to himself: perhaps the Qu family skills could be revived on him one day.
“Ning Yatou, you…”
“Grandpa Qu, I have stone material, fully enough for me to practice.”
Su Ning didn’t miss the expression on the Old Master’s face; as if knowing his worry, she lightly comforted him, “There’s plenty of stone material for practice.”
“That’s good, that’s good. When his dad comes back later, Grandpa Qu can also give you a batch of handy stone material.”
“Then I must look forward to Uncle Qu coming home early~”
“Hahahaha, good, good, good! Let him come back soon to be a porter for our Ning Yatou!”
Huang Shufen, who was lighting the fire in the kitchen to make lunch, smiled and wiped away tears. How long had it been?
It had been so long since she had seen the old man so happy. Really good, really good.
“Son, we’re all waiting for you to come back safely… You… you must really come back!”
……
Gu City Bus Station.
With burdens on his back and in both hands, only his legs still had some free space on his whole body, yet Zhang Ze’s face was full of excitement.
“Mom, wife, this is Gu City!”
“It looks different from our place back home, huh!”
Mother Zhang kept looking around at the mountains encircling them on all sides, “These mountains are really high; they’ve drilled right into the clouds.”
Tian Xiang, holding one child in each hand for fear of losing the two rascals in a blink, only looked up to survey after hearing her mother-in-law’s words, and upon discovering the high mountain she mentioned, her eyes were also full of amazement.
The mountains back home looked more like dirt mounds compared to this one.
“Dad, where’s our home? How much farther?”
“Just across the river on this side. You two rascals better not run around; hold tight to your mom, got it?”
“Got it, Dad!” “Okay!”
Closely following behind the Zhang Family was Mao Jinqian with his mother; similarly laden with bundles, he smiled shyly while carefully instructing his old mother to watch the steps.
The group returned to the Su Family Courtyard on South Gate First Street an hour later.
Mother Mao, who got carsick, had walked the whole way, and upon seeing the large courtyard before her, her dizziness and nausea disappeared. She happily wandered the courtyard with Mother Zhang, the two old sisters discussing how to plan the front yard and backyard.
After putting away the things and tidying up the rooms, Zhang Ze said something to his wife and then headed lightly with Mao Jinqian toward the nearby small courtyard.
“Whoa, Ning Ning has made it really pretty!”
Just a few steps away, arriving at the small courtyard gate and seeing the vines full of lush green on the walls, Zhang Ze couldn’t help but brighten up and smile in admiration.
Mao Jinqian nodded with a smile following him, “It looks so comfortable like this. Tomorrow we can plant some climbers in our big courtyard too!”
“Sounds good!”
As they spoke, he leaned forward and knocked on the gate, but after waiting a while, no one came to open it.
The two exchanged glances, and Mao Jinqian scratched the back of his head guessing, “Could it be that Ning Ning is taking a noon rest and didn’t come back because it’s too much trouble?”
Shaking his head, if he remembered correctly, Ning Ning had said when coming out after getting hired that she hadn’t applied for a dormitory at the factory.
Two and a half hours of break time, just staying in the office?
“Brother Zhang, Brother Mao?”
Just as they were wondering whether to go to the factory to check, a familiar voice sounded right behind them.
Turning around, it was Su Ning holding a wooden box in her arms, smiling brightly at them with a face full of surprise—who else could it be?
“When did you get back? Your family?”
“Ning Ning!”
Taking several large steps forward, he took the things from her hands with one hand; Mao Jinqian smiled until his already small eyes squinted into lines, “They’re all at the big courtyard now!”
“Right!”
Suddenly thinking of something, Su Ning quickly took out the key and opened the door, “Brother Zhang, Brother Mao, come with me quick!”
Following her into the small courtyard, both Zhang Ze and Mao Jinqian were full of surprise. How long had it been? The courtyard had been tidied up like this by her; it completely didn’t resemble its previous state and looked warm and comfortable.
“Impressive, Ning Ning. You’ve made this small courtyard inside and out really pretty!”
“I like that grapevine trellis; you can lie on the vine chair to sunbathe or sit on the veranda to drink tea and watch the rain. Just thinking about it feels comfortable and cozy!”
“Hehe, I really didn’t expect Brother Zhang to have such a literary side.”
Taking the wooden box from Mao Jinqian’s hands and placing it on the low table on the veranda, Su Ning smilingly teased Zhang Ze who had made such a sigh.
“If Brother Zhang likes it, I’ll cut a few branches for you. I heard this grape is a new variety from the agricultural academy; the fruits it bears are very sweet.”
“Then I won’t stand on ceremony. Your Sister-in-law Tian really loves this!”
“Okay.”
She didn’t know how good the new variety grapes from the agricultural academy were, but the grapevine in the courtyard had been transplanted from Peach Blossom Spring’s fruit mountain, and the taste was indeed really sweet.
Leading the two into the kitchen, Su Ning couldn’t help but secretly rejoice that she had specially custom-made a long, half-person-high grain cabinet for conveniently storing grain and such things.
This cabinet alone occupied an entire wall side, but fortunately it could hold various grains inside, and quite a few useful kitchen utensils could be placed on top, so it wasn’t a waste of space.
Crouching down to open one side’s cabinet door, avoiding the rice jar and flour jar on the outermost, she reached into the cabinet but actually smuggled out sack after sack of grain from the space.
“Ning Ning, what are you doing? Getting things? Let me!”
With the things already stuffed in, she smilingly agreed and stepped aside a bit, “A while ago I happened to run into a purchasing task for factory welfare, so I took the chance to buy more. These few sacks inside are prepared for you two.”
“So much?”
As sack after sack was dragged out from the cabinet, both Zhang Ze and the other were dumbfounded.
How much grain was this?
No one seeing grain wouldn’t be happy in their heart right now; they two were naturally happy too, but while happy, they couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
Right now, fine grains like rice were selling for over 1.2 yuan per catty on the black market; even if these sacks held coarse grain, it was still a large sum of money.
This… grain wasn’t in the welfare benefits they had agreed on back then!
But the grain had already been bought back, and it was so rare to buy this much.
Exchanging a glance and thinking of their families, Zhang Ze and Mao Jinqian both made the same decision without prior agreement.
“Ning Ning, we won’t say thanks—that’s too distant. But we have to cover however much money this grain cost!”
“Good, it’s just a bit more expensive than at the grain station. Then I’ll deduct it from your salaries later.”
“Heh heh heh, good!”
At this price, no matter how much grain, they were getting a huge bargain; the two felt delighted inside.
One hundred-catty sacks of rice, fifty-catty sweet potatoes, twenty-catty flour, twenty-catty cornmeal, and ten-catty packs of various beans.
Even if it cost more money, they’d be happy~
“And these seasonings, oil and salt. But this is my housewarming gift to you two brothers.”
Taking out an extra portion of oil, salt, and seasonings and handing them over, she promptly blocked the words on the tips of their tongues, “No refusing.”
“Good, good, good. Then we’ll shamelessly thank Ning Ning for your kindness!”
“Hahahaha! Come on, today we’ll have a lively housewarming banquet.”
“Sounds good. Then I’ll go to the food station now to see what vegetables I can buy.”
……
After delivering the grain back to the big courtyard, Zhang Ze borrowed her bicycle and immediately set off to the food station to buy vegetables.
Su Ning then accompanied the two families chatting idly with Mao Jinqian, talking about home matters, waiting for the housewarming banquet that Zhang Ze had mentioned for the evening.
