Chapter 240: Stepping Forward ①
Nie Qiu glanced at the woman still crying on the ground and turned to leave. Thinking of her arrogant words, “Our family’s sugarcane, our family’s oranges,” Nie Qiu felt a sense of disdain. She really treated other people’s things as her own, how ridiculous.
In her opinion, whether in the city or the countryside, or in any country, there were good people and bad people. However, because of Nie Aifang, Nie Qiu had always felt that people from the countryside were as frugal and simple as Nie Aifang. She never expected to encounter the shrewish, scolding temper of those so-called noble ladies when they saw a mistress. She had truly seen it all.
Just as Nie Qiu turned, she heard what the old man said and nodded faintly, “We’ve missed the time for the chartered car, so we’ll have to wait for the bus.” To be honest, Nie Qiu didn’t like this person. Without understanding the situation, he demanded five hundred yuan in compensation. Although he was indeed the victim, Nie Qiu still didn’t like him.
Li Kai held Nie Qiu’s hand and said, “Let’s hurry to wait for the bus. Otherwise, with all these transfers, we won’t get home tonight.”
The old man glanced at their clasped hands and coughed uncomfortably. “Alright, alright, I was just in a hurry! When people are in a hurry, where is their reason? You students will come to my house for lunch today, and in the afternoon, I’ll have my son drive you back to the city. Consider it my apology and atonement.” Having so many students eat at his house, he wasn’t really losing out. He had already planned to hire someone to help harvest his fields in a few days. Hiring one or two people would cost over a hundred yuan in salary per day. But now, half of the harvest wouldn’t need hired help, and his family could manage the rest.
As soon as the old man finished speaking, the classmates in the class looked at each other. Buses in the countryside were infrequent, and one round trip took over an hour. Only two buses ran on this route. Their chartered bus was arranged by the bus company. If they had to wait until noon, they didn’t know how long it would take.
Therefore, what attracted them wasn’t the meal, but… the vehicle that would take them back.
Since so many students were staying for lunch, the old man had people bring out the banquet tables used for village feasts. There were four tables, and each table had several common home-style dishes fried, along with deep-fried peanuts and sweet rice wine. The school’s dishes were greasy, and while the home-cooked meals were delicious, they were bought from the vegetable market, washed with pesticide and water, and who knew how long they had been picked. But the vegetables from the countryside were different. Even if they had pesticide, it would have dissipated. They were picked and cooked fresh, so of course, they were different, with a rich, earthy flavor. The classmates had eaten Nie Qiu’s stir-fried dishes yesterday. While they were tastier than their own cooking, compared to someone experienced in preparing banquet meals, they were still lacking. Moreover, there were few dishes and many meat dishes last night, and they hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning, so they were all eating with greasy mouths. As soon as a dish was served, it was gone in two chopsticks per person per table.
After the meal, the old man fulfilled his promise and had his son drive them back.
Huang Yan pulled Zhang Haiyang and quietly told Nie Qiu to pull Li Kai. The four of them quietly walked outside the yard. Huang Yan said, “Nie Qiu, should we leave some money for them? After all, Grandpa wasn’t wrong. His own things were lost, and he got anxious. Since they invited us to eat, shouldn’t we… shouldn’t we show some appreciation?”
Nie Qiu nodded. Although she didn’t like the old man much because he had made an outrageous demand, they had eaten so much of his food, and he had only said a few words to them. It was the woman who had been cursing.
Zhang Haiyang said a bit sheepishly, “Besides, we did eat their oranges and sugarcane last night.”
Li Kai also nodded, “We took their car and ate their meal, so we should leave some money for them.”
Huang Yan took out a hundred yuan from her schoolbag. “Let’s four pool our money. I calculated it. The lettuce was one yuan per jin, and other green vegetables were similar. There were two meat dishes: one was cured meat, and the other was braised pork ribs. Excluding staples and seasonings, it should have cost over a hundred yuan. Then there’s the transportation fee. We paid the bus company a hundred yuan. Let’s give them a hundred yuan too. That’s two hundred yuan in total. I… my mom gave me a hundred yuan. I’ll keep fifty yuan and contribute fifty yuan.”
Zhang Haiyang took fifty yuan from his purse and handed it to Huang Yan. Then he took Huang Yan’s hundred yuan and gave it to Nie Qiu. Nie Qiu took out fifty yuan from her purse, mostly in small denominations of ten, twenty, and five yuan. Li Kai also took out a hundred yuan. Nie Qiu handed her scattered change to Li Kai.
Li Kai glanced at it and said nothing, then took it.
The four returned to the yard. The classmates in the class had almost finished eating. A few students were still drinking sweet wine and picking out the candied eggs to eat.
Nie Qiu took out paper and pen from her bag, secretly wrote a few sentences, and placed the money, along with the note, in the main hall of the old man’s house, weighing it down with a small bowl and plate.
After everyone had finished eating, the old man had his wife and daughter-in-law clean up the bowls and chopsticks, then called his son to come back and drive Nie Qiu and the group back. He personally escorted Nie Qiu and the others to the roadside.
However… sitting in a blue medium-sized truck, similar to one used for carrying bricks, with the truck sputtering exhaust fumes, the entire class fell silent.
Zhang Haiyang stood up, looked at the distant mountains and farmland, the air was clear, and he couldn’t help but let out a shout, “Ah!”
Or perhaps it was like a truck for carrying bricks, with coverings on all sides, but only half a meter high. The classmates sat in the truck on folding stools, some standing, looking at the scenery, breathing the fresh air.
Huang Yan and Zhang Haiyang were always in sync. After Zhang Haiyang’s shout, Huang Yan stood up and started singing, “The weather is so fine today, everywhere is good wind, oh good scenery. Butterflies are busy, bees are busy, little birds are busy, white clouds are busy…” Huang Yan started, and the girls in the class joined in singing. Girls always had some novel or TV drama romantic fantasies. Hearing Huang Yan sing, how could they not join in?
Although this song wasn’t universally known, it was a childhood memory. Wasn’t the current atmosphere just like this? This truck couldn’t compare to a horse, but with the constantly receding scenery and the clear air, standing up, everything around was clearly visible, and everything was beautiful.
“Ah… ah… horse hooves tread, scattering fragrant flowers, horse hooves tread, scattering fragrant flowers.
Camels pass by in herds, the camel bells ring ding-dong, ding-dong.
This one sings, that one sings, the wind sings, the water sings.
Ah~ the green fields are vast, the sky is vast, the green fields are vast, the sky is vast…” The girls sang along, and the boys who joined in the fun also sang along.
After singing this song together, they thought about escaping that morning and the farce that morning. Everyone laughed, happy and joyful. They chatted and laughed all the way, entering the city in the truck.
Seeing Nie Qiu and the others get into their family’s truck, the old man took his little yellow dog and went home.
“Old man, those students left money and a note. Take a look, what does it say?” As soon as he entered the door, he saw his old woman coming out with three hundred yuan and a piece of paper. Knowing his old woman couldn’t read, he took it.
After reading the neat handwriting on the paper, the old man smiled and shook his head, “These kids!” Who hadn’t stolen something from others when they were young? When he was young, he had stolen sweet potatoes from others’ fields, stolen rice from home to exchange for cold noodles sold outside the school, and stolen a cent from home to buy spicy strips…
These were all forgivable, born of ignorance and fun, pure and beautiful. Those who didn’t repent were truly hateful.
Nie Qiu looked in the direction of the reservoir. She had put an extra hundred yuan at the old man’s house. Huang Yan was right; they had to pay for eating someone else’s food and riding in their car. Zhang Haiyang was also right; they had indeed stolen the family’s sugarcane and oranges. Li Kai was right; they couldn’t let the classmates know and had to give them money secretly.
But she knew that Huang Yan’s winter holiday pocket money was a reward from her parents for her grades. Being able to contribute half of it showed Huang Yan’s good nature. However, the price of cooked dishes and uncooked dishes was different. She didn’t mention it to avoid making Huang Yan feel obligated to pay more, because Huang Yan would surely understand the logic. Therefore, she paid an extra hundred yuan herself, so the old man wouldn’t lose out.
