Chapter 8282

A large number of workers left the construction site before the New Year because of the Chinese New Year, leaving only a few. However, there must be people on the construction site, whether it is building materials or other things, someone needs to look after them. Seeing that Wu Gongan and his colleagues chose not to go home for the New Year, but wanted to wait until after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to get the extra two yuan in salary, the person in charge kept some people and asked them to look after Wu Gongan and his colleagues, and then went home for the New Year.

The people who stayed behind didn't know that the person in charge had killed people before. They thought they were asked to keep an eye on these people and prevent them from stealing things on the construction site, so they agreed without hesitation.

Once these people left, there were fewer people on the construction site.

By the New Year's Eve, no matter how vigilant they were at other times, seeing that these people worked honestly, they gave Wu Gongan and his men a day off, bought some wine and meat, and brought them back to have a lively New Year's Eve.

Especially on the night of New Year's Eve, it was snowing and there were no beds on the construction site. All the beds they slept on were made temporarily with found building materials, covered with snakeskin bags, cardboard boxes, and straw, and covered with bedding they brought with them.

The weather was cold, and it was New Year's Eve, so these people couldn't help but drink a little too much. Especially since Wu Gongan and his companions were not good at drinking, their faces turned red after a few drinks, and they went back to sleep. The people who were left behind couldn't help but laugh, laughing at their poor alcohol tolerance, and then their own people stayed and continued to drink.

Wu Gongan waited until everyone was drunk and asleep before he started digging according to what Jiang Ning wrote in the book. They had searched for a long time before they roughly determined the location under a ginkgo tree.

As they dug, they thought it was a bit ridiculous: "What if we can't find anything?"

"If we can't dig it up, we'll wait until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to go back." Wu Gongan said calmly.

Policeman Xiao Chang couldn't help but look up at the heavy snow falling from the sky. He thought that today was New Year's Eve and others were having reunion dinners at home, but he and a few others were digging corpses in the snow in such a cold winter. He couldn't help but sigh.

Public Security Wu and the others knew what he was thinking. They had been undercover for so many days without going home. In fact, the people they felt most sorry for were their families, especially since today was New Year's Eve.

"Let's dig." Wu Gongan said, "If we can dig it up, we will be worthy of the dead and the clothes we are wearing. If we can't dig it up, we have tried our best."

Because of the snow, the ground was not frozen. Instead, the snow moistened the soil, making it easier to dig.

The backs of Xiao Chang'an's hands were red from the cold, his face and head were covered with snow, and his body was covered with sweat from digging.

It took several people two hours of digging before they finally dug up the ginkgo tree and revealed the body underneath.

When they saw these corpses, they all looked at each other in bewilderment, shook off the white snow on their heads, and blew a breath of warm air into their palms: "Let's go, call someone."

People from the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Provincial Public Security Department were sleeping in bed on New Year's Eve when they were woken up by a phone call and had to go out on a patrol mission that night.

Jiang Ning and Grandpa Jiang both planned to return to school on the third day of the New Year.

Jiang Ning didn't want to stay in his hometown for long, but Grandpa Jiang was worried that the storefront was rented and he had to open it for business.

Jiang's mother went back to her parents' home on the second day of the Chinese New Year and had to stay there for at least one night.

Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning got up early on the third day of the New Year, opened the rice warehouse, and carried the rice to the house in the village that had a rice pounding machine to pound the rice.

The main feature of rice pounding is that you can do it yourself and have enough food and clothing. You pick the rice, weigh it, pour it into the machine, press the switch to pound the rice, and when you are done, you just pay for it.

It costs fifty cents to pound one hundred kilograms of rice. The two of them pounded five hundred kilograms of rice, and then used a wooden bran separator to pour the rice that had not been completely separated from the bran into the rice pounding machine. Jiang Bai was responsible for pouring the rice, and Jiang Ning was responsible for manually shaking the wooden handle of the rice bran separator and using the fan blades inside to winnow the bran out of the rice.

The rice bran that is winnowed should also be taken back home, as pigs love to eat it.

Last year, the Jiang family raised two pigs. This year, Jiang Ning didn’t know whether Jiang’s mother would raise one again. If she didn’t want to, the rice bran could be given to Jiang’s uncle’s family.

Aunt Jiang has never worked outside her home in her life, and she raises two or three pigs every year.

After finishing all this, Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning went to their neighbor's house to borrow a cart, said hello to Jiang's aunt, and the three of them carried their backpacks and pulled a cart full of food and pickles to the ferry.

When Jiang's father and mother come back, where will anyone be at home?

The road on the embankment was narrow, with only a two-foot-wide dirt road in the middle. The yellow mud was exposed by the pedestrians walking back and forth, and was covered with snow that had not yet melted, making it very slippery.

Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai were afraid that Grandpa Jiang would slip and fall, so they asked him to sit on the cart, but the old man always thought he could do it and refused to sit on the cart. "I don't know how many times I've walked this road. I know how to walk with my eyes closed. How can I fall? The road is difficult to walk on, and Baizi is dragging a cart of food. If I sit on it, I don't want the cart to overturn with me. In this weather, if I fall into the river, I can't even climb out!"

Grandpa Jiang was not exaggerating. There were rivers on both sides of the embankment. The surface of the river was covered with wet white snow and there was no ice.

Both sides of the river bank are trapezoidal. If someone falls or flips over, they will really roll into the river. They are all wearing thick cotton clothes, which are soaked in water. Not to mention freezing, they really can't climb out.

Jiang Ning couldn't help but look up at the long river bank.

It would take at least 40 minutes to walk from their home to the ferry. After crossing the ferry, there is still a long embankment to walk to the other side of the river.

In the previous life, the people of Linhe Brigade looked forward to building a bridge every year to connect Tanshan and the two sides of the river. However, there was no bridge until Jiang Ning was reborn.

In fact, after she entered the system, she realized that this bridge could not be built. The project was too huge. The manpower, material resources and money required were not a small amount at all. It would not have much effect on promoting the economy. The government did not have that much money, and there was no need to spend so much money to build a bridge here.

Later, they bypassed Tanshan and opened a road from the back mountain, leading to the next township, and then bypassed two more townships before reaching their Shuibu Town.

Later, with the development of the economy, more and more young people went to big cities, bought houses in neighboring towns, or other cities, and the village was basically empty, with only a few old people and children left behind. When they returned to the village, not only the Linhe Brigade, but all the brigades on this side of the river were empty, with no one to be seen. Only during the Chinese New Year when they came back to worship their ancestors, would the village return to the lively scene they saw when they were young.

Grandpa Jiang didn't want to ride the cart, so Jiang Ning asked Grandpa Jiang to follow behind Jiang Bai and walk holding the handle of the cart. Jiang Bai pulled the cart in front, and Jiang Ning held the cart and pushed it at the back. This way, it would be easier for Jiang Bai to pull the cart in front.

In winter, as the water of Shahe River falls into the Yangtze River, the water level drops and the ferry changes from the original boat to a bamboo bridge built by the ferrymen with bamboo rafts.

Jiang's mother grew up in the mountains, and she was afraid every time she walked across the bamboo raft bridge at the ferry. She had to be led by Jiang's father before she dared to cross the bridge carefully.

Grandpa Jiang was used to walking on such a simple bamboo bridge. He walked slowly on such a narrow bamboo bridge with his hands behind his back. There was snow on the bridge. Jiang Ning was scared just watching him, fearing that he would slip and fall into the river.

Although the river is not deep at this season, if you fall into it, you will be frozen to death.

She wanted to help Grandpa Jiang, but Grandpa Jiang thought she was in the way because the bamboo bridge could only allow one side to pass at a time and two people could not walk side by side. Jiang Ning stood behind him, holding out her hand, and did not feel relieved until Grandpa Jiang crossed the bridge safely.

Grandpa Jiang said to her, "You are such a worrywart. I don't know who you inherited this from."

Grandpa Jiang himself is a very caring person. Dad Jiang and Jiang Song are also people who don't like to worry too much. Only Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning probably take after Mom Jiang.

In fact, Jiang Ning is also a careless person. It was her later job that forced her to worry about things carefully, and years of occupational diseases have made her develop such a habit.

If she had a narrow mind and was as stubborn as Jiang Bai, she would have died long ago and would have jumped off the building to end it all.

She has always loved this world, loved life, and loved everything beautiful in this world.

She just smiled at Grandpa Jiang's words and waited for the people on the other side of the river to cross the bridge.

Jiang Bai couldn't cross the bridge with his cart, so he asked the man collecting fees at the ferry if he could borrow his boat.

The ferryboat was not far from the wooden bridge. The ferryman sat at the pier, collecting money from people one by one. During the Chinese New Year, even the ferry fee increased by 1 cent.

He waved his hand and said, "You can use it yourself, just row it back for me." Then he asked Jiang Bai, "Can you row a boat?"

Among the people born in their area, Jiang Ning, Jiang Qinqi and Jiang Hehua are probably the only three who don't know how to row a boat because they have been studying all the time and have their brother around.

When Jiang Ning was a child, things like rowing were not her thing.

Jiang Song was full of energy. In summer, he would take Jiang Bai, Jiang Ning and a group of his good brothers to the riverbank to pick lotus pods, water chestnuts and water caltrops. No matter whether it was a water chestnut basin or a small boat, he would carry them on his head and run faster than a rabbit. Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning could not catch up with him even if they chased him from behind. Once they reached the river, he would dive into the riverbed, cast a net to catch fish, and swim back and forth.

Since the eldest brother was not on the boat, the second brother was responsible for rowing the boat and picking lotus pods.

Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai were always quiet, watching Jiang Song floundering in the river. In Jiang Song's own words, "I can swim back and forth along this riverbank without even taking a breath!"

Later, he went to Hangzhou to visit his friends, and the two of them jumped into the Qiantang River and swam back and forth when they had nothing to do.

Jiang Ning sometimes felt that if Jiang Song could become an athlete, he might be more useful than him trying to do business or something.

Jiang Bai moved the cart and bags of grain onto the boat one by one, rowed the boat to the other side of the river, then unloaded the cart and bags of grain one by one, loaded them back onto the cart, tied them up with ropes, and rowed the boat back to the ferry on the other side. He helped people tie up the boat, and then crossed the bridge himself on the bamboo raft bridge.

Once we reached the other side of the river, climbing the embankment was another hassle.

In order to prevent floods, river embankments are built very high. It is usually fine on sunny days, but like now when the snow has not melted, the path leading to the river embankment is very slippery.

Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai, each holding one of Grandpa Jiang's arms, one pulled and tugged from the front, while the other supported him from the back. They had to free one hand to keep pulling the wild wormwood growing on the river bank. With the force of pulling the wild wormwood, they finally got Grandpa Jiang onto the river bank.

In fact, Grandpa Jiang felt that he didn't need his grandson and granddaughter to support him at all. He could pull the wild wormwood up to the river bank by himself. Facing his grandson and granddaughter's excessive worry about him, he felt both sweet and worried.

Alas, he missed his old friends again as soon as he left the village.

If I don't brag about my troubles to my old friends in the village, I will feel really lonely as the snow.

He looked up and gazed at Jiangjia Village, which was already very far away on the other side of the river.

Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai went down again, one pulling in front and the other pushing hard from the back, and they pushed the cart and the grain onto the embankment. When everything was pushed up, both of them looked a little embarrassed, with fine beads of sweat on their foreheads.

Jiang Ning couldn't help but look back and look at this section of the road to his hometown.

In fact, the agricultural resources in my hometown are very rich. Behind it are endless mountains. The top of the highest mountain is densely planted with tea. There are also abundant wild persimmons, chestnuts, mulberries, wolfberries, and kudzu roots on the mountain. Persimmons hang on branches in front of every household, and no one picks them even when they are rotten.

Grandpa Jiang feeds pigs with persimmons and watermelons.

During the years when Jiang Bai went out to learn a craft and Jiang Ning went to college, the Jiang family's life had become much better. Jiang's father and mother worked hard outside to build the family house, leaving Grandpa Jiang as the only elderly person left at home.

Jiang Ning was worried about Grandpa Jiang, so she raised a local dog for him, which followed him to patrol the mountains and guard the area. Grandpa Jiang usually didn't like to cook, and always ate something casually. After raising the dog, he didn't eat himself, but the dog still had to eat. Every time he called, he complained to Jiang Ning. Every day, he specially cooked a meal for the dog and asked him to eat too.

Jiang Ning didn't like going back to his hometown, so Grandpa Jiang planted a lot of watermelons for his grandchildren to eat.

There was no one in my hometown and the watermelons couldn't be sold, so they all pulled them a boatload to Aunt Jiang and asked her to sell them. Anyone in the village who was hungry or thirsty could go to the foot of the mountain to pick watermelons for free.

Other people in the village also don't like to eat the watermelons grown by Grandpa Jiang because they are facing the same situation as Grandpa Jiang: they grow too much and can't sell or eat it all, so they all have to be fed to pigs.

If you can’t finish eating the tomatoes, feed them to the pigs.

If you can’t finish eating the watermelon, feed it to the pigs.

If you can’t finish eating all the persimmons, feed them to pigs.

If we can’t finish eating the cabbage, we feed it to the pigs.

There are also wild chrysanthemums, honeysuckle, azaleas, ferns, etc. all over the mountain.

This is just the output from the mountains, not including that from the rivers.

Jiang Ning personally doesn't like the hot summer very much, but the summer in Linhe Brigade is the truly beautiful scenery. The shallows on both sides of the river bank are endless and are full of swaying lotus flowers. The summer breeze blows, and the lotus fragrance wafts in the air. Lotus pods, lotus seeds, lotus hearts, and lotus roots are all good things.

Among the wild wormwood on both sides of the river bank, the wild wolfberries have extremely strong vitality.

The locals do not know what wolfberries are and call them "small peppers". Children are strictly prohibited from eating them.

When Jiang Ning was a child, she didn't know that this thing was wild wolfberry. Girls all liked the bright red color of wolfberry, so they picked it with the branches and strings and played with it in their hands.

The presence of so many wild wolfberries also shows that the soil and climate here are suitable for large-scale wolfberry cultivation.

There are also wild water chestnuts and water caltrops, which the locals think are so delicious that they are enough to make you vomit and you don’t even want to even look at them. In fact, they are very expensive when sold online.

There are so many agricultural product resources, but no one is coming back to work with them.

Everyone was eager to run to the city.

Jiang Ning knew that her hometown had very rich agricultural resources, but she was unwilling to come back.

She looked back at the land, and several plans to lead the villagers to become rich instantly emerged in her mind.

But she smiled again.

If she didn't go out and take a high enough position, no one in this land would be able to hear her voice, and no one would believe that a little girl could lead them to wealth.

It was only later that she held a high enough position, her words carried enough weight, and Jiang's father passed the village election and became the village brigade secretary that people listened to her and began to lead the villagers in building their hometown.

Jiang Bai was still bending over and pulling the cart in front, while Jiang Ning followed behind, holding and pushing the cart. The three of them slowly walked out of the river bank and climbed up the charcoal mountain.

The whole road was uphill, and there was no wild wormwood to give us leverage. It was all bumpy stone roads with snow on the road surface. It was very likely that we would slip while walking.

Now even Grandpa Jiang joined the team pushing the cart. Passersby who saw them on the road would come over to lend a hand until they pushed the cart onto the main road above the charcoal mountain.

Jiang Ning was used to going to and from school like this every day. She never felt tired and did not realize that the journey was so difficult. At that time, if she had books to read and could study, she would study with all her might. How could she have the energy to pay attention to the external environment and physical fatigue?

It can be seen that after experiencing the smooth roads and convenient transportation in the 21st century, when I look back and walk the path of my youth again, I realize that it was really not easy for me to get out of here back then.

It was not easy to get there, but when she stood on the top of the charcoal mountain, she didn't want to look back.

No wonder so many people left and don’t want to come back.

Tanshan is a very big mountain, or rather a group of mountains, which is also the general name for this place. There are many villages living here. Due to the rich mineral resources here, it has formed a prosperous scene that is not a town but far better than ordinary towns. The only bad thing is that this place is filled with dust all year round, and the roads are full of dust. Every day, truckloads of coal and cement are taken away from here.

Because every car has to pass through the scale on the ground, this place is named a scale. There are all kinds of street stalls and shops on both sides of the street.

When there were no boats, they had to go through Tanshan, pass this place, take a tricycle, and then go all the way to Shuibu Town.

Only in Shuibu Town are there minibuses going to neighboring cities and Wucheng.

The clothes brought by Tong Jingang and Jiang Bai have been almost sold out, but he is still selling. The sound coming from the loudspeaker he brought can be heard from a long distance away. There was not much business on the third day of the New Year, and he was not busy at this time. He saw them pulling the cart from a long distance away, and quickly put down the clothes in his hands, ran over to take the cart rope from Jiang Bai's shoulder, put it on himself, and pulled the cart to Aunt Jiang's house.

Aunt Jiang's parents-in-law had seen good business in their store due to the traffic brought by Jiang Bai and Tong Jingang in the past two days. When they saw Grandpa Jiang and his family, they shouted with smiles on their faces: "Are you here, in-laws? Have you eaten yet? Ask Xiaofeng to buy some snacks and eat quickly!" They also called Uncle Jiang: "Dawei! Dawei! Your father-in-law is here!"

Uncle Jiang was watching TV upstairs. Because it was the New Year, he rarely went out to build houses for others.

Yes, Uncle Jiang is also a bricklayer. When he has nothing to do, he follows his eldest brother-in-law, Uncle Jiang's family, to build houses for others. When he heard that his father-in-law was coming, he hurried downstairs with a smile on his face and greeted him warmly: "Dad, you are here? Haven't you eaten yet? I'll go buy you something to eat!"

Uncle Jiang is not tall and very thin. Because he has been building houses for others all year round, his face is tanned and he has a bit of social anxiety.

Although Grandpa Jiang is a country boy, he used to be a forest ranger with a fixed salary. After Aunt Jiang married Uncle Jiang, he never asked Aunt Jiang for money. He even sent food and vegetables to Aunt Jiang during the years when times were tough. A few years ago, his family also ran a chicken farm. So even though they are country boys and Uncle Jiang's family is from the town, Aunt Jiang is very confident facing her mother-in-law's family.

Aunt Jiang's parents-in-law were also very polite to the Jiang family.

Aunt Jiang's parents-in-law have no other hobbies. They both love to play mahjong. Even Aunt Jiang likes to play mahjong when she has nothing to do.

Uncle Jiang especially liked to go to his father-in-law's house, because when he was at home, Aunt Jiang would not let him play mahjong. When she was not busy, whenever there was an opportunity to play mahjong, she would let Aunt Jiang play and he could not play. But when he went to his father-in-law's house, he was the guest, and Grandma Jiang would let him play mahjong and call Aunt Jiang to do the work.

Grandpa Jiang hated to trouble others. Hearing this, he waved his hand and said, "I'm not hungry. I just came here after having breakfast. Baizi and King Kong have been selling clothes here for the past two days. I'm sorry to have troubled you and your mother-in-law."

"No, no, no." Uncle Jiang scratched the back of his head a little embarrassedly: "They are actually bringing good business to my family. Dad, please sit down. I'll go call Xiaofeng."

After saying that, he ran away quickly. When he came back, he brought a lot of breakfast. Even though Grandpa Jiang and the others said they were not hungry, he still bought a bunch of breakfast and put them on the table. Then he sat there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. He felt like he didn't know what to do with his hands and feet. Sometimes he put them in his trouser pockets, sometimes in his jacket pockets, and sometimes he touched his pocket for a cigarette, anxiously waiting for Aunt Jiang to come back.

Grandpa Jiang was not hungry, but Jiang Ning, Jiang Bai and the others were a little hungry. They had been pulling and pushing carts all the way, which consumed a lot of energy.

They were in the period of growth, so they ate a lot and got hungry quickly. Jiang Ning didn't hesitate to say, "Thank you, uncle," and went to eat first.

At that time, you could buy ten pot stickers for one dollar. The oil used was all fragrant rapeseed oil. The pot stickers were fried until golden and fragrant. Jiang Ning also asked Uncle Jiang for vinegar and chili.

Maybe it’s because Grandpa Jiang and Grandma Jiang are not good at cooking, Aunt Jiang is also a good cook like Dad Jiang. Every year she pickles coriander, young ginger, chili sauce, and sausages and sends them to Jiang Ning.

In her previous life, Jiang Ning lived alone after her divorce. She couldn’t finish the many things that Aunt Jiang sent her, so she sent them to her leader’s house.

They were all agricultural products produced by her own family. They were not expensive. The leaders would not accept any farewell gifts. Every time she brought agricultural products, the leaders liked them very much, especially the sausages made by Aunt Jiang herself.

Tong Jingang and Jiang Bai also said "thank you uncle" and walked to the table to eat snacks such as fried dough sticks, pot stickers, and glutinous rice cakes. Uncle Jiang waved his hands and said, "No need to thank me, no need to thank me. Eat more. If it's not enough, I'll buy more."

He bought a large plate of dim sum, and Jiang Ning ate ten pot stickers in a row. Tong Jingang and Jiang Bai were also big eaters.

Aunt Jiang came back soon. When Uncle Jiang saw Aunt Jiang, he felt like he had seen a savior. He took the things in her hands and put them on the shelf one by one.

Aunt Jiang came back after washing her hands and saw the cart at the door. She was surprised and asked, "You guys are going back to school so soon?"

Jiang Bai nodded: "I will go to school tomorrow."

Jiang Bai and Tong Jingang are both senior high school students. They will go to school in their third year of high school and fourth year of junior high school. Aunt Jiang also knows this. She asked Jiang Ning in surprise: "Ningning, why are you back to school so early? I remember you are only in the first year of high school, right?"

Jiang Ning put down his chopsticks and said with a smile, "Go early so you can sell some clothes and see if you can make some more money."

Aunt Jiang sighed and went to the kitchen to get two cans of pickled coriander and dried radish, as well as a string of sausages for Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai.

When they left, Aunt Jiang secretly stuffed a hundred yuan into Grandpa Jiang's hand, but Grandpa Jiang didn't want it, so Aunt Jiang stuffed it into her pocket and turned around and ran away with the empty cart.

During the years when the Jiang family was in the most difficult debt situation, Aunt Jiang also secretly gave money to Mother Jiang.

Grandpa Jiang stood under the minibus, holding the hundred yuan, watching Aunt Jiang running away, and put it back in his pocket.

He really doesn't lack money now.

Jiang Ning's store sold more than ten pieces of clothing every day last year. Although Jiang Ning deposited all the money in the bank, she knew that money is the backbone of a person. She paid Grandpa Jiang a salary on time, just like she did to Jiang Bai, one hundred yuan every month. Therefore, after Grandpa Jiang quit his job as a forest ranger, his salary actually increased.

Grandpa Jiang always said no, but Jiang Ning forced it to him every time. Later, when Jiang Ning gave it to him again, he still wanted it, as he was saving it for his granddaughter anyway.

With the 100 yuan salary given by his granddaughter every month, the old man is very satisfied and happy all day long. Even if he doesn't spend the money, he uses it to pay for Jiang Ning and Jiang Bai's tuition. With this salary, he has confidence.

Seeing that Grandpa Jiang was still under the bus and refused to get on, Tong Jingang took a good seat and quickly shouted, "Grandpa Jiang, hurry up and get on the bus, there will be no more seats soon!"

It was during the Spring Festival travel rush, and the fares were several times higher than usual. As soon as Tong Jingang got on the bus, he quickly took two seats and called out to Jiang Ning, "Come here, sister. Sit inside. It's more comfortable by the window. Hurry up!" He then called out to Grandpa Jiang, "Grandpa Jiang, sit here!"

After she used her bag to occupy his and Jiang Bo's seats, she told Jiang Ning, "Sister, keep an eye on your brother and I's seats. Don't let anyone else sit there."

He traveled back and forth to Shuibu Town these days, and he deeply experienced how crowded the buses were during the Spring Festival travel rush. There were no seats and everyone was squeezed into a meat patty.

He got out of the car and quickly helped Jiang Bai load several bags of food onto the roof. After securing them with ropes, he quickly got out and found a place to sit.

The cart was left at Aunt Jiang's house, and when a boat came to Shuibu Town, it would be sent to the boat back to Linhe Brigade, and the boat owner would be asked to help take it home.

Normally when villagers come to town and encounter any inconvenience, they leave their things with her.

Not long after Jiang Ning and the others got on the bus, the seats were full. The conductor pulled out a long bench from somewhere and placed it in the middle of the car. He got off the bus and shouted, "The bus to Wucheng, the bus to Wucheng is leaving!"

There weren't many people on the bus at that time. After the bus started, heading towards Wucheng, people on the roadside kept waving to stop the bus and people kept getting on the bus. After a while, the bus was packed with people.

A mixture of smells.

Until the conductor filled every inch of the carriage with people, she couldn't get on the train anymore, so she closed the door, covered her head and face with a scarf, and hung herself outside the door, holding the handle. When people on the road waved to stop the train, the conductor kept shouting, "No more room, no more room! Wait for the next train!"

Overloading is very common in this era. Because there are more people than cars, even passengers will help the drivers and conceal the number of passengers. When they see overloading from a distance, the drivers and conductors will let everyone get off the bus early and walk through this section. The bus will be waiting in front, and they will walk over there on foot and then get on the bus.

If they didn't squeeze in, they would have to walk back on foot.

And there are no seat belts.

Neither the driver nor the passengers wore seat belts, and there were no seat belts in the parking spaces of the minibus.

Jiang Ning was terrified when he saw the car packed with people.

The road was bumpy and the smell in the car was chaotic. Some people couldn't stand it and shouted: "I want to vomit, I want to vomit, driver, stop, I want to go out and vomit."

The driver would stop temporarily and wait for the passengers to finish vomiting before continuing to drive. During the journey, the conductor got tired of hanging outside the door, so she sat on the roof for a while. Jiang Bai and his friends happened to have some rice, so she sat on it, and the rice protected her from the biting winter wind.

When they arrived in Wucheng, not to mention Jiang Ning, even Tong Jingang and Jiang Bai turned pale. They got out of the car in a daze and with weak limbs. As soon as they got off the car, some people ran to the side of the road and vomited non-stop.

Jiang Bai wanted to carry the rice back to school by himself, but Jiang Ning directly called a small tricycle and loaded 500 kilograms of food, pickles, pickled coriander and dried radishes given by Aunt Jiang, unsold clothes and other items onto the tricycle.

The tricycle could originally seat four people, but because too many things were crammed in it, it could only barely fit Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Ning. Jiang Bai and Tong Jingang had to walk to No. 1 Middle School.

I haven't been to the store for several days. Grandpa Jiang opened the rolling door. The store was still the same as before, with beds inside and the store outside. There were not many clothes in the store. They were all taken to Shuibu Town by Jiang Bai and Tong Jingang and sold these days. Therefore, the store seemed a little empty.

In order to save space, Grandpa Jiang simply pushed the bed to the innermost part and placed it against the wall. All the miscellaneous items he originally brought with him were stuffed under the bed.

Jiang Ning dragged all the things into the store with great effort and rested for a while. Then Jiang Bai and Tong Jingang came back.

Jiang Bai is a person who cannot sit still. The first thing he does when he returns to the shop is to clean, wiping, mopping and washing. Jiang Ning sits there and watches Jiang Bai clean.

Tong Jingang looked at Jiang Ning who was sitting there motionless, and asked Jiang Ning in surprise: "Why don't you help sweep it?"

Jiang Ning continued to talk about Jiang Ma's comment that she had "no life in her eyes" and looked back at Tong Jingang blankly: "Where are you sweeping? Aren't you done sweeping?"

It’s indeed finished!

Tong Jingang looked at Jiang Ning's serious face, looked around, and it seemed that there was nothing else to do, so he stood up and said, "I'll go borrow a cart."

After a busy period in the store, Jiang Bai finally cleaned the floor spotlessly and felt relieved. He and Tong Jingang, who had borrowed a cart, laboriously pulled the food to the school cafeteria.

The first and second year high school students had not returned to school yet, and the campus of No. 1 Middle School seemed very empty at this time. They exchanged their food for food coupons and locked the pickles and chili sauce they brought in the drawers of the cafeteria tables. Jiang Ning carried Grandpa Jiang's kettle to get hot water.

The water room was right next to the canteen. She filled it with hot water and returned to the stairs of the girls' dormitory, shouting, "Dorm keeper! Dormitory keeper!"

The auntie at the canteen said, "School hasn't started yet. Your dorm auntie hasn't come back yet. She won't be back until school starts."

Jiang Ning asked the auntie at the store: "Auntie, do you have the key to open the door?"

The auntie at the canteen said, "I'm not in charge of the dormitory, how can I have the key?"

The canteen is located on the first floor of the dormitory building. One can enter the dormitory directly through the canteen door or through the door outside. However, the door leading to the dormitory stairs from the canteen was tightly locked.

Jiang Ning knew that the aunt in the convenience store must have the key to the door, but she didn't make things difficult for her. She just wanted to ask if she could live in the dormitory. If not, she could just rent a room outside, which would be more convenient.

She didn't ask anywhere else, but went straight through No. 1 Middle School and went to the faculty and staff family quarters behind it to ask if there were any houses for rent.

Because there are two schools, No. 1 Middle School and Wuzhong Middle School, and there is also No. 2 Middle School next door, there are a lot of people renting houses nearby. In order to earn more money, some families of faculty and staff simply moved to the countryside below and rented out all their houses. Some of them live in their own homes, but leave a room empty for students. Parents also like to let their children live in the teachers' homes, as they feel more at ease knowing that the teachers are taking care of them.

But most of the time, there are five or six people, or even seven or eight people living in one room. It is really hard to find a room for yourself like Jiang Ning.

Fortunately, it was the beginning of the school year and there were not many people here yet. Someone asked Jiang Ning how long he would rent the house for, and Jiang Ning said he would live there until the start of the school year. Otherwise, their house would have to be reserved for the students who rented it last year.

Since she was only renting the place for about ten days, the rent was only ten dollars, but she had to prepare her own quilt and bedding.

After finishing all these, Jiang Ning returned to the store, sat on a small chair, and looked at the mud on her outstretched trouser legs. In addition to sweating from the whole car ride, she felt a little sticky and couldn't stand it anymore. She decided to take Grandpa Jiang to the bathhouse and asked Jiang Bai if he wanted to go.

"Yes, yes, yes, of course!" Tong Jingang was the first to jump up.

Jiang Bai and Tong Jingang have been running back and forth between Shuibu Town and Wucheng these days, and they are very tired, especially Jiang Bai, who transported 500 kilograms of food today. When they returned to school, they still ran back.

Tong Jingang originally had a physique that was prone to sweating, and had originally planned to go home and take a good bath in the evening. However, when he heard Jiang Ning say that they wanted to go to the bathhouse, he couldn't help it, so he packed his clothes, towels, soap, etc., and several people went to the bathhouse together.

The bathhouse is not far from the school. Students from several nearby schools will make appointments to come to the bathhouse to take a bath on weekends when it is inconvenient to take a bath at school in winter.

The bathhouse is open all day, divided into two parts: shower and pool bath. Jiang Ning told them a lot about the infectious diseases in the pool bath. Tong Jingang, who also likes pool bath, was so scared that he almost had a shadow on pool bath. He put his hands together and begged Jiang Ning: "Sister, good sister, brother begs you to stop talking, okay? Let's take a shower, and promise not to take our grandfather to the pool bath, okay?"

Jiang Bai originally had a bit of a mysophobia, and after hearing this he never took a bath in a pool again.

It was the first time for Jiang Bai and Grandpa Jiang to take a bath in the bathhouse. They were very curious and looked around here and there.

Jiang Ning was about to buy a bath ticket, but Tong Jingang, who had over 300 yuan in cash, stopped Jiang Ning and raised his chin: "How can I let you spend money when I come out to take a bath with my brothers?"

The man selling bath tickets looked at the short, thin, beautiful and fair Jiang Ning, and then at Tong Jingang, who was tall and burly like a chimpanzee.

Tong Jingang then realized that there seemed to be something wrong with what he said, but he couldn't tell what it was.