Chapter 287 Taking Him Home

Qin Suisui handed the bronze pendant she had obtained from Pado to Palon. Palon held it in his hand and sneered, "He's out of ideas! He still thinks we're deep in the mountains! The great leader's glory shines upon the earth; those old things are no longer suitable!"

Qin Suisui watched her seventy-year-old master spouting these trendy quotes with high spirits and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Palon rolled his eyes at her: "What are you laughing at? Am I wrong? I've studied these sayings three times from beginning to end! The more I study them, the more I realize how infinitely true they are! You all should learn from me, and keep learning until you die!"

“Yes, yes, Master is right! My senior brother and I will definitely learn from you!” Qin Suisui quickly agreed, afraid that the old man would get angry and “assign her homework” again.

After spending half a day with the Snake Spirit Brigade, it was almost six o'clock. In autumn and winter, it gets dark early on Qiongtan Island. Worried about her safety on the road, Palon was anxious to send her away.

Parman then brought over a few pheasants and pigeons that he had just hunted and processed that afternoon, intending to help her push her bicycle.

Qin Suisui smiled helplessly: "Master, senior brother, you can keep it for yourselves. I have meat at home!"

Paron chuckled, "How can pickled meat be the same as fresh meat? Look at yourself, your blood and energy have deteriorated since you went out. Remember to have Pei Jiuyan stew this meat for you! You have to eat it every day! Come over this weekend, and I'll give you some conditioning. And remember to bring my precious grandson too!"

Qin Suisui was surprised. Her master was indeed a master, with such keen insight! This trip to Yunnan Province had taken a toll on her energy, not only from the long journey but also from the acupuncture she gave to the children in Hongshan Brigade to treat rabies. She hadn't been able to replenish her energy because it was inconvenient to be away from home.

No wonder her master didn't assign her any homework!

Afraid of upsetting the old man, she nodded repeatedly: "Okay! We'll come over this weekend!"

Paman escorted her all the way to the village road of Guangmingding Brigade before returning. Qin Suisui didn't forget to go find Su Yunyi to get the Dingsheng cake, and then took advantage of the darkness to get home.

Pei Jiuyan and Zanzan had already arrived home. Pei Jiuyan was cooking in the kitchen wearing her floral apron. When she saw her return, she quickly poked her head out and said, "I saw you brought back a lot of seafood from the kitchen. Tonight we're having shrimp and crab porridge, stir-fried clams with scallions and ginger, and steamed grouper and ham slices. What else would you like to eat?"

"I want to eat salt and pepper mantis shrimp again!"

"Okay, then you go and rest for a while, I'll be right there!"

Pei Jiuyan pulled her head back into the kitchen and continued working.

Looking at the kitchen filled with the smoke of cooking, and Zan Zan rolling around on the floor with Little White Ball, Qin Sui Sui couldn't help but laugh out loud. She seemed to understand the meaning of her mother's words, "the warmth of human life."

Autumn and winter pass quickly on Qiongtan Island. After this rain and drop in temperature, the weather is gradually getting colder.

In December, it's that time of year again when people all over the island start stocking up on dried vegetables and drying salted fish. This year, Qin Suisui learned from last year's experience and bought seafood from the dock and delivered it directly to Mai Defu's house, asking Aunt Mai and the others to help make crab bricks and dry squid. She made the salted fish and other things at home herself.

This year, Wenlian also brought her several kilograms of small cuttlefish, which she dried and stewed with pork ribs to make a very delicious soup.

In mid-December, after more than two months of research, Qin Suisui finally developed an antidote using lampflower as the main pigment. This was the most difficult antidote among that batch of drugs. With this successful precedent, the remaining antidotes were no longer a problem.

Qin Suisui simply took a year off and spent her days at home drying salted fish, dried vegetables, and sweet potatoes with Aunt Tang, or going to dig wild vegetables with Tu Xiaoqi and Aunt Wu, or going to the medicinal herb base to tend to the herbs with Su Yunyi and Jia Zhenzhen, or going to the black market.

As the year drew to a close, the black market saw a significant increase in good finds, especially from the port city. Sun Ruwen would frequently give Qin Suisui trendy skincare products, perfumes, dresses, or desserts made with fish maw from the port city.

Qin Suisui asked him where he came from, but he hesitated and refused to answer. When she asked him again, he ran away.

Qin Suisui chuckled to herself, unaware that with the help of Zhang Mingzhu, the heiress of Hong Kong, Sun Ruwen's black market was gradually expanding.

On December 20th, Jia Zhenzhen and Chen Zheng obtained their marriage certificate. These days, weddings are kept simple, but Chen Zheng still treated Jia Zhenzhen's friends to a nice meal at a state-run restaurant.

They were all active-duty soldiers and couldn't drink alcohol, so they ordered soft drinks. But Chen Zheng still seemed drunk, his eyes red as he assured Qin Suisui and Su Yunyi that he would treat Jia Zhenzhen well and asked them to keep an eye on him.

On December 28th, Pei Jiuyan and the other two finally got their New Year's holiday. Song Yunlai took Su Yunyi by train that morning to go back to Beijing to see his parents and sister. If they were lucky, they could get home on New Year's Eve.

After meeting Song Yunlai's family in Beijing, they had to rush back to Suzhou to meet Su Yunyi's parents. In this life, without Zhou Zecheng, the original male lead, interfering, Su Yunyi's relationship with her parents had always been good, and her parents were very satisfied with Song Yunlai as their future son-in-law.

Chi Donglin was all alone. He originally wanted to go back to Qiongtan Island with Song Yunlai and the others for the New Year, but he was afraid that his mother would compare Pei Jiuyan, who was already married, with Song Yunlai, who was about to get married. So he decided to stay on Qiongtan Island.

Qin Suisui and her family did not return to Beijing for the Spring Festival because their mother-in-law, Liu Qianyun, called them a while ago to say that she and her father-in-law would be going out on business during the Spring Festival, so they decided not to go.

On the last day of December, which was Lunar New Year's Eve, Qin Suisui and Pei Jiuyan got up early, drove the military jeep they had applied for the day before, picked up Grandma Mai and Ada from the Guangmingding Brigade, and went to the juvenile reformatory in the city. They were going to pick up Hu Zi and take him home.

After several days of drizzling rain, the sun came out today. Although there was still a slight chill in the air, people felt much more comfortable.

Pei Jiuyan ran to the state-run canteen and bought a few meat buns, giving one to each of Qin Suisui, Zanzan, Grandma Mai, and Ada. They could eat them and warm their hands at the same time.

But none of them ate; their eyes were fixed on the gate of the reformatory.

At 9:15 a.m., the gate of the reformatory opened with a "whoosh." Qin Suisui and the others didn't dare to blink, and even held their breath, but no one was seen at the door.

They frowned, about to go forward and ask, when they saw a thin, small figure come out from inside.