Duoyi said in a soft, sweet voice, "Dad, you told my eldest brother that a lot of fruit at home is ripe, and we wanted him to eat fresh fruit, but he's not here. My second brother said that if we send fresh fruit over, it will spoil..."
The little boy kept smacking his lips, and when he finished, Gao Shujing realized that he had actually written three pages.
After the little guy finished speaking, he asked his dad to read it to him again, and then added some more.
Collecting the letters from the brothers together, plus those written by Yu Rujia and Gao Shujing, yields more than twenty pages, enough to be published as a book.
I doubt many people's letters home are that long.
All the other Xia family members' letters combined don't even equal Duofu's; his bias is crystal clear.
In the past, they didn't send out many things, just one package, which was sent directly to Duofu.
Any items intended for the Xia family were delivered by Duofu. Since he has a bicycle and doesn't need to carry them by hand for long distances, he didn't send them separately.
This time, there were more items being sent, including several large packages. These were then sent to Duofu, who would then forward them to the Xia family. Duofu would have to make two or three trips to get everything delivered.
To avoid any trouble, the items were sent directly to the Xia family this time.
Xia Family in the Capital
Upon receiving several large packages, Xia Jingxing glanced at the address and said, "They're from Fourth Brother's place, so they must be food. I'll open them."
They have regained their freedom, but the entire family's cooking skills are mediocre; even their nephews from Shangfen Brigade cook better.
Having grown accustomed to the various delicacies of the Yu family, the Xia family found even state-run restaurants rather bland.
After finishing the dried meat and meat sauce, Xia Jingxing felt that no matter what dish he ate, it lacked flavor.
They had been eagerly awaiting Duofu's arrival, but the things he brought with him were immediately distributed among the elders as soon as they entered the house, leaving the Jing generation with only a pitiful amount of food.
Later, the Shangfen Brigade sent them or Duofu some food, but the result was the same as the previous items; they couldn't expect to get anything more.
No matter how thrifty he was with his food, he still finished it all within a few days.
Unlike them in Shangfen Brigade, they could eat as much as they wanted every day.
Without the food sent by Yu Rujia and others, Xia Jingxing returned to a state where nothing tasted good.
Xia Jingxing acted immediately, picking up a knife and deftly opening the package, which indeed contained a pile of food.
There was dried meat, meat sauce, dried fruit, jam, and a bunch of soaps.
All of these were things he liked, and Xia Jingxing couldn't help but drool a little.
Han Meifeng slapped his head to the side: "If you dare to drool on the food, I'll break your legs."
Xia Jingxing's body trembled, and he quickly turned his head to the other side, sucking the saliva back into his stomach before turning his head back.
Xia Jingxing: "Mom, I'm not a child anymore, how could I do such a thing? Don't worry, what you're thinking definitely won't happen."
Xia Jingfan kicked his younger brother in disgust: "Alright, everyone knows you. Go stand over there, I'll take care of it."
Everything was taken apart, and two letters came into view.
One letter was significantly thicker than the other, and the thicker one was inscribed with "May you receive abundant blessings." The thinner one had a bunch of Xia family members' names written on it.
The atmosphere was a bit awkward, and the tactless Xia Jingxing added, "Ha, so our whole family isn't even as important as Duofu, we don't even deserve a separate envelope."
As soon as he finished speaking, several cold glints of light fell on him.
In May, the temperature in Beijing was already over 20 degrees Celsius. Xia Jingxing suddenly felt as if he had fallen into a freezing winter and couldn't help but curl up into a ball.
Xia Yuanqiang was speechless at this conspicuous grandson. Whenever there was a scene of courting death, he was sure to be involved.
Xia Yuanqiang feigned a cough to draw everyone's attention to himself.
Xia Yuanqiang: "Put away Duofu's letter, and Jingsheng will deliver it to him when he has time. As for food, let's forget about it. With the love and care of Rujia's family, he'll find everything delicious."
I used to think Beijing was great, but now that I'm back here, I feel less comfortable than I was in Shangfen Brigade.
He's an old man who's almost eighty years old; he doesn't have many good days left to live, so he deserves to eat well.
The students in Duofu's cohort had one less semester than regular university students, so their coursework was particularly demanding, with classes starting early in the morning and continuing until 10 p.m.
It takes about ten minutes to cycle from Yenching University to Xia's house. Yenching University is also very large. It takes about half an hour to get from the classroom to Xia's house. The round trip takes twice as long, and an hour and a half is gone.
To save more time for studying and resting, Duofu moved into the school and only returned to the Xia family home on weekends.
At that moment, he was at Yenching University, completely unaware that his unscrupulous family members were planning to embezzle his belongings.
The Xia family wholeheartedly agreed with Xia Yuanqiang's suggestion. They felt that Duofu had been enjoying the good life for over a decade, and it was time to let them have their turn.
Duofu's biological father, Xia Jingsheng, said, "Isn't that a bit inappropriate? We should at least leave some for Duofu, shouldn't we?"
Based on the distribution of food upon returning to the capital, the total amount of food that their generation received was less than one-tenth of what was delivered each time. Sometimes they would only get a taste before the food was gone; it was truly pitifully little.
Xia Jingsheng believed that he could use Duofu's name to try and get an extra share, and then enjoy it himself.
He is Duofu's biological father, so it's not unreasonable for him to eat some of his food.
Xia Taiping saw through his son's thoughts at a glance: "Is it left to Duofu or to you?"
Xia Jingsheng coughed awkwardly and insisted, "Of course it's for Duofu. Look, those things were sent to Duofu by Rujia and the others. We can't keep them all, can we?"
Yes, not only were the envelopes divided between Duofu and the Xia family, but the food was also divided between Duofu and the Xia family.
The older children had spent time with the Xia family, and they knew very well how voraciously Xia Jingxing ate.
To prevent Xia Jingxing from eating everything, the group specially put stickers on the food meant for Duofu, indicating that this part was for their eldest brother's exclusive use.
However, what they didn't expect was that Xia Jingxing wasn't the only one who stole Duofu's things.
Duofu's belongings made up a third of everything, but apart from the letter, the Xia family had no intention of leaving Duofu any food.
Xu Xiangyue: "When you go to deliver the letter to Duofu, tell him that we have eaten the food and there is no need to keep it."
In the end, the several large packages, weighing several hundred kilograms, were divided among the members of the Jing generation, who each received about fifty kilograms. The rest were distributed among the elders.
When Xia Jingsheng handed the letter to Duofu, he said indignantly, "Your aunt and the others sent you a lot of food. We thought you were young and it wouldn't matter if you ate less, so we decided to divide the food among yourselves."
"Of the several hundred kilograms of goods, I only got about ten kilograms. The rest fell into the hands of other people. They are no different from bandits."
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