The two discreetly walked back, avoiding the crowd. Considering that Chen Ke's house was closer, they went to Chen Ke's house first, and then Wang Jingjiang could carry the rest back by himself on his bicycle.
As dusk approached, Chen Yu and Chen Zhi waited anxiously at the corner of the alley. Chen Ke had instructed them to prepare baskets and wait here when he left in the morning.
"Second brother, why isn't eldest brother back yet?"
"Maybe the place to get the grain is quite far away, and the journey took a long time." Although Chen Zhi comforted Chen Ke, he was craning his neck even further than Chen Yu when looking out.
Finally, the outline of two people and a car could be vaguely seen in the distance.
Chen Yu immediately perked up, "Is it because my older brother is back?"
Chen Zhi stood on tiptoe and looked around. He saw someone waving at him from behind the car and immediately realized that it was Chen Ke who had returned.
"It's our eldest brother! Our eldest brother is back! Let's hurry over and help!"
As the two younger children came running towards him, Wang Jingjiang turned around and quietly asked Chen Ke, "Hey, are your younger siblings more enthusiastic about work now?"
Chen Ke nodded. "A lot has changed."
Wang Jingjiang looked at Chen Ke with admiration, "Wow, that's impressive. It's working so quickly. I knew I hadn't misjudged you."
Chen Ke: "Oh, you have a really good eye."
Wang Jingjiang smiled smugly, "Of course."
Chen Zhi and Chen Yu came over with baskets, and the three of them divided the rice there. Chen Ke took two hundred jin and left one hundred jin for Wang Jingjiang.
Wang Jingjiang was so moved by the amount Chen Ke gave him that he hugged Chen Ke tightly, saying, "Good brother, you are truly my good brother!"
Chen Ke was finding it hard to resist Wang Jingjiang's constant enthusiasm, so he pushed him away and urged, "Hurry up and go back, so your parents won't get impatient."
"Oh, right, I'll be going now." Wang Jingjiang rode his bike up and said goodbye to Chen Zhi and Chen Yu, "Goodbye, little brother and sister."
Chen Zhi and Chen Yu responded enthusiastically, "Goodbye." Although they didn't even know the name, they were probably their older brother's good friends, right? They had never met their older brother's friends before.
Seeing the two of them staring at Wang Jingjiang's departing figure, Chen Ke mistakenly assumed they envied Wang Jingjiang for having a bicycle, and casually asked, "What's wrong? Want a bicycle?"
Upon hearing this, the two waved their hands repeatedly, saying, "No, we don't want it."
Chen Zhi: "Brother, we're not like we used to be. We don't think about unrealistic things anymore."
"Yes, brother, bicycles are of no use to our family."
Chen Ke glanced at the two of them, but seeing their guilty expressions, he didn't call them out. "Alright, then move the things."
"Okay, sure."
"Come on, brother, let me do it. I'm strong enough to carry a load of manure without even breaking a sweat."
Chen Yu quickly covered his nose, "Alright, Second Brother, this is grain you're carrying!"
"Oh, I was just using a metaphor." Chen Zhi said, bending down and lifting the two baskets of grain. He didn't expect the baskets to be so heavy, and he swayed a little when he wasn't paying attention.
Startled, Chen Yu quickly protected him, saying, "Second brother, are you sure you can manage? If not, eldest brother and I will carry you."
Chen Zhi steadied his steps before slowly trying to walk forward, saying, "Brother, what are all these grains? Why are they so heavy?" He had only seen four bags before wanting to show off that he had carried them all by himself.
After all, the grains available now are nothing more than whole grains with husks or cornmeal, and four bags full of them don't weigh much.
"Rice, hulled rice."
With just a casual remark, Chen Zhi stumbled.
"Oh dear, second brother, be careful!" Chen Yu steadied the basket in shock and panic, his heart pounding in his chest. He simply couldn't believe that the grain his eldest brother had prepared was all rice.
Chen Zhi stopped in his tracks in surprise, turned his head, and said tremblingly, "It's all...it's all rice?"
Chen Ke raised an eyebrow. "What else did you think?"
Chen Zhi swallowed hard, his eyes filled with determination. "Chen Yu, hold on tight. We must carry this load of grain back intact today!"
Chen Yu: "......Okay, Second Brother!"
The two of them walked towards the gate with solemn and careful expressions, as if they were protecting some precious treasure.
Chen Ke found it both amusing and heartbreaking. Thinking about how many more people were starving, he wondered if he should quickly develop machinery that would improve agricultural productivity in the future.
Wang Jingjiang rushed home and finally made it home before 10 o'clock. Of all the lights in the building, only his own was still on. Wang Jingjiang parked his car in the carport and had just locked it when Wang Fugui came over from the stairwell.
Why are you only getting back now?
The sudden remark startled Wang Jingjiang so much that his heart stopped. He only came to his senses when he turned around and saw that it was his father.
"Phew... Dad! You scared me to death!"
Wang Fugui glared at Wang Jingjiang, "You're the one who scared us to death! We thought you were... were..."
Without saying anything more, Wang Jingjiang understood what the two elders were worried about. He patted Wang Fugui's shoulder in a mature and old-fashioned manner, "Alright, alright, Lao Wang, I'm back now. Guess what I brought you?"
Seeing Wang Jingjiang's nonchalant attitude, Wang Fugui was furious. He rolled his eyes, reached out to touch him, and said, "What can you bring me? It's just—"
He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence, and as he touched the individual grains, Wang Fugui's eyes widened in disbelief.
"This, this is... big, rice?"
Wang Jingjiang crossed his arms, raised his head, and said, "Yes, that's it, rice!" He then looked like he was waiting to be praised.
Unexpectedly, Wang Fugui stomped on his foot without any mercy, yelling, "You little brat, it's rice, why don't you hurry up and hold on a bit? My hands are too soft!"
"Dad, it's just rice, why are you being so pathetic?" Wang Jingjiang said disdainfully as he helped hold the grain bag upright, his tone as if he wasn't the one who had just shaken his hand at the factory gate.
The father and son carefully carried a bag of grain each upstairs.
A few minutes later, in the living room, the family of three stared blankly at the polished rice in the grain bag.
Wang Fugui and Li Yan: It's actually polished rice?
The same question also came to Wang Jingjiang's mind: It's still refined rice?
After a long silence, Wang Fugui's stammering voice rang out, "Son, son, where did you get this grain?"
"It was purchased from the transportation factory." Now Wang Jingjiang no longer hides it.
"A transportation plant?" the two exclaimed in unison.
Li Yan looked at Wang Fugui, but Wang Fugui looked at Wang Jingjiang with a strange expression. Their canteen's supplies were brought in from the transportation factory. He knew a little about the ins and outs of it, but even as the logistics director, he couldn't get involved. How did Wang Jingjiang, a mere textile worker, manage to do it?
Unless someone took them there!
Wang Fugui immediately guessed the reason.
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