106. 106 Trip to Northwest China
Everyone had something to do, and Su Yu was finally able to eat alone. She was practically a mother hen taking care of her chicks, with people coming to ask her for meals all the time.
“Su Yu, pack your things. You’re coming with me to the Northwest the day after tomorrow. They’re planting trees and grass to combat desertification there, and they’ve encountered some difficulties. I’ll take you there to see what’s going on, so you can gain some experience and meet more people,” said her teacher, Teacher Gu.
"Sure, are the tickets bought individually or as a group? Is there anyone to meet you when you get there?"
"The hospital will buy it for us, and someone will pick us up. If no one picks us up, we'll have to take a wrong turn and waste time."
Su Yu asked who was going and learned that there were seven or eight people going. She rubbed her hands and said, "Teacher, do you think I can bring Su Yuan along? I'll cover all his expenses, and I promise he won't hold the team back."
The old man smiled and said, "You're just too anxious. With your son's grades, wouldn't they include him in any activities in their college? If you want to include him, then include him, but you'll have to pay for everything yourself, including travel, accommodation, and food. Otherwise, it's not fair to our students this year."
“I know, I know. This is a rare opportunity. Every time we go, it’s a bonus. I’ll cover all his expenses.”
She has the most knowledgeable teacher, Shumanpo, who can immediately resolve any doubts she has. She also has real trees to experiment with. Her current level is far beyond Xiaoyuan's reach. She will graduate in another year, and there won't be many more opportunities for her to be taught like this.
If we're talking about mentorship, teaching others versus teaching one's own son, then one's own son is definitely the first choice.
She packed her clothes, left the rest of her belongings to Xiao Yuan, and took the tram to Ping An's school.
"Ning Ping'an, your mother is here."
Su Yu recognized him; he was Ping An's roommate. She smiled at him and said, "Just finished class?"
"Yes, Auntie, it's rare for you to come all this way. Have lunch at our school." Peng Keyong waved when he saw Ping An come out, then went downstairs and left first.
"Mom, what brings you here?" Ping An strode out and asked.
"I'm going to the Northwest with your brother tomorrow. Gou La went to Teacher Gu's house. I came to let you know." Su Yu walked downstairs with him and said, "I also need to go see Bao Zhi later, so she doesn't come home unnoticed."
Ping An frowned upon hearing Er Ya's name and asked, "Why are you going to the Northwest? Is it the school's arrangement? When will you be back?"
"I don't know when he'll be back. The teacher will be leading the group, and we'll go together. Oh, by the way, your dad is probably coming at the end of the month. Remember to keep an eye on the time and go back to stay with him for a couple of days."
"Alright, I came here just to tell you this. Go to class. I'll leave after I find Baozhi." At school or when there were outsiders present, she would call Er Ya Baozhi, but Er Ya didn't like the name given to her by others and would still call her Er Ya in private.
"She's not our child, why do you treat her like I am?" he grumbled, dissatisfied. Er Ya was like a shadow, always sticking out of his house.
“Why are boys so stingy? Didn’t I tell you first? If you think like this, then you don’t need to get married. Sooner or later, there will be more people in the family. It’s impossible for it to be just you and Xiaoyuan forever.” Su Yu found it funny. She had never seen such a family-oriented and exclusive child. He was so childish, still like when he was a child, wanting to maintain a balance of only four people in the family.
Ping An shrugged. "I'm still a student. Don't talk to me about relationships."
"I'm not going to argue with you anymore. Remember that your dad is coming. I'm leaving."
Su Yu first went to Er Ya's dormitory to try her luck. She was either in her dormitory, in the library, or in some remote place studying.
"Baozhi, come out for a moment." She smiled at the other students in the dormitory and waved for Er Ya to come out.
"Auntie, we've all been talking about that." Er Ya excitedly reported the progress when she saw her: "One of my classmates has a family in the police system. She had her brother put in a good word with the lower-ups and have my dad and Er Bao arrested and interrogated to find out if there's a gang involved. If there is, it's a big case, and someone from above will investigate it directly."
Su Yu glanced back at the dormitory. They were talking there, and the people inside could hear them. "Have you noticed? Besides studying, what's important for you now is to build good relationships with your classmates. That way, you'll have classmates and friends to help you when you start working. Changing your college entrance exam scores is a tricky matter for both of us, but for people in power, it's just a matter of a word or two. Don't go in and out alone anymore. Get along well with your classmates," she said in a low voice.
Er Ya nodded repeatedly. She said, "I was worried that people would look down on me, and I'm used to being alone. I didn't know how to get along with them. Now that they know about my situation, they sympathize with me. We get along well when we're together trying to figure things out and discussing things. No one is laughing at me."
“They’re all highly educated people, why would they mock someone for no reason?” Su Yu comforted her, then explained her purpose for coming: “Our department has made arrangements, and Xiao Yuan and I are going to the Northwest tomorrow. There’s no one at home, and I’ve sent the dog away, so you don’t need to come to my house to look for me. Have fun with your classmates, go out for walks, eat together, go to the library, it’s all fine.”
"When are you coming back?" Er Ya asked hurriedly.
"I don't know yet. I'll come back when things are resolved."
"Okay, then when you come back, have Xiaoyuan or Pingan come and tell me, and I'll tell you how things are going."
"Okay, you can go in now. Everyone's waiting for you. I'm going back." Su Yu waved to her classmates who were watching her in the dormitory and left the dormitory building.
"Baozhi, is she the Aunt Su you mentioned who has always helped you?" someone asked.
"Yes, it's her. I was able to go to school because of her, and I stopped being beaten because of her. I was able to persevere through high school and college because I wanted to follow in her footsteps." Er Ya clenched her hands tightly, her voice trembling slightly from being too excited.
"She has such a great presence. She must be very confident; her every move is so graceful."
"She is definitely confident. It's rare to see someone who is almost forty years old taking the college entrance examination. She is the first person I have ever met who does this."
The round-faced girl sitting next to Er Ya nudged her and asked slyly, "Does this auntie have a son? How old is he? Is he handsome?"
"What's wrong? Trying to hit on someone's son? Aren't you ashamed?" someone in the dormitory chimed in.
"What's shameful about marriage? Besides, I haven't even discussed marriage with anyone," the round-faced girl said confidently.
The whole dormitory burst into laughter. The tense and indignant atmosphere before Su Yu's arrival vanished without a trace. Someone nudged Er Ya, "Baozhi, Min Min is still waiting. Does Aunt Su have a handsome son? Aunt Su is good-looking, so her son can't be too bad. The only question now is whether he's old enough."
Er Ya stopped smiling, pursed her lips, and said, "Yes, I have two sons, one nineteen and one eighteen, both handsome."
"Did they all get into university? Which university?" someone asked.
“The older one is in our school, a year ahead of us, and the younger one is in the same school and major as Aunt Su, also a year ahead of us.” She quickly stopped after she finished speaking: “Don’t ask anymore. Neither of them seems to be looking for a partner, and Aunt Su hasn’t been urging them to. I don’t know the situation either, so I won’t say any more, lest they blame me.”
"My goodness, three college students from one family! That's incredible! This guy is definitely going to be in high demand. Sister Baozhi, if either of them is looking for a partner, please let me know immediately!" Min Min exclaimed dramatically.
She was young, came from a well-off family, and had a cheerful and playful personality. Her words only made her seem cute and bold. No one took them seriously, and no one disapproved. They all joined in the fun and said they would keep an eye out for her.
"It's a pity that Baozhi was four or five years older, otherwise they would have been childhood sweethearts."
Er Ya bit her lip and retorted, "I'm not even 22 yet, how could I be five years old? But they're both like younger brothers to me. Don't even mention childhood sweethearts, if someone hears that, it'll cause misunderstandings, and I'll be too embarrassed to go to Aunt Su's house again."
"Just kidding, don't take it seriously." The girl lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) said casually, not expecting the other woman to explain seriously. She smiled awkwardly and stopped talking to her.
They didn't buy their train tickets together, and Xiao Yuan wasn't in the same carriage as Su Yu and her group. However, he boarded the train with them and, seeing that there were still empty seats in the carriage, he temporarily sat in the same carriage. He was very helpful in putting away his senior's luggage and getting hot water for her.
The male classmate who came with us said, "...We're old, we're slow, we can't keep up with the young men."
"Senior brother, do you want me to get you some water too?" Xiao Yuan chimed in, jokingly.
"They actually gave him a water cup? They're shameless." Teacher Gu shook her head. After Su Yuan left, she said to Su Yu, "You've raised a good son." He's eloquent, knows how to offer a way out, and is handsome—a pleasure to look at.
Su Yu accepted the praise with a smile, and she also thought her son was good.
We drove north, and after getting off the bus, a jeep picked us up. We continued north for more than three hours, and the ground began to be mixed with coarse sand. After another hour or so, we could see the desert in the distance.
"We'll stay here tonight, and we'll head into the desert tomorrow morning when the sun comes out," said the person who came to pick us up.
"Won't the car get stuck in the sand?" Xiao Yuan asked.
"Yes, but we have experience. After spending a long time in the desert, we can tell where the road is passable and where the sand is soft."
"Impressive, you could even tell that." Xiao Yuan looked at the desert in the distance, then at the wheels of the jeep. Seeing that no one else seemed worried, he followed his mother into the house.
The next day, he entered the desert with a heavy heart, wishing he could lift his buttocks off the ground to reduce the weight of the vehicle, but he kept seeing signs of human habitation and the wheels did not get stuck in the sand.
"Amazing." He gave the driver a thumbs up after getting out of the car. Looking back, all he could see was desert. He couldn't even tell which way he had come from.
If it were a kidnapper abducting someone, even if the rope were loosened, they wouldn't dare to run away because they wouldn't be able to tell which way to go.
"Mom, do you still remember the way we came?" he asked quietly.
Su Yu shook her head. She remembered that the car had turned several corners, making her lose her sense of direction. She only remembered the short, thin branches growing in the sand.
"We invited you here today to jointly study the problem of planting trees in mud and sand. We've been struggling with this for years, but progress has been very slow. Even if we were to exhaust ourselves, we wouldn't solve much of the problem," said the man in charge. His name was Peng Li, and he was a man in his forties or fifties with deep wrinkles on his face, his exposed skin dark from the wind and sun.
Su Yu and her group put down their luggage, covered their hair and faces, and walked with Peng Li towards the place where they planted trees.
"There's water! Water can actually be stored in the desert!" Xiao Yuan, afraid people would laugh at his ignorance, grabbed his mother's arm and muttered excitedly yet with suppressed emotion.
"Xiao Yuan, come on, walk with your senior brother. Why are you acting like a baby who hasn't been weaned, dragging your mother along?" Li Jianjun waved.
Su Yu smiled and said, "Go ahead, ask your senior brother if you don't understand anything."
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