Three days before leaving, Zhou Jiao and Zhang Guoqing visited the elders during the day, carrying pastries, rice paper, and other local specialties, as a farewell. She was even worried that someone would look at her and say they were staying at a hotel they shouldn't have been staying at. Since early warning is the best policy, she carefully prepared several rolls of rice paper, a few boxes of local specialties, and some handicrafts popular with women.
Zhou Jiao and her partner personally handed the package to the elderly man's secretary, asking him to deliver it on their behalf. She frankly explained the care she had received during her trip and, with some concern, explained how she was a first-timer and wasn't very good at handling things. This caused the secretary to burst into laughter, and he asked her if she wanted to meet the elderly man.
Zhou Jiaolian said she couldn't disturb the old man right now as he was busy with his affairs. She would meet them again when she was more mature. She wasn't worried that this uncle wouldn't help her smooth things over with the president—he was her father's best friend.
The next morning, the couple went to the photo studio to pick up the photos and bought some film and developing supplies.
After returning home, Zhou Jiao didn't go anywhere. She stayed at home and made dumplings with Aunt Chen. After she finished making dumplings, Zhang Guoqing began to deliver them to the homes of Zhou Xiaozheng's comrades.
During their time in the capital, these uncles had sent them a lot of food, so she needed to give them something in return before leaving. Especially Uncle Wang from the Northwest. Although he wasn't good at talking, like Zhao Chuangguang, he looked at her as if she were his own child, and when he saw them, he cried and laughed.
She always remembered the day they first met, when he hugged her father and cried until his voice was hoarse. Often, those who are not related by blood are family. She deeply remembered the uncles who helped and cared for her and her father when they were at their lowest point.
On the last day, Zhou Xiaozheng took a day off, leaving his children in the care of Old Lady Cheng and Aunt Chen, and took his wife, daughter, son-in-law and the whole family to the mountain to pay homage early.
After descending the mountain, the family went to Lao Mo for a meal. After the meal, they sent Lin Lishan and Zhang Guoqing back to spend time with their children. Zhou Xiaozheng took his daughter to a mud house in the suburbs.
The village of over a hundred households all have the surname Zhou. Entering the village, you'll see villagers greeting you warmly everywhere. Zhou Xiaozheng bought the adobe house because his comrade-in-arms became a captain after retiring.
Zhou Jiao covered her mouth and laughed when she heard her father say that even Lin Lishan didn't know about this house. Fortunately, her father didn't have a concubine, otherwise her mother would probably know nothing about it.
When she found out he'd just bought this house, she burst out laughing. Could it be that after buying a house in the big city, her father was starting to buy her a house in the countryside? Sure enough, when she finally went to Uncle Zhou's house, the house was indeed hers!
Zhou Xiaozheng waited until no one was around, then pulled her into the bedroom and moved the bricks away from the corner. Zhou Jiao knew immediately that this was a darkroom similar to the old man's in City S. It was pitch black inside, and turning on the flashlight revealed a large, hastily dug hole. Inside lay three wooden boxes.
Zhou Xiaozheng bent down, half-opened the box for her to see, and whispered, "This is the last of the capital's money. You can put it in your treasure first."
Zhou Jiao obediently put it into the space.
After returning to normal, Zhou Xiaozheng cleaned the mud off his feet and asked Zhou Jiao to put the box on the ground.
Zhou Jiao saw that the room was empty. She had never had the chance to let her father see how much stuff she had. At this time, she smiled proudly and slowly put the things on the ground, except for the things left over from her previous life. In the end, she still underestimated the amount of her own inventory.
"Dad, there are more. I'll put them all out for you to see. Where do you think I should put them?"
Zhou Xiaozheng had already been frightened by her last time, and he was startled again this time. He quickly stopped her and said with a stern face, "Have you forgotten what Dad told you? Be careful! One careless mistake can lead to disaster! Put it away quickly, and promise Dad not to reveal your identity in front of anyone. Do you understand?"
Zhou Jiao quickly put the items into the space, leaving behind three wooden boxes. She stuck her tongue out at her father and raised her right hand with a smile. He glared at her, and she quickly put it down, immediately promising to be careful!
Zhou Xiaozheng rolled his eyes at her, and seeing her acting coquettishly and playfully, he couldn't help laughing out loud.
"Don't be careless. Don't use this thing normally. When you return to the Northeast, put some food and supplies in the basement and get it from there."
Seeing his daughter's serious agreement, Zhou Xiaozheng continued, "I already know the area you mentioned. I don't need to see it, I know you will definitely plunder along the way this time. You must remember that money can easily tempt people, let alone precious things like this. Fortunately, it was Xiaowu who gave you this opportunity, otherwise I would have killed him."
Zhou Jiao saw the fierce glint in his eyes as he spoke, and she believed he could really do it. She nodded seriously, "Dad, don't worry. I know what's important. Besides you and Xiaowu, I haven't even told you about my future children. I didn't want to tell you in the first place, for fear you'd worry. Look, you're already worried. Don't worry, your daughter will follow your lead. She's not stupid."
Zhou Xiaozheng looked at her carefully, thinking that his child indeed looked like him. He nodded, squatted down to open the boxes, and whispered to her where the boxes came from and which ones could be passed down to the family in the future.
Zhou Jiao smiled knowingly. She hadn't expected her father to have such good judgment and to have secretly accumulated wealth long ago. It seemed that besides the capital, there must be a lot of wealth elsewhere.
She put away the box, looked at the house curiously, and asked him why he thought of buying it?
"A house worth a few dozen yuan, with a yard of almost half an acre in the back. Would you like to buy it? The most important thing is that it's in the same direction as our ancestral grave, and everyone in the village is surnamed Zhou. If we get tired of living in Beijing, we can build a larger yard here. We didn't let your mother know before because there was something inside, but now it's fine."
Zhou Jiao hadn't expected it to be so cheap, so she nodded in agreement. As for renovating the courtyard, they decided to forget about it. The compound wasn't full for their family, so several rooms were empty.
"Stop looking, it's time for us to leave. The only valuable thing about this house is the backyard. Let's leave it here for now and deal with it later." Zhou Xiaozheng said and walked out.
He took Zhou Jiao to his comrade's home to let him see his daughter. He had seen the silly girl in the other family before. With a different idea in mind, Zhou Xiaozheng and his daughter visited the family of their comrade who was the captain of the team.
Seeing that it was getting late, the other party also praised his daughter Jiaojiao. Zhou Xiaozheng said goodbye to the other party with a smile on his face and took Zhou Jiao home.
The train leaves at around 12 o'clock in the evening, and at around 6 or 7 o'clock, the Zhou family's house is already full of people.
In addition to the Cheng and Lin families, the brothers and sisters who had just met in the compound during this period also gathered in the east wing to chat and say goodbye to Zhang Guoqing.
Zhang Guoqing held up a stack of small pieces of paper, a mixture of laughter and tears. They said they were contact information and he had to remember to write once a week and not repeat the same replies to everyone. He looked at the small pieces of paper that had been slipped to him, which contained the phone numbers of contacts in Northeast China, and felt deeply moved.
He had made many friends this time. The pure brotherhood made him reluctant to leave these friends. Seeing them urging him to meet up at Beihai River in the summer, he smiled and nodded repeatedly.
Fang Fei and Li Qianjin heard Zhou Xiaozheng and his daughter talking in the yard. He stood up and reconfirmed that they didn't need to see them off to the train, then said goodbye.
Accompanied by Zhang Guoqing, the group left Zhou's house and headed towards Li Qianjin's home.
"Don't be sad! Summer isn't going to happen yet. I think Xiaowu and his family will be back. Have you forgotten that we have our precious child? Would Comrade Lao Zhou not let Xiaozhou come over to see if he's lost weight?"
As soon as Fang Fei finished speaking, everyone burst into laughter - you never know, it's really possible.
"Why don't you guys think Xiaowu stays? My grandfather told him to join the army directly." said a boy in the crowd.
"Yes, if he stays, our lives will be much better."
Fang Fei felt very strange. He exchanged glances with a few people and couldn't help but ask a group of friends who hadn't joined the work yet, "How many times have you played with him? Do you really want him to stay?"
"Brother Fei, does making friends take time? If we feel the same way, we'll be good friends."
"Exactly. Xiaowu is so nice! He's such a good friend. He comes to us without hesitation when we ask for his help. He never breaks his promise to us. I came here tonight to say I'd send Xiaowu off, and my grandma even asked me to bring him a message."
…
Fang Fei listened to everyone's chatter. He was surprised to find that Xiao Wu had become so popular without him even noticing. No wonder his grandfather said that within two days of Xiao Wu's arrival, everyone from the gate sentry to the five or six-year-old kid in the yard could talk to him.
Listen to what these people are saying. Righteousness? Xiaowu is indeed quite righteous. Generosity? He is indeed quite generous. Not calculating? Wrong. If you keep saying that, wouldn't that make him a saint? That kid has more cunning thoughts than anyone else.
As the departure time approached, Zhou Xiaozheng declined the invitation of others to accompany him, and the couple personally escorted the children to the train compartment.
After everything was ready, Zhou Xiaozheng took Zhou Jiao by the hand and told her to go home if she needed help. If she wanted to go home, she could send him a telegram and he would arrange her trip. She had to be careful in everything she did.
Lin Lishan held Ping An in her arms and whispered to Zhang Guoqing, "If you feel unwell after returning to the Northeast, run home." She told him not to be so foolish as to save face and suffer. With her around, he wouldn't have to worry about not having a good job. Don't be stingy with money for things that can be solved in the Northeast. If you run out of money, send a telegram and she'll send it to them. She also told him to promise her not to go hunting in the mountains.
Thousands of words, pieces of parental love.
Zhang Guoqing took a deep breath, smiled, and nodded. He told her and her father-in-law to take care of their health, not to focus on their careers, and to spend more time with their father-in-law.
The couple did not care about their parents' high or low official positions, as long as they were safe and healthy. He told her not to worry, he would take good care of Jiaojiao, and if the family had a hard time outside, they would run back to Beijing.
As the whistle sounded and the family was about to get off the bus and separate, their eyes turned red.
Zhang Guoqing quickly laughed and said, "Maybe they'll come over again in less than a month." He told Zhou Xiaozheng and his wife to remind Aunt Chen to dry the quilt.
Zhou Xiaozheng patted his daughter's head. He smiled and told her not to cry, saying he wouldn't let her leave if she started crying. Seeing her nodding with a smile, trying to hold back tears, he hardened his heart and immediately turned and walked out.
At this moment, he thought again about how wonderful it would be if his daughter Jiaojiao hadn't married far away. He could come home from work every day to enjoy the meals carefully prepared by his daughter, and if he worked late at night, there would be a bowl of midnight snack served to him and she would nag him to eat quickly.
He can have children to play chess and chat with him, and to exercise with him. When he is sad, his little cotton-padded jacket will comfort him; when he is happy, his little cotton-padded jacket will laugh with him.
Zhou Xiaozheng walked to the window and looked at the children through the glass. He saw them trying hard to suppress their sadness and grinning at him. His mood began to improve, and he smiled and waved a silent goodbye to the slowly moving train.
Watching his wife running after the train, Zhou Xiaozheng stood there for a long time without moving.
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