Chapter 126 Making a Phone Call

Cheng Rong was chopping wood with great difficulty while Xia Zhizhi was running and playing in the snow. The newly fallen snow was very fluffy and made a crunching sound when she stepped on it. She walked all over the yard until there was not a single clean spot in the yard left and it was covered with footprints.

Looking at the time, it was past eleven o'clock, so she rode her bicycle to the commune and called the Baoshan Road Sub-district Office.

The call was connected quickly.

Cheng Rong ran away from home for five or six days. She left without even leaving a letter. Her family looked for her and asked several familiar relatives, the street office, and her classmates, but no one was there. They were afraid that she had met with an accident.

Cheng Rong was not a good person. She asked her elementary school classmates for help. The street where she opened the introduction letter was quite far away from her home, and her family had no idea where it was.

There is no real-name system for buying tickets at this time, so trying to find her is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Cheng Rong's father holds the rank of colonel and is a division commander-level cadre, a very high-ranking official, equivalent to a local director-level cadre or the mayor of a prefecture-level city.

Their child is missing, so the subdistrict office must be concerned. After Xia Zhizhi made the call yesterday, a specialist from the office rode a bicycle to their home to inform them, but no one was home.

The couple spent most of their time in the army and would return home every now and then. The military district allocated housing to them, but at that time Cheng's father's military rank was not as high as it is now, so he was only given a small room. The family pooled their money and bought a small courtyard outside for the elderly and children to live in. Later, their rank was promoted and the children grew up, so they just lived together.

The clerk immediately ran back and informed his leader, and then contacted Cheng Rong's father.

Cheng Rong's father returned the call and found out it was the commune's phone number. The person who called had left, so he could only wait patiently until the next day.

The clerk answered the phone quickly, briefly explained the situation to Xia Zhizhi, gave her another number, and asked her to call.

Xia Zhizhi dialed the number and the call was quickly connected.

She didn't keep him in suspense, knowing that he must be worried about his daughter, so she said directly: "Hello comrades, my last name is Xia, and I'm currently working in the countryside in Mudanjiang City. I'm calling you to tell you that Cheng Rong is here with me now. She got off the train yesterday. She's doing fine now, so you don't have to worry too much."

The Cheng couple were both standing by the phone. After hearing what she said, they felt a little relieved from the stress they had felt since last night.

Cheng's mother said, "Thank you, Comrade Xia, can you let Cheng Rong answer the phone?"

"She's not here. She's in a bad mood. When we got off the bus, I suggested that she call you to let you know she was safe, but she refused. She doesn't know that I'm contacting you yet."

Cheng Mu paused for a moment and said, "Excuse me, how did you know our contact information?"

"Cheng Rong and I had kept in touch before. I called my friend in Shanghai and asked him to find the phone number of your street for me."

Mother Cheng sighed: "We have caused you trouble. Rongrong is not sensible. Please take care of her more."

Xia Zhizhi left them her address and suggested, "Let's not talk about whether to take care of her or not. Just pick her up as soon as possible. After all, it's freezing here and there's nothing to ask for."

Cheng's mother said that they would try their best, as they and their husband could not get away for the time being, so they could just send someone over. But she was afraid that Cheng Rong would not obey and would not be willing to come back, so she felt a headache.

"Okay, that's it." She was about to hang up the phone.

Mother Cheng asked again, "Rongrong is a little girl who has never been on a long journey alone. Did she suffer any hardship this time when she traveled so far?"

Xia Zhizhi paused for a moment and decided to tell the truth: "I think she must have suffered a little. She wore a thin set of clothes. It was snowing here, and she was freezing all the way here. She lost her money when she changed trains in Beijing, and she went hungry for nine meals in three days."

Let the couple feel sorry for her and quickly send someone to bring her back.

The Cheng couple were really heartbroken. The child had never suffered such suffering since he was a child.

After hanging up the phone, Cheng's mother scolded Cheng's father: "It's all your fault. You always speak so harshly to the children. Why can't you talk about it calmly..."

Father Cheng lowered his head and muttered quietly: "You are still criticizing me, but you are not much better than me."

Cheng's mother asked, "What did you say? You spoke so quietly that I couldn't hear you."

"I said, why don't we ask the boss to take some time off to pick her up?"

…

Riding back to the educated youth camp, the meal was just ready. After lunch, Xia Zhizhi called Cheng Rong again: "Rongrong, come quickly, let's clean the snow off the roof!"

Cheng Rong didn't want to move... She had been chopping wood for the whole morning. Although she didn't get much out of it, she had used up a lot of energy and her arms were tired.

Xia Zhizhi looked at her with a smile: "Rongrong is really amazing. You did such a good job on the first day. You will definitely become an excellent educated youth in the future and make your own contribution to rural construction."

After that, he put the broom in her hand and said in a gentle voice: "If you are tired, just tell me. It's okay if you don't want to do it. It's hard for girls from the city to adapt here. I can understand."

It's only been one day, how can you say you are incapable?

Cheng Rong held the broom handle tightly and said, "It's okay, it's okay. I'm not tired at all. I'm just thinking about how to sweep."

After sweeping the snow off the roof, they swept the woodshed. After finally cleaning it all, Xia Zhizhi found a shovel and came over: "Rongrong is really amazing, better than many educated youth. Come, shovel the snow outside the yard. Today's work is done."

Cheng Rong transported all the snow out, and it was getting dark.

After working all day, Cheng Rong was so tired that she couldn't even lift her arms. During the meal, she managed to eat two bites.

Seeing that she ate little, Han Youran asked considerately, "Is the food not to your liking?"

Cheng Rong nodded honestly.

It was not only unpalatable, it was simply disgusting... She had never eaten such a disgusting dish in her life.

Xia Zhizhi comforted her: "The food for the educated youth in the countryside is like this. You will get used to it slowly. The food here is relatively good. Some educated youth don't even see meat once a month."

Cheng Rong nodded. In fact, she felt that it had nothing to do with whether there was meat or not... the main thing was that it didn't taste good.

After dinner, Cheng Rong followed Xia Zhizhi back to her room, boiled some water for washing, and then the two of them sat on the edge of the kang to soak their feet.

Xia Zhizhi opened the small jar, which contained the snow frog cream made by Ah Ju. She scooped out a large lump and gave half to Cheng Rong.

"Isn't this too much?" Cheng Rong looked at the huge lump in her hand.

Xia Zhizhi rubbed and patted: "Not too much, not too much, wipe your hands after wiping your face. It's cold and windy here, if you don't rub more, your face will be chapped and you'll cry."

Looking at Xia Zhizhi's fair and tender face, this statement is quite convincing.

Cheng Rong imitated her and rubbed the cream on her hands to melt it, then applied it on her face: "This is very moisturizing and quite comfortable."