Chapter 66 Chapter 66 Chapter 66...
Chapter 66
The Ming couple were bewildered, and even more apprehensive about applying to go to the countryside. Turning around and seeing their daughter chewing a peach, Ning Chaoyun, despite trying to contain herself, finally couldn't help herself and asked, "Isn't this your grandma's arrangement?"
Weisheng tilted his head, smiled adorably and said, "Otherwise~"
"Laugh, laugh, laugh! You still can laugh. Do you know what the countryside is like?"
Not to mention Ning Chaoyun, Ming Yichen's face also looked a little ugly.
He has never lived in the countryside, but he knows what life is like there.
Weisheng: "You won't harm us. If we can enjoy happiness, why would you let us suffer? No matter whether the countryside is good or not, it's the best way out you can think of."
The grandmother spoke more and more fluently. If Weisheng was not the person involved, she would have believed that there really was such a worried old lady in the world.
In reality, Ming Yichen and Ning Chaoyun understood without Weisheng's explanation that they had simply lost their composure due to sheer shock. Having recovered, the couple ignored their daughter, who was still eating peaches, and instead discussed their life in the countryside.
The house they were living in wasn't their own, but the resettlement housing the government had given them when they returned to China. If they went back to the countryside, they would definitely have to return the house.
Thinking of this, the couple couldn't help but look around subconsciously again.
Ning Chaoyun had a severe obsession with cleanliness, so all the furniture in their home had to be purchased separately. Thinking about life in the countryside, Ning Chaoyun asked Weisheng, "Can you ask your grandmother if we can take all this furniture with us?"
Weisheng nodded. "Didn't my grandma tell us long ago that we can take whatever we want? Life in the countryside is not as convenient as in the city. We should take everything we can with us, so we don't end up having no place to buy things when we get there even if we have money."
That's good.
Then she went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a box of laundry detergent.
Hearing that most houses in the countryside are made of adobe, Ming Yichen decided to take all the old newspapers at home and use them to paste the walls and roof.
"Bring some kraft paper, it's thicker. Newspaper will peel off if you touch it, so stick it on the bottom and then stick another layer of kraft paper on the outside. It will look neat and clean."
Ming Yichen had no objection. Weisheng thought for a moment and suggested, "My dad's calligraphy is good. Let's write two poems on the kraft paper. The one from '沁园春·雪' will be it."
When talking about poetry, Ming Yichen interjected, "'Man Jiang Hong' is also good."
Weisheng: The best line is "At thirty, fame and success are dust and dirt; at eight thousand miles, the journey is cloud and moon."
Knowing that it was this poem "Man Jiang Hong" that suited Ming Yichen's mood at the moment, Weisheng did not try to persuade him with any inappropriate words, but instead talked about the train tickets.
The Youth League Office would definitely not give her a train ticket as she was such a burden.
"Tomorrow, the three of us will go to the Youth League Office together, get our train tickets and resettlement fees, and then go to the train station."
"I don't know where the Youth League Office assigned us. I heard that no matter how far the journey is, we will all get hard seat tickets." If the journey is too far, we should find a way to get three sleeper berths.
That night, the family of three talked for a long time about the topic of going to the countryside, from food, clothing, housing and transportation to rural customs and farming work.
Weisheng knew that the couple would definitely suffer from insomnia again tonight, and she was curious about where the Youth League Office had assigned the Ming couple, so she used the same trick again to knock them down and took them to the government compound.
Revisiting the old place, Weisheng found the Youth League Office with familiarity.
"Why is it the Northeast again?"
She had been sent to the Northeast to work in the countryside before, so why were the Ming couple arranged to go to the Northeast again this time?
After seeing where everyone else got their items, Weisheng pursed his lips and put away all the things he had turned over.
This year's educated youth were all assigned to the three northeastern provinces, without exception. Fortunately, only the Ming couple were assigned to a village under Kedong City.
In fact, Weisheng came over tonight not only out of curiosity, but also because he wanted to make some preparations in advance.
Before the country forced educated youth to go to the countryside, those who took the initiative to go to the countryside might have known about Ming Yichen and Ning Chaoyun's overseas study background. If they were assigned to the same place, it might not be safe in the countryside.
If you know it in advance, you can find a way to avoid it.
After packing up his things, Weisheng was about to leave, but before he left, he suddenly thought of something. So he turned back to his desk, opened the drawer with a lock picking skill more professional than a thief, and took out the official seal inside and entered the space.
There were quite a few new letters of introduction in the micro-space. I found one and stamped all over the other letters.
After stamping the entire book, Weisheng put the official seal back to its original place.
For the next decade or so, no matter where they went or what they did, letters of introduction would be essential. One copy would be enough for the three of them to use for at least ten years.
…
Hujia Village, Lianhua Town, Kedong City, Dong Province.
Ming Yichen and Ning Chaoyun, who had looked at the map before going out, saw the word "East Province" and the location of East Province on the map automatically appeared in their minds.
From Xiangcheng to Kedong City in Eastern Province... it's a full six thousand miles.
After leaving the Youth League Office, the three of them had two train tickets for six days later, 460 yuan in resettlement fees, a letter of introduction, and the personal files of Ming Yichen and Ning Chaoyun.
The three of them first stood on the street and talked in low voices, then went straight to the train station.
Ming Yichen and Ning Chaoyun wanted to refund the two train tickets they had, and then pay some money to buy three soft sleeper tickets.
A soft sleeper is a small, four-berth cabin that offers greater privacy and is cleaner. Soft sleeper tickets are expensive, and not everyone is willing to spend the money, so the other berth is likely to remain empty.
Another reason for buying a soft sleeper was that the tickets for the educated youth going to the countryside were all purchased by the Youth Office, so the train numbers and carriages were all the same. If you met in the same carriage, it would inevitably catch the attention of someone with a keen eye.
~
When they arrived at the train station, Ming Yichen went to the ticket refund window to refund his train ticket, while Weisheng and Ning Chaoyun went to queue up to buy soft sleeper tickets. By splitting up into two groups, they saved nearly half of the time.
As agreed before, to be on the safe side, they would travel one day apart from the other educated youth.
So instead of buying tickets for six days later, they bought tickets for five days later.
After buying the tickets, Weisheng directly put the three people's train tickets into his space. He said that his grandmother was afraid of losing them, so he kept them for them first.
Before going home, they went to the supply and marketing cooperative and used the supply coupons in their hands to buy some cloth, cotton, and various food, clothing and daily necessities.
I originally wanted to buy a cotton coat and cotton shoes, but the supply and marketing cooperative in Xiangcheng didn’t have any thick cotton coats at all.
Weisheng bought quite a lot of things, so he found a quiet place to put them away on the way home. After that, he told Ming Yichen and Ning Chaoyun that he was going to the countryside and wanted to keep it a secret for a while.
I couldn't hide it anymore, and I couldn't tell anyone the specific address in the countryside.
Hearing Weisheng say this, the Ming family couple agreed to it. When they went to bed at night, the couple whispered to each other, "Does our mother think everyone is a bad person?"
Why does it seem like anyone would harm them?
"Who knows? Anyway, everything my mother said came true." At this point, it's right to listen to my mother.
Ning Chaoyun glared at the man and muttered softly, "I didn't say I wouldn't listen." She just said a few words out of suspicion.
Seeing Ning Chaoyun like this, Ming Yichen hugged her in his arms and patted her gently for a few times, then talked to her about Weisheng's education problem.
"Have you noticed? Not only does my daughter speak Mandarin better now than when she first returned to China, she can even speak a few local dialects and slang. The other day she was speaking Northeastern dialect, and yesterday at noon I saw her laughingly speaking a few words of Cantonese. Last month, I think she even spoke a few words of Shanghainese. Who do you think she learned all this from?"
Ning Chaoyun had long noticed that something was wrong with her daughter. When she heard the man say this, she sat up immediately with a serious face: "You probably don't know yet, but I heard your daughter say that our mother even taught her to play mahjong. I wanted to say this a few days ago, but your daughter is still young, and at her age, she is most afraid of being influenced.
A few days ago, she slept until noon every day. I asked her if she was feeling unwell, and she said that they were short of one person, so she played mahjong with her grandma all night and was very sleepy... Ah Jin is so young, what if this changes her temperament?
Ning Chaoyun became increasingly excited as she spoke, and Ming Yichen, who was standing beside her, could no longer sit still. So the couple spent much of the night discussing their daughter's education, and both woke up late the next day.
After breakfast, Ning Chaoyun planned to make three cotton vests with the cotton he bought in the few days before departure.
The vest made for Weisheng was a cheongsam-style slanting-breasted vest, while the ones made for her and Ming Yichen were the common round-necked, double-breasted style vests.
Ning Chaoyun is good at sewing, and Ming Yichen takes care of three meals a day, so she can make three cotton vests at a time.
Ming Yichen was the head chef for these three days, so he often asked Ning Chaoyun and Weisheng what they wanted to eat.
Weisheng thought that the couple used to live in France, so he often ordered some French food according to the original owner's memory. After eating, he always asked Ming Yichen to cook for her in a tone that said she couldn't eat it after going to the countryside.
While eating, Ming Yichen suddenly asked Weisheng: "Ajin, do you still remember Camille?"
"Oh, Dad, didn't I tell you that I don't like Camille's brother?" As if unaware that Ming Yichen was testing him, Weisheng continued, "I wonder how Mickey is doing now? When we get to the countryside, let's get a cat."
Camille was the original owner's French classmate and neighbor. Camille's brother was the original owner's date at a school dance. Mickey was Camille's cat.
Just this one sentence once again dispelled Ming Yichen and Ning Chaoyun's suspicion of Weisheng.
After dinner, Weisheng walked around the house wearing a cotton vest and a small shirt in the hot autumn weather. Ning Chaoyun made sure that there was nothing that needed to be changed before letting Weisheng change.
Ning Chaoyun made her and Ming Yichen's vests first, and when she got used to it, she made one for Weisheng. The vest she made was really exquisite and beautiful. Now, while she lowered her head to collect the remaining cloth and cotton, she was thinking about whether to make her daughter a small cotton skirt or small cotton pants.
Just then, there was a fierce noise outside the window.
Weisheng rushed to the windowsill with the cotton vest he had just taken off, and then, together with other neighbors who heard the noise, peeked into the house where the noise came from.
Ming Yichen and Ning Chaoyun also put down what they were holding and walked to the window in two steps.
Ning Chaoyun took a look and then whispered to her husband and daughter, "That looks like Teacher Hu's house."
Teacher Hu, like the couple, is a returned overseas student, but they returned from France, while Teacher Hu studied in the United States.
At the beginning of the month, both Mr. Hu and the Ming family were fired from Xiangcheng University. The Ming family had recently been preparing to move back to the countryside, but they also heard that Mr. Hu was preparing to return to the United States.
Ming Yichen and Ning Chaoyun couldn't figure out what could have caused such a commotion at Teacher Hu's house. From the sounds, it seemed like there were quite a few people, cursing and smashing things.
The couple were a little worried, and afraid that it was someone else's family affair, and it would be even more embarrassing if outsiders like them tried to mediate.
"Teacher Hu?"
Weisheng, who had no intention of trying to stop the fight, quickly recalled the original owner's memory after hearing the three words "Teacher Hu". While remembering who Teacher Hu was, he also remembered that today was the beginning of all the suffering.
Today it’s Teacher Hu, and tomorrow it’s... Weisheng slowly turned his head and his gaze fell on Ming Yichen, who was looking out with worried eyes.
I thought I could leave Xiangcheng smoothly, but I didn't expect the students in Xiangcheng to return to school so early.
Although some of the problem students had been dealt with, there were still many who slipped through the net and lived outside Xiangcheng. Recently, there were patrols everywhere in Xiangcheng at night, and she would waste a lot of time just avoiding those patrols every time she went out.
When she received the notice to go to the countryside, Weisheng decided that her family would go there first, and she would return by helicopter after they were settled. She thought that by then, no one would be able to suspect her.
Everyone hadn't returned to school yet, so taking action early would seem like going against the grain. If she let anything slip, the Ming couple would surely be implicated.
Their train tickets to the countryside are for the night after tomorrow. If they have a conflict with those people tomorrow, there is a certain probability that they will not be able to leave the day after tomorrow.
Thinking about this, Weisheng felt that it was better to have less trouble than more. Instead of waiting until the day after tomorrow to set off, it would be better to move out tonight.
After staying in the guesthouse in front of the train station for two days, others would never have thought that they had left home at night and were hiding in such a crowded place.
Having made up his mind, Weisheng pushed Ming Yichen and Ning Chaoyun back from the window. After he was done, he closed the window and told them with a serious face.
"Dad, Mom, pack your things, we're leaving at midnight tonight."
"Leaving at midnight?"
"Aren't the train tickets for the day after tomorrow?"
"My grandma said the world is in chaos. If we don't leave today, we might never be able to leave." Weisheng looked directly at the Ming couple and said in a low voice, "The group of people who came to Teacher Hu's house today were not just students. I saw they all had red sleeves on their arms."
Red sleeves?
Hearing Weisheng talking about the red sleeves, the Ming couple couldn't help but think of what they heard on the radio a few days ago, saying that people from all over the country who wore red sleeves went to Beijing and met their old leader.
But what does this have to do with Teacher Hu’s family?
"This matter is very complicated, and it's hard to explain in a few words. Anyway, someone is using a feather as a token of authority, instigating a group of hot-blooded young people to exclude dissidents and stir up trouble. People like my parents, who have studied abroad, are being persecuted by them... By the way, did you memorize that fake file my grandma made for you?"
how so?
At this moment, not to mention Teacher Hu, even Ming Yichen and Ning Chaoyun wanted to hide abroad.
At Weisheng's repeated urging, the two quickly put away their melancholy and anger, one cleaning the kitchen and the other cleaning the bedroom. Seeing this, Weisheng took the initiative to clean the living room.
Because Weisheng thought that Ning Chaoyun would take away all the furniture, he asked her to put the things that she would not need for the time being in the large and small cabinets in the house.
At ten o'clock in the evening, everything in the house was packed up, even the curtains were taken down and packed away.
Leaving behind three backpacks and three handbags that were common in this era, Weisheng packed up all the things in the house.
After finishing, the three of them put on their bags, picked up their handbags, and quietly pushed the door open to go out.
There were two bicycles at home, so they rode them to the guesthouse first and then put the bicycles away.
At around eleven o'clock, the three of them came to a guesthouse near the train station, took out a letter of introduction that Weisheng had obtained earlier, and booked a triple room.
Because Ning Chaoyun was a germaphobe, they replaced the hostel's bedding with their own. Weisheng gave them a shot as usual, putting them to sleep. Afterward, he blocked the door with a cabinet from the space before going to bed.
The family of three stayed in the guesthouse for two days, and only checked out when there was still an hour before their bus departure time.
After checking my ticket and getting on the train, I watched it leave Xiangcheng Railway Station. Only then did the tense feeling in my heart finally relax.
The Ming family couple: "..."
I wasn't that nervous originally, but I don't know why I became so nervous?
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