Early the next morning, Chu Ye went out with two large packages. Chu's father and Chu's mother rarely sent her to the door. Chu Guangyao also got up extra early today because he had agreed to send Chu Ye to school yesterday.
The old couple were hesitant at first, but seeing how hard it was for Chu Ye to carry the luggage alone, and Chu Guangyao's insistence that he wanted to go to the city to see the world, they thought about it and let him go.
When he walked out of the hospital gate, Chu Ye saw Brother Jianwen driving an ox cart coming this way.
About this morning before dawn, Jianwen went out to the brigade and drove the ox cart directly to the door of his house, just thinking that Chu Ye had a lot of stuff, so he would be less tired.
But when the oxcart approached, an unexpected person sat on it. It was Mu Jiajun. He was wearing simple white clothes and black trousers. Just looking at the material, he knew it was not cheap. At this time, he sat on it and dressed the oxcart. Not so rustic.
"Why did you show up here so early in the morning?" Chu Ye said hello to Brother Jianwen, took his luggage and put it on the bullock cart, then turned around and asked.
"I happened to have to go home, so I took a ride." Mu Jiajun politely greeted Chu's parents, then answered her words, and then helped put Chu Ye's luggage away.
After Chu Guangyao also came up, the three of them sat firmly, waved to their families, and the ox cart slowly walked towards the entrance of the village.
When they arrived in the town, Chu Ye just wanted to take the luggage, but he stretched out his hands to the left and right, picked up the luggage neatly and got out of the car.
Chu Ye was still a little dazed, but when he heard that Mu Jiajun had already taken two steps away, he turned around and urged, "Why are you dazed? This bus is about to leave. Get off quickly."
People waiting for the bus usually stay at a fixed place, which is an open space diagonally opposite the famous state-owned hotel in the town. Now the three of them are not far from there, and it only takes two or three minutes to walk there.
Chu Ye gathered the cloth bag on his shoulder and prepared to get out of the car, but was stopped by Brother Jianwen. He reached into his pocket and took out a plaid square scarf. When he opened it, it was pickled prunes.
"This is what your sister Nianci asked me to put up and bring to you this morning. She said it would take several months before you come back, and she missed you. She didn't have anything valuable at home, so she took some to show off for herself. The prunes are for you to eat as snacks at school.”
Inside the small handkerchief is a thick layer of purple-black prunes, with the surface covered in icing sugar. Just looking at it makes people salivate.
Chu Ye opened his mouth, feeling moved in his heart, then took it and put it away, thanking Sister Nianci for her kindness.
Then Jianwen asked Chu Guangyao to pick him up in the town at night, and then drove the ox cart back the same way.
The two tall and thin figures were both holding packages, with a little girl sandwiched between them. As soon as the three of them got on the bus, a smell of gasoline mixed with all kinds of foot odor, sweat, and indescribable perfume rushed into their nostrils.
Chu Ye subconsciously covered her nose, and then felt that her behavior was inappropriate. She looked at Chu Guangyao and found that his expression remained unchanged. Then she turned to look at Mu Jiajun, and he just frowned.
Chu Ye put down her hands and followed the two of them to find an empty seat. They had a lot of luggage and tied it to the roof before getting in the car. There were not many people in the car at the moment. She and Chu Guangyao sat together, and Mu Jiajun was next to her. Sitting in the back seat of Chu Ye.
The sun was already high in the sky, and the hot air was pouring down through the tin roof. The people in the car were like steamed buns on a steamer. Some people couldn't wait to open the glass windows, but it didn't help.
The conductor had a leather bag hanging around his waist and started collecting money from front to back. With a roar, the driver stepped on the accelerator, and a black smoke instantly floated out of the exhaust pipe at the rear of the car. Then the vehicle swayed slightly from side to side, and then drove forward quickly.
This was Chu Ye's first time taking a bus. After the vehicle moved, wind blew in through the window. Although it was still hot, it at least dispersed the annoyance in his heart.
When she chose a seat just now, she specifically chose the window. Now she pressed her face tightly against the glass, looking outside curiously with her eyes wide open. It was obviously the daily life in the streets and towns that she was used to seeing, but now she might be sitting higher up. , looking at the past is a different state of mind.
For Chu Guangyao, this was also the first time in his life to take a bus. In the past ten years, the farthest place he had been was the town, and the most delicious thing he had ever eaten was chocolate.
His sister had chosen this seat by the window just now. He thought that he could sit here and see the scenery outside, so he wanted to sit here too. Unexpectedly, Chu Ye pointed his hand and allowed him to sit on the other side of the aisle, over there. There was space by the window, but this way he couldn't be next to Chu Ye.
He thought about it tangledly, and finally sat down next to Chu Ye. After all, he was still a junior high school student. It was his first time riding in a car, and his first time traveling far away. After all, he was still timid in his heart and wanted to be with the people closest to him. Sitting together makes me feel at ease.
So seeing Chu Ye clinging to the window, he couldn't help but move closer. Chu Ye only felt that his body, which had been cooled by the wind for a while, was getting warm again. He turned around and found that it was Chu Guangyao.
Probably because boys always have a higher body temperature than girls, as soon as he got closer, Chu Ye felt that there was a small human-shaped stove beside him. However, he was not aware of the small stove. He followed Chu Ye's example and looked outside curiously. , she endured it in her heart, and finally said nothing, turning her head and continuing to look at the scenery.
The car started running very fast, quickly crossed the street and walked onto a thoroughfare.
As a result, the scenery in his eyes changed from lively streets to countless trees, which were full of green. They flew by before he could see them clearly. Chu Ye had to sigh at the speed of the car.
"Hello, where are we going?" The conductor's voice appeared, interrupting their interest in watching the scenery.
The heads of the Chu siblings turned back together, and they saw the fat aunt holding a stack of bills in her hand. She had just put the received money into her purse with her other hand, and she was looking down at them.
Chu Ye reacted and quickly put his hand into the cloth bag, "The three of us are going to the city, how much is the total?" As she said this, she pointed at Mu Jiajun who was sitting behind her, signaling to take his car. Fees were also paid. The aunt who sold the tickets was full of suspicion and her eyes were rolling on the three of them.
Needless to say, the Chu family brothers and sisters dress up as honest rural people. Even though Chu Ye has a delicate face, due to the summer work, his face and arms are tanned yellow and black, which makes people feel no sympathy in their hearts. .
On the other hand, Mu Jiajun's white shirt was shining in the sun, and it looked like it was made of high quality material. Although his skin was not that fair, it did not give him a sunny and healthy feeling.
"A total of seven dollars and two."
Hearing this, Chu Ye wrinkled her little face for a moment, sighing inwardly at how expensive the fare was. However, after sighing, she honestly put her hand into the cloth bag, fumbled for a while and took out a handful of paper money, then counted enough numbers and handed it over. passed.
The conductor had been watching her count the money, and he knew that the number was correct. He took it directly, tore off three more tickets from the ticket book, and handed them over together.
Chu Ye collected the bills and counted out two yuan and forty cents from the remaining change. Then he hesitated, took back the four 10 cents and took out one of the 50 cents.
"This is your fare for coming back, put it away." She handed the money to Chu Guangyao and asked.
Throughout the summer, she earned fourteen dollars and thirty cents, and now she only had forty-six cents left.
She felt a little pain in her wallet and a little pain in her heart. She simply took Chu Guangyao's hand and put the money directly in her palm. Then she leaned her head against the glass window and looked out the window aimlessly as if she had lost all her energy.
However, her series of movements were all seen by Mu Jiajun behind her. Mu Jiajun was tall, with half of his head exposed even when he was sitting there. He could see Chu Ye's various movements by sitting upright.
He saw Chu Ye's excitement when he got on the bus and saw the scenery outside the window, saw the two furry heads in front of him crowded together, and saw Chu Ye grandly saying that he would cover the fare for the three of them, and then acted like a salted fish. He leaned his head against the glass in despair.
He laughed silently, only feeling that Chu Ye now was very different from her a few months ago. Perhaps because they got to know each other better, Chu Ye would unintentionally reveal her true character, instead of being as reserved and cold as before.
He took out a notebook and pen from the leather bag he was carrying, and then wrote something on a blank page. Then he gently tore the page off, took out twenty yuan from the bag, folded it a few times and placed it on the paper.
Under the sun, Mu Jiajun flipped his fingers, and in a few breaths a piece of white paper turned into a small envelope. Folding the last corner in, it became a small rectangle one finger long and three fingers wide.
He put the small piece of paper into the pocket of his pants, then leaned his head back on the back seat, staring at the roof of the car, wondering what he was thinking.
Their town is close to the city, and the journey is only sixty or seventy kilometers away. However, the whole journey is on loess roads, and the road surface is bumpy and not easy to walk on, so the speed of the bus is not high, and it takes three or four hours to get there.
Tongyang Normal School is not far from the city. The bus going to the city will pass by here. The three of them took the opportunity to call the driver to stop, take off their luggage and get off.
Since today is the same day when school starts, there are a lot of people on the roadside, and there are also vendors pushing carts they made to sell food near the school.
It is now past one o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun is shining high, and the August air is filled with heat. Even when a drop of water falls on the ground, white air rises up, and then quickly goes deep underneath.
Chu Ye licked his dry wrinkled lips, and his stomach growled at this moment.
Mu Jiajun said at this time, "Let's eat something first. We can't stay hungry all the time."
After saying that, he took the big package and took the lead to a place selling wontons. He immediately asked for three large bowls of meat wontons. When Chu Ye realized what he was doing and was anxious to pay, he was overtaken by Mu Jiajun.
Chu Ye frowned and was about to speak, but Mu Jiajun beat him to it.
"You don't have much money after paying for the fare, so you should keep the flowers for yourself. Think of this as me celebrating the start of school for you." After saying that, he smiled at Chu Ye, and his teeth looked white because of his tanned skin.
Then he found a relatively clean place nearby, called Chu Guangyao over, and put the package here first. When he turned around, he saw that the vendor had prepared three bowls of wontons and placed them one by one on the small wooden table.
The wooden table happened to be under the tree. After the three of them sat down, they fell into the shade of the tree and instantly felt a little cooler.
I saw green chopped green onions floating in the bowl on the table, and orange-yellow oil particles on the edge of the bowl. There were about twenty wontons in a bowl, each with a pure white dough edge, like a fairy's skirt.
The pink and tender pork floats in the bowl through the white dough, making it particularly appetizing.
Chu Ye, who was already hungry, swallowed hard at this moment. Mu Jiajun took the lead to sit over and entertain the two siblings to eat quickly.
(End of chapter)