Chapter 16

  After staying one night at her second grandpa's house, Daniu took the train back early the next morning. She brought a lot of things, and her second grandpa especially brought her a bag of frozen autumn pears. Daniu didn't want to take it at first, but she couldn't resist the enthusiasm of Second Grandpa and his wife, so she asked her uncle to send it to the station. Fortunately, her second grandpa and his family were from the railway department, so they directly used a cart to deliver her things to the train and arranged a seat for her next to the conductor. When she got off the train, the conductor also helped unload her things.

  Maybe because her second uncle called, there was a male staff member waiting there after she got off the bus. His name was Gu Bin. After introducing herself, she found out that he was a good friend of her second uncle. Gu Bin got on the cart and pushed Daniu's luggage out of the train station. Just as she was about to go to the bus station to take a bus, she suddenly heard someone calling her.

  "Comrade Ma Shun."

  Daniu looked back and saw a man in his twenties calling her. Suddenly, an image appeared in her mind: "Hello, Comrade Hu Hai, why are you here?"

  At this moment, her brain instantly sorted out the information about Hu Hai. This man was a driver of the forest farm, one of the few recruited from the local area, and his father was the deputy director of the county's Agricultural Bureau.

  "I'm here to pick someone up." Hu Hai's face was red, and he spoke incoherently. Da Niu remembered seeing him chatting with several other drivers at the forest farm once. They were talking and ughing, but she happened to be there looking for someone, and that's how she got to know him. At that time, he was also rednecked and didn't dare to speak. Maybe he was nervous when he saw a female comrade.

  "Oh." Daniu's eyes lit up.

  "Comrade Hu, you came here by car, right? Would it be convenient for you to give me a ride?" Their forest farm is equipped with rge trucks, and there is plenty of space behind the trucks.

  "Convenient. I'm just here to pick up a few young people from Beijing. There are eight of them in total, so there's enough space. These are your things, right? Let me help you with them." Hu Hai said as he stepped forward and snatched the bag from Daniu's hand.

  "It's okay, I can get it myself. Where is your car?" asked Daniu.

  "It's right there." Hu Hai said and pointed to a pce not far ahead. Daniu looked over and saw that it was indeed the forest farm's car.

  The three of them came to the truck and carried Da Niu's things onto the car. Then Gu Bin said goodbye and left. Da Niu quickly took out a handful of candies from her bag and stuffed them into Gu Bin's pockets. "Uncle Gu, take this and give it to the children when you go back."

  Since he was her second uncle's friend, they would see each other often in the future.

  Gu Bin took it awkwardly. "Okay, if you need to buy tickets in the future, just come to me. By the way."

  Gu Bin searched through his body but couldn't find any paper. He took out a penny note from his pocket, wrote down a phone number on the note with the money he brought with him, and handed it to her. "You can call this number if you have any problems in the future. Just come to me directly."

  Daniu took it and nodded to thank him. Although she had memorized the phone number, she didn't return the note after thinking about it but put it carefully in her pocket.

  After Gu Bin left, Da Niu and Hu Hai waited there. After about half an hour, the train from Beijing arrived. Hu Hai went to the gate to pick people up with a wooden sign that said Qingshan Forest Farm. Not long after, Hu Hai came with a group of people, six men and two women. A few years ago, young people were sent to various forest farms. Their Qingshan Forest Farm had just been built for less than two years, and this was the first batch of people sent down.

  "Comrade Ma Shun, you can sit in the front." Hu Hai blushed again when he spoke to Daniu. Daniu looked at the open-top truck and then at the two girls who were wearing military jackets with only scarves and were already shivering with cold.

  "Let them sit here, or they'll get frozen before we get there." After saying this, she pulled the handle of the cart and went up.

  Seeing her like this, Hu Hai didn't know what to say and was a little frustrated and said, "Let's go. You two can sit in the car, and the others can get in the car."

  These young men came over and looked at Daniu. She was very young. If they ignored the way she spoke and acted, they could tell that she was a very young girl, probably younger than them. But when they looked at the way she behaved, she was very efficient.

  After getting in the car, Daniu sat against the front of the car.

  "Where are you from?" asked a young man wearing gsses after several guys sat down.

  "I'm from the local area." The girl said casually, her eyes swept through several people. However, she lingered around one of them for a moment, but she quickly retracted her gaze.

  "A local? So your family is also from the forest farm? Oh, my name is Li Hongda, and I'm from Beijing. I heard from the driver that your name is Ma Shun, is that right?" Li Hongda was very outgoing, and what's more, this was a pretty girl, so he naturally started to chat with her.

  Daniu shook her head and said, "My family is not from the forest farm."

  After saying that, she tightened her fur coat and took out a big fur hat from her bag. It was the silver fox she had shot st winter. Many years ago, her grandfather broke his leg while shooting a fox. The big girl's adventure that time was considered to have solved her brain disease. After returning home, she felt that it was brought to her by the silver fox, so she found a pce to bury the silver fox in the Daqing Mountains.

  This was just something she made herself. Because it was made for winter, the fur was long and smooth. After it was finished, she made a hat with the whole piece of skin. There were two long ears hanging down from both sides of the hat, which could directly cover the neck and most of the face.

  Daniu put on her hat, covered her ears, leaned against the car, and closed her eyes.

  Li Hongda wanted to say something but was pulled back by the man next to him, "Aren't you tired after sitting on the train for three days? Take a break." Can't you see that the girl doesn't want to talk?

  Li Hongda looked at Zheng Sen and swallowed his words.

  Zheng Sen gnced at the motionless girl. Her face looked even smaller because of the hat. He thought that the Northeast was quite interesting.

  Daniul just closed her eyes and didn't want to talk, but she heard the man's words. The scene she had just seen fshed through her mind. The man was about 20 years old. He was considered tall even in the Northeast, at least 1.83 meters tall. He wore a military cotton hat and military uniforms from head to toe. He was also wearing a rare military coat. He was good-looking, with a high nose bridge and dark eyebrows. His eyes were not big, but very deep and handsome. But Daniu didn't pay attention to this. The man had calluses on his hands, and his right shoulder was thicker than the left shoulder. He is a gun user. When they came over, he walked very solidly, so he must have practiced some kind of martial art.

  These thoughts fshed through Daniu's mind, and she quickly cleared them away. These people going to the forest farm had little to do with her, so why study them?

  Zheng Sen didn't know that Daniu saw through him with just one gnce.

  This trip was arranged by his family. Originally, they wanted him to join the army, but his father changed his mind a month ago. In fact, it didn't matter to him where he went, but when he heard that his brother was transferred to the southwest, even someone as open-minded as him couldn't help but sneer.

  It’s a good idea to come to the Northeast. I heard that the forest farm is close to the mountains. It’s better to go hunting there when you have time than to stay there.

  This kind of open truck is bumpy and cold to drive, especially outside the city. The cold wind is howling, the truck makes a lot of noise when it is running, and it is difficult to talk in the car. Several young people leaned against each other. After a while, two young men who were not wearing much opened a quilt and put it on themselves.

  The car drove for two hours and arrived at Majia Vilge. Hu Hai deliberately made a detour; otherwise, the forest farm would be closer if they took another road. The car stopped on the mountain road, and the vilge was below. Daniu was asleep in the car, but she opened her eyes as soon as the car entered the town. It was so familiar that she knew she was there just by smelling the smell.

  The car stopped, and Daniu stood up. The things she brought back were pced at the back of the car. She stepped on a pedestal and jumped down. Then she opened the rear tailgate and took the things down by herself without waiting for others to help her.

  "Ma Shun, let me help you take your things back," Hu Hai said enthusiastically with a red face after getting out of the car.

  Daniu shook her head and said, "No need. Comrade Hu, I have already troubled you by asking to let me ride back. I am already at my doorstep. There's no need to bother you."

  "It's no trouble, no trouble," Hu Hai said as he tried to pick up the things.

  Daniu over there saw a half-grown boy in the north, "second Fatty—"

  This boy from the Sun family was the second child and was very fat when he was born, so he was called Second Fatty.

  "Aunt--" The boy heard someone calling him and ran over with a ring in his hand. His father and Daniu were of the same generation, so they usually called her Aunt.

  "Go to my house and ask someone to pick me up, please." Daniu said to the fat guy.

  The second fatty saw the things on the ground and said, "Aunt, it is not necessary. My brother is at home. I will just call him, and we'll help carry them."

  After saying that, he ran away. His house was next to the mountain path, and he didn't even go into the yard. He just stood by the path and shouted. After a while, a boy who was two or three years older than him came out and came over without any hesitation.

  "Okay, Comrade Hu, you guys should leave quickly. It will be dark soon. This is for you. Thank you for bringing me back." Daniu grabbed a handful of candies, about five or six pieces, and handed them to him.

  Hu Hai's face flushed. "No, no, I'm leaving now." He then ran back without taking it.

  Daniu thought Hu Hai was too shy. He was a grown man, but not courageous at all.

  The car started and drove away slowly. Zheng Sen in the car looked at Daniu walking towards the vilge with the two children and couldn't help ughing. This girl is really funny. Hu Hai almost wrote the word "like" on his face. Unfortunately, the girl didn't feel anything. What she showed on her face just now meant that she felt that the man was not courageous and manly? Haha.

  "What are you ughing at?" Li Hongda asked puzzledly.

  Zheng Sen shook his head, "Nothing."

  "Hey, do you think that girl was too cold just now? It's too hard to talk to her, I just asked one question after another." Li Hongda tried to talk to the Daniu after she woke up, but unfortunately the DAniu spoke very little and hardly said anything.

  Zheng Sen turned his head and looked at Li Hongda. The girl didn't say anything, but her refusal to speak was clearly shown on her face. How can you be so tactless?

  Chapter 15

  "Oh, Daniu. Did you have a smooth journey?" Her second grandpa was a thin old man who was over sixty years old this year, but his legs and feet were very nimble, and he walked quickly into the house.

  "Second Grandpa." Daniu smiled.

  "How's your grandpa? He still has a big bowl of rice for every meal?"

  "Yes, he is still very strong. He can eat a big bowl of rice and drink a little wine with each meal."

  "Wait for me a moment." The old man said as he took something out of the cabinet and went out.

  After a while, second grandma came in first and said, " I just asked someone to send a message to your uncle, asking them to come over in the evening."

  "How is eldest aunt?" Second grandma gave birth to three children. The eldest aunt is the eldest, and the two younger ones are uncles. The younger uncle was transferred to the Liaodong Railway Bureau three years ago and has little time to come back due to work. The eldest aunt is the eldest in the family and usually takes care of the second granpa and the second grandma more.

  "Xiao Min gave birth , and her mother-in-w didn't have time to take care of her, so your aunt went over. The baby is more than three months old, and Xiao Min is working, so youe aunt can't get away."

  The second grandma said with a unhappy look on her face.

  "I really don't know what Xiao Min's mother-in-w thinks. Dawei is such a good child, but she doesn't like him. Instead, she listens to her younger son and his wife, who is the most sneaky and cunning. Fortunately, they don't live together; otherwise, Dawei and Xiao Min would be bullied to death. When Xiao Min gave birth to a daughter, her mother didn't say anything. She just took a look at the child and then left."

  "Aunt might have a lot to do there, but she must like it very much." Daniu knew that her aunt liked children the most.

  "That's right. She loves the baby so much that I hold her in my arms every day, and it even makes your uncle very upset."

  While they were talking, her second grandpa came in, holding a net bag in his hand. He went straight into the kitchen and brought an enamel basin with frozen autumn pears and frozen persimmons in it, all soaked in cold water. "Let's eat pears; the pears here are the best. He freezes them himself, and you can't buy them unless you are familiar with him."

  Daniu looked at the yer of ice floating on the top of the basin and knocked it with her hand, "It's frozen too solid."

  "Just leave it on the counter for a while." The old man said as he sat cross-legged on the kang.

  Her second uncle and his family came back in the evening. He has two children. The older one is married, and the younger one is eighteen years old.

  "Your eldest cousin and sister-in-w went to his father-in-w's house today. Since it was agreed in advance, we didn't call them." Second Aunt said to Daniu.

  In fact, Daniu has an average retionship with her second grandpa's family, and they rarely have contact with each other.

  "It's okay, Second Aunt, I came too suddenly." Daniu shook her head.

  "Hey, what suddenly? You are at home here; don't be polite." Second Aunt smiled and gnced at the frozen pears on the kang and the persimmons on the pte at the head of the kang.The corner of her mouth curled.

  The girl turned her head and said to her second grandpa, "Second grandpa, come back with me this time. You should come back for the Spring Festival this year. It has been two years since you went back to our hometown for the Spring Festival. Grandpa misses you."

  "I won't go back with you. I'll go back with your grandpa before the New Year. Just wait for my telegram and drive the sled to pick me up."

  "That's fine, I'll pick you up then. But you have to come a few days in advance in case of bad weather," said Daniu.

  "Yes, no problem." Second Grandpa nodded. "I will go back with your second grandma. You have to kill me a roe deer. I want to eat pot."

  "As much as you can." The girl smiled. "My grandfather always compins, but I dare not let him eat too much, for fear that he won't be able to digest it."

  The two were talking happily when her second aunt started to serve the dishes. "Daniu, you are so lucky. Your second grandma has cooked the big rooster that your eldest aunt brought st time. Your second brother has wanted to eat it for a long time, but your second grandma refused to cook it, but she cooked it for you this time." After saying that, she left.

  "Your second aunt is a little narrow-minded, but she's not a bad person." Second Grandpa whispered to Daniu.

  "It's okay, I know." Indeed, the second aunt only said a few words and didn't dare to say it directly, which was a bit weird. In fact, she always felt that Daniu took advantage of them every time she came.

  The eldest girl didn't care. Their family was a big family, and there were all kinds of personalities in the family; some got along well with others, and some didn't. You should be more tolerant towards your family members.

  Styvetass