country bumpkin

Chapter 332 Going Home

At 5 a.m. on a winter morning, it was still pitch black outside. The long-distance bus had arrived at the Yicheng long-distance bus station.

The driver stopped the car, and the door slowly opened, letting in a biting cold wind that chilled the bone.

Meng Hongping wrapped her faded old down jacket tighter around her waist. She carefully stepped off the bus, carrying a worn-out woven bag.

The station was dimly lit, and the few travelers there looked tired, some squatting and some sitting in the corners.

Her eyes searched through the crowd, hoping to find someone she knew.

Just then, she suddenly saw Yun Ya, Zhu Yanan, and Tong Jiahui walking towards her. Meng Hongping quickly went over to greet them.

Bai Yan, who was getting out of the car behind them, also saw them talking. She also came over, carrying a large bundle.

Everyone gathered together and walked out of the bus station together.

Outside the bus station, there are many taxis waiting for fares.

No one wanted to spend money on transportation, so someone suggested calling their family members to come pick them up by electric tricycle or motorcycle.

Yunya's home is the closest place to the train station in the city, so they suggested that they go to Yunya's home to rest for a while.

If they hadn't been carrying such heavy bags, they could have walked to Yunya's house.

Unfortunately, everyone had a large bundle on their arm, filled with New Year's goods they brought back for their families, which they couldn't afford to lose.

Bai Yan suggested taking a taxi home, and the group exchanged glances and fell silent.

Bai Yan could tell that they were reluctant to take a taxi, probably because they were afraid the fare would be too expensive.

After discussing it for a long time, they finally found someone to ride a tricycle and take their bags to Yunya's house.

The luggage was all on the tricycle, and the girls walked behind it.

The person pedaling the tricycle was an old man, who looked to be over 60 years old.

With so many of them, how could they possibly let an elderly person carry them, a group of young people?

Besides, the car was full of luggage and there wasn't enough room for all of them. Since it was just luggage, it wasn't heavy, and the journey wasn't far, so they only paid two yuan for the errand.

The old man rode his bicycle in front, and several people followed behind, chatting and laughing non-stop.

Just when they were exhausted, they finally saw the gate of Yunya's house.

Logically, they should have called their families in advance to let them know what time their train/bus was and when they would arrive, so that their families could pick them up.

The group did consider this idea, but then rejected it. The reason was that they got off the bus too early, and it was winter; it was too cold, and they couldn't expect their families to stay up waiting for them!

They got off the bus at 5 o'clock and walked slowly all the way, arriving at the gate at 6 o'clock.

Her family was still asleep, and the front door was locked from the inside. Yunya had no choice but to run to the vegetable garden to the north and stand by her window, calling for her mother to open the door.

Kong Xiujuan was fast asleep when she was startled awake by the sudden shout. She sat up groggily, thinking she had misheard.

But then she heard Yunya's calls and realized that her daughter had returned. Kong Xiujuan quickly put on her clothes and hurriedly got out of bed to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, a huge crowd of people came into view.

Yunya explained, "Mom, all of them live far from the station, so they're staying here to rest first. We'll call their families to pick them up when it gets light."

Kong Xiujuan patted Yunya's hand, "Okay, it's alright, you can stay at our house for now."

Only then did she notice Meng Hongping, Zhu Yanan, Tong Jiahui, and Bai Yan behind Yun Ya, and warmly greeted them, "Come in, come in! It's so cold, you must be freezing."

Bai Yan finally had a chance to greet her aunt. She warmly took her aunt's hand and urged Kong Xiujuan to go back to bed so she wouldn't catch a cold.

The girls walked into the house laughing, and immediately felt that the room was warm and cozy, a stark contrast to the cold outside.

Although there's no heating, I went to bed late last night, so the stove was burning the whole time. I added a new batch of charcoal before going to bed, and it's still warm!

Yunya was busy introducing her friends to her mother, while Kong Xiujuan responded and tidied up her cotton-padded clothes.

She instructed Yunya to quickly light the stove. Yunya told her friends to sit down and went to light the stove herself.

She first rummaged through the ashes to see if there were any embers left. Fortunately, there were still glowing embers inside the furnace core.

She took a handful of dried corn husks and put them in the stove. Seeing that it wasn't going to catch fire, she took a piece of paper from a wooden shoebox on the floor.

I lit the paper with a lighter and put it into the stove, then covered it with a kettle. With a "whoosh," the fire in the stove burst into flames.

She continued adding corn chips and small pieces of wood, then placed the kettle on the stove. She made sure no smoke escaped, otherwise the room would be uninhabitable.

Hearing the loud roar of the fire in the stove, Yunya quickly put a shovelful of small pieces of charcoal in.

After the charcoal was lit, two more shovelfuls of charcoal were added to completely ignite the stove.

Kong Xiujuan had already brewed hot tea and served it to the girls in the room.

Everyone sat together, drinking hot tea, and politely thanked Kong Xiujuan.

Kong Xiujuan felt embarrassed to talk to them while they were there, so she said something and went back to her bedroom.

The girls chatted amongst themselves, creating a warm atmosphere in the small room.

Before long, the temperature inside the room rose, and it became warm and cozy. I couldn't feel my hands were cold at all.

After a while, it was already getting light outside, and it was time for Sun Guoqiang to get up and go to school.

He got up and saw that the room was full of girls, which made him a little embarrassed. After greeting Yun Ya and Bai Yan, he quickly washed his face, then put on his backpack, grabbed a bag of instant noodles, and went to school.

At this moment, Kong Xiujuan came out again and went to the kitchen to cook. Soon, a large pot of egg noodles was brought over.

Kong Xiujuan called to Yunya to get bowls, and then began serving noodles. A total of 5 bowls of noodles were served, and each bowl contained a poached egg.

The five girls, each with a bowl, ate heartily with their heads down. Yunya finished first and asked, "Mommy, why aren't you eating?"

Kong Xiujuan said, "I'm not hungry yet, I can't eat this early. I'll wait for your sister to get up and we can eat together later."

Yunya knew her sister liked to sleep in, and didn't want to disturb her in her bedroom. After everyone finished eating, she led them to the store to make a phone call.

Bai Yan, Tong Jiahui, and Zhu Yanan are all from the same village. One of them only needs to call their family.

Of the three families, only Tong Jiahui's family had a telephone; the other two families did not have telephones at all.

Tong Jiahui dialed the phone home, and her mother answered. Hearing her daughter say they were back in Yicheng, Tong's mother laughed heartily.

Tong Jiahui told her that Bai Yan, Zhu Yanan, and the other two were together. They needed to find a motorcycle tricycle to take them, otherwise there wouldn't be enough room for their luggage, let alone people.

After hanging up the phone, Tong's mother rushed to Zhu Yanan's house to inform Zhu's mother and father. Upon returning, she then went to inform Bai Yan's parents.

Zhu Yanan's older brother, Zhu Lin, owns a large motorcycle tricycle, which was perfect for him to drive to pick her up.

Tong's mother had already given him the address, saying that he could just park at the entrance of the village in the urban area and wait for him.

Zhu Lin wrote down the address, put on his hat and gloves, and set off in his motorcycle tricycle. He had thoughtfully placed an old cotton quilt on the vehicle as a cushion.

After Tong Jiahui finished her call, Meng Hongping also called home. Her father didn't care about her at all, so she could only call a neighbor to ask her grandmother to come and pick her up.

The neighbor told her to wait, and she hurriedly ran to her grandmother's house in the front yard to tell her that she was back and asked her grandmother to go to her friend's house to pick her up.

Grandma hurried to the phone, picked it up, and said breathlessly, "Ping'er, Grandma isn't feeling well anymore, and my legs aren't as strong. We don't have a car, so how can I pick you up? Do you think you could have one of your friends take you home?"

Meng Hongping sighed and hung up the phone. She said apologetically to Yun Ya, "Sun Yun Ya, could you give me a ride? We're from the same village, not far apart."

You know my family situation. My grandma is old and her legs aren't very strong. My dad… sigh! Never mind, let's not talk about him.”

Yunya suddenly felt sorry for her, thinking that she was even more unfortunate than herself. Although she didn't grow up with her parents, and they were somewhat biased towards her, at least they took care of her.

They took her back to school and even gave her living expenses so her grandmother could raise her. And what about Meng Hongping? Her biological father was just like her stepmother, completely neglecting her.

Thinking of this, Yunya nodded and agreed to take her home.