Vol. 1 - Ch. 12 - Trip to the Provincial Capital

"Comrade Huo, I have something to ask for your opinion. I have to go to the provincial capital to do some work these two days. I need you to drive me, but I’ll be in the provincial capital for two or three days. I wonder if it’s convenient for you?"

"Of course, if it’s not convenient, I’ll find another way. You don't have to be too stressed."

Huo Feng agreed quickly without much hesitation. His mother's illness cannot be cured overnight. His previous idea was to stay at home as much as possible and give her the best care, but his mother's expectations weren’t like that. She had been sad once because of his discharge from the army. Although he had only worked in this job for less than a day, he had already developed a sense of belonging. Shu Ping's sincere words made him unable to refuse.

He could discuss it with Aunt Ji. It seemed that there would be many similar situations like this in the future. He was prepared to be generous and double her salary during these times. Anyway, the purpose of his work and earning money was to let his mother live a comfortable life.

"Then let's leave the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow you can arrange your family affairs. If it’s inconvenient, you can tell me. In addition, this is a business trip. Our factory has subsidies for business trips. Remember to fill out the business trip form when you come back."

"Okay, Director, if there’s nothing else for me, I’ll leave first."

Shu Ping nodded, "Okay, I have nothing for you to do today, you can do things as you like."

After Huo Feng left with the receipt, Shu Ping called the warehouse again and asked, "How are the goods to be delivered to the provincial capital?"

It was the warehouse manager Li Yueling who answered the phone and replied, "Our things are all ready, but the things that the villagers asked us to take to sell have not been counted yet."

Shu Ping agreed to this matter. Every household in the village raised chickens and ducks and planted vegetables. These things could not be sold at a high price in town. Knowing that Shu Ping was going to take their goods to the provincial capital to sell, they asked someone to intercede to see if they could have their agricultural products sold by her as well. For farmers with limited sources of income, even if they sold only ten or eight yuan more, it would be good enough.

"How much is left? Try to count it tomorrow. We will leave early the day after tomorrow."

This time, in addition to Huo Feng and her, Ye Wei would also go. After all, there were so many goods to move, and someone was still needed to help with the hard work.

After work in the evening, Huo Feng went to the cafeteria for his first meal there. He saw dozens of employees holding lunch boxes and queuing in an orderly manner. There was a small blackboard hanging at the window which said that they would eat noodles with stewed sauce. There were several kinds of stewed sauces including tomato and egg, fish-flavored pork shreds, cloud kelp and soybean peanut butter, and sour radish and pork tripe soup. It was better than what most people eat at home.

Huo Feng ordered a large bowl of noodles, two stewed sauces, and a bowl of soup. When he was looking for a seat, Ye Wei waved at him.

"Brother Huo, come here. I have a seat."

Huo Feng didn't know many people when he first came to the factory. Ye Wei happened to be one of them. Hearing this, he went straight to Ye Wei with his rice bowl.

The people sitting at the same table as Ye Wei were workers from the workshop. Huo Feng nodded to everyone after he sat down. In the adult world, this was considered a greeting and getting acquainted.

"Brother Huo, we are going to the provincial capital together the day after tomorrow. Have you been there before? I've never been to such a far place, so I'm a little excited."

Huo Feng was hungry, so he took a big fork of noodles and put them into his mouth. After listening to Ye Wei's question, he nodded and said, "I've been there. There was no train station in our city when I joined the army. I took a bus with the other recruits to the provincial capital to sign up. Later, I came back to visit my relatives and had to change buses twice in the provincial capital."

"Where did Brother Huo serve in the army?"

"Gansu Province."

"It's quite far, halfway across China. I remember there’s a desert there, right?"

"Tengger, the scenery is spectacular."

All men dreamed of joining the army. There was a poem from ancient times that said "Why don't men carry Wu Gou?" Ye Wei was very curious about the army and asked a lot of questions about it. Huo Feng only briefly replied with a sentence or two and refused to answer the rest in accordance with the army's rules.

Even after leaving the army, he was still the disciplined platoon leader Huo.

The day of departure came in a flash. It took more than three hours to drive from Fengxiang Village to the provincial capital. This time, Shu Ping sat in the co-pilot seat, and Ye Wei was in the back of the car with the goods. To make him more comfortable on the road, Li Yueling brought a thick sponge mat from her home for him to sleep on while in the back of the car.

"Sister Ling, my mother wasn’t so good to me. In my last life, you must have been my real sister."

Li Yueling knocked on his head, "You’re just good at talking nonsense. This time, be smart and don't cause trouble for the factory director."

The factory director valued them very much. Not only did she give them the job of setting up the stall, but she also recruited new people for the warehouse. Taking Ye Wei to the provincial capital was to train him, including letting Ye Wei learn how to drive as soon as possible.

Ye Wei climbed up into the car with a sponge mat, and when he reached the top, he smiled and waved goodbye, "Sister Ling, don't worry, I was taught by you, so I'm very reliable."

Outside the co-pilot, Hu Huiying stood below, also very worried, but she didn't nag them like she would her children and just said to keep a good lookout for the factory director and let them come back early.

"Xiao Huo, the factory director is in your hands now. Safety is the most important thing. It's still early so drive slowly while you can."

Huo Feng made a reassuring gesture to her from across Shu Ping.

"We're leaving, you guys go back. I'll call you when we get there."

After Shu Ping finished speaking, Huo Feng started the car with the key, and the dark blue truck slowly drove out of the factory gate facing the rising sun. He deliberately didn't go through the village, but went directly from the periphery to the provincial road, for fear of encountering the villagers who were seeing them off enthusiastically.

The village in the early morning was very beautiful, with houses scattered in an orderly manner, green farmland planted with crops, and high khaki riverbanks, which were as brilliant as ink and watercolor under the golden sunlight.

After leaving the village, there was a provincial road, which was slightly wider than the village road. Huo Feng drove very steadily, his hands on the steering wheel were very broad, and the bulging blue veins on the back of his hands looked particularly powerful.

Shu Ping was the first to break the silence, and said to his resolute profile, "Do you have any habits when driving like listening to music over the radio or talking to someone? I brought two tapes, Jacky Cheung and Cui Jian, I can play them for you if you like?"

Huo Feng didn't have any special preferences when driving. He was serious when he was on a mission in the army, and didn’t usually talk and laugh with his comrades, or sing military songs. He spent more time as a listener than a participant.

"I've heard of their names and know their songs are very popular, but I don't listen to pop songs very much. I only learned a few songs related to the army."

Shu Ping put the tape back into her bag after hearing this, "Is that so? Then I won't listen to it."

"You don't have to worry about me. I can listen to whatever you want."

"I don't particularly like it either. I'm just afraid that you'll be bored while driving, or are you used to a quieter drive?"

Huo Feng smiled, his curved eyebrows softened the lines of his face, and his features became more vivid with a sunshine that wasn’t usually seen.

Shu Ping blushed as her hormones suddenly hit her. The cockpit space was small, and Huo Feng was so tall and burly that she looked like a pink and delicate flower next to him.

"I'm a very dull person. When I drove in the army, I was serious when I needed to be serious and lively when I could be lively. I didn't care about anything else. Director, you don't have to take special care of me. Do whatever you want. If you're tired, just lie down and take a nap. My driving skills aren’t bad. You can trust me to keep you safe."

Shu Ping felt that this person was very strange. He looked so sincere and down-to-earth, even a little dull, but he was very proud in his heart. That kind of pride was based on his understanding of his own abilities. Not only was he not arrogant, but he was also very attractive.

She wasn’t naive enough to fall in love with a man she had just met for a few days. It was purely an appreciation of excellent men. Compared to Ye Wei, who was a green fruit that hadn’t grown up yet, Huo Feng was simply already ripe.

The two chatted casually along the way. They took a break at the service area in the middle. They set off at seven o'clock in the morning and arrived in the provincial capital at around eleven o'clock. It took another half an hour to drive to Shu Jun's workplace after that. Huo Feng had a good sense of direction. He could recognize the road signs without GPS navigation.

"Are you hungry? How about we find a place to eat first?"

She called Shu Jun last night and told him that she would set off today. It was too early in the morning, and he hadn't been to the office yet, so she asked her aunt to help her make a call at around eight o'clock.

"It's OK. My suggestion is that we should drive all the way there in one go and then take a break. There aren't many cars on the road at this time. When we stop to eat, people in the city will start to go to work, and there’ll be at least twice as many cars on the road as now."

Shu Ping accepted this suggestion, but she still had to find a phone booth to stop and call Shu Jun.

It was too inconvenient to have no communication tools. She must buy a mobile phone while she’s still here in the provincial capital.

It was already twelve o'clock when they arrived outside Shu Jun's workplace. Shu Ping saw her cousin in navy blue work clothes looking anxiously from a distance.

Before the car stopped, Shu Ping opened the car window and waved, "Brother! I'm here!"

Shu Jun smiled and walked over. After not seeing him for a while, Shu Ping found that he was more handsome than when he was at home, probably because he was whiter.

Shu Jun supported Shu Ping's hand and helped her get out of the car. Ye Wei, who was lying in the back of the car, also jumped out of the car. Huo Feng drove the car forward for a while and stopped it against the wall before getting out.

"Brother, this is our factory's new driver, from Fuxing Village, Huo Feng."

Shu Jun took a closer look and felt a sense of déjà vu, so he asked, "Did you go to the No. 1 High School in the county? Class of 1989?"

Huo Feng nodded in surprise, "Yes. Did you also go to the No. 1 High School?"

"I was two grades below you. I still remember the sports meet in my first year of high school, when you broke the record in the 3,000-meter race. Later, I heard that you joined the army."

Boys were born with a strong desire to be strong. Shu Jun, who was good at studying but not at sports, had envied the figure speeding by in his youth, especially since the other person later joined the army. It was known that there were only twelve people in the entire county who passed the military inspection which was truly one in a hundred, including Shu Jun himself who was rejected when he signed up in the third year of high school.

Huo Feng also remembered that there was such a thing. He had good physical fitness since he was a child. After joining the army, the company commander praised him more than once for being a natural soldier.

He patted Shu Jun's shoulder and smiled, "I didn't expect there was such a thing. You have a good memory. No wonder you can get into a prestigious university."

Shu Jun also smiled. Although they met six years later, they still had a sense of mutual appreciation. One of them was not arrogant, and the other was not inferior. They were just the appearance of open-minded gentlemen.

"You haven't eaten yet, right? I have booked a hotel. It's just across the street. It's the guesthouse of our machinery factory. The environment is pretty good. How about going to eat together first?"

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