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墨書 Inktalez
As the two parted ways, the story became less eventful. In this chapter, we will directly discuss their return to school.
The official start of the school year was on February 15th, and the two of them set off on the 14th. Just before leaving, Mao Weiguo reminded, "Xiao Hu, make sure to pay attention to that Jin Fen Sweet Melon matter!"
Hu Ruoyun quickly nodded, "Got it, I’ll take care of it when I get back!"
Having only separated on the Tenth Day of the First Month, Mao Na increasingly felt she couldn't live without this piece of black coal by her side. Leaning against him during the journey, she shared the recent happenings at home:
Mao Jie and Gao Meilan had completely broken up. It didn’t really matter who ended it; it seemed that Mao Jie thought Gao Meilan was a bit superficial and materialistic, while Gao Meilan believed Mao Jie didn’t live up to the expectations of someone from a county chief's family. Both felt that they were not suited for each other. Mao Jie even told their parents that she envied her sister for finding the right person.
Their mother, Zhang Xiuzhen, still had some reservations about her daughter staying at her in-laws for an extended period. However, she couldn’t resist Mao Na’s determination... The two occasionally exchanged playful banter, but it didn’t affect their mother-daughter bond; it was a bit like a love-hate relationship.
Mao Weiguo was in particularly good spirits. Mao Na heard from her mother that they had paid a visit to Secretary Li Gaoqiang, who and his wife received them with great warmth and hospitality. The county chief and the secretary talked in the study for an entire afternoon. What they discussed was unknown, but when they left, Secretary Li and his wife accompanied the county chief and his wife downstairs, chatting amiably for quite some time as if they were old friends rather than mere work colleagues.
It was also mentioned that Mao Weiguo enjoyed the Water Radish Leaves dumplings made by Hu Ruoyun's mother and praised them repeatedly. He said that in these days, Sister Liu from Xipo Store Township had officially launched a wild vegetable factory and he had to go support it. The petitioner Liu Tiechui was now in charge of raw material procurement for the factory and had already started collecting vegetables.
Hu Ruoyun told Mao Na that every evening there were people coming over to watch television at their house; it was crowded but lively. Life at home had improved so much that they didn’t mind the electricity bill anymore. However, their parents complained that Xiao Feng and Xiao Hu were only watching TV instead of studying until both siblings promised to limit their TV time to designated hours once school started.
She also mentioned that Woodzi Woman often came over to watch TV and would grumble, “You bought a television but made your kids pay for it; sooner or later your daughter-in-law will complain about you two…”
Her mother teased her intentionally: “Our Mao Na said buying a television is nothing! Once Xiao Hu and I graduate, we’ll buy a big house in the county town and move in with them!”
Then she recounted how on the Third Day of the Lunar New Year they visited their grandmother’s house. The Village Chief had set aside his own daughter and son-in-law to bring a bottle of wine early on to smoke and drink tea with Grandfather while waiting to accompany his son-in-law from the county chief’s family…
They chatted back and forth all along the way until they unknowingly arrived in Jiangcheng. The next day was Lantern Festival, and they planned to have fun at Jiangcheng’s temple fair.
After getting off the long-distance bus, Mao Na initially worried about staying alone in the dormitory but coincidentally ran into Di Rong at the station along with a girl he introduced as his sister-in-law. She had just graduated high school, and her family had arranged a job for her at Jiangcheng Cotton Spinning Factory starting on the fifteenth day of Lunar New Year; hence she came early to accompany Di Rong.
With someone to keep her company in the dormitory, Mao Na decided not to have Hu Ruoyun see her off any further. They each took separate buses back to school.
The campus was quiet. In the dormitory, Cui Shuigen saw Hu Ruoyun as if she were family—jumping out of bed to help boil water while fussing over her well-being without hesitation as she eagerly devoured the food Hu Ruoyun brought.
Hu Ruoyun mentioned their plans for tomorrow’s outing with Mao Na and invited Cui Shuigen to join them. Cui Shuigen shyly replied, “Feng Yun’s train arrives at 10:34 tomorrow morning; I need to go pick her up.”
The next morning around seven o'clock, they both got up early and managed to eat something before Hu Ruoyun set off first to pick up Mao Na from Jiangbei Postal and Telecommunications School. The two linked arms and took bus route 9 before transferring to route 2 until they reached Confucius Temple on Ancient City Road—the site of Jiang City’s temple fair.
There was still quite a distance from the bus stop; as they walked, traffic slowed down like a snail with vendors lining both sides of the road.
Finally arriving at their destination, Mao Na was immediately captivated by everything before her: colorful paper windmills being sold, cotton candy stands, sesame candy vendors, sugarcane juice stalls, fried cake sellers, sugar blowers, dough figurine makers, fortune tellers… there was even a booth showing shadow plays…
In fact, some of these things could also be found at rural ancient fairs; it was just that Mao Na had rarely seen them before.
Hand in hand amidst the crowd, they navigated through throngs of people. The temple courtyard was filled with drums and gongs as lion dancers performed. There were so many people that Mao Na couldn’t see what was happening outside and grew anxious. Hu Ruoyun bent down and lifted her up by her legs with a sudden burst of strength.
After a startled cry from Mao Na, she could clearly see two "lions" inside: one large lion operated by two people while another smaller lion danced alongside under the guidance of its performer holding a decorative ball—punching and kicking as they coaxed the lions into action.
The lion danced to the rhythm of the drums, its movements varying in speed and intensity. It would raise its head to gaze upwards, turn around to look back, crouch low, shake its head and wag its tail, displaying a myriad of poses that were both delightful and entertaining. The lion would lick its fur, scratch its feet, rub its head, wash its ears, bow, roll over, and even perform difficult stunts like stepping on a ball and balancing on a seesaw.
The highest difficulty was the "Picking Greens": two lion dancers would climb up a bamboo pole while performing their dance until they reached the top to retrieve the "greens" that had been tied there in advance.
Fortunately, although Mao Na found the performance captivating, she was also concerned about the stamina of the person carrying her and soon insisted on being put down. After some twirling and playing, it was time to eat. They started with two bowls of stir-fried cold noodles—hot, spicy, and fragrant with bean paste. Still hungry, they each ordered a large meat bun with a spiral twist.
As they were enjoying their food, Mao Na's sharp eyes spotted someone: "Isn't that Sister Lai?"
Hu Ruoyun followed her gaze and indeed saw Lai Wen, who had a camera hanging around her neck—she must have come for an interview. The two squeezed through the crowd to greet her. Lai Wen was delighted: "You two look like you're having so much fun!"
Mao Na rushed over to offer Lai Wen a large meat bun. Lai Wen graciously accepted it and took a big bite: "After running around all morning, I’m quite hungry. Why don’t you join me for lunch at my place? Your brother-in-law is home cooking for the kids."
Hu Ruoyun replied, "Let’s skip it this time, Sister Lai. It's a holiday; we can go another day. You don’t need to worry about us."
Lai Wen laughed teasingly: "Alright then, I won’t be your third wheel. Enjoy yourselves and let’s plan to meet up later."
Suddenly remembering something, she added: "By the way, my classmate from the south mentioned that he has contacted someone regarding what you discussed before the festival—it’s looking promising!"
Hu Ruoyun was excited: "That’s great! This time we should aim for something bigger!"
After parting ways, Mao Na chased after Hu Ruoyun asking what it was about. Hu Ruoyun explained: "Sister Liu and Sister Lai want to invest in a computer training school and need a lot of computers. New ones are too expensive, so they plan to source a batch of second-hand ones from the most open city in the south—affordable prices with sufficient specs for starting a school.
That's one aspect; we could also try to sell a batch of second-hand computers here—there's definitely a market! Sister Lai has connections there and said she’s almost got everything lined up."
Mao Na pressed further: "What does Sister Lai and Sister Liu's business have to do with you?"
Hu Ruoyun replied proudly: "The idea was mine! They said I could be counted as an investor based on my intellectual contribution."
The two continued to enjoy themselves until late afternoon when they decided to grab another bowl of hot and sour noodles along with a large meat radish-filled bun, effectively solving their dinner plans.
After dropping Mao Na back at school, Hu Ruoyun returned to her dormitory where all five of them had gathered together again to exchange New Year greetings as a new semester began anew.
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