Chapter 113

Lu Weiguo first went home and delivered vegetables to their neighbors next door, planning to visit the remaining families later that evening.

Mrs. Zhang, seeing Lu Weiguo handing over quite a lot of vegetables from over the wall, looked surprised.

“Why so many?”

She heard Lu Weiguo explain that they had surplus vegetables at home that they couldn’t finish, so he was sharing them.

“Just tomorrow, my wife and I are going back to our hometown. We can’t finish all the vegetables at home, so I’m giving some to you.”

Mrs. Zhang then accepted the vegetables.

Shortly after finishing delivering to Mrs. Zhang, soldiers from the mess hall arrived.

Seeing the lush and thriving vegetables in the yard, they quickly started harvesting.

Those meant for others had already been pulled out in advance, leaving the rest to be taken away all at once by the soldiers.

The soldiers came with wheelbarrows, which came in handy.

Once all the vegetables were transported away, the yard looked quite bare except for the fallen leaves by the wall and the flowers and trees.

Lu Weiguo was never idle. Seeing the yard in this state, he took a rake and leveled the ground.

Seeing this, Shi Tingyu also grabbed a military shovel and dug holes beside the flowers and trees.

Lu Weiguo said, “Wife, leave it. Tell me what you want to do, and I’ll do it for you.”

Without lifting her head, Shi Tingyu said, “It’s nothing. I’m just going to add some fish guts to these flowers to prepare for the spring.”

When she fried small yellow croakers today, she picked out a lot of fish guts and buried them not far from the flowers and trees. These flowers would grow very well next year.

This was something she learned from planting flowers in later life. Of course, fish guts couldn’t be buried when the weather was hot, otherwise, you would smell the smell and a pile of insects. If you didn’t handle it well, you would also burn seedlings.

Lu Weiguo didn’t quite understand the way of planting flowers, but he knew that fish guts were fertilizer.

Seeing that Shi Tingyu had brought fish guts, Lu Weiguo put down the rake in his hand and helped her bury the fertilizer.

His wife had always been a clean person, so he’d be better off doing it for her.

In fact, for someone who cooks regularly, although these fish intestines are smelly, they are not as repellent as imagined.

After burying the fish intestines, Shi Tingyu took advantage of the time to give the flowers a wave of winter pruning.

Cut off dead branches and thin and diseased branches, and then trim the plant shape a bit. The plants will sprout and leaf out vigorously after spring.

Of course, the hydrangeas were not pruned, and their flower buds were at the top. If they were pruned in winter, it would really be “one plum blossom.”

Everything that should have been cleaned up at home was all packed up, and Lu Weiguo started preparing dinner with Shi Tingyu.

The train at eight o’clock tomorrow morning would be simple for dinner, just boiled noodles.

After dinner, Lu Weiguo went to wash the dishes, while Shi Tingyu counted the things she was going to bring tomorrow.

In addition to the prepared food, there were clothes for Lu’s father and mother, a full set of clothes from head to toe, and clothes for Lu Weiguo’s nephew, Lu Zhen. There was also a wool scarf for the eldest sister-in-law, leather shoes for the eldest brother of the Lu family, a rabbit fur hat for the old man in the country, cotton shoes for the old lady, and some supplements for the old couple.

As for Lu Erming’s family, they bought some cakes from Jinling, as well as some cigarettes and malted milk.

“This gift isn’t light at all.

Normally, their relatives wouldn’t give such heavy gifts, but with Uncle Lu often taking care of both their parents, these gifts are necessary.

There were just too many things. Lu Weiguo used his skills in organizing household affairs to pack two large suitcases to the brim, tightly and neatly.

Even so, it wasn’t enough, and they ended up stuffing the remaining gifts into a large travel bag.

As for the food, it was packed into a canvas bag for easy access during the journey.

Accompanying all this was the special dog food tailored for Lijian by Shi Tingyu.

Looking at this huge pile of stuff, if Shi Tingyu were alone, she probably would have started worrying before even setting out.

But now with Lu Weiguo, she felt much more at ease.

Early the next morning at six o’clock, the gate of the Lu family was knocked on.

Amidst Lijian’s barking, the voice of the young soldier outside said, ‘Captain Lu, I’m here to take you to the train station.’

Lu Weiguo went to open the door. They were all ready.

The young soldier followed in and helped with the luggage.

Both suitcases belonged to Shi Tingyu; they were brought back from overseas by her family, as there were many things to bring back to China. Her two suitcases were large, and their brown leather appearance would still be considered stylish in later years.

The handles were wrapped with leather of the same material as the suitcase, with two straps buckled on either side of the handle, and small locks on both sides of the strap.

There were no retractable handles from the future on the suitcases.

Because they were packed so full, they were heavy to carry, and the young soldier was surprised when he lifted them.

Lu Weiguo calmly picked up one of the hand luggage suitcases and carried it out, along with a large travel bag.

The young soldier followed closely behind.

Shi Tingyu walked behind them with Lijian in one hand and a canvas bag in the other.

After Lu Weiguo had put everything away, he took the bag and Lijian from Shi Tingyu.

Shi Tingyu turned around and locked the courtyard gate.

Lu Weiguo sat in the front passenger seat, and Shi Tingyu and Lijian sat in the back.

The journey to the train station was almost unimpeded.

The young soldier parked the car and helped Lu Weiguo and Shi Tingyu load the luggage onto the train.

Shi Tingyu led Lijian and followed them onto the train.

Lijian’s appearance caused a stir among the passengers.

Shi Tingyu tightened the leash, pulling Lijian closer to her, afraid of scaring those who feared dogs.

But she underestimated people’s courage now, especially after they saw the muzzle on Lijian’s mouth. Passengers were less afraid.

Lu Weiguo was worried about Shi Tingyu and quickly came out to greet people. He was dressed in military uniform this time, partly to intimidate petty thieves and partly to reduce prejudice against Lijian.

Once people saw Lu Weiguo in military uniform, they speculated that the dog Shi Tingyu was holding was a military dog, and they all wanted to get closer to pet it. However, they were all scared off by Lu Weiguo’s stern face.

No one dared to approach, only watching from a distance.

Just then, an eighteen or nineteen-year-old boy’s eyes lit up as he looked at Lijian and excitedly shouted, ‘Zhuifeng!’

Lijian reflexively turned its head and met the boy’s excited gaze.

It lifted its head proudly, secretly thinking, ‘Is my owner’s book really that impressive? I even have admirers here.’

It remembered when that brat called it Zhuifeng.

From then on, Zhuifeng became its other alias.

‘Wow, it really is Zhuifeng!’ Seeing Lijian turn around, the boy took a step forward, unable to conceal his excitement.

Maybe his heartfelt shout of Zhuifeng was too sincere. Those who had read ‘Loyal Dog’ didn’t think of it as just a comic strip, and now they all understood.

Shi Tingyu’s comic strip was new. Many comic strips had been adapted from classic stories before, but this new story was highly anticipated, so it had a large audience.

There were many people on this train, but not everyone had seen it. One in ten had already seen it, which was already a lot.

Zhuifeng instantly became the focus of attention in the field.