Chapter 257: Farewell

Lu Xiaotang drove the car to a secluded spot, allowing Xu Ning to store the items in her space.

Then, they went to Grandpa Wang’s place and loaded up the boxes of gold, jewelry, and antique calligraphy and paintings. Everything was safely stored in the space as well.

Xu Ning took out two ducks, two geese, and, after thinking for a moment, she also brought out two lamb legs and two military canteens. She divided the items into two portions.

She turned to Lu Xiaotang and said, “Let’s go visit Brother Jianshe and Sister Hongying. They’ve helped us a lot over the past few years.”

“This time, we’re heading back! Who knows when we’ll see each other again. I’ll give them our address in the capital, so we can stay in touch through letters,” Xu Ning said thoughtfully.

Lu Xiaotang drove first to Su Hongying’s place, parking the car in front of the supply and marketing cooperative.

Xu Ning didn’t let him get out of the car. Since they hadn’t brought their carrying baskets, it would be awkward to bring the items into the cooperative. So, she went inside to call Su Hongying out.

“Sister Hongying!” she called.

Su Hongying, who had been sitting and snacking on sunflower seeds, saw her and quickly came over. “Xiao Ning, what brings you here?”

“I was just telling my sister yesterday that we planned to visit you tomorrow!”

“Just a couple of days ago, Xiao An came by and told us you both got accepted to Beijing University! We were so happy and were planning to come by tomorrow to congratulate you,” Su Hongying said.

Xu Ning smiled as she pulled her to the door. “I truly appreciate everything you and Sister Hongmei have done for me over the past few years. I’m heading back to the capital in a couple of days, and I wanted to stop by to give you my address.”

“We can stay in touch through letters, and if you have time, I’d love for you both to come visit in the capital. I’ll take you to Tiananmen Square and hike the Great Wall,” she added warmly.

With her eyes slightly red, Su Hongying replied, “Okay, once we have some free time, we’ll definitely come to the capital to see you.”

Xu Ning then quietly asked, “Sister Hongying, are you able to go home now?”

“Yes, it’s no problem. There aren’t many people here at the moment. I’ll just greet a few of them, and mealtime is approaching soon. Come home with me, and we can eat before you leave,” Su Hongying replied as she walked inside to greet her coworkers.

When she came out of the cooperative, Lu Xiaotang was standing by the car, already having opened the back door.

“Hey, Xiaotang, when did you get back?” Su Hongying exclaimed.

Lu Xiaotang smiled and replied, “Sister Hongying, I came back yesterday. Get in; I’ll give you a ride home.”

Xu Ning helped her into the back seat.

Su Hongying’s house was very close to the cooperative, just a few minutes’ drive away.

Lu Xiaotang parked the car at the entrance of the family courtyard, as the roads inside were too narrow for the car to enter.

Xu Ning said to Su Hongying, “Sister Hongying, can you go back and grab two bags? I was in such a rush when I left today that I forgot to bring some.”

Thinking they needed the bags for something useful, Su Hongying immediately replied, “Sure! Just wait here; I’ll go get them.”

She returned with two burlap sacks.

Xu Ning then placed one lamb leg, one goose, one duck, and a military canteen into the bags to hand to her.

“Sister Hongying, these are our New Year gifts for you. We’ll be leaving in a couple of days, and we won’t be able to visit during the New Year, so we hope you accept these as a small token of our appreciation.”

Su Hongying looked at the items in the burlap sacks and quickly began to decline. “Xiao Ning, why did you buy so much? You should take it back!”

Xu Ning held her hand and said, “Sister Hongying, please don’t refuse. After all these years of friendship, it would be too formal to keep being polite with me.”

Without waiting for her to respond, Xu Ning placed the sack into her hands.

She smiled and added, “Alright, Sister Hongying, we’re off now. I still want to stop by and see Sister Hongmei. When you have time, write me a letter!”

After saying their goodbyes, the two headed to the Public Security Bureau, where Zhao Jianshe and his wife both worked.

Zhao Jianshe wasn’t at the bureau, so Xu Ning called out to Su Hongmei to chat for a while, handing her the items before leaving.

As she saw Lu Xiaotang driving the car back home, she asked, “Aren’t you going to return the car to them?”

“I’ll return it tomorrow. I have to go to Qishi early in the morning to see if I can get a few more sleeper tickets. The journey will take four or five days, and with the elderly and young ones, it would be tough on hard seats,” he explained.

As they drove home, Gu Wenping and Lin Miao approached them.

Lin Miao casually glanced at the car and smiled, asking, “Xu Zhiqing, have you set a date? When are you planning to leave?”

Xu Ning glanced at Lu Xiaotang.

He smiled at the two of them and said, “We plan to leave in three days.”

Lin Miao asked again, “Have you bought your tickets yet?”

Lu Xiaotang replied, “Not yet.”

“When are you planning to go buy them? Why don’t we all go together? That way, we can take turns waiting in line,” she suggested enthusiastically.

Lu Xiaotang and Xu Ning exchanged looks, feeling a bit annoyed by her persistent questioning.

“I plan to go to Qishi tomorrow to buy them,” Xu Ning said.

Gu Wenping smiled and suggested, “Then let’s go together tomorrow!”

“Sounds good, but we might need to leave a bit early. I’m worried about not making it to the train on time,” Xu Ning replied.

“Are you not driving there?” Gu Wenping asked.

Lu Xiaotang chuckled and said, “This is someone else’s car. I just borrowed it for the day, and I have to return it first thing tomorrow morning.”

Hearing this, Gu Wenping felt a bit disappointed. He had hoped Lu Xiaotang would drive, so he could also conveniently buy his ticket at the same time.

If they were going by bus, it wouldn’t be necessary to go ahead of time; they could just buy the tickets on the day of departure.

Gu Wenping suggested to Lu Xiaotang, “How about this? On the day we leave, we can head out early and buy our tickets when we get there. It saves us the hassle of making a trip back and forth.”

Lin Miao shot Gu Wenping a disapproving glance, thinking he didn’t understand the nuances of social interactions. It was such a good opportunity to make connections, yet he didn’t seem to grasp that.

Feeling puzzled by Lin Miao’s glare, Gu Wenping wondered if he had said something wrong. It made sense to him to buy the tickets on the same day; why make an unnecessary trip?

Lu Xiaotang seemed to ignore the silent exchange between them and chuckled, “Since you two are going alone, that could work. Even if you can’t get tickets for the same day, you can just stay at the guesthouse for a night. But with our family being so large, that wouldn’t be convenient for us.”

Lin Miao wanted to say something more, but Xu Ning interrupted with a smile, “Lin Zhiqing, where’s your daughter? I haven’t seen her around.”

Caught off guard, Lin Miao couldn’t continue her previous thought about buying tickets. “My daughter is sleeping,” she replied.

“Oh, so your daughter is at home sleeping, and you two are out here? When my little Tang is napping, I wouldn’t dare leave even for a moment; I’m always worried she might roll off the bed,” Xu Ning said with a chuckle.

Lin Miao suddenly realized that they had been out for quite a while, and her concern for her daughter surfaced. After exchanging a few words with Xu Ning, she and her husband hurriedly left to check on their child.