Jiang Lin hugged him, feeling a lump in her throat.

She smiled and said, “Nonsense. Didn’t Mom say that Dad will arrange things there, and soon you’ll be able to join us?”

Wensheng held onto her tightly, his tears wetting her neck.

Jiang Lin patted him gently, comforting him.

He was just a child, even more emotional than Dabao.

After a while, Wensheng calmed down and looked up at Jiang Lin with a smile, “Mom, Grandma made a lot of delicious food. Let’s go home and eat!”

Then he remembered something, “Where’s Dad? Where are Dabao and Xiaobao?”

Jiang Lin replied, “Your dad got off at the county to take care of something. Dabao and Xiaobao are at school. We’ll join them tonight.” The journey was too bumpy, so she didn’t bring Dabao and Xiaobao back with her.

Wensheng suddenly remembered the man he had ignored earlier.

He turned to look at He Liang and smiled, “Who are you?”

He Liang, noticing the green stains on Wensheng’s mouth that didn’t detract from his handsome face, felt his heart skip a beat, even as a man. “I’m He Liang.”

Wensheng greeted, “Hello, Uncle He.”

He Liang responded, “Hello, hello. You’re a good boy.”

He had already heard Jiang Lin’s explanation on the way.

Jiang Lin smiled and said, “Wensheng, come sit over here and let He Liang drive.”

The driver’s cabin was spacious enough for three adults.

He Liang got in the car and turned into the village.

Wensheng, sitting beside him, happily started singing, “Winter fades, spring arrives, ice and snow melt, a new spring with myriad flowers blooming…”

Hearing him sing so joyfully, Jiang Lin understood his happiness and felt his deep longing for his “Mom.”

At the alley entrance, Jiang Lin and Wensheng got out of the car.

Wensheng had regained his polite demeanor and said to He Liang, “Uncle He, please come in.”

He Liang parked the car and followed Jiang Lin and Wensheng to their home.

He looked around the clean and tidy street, finding it quite curious.

Shuishuai Village was indeed nice, with clean and orderly streets, no livestock waste around.

Moreover, every house had tiled roofs, some with cement tiles, others with blue fired tiles.

The houses at the front were all brick-tiled, which was really impressive.

In the southern area, when they were digging for wild vegetables, they felt at ease.

After Cheng Yunzhi returned, he didn’t go to the exhibition room.

Instead, he was at home talking with Yan Runzhi, who wanted to make a new pair of embroidered slippers for Jiang Lin.

When they heard Wen Sheng’s voice, Cheng Yunzhi said, “This child.”

Then they heard Jiang Lin happily calling for her parents.

“Oh, it’s real?” Yan Runzhi and Cheng Yunzhi quickly went outside and saw Jiang Lin and Wen Sheng coming in.

Who was the young man next to them?

Jiang Lin introduced him.

He Liang insisted on coming along to see, and Cheng Rushan didn’t refuse.

Jiang Lin told her parents that Cheng Rushan went to handle some business, and Da Bao and Xiao Bao were with Fang Chengguang.

She briefly introduced the young men.

Cheng Yunzhi and Yan Runzhi were pleased that their son and daughter-in-law made friends in the big courtyard.

Wen Sheng quickly set the food on the table, “Mother, come and eat. It’s delicious, made by Grandma.”

Jiang Lin said, “I’m really hungry. He Liang, come eat. My mother’s cooking is so tasty.”

Originally, Yan Runzhi and the others weren’t very hungry and hadn’t eaten much at noon.

Seeing how Jiang Lin enjoyed the pancakes and vegetables with sauce, they suddenly felt very hungry.

So the whole family sat down to have another meal together.

Yan Runzhi rolled a small pancake with some vegetables and handed it to He Liang, then to Jiang Lin, “Bao’er’s mother, you must be hungry. Eat more.”

Jiang Lin was too busy eating to talk, “So delicious! Mother, you don’t know. When I cook myself, it’s never this tasty. I just make do with it. I see Da Bao and Xiao Bao don’t like it either.”

He Liang said, “Sister-in-law, that’s not true. Your cooking is good.”

Of course, it’s not comparable to the old lady’s cooking.

Why is this pancake so chewy and delicious?

And the vegetables, aren’t they just ordinary?

Why do they taste extra good?

And the sauce—how is it made? It’s so addictive that I can’t stop eating!

Seeing them eating so happily, Yan Runzhi was delighted and kept rolling more food for them, making the two of them eat until their stomachs were full.

He Liang said, “Auntie, I’m not just saying this to flatter you. This is truly the most delicious meal I’ve had in my life, so tasty and fresh!”

Yan Runzhi smiled and replied, “There’s diced meat in the sauce, that’s why it tastes so good. It’s the same for everyone.”

Wensheng stared at Jiang Lin and suddenly exclaimed, “Oh no, I forgot the wild vegetables I picked! I’ll go get them so Mom can dip them in the sauce.”

Jiang Lin said, “I’ll go with you.”

She grabbed a basket and a small shovel, asking He Liang to chat with her parents while she and Wensheng went to pick the wild vegetables.

He Liang, naturally sociable, didn’t mind at all. “Sister-in-law, you go ahead. I’ll keep our parents company.”

Yan Runzhi smiled, thinking this young man was really nice.

She then started asking him about his age, where he was from, and if he had a wife yet.

Wensheng rode his bicycle with Jiang Lin, feeling so happy he almost wanted to shout out loud.

But he restrained himself and instead started singing an opera for Jiang Lin. “Mom, I learned a Huangmei opera during the New Year, it’s quite fashionable!”

The makeshift opera troupe had told him that the local opera style had a slightly rustic flavor that wasn’t popular in big cities.

Big cities preferred Peking opera, Huangmei opera, Yue opera, and others that sounded more refined.

Wensheng had a clear and melodious voice, capable of high and low notes, making his Huangmei opera singing very pleasant.

Locals called foreign goods “yang goods,” and later anything fashionable and different from the local rustic things was also called “yangqi” (foreign-style).

Jiang Lin, always seeing her family through a metaphorical eight-foot filter, thought everything they did and said was wonderful.

They put the wild vegetables into baskets and dug up some more.

Wen Sheng took them to the river to wash.

He said the water was cold and asked Jiang Lin to wait on the shore while he washed them.

Seeing Wen Sheng so happy, like how Da Bao and Xiao Bao receive her care, Jiang Lin felt a warmth in her heart.

She said, “Wen Sheng.”

Wen Sheng looked back at her and smiled, “Mother, what is it?”

Jiang Lin squatted on the shore and smiled at him, “I promise I will never leave you.”

Until you find yourself and have your own life, I will treat you like a child and always protect you.

Wen Sheng’s smile was pure, completely different from his usual serious demeanor.

The serious expression he used to have was gone, replaced by a joyful, innocent happiness, like the flowers and grass swaying by the river, with bubbles of joy in his eyes.

“Let’s go home,” Jiang Lin called to him.

When they got home, He Liang was helping pack the luggage.

Shang Zonghui and Cheng Ruhai had also come to help when they heard the news.

Jiang Lin planned to go to the team office and let them know to replace the family’s food supplies with local grain tickets from the grain management office.

Firewood could be a mix of coal and wood, and meat should be saved up to be collected when they return home each year.

Yan Runzhi and Cheng Yunzhi planned to return home several times a year—for Qingming Festival to visit graves, summer for a vacation, and winter for the New Year.

Cheng Yunzhi also couldn’t leave his exhibition room.

Jiang Lin also planned to visit the brick kiln factory and the embroidery workshop.

She had a plan to expand the embroidery workshop into a well-established brand, eventually exporting it to earn foreign exchange.

The brick kiln factory would be closed after making money for a few more years.

The brick kiln factory was polluting, and by the 1980s, with improved living conditions, there would be a huge demand for bricks and tiles, with many communal factories emerging.

Private factories would be unable to compete and would surely close down.

Currently, besides supplying the county’s supply and marketing cooperative, the embroidery workshop also supplied their own sales points in the province, managed by Lu Hang and Jiang Erge.

By evening, Cheng Rushan returned from the county, and Jiang Lin, along with He Liang, Shang Zonghui, and others, had nearly finished packing.

She had exchanged the family’s grain for provincial grain tickets and loaded the remaining flour and millet onto the truck.

They also took along the flower roots that Yan Runzhi had kept in the house, such as sweet potato flowers, cannas, pots of chrysanthemums, and rose cuttings, packing them all into a large basket.

This time, Jiang Lin and her family brought even more items than before, filling the car to the brim.

Jiang Lin entrusted the house to Shang Zonghui and two other educated youths to look after, allowing them to live there for free.

Village houses shouldn’t be left empty for too long, as they can quickly fall into disrepair.

The village cadres, including Cheng Fujun and Cheng Fuli, were now exceedingly polite to Cheng Rushan and Jiang Lin.

Thanks to Cheng Rushan’s connections and advantageous transport conditions, their village had reaped significant benefits.

They were always the first to get fertilizers and seeds from the commune because Cheng Rushan could pull some strings, and having connections in the county made things much easier!

Now, their village boasted the highest number of radios in the entire commune!

The assembled radios that Jiang Lin had brought back were sold at half the market price, and they even allowed credit, letting people pay with the wages earned from making bricks at the brick kiln.

In addition to this, there were many other benefits.

Items like tea mugs and lunch boxes, which Cheng Rushan could also help them purchase, were light, sturdy, and highly sought after!

Cheng Rushan and his family stayed overnight, chatting with the village cadres.

The next morning, after breakfast, they drove back to the provincial capital.

No one was happier during the trip than Wensheng, though he remained quite reserved.

His grandma had rehearsed with him, advising him to be more restrained so that people wouldn’t think they were country bumpkins and embarrass his parents.

He was told not to shout when he saw something unfamiliar or exciting but to ask his parents instead.

Wensheng quietly asked Yan Runzhi, “Can I still call her ‘Mom’? Or should I not call her ‘Mom’ in the city?”

Yan Runzhi wanted to say yes because it might be embarrassing for the neighbors to hear someone his age calling Jiang Lin ‘Mom.’

Hearing their whispers, Jiang Lin said, “It’s fine, you can call me whatever you like. Don’t worry about what others think.”

People who didn’t understand the situation might find it curious, but those who still mocked after understanding were showing their own lack of manners, which had nothing to do with them.

Seeing that Jiang Lin allowed him to call her ‘Mom,’ Wensheng felt immensely relieved, his eyes shining brightly.

Seeing Wen Sheng so happy made He Liang even happier.

He Liang was naturally cheerful and lively, and he and Wen Sheng together were even more lively.

He Liang followed Wen Sheng in singing opera, and though his singing was off-key, it was full of energy and made everyone laugh.

At noon, they arrived at the military district courtyard.

Just then, Da Bao and Xiao Bao came back from school with Bie Dongshan.

As soon as they saw the truck, they ran towards home.

The reunion was lively and joyful, and everyone was happy.

Wen Sheng raised his arms, and the two kids grabbed his arms and started playing around.

“We missed you so much, Wen Sheng!”

“I missed you too!” Wen Sheng’s smile was just as joyful as theirs.

Although Bie Dongshan had heard about Da Bao and Xiao Bao from them, seeing them in person was still quite a sight.

A handsome man like Wen Sheng seemed… a bit foolish?

He looked like he was not even ten years old.

Da Bao and Xiao Bao introduced Wen Sheng, “This is Bie Dongshan, our good buddy!”

Bie Dongshan thought, “You’re taking advantage of me! I’m actually Uncle Bie!”

Wen Sheng laughed and said, “Hello, hello! Here, have some sweet potatoes and beans.” He grabbed a big handful and gave it to Bie Dongshan.