Chapter 724: 724 leave
By the time Zeng Hongling returned at noon, Yuanyuan was already cooking.
"Yuanyuan, I heard that everyone in the village agreed to us building a house."
"That’s good. Building a house is great."
"The aunts mentioned this morning that building a house now requires more than three hundred? And it’s all made of adobe."
"We need even more, mainly because we have no manpower and need others to help us with everything."
"That’s true, but it’s still good. At least we’ll have our own house in the future."
In the afternoon, the village chief’s son came over first, asking the two to choose where to build the house.
They listened to his advice and chose a place.
"Uncle, let’s just build a three-room house, and make sure the walls are enclosed and high, and the entrance has to be large enough for a car to drive in directly."
Yuanyuan stated her requirements.
"Sure, the carpenter will be here soon. He’ll figure it out."
"Uncle, do you think I should subcontract the work? I’m leaving in a few days. Subcontracting would be the least troublesome."
"That’s possible, as long as someone helps you manage it."
When the carpenter arrived, he checked the place and listened to Yuanyuan’s requirements. He calculated the beams, window frames, door frames, and doors.
In the end, Yuanyuan paid four hundred and fifty yuan and subcontracted it to the carpenter, just waiting to move into the new house.
Once the carpenter left, "Xiao Su, don’t worry. This carpenter is an honest man, and I’ll come over often to check."
"Thank you, Uncle. I’ll rely on you then."
Zeng Hongling was delighted. They’ll have their own house and no longer need to rent.
Since Yuanyuan hadn’t slept all night, Zeng Hongling thought she hadn’t slept much in the morning either, so after eating, she went out to play with the children, leaving Yuanyuan alone at home.
In the middle of the night, there was a knock on the door, and Yuanyuan saw Zhan Yunzhao and the other two had returned.
She got up to open the door, and Zeng Hongling came out of the room.
"It should be Yixin back, right?"
"Probably."
After opening the door, Zhan Yunzhao smiled and said, "Xiao Su, everything went smoothly."
"Thank you all for the hard work."
"There’s no need to be polite with us."
The three men washed up and ate without much mention, and the next morning, the two girls specially went to the fishing boats to buy a lot of seafood. They hadn’t had a homemade seafood feast yet.
At noon, the five of them ate in the stuffy main room. "Xiao Su, when are we leaving?"
"Do you want to rest for two days?"
All three shook their heads. Two were young and upright, and one was a healthy, strong man; resting one night was enough.
"Alright, we’ll leave at midnight. Driving there is too troublesome; we’ll go to the train station in the afternoon."
After lunch, they packed their luggage. The remaining grain was sent to the village chief’s house by Zeng Hongling, who also called the landlord over for a proper handover.
They were busy until after three when the five finally drove away.
"Yuanyuan, are you going to leave the car at the sanatorium?"
"Yes, we’ll park it there when we get back."
They were really lucky. The seven o’clock train meant they didn’t have to wait long.
Yuanyuan drove to the sanatorium and explained everything to the person in charge. Of course, they didn’t refuse and even arranged for someone to take Yuanyuan to the train station.
Shao Huade watched Yuanyuan leave from upstairs, sighing deeply several times.
"Life is truly unpredictable. This young woman has no fate with our family."
Seeing how upset his son was when he returned, Shao Huade could easily guess what had happened. His son had never been like this before; he got caught up with this woman this time.
Fate is truly a mysterious thing; knowing someone doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a destiny to be together.
Zhou Changchun also stood at the window, watching Yuanyuan leave. He still had a deep-seated dislike for her. Now his grandson had sent out the reporting letter; he was waiting to see what she was capable of.
Yuanyuan was brought to the train station and found the other four.
The train station during this season was indeed uncomfortable, but fortunately, there was only an hour or so until departure.
They didn’t have much luggage, so the five of them just carried their bags out to eat.
"Thinking about spending a month on the train in this weather is genuinely uncomfortable."
Hearing Zeng Hongling’s words, Yuanyuan laughed, "It won’t be. We’re going to Jiangbei, and while the weather there is also very hot, it’s better than the humidity here."
"I hope so. In this kind of weather, one should just stay in one place honestly."
Traveling by train as a woman wasn’t convenient, and it was Yuanyuan’s first time doing so in the summer, so she was unsure.
Luckily, there weren’t many people on the train now. They booked five sleeper tickets, and since no one else had boarded yet, the three men shared one compartment while the two girls shared another, making things much easier, especially for washing up.
They had to eat every meal in the dining car due to the season; they couldn’t bring much food.
The two girls didn’t have much appetite, so when they got off after thirty-five days, they both lost weight.
"Let’s take a couple of days to recuperate and also inquire around. To be honest, I only know there’s ginseng here, but I don’t know exactly where."
Zeng Hongling shrugged indifferently. She had heard about ginseng, but it’s a rare find. She figured it was like a vacation, which wasn’t a bad thing.
They stayed at an inn, and with Zeng Hongling’s personality, she quickly became friendly with the inn’s aunts.
"Young lady, you came to the right place to pick ginseng. But you need to inquire at the foot of the mountain first, that’s just what I heard.
The mountain folks here collect ginseng every year; you can go find them."
This enthusiastic aunt even told them the exact location and how to get there, recommending a horse-drawn vehicle to save them the trouble of walking.
It was already late August in the lunar calendar. The weather was just right now, hot at noon but quite cool in the early morning and late evening.
Wei Guangxiang went out and found a cart driver, arranging to leave the next morning.
They also went to a restaurant and tasted the local mushrooms.
"Yuanyuan, I want to send some back to my grandpa and dad; they’re really delicious."
"Sure, just go buy some later and let the elders know you’ve arrived in Jiangbei."
"Yuanyuan, let me tell you, my grandpa and dad must be really envious of us. They really want to come out as well."
Yuanyuan understood as well; after all, they still wanted to stay with the Zeng Family, a family with deep roots that wouldn’t possibly relocate entirely or easily.