Chapter 61 Departure

  In the evening before going to bed, Qiu Dad called Qiu Feng and Qiu Ye into the bedroom, and again gave them a lot of advice on their experience outside, mainly emphasizing that they must follow their godmother closely when they go out.

  "Qiu Feng, you're the older brother, so you must take good care of your little sister when you're outside, got it?" Qiu's father wasn't at ease with his daughter and had to instruct his son like this.

  Qiu Feng was confused by his father's words. What did he mean by taking care of his sister outside? He wasn't going, so how could he take care of her?

  Qiu Ye looked at her brother's silly expression and pushed him with her arm, saying: "Brother, haven't you figured it out yet? Dad said that tomorrow you can go to Xinjiang with me and Auntie."

  Qiu Feng listened to his sister's words, opened his mouth wide, and turned to Qiu Dad, looking at him with inquiring eyes.

  Qiu's father looked at his son's silly appearance and laughed, saying: "If you can guarantee to take good care of yourself and your sister, then you can follow us tomorrow. If not, it's better for you to stay home and avoid causing trouble for your aunt."

  Qiu Feng was now certain that he could also go, and in the original place, he jumped up high and shouted wildly: "Ah, I can also follow, ah, I'm going to Xinjiang."

  Qiu's mother quickly went over and pulled her son back, saying "It's late at night, can't you let the people upstairs and downstairs rest? And as for our family's child going out with him, it's better not to spread it around everywhere, or who knows what rumors might get started."

  Qiu's father pressed down on his son, who still wanted to cheer loudly, and said: "You can't be happy yet, letting you go is conditional, there are tasks, if you don't complete the tasks, then there won't be any good things for you in the future."

  "Don't worry, leader, I guarantee that I will complete the task." Qiu Feng listened to his father's words and immediately stood up straight and gave his father a military salute.

  Qiu's father and mother were delighted to see their son like this, and at the same time, they thought that maybe letting the children go out and make a name for themselves was the right decision.

  A child travels a thousand miles, and the mother worries. These two siblings hadn't even left the house yet, and Old Lady Qiu had already begun to worry, pulling them back to repeatedly instruct them on many things: don't talk to strangers on the road, don't show off your wealth, if you get lost find a police officer, etc.

  Qiu's father finally pulled out a dozen 100-yuan bills and handed them to Qiu Ye.

  "This is one thousand yuan, you carry it with you personally, when you get there if you see something you want to buy, use this money to buy it, don't always spend your aunt's money. In case of an emergency, you'll also have some money on hand."

  Qiu Ye Zhen didn't expect her parents to be so generous, this is almost half a year's salary for her parents now, which can offset the total savings of a family. It seems that in the past year, her parents have made a lot of money.

  Qiu Ye didn't hesitate, and directly took the money. Qiu's mother was beside her, teaching her how to hide money by sewing a pocket in her underwear. Qiu's mother had already made two pairs of pink underwear for her, with a big pocket sewn on using blue fabric that looked like her father's striped pants.

  Qiu Ye listened and nodded vigorously, quickly grabbing her own underwear to cover herself. As a soul in her thirties, she was too embarrassed to expose her underwear in front of her family members, even though her current age was only nine years old.

  Qiu Feng was staring at his father with eager eyes, waiting for his father to also take out a dozen dollars to give him.

  Qiu's father saw his son's eager eyes and couldn't ignore him, so he took out two 50s from the drawer and handed them to his son.

  "Take care of your money and spend it thriftily. If there's something you really want to buy, ask your sister first, and only if she says it's okay can you buy it, got it?" Mr. Qiu was worried about his son's extravagant spending habits, just like Jinshan who had also become wasteful.

  Qiu Feng looked at the two 50-yuan bills in front of him, feeling very happy that he had his share. Although he was treated differently from his sister, this year's experience taught him that if he were to throw a tantrum and refuse this hundred yuan, trying to get the same treatment as his sister, the final result might be that he wouldn't even get this hundred yuan. So, being aware of the situation, he'd better just take this hundred yuan honestly. Knowing contentment brings happiness, and besides, his sister was also a solid backing for him.

  Qiu's father and mother finished their instructions, then let the children hurry back to bed, tomorrow they will take the train, although it is a sleeper, but still not as comfortable as sleeping at home. So tonight must get a good rest.

  But that night, the Qiu family didn't sleep well. Mr. and Mrs. Qiu couldn't sleep because they were worried, while Qiu Feng and Qiu Ye couldn't sleep because they were excited.

  The second day, before dawn broke, Mrs. Qiu sent Mr. Qiu to the tofu workshop to hold down the fort, while she herself got busy from the crack of dawn, packing up all the food and snacks for the kids to bring along, their clothes had been packed away long ago, two sets of clean clothes per person (Xinjiang's temperature is much hotter than Youcheng, so they just brought clothing), were all stuffed into a large backpack that Qiu Feng was carrying.

  While Qiu Feng and Qiu Ye were having breakfast, their mother was still nagging nonstop.

  "Mom brought you some fried peanuts and roasted melon seeds, when there's nothing to do on the train, take them out and eat a bit. Remember not to just eat by yourself, also let your godmother's colleagues have some. When going out, it's not like being at home, you need to be polite, can't make your godmother lose face."

  "Inside, mom also packed a bag of tea eggs and a large bottle of pickles for you. When you're on the train, be sensible and don't let your aunt buy food for you. The things on the train are expensive and not good to eat. Eat what we brought from home first, or it will go bad in this weather."

  "Keep all the money on you, and except for your aunt, don't tell anyone else that you have money, got it?"

  ……

  At 6 o'clock in the morning, Zhao Shuyan and Fang Haibo came to knock on Qiu's door amidst Qiu's mother's nagging. Looking at the two neatly dressed children, and after another round of reassurances from Qiu's mother, they took the two well-fed children to the entrance of the Normal University, where the Fine Arts Department was gathering that morning.

  On the road, Fang Haibo took over Qiu Ma's job and started nagging.

  "When you get there, wherever you want to go, you have to tell your godmother and let her accompany you, understand? It's not like home, it's more chaotic, and they're all ethnic minorities, language is not universal, so safety comes first."

  Qiu Ye and Qiu Feng are now whoever says what is an action, just nodding, but what they think in their hearts only they themselves know.

  They finally arrived at the gathering place, and in front of the school gate was a big, tattered bus with more than half of the people already seated.

  Fang Haibo led the children onto the bus, found a spot by the window and got them settled in. He then gave Zhao Shuyan some instructions and asked the teacher in charge to "take care of his wife and kids" before getting off the bus.

  Then several students came up one after another. When it was time to depart, the bespectacled teacher in charge counted the number of people and shouted, "Alright, everyone is here, let's set off."

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