At ten o’clock, they served Xibao noodles with the bone soup they had simmered, fed him till he was full, cooed him to sleep, and had the kids watch over him, while the couple returned to the kitchen to prepare lunch. In a short while, however, they heard someone knocking and calling from outside, but the voice wasn’t clear.
"Who would be wandering about on a heavy snow day?"
"You go and have a look. It might be your father or Uncle Xu." Their house was always locked because they had proper meals at home.
"Yes, yes, my dear, I’ll go. Wait for me before you resume cooking, don’t do everything by yourself." Lu Jiang said, hinting for her to lock away anything that shouldn’t be exposed to outsiders before he went to open the door. A middle-aged man covered in snow and pushing a bicycle stood at the door. He had thick eyebrows and a square face, emanating an air of authoritative fierceness without anger.
"May I know who you are?" Lu Jiang asked under confusion, finding the man somewhat familiar.
"Ajiang, who is it?" Feng Qingxue followed him out of the kitchen.
Lu Jiang moved aside to let her see the person at the door. He did not recognize the stranger, who might be an acquaintance of his wife.
To his surprise, Feng Qingxue didn’t recognize the man either. "Comrade, who are you looking for, please?" she asked crisply.
The middle-aged man politely replied, "Excuse me, may I ask if you’re Comrades Lu Jiang and Feng Qingxue?"
"Yes, that’s us. Who are you, sir?"
On hearing Feng Qingxue admitting their identities, the man immediately broke into a smile, his face obscured by a cloud of white steam.
"Comrades, I am Cheng Baoguo. My mother said she met her savior yesterday and she’s extremely emotional. After somehow finding your address, she insisted on visiting personally to express her gratitude. With such heavy snow, how could I allow my parents to venture out? As it happened, I had the day off today, so I decided to come myself. I apologize for the intrusion and hope you’d forgive me."
Feng Qingxue gaped in disbelief, "Mayor Cheng? I never gave your mother my address. How did you find us?"
"Qingxue, invite Mayor Cheng inside first." Lu Jiang prompted.
"Yes, yes, of course." Feng Qingxue came to her senses, "It’s snowing heavily outside and it’s cold. Mayor Cheng, please come in. Ajiang, take Mayor Cheng’s bicycle to the side room in the West so it won’t get damaged by the cold."
"Bicycles are not human, they won’t get damaged by the cold. Comrades, please don’t trouble yourselves. And, just call me Baoguo."
Baoguo took down a basket that was hung on his bicycle. It was covered with oilcloth. He shook off the snowflakes and carefully replaced the cover.
That being said, how could Lu Jiang and Feng Qingxue dare to directly address him by his name without due courtesies?
Lu Jiang vehemently shook his head, "We dare not! We dare not!"
While Feng Qingxue said, "We’ll call you Comrade Cheng Baoguo, please come in, Comrade Cheng."
The children who were reading by the fire in the room got up to greet the guest, their eyes sparkling and turning round and round.
"Acheng, take your younger brother and Xiaoyun to your room to read. Tianjun, go and call Grandpa. Tell him there’s an important guest at home."
"Okay!" Lu Tianjun put down the cradle with Xibao in it.
After the children left, Lu Jiang invited Cheng Baoguo to sit down.
Feng Qingxue checked the cradle, then turned around to pour Cheng Baoguo some boiled water, asking, "Comrade Cheng, how did you find our house?"
Cheng Baoguo put the basket he brought under his feet, accepted the enamel cup, and smiled, "Comrade Qingxue, you did a wonderful job without leaving a name or address, a true example. But my mother felt guilty and tried to collect information from the grocery store. Unfortunately, it didn’t yield much. So she tried asking around outside and ended up at the post office, but to no avail. Then, she heard that the mule cart was parked outside the Mine Bureau for quite some time, so she went there and found Comrade Wang Zhengguo. The rest was easy."
Were they really allowed to do that? Lu Jiang and Feng Qingxue exchanged astonished looks.