Jiang Xinyu was sleeping groggily when she heard a knock on the door.
"Wife, I’m driving you back to the village. Taking this opportunity to pay respects to your parents."
Jiang Xinyu was still dazed, and Wei Kaiyun couldn’t resist tackling her onto the kang.
He knew when to stop; there wasn’t enough time now. He pulled the still panting Jiang Xinyu to her feet.
"Let’s go, the car is waiting."
Jiang Xinyu shot a glare at Wei Kaiyun, tidied up her clothes, and the two set off.
"I brought an extra hundred pounds of wheat for you to give away."
"Is there any need for such politeness between us?"
They drove the sedan in front, leading the way, followed by a large truck.
At three in the morning, they arrived at the village. The truck stopped directly in front of the brigade office.
"I’ll go get someone to unload the truck."
"Let’s wait until daylight tomorrow."
Indeed, it wasn’t a great time right now.
They found the driver, and Jiang Xinyu invited him to rest at their house, but he declined. "We can sleep in the truck."
Just as they were about to get in the car, Jiang Xinyu heard Wang Jianqiang’s voice, "Xinyu, is that you?"
"Uncle, yes, it’s me. We arrived at this hour."
"No problem, I’ll get someone to unload, you just go and rest."
"Alright, Uncle, just handle the weighing, and we’ll settle accounts with everyone tomorrow morning."
"Got it, go back and rest."
Jiang Xinyu handed a flashlight to Wang Jianqiang, and the two drove home.
They lit a candle, and Jiang Xinyu didn’t clean up. Taking advantage of Wei Kaiyun going out, she summoned bedding from storage.
She laid a sheet on the kang and then covered herself with a quilt.
"Wife, let’s snuggle."
In the end, Wei Kaiyun didn’t succeed. At five in the morning, they got up, and Jiang Xinyu found some burning paper from the woodshed, and they went to the Jiang Family couple’s grave.
Wei Kaiyun firmly bowed three times, made some pledges, and they returned home.
After washing up, Jiang Xinyu tidied the house and drove to the brigade office.
By this time, everyone had finished unloading, with Wang Jianqiang in charge of counting.
"Uncle, how many pounds in total?"
"Fourteen thousand five hundred and forty-six pounds."
"Perfect. Village chief, let me settle accounts. The village gave me eight thousand; the wheat, transport fees, costs along the way, and losses add up to fifty-five cents a pound, exactly eight thousand for fourteen thousand five hundred and forty-six pounds."
"Xinyu, thank you so much, everyone has food now." Kong Zhongyou said gratefully.
"Indeed, the Jiang girl is capable and hasn’t forgotten everyone."
The crowd thanked her in multiple voices; even local wheat costs about fifty-two cents. Fifty-five cents was truly not expensive, especially being shipped from abroad.
"Village chief, uncles, this opportunity allowed me to get food.
Uncle, I have to go back to work."
"Alright, you head back. Reach out if you need anything."
At this point, the truck driver approached, "Director Wei, there’s still a sack of wheat in the passenger seat. Where should I put it? I need to head back."
"Driver, wait." Jiang Xinyu asked Wang Jianqiang for a burlap sack, poured about thirty pounds of wheat into it, and placed it on the passenger seat. "Driver, thank you so much, this is just a small gesture from me."
"Secretary Jiang, Director Shen said that this truck service was free."
"I know, but I appreciate you staying up all night, so please don’t refuse."
Wei Kaiyun also spoke up, "Comrade, you should accept it. We are very grateful to you."
After sending the truck driver away, Jiang Xinyu went to the Wang Family.
"Auntie, I’m leaving this half sack of wheat for the family. Don’t hesitate to eat it."
"It’s alright, it’s just half a sack of wheat. Auntie, I need to return to work."
Wang Jianqiang returned home and saw the wheat. "This girl has a conscience and doesn’t like taking advantage."
"Mm, with this wheat, Xiao Long can get married."
Without breakfast yet, they arrived at the county breakfast shop, only to find it wasn’t open. Indeed, grain was scarce everywhere now.
It rained in May, but since then, not a drop. Crops did emerge, but due to drought, they didn’t grow well.
"Wife, I roughly calculated there’s still fourteen thousand pounds of wheat left. What do you plan to do?"
"I don’t know either, what do you think?"
"Let Old Yang take it; you can earn a bit more money."
"Actually, I wanted to keep it, in case there’s another drought and no grain to eat this year."
"Wife, storing it over summer will result in significant losses."
Jiang Xinyu nodded, "I know, just dealing with rodents is a problem.
Let Old Yang take it. Given this year’s situation, everyone should realize the importance of grain storage."
"Call Old Yang when you get back. He’s in the Northeast. If necessary, transport it by train."
"Sure, Old Yang will at least give you one yuan per pound."
"Not much, don’t worry.
Wife, I’m now the director at the Provincial Textile Factory, and I must ship this batch of cotton back today. Will you come with me?"
Jiang Xinyu had considered this, but she ultimately decided to stay in the city. Primarily to follow up on the female lead; now shouldn’t have major issues, except Wei Kaiyun’s matter hasn’t been resolved.
"I’ll stay; there’s something important I must attend to."
"What is it? I’ll handle it for you, remember you’re my secretary?"
"You can’t manage it. Don’t fuss; it’s really important."
"But we’ll be so far apart."
Jiang Xinyu quickly changed the topic, not wanting to dwell on it. "Last time I went on a business trip to the province, I happened to witness Secretary Tong being assaulted. I felt compelled to intervene, she was about to be stripped, so I reported it. Now you’re the director, so Director Yuan must not have succeeded, right? What happened to them?"
"Wife? You were the one who reported it to the police?"
"Yes, Director Yuan’s wife was about to strip Secretary Tong, and what would a woman do once stripped? So I went to the police station."
Wife, did you know? My trip to the capital was initially to enter politics, but an incident in the province redirected my application, and I was sent there.
I was wondering who reported it to the police; I didn’t know whether to thank her or blame her for meddling.
Didn’t expect it to be my wife, destiny indeed."
Jiang Xinyu was dumbfounded. Did she inadvertently cause this?
"No worries, it’s all good; I’ll remain grounded at the textile factory."
"But I wanted you to leave the textile factory."
"It’s fine; I think the occurring events differ entirely from my dream now."