The reason Yunyi wanted to help Ye Wenhui was twofold: first, she had grown close to Ye Wenhui recently, and second, Ye Wenjuan had not made a good impression on her.
Ye Wenjuan had pushed Wei Zijia off the bus and refused to acknowledge her mistake. This, combined with her obstinate arguments using twisted logic, made it clear why Ye Wenhui would rather work on the reservoir than stay and care for her.
Just as they had finished getting their food, Yunyi spotted Qiao Wenyu. "Sister Wenhui, wait for me," she said.
Qiao Wenyu saw Yunyi approaching him and asked, "Is there something you need?"
Yunyi nodded with a smile. "Yes, there’s a favor I need to ask of you. After you’ve gotten your food, could you bring Zijia over to my place?"
Zheng Xuewen, who was a few people behind in the queue, added, "I’ll head over in a bit too."
Yunyi nodded at him. "Alright, you can come over together. I’ll go on ahead."
She and Ye Wenhui hadn’t been back at their small courtyard long before Qiao Wenyu and the others arrived.
After a quick trip to the kitchen, she retrieved a bowl of mushroom meat sauce she had made earlier from her storage space and brought it into the room. "This is some meat sauce I made. Give it a try."
Zheng Xuewen was the first to stand up. "I knew it! There’s always good food when I come to your place."
Qiao Wenyu said, somewhat sheepishly, "We talked about going to the commune or the county during our break, but something came up, and we didn’t manage to go."
After speaking, he scooped two spoonfuls of meat sauce into his bowl, then asked, "By the way, what did you want to see me about?"
Yunyi handed the bowl of meat sauce to Wei Zijia before replying, "Today, someone from the regiment headquarters said that Ye Wenjuan and Zheng Huaibing will be officially taken back to the headquarters tomorrow. Furthermore, someone will be assigned to look after them."
She gestured towards Ye Wenhui and got straight to the point. "You all know what kind of person Ye Wenjuan is. Wenhui doesn’t want to stay at the regiment headquarters to look after her. Could you help pass on a message?"
Qiao Wenyu, being a sharp fellow, responded, "No problem. It’s not a big deal. I’ll head over there in a bit and make sure it’s handled."
Ye Wenhui felt relieved upon hearing this. "Thank you, Educated Youth Qiao."
Qiao Wenyu asked curiously, "How did you two end up hanging out together?"
Ye Wenhui joked, "My mom and Yunyi’s mom are best friends, and Yunyi and I are long-lost sisters. My mom came for a visit, recognized her, and we were reunited."
After she finished speaking, Ye Wenhui burst into laughter. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel✦fire.net
Wei Zijia casually remarked, "You two really do look like sisters. Maybe you actually are long-lost sisters."
Then she added, "You’re especially similar around the chin."
Ye Wenhui, thinking Wei Zijia was just joking, played along. "My mom even said that from now on, Yunyi is her own daughter, and we’ll be sisters."
Wei Zijia swallowed the food in her mouth. "I’m not joking with you."
Ye Wenhui continued with a smile, "Well, since we’re sisters, it’s perfectly normal for us to look alike."
At that moment, Qiao Wenyu lowered his voice. "Alright, enough joking. I have something serious to tell you all."
Everyone turned to look at him.
Qiao Wenyu poured the last bit of soup from his lunchbox into his mouth. "My maternal uncle’s group wants to use our Hua’an Farm Reclamation to shoot a movie. Who knows, maybe one day, if we’re not careful, we might end up on camera too!"
Everyone exclaimed in unison, "Really?"
Qiao Wenyu placed his lunchbox to the side. "When have I ever lied?"
Ye Wenhui then remembered. "Yunyi, were those the people we ran into at the state-run restaurant at noon?"
Qiao Wenyu looked at Yunyi. "You met them?"
Yunyi took a sip of her cooled water. "Mhm, we ran into Qiao Tuan at the state-run restaurant at noon, and he introduced your maternal uncle to me."