Seeing Qin Jian return home, Li Junping’s eyes reddened with excitement as she grabbed his hand, "Come over and let mom take a look at you. You’ve gotten darker and thinner."
"Mom, you say that every time!" Qin Feng emerged from the house upon hearing her voice and saw Qin Jian returning with two colleagues.
The man standing next to her brother, with a square face and bushy eyebrows, was staring at Qin Feng, which immediately made her face turn red.
Last time he had seen Qin Feng in the canteen, he had thought that she and Engineer Qin didn’t quite resemble each other.
This time, his curiosity made him take another look at her, to see why she didn’t look much like the regimental commander. To his surprise, the girl’s face turned red at a glance, startling him into quickly averting his gaze.
After introducing Jiang Ying and Tian Niu who were by his side, Qin Jian led them into the house.
"Come on, let’s take a look at the house before we eat. Talking about this child, I had no idea you were coming back to work, you didn’t even mention it to me. I had to hear about it from others," Li Junping complained as she showed them the tidy room. Qin Jian and his younger brother Qin Fen shared a room, but since Qin Fen had gone out to work, there was no problem fitting three people on the bed-stove.
After setting down their luggage, Li Junping called Qin Jian, Jiang Ying, and Tian Niu to the north room, where a round table was laid with a full spread of dishes, including fish, vegetables, and meat.
Qin Ru Hai had just returned from the supply and marketing cooperative with some wine, and he called for Qin Jian and his colleagues to join in a lively meal together.
In the evening, Qin Ru Hai brewed a pot of tea and had a good chat with his son. Considering they had things to do the next day, he let them go to bed after a while.
Tired from the day, Tian Niu comfortably stretched on the bed-stove and rolled over to see Qin Jian gazing out at the stars outside the window.
With a sly twinkle in his eye, he chuckled and asked, "Engineer Qin, are you missing your sister-in-law?"
Jiang Ying, who had just finished washing up, was sitting at the head of the bed drying his feet. Hearing Tian Niu’s comment, he joined in on the fun, "Yeah! Engineer Qin, isn’t your sister-in-law also from this village? Schedule a day out, and after we get our station set up, I’ll show off my cooking skills in the kitchen, and let your sister-in-law come taste the food I make."
"With those skills of yours?" Qin Jian teased him with a scoff, turning over to give them his back, "Go to sleep."
The next day, before dawn, Qin Jian got up early.
It was drizzling outside the window. He performed a set of boxing in the rain and then prepared to go back to wash up, when he saw his father, Qin Ru Hai, emerging from the north room.
"Dad, why are you up so early? The production team doesn’t need to go to the fields this early, does it?" Qin Jian asked.
"No need, no need!" Qin Ru Hai waved his hand, "Before I went to sleep last night, I saw that the vat was out of water, so I’m going to fetch some."
"I’ll go instead." Qin Jian picked up the carrying pole from the corner, grabbed two buckets, and headed out, "It’s still early, you should go back and rest a bit more."
There were two wells in the village, one at the eastern end and one at the western end.
The well at the western end where their village was situated was a bit higher up. The water level was low, often dry. Therefore, he went straight to the well at the eastern end to fetch water.
Two trips back and forth filled the large vat.
After filling it up, Qin Jian went back inside and saw the other two still sleeping soundly in bed.
Since there was no substantial work for today, just preparatory tasks that didn’t require the guidance of their research institute, Qin Jian let them sleep longer and didn’t wake them up.
Qin Jian went outside and took a walk around the village.