The next day was Saturday.
As was their usual habit, Ruan Hao, Ruan Jun, and Ruan Bo should have come home on Friday night, but they did not return yesterday, and the Ruanlin family had been too busy to remember this. It wasn’t until this morning that they felt something was amiss.
She was making breakfast in the kitchen, a few kids playing around with Meat-Meat, her mind filled with doubts when suddenly Captain Wu Guoqun’s voice came from outside.
"Auntie, Auntie, is Jianguo there? There’s a parcel and letter for your family, come out and have a look..."
Ruan Jie, who was playing with Little Wolf, lit up, dropped the stick he was teasing Meat-Meat with, and ran outside. The only ones in the entire Ruan family who would receive letters and packages were from their family, it must be from his mom!
The Ruanlin family matriarch also wiped her hands on the apron in front of her and quickly followed him outside.
"Uncle Wu," Ruan Jie jumped up to look at the letters and parcel in his hand, and even though he usually complained about Shu Jiao, at this moment, he was more excited than anyone, "Is this a letter from my mom? Is it??"
Wu Guoqun laughed heartily and patted his head in response, "Yes, it’s from Beidu, and by the handwriting, it looks like your mom’s, it should be right."
Because Shu Jiao was an intellectual with beautiful handwriting and also a teacher, in the past when the collective needed to transcribe some documents, they would ask for her help. Over time, Wu Guoqun had come to recognize her writing.
He was also pleased for them when he saw the letters, knowing that he had not made a mistake in backing this match back then!
"Where’s your dad?" he asked.
"His dad went to town early in the morning, and won’t be back until noon," said the Ruanlin family matriarch, walking out from the house, and seeing Ruan Jie hopping around, she said, "Just give the letter to him."
"Alright then, here’s the letter, and here’s the parcel slip. It seems like Shu Jiao sent you something, and you’ll need to pick it up from the post office," Wu Guoqun handed the letter and parcel slip to Ruan Jie with great care, "Take good care of it, don’t lose it."
Ruan Jie nodded quickly, too impatient to check the envelope, and upon seeing Shu Jiao’s handwriting, his eyes reddened, he clutched the letter tightly to his chest, and choked up to the Ruanlin family matriarch, "Granny, it’s a letter from mom! It really is from mom!"
"Look at you, so pointless to get this excited, almost a grown boy and still crying, aren’t you embarrassed!" The Ruanlin family matriarch felt somewhat displeased and spoke tersely.
Turning her head, she saw Ruan Jiaojiao wiping her eyes, standing confused on the threshold inside the room, and immediately signaled with her eyes to Ruan Jie. But Ruan Jie, overwhelmed with joy, did not catch her signal, and excitedly rushed the letter to Ruan Jiaojiao’s side.
"Look, sister, this is a letter from mom! It’s from mom! Mom remembers us, she didn’t abandon us! She’s coming back!" he said excitedly, tripping over his words.
"Alright, enough, you’re howling before we’ve even read the letter, go over there," the Ruanlin family matriarch pulled him aside, bent down and picked up Ruan Jiaojiao, kissed her little cheek, "Jiaojiao woke up, Granny will take you to wash your face and brush your teeth."
"Granny..." Ruan Jie watched her back with a touch of grievance.
Beside him, Ruan Chi tugged at his sleeve and shook his head; maybe it was the experience with Ruan Jiandang and Liao Zhaoji’s divorce, Ruan Chi was now very sensitive to people’s emotions.
He clearly sensed that Granny was rejecting to hear any news about their aunt...
The Ruanlin family matriarch felt unsettled, very unsettled.