Chapter 594: Something's Wrong at Home?

“What?” Zhao Jun froze, then it dawned on him. He hurriedly pushed his way through the crowd and headed outside.

Zhao Jun left the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and hurried to the side of the truck. He saw that the floor of the truck bed—the kind used for hauling lumber—was already covered with a layer of items.

There were crates of soft drinks, boxes of liquor, cases of canned goods, and another seven or eight boxes of who-knows-what.

Lined up against one side of the bed were several large, bulging burlap sacks.

Since the country had opened up, you didn’t really need ration coupons for most things anymore, but there were still restrictions on buying grain.

Zhao Jun couldn’t for the life of him figure out what, besides grain, his mom could have bought to fill several large burlap sacks.

On top of that, there were eight huge red cloth bundles, and he had no idea what was inside them.

But what stood out most were the three rows of soda crates laid flat, and there was Li Baoyu, lying on the makeshift bed they formed, flipping through a comic book.

Hearing footsteps, Li Baoyu turned his head. When he saw it was Zhao Jun, he quickly sat up straight and grinned. “Brother, we should’ve brought some rope.”

The ride’s going to be bumpy. Without rope, we can’t stack anything, so everything has to be laid flat on the floor of the bed.

“Ha,” Zhao Jun just chuckled in response but didn’t say anything.

Just then, Wang Meilan, Jin Xiaomei, Jie Chen, and Sun Haizhu all came over. Looking at the fruits of her two-hour shopping spree, Wang Meilan beamed, while Jin Xiaomei looked a little pained by the expense. As for Jie Chen and Sun Haizhu, they were simply stunned.

“Son!” Wang Meilan gave Zhao Jun a little shove. “On the way back, you can sit on the soda crates just like Baoyu.”

“Yeah, sure.” That was no problem for Zhao Jun. But when he saw Wang Meilan turn to gaze longingly back at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative’s entrance, he coaxed her, “Mom, let’s head back for now. If you still need something, we can come again in a little while.”

“Alright, then.” Wang Meilan smiled and turned to Sun Haizhu. “Haizhu, that…”

As she spoke, Wang Meilan touched her thumbs together, then her index and middle fingertips, clenching her ring and pinky fingers to form a circle with her hands. She showed the shape to Sun Haizhu and said, “Those round tins of hairtail fish, about this big… if you get more in stock, save a few cases for me.”

“Don’t worry, Mom.” Wang Meilan had barely finished when Zhao Jun chimed in from the side, “Besides you, no one else is buying them.”

“Hm?” Wang Meilan turned to look at Zhao Jun. “Son, you can take those metal tins with you when you go up the mountain in the winter. When it’s time to eat, just build a little fire, set the can on it, and it’ll heat right up, won’t it?”

Realization dawned on Zhao Jun, and a warmth spread through his chest. He immediately agreed, “Mom, you’re right. We’ll buy more next time.”

…

Five minutes later, the truck slowly pulled away from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Sun Haizhu waved to Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu, who were sitting on the soda crates in the truck bed, then turned and went back inside the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Once the truck was out of town and the surrounding road was empty of people and vehicles, Zhao Jun stood up, squatted in front of one of the big red bundles, and pulled at a corner to peek inside.

“Brother,” Li Baoyu said as he straightened the stack of comic books his mom had bought him. “That’s stuff my mom and Auntie bought for the three of us. Bedding for when we get married.”

“Bedding?” Zhao Jun sat back down on the soda crates and couldn’t help asking, “You just mean quilts and bedcovers, right?”

“Yup!” Li Baoyu grinned. “They’re all ready-made, so we don’t have to get them made. The duvet covers and all that are bright red, with patterns of dragons and phoenixes.”

Zhao Jun nodded. “You mean the auspicious dragon and phoenix design?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Zhao Jun pointed, counting the large bundles. “Why so many? Eight bundles… is that four sets each for the two of us?”

“The three of us!” Li Baoyu held up three fingers in front of Zhao Jun. “You, me, and Ruhai.”

“Huh?”

Seeing Zhao Jun’s surprise, Li Baoyu added, “My mom said because we bought so many, we got thirty cents off each set.”

At this, Li Baoyu pointed to the bundles and explained, “The bedding is two sets for each of the three of us. Those two smaller bundles are clothes for Ma Ling and Liu Mei… heh heh heh…”

With another chuckle, Li Baoyu added, “My mom says the clothes are really beautiful.”

The corner of Zhao Jun’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t say anything else.

By the time the truck drove into Yong’an Village, it was already nearly eight o’clock. Under the curtain of night, Yong’an Village was silent.

In the cab, Wang Meilan instructed Jie Chen to drive as slowly as possible, trying not to make any noise that might set the dogs barking and wake the already-sleeping villagers.

Two minutes later, the truck stopped in front of Zhao Jun’s house. Hearing a few scattered barks from the courtyard, Wang Meilan casually glanced in and froze.

The lights in the house were off!

Wang Meilan’s heart clenched. At that same moment, up in the truck bed, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu didn’t even think about grabbing their things. They both vaulted off the truck and charged into the courtyard of Zhao Jun’s house.

They had reacted faster than Wang Meilan; the sound of the dogs’ barking alone told them something was wrong.

They could tell that some of the dogs were missing.

The moment Zhao Jun charged into the courtyard, the unleashed Cyan Dragon and Black Dragon bounded toward him. Afraid of stepping on Black Dragon, Zhao Jun instinctively stopped short. His feet held firm, but his upper body lurched forward, and he nearly toppled over.

“Get back!” Zhao Jun bellowed. Startled, Cyan Dragon and Black Dragon scrambled to the side. Under the eaves, Black Tiger, who had been yelping, instantly fell silent, turned around, and scrambled into his doghouse.

In just a few strides, Zhao Jun reached the front door, yanked it open, and stepped inside.

In the Northeast Mountain Area at this time of year, the temperature at night hovered around ten degrees Celsius. If the kang wasn’t lit, the room would feel chilly and damp.

Zhao Jun glanced into the stove pit. There wasn’t a single ember. Panic began to set in.

The cold stove meant the family had been gone since the afternoon, at the very least.

‘Where could Zhao Youcai have taken the two little girls? Even if they went to the Li Family’s house, he should have lit the kang, shouldn’t he?’

‘It’s already eight o’clock; the two girls should be in bed. Without the kang lit, wouldn’t the room be freezing?’

Just then, Wang Meilan, Jin Xiaomei, and Jie Chen all came in. The moment she stepped inside, Wang Meilan was also stunned.

There were fewer dogs in the courtyard, but everyone’s first instinct was that something terrible had happened at home, not that Zhao Youcai had taken the hounds up the mountain to hunt.

After all, it wasn’t every day you found a father that irresponsible.

Besides, just as Zhao Jun had thought, even if Zhao Youcai had taken the two little girls to visit relatives, he wouldn’t have stayed out this late.

Of course, no one could have guessed that this particular father was, in fact, exactly that irresponsible.

“Hurry!” Jin Xiaomei said, supporting Wang Meilan as she shouted to Li Baoyu, “Get your dad and Ruhai and go search the village for your uncle!”

“Wait!” It suddenly clicked for Zhao Jun. “That’s not right! My uncle is home!”

“Hm?” Wang Meilan also snapped out of it. That was right. When they came into the courtyard, she’d seen the lights on at Li Dayong’s house. If Li Dayong was home, he would know if something had happened to Zhao Youcai.

With that, everyone filed out of Zhao Jun’s house and gathered at the courtyard wall, intending to climb over into the Li Family’s yard to check.

As he was about to climb the wall, Li Baoyu finally noticed that not a single dog was left in his own yard.

“Brother,” Li Baoyu asked Zhao Jun, “Do you think my uncle could have gone hunting?”

“No way!” Zhao Jun blurted out without even thinking. ‘What kind of father is that irresponsible, leaving his two daughters at home to go hunting by himself?’

‘Besides, even if he was hunting, he wouldn’t be out this late!’

But once they were in the Li Family Courtyard and saw that all of Li Baoyu’s dogs were gone too, Zhao Jun sighed. He turned to help Wang Meilan as she climbed down from the wall and said, “Mom, don’t worry. Dad went hunting.”

“Hunting?” Wang Meilan was still skeptical. “You’re talking nonsense. If your dad went hunting, then what about your sisters?”

Zhao Jun gestured toward the house. “They’re at Uncle Li’s.”

“That’s right, Sister-in-law,” Jin Xiaomei added. “See? All of our dogs are gone, too.”

“Oh, my goodness.” Realizing what this meant, Wang Meilan hurried toward the house.

The whole group noisily pushed the door open and piled inside. Hearing the commotion, Li Dayong, who was sitting on the kang in the inner room, turned his head.

He was in the middle of gnawing on a cornmeal steamed cake. It must have been a leftover, since it wasn’t even warm and crumbled with every bite.

“Mom!”

“Mom!”

With two tearful cries, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na dropped their chopsticks, scrambled down from the kang, and threw themselves at Wang Meilan.

“Mom!” But this cry came from Li Xiaoqiao.