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Early the next morning, the two of them boarded a bus bound for Lao Gu, laden with various bags. This time, Comrade Zhang Xiuzhen said nothing and busied herself preparing some rare treats for Hu Ruoyun's parents—items that were seldom seen in the village and too precious to buy.
Third Aunt's home was a bit far from Lao Gu, so they decided not to visit. Instead, they sent Xiao Hu and Xiao Feng to call people at Second Aunt's and Grandma's houses. Since Second Uncle lived nearby, a shout was enough to gather the whole family.
The food was prepared by Hu Ruoyun and Mao Na at the market in Laogu Township, featuring chicken, duck, fish, and meat. Second Aunt and Grandma took charge of cooking while Mao Na assisted.
By the time Grandma, Grandfather, Uncle, Aunt-in-law, and Second Aunt's family arrived, everything was nearly ready to serve. The meal was lively and filled with chatter.
The cigarettes and liquor were gifts from Mao Weiguo. Regardless of their quality, just the fact that they were "from the county chief" made them quite a talking point.
After sending off the guests, Mao Na wanted to help Grandma and Second Aunt clean up the dishes, but both women firmly stopped her. Second Aunt said, "You just rest; this work can wait until you're married." This made Mao Na blush again.
Once it was just their family left at home, Mao Na opened the other bags she had brought along and took out their contents one by one: her father's new cotton coat, her mother's woolen overcoat, Xiao Feng's little leather shoes, Xiao Hu's new backpack, as well as malt milk powder, canned goods, and crispy candy prepared by Zhang Xiuzhen—everything piled up on the table.
Though her mother pretended to scold her for spending too much money, she was secretly delighted. Mao Na helped her try on the clothes; they fit well. Then they had her father try on his new cotton coat. He smiled broadly and said, "No need to try; it feels thick and warm just by touch..."
Xiao Feng and Xiao Hu ran back to their rooms with their new items.
On Monday morning, they took a bus to the county town without returning to Mao Na's home. At the long-distance station, they bought two tickets to Jiangcheng. By noon, both had returned to school.
Cui Shuigen heard that Hu Ruoyun was back and put down his work to report back in the dormitory: "Brother San, we now have less than a thousand postcards left. They're hard to sell since New Year's Day has passed; everyone has sent out what they needed to send.
However, sales have been decent over the past few days; most of them went for seventy or eighty cents each. There's a vendor at He Yan Market who said if we can sell the remaining ones for forty cents each, he'll take them all."
Hu Ruoyun waved his hand dismissively: "Give them all to him!"
Clearing out inventory and vacating storage space, Cui Shuigen meticulously reported the total account to Hu Ruoyun: "The total is twenty thousand two hundred postcards. After deducting about nine hundred unprofitable ones, we have nineteen thousand three hundred left. Multiplying that by 0.15 gives us two thousand eight hundred ninety-five..."
As he spoke, he handed over a stack of cash. Hu Ruoyun first pulled out his cost and then took out less than five hundred from the remaining amount before stuffing back over two thousand into Cui Shuigen's hands: "This is yours."
Cui Shuigen looked confused: "Brother San, you calculated it wrong. Each of us should get over a thousand!"
Hu Ruoyun replied: "No mistake here; the Student Affairs Office ordered five thousand postcards from me. There’s two thousand profit from that with me too. So roughly speaking, we each get over two thousand."
Cui Shuiwang wanted to say something but was interrupted by Hu Ruoyun: "Don't say anything more; tonight you treat our dorm mates to dinner!"
That evening at Xueyuan Restaurant, all six members of the dormitory gathered together.
They ordered four cold dishes and four hot ones—eight dishes in total—along with two soups and drinks including beer.
Hu Ruoyun asked Cui Shuigen to say a few words. As soon as Cui Shuigen stood up, he turned red before even speaking: "What should I say? I'm not good at this... I just want to thank my parents for supporting me in leaving the mountains! Over these years, I've never traveled far and have no idea what lies beyond these mountains..."
Thank you for coming to Jiangbei University and for meeting everyone. I appreciate your tolerance and help towards a country boy like me!
As you all know, my family is poor, and I often tag along with you for food and drinks...
The leader, Zhao Jinpu, interrupted him, saying, "Cui Shuigen, you're getting off track; that's a penalty drink."
Cui Shuigen cheerfully downed his beer in one go. "Boss, I’ll only say this once; I won’t mention it again!"
Then he began to toast everyone starting with Zhao Jinpu. When he reached Lao Liu, Jie Bing, he filled a cup to the brim and said, "Lao Liu, I really haven’t seen much of the world and I’m not good with words... If I’ve done anything wrong or poorly, please don’t hold it against Fifth Brother!"
Perhaps due to the tempering from Social University, Jie Bing had gained some insight. He stood up and accepted the cup from Cui Shuigen with both hands. "Fifth Brother, it was my fault before..." and then he downed the drink.
Since they were on campus, nobody drank too much, but everyone seemed to be in good spirits.
Though the drinks were running low, the food was plentiful. Cui Shuigen went to settle the bill, but Hu Ruoyun stopped everyone from interfering. They watched as this big boy from the Bashu Mountains happily paid the young lady at the front desk and waved for everyone to head out.
Zhao Jinpu lagged behind a bit and placed a hand on Hu Ruoyun's shoulder. "Tonight was great..."
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