This super long trip, the return journey is too lengthy, even Zhou Guoqing’s transfer arrangents were postponed. Imagine how important this mission is.
The team also considered Ling Chengyan’s actual situation and arranged for a female dic to co over to look after a few children.
After a day of preparation, on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, before dawn, Ling Chengyan, Zhou Guoqing, and Ma Dajun set out by car.
The car had a rain shelter fra added, the tarpaulin and the three people’s luggage were on the truck bed, and Ma Dajun was finally allowed into the cab, taking the position of co-driver, while Zhou Guoqing laid down the tarpaulin on the truck bed, lay down in the truck bed, and embarked on the journey asleep.
Ling Chengyan had basically traveled all the major roads within the province, so she didn’t need Zhou Guoqing to guide her; she wouldn’t get lost.
In this regard, she had to thank her father and brother from the previous world for teaching and nurturing her from a young age—the most basic premise for marching is directional discernnt and road recognition.
They ran over five hundred force in one breath. At noon, the car finally stopped in ngshan County.
More than a month ago, Ling Chengyan had followed Zhou Guoqing along this route, and there was nothing there. Unexpectedly, now a simple shack had been set up by the roadside, with two not-too-prominent characters written on the wall: Restaurant.
The reason for stopping here was for Ma Dajun’s sake. He had finally adapted to the truck bed, and once he moved into the cab, the stronger sll of diesel and motor oil made his relieved car sickness worsen again.
The whole way, his stomach was churning. Thanks to his arm propping up, his head resting on the car window, he felt slightly better.
When stopping, Ling Chengyan directly stepped on the cab pedal to look at the rear truck bed, calling Zhou Guoqing to get down for a rest and lunch, without bothering about Ma Dajun.
Zhou Guoqing was quick, and soon jumped down from the truck bed. Seeing the small roadside shop and the couple in their thirties welcoming them, he surprisingly wore a relaxed smile.
"What’s to eat here?" Zhou Guoqing unexpectedly took the initiative to speak, quite rare.
The man with short, thick limbs wore patched pants and a vest with holes, smiling innocently, saying, "We slaughtered a sheep yesterday; we have pancakes, mutton, and mutton soup."
Zhou Guoqing chuckled, "The weather and the mutton soup are just right, just one bowl of mutton soup per person, two pounds of pancakes per person."
The man agreed and went inside, the woman brewed a pot of hot tea and brought it over, "Honeysuckle from the mountain, it’s good for clearing heat. Have a taste."
The honeysuckle tea had a slightly herbal taste, but was relatively refreshing and thirst-quenching. After the three drank a pot of tea, the man served three large bowls of mutton soup on a tray.
The mutton soup was cooked to a thick white, sprinkled with a layer of green coriander, with a rich aroma of mutton mixed with a sharp pepper scent that surged, inducing a thin layer of sweat even before drinking.
Pancakes served directly in a basket, six pounds of pancakes, a small basket, folded in a neat, enticing golden stack.
Having run many long distances, Zhou Guoqing, who had eaten many regional specialties, adeptly took a stack of pancakes, tore them into pieces, soaked them in mutton soup, and ate them quickly, piece by piece, drinking a sip of mutton soup—sloppy yet deliciously appealing.
Ma Dajun felt carsick and unwell; after drinking two cups of honeysuckle tea, that nausea subsided significantly.
He didn’t dare directly drink the mutton soup, opting to first eat the pancake dry. The cornflour pancake was slightly chewy when entering the mouth, as he chewed carefully, a sweet flavor gradually erged from the grains, becoming more fragrant and sweet with each chew, even the last bit of nausea vanished unknowingly.
He feared feeling uncomfortable and carsick again, and thus dared not drink the mutton soup. Both bowls of mutton soup ended up in Zhou Guoqing’s stomach. Out of six pounds of pancakes, only half were eaten, leaving nearly three pounds. Zhou Guoqing simply asked the shopkeeper to wrap them in paper to take along and continued on the road.
By dusk, they didn’t stop for dinner but instead bought five grilled cards from a little town’s restaurant, and had the restaurant fill three bottles of hot water.
Zhou Guoqing finally got down from the truck bed and had Ma Dajun return to the truck bed.
After purchasing dinner, Zhou Guoqing ate his fill first, then let Ling Chengyan eat while he took over driving.
Having driven for over ten hours, even with a strong body, it was taxing, especially considering her physical condition wasn’t particularly robust.
Thus, sitting in the co-driver’s seat, she ate only a small piece of the grilled card and unknowingly fell asleep leaning against the car door.
When the sky fully darkened, they were still driving. Zhou Guoqing held the steering wheel, expressionlessly driving.
This was his last long trip before he left the army, and also his last ti driving this vehicle.
Once back, he would take off his uniform and retire.
Sleeping uncomfortably in the co-driver’s seat, Ling Chengyan woke up from a brief nap due to a sudden brake.
She stretched her shoulders and back, and flexed her arms...
Zhou Guoqing silently stopped the car, "Go back there and swap the young man down!"
Without saying a word, Ling Chengyan opened the cab door, climbed onto the truck bed, swapping Ma Dajun back into the cab.
The truck bed had a quilt, wrapping up in it, and resting on the thick tarpaulin made it significantly more comfortable, despite the bumps, than the co-driver seat.
Ling Chengyan dozed off upon lying down.
In a daze, the car abruptly stopped, causing Ling Chengyan to open her eyes to see a dark night sky and a chilly night breeze, suddenly sitting up.
On the truck bed, there was a crank used when the vehicle had difficulty starting. The pure steel structure was Z-shaped and nearly a ter long.
Ling Chengyan gripped the crank, leaning on the truck panel to look toward the front of the car, imdiately seeing a cart horizontally across the road. Two n, appearing to be mountain folk, stood in front of the car, waving their arms and speaking in a regional accent.
Ling Chengyan had learned regional dialects initially, and though ti and space differ, she carefully distinguished that she could understand this dialect.
One of the n repeatedly said, "... Wife in labor need to go to hospital!"
Ling Chengyan’s gaze returned from the two n to the cart.
Standing on the high truck bed, she could see a quilt piled on the bed, and faintly there seed to be a person lying beneath it...
Still, Ling Chengyan found it odd: usually, when won go into labor, at least one to two won care for them during confinent. How co this family only had two able-bodied n transporting the woman for dical attention?
The car had already been forced to stop; without getting out, soone parked the cart in the front, clearly blocking the way through.
Ling Chengyan heard a soft sound from the cab’s side; it was the sound of soone manually unlocking the car door.
Zhou Guoqing was about to get out.
She hurried before Zhou Guoqing opened the door, jumped down from the truck bed, with her hands casually hanging by her side. From the angle of the two n’s perspective, she was just a young, delicate woman, empty-handed, seemingly powerless.
"Since your sister-in-law is in labor, why are you still here delaying? Hurry and send her to the hospital!" Ling Chengyan spoke and surprisingly used the similar regional dialect of the n.
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