Chapter 495 - 509: Mule
At Shili Gou Railway Station, Lin Cuihua had sent An Guoqing out bright and early to pick up An Ning and the others.
The tall and sturdy man from the Northeast was dressed in a very down-to-earth manner, wearing a thick, handmade, "mom-brand" cotton-padded jacket, a dog-fur hat on his head, and a multicolored neck gaiter. Puffs of white breath escaped from his mouth from time to time. He was so bundled up that besides a narrow slit for his eyes, you couldn’t make out what he looked like at all.
An Guoqing tucked both hands into his sleeves, craning his neck as he looked around.
The first person to walk out of the station was Jiang Xia. That guy was probably impervious to the cold; he wasn’t even wearing a hat.
An Guoqing completely overlooked the round, freshly-buzzed head with hair less than five millimeters long. The people following behind, however, were showing proper respect for the Northeastern winter.
Gloves, scarves, hats—they had them all on, which made it significantly harder for An Guoqing to identify them.
’Where the heck are they! How am I supposed to find them?!’
’Hope they don’t wander off.’
Muttering to himself, An Guoqing waited a moment longer before heading back to his cart and pulling out a large megaphone—the one An Guoming used to use for selling vegetables.
A piercing "SCREEEEEECH—" drew the attention of nearly everyone around.
The next second, An Guoqing’s voice boomed out, loud enough to drown out the station’s own announcements.
"Hey, An Niiing—! Your big brother’s over here!"
"The one who... uh, hold on, let me try and find..."
An Guoqing was completely oblivious to the fact he was broadcasting his thoughts, trying to spot something brightly colored on himself so An Ning could easily find him.
"What the heck do I have that’s bright... I’m in my zodiac year of..."
"Big Brother!"
"Li—ttle... sis."
The moment An Guoqing uttered the words "zodiac year," An Ning truly did sprint over and switch off the megaphone.
"Oh, wow, I didn’t even recognize you."
An Guoqing pulled down his neck gaiter, looked at the others with her, and pointed at Jiang Xia. "It’s the dead of winter, isn’t your head freezing?!"
"I figured we’d be home in a minute, so I didn’t wear one."
Being the warm-hearted guy he was, An Guoqing snatched his own hat off and plopped it onto Jiang Xia’s head.
"That’s not gonna work. I’m telling you, this snow just fell, it’s bitterly cold."
"Let’s go, let’s go! Get on the cart!"
Jiang Xia tried to return the hat to An Guoqing, but he wouldn’t take it, insisting that it was cold.
Jiang Xia was thinking, ’How cold could it be? We’ll be home in a few minutes.’ But when he saw that their ride was a mule-drawn cart, he gave up his protest.
"Brother An, I have a hat in my bag. I’ve got my own."
"You really do? Then hurry up and put it on."
This time, An Guoqing took his hat back, plopped it back on his head, and ushered everyone onto the mule cart.
"Get on, get on! This fresh snow is so thick, even trucks can’t get through."
"Only these mules are tough enough for this. A donkey cart wouldn’t make it!"
"If it weren’t for this, our mom and Second Brother would’ve come to get you too, but where would we have put everyone!"
An Guoqing chattered on, lifting the quilts on the mule cart to reveal a thick layer of straw underneath, which was covered by another layer of felt.
"Hurry up and get on, cover yourselves with the blankets, and make sure your hats and everything are on properly."
"Put the luggage on the sled in the back. People sit in the cart."
It was only then that An Ning and the others saw just how thick the snow was.
They had seen snow from the train, but hadn’t paid it much mind.
The group quickly placed all their luggage on the sled, and An Guoqing and Jiang Xia tied it all down with rope.
An Guoqing unhitched the second mule to pull the sled on its own.
"Jiang Xia, Grandpa Jiang said you know how to drive a cart."
"I do. Let me, Brother An."
Jiang Xia sat on the sled, driving the single mule by himself.
An Guoqing had the others get settled in the mule cart, tucked under the blankets, and ready to depart.
"Giddyup— Giddyup— Huh, why isn’t it moving?"
An Guoqing shouted "Giddyup" a few more times, but the usually obedient mule stubbornly refused to budge. It just stomped its feet, looking somewhat agitated.
An Ning’s gaze shifted, landing on Xiao Lang, the wolf cub in her arms. ’Animals’ senses are keener than humans’.
"WOOF WOOF!"
Da Huang barked a couple of times. Xiao Lang wriggled out of An Ning’s arms, and the large and small pair hopped down from the mule cart. Xiao Lang clambered onto Da Huang’s back, and they set off on their own.
"Hey, why’d you get down? Da Huang! Da Huang!"
An Guoqing called out twice. Da Huang paused for a moment before continuing on its way.
An Guoqing tugged the reins, shouted "Giddyup" once more, and the mule started to move.
"Hmph, you silly beast. I’ve never seen you act scared of the village dogs."
As the mule cart moved on, An Ning felt a brief pang of guilt, but it was quickly replaced by the excitement of heading home.
An Guoqing had brought both mules himself, planning to use one for the people and one for the luggage.
The thick snow was almost half a meter deep. If it weren’t for their "four-wheel-drive" mules, the group would have had to trudge all the way back home through the snow.
"Big Brother, when did it snow? There’s so much of it!"
"It started the night you got on the train and didn’t stop until this morning. Our mom’s been worried sick the past two days, afraid we wouldn’t have a vehicle to pick you up. Then Second Brother managed to borrow the mules."
"Good thing no one’s walked this way yet, or the path would be even tougher."
An Ning couldn’t agree more. It was indeed a tough slog; they seemed to be moving at about walking speed.
Along the way, they all made small talk to catch up, though in reality, it was mostly An Ning asking questions and An Guoqing answering them.
"Big Brother, is Hei Dan talking yet?"
"Sort of. He blurts out one word at a time."
"Big Brother, what’s with the color of your neck gaiter?"
"The red part is yarn leftover from a sweater your sister-in-law knitted, the green is from one for Hei Dan, and the black is from one for our dad."
An Ning didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "How come you didn’t get a sweater?" she asked.
"I do! But there wasn’t enough yarn to finish it for me!"
As she chatted with An Guoqing, An Ning’s standard accent slowly shifted back to the slight local dialect of her family.
An Ning still remembered when she first arrived, how the dialect had left her completely bewildered and led to many embarrassing mistakes.
Back then, she had absolutely detested the dialect, but now, she loved the language of her home.
The mule cart was slow, but it was getting closer and closer to home.
When the village appeared in the distance, An Ning couldn’t help but peer ahead. It looked like there were a lot of people.
No, it didn’t just *look* like it. There really *were* a lot of people.
’Wait, I’m just coming home for a break. They didn’t need to get this many people to come welcome me, did they?’
An Ning stared ahead as the figures grew clearer. The village chief was right at the front, with a sizable crowd following him.
The men of the village, young and old, held shovels and brooms, ready to clear snow.
"Well, if it isn’t Guoqing! You’re here to pick up—An Ning! An Ning’s back!"
"Your mom was just saying the other day that you’d be back."
"You know it. They even slaughtered a pig."
An Ning, still on the cart, felt her face flush for a moment.
’Oh my god, I misunderstood. They’re not here for me!’
Feeling a bit awkward, An Ning hopped down from the cart, took off her scarf, and went around greeting everyone.
"Village Chief, what are you all...?"
"An Ning’s back! That’s wonderful! We’re just clearing the snow. We got a call a little while ago saying some official is coming for an inspection. I have no idea what they want to inspect, but they had to pick this lousy weather to do it."
"Always stirring up trouble. And now we have to fucking clear the snow for them."
Grumbling was one thing, but the work was another. Sun Dazhuang led the men to continue clearing snow. An Ning’s party didn’t stand on ceremony either; they would head home first and talk later.