"Wuwuwu..."
As soon as he got home, Zhang Liunian heard his daughter's crying from the room. He put down his bicycle and rushed inside, only to see Hua Bao sitting on the ground, crying her heart out while hugging a basket of chicks.
Jiang Qingqing stood beside her, her mouth dry from trying to persuade their daughter.
"What's wrong, Hua Bao?" Zhang Liunian crouched down, held his daughter, and gently comforted her.
Seeing her father, Hua Bao immediately sobbed, "Daddy, one of the chicks you gave me is missing. It's gone."
Zhang Liunian lowered his gaze and counted. There were only nine. One was indeed missing.
"How did Hua Bao discover the chick was missing?" Zhang Liunian picked his daughter up and sat her on his lap, asking carefully.
"I was playing with the chicks in the yard just now. When I brought them inside, I counted and one was missing.
Wuwuwu, Daddy, where did that chick go? What should we do?"
After spending some time together, Hua Bao had come to regard her father as an omnipotent superhero. Seeing him ask, she immediately sought his help.
Zhang Liunian listened and said without hesitation, "Then let's go find the chick together!"
"We already looked," Jiang Qingqing immediately interjected.
She thought her daughter wouldn't go again, but as soon as Hua Bao heard Zhang Liunian suggest they search, she immediately nodded, "Okay!"
"..." Jiang Qingqing was speechless.
Zhang Liunian lifted his daughter, went to the stew pot to pour his wife a cup of warm water, and then said, "Your mouth is dry, drink some water. I'll take Hua Bao out for a bit, don't worry."
After explaining, he carried Hua Bao to the yard and first had her point out where they had been playing.
Then he began searching one spot after another until he confirmed it wasn't in the yard. Only then did he carry his daughter outside.
After another carpet-like search, Zhang Liunian discovered the missing chick dead in the weeds behind Zhang Liuhuo's house.
He didn't take the chick out. Instead, he pretended not to see it and took Hua Bao to search elsewhere.
This continued until he had to leave for delivery.
"Hua Bao, don't be sad. After Daddy delivers the goods, I'll accompany you to search again, okay? We'll definitely find the chick." Zhang Liunian said this with full confidence.
Hua Bao was inspired by his words and patted her chest, saying, "Hua Bao will wait obediently at home for Daddy to come back, then we'll continue looking for the chick."
"Good, wait for Daddy to come back." Zhang Liunian patted his daughter's head, then gave Du Ziteng, who was holding a bucket of stewed meat and swallowing hard, a meaningful look.
The first thing he did after leaving the house was to bury the dead chick.
Du Ziteng saw this and asked confusedly, "Weren't you looking for this chicken just now? Why didn't you take it out?"
He had seen Zhang Liunian carrying his daughter and searching the entire village for a chick after he returned from moving bricks.
But the chick was dead right there, so why didn't he say anything and instead secretly bury it?
Du Ziteng didn't understand his thinking.
Zhang Liunian finished burying the chick, patted his hands, and said matter-of-factly, "My Hua Bao is still so young, how can she experience something like this?"
How could he bear to let the death of her beloved chick cause her so much emotional pain?
"What is this? I could strangle my old hen when I was five, and I didn't feel anything!" Du Ziteng proudly said, carrying the bucket.
Zhang Liunian gave him a sideways glance and said, "Can you compare yourself to my Hua Bao?"
"When I was five, she's also five now! What's there to not compare?" Du Ziteng disagreed. They were both five-year-old children, how could they be different?
"She is my precious daughter, and you..." Before Zhang Liunian could finish speaking, he arrived at the female educated youth dormitory.
"Brother Liunian, you're here. The goods are loaded, and we can set off." Zhang Qian immediately jumped down from the tractor upon seeing Zhang Liunian.
As he approached, he noticed a stranger behind Zhang Liunian and immediately looked at Du Ziteng unhappily, "Who are you? I haven't seen you before!"
Du Ziteng stepped forward to the unfamiliar youth who had rushed towards him and replied, "I'm his little brother, Zhang Liunian. Nice to meet you."
As a loafer, he didn't have many skills, but he was good at reading people.
This comrade, at first glance, was like him, also Zhang Liunian's subordinate. No doubt about it.
"Little brother? Where did Brother Liunian find you? You look like a hooligan."
"..."
He was indeed a hooligan. Zhang Liunian clenched his fist and covered his mouth, wanting to laugh. "Alright, everyone get in the vehicle, we're going to deliver the goods."
The two exchanged glares but dared not speak, only sending daggers with their eyes.
The journey was silent until they reached the construction site in the county town. After dropping off a hundred jin of crayfish and twenty jin of stewed meat, they headed to South City. Only then did the two behind him stop exchanging glares.
"Brother Liunian, is this South City? It's my first time here. It's indeed better and livelier than our county town."
Zhang Qian's words revealed him to be an unsophisticated country bumpkin. Du Ziteng immediately mocked him, "Country bumpkin, never seen the world! I come to South City every few days."
Zhang Qian glared at him and said, "If you're so capable, why did you become Brother Liunian's subordinate?"
"..."
Du Ziteng couldn't speak and turned his head away, not wanting to look at him. This made him see a delicate-looking young married woman looking at them.
Du Ziteng's interest was immediately piqued, and he whistled at the young woman, "Beeeep..."
The young woman froze upon hearing the sound.
"See? This is my charm. A whistle makes the girl in front stop." Du Ziteng was extremely proud. He ran his hands through his short hair and bumped into Zhang Qian while shaking his head.
Zhang Qian was speechless. He turned to look, and the next moment he screamed, "Sister-in-law?"
"Second Sister-in-law?" After Zhang Qian spoke, Zhang Liunian also exclaimed softly.
Du Ziteng was dumbfounded. What was going on?
He just wanted to flirt with a young married woman, but somehow he had managed to attract their sister-in-law.
The tractor stopped, and Zhang Liunian looked as Fang Ru walked over.
"Zhang Liunian, why are you here?" Fang Ru looked at Zhang Liunian driving the tractor into the city, feeling disdain in her heart, but she didn't show it.
"I have something to do in South City."
As soon as Zhang Liunian finished speaking, Zhang Qian also jumped off the tractor and blurted out, "Brother Liunian is delivering goods to the food factory."
"Delivering goods? What goods?" Fang Ru was stunned and couldn't quite follow their conversation.
Zhang Liunian nudged Zhang Qian, who then realized that Zhang Liunian and Zhang Liuxing had a bad relationship and stopped talking.
However, Fang Ru became interested and fixed her gaze on Zhang Liunian, insisting on getting a clear answer, "Zhang Liunian, are you really delivering goods to the food factory? What are you delivering?" After saying that, she moved a few steps closer to the tractor, wanting to see.
But Zhang Liunian stood in front of her, blocking her from getting closer.
The more he did this, the more Fang Ru wanted to know. However, facing the tall and strong Zhang Liunian, she knew that forcing her way through was useless.
However, the food factory they mentioned, could it be her elder sister's food factory?
It should be. There was only her elder sister's food factory in South City, wasn't there?