Chapter 434 - "Comrade Tong, your cousin is here." (1)
It started raining and snowing in the middle of the night and the morning was even colder than the morning before.
Tong Xuelu only had 5 days off over the New Year’s period and she only had 2 days remaining. Holidays are always too short.
Tong Xuelu’s plan was to stay in bed and do nothing all day long. Lo and behold, members of the Commerce Department showed up all of a sudden and brought with them some news for her.
Jie Chengzhou planned to visit relatives on his mother’s side and also to visit his [deceased] grandparents.
All government-operated restaurants were closed right now and those from the Municipal Foreign Affairs Office worried that Comrade Jie Chengzhou would not be able to find good meals. As such, they decided to have Tong Xuelu accompany him on his trip after much deliberation.
Tong Xuelu said quite a few words that started with “F” upon hearing the news.
She admired Comrade Zhou’s thoughts but she really rather not to travel when it was so cold outside.
Apparently, she had no rights to decline that.
Tong Xuelu announced the news to her family after she saw the visitors off.
Commander Xiao did not look happy. “It would be difficult for me to interfere with this one.”
If it was inside the troop, he might be able to pull some strings. But this was Capital City. His hands were tied.
The catch was that many would perceive an assignment like this as an honor. If they decline it, they would seem ungrateful and also lack team pride.
Tong Xuelu, “Don’t worry about it, Grandpa. I’ll just go. Unfortunately, you will be leaving tomorrow and I won’t be able to see you off.”
The thoughts of leaving worsen Commander Xiao’s mood.
It wasn’t as bad before he had spent time with his grandchildren. Now that he had spent a few days’ time with them, he did not want to leave at all.
He must work on getting transferred back to Capital City this year.
His granddaughter was so pretty. He needed to be back to keep an eye out so she wouldn’t be stolen by Wen Rugui.
As she would be taking off to Yangzhou the next day, Tong Xuelu started packing after she had informed everyone.
By that afternoon, Wen Rugui felt his heart sank and sank and would not stop sinking after he had heard the news.
Tong Xuelu didn’t look very happy either. She reached out and squeezed his hand when others were not looking. “I will be back soon.”
That was meaningless.
For certain Wen Rugui would be back on base by the time she got back. Who knew when he would be off again?
Wen Rugui looked at her. “I’ll see you off tomorrow.”
Tong Xuelu nodded. “Okay. I’ll wait for you to come by tomorrow.”
After that, as much as Wen Rugui tried to act normal, anyone who paid attention would be able to tell that he was distracted.
He was distracted when he thought about Tong Xuelu spending the next 4 – 5 days with Jackson. He was unnerved.
Even if it wasn’t just the two of them, he was still anxious.
Tong Xuelu made everyone desserts after lunch to make up for Wen Rugui and her grandpa.
She put the yams into the oven. The yams broke open when they were cooked and their aroma filled the air.
Tong Jiaxin couldn't help but picked one up and started to eat. As he ate, he complimented Tong Xuelu, “Big Sister, how come even your bake yams are better than others?”
Commander Xiao could not look straight at this particular grandson of his.
Watching him eat yam would remind him of the stinky fart from the night before. That turned his face green instantly.
Tong Mianmian wanted to have one as well after seeing how much her brother was enjoying it.
Luckily Tong Xuelu cooked a lot. She pulled half out for the others to snack on and saved the rest to make dessert with.
She scooped out the yam, crushed them, and mixed them with glutinous rice flower.
Milk was difficult to come by now so she had Wen Rugui helped her melted the white rabbit candies in hot water and used that as milk substitute and added it to the glutinous rice flour.
She rolled them into dough then split it up into small pieces, depressed them and added red bean paste inside of them. Finally, she fried them.
The fried yam balls were crispy on the outside and soft and sweet on the inside.
The soft and sweet yam balls combined the sweetness of the yam, milky taste of the milk candies, and the refreshing and sweet taste of red bean. They were sweet but not overly filling. It made one not want to stop eating them.
Commander Xiao was old and his teeth were not as good as they used to be.
The yam balls that were crispy on the outside and sweet and soft on the outside were perfect for him. He devoured three of them before he stopped.