Chapter 145: Chapter 145: The Truck Comes Home

An Ning didn’t try to keep him, letting Jiang Xia get out of the truck and walk back on his own.

An Guoming didn’t say much either, but his impression of Jiang Xia had improved a little.

"Second Brother, let’s go home."

"You got it!"

An Guoming was practically bouncing with excitement, unable to stay still in the driver’s seat.

He was about to, at any moment, drive into the village.

He was going to drive a truck—the An family’s truck—back to the village.

The immense sense of honor that came with returning home in glory was intoxicating.

"HONK HONK—"

The truck’s horn blared twice. Up ahead, An Guoping, just out of elementary school, immediately jumped to the side. When he turned back, he saw his second brother waving at him.

"Little Brother, get in!"

An Guoping’s eyes went wide. He climbed into the truck, his mouth hanging open.

An Guoping felt the seat beneath him and tapped his fingers on the window.

"This truck—"

"It’s ours! Little Sister bought it!"

An Guoping stared intently at An Ning. Only when he saw her nod did he dare to believe it.

"Our family has a truck?"

At that moment, it all felt a bit unreal to An Guoping.

A new house, a big truck.

’When did our family get so rich?’

With the truck windows rolled down, An Guoming greeted many people along the way.

When people asked, he’d say:

"My family bought this truck."

"It’s our family’s truck."

"We just bought it. Just brought it back."

His boastful showing off was on full display.

The key thing was, there was no need to lie about something like this. Anyone could see it was true.

The truck drove all the way to the foot of the mountain. An Ning got out first, and after entering the yard, she ignored Lin Cuihua’s attempts to stop her and shouted, "I’m going to the bathroom!"

She ran around the house to the backyard.

In reality, An Ning wasn’t going to the bathroom. Instead, she climbed over the courtyard wall and went to Jiangxia’s house.

Jiangxia’s house had been simply renovated, so the changes weren’t huge.

She slipped in over the backyard wall, making sure no one saw her.

"WOOF WOOF WOOF—"

Da Huang barked a couple of times, then stopped when he caught a familiar scent.

"Is Jiang Xia back?"

Grandpa Jiang came out of the house.

"What happened to Jiang Xia?"

The old man stepped forward anxiously.

"It’s nothing serious. Have Da Huang go get him. He’s on the road to town and has a bit of a fever."

"Oh—okay, okay."

Following An Ning’s command, Da Huang sprinted off.

"Grandpa Jiang, I’ll follow him for a bit to check. Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious."

"Okay, okay."

Grandpa Jiang didn’t ask for details, and An Ning deftly hopped back over the backyard wall.

An Ning followed Da Huang for a while. When she saw that Da Huang had found Jiang Xia, she watched for a moment and left only when she was sure everything was fine.

"WOOF WOOF—"

"What are you barking at?"

Jiang Xia hugged Da Huang’s neck and glanced in the direction the dog was looking. The retreating figure looked very familiar.

"Did An Ning tell you?"

Hugging Da Huang, Jiang Xia’s lips curled into a wide grin, though he himself didn’t know what he was so happy about.

He stood up and headed back with Da Huang.

After leaving, An Ning climbed back over the wall into the backyard of the An family’s new house, made a quick trip to the bathroom for real, and then went back inside the house.

As soon as she entered the house, she saw a crowd of people gathered in the yard.

An Guoming was holding court, speaking so spiritedly that his mouth had probably gone dry.

"Little Sister, have some water."

Her visibly pregnant sister-in-law came over and handed An Ning a cup of water.

"Thanks, Sister-in-law."

An Ning was indeed thirsty and drained the cup in one go.

"Alright, alright, you can come see it another day."

"Take care now."

An Sancheng started seeing the guests out. The people in the yard left, looking back every few steps.

An Sancheng closed the main gate and shot a glance at An Guoming.

"What are you gawking at? Get in here. Now."

The previously triumphant An Guoming walked into the house dejectedly and stood next to An Ning.

"Little Sister, if a fight breaks out, you have to hold him back."

"What are you muttering about! Get a move on."

An Sancheng shouted again. An Ning took the lead and entered the room, with An Guoming following behind her and An Guoping bringing up the rear.

The whole family was now in one room.

"So, talk. Where did the truck come from?"

"We bought it."

An Ning told the plain truth.

An Sancheng looked at An Ning wearily and let out a long sigh.

"Daughter, what did you buy this for? For our few acres of land?"

"Dad, I’m going to lease the mountain, remember? And if there’s any extra land in the village, I want to contract for that too."

"We’ll need a vehicle for all sorts of things then. And since we went all the way to the South, we couldn’t just come back empty-handed."

At this, An Ning’s eyes lit up. "I bought presents! I bought presents for everyone."

"They’re all things you can’t get around here."

"Dad, let me tell you, the South is amazing..."

An Ning chattered on and on before finally summarizing.

"But I still like our home best."

With An Ning’s bout of joking and bantering, the matter of the truck was dropped.

Besides, it wasn’t like they could return it anyway.

The rest of the family filed out, leaving only An Ning and An Guoming.

An Guoming gave the money from selling the items to An Sancheng and explained what had happened.

When An Sancheng heard that the buyer had offered three thousand, he blurted out, "That much?"

An Guoming shook his head with an air of mystery and recounted how An Ning had haggled, finally closing the deal at forty-five thousand.

"How much?"

"Forty-five thousand."

An Guoming repeated it. Even now, he still found it a little hard to believe.

An Sancheng was stunned for a long moment, then looked at An Ning and said, "Good, good. From now on, you handle all the selling."

"We’re not selling any more."

An Ning sat on the kang bed and said to An Sancheng, "Dad, these things are sure to increase in value later. We’ve sold one now, so we have the starting capital to develop our own business. Once the business is making money, we can just live off what we earn."

"As for these other items, unless we’re desperately short on cash, we won’t touch them. We’ll hold onto them."

As An Ning spoke, she saw both An Guoming and An Sancheng nodding in agreement.

"You’re right."

"Little Sister is right."

After they finished talking, An Sancheng didn’t take the bankbook. He gave it to An Ning, telling her to manage it as she saw fit.

He wouldn’t get involved anymore.

An Ning had no objections. She took the bankbook and left.

Next, it was time to hand out the presents.

There were clothes, shoes, and socks of all kinds, in a dazzling array of styles.

Lin Cuihua held up a shirt, sizing it against her body. She was too embarrassed to wear it; it was a bit form-fitting.

It wasn’t just clothes; there were also many household goods. They had even bought two radios.

"Dad, give one to Uncle An’s family. And these things are for them, too."

"Ah! Okay, okay."

An Sancheng had no objection at all to giving things to his older brother’s family.

’It seems Uncle An’s family has deep pockets, too.’

An Sancheng planned to give Uncle An a heads-up when he went to deliver the items.

An Ning then took out a baby bottle and several bags of milk powder.

"Sister-in-law, the bottle can be used when the baby is born. You can drink the milk powder yourself now to supplement your calcium."

"I can drink this stuff?"

An Guoqing also had a question.

"What’s calcium?"

"Besides, your sister-in-law is a grown woman, she has all her teeth. Can she really drink stuff meant for babies?"