Miao Yunwei hadn’t fully processed all this information when Miao Jianguo returned.
As soon as he got into the car, he beamed like a flower. “Good news, girl. Your eldest brother called and said he’ll be back in a while. We should get the house ready these next few days so our whole family can move in. That way, when your eldest brother returns, he’ll have a place to stay.”
Currently, there were only three rooms in the house. The old couple shared one with their fourth and fifth children, the eldest son’s family occupied another, and Miao Jianguo and his wife shared the third with their two daughters. If the eldest brother came back, he’d have to sleep in the living room. The problem was, the living room was so cramped there wasn’t even space for a bed—how could he sleep there?
Splitting up the household could solve this issue.
With that, he hurriedly brought Miao Yunwei to the team leader, Zhao Qiming. “Brother Zhao, this is my daughter, the new loader. Please take good care of her.”
Zhao Qiming was swamped with work and responded somewhat dismissively. “Sure, sure. Hurry up and get in the car. I’ll assign her some tasks.”
Even if Miao Jianguo was still uneasy, he had no choice but to go to work.
Only after he left did Zhao Qiming turn his attention to Miao Yunwei, not bothering to hide his disdain. “Little girl, this is a bus station. We have more incoming buses every day than you can count. Everyone here has their own work to do, so no one’s going to help you. If you want to stay, you’ll have to rely on yourself. We have evaluations here—if you get too many complaints from passengers, you’ll be fired.”
Miao Yunwei obediently nodded, looking nothing like someone capable of hard labor.
Zhao Qiming wasn’t optimistic and didn’t feel like saying much more. Just then, a bus arrived, so he pointed in that direction and said, “Go over there now and unload the luggage. Don’t mess this up.”
Miao Yunwei jogged over, taking the opportunity to think about the tasks the System had mentioned.
What did “helping a hundred passengers solve their problems” mean? Helping them with their luggage?
Also, the tasks of “opening routes” and “developing VIP passengers” couldn’t be done for now, unless she became a driver herself!
Hmm… that wasn’t a bad idea. In her previous life, she was still driving for ride-hailing services in her forties. Driving a car was no problem, and she could give driving a bus a try too.
Just then, the bus came to a stop. As the doors opened, the luggage compartment opened as well.
Passengers began disembarking one after another, so she quickly started moving the items outside the luggage compartment.
In those days, luggage consisted of all sorts of large and small bundles—homegrown fruits, vegetables, sweet potatoes, eggs, and the like. Some people even brought heavy coats, quilts, pots, pans, and dishes when they traveled, resulting in a noisy, clattering mess.
Unloading luggage had to be done quickly but gently, and it had to be done in front of the passengers to avoid damage and complaints.
Her petite frame allowed her to squeeze into the luggage compartment, making it easier to hand luggage to the passengers.
Everything went smoothly without any issues. Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a commotion broke out above.
“I had my eggs placed perfectly fine. I told you to be careful, but you just had to yank them hard. Now they’re all broken—whose fault is that?” An older woman grabbed the ticket seller’s hand, refusing to let her go.
The ticket seller was frantic. “Auntie, please be reasonable. I reminded everyone before boarding to keep fragile items with them or store them in the luggage compartment. You insisted on putting them on the overhead rack where you couldn’t reach them, and when you asked for help, you didn’t explain what was inside. How was I supposed to know there were eggs in there?”
“I don’t care! You have to compensate me for my loss!”
The two argued back and forth for a while. The driver helped take down the last piece of luggage from the overhead rack and then went to call someone from the logistics team for assistance.
The bus was set to depart again in ten minutes, leaving them with extremely limited time to clean up.
Miao Yunwei had thought she could watch the excitement, but as soon as she finished clearing the luggage compartment, she was ordered to unload another vehicle’s baggage. She was so busy she didn’t even have a moment to take a sip of water.
By the end of the day, she felt as though her bones were about to fall apart.
When the team leader called everyone to assemble, she dragged her leaden legs and struggled to line up at the back of the group.
Zhao Qiming’s gaze lingered on her for a moment longer before he cleared his throat and said, “Everyone has worked hard today. Except for those who received complaints and need to stay behind, the rest of you are dismissed!”
Miao Yunwei listened carefully and, seeing her name wasn’t on the list, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She turned and trudged home with difficulty.
That evening, Meng Suling watched her trembling steps and was so heartbroken she couldn’t stop crying. Furious, she rushed to confront the eldest branch of the family, demanding that the house be repaired immediately.
The eldest branch also saw Miao Yunwei’s pitiful state and felt too guilty to refuse. Though reluctant, they grumbled and handed over five hundred yuan first.
The elderly couple of the Miao family had initially resented the second branch for bringing up the division of the household. But upon seeing Miao Yunwei’s condition, all their resentment turned into heartache and sighs. They even secretly slipped Meng Suling two hundred yuan.
With this seven hundred yuan, Meng Suling’s gloomy mood improved considerably.
She brought Miao Yunwei a basin of hot water to soak her feet and chattered on, “You need to soak your legs well, or you won’t be able to walk tomorrow. When your father comes back tomorrow evening, I’ll discuss the house repairs with him.”
Hearing this, Miao Yunwei quickly said, “Mom, I forgot to tell you—my eldest brother will be back soon. We need to hurry with the repairs. Don’t wait for Dad. Let’s go take a look first thing tomorrow morning. It would be best to bring Grandpa and Grandma along—getting help from the community will make things faster.”
“Your eldest brother is coming back?” Meng Suling’s voice brightened considerably. “No, I have to go tell your grandparents. We’ll head to Hekou Community first thing tomorrow morning. If we leave early, we can still make it back in time for work!”
Seeing her mother’s energetic and hurried demeanor, Miao Yunwei couldn’t help but shake her head with a smile.
The next day, before dawn, Meng Suling was already up and dragged Miao Yunwei out of bed. “Come on, girl, we’re going to Hekou Community in a bit. Strange, was that rooster slaughtered? Why didn’t it crow today?”
Her chatter woke Miao Yunwei up, and she felt much more alert.
Mother and daughter left the compound with the elderly couple.
It was pitch black all around, eerily quiet.
They could still make out the road by the moonlight.
By the time they reached Hekou Community, the sky was just beginning to lighten.
Huang Caiying stopped outside a dilapidated single-story house. “We’re here, this is it!”
Meng Suling’s good mood vanished in an instant. “Mom! Is this the old house? The roof is broken, the walls are crumbling, and the weeds in the yard are half a person tall. How can anyone live here?”
Huang Caiying was also deeply frustrated. “We’ll find someone to fix it up. If that doesn’t work, we’ll just have to rebuild. Yesterday, your father and I discussed it carefully. Our family is large now, and the sugar factory’s housing really isn’t enough. Your family has even more people, so you definitely need a new place to live.”
They had heard Meng Suling’s outburst the night before. With their second grandson returning from the army, there really wasn’t enough space. Taking this opportunity to divide the household might be for the best, avoiding future disputes between the two families.
Hearing Huang Caiying’s words, Meng Suling felt a little better. She followed the elderly couple as they pushed aside the weeds and made their way inside.
Huang Caiying quickly added, “The old house was built during the Republic of China era. The main hall is tall and spacious, divided into a front hall and a back hall. My mother-in-law used to sleep in the back hall. There are also two large rooms on either side, which can be partitioned into four smaller rooms. The kitchen is in the courtyard, with only a wood-burning stove. The commune has plenty of wood, so we can save money on buying honeycomb coal.”