The two Lei family elders, Lei Tianming and Yao Guihua, along with the eldest son Lei Wanguo, third daughter Lei Yueru, and fourth son Lei Wanmin, also brought along several nephews and grand-nephews.
Everyone had been worrying for the entire night, terrified of hearing the tragic news of his death.
Lei Wanqiang quickly greeted them, “Dad, Mom, Big Brother, you’ve all come!”
Lei Tianming patted his shoulder, his eyes turning red. “My grandson…”
Lei Wanqiang hurriedly pulled the two of them into the room, “Alright, alright! He’s completely cured!”
“Xiaoya isn’t foolish anymore, either!”
Hearing this, everyone grew excited. “Really?”
Several people hurriedly walked into the room. The moment Lei Wanguo caught sight of Lei Yihong, he quickly walked over and pulled him into a tight hug. “Yihong, as long as you’re alright, that’s what matters. Can you walk on the floor now? Why aren’t you lying on the *kang* bed to rest?”
“I’ve been lying down for too long, so I wanted to walk around a bit.” The sudden, overwhelming care made Lei Yihong feel a little uncomfortable.
His father in his previous life was an only child, and so was he.
He had grown up by his grandfather’s side since childhood; his parents were very busy, and while others were spoiled in their parents’ arms, he had to face a stern, unsmiling grandfather every single day, with nothing but studying and more studying.
His life had been dull, boring, and numb.
Later on, he found joy in racing cars, and even later, he began pursuing the thrill of danger.
Only in that way could he feel a ripple of life in himself and feel like he was still alive.
This kind of familial warmth was something he had never experienced before.
Not that people hadn’t cared for him, but many did so with selfish motives and hypocritical pretenses.
From the original owner’s memories yesterday, he knew that his uncle, youngest uncle, and aunt had helped out the family quite a lot.
The outstanding debts were mostly owed to these few families.
Yao Guihua looked toward Tong Xiaoqian again. “Xiaoya has recovered too?”
Tong Xiaoqian stood up and smiled, nodding. “Grandma, I’m better now!”
She then greeted the others, “Grandpa, Grandma, Big Uncle, Aunt, Youngest Uncle!”
Lei Wanmin slapped his thigh, tears falling down. “Oh my, they really are both cured! Green smoke is going to rise from our Lei family’s ancestral grave!”
Lei Wanqiang’s smile was so wide his mouth couldn’t close.
The two Lei elders had no complaints about their second son adopting a foolish girl; the old couple were kind-hearted people. Even during the hardest times when their own family lacked food, seeing refugees would still make them want to lend a helping hand.
Lei Yihong stared at a person in the crowd, a bit dazed. He matched the person with the original owner’s memory—it should be his uncle’s second son, Lei Yiyuan.
But why did this guy look… so identical to McGhee?
Seeing Lei Yihong staring at him continuously, Lei Yiyuan quickly walked over and lightly jabbed him. “Brother Hong, are you really cured?”
Looking at him, Lei Yihong realized that apart from different clothing, hairstyle, a slightly darker complexion, a sturdier build, and a younger age, everything else was basically identical.
He probed with a call, “McGhee?”
Lei Yiyuan blinked his eyes at him. “What chicken? Selling what chicken? You want to sell chickens?”
Lei Yihong: “…”
Alright, relying on this triple question, he knew he had overthought it; he had thought McGhee had transmigrated along with him as well.
He stopped talking, but Lei Yiyuan seemed to have opened his chatterbox, blabbering on continuously.
Lei Yihong instantly got a headache—were people with this face all garrulous chatterboxes?
Lei Yiyuan was still blabbering on, “Brother Hong, once your health recovers, I’ll take you into the city for a stroll. Laibin City’s construction is doing great now; you can even see Old Ruskies on the streets! Many people from our area are also running to Vaizi, and rumor has it they make crazy money…”
“Old Ruskies” referred to people from Russia; Northeasterners all called them Old Ruskies.
“Running to Vaizi” was an old Northeastern phrase; “Vaizi” was the Manchu word for bay or harbor, and also referred to Vladivostok.
It was the old generation’s term for the group of people who went to Vladivostok to fish, herd, farm, and do business.
There were people from various parts of the Northeast, as well as some from inside the Shanhai Pass.
Back then, Vladivostok was still Chinese territory.
Later, even when Vladivostok became part of Russia, people still did business there, so the name “running to Vaizi” was passed down like this.
In this era, some people also called those who went to Russia as speculators “running to Vaizi,” or referred to them as second-hand peddlers.
To put it more nicely, they were international speculators, peddling goods from China abroad for sale.
In later generations, there was a more dignified title for them: Chinese merchants.
“A few of us work at the city’s grain depot. The city folks aren’t willing to do those tough manual labor jobs, but us rural folks aren’t afraid of it. Piece-rate wages—do you know how much money we can make in a month?”
“During the peak season, it’s over three hundred yuan a month! Even during slow times, it’s over two hundred yuan. Those city workers only get a monthly wage of a bit over a hundred.”
“It’s pretty exhausting though. With your build, it won’t do—a single burlap sack coming down could crush you flat. The three of us have to haul over thirty tons of grain in one night…”
Hearing this tonnage, Lei Yihong felt his shoulders ache. Doing hard manual labor was something he had never even considered.
With such high wages, if it were easy work, it wouldn’t be the migrant workers’ turn to do it anyway.
“Where do those running to Vaizi source their goods from?”
Lei Yihong’s question surprised Lei Yiyuan, who thought his words would fall on deaf ears like before. Finding that his cousin actually responded, his interest instantly piqued. “Everywhere! Some pick up stock in Laibin City, while those doing bigger business go to Liao Province or Flower City to stock up, hauling it back bag by bag…”
The moment she heard him talk about this, Tong Xiaoqian gathered around to listen as well.
Seeing that he had an audience, Lei Yiyuan spoke with even more animated fervor, spittle flying everywhere.
In the end, Lei Yihong and Tong Xiaoqian discovered that this guy only had a half-baked understanding and didn’t know the specifics at all. He only saw people hauling bags of goods, without knowing how difficult customs clearance was and the like.
Having finished listening, the two quickly retreated.
Seeing his audience about to run off, Lei Yiyuan quickly held them back. “If you guys like listening, I’ll inquire more about these things when I go back to work.”
He stayed at the grain depot all day, interacting only with fellow villagers who went to work at the grain depot together. They had also only heard it from others.
It was just something novel to listen to.
However, he noticed that after his cousin’s illness cured, he was no longer that bookworm who “turned a deaf ear to matters outside the window,” but actually developed an interest in the casual things he mentioned.
He would have to bring back more stories in the future.
Since childhood, this cousin had been the “child of another family,” the hope of the Lei family.
Everyone thought the Lei family would produce a college student, but during the year of the college entrance examination, he suddenly fell ill, and in the end, he couldn’t take the exam either.
The group stayed at the Lei family home for a while before leaving, but another wave of people arrived immediately after.
Lei Yihong hadn’t expected that being an ordinary person would be so exhausting; with a huge crowd of relatives and friends, he saw more people this single morning than he usually did while managing work.
Fortunately, the original owner wasn’t fond of talking, so being reticent wouldn’t raise suspicions.
Tong Xiaoqian also felt that dealing with people was quite tiring, as there hadn’t been a break in visitors all morning.
Especially after everyone knew she was no longer foolish, they crowded around to watch her like a monkey in a zoo.
Asking non-stop questions that seriously degraded one’s IQ, some even held up two fingers to ask her what number it was…
Lei Wanqiang simply didn’t go to work at the clinic anymore. Since it was close by anyway, the villagers all knew where his home was.
Wang Yumei put the chicken on to stew and began preparing lunch.
Lei Wanqiang went out to fetch the village doctor to come over and feel his son’s pulse.