"Kid, isnāt it perfectly reasonable that she doesnāt call you ābrotherā? Why on earth should Miss call you ābrotherā? Miss, just ignore him."
Jiang Xiao paused for a moment.
Luckily no one around could hear them, otherwise sheād be a bit embarrassed too. Itās this day and age, and theyāre still calling her "Miss"...
"After you get over there, why donāt you just stay for a while? On my side, with Tiezhu and Luo Yongsheng, itās actually fine too. They probably need people over there more than I do here."
"What, you left Sun Han over there, and now you want to leave me there too?" Ding Haijing said with obvious disapproval, "They need people over there, but itās not like they donāt have any. There are plenty of people over there, okay? And here youāve only got a few of us teammates, just three or five at most, and you still think thatās too many? I say you just feel most comfortable being by yourself, donāt you?"
"I..."
"But if you want so badly to be alone, how come when Officer Meng came to recruit us in the first place you didnāt speak up against it? You didnāt dare talk back to him, and now youāre all about shooing us away?"
"What kind of talk is that, what do you mean I didnāt dare talk back to him?"
"Isnāt that the case? From what I see, you only turn into a little sheep in front of Officer Meng. Anyway, Iāll just stick to what we said before: Iāll stay over there for three days, and after three days Iām coming back. Thatās settled, you donāt need to say anything more."
As he spoke, Ding Haijing picked up all their stuff, leaving one hand free to support Ding Fu, and headed toward the train.
Ding Fu was wearing a mask and a hat, his face wrapped up tight, but even so he still kept his head down as he walked, not daring to lift it at all.
Watching their backs, especially Ding Haijingās, Jiang Xiao couldnāt help curling her lips.
Honestly, who did Ding Haijing learn that rotten temper from?
Clearly Uncle Xiao Fu doesnāt have such a foul temper.
Seriously.
"Xiao Chiang, are we going to that Old Zhangās place now?"
Once they got in the car, Guan Tiezhu asked.
Jiang Xiao had brought him and Luo Yongsheng out with her. These two clearly listened more to Ding HaijingāDing Haijing told them they had to stick with her, both of them were to go, and so they really both came along.
Even though sheād said she wanted to leave one person at home.
If Meng Sheng went to her place and couldnāt find anyone, heād definitely think she was all talk.
"Yeah, letās go."
There was nothing else Jiang Xiao could do.
The place where Old Zhang worked was indeed on the other side of the city; by the time they got there it was already noon.
Fortunately, finding Old Zhang went pretty smoothly.
When they found him, he was in the factory getting ready to head to the cafeteria.
Once he heard theyād been sent by Mrs. Jin, Old Zhang was quite warm toward them, insisting again and again that they go to the cafeteria to eat with him.
Jiang Xiao turned him down.
"No need, Master Zhang. I actually just want to ask you something. Sorry to take up a bit of your time."
"Go ahead."
"I heard that ten years ago you went to a place called the Hongfeng Welfare Institute to deliver rice and grain. You were the one driving then as well. Do you still remember that?"
Jiang Xiao watched him with a mix of anticipation and nervousness.
"Hongfeng Welfare Institute?"
Old Zhang frowned and thought hard.
"Ten years ago, huh? Iāve always been a driver, Iāve driven to countless places. Back then I was going around to all sorts of welfare homes and orphanages, big and small. I didnāt even remember the names of a lot of them, just took the address and went. There were plenty of places called Red Heart, Red Sun, Red Star and so on. This Hongfeng Welfare Institute..."
Hearing him say that, Jiang Xiao really started to feel her heart clench.
Donāt tell her he canāt remember it?