Chapter 76: Visiting (Extra for everyone's recommendation votes)_1

As they neared their destination, a heavy snow began to fall.

Since it was the middle of the night, after leaving the train station, Jiang Yu only saw the heavy snow and the deserted streets.

That night, Jiang Yu and the others found a restaurant to rest for a few hours before hailing several cars early the next morning to rush to Qi Family Village.

Just as they set out, Jiang Yu suddenly realized it was his first visit to Yang Dong's elder's home, and he should bring some gifts.

Then it occurred to him, "What gifts did you bring for Auntie Da Feng?"

"Gifts, gifts?" Yang Dong was somewhat bewildered, "I forgot."

Jiang Yu smacked his forehead; he should have remembered earlier, "Driver, could we please make a stop at the department store first?"

At the department store, Yang Dong also had no idea what gifts to purchase.

Jiang Yu simply took charge himself, buying more items such as cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, and tea.

After their shopping spree, Jiang Yu and Yang Dong carried numerous large and small packages, even Sixteen was enlisted by Jiang Yu to carry a large bag of jelly and candies.

Jiang Yu nodded in satisfaction, now this looked like visiting relatives.

The snow kept falling incessantly, and the taxi didn't dare to speed, finally arriving at Qi Family Village around noon.

This was a small mountain village with a view of Radar Peak from within the village itself.

The Radar Peak and Qi Family Village were now blanketed in ceaseless white snow; Yang Dong stared blankly at the white Radar Peak for a while, her mother had passed away on that peak four months ago.

The drifting snow filled the space between heaven and earth with a somber feeling, and an old lady with graying hair, accompanied by a child of seven or eight, waited at the entrance of the village.

Yang Dong hurriedly asked the driver to stop, and as she got out of the car, the old lady approached, saying, "You girl have finally come, why haven't you thought to visit us these past two years? I talk about you every day, every day..."

As she spoke, the old lady started to weep, covered in a layer of snow, evidently having waited outside for a significant amount of time.

Yang Dong embraced the old lady, also with tears in her eyes, "Auntie Da Feng, here I am to see you."

Jiang Yu, followed by Sixteen, watched the two express their feelings of separation for a while; the old lady then wiped her tears and said to the child beside her, "Hurry and call Yang Dong 'auntie', and call him 'uncle'."

Jiang Yu also called out to Auntie Da Feng and then asked Sixteen to "call her 'grandma'."

Sixteen looked puzzled, "Why grandma and not granny?"

Jiang Yu glanced at him, "Just call her when I say so."

Only then did Sixteen call out "Grandma."

Auntie Da Feng looked at Yang Dong, and then at Jiang Yu, smiling as she stroked Sixteen's head, "This child is really handsome.

"Look at us, getting caught up talking in such heavy snow. Let's hurry home, let's hurry home."

Jiang Yu and Yang Dong carried the gifts and followed the old lady back home; the armed police who accompanied them had already coordinated with the locals to take care of accommodations.

At home, there was old Mr. Qi and a couple in their thirties.

The woman in her thirties was also very lively seeing Yang Dong, holding her hand and chatting for a while before she suddenly remembered that the stew was still cooking in the pot and quickly went to the kitchen.

Her name was Qi Yan, and when Ye Wenjie had brought Yang Dong to Qi Family Village, Qi Yan had just been a newborn.

Auntie Da Feng raised the two children by herself.

Jiang Yu made himself at home, sitting on the kang bed smoking and chatting with Mr. Qi and Qi Yan's husband.

The Trisolarans hadn't brought much change to this mountain village, where people hadn't even heard of Jiang Yu's name.

Only Sixteen was somewhat confused, feeling like he should be playing with Qi Yan's children, yet he couldn't bring himself to join in with the little girl with a runny nose before him.

The meal was soon served, including an iron pot stew, pork dishes, big chunks of fragrant sausages, dried wild boar meat from their own hunting, and a large carp—quite a feast.

Everyone gathered around the kang table, drinking sorghum liquor and chatting.

Qi Yan's husband, Li Ming, said that he had caught the big carp himself by breaking the ice, and Jiang Yu was intrigued, expressing his desire to fish on the ice-covered river.

A few drinks in, Jiang Yu felt warm inside and couldn't help but raise his voice while speaking.

The three men found their conversation to be increasingly enjoyable, and they would have sworn brotherhood if not for the difference in seniority.

The women hadn't drunk much, and after their meal, they took the two children to the heated kang bed in another room.

Occasionally overhearing the raucous laughter and toasts from the men, the three women chatted happily with an air of contentment on their faces.

Qi Yan asked, "Is the young man you brought your husband?"

Yang Dong laughed, "No, he's a good friend of mine."

Qi Yan chuckled along, "You cultured people are always so shy about these things, a man is a man, yet you call him a good friend."

Yang Dong playfully punched Qi Yan and struggled to explain.

The old lady said with a cheerful smile, "This kid is not bad, clearly an educated man, yet he drinks strong liquor and smokes local tobacco. I find him quite agreeable."

Yang Dong actually understood what the old lady meant. She was saying that Jiang Yu was able to blend in with Li Ming and the others, even though they were not cut from the same cloth, which was commendable.

Qi Yan pointed with her chin at Sixteen, "Is this child really his?"

Yang Dong said, "Probably not."

Qi Yan nodded, "I thought so, he looks only about twenty, having a child so early."

Then she said with a giggle, "If you become this child's stepmother in the future, you'll have to save this child for our Ni Zi.

"Look at this child, his eyebrows and eyes, how handsome he is."

Sixteen, who had been bored and watching animations on a cellphone with a little girl, suddenly stiffened.

Qi Yan teased him, "My my, this little brat, he even knows how to blush."

Sixteen became even more flustered.

Over at Jiang Yu's side, they drank till past five in the afternoon, merging lunch and dinner into one.

Jiang Yu was dead drunk. Yang Dong and Qi Yan helped him to the kang bed in the guest room to let him sleep off some of the alcohol.

He slept until after nine at night. When he opened his eyes and smacked his lips, he heard Yang Dong and Sixteen discussing a biological question under the lamp.

Qi Yan had arranged for "the family" to stay in one room. Unable to sleep, Yang Dong and Sixteen had started chatting.

Jiang Yu said, "Get me a glass of water."

Yang Dong got off the kang bed and poured a large glass of water for Jiang Yu.

The water temperature was just right, neither too cool nor too warm. Jiang Yu gulped it all down, "Thank goodness it was grain alcohol, otherwise, it would have been the end of me."

Sixteen reminded him, "No matter what kind of alcohol, drinking too much of it isn't good for your health."

Jiang Yu chuckled, "Being too rational is no fun. You must be rational about the big things, but when people treat you sincerely, having a few extra drinks doesn't matter."

Sixteen pursed his lips, clearly not interested in Jiang Yu's nonsense.

Jiang Yu propped up his pillow slightly, "What were you two talking about just now?"

Sixteen replied, "We were discussing whether humans are truly earthlings."

Seeing Jiang Yu's interest, he explained, "Earth's gravity seems too strong for humans, putting an excessive burden on our cervical and lumbar spines, often leading to related diseases.

"Gorillas still can't walk upright for extended periods. That should be the normal evolutionary form for life under Earth's gravity."

"So I hypothesize, could humans come from a planet with less gravity than Earth?

"Moreover, the hair on our bodies is very short, except for the hair on our heads which seems to be of little use in daily life and doesn't serve much purpose."

Jiang Yu looked at Sixteen, "You've never been bald, so how do you know hair on the head is useless?"

...

Once again, thank you for your support and votes. The author will give back with additional updates for your recommendation and monthly tickets.

The next update will be when we reach one thousand six hundred votes. Why not one thousand five hundred, you ask?

Because one thousand six hundred is an auspicious number!

Hehe, of course, that's not the only reason. It's a normal growth rate. The difference between the first update and the second was four hundred votes.

The difference between the second and the third was five hundred votes, so this time it's an increase of six hundred votes.

Why the increase? Because more readers are voting. If we didn't scale it up, there might be a need for an update every two or three days, and that would turn the author into a baldie!

Sixteen probably wouldn't understand that feeling. (*￣︿￣)

About the monthly ticket update, I mentioned yesterday that as long as the total number of tickets reaches five hundred, an update will be added.

Please continue to vote enthusiastically!

Another update project will be set up. If the total rewards reach fifteen thousand points, there will be an additional update.

Of course, the rewards from last month and earlier this month will be counted towards this goal. I checked the backend, and last month we got a total of 9,005 points, and this month we've already received 3,408 points, which is a total of 12,413 points. So, reaching this target shouldn't be too difficult.

Setting up this update item is mainly to thank the readers who have rewarded this book. If there are updates for votes, there should be something for rewards too. It would be hard to justify otherwise.

There are now three different reasons for an update. If they all happen at once, some updates might be owed, but they should be made up within a week, otherwise, even if the author works his liver out, he wouldn't be able to release three chapters in one day (*￣(エ)￣)

Then here's a little forecast, this is the calm before the storm, just like the good memories from Ye Wenjie's time in Qi Family Village.

Well, okay, that might be a fail of a preview.

Last but not least, keep those recommendation and monthly tickets coming. The more you vote, the faster the next update will come.