Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 232

He Yuzhu thanked him repeatedly, took the red envelope and came out, but halfway there he took out the red cloth bag and threw it into the stinky ditch next to him.

These are all feudal superstitions. There's no such thing as mutual generation and restraint. They're all lies. He Yuzhu doesn't believe them at all. The gentleman's words sound nice, but he just wants a red envelope.

After returning home, I told both families that there were no problems with their birth dates and times, and that was the end of it.

The next step involves a series of procedures, such as placing a small order.

He Yuzhu, the matchmaker, took some time to borrow a sidecar motorcycle from the police station and rode it to the back door of Xue Ru Silk Shop.

After coming in, he said, "Today I'll take you to visit the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs."

"Great, you have time today?" Ye Qingmo asked.

"Yes, we've finished taking care of things at home, and there's no rush with the matchmaker's affairs. Today, I borrowed a sidecar motorcycle to take you for a ride."

At that time, the Liberation Red Flag had not yet rolled off the production line. Let alone cars, there was no capacity to produce even jeeps. Most of the cars on the market were leftovers from before the liberation. A small number were GAZ vehicles and other similar vehicles imported from the north after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

He Yuzhu was able to borrow a sidecar motorcycle, which is already a good vehicle that ordinary people can afford.

The weather is gradually warming up, and it's the perfect time to enjoy the spring sunshine by taking a sidecar ride.

It was a rare treat for the three of them to spend a day together. When it was time to part, He Yuzhu asked, "Has Elena still not sorted out the train arrangements?"

To sell the silk fabrics to the northern bear country, Elena needed to handle the domestic freight, but she hadn't been able to coordinate the transport capacity.

Chen Xueru said, "Elena said it's almost ready and she'll be setting off soon."

The three discussed business for a while before He Yuzhu took his leave, first dropping off a sidecar motorcycle before returning home.

He said to Xu Huizhen, "I'm leaving in a couple of days, so be careful at home."

"Are you going abroad too?"

"Of course I have to go. I need to hand the goods over to Elena. She doesn't have that much money to pay yet, so I have to go with her to escort the goods. Otherwise, what if she embezzles our money?"

At the beginning, Elena ordered a relatively small quantity of goods, since she didn't have much capital.

Later, He Yuzhu joined and invested his family savings, while Chen Xueru also contributed most of her savings to purchase goods.

Later, in order to support He Yuzhu, Ye Qingmo also shipped a batch of goods, which resulted in this batch being several times larger than the previous ones.

The goods filled two train cars, which made Elena grin from ear to ear. She would also get a cut from the sale of the excess.

If you sell everything, you'll make much more money than you initially planned.

However, this has also made it difficult to allocate train cars, and Elena has been working on this issue recently.

"That's true, isn't this too risky?"

Goods from all four regions are now gathered together, all hoping that this batch of goods can be shipped to Moscow and sold like hotcakes.

He Yuzhu reassured her, "Don't worry, this won't cause us any major problems. You just need to stay home and rest during your pregnancy."

He Yuzhu only used part of his savings to purchase goods; in fact, most of the money he had earned before had been converted into grain and meat, which he stored in his spatial storage.

Even if this batch of goods is damaged in an accident, it won't be a big deal for He Yuzhu. It will only be a small loss, not a serious blow, and it won't affect the He family's wealth.

Besides, He Yuzhu was escorting the goods on the same train, so even if something unexpected happened on the way, the safety of the goods could be ensured.

"Be careful on the road. Don't get into arguments with others while you're out and about," Xu Huizhen advised.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. In all these years, have you ever seen me suffer a loss?"

He Yuzhu climbed into bed with a grin after washing up in the evening, and Xu Huizhen nudged him, saying:

"I'm not available right now, you should go find Huizhi instead!"

Only after saying it did he realize he had lied. Although He Yuzhu and Huizhi had a marital relationship, they had never discussed this topic before.

Both of them felt a little awkward after hearing this. He Yuzhu said, "I'm leaving right away. I just want to sleep with you and the child."

Xu Huizhen remained silent, letting He Yuzhu lie beside her, his large hand covering her swollen belly.

For the next two days, He Yuzhu was very busy. During the day, he had to accompany Chen Xueru and Ye Qingmo, and at night he had to deal with Huizhen and Huizhi. Finally, after feeding all four of them, it was time for He Yuzhu to set off.

She didn't let Xu Huizhen and her sister see her off, so as not to make her sad when they parted, and it would be a loss if it affected her pregnancy.

As usual, He Yuzhu kissed his wife on the cheek, then picked up his luggage and left the house.

Then, together with Chen Xueru, they saw Ye Qingmo off on the southbound train before arriving at the freight station.

Because this is an international cargo shipment heading north directly to polar bears, many soldiers are on duty to prevent ordinary people from approaching.

He Yuzhu found Elena first, and she handed him a cloth bag, saying, "Here are your documents and identification. Please keep them safe."

"Don't worry, there won't be any problems."

Elena nodded and said, "Come with me."

They led He Yuzhu to the checkpoint on the platform, where an officer stopped them. The two handed over their identification documents.

He Yuzhu was assigned the role of a translator, which surprised the other party, who asked, "You speak Russian?"

Of course, the question was asked in Russian, but the words were spoken very awkwardly.

He Yuzhu replied in Russian: "Of course I speak Russian, and I speak it very fluently."

The other person looked a little displeased, but didn't say much. After confirming that the documents were genuine, they let him pass.

This train has more than 30 carriages, most of which are freight cars. Some have been sealed off, while others are still being loaded.

Only one of the carriages was a passenger train. When Elena brought He Yuzhu on board, they discovered that all the carriages were hard sleeper carriages, and there were no soft sleeper carriages.

There were quite a few people from Russia, but most of them were compatriots. There were officers and staff escorting the goods, and a few, like He Yuzhu, who had gotten in through connections and were middlemen doing international business.

He Yuzhu chatted with them for a few minutes and they became familiar with each other. They were all from the business circle in Beijing. Although he had never met them, he had heard of them.

Not long after, the train sounded its whistle and slowly started moving. Soldiers were observing from both the front and back of the carriages. In fact, there was no need for He Yuzhu to escort the train on the road; this was all handled by designated personnel.

A man who looked like a leader came over and greeted all the people in the community, saying, "I am the conductor for this trip. My surname is Niu. You can come to me if you need anything."

Then they talked about the precautions on the train. In short, you should obey management and follow instructions. You can't do anything dangerous. The soldiers are all carrying guns, so you can't do anything that might cause them to misunderstand. Otherwise, if something happens, don't blame others.

Passenger buses are only going 20 or 30 kilometers per hour now, and freight trains are even slower. Although they are export trains, they still have to give way to passenger trains.

They often had to stop halfway and it would take a long time before they could start moving again. It was only at this point that He Yuzhu realized why he had to escort the truck.

Some of the bolder villagers along the roadside came over to check, and if they felt there was an opportunity, they would open the lead seal, climb onto the train, and throw the things off.

This requires soldiers to come down and patrol to ensure the safety of the goods.

"So these people are really bold," He Yuzhu said with some emotion as he looked out the window at several people lying on the ground peering into their direction from the grove of trees.

Elena leaned over and peeked out the small window, then said, "That's all good, but even while the train was moving, quite a few people boldly clung to it and climbed on."

"There's something like this?"

Elena nodded and began to recount her past experiences.

He Yuzhu suddenly remembered a movie called Railway Guerrilla, in which guerrilla fighters could board trains directly. He thought that ordinary people could do the same if they were brave enough.

Not long after they stopped at this position, the siren sounded ahead, and the soldiers returned one after another.

The oxcart driver called ahead to report, and then the train started moving again.

They continued their journey, stopping and starting, keeping the soldiers very busy. He Yuzhu was also quite nervous, but no serious incidents occurred along the way.

At most, some mischievous children would pick up stones from the side of the railway tracks and throw them at the trains as a game to test their skills.

He Yuzhu witnessed firsthand that once, while passing through a village, a pebble happened to hit the observation window directly.

The glass of the observation window shattered, turning into tiny knives that plunged into the observer's body.

Fortunately, the observer was sitting sideways and wearing a special hat that covered his face. Even so, a small piece of glass cut his eyelid slightly below his eyelid, causing him to bleed.

He Yuzhu was startled and quickly moved away from the window. If the glass in front of him were hit, he would be disfigured.

After a brief period of chaos, the medic applied medicine packs to the carriage, and the oxcart driver reassured everyone, urging them to be careful and stay away from the windows.

Life on the train was monotonous. He Yuzhu had previously thought that if he went north with Elena, it might be like going south, and he didn't mind having a cross-border romance with Elena.

Unfortunately, the truth is that He Yuzhu was overthinking it. Dozens of people lived together in that carriage day and night, which didn't give him any opportunity to have an affair.

However, aside from eating, drinking, and using the restroom, He Yuzhu could only chat with the Russians to improve his spoken Russian and try his best to overcome the language barrier.

Chapter 173 You actually doubt my abilities?

Although He Yuzhu has practiced Russian to a high level through hard work, just like foreigners speaking Chinese, no matter how fluent they are, they still have a unique accent that is not easy to change.

Previously, He Yuzhu only had spoken conversations with Elena, but now there were more than a dozen Russians, causing He Yuzhu's spoken language to change rapidly.

Although the monotonous train journey was long, we eventually arrived at the border crossing between the two countries.

The railway tracks in Mao Xiong Guo were narrower than those in other countries, so trains had to be unloaded and reloaded after arriving at trading ports.

After getting off the train, they could only find a hotel to rest. After a night, the goods on the train were inspected and cleared through customs before being loaded onto the Russian train.

The two crossed the border again and set foot in Russia, traveling by car to Moscow. Compared to when they came, He Yuzhu was the only Chinese person on the bus now; the other traders were just delivering goods to the border.

As the train started moving, He Yuzhu realized just how enthusiastic the women in Russia were. However, He Yuzhu pretended to be infatuated with Elena and rejected the advances of those older women.

Elena was deeply moved and took the time to tell He Yuzhu, "If you're lonely, I don't mind if you have a short-lived romance. I'll keep it a secret for you and won't tell your wife later."

He Yuzhu said playfully, "But in my eyes, none of them are as pretty as you."

Elena said shyly, "No, no."