Movie: Get Alpha Dog at the start

Chapter 1296 Returning Home

The mountain forest was still shrouded in a thin mist in the early morning, and the air was filled with the mixed smells of soil, grass, and pigsty. Song Yunhui, with his trousers rolled up and wearing an old, faded shirt stained with feed, was pouring chopped pig feed into a huge iron pot.

He vigorously stirred the pot with the spatula, mixing the thick paste in the pot. The rich aroma of bran and vegetable leaves rose up, causing several half-grown pigs in the pigpen to excitedly arch their necks against the fence and make urgent "oink oink" sounds.

"Don't rush, don't rush, it'll be ready soon!" Song Yunhui wiped his sweat, a helpless smile on his face. He was about to scoop up a ladle of food to feed the pigs when he heard footsteps coming from the dirt road outside the pigsty. He looked up and saw Director Yang, the women's director, walking up the hillside path.

"Xiao Hui, are you busy?"

Director Yang was wearing a blue cloth jacket today, fanning himself with a straw hat, and had a kind smile on his face.

"Good morning, Director Yang!" Song Yunhui quickly put down his work, wiped his hands, and said, "Don't worry, I haven't been slacking off. I've been cooking for the pigs since early this morning."

Director Yang smiled and waved his hand: "I'm not here to inspect your work; I just need your help with something."

Song Yunhui blinked in confusion: "What is it?"

"Didn't Yang Xun call a few days ago? He said he'd be back today, bringing a lot of things." Director Yang sighed. "Originally, I was planning to take Yang Su and Yang Li to help carry some things, but there's an urgent meeting at the temporary brigade, and I'm worried about letting Yang Su and Yang Li go alone."

Before Director Yang could finish speaking, Song Yunhui interrupted him with delight, "Director Yang is here?"

His eyes lit up instantly, and his voice unconsciously rose eight octaves: "Director Yang, don't worry, I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"

He paused, then asked eagerly, "Yang Xun went out with Brother Hao. Now that Yang Xun is back, Brother Hao must be back too, right?"

Director Yang, seeing Song Yunhui's expectant gaze, smiled and nodded, "Yes, I heard from Yang Xun that they came back together. I'm relieved to hear that. Come to my house later; Yang Su and Yang Li are waiting for you."

"Yes, Director Yang!" Song Yunhui nodded repeatedly, his voice brimming with undisguised excitement. "I'll go right away after I finish feeding the pigs!"

After Director Yang left, Song Yunhui's movements became noticeably faster. He quickly poured the pig feed into the trough and then efficiently cleaned the pigpen.

After finishing all that, he returned to his small room of less than ten square meters, dragged a wooden box out from under the bed, took out a faded but still clean blue work uniform, changed into it, combed his hair in front of the small mirror on the wall, and then hurriedly went to Director Yang's house.

Director Yang's house wasn't far from the pig farm; it was an old brick-and-wood structure with several persimmon trees planted in front. As soon as Song Yunhui arrived at the door, he heard Yang Su and Yang Li talking inside.

"Brother, what good things do you think our eldest brother will bring us?" It was Yang Li's clear voice.

"I don't know." Yang Su's answer was as brief as ever.

Song Yunhui knocked on the door, and Yang Li immediately ran to open it. Seeing it was him, the girl's eyes lit up: "Brother Hui! You've finally arrived! We couldn't wait!"

Yang Su also stood up. Although he didn't say anything, his eyes showed anticipation.

"Let's go," Song Yunhui said with a smile, "Let's go to the station now."

The Shanbei Brigade is dozens of miles away from the county seat, and there is only one bus route in and out.

The three walked for about half an hour under the scorching sun and finally arrived at the station. It was a simple station with only a wooden sign that read "Shanbei Brigade" and a few locust trees providing shade.

While waiting, Yang Su and Yang Li were still guessing what good things Yang Xun would bring back from Guangzhou this time.

"I heard there are lots of amazing gadgets in Guangzhou," Yang Li said excitedly. "Last time Uncle Wang from the next village went to Guangzhou, he brought back a fan that spins on its own!"

Yang Su, unusually, chimed in: "That's called an electric fan."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Yang Li clapped her hands. "It would be great if Big Brother could bring one back; then we wouldn't have to suffer from the heat and insomnia in the summer!"

Song Yunhui stood to the side, but his mind wasn't on any of this. His gaze was fixed on the end of the road, anticipating the arrival of the shuttle bus. For months, ever since Qin Hao took Yang Xun to Guangzhou, he had been longing for their return. Especially after the college entrance examination, he had so much he wanted to say to Qin Hao.

Just as the two were discussing, an old bus with a mottled paint job slowly drove up, with several bulging snakeskin bags and suitcases tied to the roof, looking quite heavy.

"Shanbei Brigade, get off here at Shanbei Brigade!" the ticket seller shouted at the top of his lungs.

As soon as the doors opened, passengers disembarked one after another. Song Yunhui quickly searched through the crowd, his heart pounding involuntarily. Suddenly, his eyes lit up—at the back of the carriage, two familiar figures, one tall and one short, were walking off.

"Big Brother!" Yang Li, with her sharp eyes, was the first to spot Yang Xun and rushed over with Yang Su.

Upon seeing his younger siblings, Yang Xun opened his arms in delight: "Second and third siblings! What brings you here?"

He was much darker than he had been three months ago, but he was full of energy, wearing a brand new floral shirt that stood out in the sunlight.

Yang Su stood there somewhat dumbfounded, just grinning foolishly. Yang Li, on the other hand, spoke rapidly, like a machine gun, recounting the whole story: "Mom sent us. She originally wanted to pick you up herself, but something came up in the team and she couldn't get away, so she had Brother Hui bring us."

Qin Hao was the last to get off the bus. Seeing Song Yunhui, a slight smile appeared on his lips: "Xiao Hui."

The simple form of address warmed Song Yunhui's heart.

"Brother Hao." Song Yunhui's voice was a little tense.

Qin Hao patted him on the shoulder: "This isn't the place to talk. Help us unload our luggage first."

These old-fashioned buses don't have luggage compartments underneath; excess luggage is stored on the roof. Qin Hao climbed the ladder at the back of the bus and began unloading the luggage.

The first snakeskin bag was quite heavy, and Song Yunhui almost couldn't catch it. Yang Xun didn't even have time to catch up with his younger siblings and quickly came over to help.

As Song Yunhui unloaded the items, he sensed something was amiss: "Brother Hao, how much stuff did you guys bring back?"

There were seven or eight large and small bags on the roof of the car, making it look like they had brought back half of Guangzhou.

Qin Hao rolled his eyes at Yang Xun, annoyed. "I told him we didn't need to bring so much, but this guy insisted."

Yang Xun scratched his head and chuckled sheepishly, "There are just too many good things in Guangzhou, I couldn't resist. It would be a waste not to bring them back."

Soon, the group of five, carrying large and small bags, hurried back. Even Yang Su and Yang Li received several small packages. The group was quite large, and anyone who didn't know better would have thought they were moving house.

Halfway there, the bags Yang Li was carrying became heavier and heavier, and the young girl was panting heavily: "Big brother, what did you buy? It's so heavy!"

Just as Yang Xun was about to help his sister with some of the load, Qin Hao teased her, "These are all nice things I bought from Guangzhou. If you don't want them anymore, you can give them to me, but don't come crying to me later."

Upon hearing this, Yang Li immediately clutched the snakeskin bag on her shoulder tightly: "No way! My older brother bought this for us!"

Her possessive expression about her food made everyone laugh.

Qin Hao and Yang Xun exchanged a smile. In the sunlight, Yang Xun's floral shirt shone brightly, making him appear radiant. Song Yunhui noticed that Yang Xun walked with a very straight back, and his voice was much louder than before, exuding confidence.

As they passed the Shanbei Brigade government compound, Qin Hao suddenly remembered something and turned to ask Song Yunhui, "By the way, Xiaohui, have your college entrance exam results come out yet?"

Before Song Yunhui could speak, Yang Li interjected, "Little Hui got first place in the county again this time, it's even in the newspaper!"

Qin Hao looked at Song Yunhui, his eyes filled with approval: "Really?"

Song Yunhui lowered his head somewhat embarrassedly: "Well, it's all thanks to Brother Hao for tutoring me in physics during that time. My physics score this year is more than ten points higher than last year, otherwise I really wouldn't have gotten first place in the whole county."

"That's the result of your own hard work," Qin Hao said with a hint of satisfaction.

As they spoke, the group arrived at Yang Xun's house. Yang Su and Yang Li couldn't wait to start opening the "blind boxes," and soon the only sound in the house was the exclamations of the brother and sister.

Wow! What's this?

"Big brother, how do I use this?"

"Oh my god, this dress is so beautiful!"

What seemed like ordinary items in Guangzhou were all rare and wonderful things to the brother and sister who had never left the Shanbei Brigade. Yang Li was particularly fond of the trendy clothes and hair clips, praising Yang Xun for his good taste.

After sitting down and taking a sip of water, Qin Hao stood up to say goodbye to Yang Xun: "You should rest well at home for the next couple of days. Come with me to the county to get your passports processed later."

Yang Xun nodded repeatedly: "Then I'll see you off."

Qin Hao pressed him down: "Alright, enough with the act. Let's go."

Then he went out the door with Song Yunhui.

On the way, Qin Hao patted the snakeskin bag on his body and said to Song Yunhui, "Let's go straight to your house. I brought you some things in Guangzhou."

Song Yunhui said tactfully, "Actually, Brother Hao, you don't need to bring us anything. Just keep it."

Qin Hao paused, then sighed, "Xiao Hui, my parents are gone. Those so-called relatives from the Lei family almost kicked me out and seized my house back then. Who else can I give these things to if not you?"

Song Yunhui realized he had said the wrong thing and apologized repeatedly. Qin Hao stopped him and changed the subject: "By the way, your sister should be on vacation too, right? Is she back yet?"

"Yes, I just got back a couple of days ago," Song Yunhui replied.

They had arrived outside the Song family's courtyard as they spoke. Song Yunping was busy feeding the chickens, and when she saw Qin Hao, she almost dropped the feed bowl in her hand. She paused for a few seconds before quickly walking up to him: "When did you get back? Why didn't you tell me beforehand?"

Her voice trembled slightly, but her eyes shone with an astonishing brightness.

Before Qin Hao could speak, Song Yunhui explained, "Sis, Brother Hao just arrived."

Hearing the commotion outside, Mr. and Mrs. Song immediately invited Qin Hao into the house. While pouring tea, Mrs. Song said gratefully to Qin Hao, "Haozi, thanks to your suggestion last year to let Xiaoping go to university first, the admission scores have improved considerably this year."

Song Yunping lowered her head apologetically: "It's just that Xiaohui has wasted another year."

Song Yunhui quickly replied, "Sister, I'm fine. Raising pigs isn't tiring, and besides, I learned how to repair appliances from Brother Hao. From now on, I'll take care of all the household expenses!"

Mr. Song grasped Qin Hao's hand, his eyes reddening slightly. "Yes, it's all thanks to Haozi. If my son and sister couldn't go to university because of me, I would have let them down for the rest of my life."

Seeing the somewhat heavy atmosphere, Qin Hao changed the subject: "Uncle, let's not talk about this today since we're happy. By the way, I brought you some things from Guangzhou."

As he spoke, he took out the gifts he had brought for the four of them from the snakeskin bag.

At first, Song's parents were adamant about not accepting the money, but in the end, Qin Hao pretended to get angry and got up to leave, and only then did they accept it.

Song Yunping received an exquisite women's watch and a light blue dress; Song Yunhui received a brand-new Zhongshan suit and several chemistry textbooks; Song's father received a pair of brand-new leather shoes; and Song's mother received a bright red wool sweater.

At the dinner table, Qin Hao briefly recounted his experiences in Guangzhou, omitting, of course, the shocking details of his million-dollar fortune.

However, Song Yunhui was stunned by what he heard, especially when he heard that they could sell dozens of color TVs a day. Song Yunhui's eyes widened like saucers.

"You can earn thousands of yuan a day?" he asked incredulously.

Qin Hao smiled and said, "This is nothing. The real big business will begin when we get to Hong Kong."

After dinner, Song Yunping offered to see Qin Hao off. The two walked side by side on the country road, the setting sun casting long shadows of them.

Song Yunping kept her head down and didn't say a word, with two black braids hanging down in front of her chest.

"How long will you be gone to Hong Kong this time?" She finally broke the silence, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible.

Qin Hao thought for a moment: "If everything goes smoothly, it should take about six months. I'll try to come back for the New Year."

Song Yunping's eyes lit up, and she looked up: "Then it's a deal, I'll wait for you to come back for the New Year."

After saying that, without waiting for Qin Hao's reply, she tossed her braid, turned around and ran home, her back view appearing exceptionally slender in the setting sun.

Qin Hao smiled and shook his head, continuing towards Xiao Lei's house. Before he even reached home, the news had already spread throughout the village.

A few children were playing at the village entrance. Seeing him return, they immediately ran back to announce, "Brother Haozi is back! Brother Haozi is back from Guangzhou!"

That night, just as Qin Hao was getting ready to go to sleep, there was a knock on the door.

He opened the door and saw a scruffy, unshaven man staring at him with a silly grin.

"Dongbao? When did you get back?" Qin Hao asked in surprise.

Lei Dongbao rubbed his hands together: "I came back shortly after you left. I was planning to ask you out for a drink, but you were gone for months."

One doesn't hit a smiling face, especially since, according to the original owner's memories, after his parents passed away, those so-called uncles and elders in the village coveted his house. In the end, it was Lei Dongbao and the old village secretary who stood up for justice. This favor had to be repaid.

Qin Hao ushered Lei Dongbao into the house and took out a bottle of Moutai from his snakeskin bag: "I do have liquor, but I don't have any snacks to go with it."

Before he could finish speaking, Lei Dongbao snatched the glass and filled his own cup: "With such good wine, what need is there for food? Besides, I came to see you today not for drinking, but for something I'd like to ask your opinion on." (End of Chapter)