Chapter 785 - 781: Come Back to Farm

Jiang Baishu’s voice was low, but it carried a sense of determination.

Fang Ziyin’s knuckles whitened as she gripped her water glass.

’Could it be that not even Gu Jiaojiao and Leng Yuan can change Jiang Baishu’s mind?’

Leng Yuan’s expression remained unchanged, but his tone grew sharper. "Come back? Come back to farm? The country has spent so many years training you, and you didn’t even get to see your parents one last time—you paid such a heavy price just to come back and work the fields? Then what was the point of all that effort in the first place?"

Gu Jiaojiao...

Fang Ziyin...

The two of them looked at Jiang Baishu with worry.

As they expected, the color drained from Jiang Baishu’s face.

But Leng Yuan wasn’t done with him. "Jiang Baishu, you’ve been selfish since you were a child, never listening to anyone else’s opinion. It was true when you left home back then, and it’s true now."

"Back then, did you really think your father didn’t know you had secretly signed up? He actually knew all along. He just didn’t stop you because he knew how much you wanted it."

"When your parents passed away, they never once regretted their decision to let you go. All they hoped for was that the three of you siblings could be reunited someday."

"Look at you now. If your parents could see you, they’d probably regret not having knocked some sense into you back then."

Leng Yuan’s words made all three people in the courtyard look up at the same time, with Jiang Baishu being the most incredulous.

"Brother Leng, what are you saying? My parents... they..."

Leng Yuan didn’t say a word.

The truth was, Jiang Baishu’s parents hadn’t known. It was only later that they had come to terms with it, saying that if they had known how much he wanted it, they would have let him go.

Ultimately, everyone had regrets about Jiang Baishu leaving in secret back then.

Leng Yuan was saying this because he wanted Jiang Baishu to know that his parents had been very supportive of him. Even though he didn’t see them one last time, they knew their son had made something of himself and was doing more important things, and that brought them comfort.

Jiang Baishu’s eyes immediately reddened.

After a long moment, Jiang Baishu composed himself. "As the eldest brother, I have a responsibility to take care of my younger brother and sister. I..."

He couldn’t justifiably push the two children onto Gu Jiaojiao and Leng Yuan.

Gu Jiaojiao chimed in at the right moment. "That’s simple. You can pay child support every month. Twenty yuan a month."

Jiang Baishu’s lips moved, but in the end, all he could manage to say was, "Thank you."

Seeing that Jiang Baishu was no longer getting hung up on the issue, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

That evening, Xu Chongfeng’s two brothers brought Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang over. The group sat in the courtyard and talked for a long time.

Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang knew their big brother would be leaving soon, so they also set aside time to have a heart-to-heart with him.

「Two days before he was set to leave.」

Jiang Baishu didn’t go to work. Instead, he borrowed the Brigade Leader’s bicycle and rode to the County Town.

He first went to the supply co-op, and upon seeing the foodstuffs, he basically cleared the shelves.

For this last mission, he had been given a lump-sum payment of the ration tickets he had accumulated over three years. He had quite a few rare tickets on him, all with a special stamp.

As soon as the staff saw them, they immediately prioritized getting the items Jiang Baishu wanted to buy.

In this day and age, someone with Jiang Baishu’s status commanded the respect of the entire nation.

Before long, the wicker basket he had brought with him was nearly full. Inside, there were a full five bags of White Rabbit creamy candy.

He rode off and visited every shop he could in the County Town. He bought some fabric and some pork, and asked for two bones as well. After that, he went to the state-run restaurant to get takeout orders of braised pork, sweet and sour fish, and a meatball dish.

These days, state-run restaurants didn’t offer many meat dishes, and you had to bring your own lunch boxes.

Jiang Baishu had brought three lunch boxes in total, and he filled them all.

As he was coming out of the state-run restaurant, he saw a woman running hurriedly in his direction.

Jiang Baishu was in a hurry. Seeing that she was about to crash into the lunch boxes in his hand, he swiftly spun around, containers in tow, and dodged her.

The woman, due to her momentum, fell to the ground.