In the afternoon, Jiaxing and Jiahe picked up Wei Dang from the hospital. The next day, after the family finished breakfast, Chen Lan stopped Jia Yao, who was holding his breakfast and preparing to go out, and handed him the deposit slip for Wei Dang's hospitalization.
She then said, "Jia Yao, Mother has things to do today with Jia Hui and her two siblings, and won't have time to go to the hospital to complete Wei Dang's discharge procedures. When you go to work at the hospital, please handle Wei Dang's discharge procedures as well!"
Jia Yao replied, "Okay! Mother, your son understands!" He then took the deposit slip, put it in his trouser pocket, and carrying the breakfast for his master, rode his bicycle to the hospital for work!
After settling Wei Dang, Chen Lan took Jia Hui and her two siblings and rode their bicycles to the wooden house on Yi Yuan Street. It was still early, and Old Man Zhang and his second brother had not arrived yet.
Seeing this rare opportunity, Chen Lan immediately opened the system warehouse with her mind and took out the two hundred small wolfberry saplings she had purchased the night before.
Then, mother and children rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Chen Lan and Jia Hui, being strong, were responsible for digging holes with hoes, while Jiaxing and Jiahe brothers were responsible for cutting grass with sickles.
Although it was still morning, it was summer, so after working for a short while, everyone was sweating profusely.
Jia He straightened up, wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve, and said, "This kind of work, if it were in our valley, would be done in minutes. Why is it so difficult here!"
Chen Lan looked up and stopped digging. She smiled and said, "Jia He, the valley is the valley, and Harbin is Harbin. Don't talk about things in our valley when you're outside. This is a sensitive period. If something goes wrong, your father will have to undergo an organizational investigation again! That would mean your father has to suffer again!"
Chen Lan's words immediately stunned the children. Jia He, unwilling to give up, asked in a low voice, "Mother, is it really as serious as you say?"
Chen Lan replied without hesitation, "How could it not be serious? Don't you remember why we came to Harbin?"
As soon as Chen Lan finished speaking, the children became much quieter and continued to work diligently with their heads down.
Chen Lan and her three children spent most of the day planting two rows of wolfberry saplings, waist-high, in the front and back yards. After watering them thoroughly, Chen Lan took the siblings home!
That evening at dinner, Chen Lan told Jia Yao and the other three children about her decision to return to the valley.
All four children strongly objected to Chen Lan returning to the valley alone, saying they were worried about her. They all wanted to accompany Chen Lan back to the valley. Thus, the children argued, with no one backing down, not even Jia He's attempts to be childish were tolerated by his older siblings.
Chen Lan had already made up her mind. She decided not to take anyone with her, planning a spontaneous trip by herself.
Chen Lan decided to take an overnight train from Harbin back to Changchun. She would spend the day exploring Changchun and then take another overnight train back to the valley.
Therefore, Chen Lan ignored the children's arguments and went into the kitchen to fill the rice and flour bins, as well as the glass bottles for oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.
Chen Lan then opened the food cabinet and checked the basket for eggs. She found that there was still more than half a basket left, so she didn't refill it completely, as eggs don't keep well in the summer heat.
She then ordered noodles, ham sausage, luncheon meat, and Russian Vika sausages from the system. When she took the items out of the system warehouse, they almost filled the food cabinet.
Leaving the kitchen, Chen Lan went upstairs to her room. After a simple wash, she set an alarm for 8 PM and lay down to rest.
At 8 PM, Chen Lan was woken by the alarm. She reached for the bedside lamp, quickly got up, put on a white shirt and dark blue cloth trousers, and began to apply light makeup.
Since it was hot in the summer, she didn't apply heavy makeup. Chen Lan simply used a darker shade of foundation to make her fair skin appear slightly sallow and used a brow pencil to draw her curved eyebrows a bit thicker. With just a few strokes, a gentle housewife transformed into a spirited female cadre.
After finishing her makeup and tidying herself up, Chen Lan took out stationery and a neutral pen and wrote a few sentences on a sheet of paper. The content was: "Children, Mother is returning to the valley alone! Don't worry! Focus on your studies and take care of your brother Wei Dang. Mother will be back before your exams! Do not worry! Signed, Old Mother."
She then folded the letter and placed it in an envelope with the prepared money and coupons. On the envelope, she wrote "To my dear children." She then placed the envelope on the bedside table.
Chen Lan climbed down from the window of her second-floor room onto the ground in her own yard using a ladder. She quietly opened the gate of her yard, stepped out, and then casually closed the gate behind her and left her home.
The streets were quiet at this time, with streetlights emitting a faint glow. Although there were streetlights, they were generally not very bright during this period.
Chen Lan carefully observed her surroundings. Seeing that there was no one around, she quickly took out the electric bicycle that had been stored for decades from the system warehouse. Fortunately, the electric bicycle still had power. She rode the electric bicycle towards Harbin Railway Station.
As she neared the train station, Chen Lan put the electric bicycle back into the system warehouse. She took out the cloth bag she had brought with her and her introduction letter from the system warehouse and walked towards the train station.
Chen Lan bought a train ticket for 1:20 AM, with Changchun as the destination. This way, the train would arrive in Changchun as soon as it was dawn the next day, allowing her to spend the day exploring Changchun. Although she had passed through Changchun several times, she had always been in a hurry and never had the time to properly explore the city.
The waiting room was filled with smoke, with people smoking cigarettes and tobacco pipes, engulfing the entire waiting room in haze. Chen Lan had no choice but to leave the waiting room and stand by the ticket window to wait.
After enduring the long hours, it was finally time for boarding. Not many people were taking trains from Harbin in the early morning, and the carriages were not crowded. Since Changchun was the final destination, those who needed to get off along the way had already done so. Chen Lan found a less crowded carriage, casually chose a seat, and closed her eyes to rest.
At 6:05 AM, the train arrived at Changchun Railway Station on time. Chen Lan walked out with the disembarking passengers. Among the passengers were many educated youth who had been sent down to the countryside. She walked out of the train station with the bustling crowd and entered the busy station square.