The night of the grand wedding

  Manman and they got off the train in Shijiazhuang. Because Du Yu had previously booked a batch of decoration materials and goods in Shijiazhuang, and also bought a small truck to transport them to Beijing himself. These things are cheaper in Shijiazhuang than in Beijing, including some daily necessities. Along the way, Manman and Chuxia bought some more things at the wholesale market in Shijiazhuang and threw them onto the small truck.

  After staying overnight in Shijiazhuang, the three of them rested and set off early the next morning to Beijing, expecting a four or five hour drive.

  Set off early and found a local driver Wang who was familiar with the road to lead them back to Beijing. No matter how hard they tried, they didn't expect to encounter a huge traffic jam.

  "It's said that several sections of the road surface collapsed and cracked, and they are rushing to repair it." Driver Wang walked forward to ask someone and came back saying, "It's been blocked since last night at midnight. Originally, it was said that the road would be open this morning, but so far, there is no relief. People who set out on the road today had no idea, so they're stuck."

  Traffic jam is the most feared thing, neither reaching the village in front nor the store behind, seeing that they have all walked two-thirds of the way.

  Wang, the driver, brought back several plastic lunch boxes from somewhere. The three of them ate a simple lunch in the car. In the afternoon, the small truck followed closely behind the front car, crawling along the road like a turtle. By five or six o'clock, they couldn't even buy lunch boxes.

  Early summer searched in her bag for a package of Master Kang blueberry sandwich cookies and shared them with Manman.

  She curled up in her seat like a soft worm and shook her head: "I can't eat."

  Mengmeng's forehead felt a bit hot, and at the beginning of summer, he leaned forward to talk to Du Yu in the front seat: "The lunch box I ate didn't feel right either. Mengmeng's stomach is weaker than mine, it might not be okay."

  The two of them had been with Mianmian for so long that they were all too familiar with the fact that once Mianmian's stomach illness flared up, it would be uncontrollable. Chunxia still remembered that during their university days, every time Mianmian went to the hospital due to her stomach illness, she wouldn't be able to leave the hospital for several days without a big fuss. As soon as they thought of this, both of them broke out in cold sweat.

  Du Yu quickly got off the car and ran to discuss with Wang, the driver. Originally wanting to find a traffic police to explain the situation and get them to clear the way, the two of them walked for quite a while but couldn't find a single policeman.

  The driver Wang suggested: Call an emergency number.

  "No need. I'll be fine in a bit."

  It seems that the patient can hold on, so Wang, the driver, said to the three of them: "To be honest, if you don't have to go to the hospital, then don't go. Beijing's hospitals are the most expensive. One of my relatives stayed in the hospital for ten days and spent 700,000 to 800,000 yuan without getting any better. When they were carried back home, they actually recovered on their own."

  Three people heard him say this, especially Mianmian, who refused to go to the hospital.

  The traffic jam was still there, but if they could find a pharmacy to buy two tablets of pain relievers, it would help alleviate the patient's symptoms. With this in mind, when Chunxia saw a green off-road bus that looked like a military vehicle passing by the emergency lane next to a small truck, she quickly got out of the car with Manman.

  It is said that the emergency lane is used for rescue, but in the event of a traffic jam, some vehicles that do not follow traffic rules will squeeze onto the emergency lane. However, military vehicles on official business have priority to drive and as long as they sound their sirens, other vehicles must give way to them, so military vehicles are definitely much faster than others.

  Taking advantage of the fact that there were several cars in front blocking the way, the moment the military vehicle stopped, Chū Xiā grabbed the door handle and ran up to it, pounding on the door.

  The car door opened, and at the beginning of summer, he saw the driver wearing a military uniform. He thought to himself that this was a comrade from the Liberation Army and should be easy to talk to. He said, "Comrade, my friend is ill, and with the traffic congestion, we can't move. Can you help us get him into the city first?"

  The driver might just be a small soldier, not daring to take charge, looking back hopefully: "Lu Jun, someone wants to get on our bus."

  "Who is it?" Accompanied by a thick and powerful male voice, a tall soldier appeared at the car door. The orange interior light outlined his two thick and sharp eyebrows, his facial features were beautiful but with a strong edge, his ink-colored eyes were like knives, piercing straight into the spine.

  As fearless as early summer, but when suddenly meeting his gaze, one can't help but shiver.

  Manman had a hunch that this person was not easy to mess with, and said in a low voice: "Chu Xia, let's go."

  Why go? Why must you go? Isn't the PLA supposed to save the people from their suffering? At the beginning of summer, this logic was established, and it's necessary for Meng Meng to take this trip.

  "Patient?" Lu Jun glanced sideways at Manman's small face half-hidden in the darkness of night, and seeing that it wasn't so pale after all, said, "This isn't an ambulance."

  The figure with hard lines turned around and the car door was about to close.

  At the beginning of summer, he squeezed onto the bus and shouted angrily: "What's wrong with you? Are you a soldier in the People's Liberation Army?"

  Forced to turn around, he raised an eyebrow: "I've said it before, it's a military vehicle, not an ambulance. I can help you call for an ambulance."

  "We don't want to call an ambulance now. The traffic is so congested, how long will it take for the ambulance to arrive?" Chūxià said stubbornly.

  "Lu Jun——" The little soldier driving the car felt that arguing would be endless, and they couldn't really push this woman off the bus, so they gave up.

  "Can anyone just hitch a ride on a military vehicle?" The soldier immediately shut his mouth after hearing the stern words. Turning around, he curled up the corner of his lips and sneered: "I wonder if you think that ambulances cost money to come over, but hitching a ride on a military vehicle is free."

  "What did you say?!" Chu Xia was annoyed, her eyes slanted and staring at him, "I think you're the one who's money-crazy! Name a price, how much do you want to let my friend on the car?"

  The sharp eyes swept over their simple cotton-padded jackets and jeans, opening with: "Five hundred."

  Mengmeng's little face turned from white to black. The fist clenched in early summer was trembling.

  The man, however, placed one hand on the wheelchair and looked down at them with an air of seeming to have expected as much.

  It's hard to get off the back of a tiger.

  It's really going with his wishes to leave now, and I'm afraid that for the rest of my life, I'll be looked down upon by people like him!

  He opened his wallet and pulled out five red 100-yuan bills.

  "Early Summer——" Manman suppressed the cramping pain in her stomach, hastily taking big strides to jump onto the bus, still unable to stop it.

  Five RMB bills slapped loudly onto the man's head, but he didn't move. Under their angry gaze, he didn't pick up a single bill, instead gently turning his face to say to the driver: "Let her get on."

  Manman was in a hurry to put her hand into her pocket, preparing to return the money to Chunxia. Chunxia pressed down on her hand and reminded her: "You keep the money yourself, going into town to buy medicine will cost money, I don't know how expensive the pharmacies are in town. If anything happens, call me."

  "Early summer." Vines tangled, wanting to speak but stopping.

  Patted her shoulder, and Chū Xiāo got off the car, watching as the car door closed.

  Through the coffee-colored car window, Manman saw the early summer shadows merging into the traffic flow. For a moment, she stood still and couldn't move, feeling chilly all over. Just seeing that person called Lu Jun's attitude made her think that the people on this bus wouldn't be very good. She glanced sideways and happened to meet those cold and stern ink pupils, biting her lower lip with her teeth.

  That man really didn't want to bother with her, pointing to another soldier and saying: "Tall, handsome and great, find a seat for her."

  The new soldier seemed more polite to her, with a slight smile: "Come over here."

  As I followed and walked forward, I found that the military vehicle was basically full, with soldiers wearing either long-sleeved light green army undershirts or an additional military overcoat on top, leaning their heads against each other to doze off, every single one of them had a tired look on their face.

  Walking to the last row of seats at the end of the car, I saw a person lying flat on four or five people's seats. Tall and handsome, with one foot kicked on the seat, he shouted: "Old man Yao, get up quickly!"

  He shouted twice, but the soldier didn't budge, as if he had fallen dead asleep.

  Gao Da Shuai had no choice but to lean down, stick his ear close and shout: "Yao Zi Ye, hurry up and get up, there's a beauty coming!"

  Perhaps it was the two words "beautiful woman" that had an effect, and the soldier who had been lying there like a dead fish suddenly sat up with a jerk, looked up, and met Mianmian's glasses-wearing face with his narrow eyes: "Is this the beautiful woman?"