“First, you need to pass the written test, and then you go for the practical driving exam. That one isn’t hard either—you already know how to drive. Besides, the instructors there are very experienced, and they’ll assign a good one to guide you.”
“You should be able to get your license in about six months or so, and by then, the car should be here too.”
“Car? What car?” Ye Zhiqiu looked completely baffled.
“Our family’s car!”
“You bought a car?!”
Ye Zhiqiu pulled the car over to the side of the road, utterly shocked. “Where did you get that much money?”
A car cost over a hundred thousand yuan. Sure, she and Yue Mingyuan had decent salaries, but a car was still way out of their budget.
“My friend bought a new car, and he has an old used one. I went to check it out when I was in Jiangning last time, and I thought it was pretty good, so I asked him to hold onto it for me.”
“I was actually going to talk to you about this—what do you think about buying that car from him?”
Yue Mingyuan took Ye Zhiqiu’s hand. “When you go to Jiangning, you can take a look at it. If you think it’s right for us, we’ll buy it. If not, we can save up a bit more and buy one later.”
Ye Zhiqiu did want a car. Yaya was getting bigger, and they’d be going to a lot more places. Having a car would definitely make things much more convenient.
But even a used car would cost tens of thousands of yuan—that would pretty much drain both of their savings in one go.
“I’ll think about it carefully.”
“Okay.”
Once they were in the office, Yue Mingyuan poured a cup of hot water for both Ye Zhiqiu and Yaya.
After drinking her water, Yaya pulled out the medical book that Dong Hesong had given her from her little backpack and started reading.
She could already recognize a lot of characters, and every day she set aside time to study the book and memorize what needed to be memorized.
Her great-uncle and great-aunt from her mother’s side had arrived, so on the second day of the New Year, she and her mom would go back to Fu’an Hutong. Then on the third day, they’d all go visit Great-Grandpa together.
Great-Grandpa was very kind and lenient with her, but she couldn’t let him down or betray the trust he had placed in her. She had to study Traditional Chinese Medicine seriously, so that one day she could be just as skilled as him and save lives.
After noon, the wind suddenly picked up, and before long, the sky turned overcast. By a little past three, it started snowing.
Yaya ran outside to play in the snow. Heizi and Xiaomi, having heard that Yaya was around, brought their pups over to see her.
Every time Yaya visited, Heizi and Xiaomi would show up with the little ones, just like good friends dropping by.
The people in the brigade had long gotten used to this sight—especially Heizi and Xiaomi’s handler.
He went out of his way to suck up to Yaya and would always bring her lots of tasty treats, hoping she’d put in a good word for him with Heizi and Xiaomi, so that Xiaomi would cut him some slack and not bite him so often.
Xiaomi was famously hot-tempered in their unit. Forget about him—even the battalion commander and the political commissar weren’t safe from her. She’d chase them down and bite them if she felt like it.
That said, as fierce as Xiaomi was, she never actually hurt anyone, and she was absolutely reliable when it came to carrying out missions.
Xiaomi’s four remaining pups had already started their training, and every single one of them had inherited the best genes from both Heizi and Xiaomi.
Still, every now and then, their handler would think about the pup Xiaomi had given to Yaya, and he’d regret it deeply.
Back then, that little thing had looked so goofy and clumsy that everyone thought it would probably be washed out. After all, out of the five pups, it was the only one that wobbled when it walked, stumbling every few steps—it just looked plain silly.
But the last time Yaya had come, she’d brought Xiao Xiong along, and the little guy had this majestic, commanding presence that was clearly the makings of a dog king.
A dog king could go head-to-head with a wolf, and in all their years, they’d never managed to train one themselves.
Heizi and Xiaomi were impressive dogs, sure, but even the two of them together wouldn’t stand a chance against a dog king.
And as for their entire military unit—apparently, in all of history, they’d only ever produced one dog king. It was a purebred five-black dog, incredibly intuitive and remarkably intelligent—about as sharp as a teenager.
Back in the day, that dog king had carried out numerous covert missions. After all, people didn’t suspect a dog, and that very fact turned out to be the key to victory in several operations.
Unfortunately, it had ultimately died under enemy fire—but not before taking down quite a few of them, pretty much dragging an entire enemy squad down with it.
Its descendants weren’t quite as extraordinary, but they were still formidable in their own right. Heizi himself was a descendant of that legendary dog king.
And now, after all these years, one of Heizi and Xiaomi’s pups had turned out to be a dog king—and they’d given it to Yaya.
Wherever Yaya went, Heizi and Xiaomi followed. If anyone tried to get too close to her—unless Yaya was okay with it—they’d crouch low and let out deep, rumbling growls that were clear warnings to back off.
Yue Mingyuan and Ye Zhiqiu were completely at ease letting Yaya run around the brigade. They knew she wouldn’t cause any trouble.
When Yaya got hungry, she ambled over to the mess hall at her own leisurely pace.
“Grandpa Zhang!”
From a distance, she called out to Old Zhang. “I’m here to see you!”
Old Zhang was busy directing the kitchen crew to hustle and get this year’s New Year’s Eve dinner ready. The moment he heard Yaya’s voice, a big grin spread across his face, and he hurried out to greet her.
“Grandpa Zhang, Yaya brought you some treats!”
Yaya had a little backpack slung over her shoulders. She pulled out a bunch of snacks and stood on her tiptoes to set them on the table. “Yaya has tried all of these, and they’re super tasty—so Yaya saved some for you, Grandpa Zhang.”
“Thank you, Yaya.”
Old Zhang scooped her up and gently pressed his forehead against hers.
If it were any other kid, they’d be scared stiff just by him glancing their way—let alone letting him hold them. But Yaya wasn’t afraid of him at all; in fact, she adored him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a big smack on the cheek. “Grandpa Zhang, I’m a little hungry.”
“We’ve still got some big meat buns from lunch. Let me grab some for you, okay?”
On the stove, not only were there buns warming, but also sweet potatoes and potatoes. Yaya looked at them all and wanted to try everything.
Without her even having to ask, Old Zhang took an enamel basin and filled it up with a huge pile of goodies.
“Thank you, Grandpa Zhang!”
“Don’t mention it. Sit right here and take your time eating, okay?”
He gently placed her on a chair nearby—a spot that was nice and warm but safely away from the stove.
Yaya carefully tore off a small piece of the bun skin and held it up to Old Zhang’s mouth. “Grandpa Zhang, you have some too.”
“Grandpa’s not hungry. You go ahead and eat, sweetie.” Old Zhang’s heart felt so warm and full.
He never would have imagined that in his later years, he’d be blessed with such a wonderful little granddaughter.
Yaya ate very daintily, taking small, tidy bites, and kept murmuring, “So yummy!”
The rough-and-tumble men in the kitchen couldn’t handle that adorable little voice. Whenever Old Zhang wasn’t looking, one of them would sneak over and quietly hand Yaya a small piece of carrot, then another would slip by to give her a bit of freshly cooked dish.
By the time the group dinner was about to start, Yaya’s little belly was already round and full.
Before the meal, everyone gathered to make dumplings, and Yaya strolled around like a little supervisor, peeking here and checking there.
Before she knew it, she’d collected several small lumps of dough in her hands.
