An Ning and Jiang Xia smoothly joined the team clearing snow from the road. From a distance, the dark figures were all steaming, looking just like freshly steamed buns.
An Ning greeted the villagers, the exchanges all following a familiar pattern.
"You're back?" "Yep, I'm back."
"When did you get back?" "Just got back."
"How'd you get back?" "By train."
...
That was the gist of the small talk.
Answering questions as she walked, An Ning finally found An Guoming and An Sancheng in the crowd, along with all the men from Uncle An's family.
She called out to them one by one, and the tone of everyone's voices grew warmer and friendlier.
An Sancheng even invited Uncle An over for dinner that night, but Uncle An declined, saying, "Let's do it in a couple of days. A few days won't make a difference. You just got back today, so get some proper rest."
Since Uncle An had spoken, An Sancheng didn't dare to object.
