By the time they reached Wanglou Brigade, it was already past seven in the evening.
The cold was biting, and the night was deeply tranquil, with not even the sound of roosters crowing or dogs barking.
The puttering of the tractor woke many villagers, who labored at sunrise and rested at sunset, out of their slumber. Instantly, a few houses turned on their electric lights, the yellowish glow streaming through the windows.
"Isn't that the sound of our brigade's tractor? Could it be Xibao picking someone up?"
"It must be. Which brigade nearby has a tractor besides ours?"
"I'll get up to take a look. Lu Jiang and his wife had five kids at one go, and triplets are a unique sight in our brigade. They grew up in the military compound just like Xibao, so they don't look the same as us country folks."
The tractor moved quickly, and by the time the sound traveled out, it had already passed by.
