"Oh~ eh~ yeah~"
At three in the afternoon, Li Ye's convoy entered the boundaries of the capital. Xiao Zhu, who was driving, rolled his neck and shoulders, letting out a string of oddly pitched sounds like a weary lion shaking mud from its mane.
Li Ye asked with a smile, "What? Worn out?"
Xiao Zhu smiled. "No, and I'm not afraid you'll laugh at me—I really miss home. Miss my wife too. Hehehe."
"Same here, hehehehe~"
Everyone had been away from home for so long, traveling across more than half the country. The closer they got to home, the more they missed it. They had driven until midnight last night, then gotten up two hours early this morning. It would have been a lie to say they weren't tired.
But when they thought of their wives and children back home, they did not feel quite so tired anymore.
Li Ye also took out his Big Brother to call Wen Leyu. The mobile network's coverage was still far too limited; they had traveled deep into the capital's territory before they finally got a signal.
"Hello, Xiao Yu! I'll be home in two hours at most. What time do you get off work today?"
Wen Leyu sounded surprised on the other end. "Didn't you estimate yesterday that you'd be back tomorrow? You're back so soon? I have a meeting to attend later, but I'll definitely be home before I get off work.
"You didn't even call ahead. There's nothing good to eat at home. What do you want? I'll go buy it later."
Wen Leyu rambled on for a minute or two, seeming to complain that Li Ye had not told her sooner. But on closer consideration, it was really the anxiety of a wife left alone in an empty room, suddenly