The tractor driver inserted the starting crank into the hole in the engine at the front and gave it several hard turns. The tractor began chugging, spewing gray-black exhaust.
The two children cried out excitedly too. "Oh, oh, oh! We're going to Grandma's! We're going to Grandma's!"
As the tractor passed through the village, Ye Chenghu spotted some friends and shouted proudly to them, "We're taking a tractor to Grandma's!"
Ye Yaodong watched him speechlessly. How had he never known his eldest son loved showing off so much as a child?
He swatted his bottom. "Sit still, or you're staying behind to watch the house."
The boy immediately covered his bottom and gave his father a fawning smile before hurriedly sitting down.
The tractor jolted along, kicking up great clouds of dust. Ye Yaodong suddenly felt he had made a mistake. He should have brought a cloth to wrap around their heads and faces. If they rode all the way to their destination in this open-topped vehicle, the whole family would be covered in dust.
After some thought, he took off his jacket and draped it over his wife's and sons' heads. It would shield them from the wind too.
"The wind's so cold. Hurry up and put your jacket back on."
"It's fine. We'll sit closer together, and I can wrap some of it around myself too. Otherwise, we'll all be covered in dust when we get off."
Lin Xiuqing could only put their eldest son in his arms and take their younger son onto her lap. That way, he could wrap the jacket around one more person, and huddling together would keep the family a little warmer.
They were both considerate of each other, which was why their relationship kept growing stronger.
The tractor was barely any faster