25

Zhao Ling disappeared and no one knew where she went.

She is a patient and can't run away by herself. Xu Xi is worried that someone will harm Zhao Ling and frame Xu Xiao.

After all, this wasn't the first or second time Zhao Ling had tried to scam people for no reason. But Xu Xiao didn't think so.

"Zhao Ling is very smart. If she wanted to cause trouble, she should have done so a long time ago." Xu Xiao put down the book in his hand, lit a cigarette, sat by the window sill and looked outside: "Someone must not want us to leave. Tomorrow, I will go to the Xu family."

Chen Nan said, "Sister Xiao, do you think Captain Xu and the others are behind this?"

Xu Xi was also indignant. After learning about Xu Xiao's situation over the past few days, he already understood the dire situation that Xu Xiao was in.

The Xu family was nothing more than a skinned, greedy beast, never satisfied. Fortunately, this was the type of people he encountered most often in Beijing.

"Sister Xu, can you let me go?" Therefore, he was eager to try.

Xu Xiao shook her head: "I'm the only one who can go for this." As she spoke, her eyes darkened, and she looked towards the Xu family with displeasure.

The Xu family didn't cooperate with her very much.

But, it couldn't have been Xu Ping's doing. If the Xu family was a massive taint, then Xu Ping could only claim one-third of the responsibility, with his three siblings accounting for the remaining two-thirds.

Xu An is a person who bullies the weak and fears the strong, but he is not as willing to compromise as Xu Quan, nor does he have a good in-law family like Xu Zhu.

I'm afraid it was done by her fearless aunt Xu Zhu.

Xu Zhu married into a city official family. In fact, the Xu family members were all good-looking, with a high nose bridge and deep eyes. With her youthful good looks and some scheming, she was able to cross the class barrier.

Although they were from a rival family, Xu Xiao still admired this lady. Her husband's surname was Zhao, and she only gave birth to a daughter. After her husband died, she married a live-in son-in-law and completely took control of the Zhao family.

At the same time, Xu Xiao couldn't help but sigh.

I didn't expect that such a smart old lady would be confused for a moment.

No matter what happened, they had to eat. After dinner, the three of them discussed it again - Xu Xiao went to the Xu family to inquire about the news, while Chen Nan and Xu Xi prepared to leave.

If you want to leave, you need to write an application to the higher-ups and buy a ticket...all these trivial matters were left to the two of them.

There was a lot going on, so the two of them ate and left in a hurry. Seeing the once bustling educated youth site suddenly become quiet, Xu Xiao felt deeply moved.

Soon after, the educated youth training centers were cancelled, and even the educated youth who had gone to the countryside returned to the city, either to settle down in the city or to shed their blood in the countryside.

This is the end of an era, but at the same time, another even grander era is beginning.

Although the old times are dilapidated and stubborn, they are still the exclusive memories of a generation.

The new era is more demanding, and it requires young people to put in a certain amount of effort and enthusiasm in order to resonate with it and share its fate.

Xu Ping and his four siblings separated a long time ago. Xu Ping rebuilt a house in the village, while Xu An and Xu Quan went to the county town, leaving the old house to Xu Zhu, the youngest sister.

The yard that Xu Xiao and Chen Nan went to last time was the old house.

After decades of wind and rain, the old house has become dilapidated, and the walls are covered with bright green vines. Even in early autumn, these tenacious vines still cling to the walls tightly.

In the flowing green, a little light yellow emerges from time to time.

Xu Xiao stopped and looked at a mud wall that had not collapsed yet.

There were also green vines climbing up there. A little girl was standing on tiptoe, stretching out her hands and reaching upwards. A little further up, there were two lonely flowers blooming close together.

I don't know how it grew, but the plant grew roots from under the wall, grew very tall and lush, and even produced flowers.

"Do you want this?" Xu Xiao walked over and picked a flower that was obviously much larger. She lowered her eyes and looked at the girl who was only as tall as her waist.

The little girl was wearing a white Dacron babydoll shirt and a bow on her head. Her skin was not very white but it looked delicate. It was obvious that she was not a child from the village.

The little girl was not shy. She took the words from Xu Xiao and replied sweetly, "Thank you, sister. But, sister, do you know what kind of flower this is? Mom and Dad won't tell me."

Xu Xiao's heart trembled, and she squatted down: "Tingxiaohua. Why are you here?"

Trumpet creeper, a flower that is said to be a brave one that rejects autumn and always lives with passion.

The little girl didn't answer. Instead, she handed the trumpet creeper to Xu Xiao and said, "Sister, you seem unhappy, but if you are unhappy, why are you still smiling?"

She didn't understand why, so she wanted to give the flowers she had finally obtained to her beautiful sister.

Without waiting for Xu Xiao to answer, the little girl suddenly said, "Oh! I should go back! Goodbye, sister!" After that, the little girl ran away, and her figure disappeared around the corner.

The old house is in front.

As expected, when Xu Xiao walked into the yard, he happened to see a little girl calling Xu Zhu "Grandma". The little girl was Xu Zhu's only daughter and her son-in-law's child.

Seeing her, Xu Zhu snorted in dissatisfaction, but was extremely gentle to the little girl: "Nannan, go find your mother first."

Xu Xiao had no objection to this. Children should play carefree and should not be allowed to know about adult matters.

The little girl looked confused and looked up at Xu Xiao from time to time. Xu Xiao understood and handed over the flowers in his hand: "Here."

The little girl ran towards Xu Xiao, and ran back into the room with the flowers in her hand, satisfied.

"What are you doing here?" Xu Zhu's tone was not very good.

"Where did you take Zhao Ling?" Xu Xiao asked straight to the point.

Xu Zhu is very smart, and pretending to be stupid in front of smart people is not a good idea.

Therefore, Xu Xiao decided to put everything out in the open.

Xu Zhu seemed caught off guard by Xu Xiao's frankness. She was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Xu Ping said you were difficult to deal with, but I didn't believe it. Now it seems you're indeed harder to fool than your mother! However, I heard that Zhao Ling and you have a deep grudge. Why are you so concerned about her?"

Xu Xiao walked forward, pulled out a chair and sat down, crossing his legs. His voice sounded nonchalant: "It seems that my aunt knows me very well?"

Her voice naturally laced with sarcasm. "I wonder why Auntie bothered to investigate me? Xu Ping wants to use me to gain power, and Xu An and Xu Quan want to take me back to the county. What about you?"

After Xu Xiao went to the countryside and returned to Xujia Village, the Xu family became lively for once. The whole family sat together, and even Xu Huai and Xu Ran took special leave to come back.

They mobilized such a large force just for one thing - they wanted to take care of Xu Xiao themselves.

It seemed as if Xu Xiao was a hot commodity, and this group of people were arguing with each other, their faces red and their ears red.

Xu Xiao was like this at that time. She sat in the center and looked at her family members coldly.

What was she thinking at that time?

It had been so long that Xu Xiao could no longer remember what she was thinking, but she still remembered one thing - if she had the chance, she would definitely talk to this old lady.

Xu Zhu was the only one who gave her a coat at that time.

It was colder then than it is now, it must have been early autumn, or maybe early winter.

A group of people wearing coats stood in the yard. Even though they were surrounded, there were still gusts of sharp wind whistling past, blowing straight towards Xu Xiao.

She was wearing a thin shirt and her lips were trembling from the cold, but even so, she remained silent and watched the farce coldly.

Perhaps it was because of the Xu family's contradictory mentality that Xu Xiao copied them one by one after living with them for a long time.

She hated the Xu family, but at the same time she was grateful to them, but this gratitude was different from that towards the Chen family.

The Chen family is a real home, an ideal home, a home that can shelter you from wind and rain and where you can seek help from adults at any time.

The Xu family's hotel is a temporary place where they stay, a place where relatives gather, but it is not a place where their family members are.

Xu Zhu didn't say anything, her cloudy eyes stared at Xu Xiao.

There was no malice in her eyes, but more curiosity and exploration.

She said, “When will you be back to normal?”

"Where is Zhao Ling?" Xu Xiao ignored her.

"Xu Xiao, give up. I won't tell you. I heard you took all those things away, but," Xu Zhu paused, a calculating look in her eyes, "I can remind you that Xu Ping is not a good grandfather to you. You can investigate him first."

The sound stopped abruptly, and the yard suddenly fell into silent silence.

Xu Zhu stood up naturally, walked to the door, pushed open the creaking wooden door, stood aside and looked back at Xu Xiao.

Xu Xiao didn't move for a long time, and she wasn't embarrassed. She just stood there and looked at Xu Xiao intently.

With a rustling sound, Xu Xiao stood up from the receding chair. She lowered her head to look at the small wooden table in front of her, on which lay a picture album. The name "Wang Yu'er" was written on the album in childish handwriting, clearly written by a child.

She opened the picture album and saw a lot of things drawn in pencil, including trees, flowers, and a few little people.

Xu Xiao's hand stayed on it for a while. Through the painting, she remembered the little girl who was not afraid of strangers at all.

That was a little girl who had a completely different childhood from hers.

She walked quickly towards the door. When she passed Xu Zhu, she said something and walked out of the room, heading straight up the mountain.

The girl's figure was slender, upright, and somewhat resolute.

Xu Zhu was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect this person to be so ungrateful.

Xu Xiao said, "It's up to you. You can deal with Zhao Ling as you wish."

The tone didn't sound like a joke, but rather like he didn't care, and even came to ask just as a sign of convenience.

She had never really gotten along with Xu Xiao. All she knew about him was what she heard from Xu Ping's family.

She felt that Xu Xiao really didn't want to investigate anymore.

"Grandma, what are you looking at? Where did that beautiful sister go?" A childish voice interrupted Xu Zhu's thoughts.

She lowered her head and gently stroked the little girl's head with her left hand. She said, "Nannan, next time you are not allowed to talk to strangers, especially here, understand?"

"Why?"

"The people here are all bad guys. They love to catch kids like Nannan."

"Ah! Then I don't want to go out!"

After reaching the top of the mountain, Xu Xiao turned and walked down the mountain, waiting behind the Xu family.

She really didn't care about Zhao Ling. For one thing, their relationship was not good, and they even had many times been at odds with each other.

Secondly, she proved one thing through practice, that is, whoever gets involved with the male and female protagonists will definitely have a hard time!

The world revolves around the male and female protagonists, and does not care about an ordinary supporting role.

This is an eternal rule and a code that novels must follow.

Coincidentally, the world she lives in is the world of a novel.

She is the vicious female supporting role who prevents the hero and heroine from falling in love, becoming the most annoying cannon fodder supporting role in the book.

Chen Bei and the Chen family behind him are the biggest villains in this novel.

She was raised by the Chen family, so she is the hero and heroine's weapon to fight and crush the villains. But at the same time, she has actually been tied to the Chen family for a long time.

Her relationship with Ji Hong and Zhao Ling is actually the same as the relationship between the Chen family and the Ji family.

Therefore, before she could get rid of the so-called protagonist halo, she had to keep Ji Hong and Zhao Ling in her sight. She wanted to control the so-called male and female protagonists and the plot.

There's no need to be too clear about it; in the end, it's all just a mess and chaos. A mess so shocking, so chaotic that you can't figure it out even if you die.

But when the Xu family asked her to contribute, her complicated relationship with them was severed. This was good, as it finally saved her some trouble.

Chen Hong and Aunt Xu, two sisters-in-law, were leaning against each other in the yard. In front of them sat three men. One was old and in good spirits; the two younger ones had their heads down and looked dejected.

Why is the back mountain the faith of the people here? Perhaps it is because the back mountain can clearly see their suffering, sorrow, embarrassment and yearning.