Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Eager to see how Tang Mingli is doing…

Tang Mingmei didn't know whether her return to the city was due to her parents' efforts or Li Dazhu's help.

It must be Li Dazhu, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence that he had just returned to the city and I was able to return right after?

Since his parents were able to bring him back to the city, it means they have connections. Getting another one like her would be easy.

The more Tang Mingmei thought about it, the more convinced she became that it must be true.

Heaven has eyes; although she didn't get into university, she chose the right person.

Waaah, this proves that her decision to go to the countryside back then was the right one.

Li Mu has been the brigade leader for more than ten years. In these ten years, he has witnessed the joys and sorrows of many educated youth, but this is the first time he has seen someone cry like this.

It was as if Lijia Village had treated her unfairly.

He didn't know about other villages, but in Lijia Village, he dared to say that he was doing his best to take care of every educated youth who had been sent to the countryside.

They were provided with special housing, and no local villager ever bullied the female educated youth. Every year when they went to the town commune for meetings, their village was praised.

Tang Mingmei cried so heartbreakingly that Li Mu had to speak up and remind her: "Tang Zhiqing, I know it's a happy thing to be able to go back to your parents, but don't cry too much out of joy."

Tang Mingmei thought that she was about to return to the city, so why should she have to endure a lecture from a country bumpkin? So she retorted irritably, "Can't I cry about how hard I've worked these past two years?"

Li Mu laughed: "Fine, fine, whatever you want."

Li Mu, still angry, silently wrote "good" on an evaluation form after Tang Mingmei left.

This was the first time he had ever made such a comment about an educated youth.

Although he doesn't like to consider personal relationships when doing things, he considers himself a fairly humane leader.

Take the matter of educated youth returning to the city as an example. He knew that what he handed over might be quite important to the young people, so he always tried to make things convenient for others.

However, Tang Mingmei was just too infuriating. Not only had she caused so much trouble in the past two years, but now that she was going back to the city, she didn't even bother to pretend anymore. That's why he hit her in a fit of anger.

He regretted it a little afterward, but then he thought that with Tang Mingmei's personality, even if he got a good score, the truth would eventually come out.

That's settled then.

-

Two days later, Tang Mingmei boarded the village's oxcart and left.

Another educated youth left, leaving a cloud of sorrow among the few remaining in Lijia Village.

Whether they liked Tang Mingmei or not, on this day, they envied her.

Li Mu sensed an unprecedentedly low mood among the educated youth and felt a little worried.

-

Guangcheng.

The neighbors in the tenement building noticed that Li Hong seemed to be in a very good mood recently. Ever since Tang Mingli came over that day, she walked with a brisk pace.

Even when he was bumped into by a naughty child once, he simply smiled and said, "Watch where you're going."

In the past, he would have cursed and swore.

Not only Li Hong, but Tang Jianguo also smiled more often.

The couple's sudden and drastic change has led people to speculate whether something good is about to happen in their family.

What could it be?

The neighbors, having nothing better to do, gathered around and started gossiping, all agreeing that it must be related to the daughter.

The sun was shining brightly today, so Li Hong took her bedding downstairs to sunbathe.

Seeing this, Ma Cuilan, a neighbor who was chatting with others, went up to strike up a conversation.

"They're airing out the blankets."

"Yes, it's been moldy for a long time since it's been aired out." Li Hong was in a good mood, and her attitude was much better than usual.

"Judging from the pattern of this quilt, it doesn't look like something an elderly person like us would use. Could it be that it belongs to Akemi?"

Li Hong smiled, which was taken as tacit agreement.

Taking the opportunity, Ma Cuilan asked the question that had been bothering her: "Is your Mingmei coming back?"

At this point, when Ma Cuilan said she was coming back, she only meant that she was coming back to visit relatives during a holiday, and she didn't think about returning to the city at all.

To everyone's surprise, Li Hong paused for a moment before saying, "Yes, Mingmei is coming back. She won't have to stay in that rural place anymore."

She'd managed to keep it quiet until now only because her husband had told her to keep a low profile, lest anything go wrong and she become a laughingstock. But she thought the Fu family had already given their approval, so how could anything change? Today, when Ma Cuilan asked, she couldn't hold it in any longer.

Now it was Ma Cuilan's turn to be stunned.

Even though many educated youth have returned to the city in the past two years, Li Hong was still surprised when she said that Tang Mingmei was coming back.

I didn't hear any rumors, so how did I suddenly get back?

Despite her surprise, she quickly congratulated Li Hong after regaining her composure.

While offering my congratulations, I suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

She has five children, two of whom live in the countryside, and she doesn't know when they will be able to come back.

Having been neighbors for over twenty years, she sometimes felt sorry for Li Hong, who had only given birth to one child and was unable to have any more, especially since that only child was a daughter, and she didn't know if she could rely on her husband if anything happened in the future. But sometimes she also envied Li Hong, who only had one child and had far fewer worries.

Regarding the matter of being sent to the countryside, Tang Mingmei felt particularly sorry for Li Hong and his wife after she went there, as they had no children of their own. But now that she heard Tang Mingmei was coming back, she envied them. Their only child was coming back, and she no longer had to worry about whether he was doing well in the countryside.

Ma Cuilan left somewhat dejectedly, while Li Hong hung up the quilt and went upstairs in a good mood.

Thinking that my daughter will be back soon, I realize there's just so much work to do.

The house needs to be cleaned thoroughly, especially my daughter's room, which must be tidy. I need to make plenty of her favorite snacks so she can eat her fill when she gets home. I also need to make her two new outfits.

As the saying goes, "Buddha relies on gold plating and people rely on clothing." Mingmei is almost twenty-two years old, so she has to dress up beautifully and hurry up to find a boyfriend, otherwise she will be disliked by others in a year or two.

With her husband at work, Li Hong was busy running around at home, and she no longer felt that the days were hard to endure. In fact, time seemed to fly by, and another day would pass in the blink of an eye.

Sure enough, after finishing my work, I looked up and the sun was almost setting again.

Li Hong quickly put down her work and went downstairs to bring in the quilts that were drying in the sun.

As I was putting away the blankets, I suddenly heard someone say "Mom".

Li Hong straightened her back, then suddenly turned around, her pupils widening in disbelief at what she was seeing.

"mom."

Tang Mingmei threw away the dirty duffel bag in her hand and cried as she rushed into Li Hong's arms.

After traveling for several days, taking oxcarts, minibuses, and trains, I looked dirty and haggard.

Touching her daughter's face, Li Hong finally believed that she wasn't dreaming. The daughter before her was real; her daughter had finally returned.

The mother and daughter, reunited after a long separation, disregarded all pride and embraced each other in the courtyard on the first floor, bursting into tears.

Li Hong patted her daughter's back gently and said, "You've lost weight. It must have been very hard for you in the countryside."

In fact, she had not only lost weight, but also gotten darker and her skin became rougher, but Li Hong didn't dare to say it so bluntly, afraid that her daughter wouldn't be able to handle the blow.

Her daughter is just like her when she was young; she loves beauty.

When it comes to hardship, Tang Mingmei doesn't want to beautify it at all, and she cries out, "Yes, it's too hard. I have to work in the fields before dawn every day, my back aches and my waist hurts, and I can't even eat a bite of meat. There are so many mosquitoes in the countryside, and I can't sleep well at night either."

Li Hong burst into tears again, wanting to say, "Who told you to be so reckless and choose to go to the countryside?" But ultimately, she felt sorry for her only daughter and couldn't bear to rub salt into her wounds.

What's done is done, there's no point in saying anything more.

Fortunately, she's back now, and we absolutely cannot let her run wild in the future.

The mother and daughter cried for a while, attracting the attention of many neighbors. Only then did they realize what had happened, quickly wiped away their tears, and took their things upstairs.

As soon as she entered this familiar home, Tang Mingmei burst into tears again.

Before being sent to the countryside, I always complained that this house was dilapidated and small, and that I had to share a room with Tang Mingli. After being sent to the countryside, I lived in a mud-brick house, and only then did I realize how good it was to live in such a tenement building.

Li Hong felt sorry for her daughter, who was covered in dirt, so she told her to take a shower first.

"I'll cook you egg noodles, so you can have some to eat as soon as you take a shower."

Tang Mingmei did indeed feel dirty, so she nodded and instructed her mother, "Put two more eggs in the egg noodles, and add more peanut oil."

"Okay," Li Hong replied, and upon hearing this, she felt like wiping away tears again.

These past two years in the countryside have been incredibly difficult; I even crave peanut oil.

Tang Jianguo came home from get off work around 7 p.m.

I was told by my neighbor downstairs that my daughter had returned. After a moment of stunned silence, I rushed upstairs.

That night, the family of three, who had been separated for two years, laughed and cried, cried and laughed, and didn't go back to their rooms to sleep until late at night.

-

After a night's rest, Tang Mingmei felt she had recovered and couldn't wait to visit Tang Mingli at the Fu family's house. Just as she was about to tell her mother, Li Hong spoke first.

"You were able to return to the city smoothly thanks to Mingli and the Fu family. I should visit the Fu family another day to thank them."

"The Fu family helped me return to the city this time?" Tang Mingmei asked incredulously.

Li Hong hummed in agreement, wiped her eyes, and told her, "We received your letter. Your father and I were worried sick, but we really couldn't think of any way to help. So the next day, I swallowed my pride and went to the Fu family to beg Mingli to ask them for help."

"The Fu family is willing to help?" Tang Mingmei wasn't surprised that Tang Mingli was willing to help, after all, they were both from the Tang family, but the Fu family...

Having lived in the Fu family for several years in her previous life, she believed she understood them quite well.

The Fu family is the most stubborn. Despite their status and position, they could easily solve many problems with just a few words, yet they stubbornly cling to some principles.

"Impossible, it must be just a coincidence. How could the Fu family possibly help?" Tang Mingmei refused to believe it.

Li didn't understand why her daughter was so sure. Although she also felt that the Fu family was a bit unapproachable, they were all relatives, so why wouldn't they help?

She worried that her daughter was too proud to accept the fact, so she patiently explained it to her.

“Mingli said it herself, so it can’t be false. Your return to the city was indeed thanks to the Fu family’s help.”

Tang Mingmei was so surprised that she couldn't speak.

Why was the Fu family willing to help?

This was very different from the Fu family she knew.

Seeing that her daughter's reaction wasn't too strong, Li Hong felt much relieved and continued to persuade her, "You should still find some time to visit them in person and thank them."

“Okay, how about tomorrow?” Tang Mingmei looked at her mother. “Anyway, we have nothing to do tomorrow, so we might as well go and thank them early.”

She emphasized the word "thank you" very much.

Li Hong thought that visiting them tomorrow wouldn't be a bad idea. Visiting to express her gratitude on the third day after returning would show her sincerity.

only……

"Your dad has to go to work tomorrow, so he probably won't be able to come along."

Tang Mingmei said, "It's okay, Dad doesn't have to go. I'll go with you."

Li Hong thought about it and felt that there was nothing wrong with the two of them going, since she was the one asking them for help.

"Okay, I'll do as you say, I'll go tomorrow."

-

The Fu family.

Tang Mingli stood by the window on the first floor, looking at the drizzling rain outside, her right eyelid twitching for some reason.

This rain really came without warning. Yesterday the sky was clear and blue, and today it started raining without warning. But then I thought, Qingming Festival is just around the corner, so it's normal for the weather to be unpredictable.

For her, rainy days simply mean it's inconvenient to go out, but staying home doesn't actually make her bored.

For example, today, the family is going to have dumplings. Zhang Guihua has prepared the dough and is about to start wrapping them.

She washed her hands, rolled up her sleeves, and prepared to play too.

This activity is like doing crafts for her; she enjoys it occasionally and finds it quite relaxing.

In her previous life, she was from the South and had never made dumplings herself. When she first started learning to make dumplings from Zhang Guihua, they were either oddly shaped or had open ends.

Fortunately, the Tang family was poor and rarely had the chance to eat dumplings throughout the year, so it was normal that she didn't know how. The Fu family would only feel sorry for her.

Zhang Guihua showed no impatience whatsoever, patiently teaching her how to wrap the filling time and time again.

Through continuous learning and improvement, her dumplings are now quite presentable. Furthermore, she applies what she's learned, demonstrating her creativity by even making adorable animal shapes.

For example, goldfish, rabbits, and the like.

Tang Mingli's eyelids kept twitching, and she rubbed her brows several times while making dumplings.

After several times, my face was covered in flour.

Zhang Guihua laughed at her: "Look at you, you've turned into a cat with a dirty face."

Tang Mingli didn't mind. Flour isn't dirty, and it's fine to put it on your face. She could just wash it off after making the dumplings.

Just as I was finishing making the dumplings, the doorbell rang.

Tang Mingli wondered, "Who would come here in this weather?"

The security guard didn't call beforehand; he was probably a neighbor from the compound.

Tang Mingli thought it would be faster to hand the last few bags to Zhang Guihua, so she took the initiative to open the door.

When the door was opened, everyone, whether standing inside or outside, was stunned.