Letters convey feelings

The alarm clock rang, and Wu Meilai sat up with disheveled hair and a dirty face, dark circles under her eyes, and drooping eyelids.

Looking at WeChat, Zhou Qianling did not reply to the message.

Wu Meilai felt a little sore in the tip of her nose, rubbed her face, lifted the quilt and got up.

Liu Guiyan had gotten up long ago and was cooking pig food. When she heard the noise, she got up and went into the house, grabbing her apron and rubbing her hands. "The sauce is ready. Once the water boils, we can add some noodles and eat them. If you're hungry, try some roasted potatoes first."

There was a subtle flattery on her face, which made Wu Meilai feel a little uncomfortable.

Wu Meilai knew that she felt guilty about letting her open the shop the day before, and also felt guilty about being cheated out of money. However, the money was not hers to manage, nor was it hers to transfer to others, yet she subconsciously took the blame for Wu Ergou.

Her soul was tightly tied to Wu Ergou, and she would naturally see things from his perspective, while her body was thrown into a corner where no one cared. Only Wu Meilai occasionally noticed that the shackles were slowly tightening.

Wu Meilai had a premonition that Liu Guiyan would go crazy one day.

"I'll eat noodles later." Wu Mei said, and she grabbed a handful of noodles and sprinkled them into the pot, stirring them with chopsticks.

Liu Guiyan didn't go back to the stove, but hesitated and said, "I'm going to visit your third uncle's family this afternoon. Remember to come back early to cook for Han'er in the evening."

Third uncle is eldest uncle's son. When Wu Mei heard this, she knew that visiting relatives was fake and the real purpose was to invite Wu Ergou, the ancestor, to come home.

Wu Meilai didn't say anything about this, but she was always impatient with taking care of Wu Han. She said, "Cook more noodles. If he's hungry, he can find food himself."

"You know he loves to fight with chickens. He even strangled one to death the day before yesterday."

…

"Then if you lock him up in the alley all day, aren't you afraid he'll get bored and kill the piglets?"

Liu Guiyan was speechless. She couldn't lock herself in the house, as her furniture would be destroyed.

In the end, Liu Guiyan decided to take Wu Han with her.

The noodles were cooked, and Liu Guiyan immediately went into the house to get a bowl for Wu Meilai. "Is it enough? Do you want to cook some more?"

"That's enough." Wu Meilai picked up some noodles, blowing on them while eating. Liu Guiyan's mumblings could be heard in her ears again: "That ghost of a father of yours, he really doesn't call anyone, and he doesn't even think about how good things can happen to us..."

Wu Meilai ate her noodles faster, drank a mouthful of soup, rinsed the bowl and went to Laowa Village.

I posted the news about the opening yesterday, so today a few regular customers came to the door early, which is rare.

Wu Meilai took a quick look and didn't see Zhou Qianling.

"Boss, you finally opened the shop. I've been wanting this bowl of noodles for days."

"I'm afraid it's something?" someone joked.

Wu Meilai responded with a smile and opened the door.

The soup base and noodles were prepared yesterday, so diners don’t have to wait long before bowls of steaming hot mutton noodles are served to them.

There was a sound of door curtains rustling, Wu Meilai leaned back slightly and looked through the feeding window.

It’s Zhou Chenghua.

"Sister, my sister asked me to give this to you." The child's clear and loud voice rang out in the store, holding a paper envelope in his hand.

Wu Meilai's heart skipped a beat and she quickly glanced at the diners in the restaurant: everyone was either eating noodles with their heads down or chatting for a few words, and no one noticed the child coming in.

Wu Meilai hurried out, stuffed the envelope into the purse pocket on the front of her apron, took out a banknote from it, and quickly sent Xiaohua away.

She was itching to know what was inside, but she didn't open it immediately. Instead, she waited until after noon when no one was in the store, and then she quietly opened it with her back to the window.

There was only a piece of paper inside, covered with vigorous and beautiful handwriting.

The opening paragraph contained some ancient poetry. Wu Mei didn't quite understand it, but she knew it was a love poem.

The second paragraph is plain language, and every word reveals that she likes herself and misses herself.

The third paragraph is an apology and inquiry. Without too much embellishment, it simply asks the reason, whether he has annoyed her or something happened at home, or he heard some rumors.

Wu Meilai looked at the last sentence for a long time: Meilai, I hope you can be happy and free.

The paper was crumpled, and Wu Meilai gently raised her hand to wipe her eyes.

It's just a simple sentence, she doesn't care about you.

Tears fell on the paper, making the handwriting blurry.

It would be a lie to say that no one cares about her. Liu Guiyan does care about her.

She will teach herself how to endure, but she doesn't care whether she is happy or not. After all, even she herself cannot be happy.

When Wu Ergou beat her, Liu Guiyan would cook her a delicious meal and curse her in a low voice: "Your devilish father will be damned sooner or later!" Then she would comfort her: "Don't talk back to him when he says something. Just let it go in one ear and out the other. Don't suffer the consequences."

Wu Meilai thought, if it was Zhou Qianling... No, there is no need for if, the answer is already there.

Wu Meilai folded the paper, stuffed it into an envelope, wrapped it in a plastic bag, and pressed it at the bottom of the jar.

She thought to herself, I am very happy now.

Outside the kitchen, the clear child's voice sounded again. Wu Mei came to wipe the water stains and turned back to greet the little messenger.

Xiaohua beckoned at her mysteriously, and Wu Mei bent down, understanding what she meant, and saw that she held her hands to her ears in a trumpet shape.

"Sister said: Have you thought of the answer?"

"Tell your sister: Just pretend you never said anything yesterday." Wu Meilai was silent for a moment and then smiled.

After hearing what Xiaohua said, she started running away with her short legs.

After a while, she came back with a lollipop in her mouth, "My sister said: Your father is back from work, and I have no place to stay. Can I stay at her house?"

Wu Meilai was stunned for a moment before she realized that Zhou Chenghua had just repeated her words. She replied, "Tell her: I... Sister Wu's bed is small. If you don't mind, it's fine."

The two chatted back and forth like this, but Xiaohua was exhausted and refused to do anything no matter how much money was offered. She had no choice but to switch to the noisy Zhou Chengcao.

......

It has to be said that Wu Meilai really has no ambition. Last night she tossed and turned and vowed to make a lot of money, repay Zhou Qianling for saving her life, and then go her separate ways.

But now he closed the shop early and went home to clean the already clean bedroom again, and carried a quilt to make a mattress.

What a loser.

Thinking of this, Wu Meilai paused in making the bed and immediately threw the thought out of her mind.

Looking out the window, the palm trees were gently swaying their leaves. About three meters further back, on the ridge, was the plum forest belonging to my uncle's family. Some of the flower buds had already bloomed.

In a few days, the whole forest will be covered with white flowers, and Zhou Qianling will definitely like it.

Wu Meilai was a little impatient. She really wanted to let Zhou Qianling see the scene. Then, she would take her up and walk with her in the rain of petals.

…

Zhou Laoliu didn't arrive home until dinner time, so Zhou Qianling couldn't leave early, so she stayed at Lin Yue's house until eleven o'clock. When she saw the children crying out that they were sleepy and wanted to go to bed, she made an excuse to slip away.

When I got down to the dirt road, I saw the familiar figure leaning against the motorcycle again. This time she was not as cool as last time. She was almost curled up in the thick cotton coat, freezing like a quail.

So clumsy that it makes people soft-hearted.