Chapter 51 [51] A new way to play!

Yucheng is not near the sea and only has a river surrounding the city. How could ordinary people have ever seen crabs?

Tang Yuanyuan knocked on the crab's thick shell and asked, "You think this is edible?"

Yu Fangfang took the crab shell off and said, "This is called crab roe. Use a small spoon to scoop it out. It's really delicious. You can also eat the crab claws. Just cut them open with scissors and suck them into your mouth."

Tang Yuanyuan had spoons, but none this small, so she used chopsticks.

It was quite fresh food, Tang Yuanyuan thought it was good, but a little difficult to eat, so she used chopsticks to share some with Zhou Wei and Zhou Li.

After eating crabs, I washed my hands with soap, but I still felt that there was a faint fishy smell on my hands, so I put some cold cream on my hands.

Yu Fangfang has very long hair, and she usually wears it in a princess bun, a pigtail, or a ponytail.

She loves beauty and has a dream of wearing ancient costumes: "Can you braid hair like the ones in TV dramas? Their hair is all braided beautifully."

"Let me try."

Tang Yuanyuan has watched some TV dramas. In this era, the actresses in costume dramas all have beautiful braids. The ancient people's aura and demeanor are very graceful. The braids are also made from local materials, with elements of silk flowers and plastic, but they do not give people a cheap feeling.

Tang Yuanyuan thought for a moment, then took apart a child's light-red plastic flower and braided it into her four braids, making it sparkle and embellish her hair. Yu Fangfang liked it very much and admired it in the mirror for a long time.

Tang Yuanyuan couldn't help but think that perhaps, in addition to makeup, she should also expand her hair braiding business.

Doesn't it look better if you dress like this?

Zhou Li already has a daughter who knows how to braid hair. Zhou Wei is also very dexterous, so it shouldn't be difficult with more practice. So when the two of them are not busy, they can braid each other's hair and learn how to do it slowly.

This time when she went to Shanghai, she also took the opportunity to see if there were any better things that could be used for braiding.

Tang Yuanyuan subtly turned the topic to Tang An: "By the way, are you still going boating? Tang An should be waiting by the lake by this time."

Zhou Wei turned her surprised gaze to Tang Yuanyuan and Yu Fangfang.

Yu Fangfang played with her pigtails and said, "I'm not going now. Let Tang An wait. I'll go when it gets dark and see if he can wait for me for a few hours."

"If he can't even wait until dark, he's dead."

Zhou Wei couldn't help but ask, "What's the meaning of Tang An waiting by the lake?"

"Oh," Tang Yuanyuan pointed at Yu Fangfang with her chin, "It seems that Tang An intends to formally pursue Yu Fangfang. He wrote her a note the day before yesterday and asked her to go boating at the lake today."

He added slowly, "On Monday, Fangfang came out of the bookstore before evening study and was attacked by two hooligans. It was Tang An who saved her. No, that's not the right wording. It was Tang An who took the place of Yu Fangfang and was beaten up by the hooligans."

"After all, his fists are no match for the little hooligans, so he can only get beaten."

Zhou Wei: "Ah?"

Tang Yuanyuan nudged Yu Fangfang with her elbow. "Last time I told you, the girl Tang An saved from the hooligan was Zhou Wei. We all grew up together in the compound."

Zhou Wei still had the surprise on her face.

For a moment, she thought of the paintings and the light of the flashlight falling on the side of her neck.

And the moon in the sky.

It just feels like a joke.

fortunately.

Fortunately, Tang Yuanyuan held her back.

Now, she has fashion design, a job in a clothing store, and square stones.

Yu Fangfang looked at Zhou Wei carefully and found that she had a round face and looked sweet and pretty.

Tang Yuanyuan continued, "Speaking of which, Zhou Wei really owes a lot to Tang An in this matter. That road is remote, no one lives nearby, and it's far from where we live. If Tang An hadn't suddenly appeared and helped Zhou Wei, she would have been in the middle of nowhere and would have suffered a lot."

Yu Fangfang rolled her eyes, played in the store, and went shopping in the department store. After having enough fun, she went to the lake after dark. Sure enough, Tang An was still waiting there, with mosquito bites all over his arms.

"Fangfang, you're finally here. I've been waiting for you all afternoon."

Yu Fangfang played with her pigtails and said, "What's wrong with you waiting for me all afternoon?"

"You are so poor and you are not worthy of me."

"Don't even mention waiting for me all afternoon, you deserve it even if you wait for me all night."

Tang An: “…”

The eldest lady spoke too bluntly, which hurt people's self-esteem. Fortunately, he knew in his heart that his poverty was only temporary.

He knew from birth that he was different from the other kids in the compound and that he was destined to achieve something when he grew up.

"Fangfang, I will definitely get into college and make a name for myself. I won't let you live a hard life."

Yu Fangfang was even more upset: "What are you thinking? My father is the factory director, my mother is the deputy factory director, and I've always lived the life of a rich young lady. Why do I need you to make a name for yourself and give me a good life?"

“…”

Yu Fangfang added: "Besides, I just came to see if you lied to me. You wrote it on the note yourself. You won't leave until I see you. I'm not here to fall in love with you."

"You are so poor now, you are not worthy of me at all. If I date you, I will be laughed at to death."

“…”

Tang An knew that this young lady was not easy to serve, but he did not expect her to be so difficult.

She doesn't want to date me, but I have to wait for her here and eat mosquitoes.

What on earth is she trying to do?

She is too willful and cannot compare to Zhou Wei's gentleness and virtue at all.

Even the scheming Tang An didn't know what to do for a moment. He pursed his lips, not knowing what to say.

Yu Fangfang nonchalantly played with the tail of her pigtail. "By the way, why did you pass by this alley that day? It's so remote, and you saved me just in time. From what I heard, you usually eat the steamed buns from the cafeteria, so you never need to leave the school."

Tang An: "Of course I was worried about you. You don't live on campus, so you wouldn't know. Just a few days before you ran into the hooligans, a classmate was also robbed. I was worried about you, so I followed you from a distance and noticed that you always liked to run around in that area."

"I know you like being in a lively atmosphere and don't like being restrained, so I followed you from a distance. If you were in danger, I could save you. I didn't expect that this would actually come in handy."

"It's quite touching that he guards silently without taking credit for it." Yu Fangfang rolled her eyes and walked towards the lake. "Can you swim?"

Tang An can actually swim. Yaoyao shook her head and said, "I can't."

Yu Fangfang asked, "Tang An, do you really like me?"

Tang An nodded: "Of course, I fell in love with you the first time I saw you."

Yu Fangfang tilted her head: "Who knows whether what you said is true or not? Just jump down, and I will believe that you like me."

Without any hesitation, Tang An jumped into the lake and sank into the water.

He waited under the water for a long time, until his oxygen was almost used up, then he came out of the water. The lake water stung his eyes slightly.

It was nothing like the scene he had imagined.

Not only did Yu Fangfang not jump down in a hurry, she also walked away.

The shore was empty, not a single person was there.

He punched the water. He had been waiting for an entire afternoon and was already hungry. His clothes were now soaked.

The whole person is terrible.

I swam towards the shore with great effort, and just as I reached the shore, Yu Fangfang, who had disappeared earlier, appeared from nowhere.

Yu Fangfang played with her pigtail with satisfaction: "Tang An, you still have some conscience and didn't curse me behind my back. If you dared to curse me behind my back, you would be dead."

Tang An: "How could I scold you? I like you so much that I can't wait."

Yu Fangfang lowered her head with a wicked smile: "Don't you know how to swim? Are you lying to me?"

Tang An's face was wet. "I like to hate it when others are courting you and running errands for you. I want you to see how sincere I am to you."

Yu Fangfang: "I hate it most when people lie to me."

Tang An: "Then how do you want to punish me?"

Yu Fangfang: "Just swim a thousand meters."

Without saying a word, Tang An turned around and swam a thousand meters into the lake. When he swam back to the shore, he was exhausted.

Yu Fangfang deliberately said: "I am in a good mood today, I will give you a chance to send me home."

Tang An understood that Yu Fangfang was deliberately embarrassing him: "Sorry, my clothes are all wet, I can't dirty your car, so I can't take you home."

Yu Fangfang looked at his clothes, which were already deformed and stuck to his body. "The bike is so expensive, and your clothes are so wet, how could I let you get on it? I mean, you're riding behind my car."

Xu Fangfang sat in the car, resting her arms on the window wall, admiring the way Tang An stared at the bicycle and chased it hard. She mischievously instructed the driver to slow down for a while, and when Tang An was about to catch up, then speed up and run a long way away, then slow down again and watch him stare at her.

Fun.

Yu Fangfang didn't want her family to know about Tang An, so she stopped the driver two kilometers away from home, leaned on the car window, and admired Tang An riding a bicycle towards her.

She didn't get out of the car either, and raised her head arrogantly: "Okay, you can go back."

Anyone could see that the eldest lady was playing a trick on him.

Tang An, however, showed no temper at all. His eyes were deep and appreciative: "Fangfang, as long as you have fun."

By the time Tang An rode his bike all the way home, his clothes were already half dry.

Seeing that Tang An had not come back for a long time, Tang Aiguo cooked a pot of porridge for himself. Today was Mid-Autumn Festival, and he went to weigh four mooncakes in the afternoon.

There are only two of us, so there is no need to buy too much. Mooncakes are quite expensive. Eating mooncakes with porridge is much better than eating only noodles.

The premise is that they don’t eat meat.

The aroma of fish wafts from the left, and the aroma of meat wafts from the neighbor on the right. Compared to the 1980s, life nowadays is no longer a problem for every family. During festivals, there are several plates of meat on every table.

The Tang family is the only one in this area that lives like this.

To be precise, it was two months.

In the past, when Zhang Lancao was alive, although the family could not eat much meat due to the foreign debt problem, the family still had three meals a day. Even if there was only one gourd for the meal, she would cut it into thin strips, season it with salt, pepper and soy sauce, add eggs and flour, and fry it in a pan to make gourd cakes. They tasted no worse than meat, and then had a bowl of evenly thick corn grits porridge, and the meal was quite comfortable.

The house is even cleaner. The quilt smells of soapberries, and the clothes on the clothesline flutter in the wind. The mosquito repellent is lit before dark, and the mosquitoes have already run away. I sleep soundly until dawn, there is hot water in the teapot, and there is rice warming on the stove.

I never took these things to heart before, but now I don’t. I just feel that this home is cold and gloomy every day.

Even the quarrelsome sound of that girl Tang Yuanyuan was not so unbearable.

well.

Tang Aiguo saw Tang An riding his bike into the yard: "Where have you been? Why are you back so late?"

Tang An: "I didn't go anywhere. I had some things to do with my classmates."

Tang Aiguo was very hungry and had already eaten. "There's some rice warming up in the pot for you. Go get some and eat."

Tang An had nothing to say. He stopped eating and went to the kitchen. He first opened the stove and found it was empty.

I opened the lid of the pot on the stove again, and found that the corn grits porridge with a thick bottom was half-filled and could not be stirred. It had already stuck to the steel pot.

There was not enough water and too much cornmeal, and the rice became a lump that was neither porridge nor rice.

When I looked at the table again, I saw two mooncakes on the plate, and they were not the five-nut ones.

Needless to say, this was the dinner Tang Aiguo was talking about. He always prepared it this way: he would buy a large pancake, cook a pot of corn porridge, and treat it as a meal.

The difference is that tonight’s is mooncakes.

Tang An drank porridge and ate mooncakes in big gulps. He couldn't choose, because if he did, he would go hungry.

“When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on a man, it will do so with hunger and poverty.”

His half-wet clothes stuck to his body and the corn porridge tasted bitter, but he knew that he would definitely make it.

Don't care.

Just a little bit difficult.

At the Li family's old house, Li Mu went to the river to have fun for the whole afternoon and caught a lot of lobsters and loaches. Aunt Huang was a good cook and coated them with batter and added plenty of oil, salt and chili peppers. Li Mu asked her to keep half for herself, as he and Tang Yuanyuan couldn't finish them anyway.

After eating crabs today, Tang Yuanyuan remembered that she seemed to have started eating meat, so she also ate two shrimps, tasted them and didn't move them. She also ate two moon cakes, drank some porridge, and ate an apple.

The first Mid-Autumn Festival without Zhang Lancao passed like this.

She felt a little guilty, so she had to kneel on the ground and burn incense with her mother to discuss: "I'm sorry, Mom, I forgot today. I ate crabs and two lobsters and forgot to observe mourning for you."

"Don't be angry, but I know you won't blame me."

"I'm doing pretty well now. I'm in my first year of high school at No. 1 Middle School. I opened a clothing store and make hundreds of yuan a day. I can afford whatever I want to eat now."

"I'm fine in every way except that you're not around. However, I know you'll be happy for me."

On Monday, the morning reading class ended.

Yu Fangfang held a dollar in her hand and said, "Tang An, go buy me a bag of plums."

Tang An gave Xu Fangfang a gentle look, then walked out with the money in his hand.

Xu Ming, who was always ordered around by Yu Fangfang, felt like the sky was falling.

Just two days ago, he was the most promising suitor, but now, the honor of running errands for Yu Fangfang is gone.

Li Mu looked at it in surprise, "Your brother actually works as an errand boy for the young lady?"

Yu Fangfang is a very young lady. Now the whole grade knows this beauty in Class 2 and has given her a nickname, Miss.

Tang Yuanyuan nodded slightly, "It's just what you see."

Li Mu: "What's he thinking? The eldest lady is clearly playing tricks on him, he can't fail to see it."

Tang Yuanyuan: "Do you think he doesn't know?"

Li Mu: "He really wants to be a gigolo?"

Tang Yuanyuan nodded. He not only relied on Yu Fangfang as his gigolo, but also on Chu Bing.

It's not surprising to run errands for Yu Fangfang. Most of the people who run errands for Yu Fangfang are poor students who come here to get by. But Tang An is different.

He is in the top five in his class and top 50 in his grade, and he will definitely be a college student in the future.

His action immediately attracted the attention of the whole class and spread to other classes.

However, Tang An himself did not care about other people's opinions. In the dormitory that night, they had another fight and beat him up together. But this time Tang An was prepared. He asked many people to wait outside the door. When they heard the fighting, they came in with sticks. This time, Tang An was ruthless and directly broke one of them's bones.

The matter was brought to the attention of the head teacher, but because the other party was at fault, Tang An was not in trouble.

Yu Fangfang naturally knew it too.

But she didn't look at Tang An with admiration like she did the first time.

He then glanced around at Tang An's face and asked, "Did they bully you?"

She asked Tang An to squat down as if rewarding him, and patted his head with satisfaction, like patting a dog: "Not bad, now you are barely qualified to run errands for me."

Yu Fangfang orders Tang An around heartlessly, but her relationship with Tang Yuanyuan remains unchanged.

After all, Tang An was so poor that he could only run errands for him and they couldn't even have meals together.

Unlike Tang Yuanyuan, she earns her own money and is one of the only two rich people in the class besides her.

They can, they can eat at whichever restaurant has good food.

A new rice noodle shop opened near the school. Tang Yuanyuan didn't know that she was being targeted. When she and Yu Fangfang came out of the shop, they were also blocked.

One of them was Zhao Shun, whom I hadn’t seen for a long time.

Zhao Shun had a tuft of yellow hair on his head and smiled wickedly: "Give me money."

Yu Fangfang: “!!!” Why is she so unlucky!

Tang Yuanyuan: "How much do you want?"

Zhao Shun: "We are all acquaintances. It would be bad to give less. Besides, you are so rich. Just give 200."

Tang Yuanyuan said without hesitation: "Okay."

Zhao Shun didn't expect it to be so smooth, and he smiled with satisfaction. Tang Yuanyuan put one hand in his pocket to take out money, but stepped back to the side. With the other hand, he grabbed the other's wrist and pushed forward, while with one hand he pressed his head and hit it hard on the other boy's head.

Just like two watermelons, there was a bang, and the two people's heads shook.

Tang Yuanyuan kicked him again, and both of them fell to the ground.

Before Yu Fangfang could react, she was dragged away.

Tang Yuanyuan didn't intend to let things end like this. Being remembered by others was not a good thing. Who knew if she would have such luck next time.

Why not strike first and catch them? "Yu Fangfang, do you want to catch these little hooligans? No one will dare to mess with you in the future."

Yu Fangfang's eyes lit up. "Nonsense! It feels terrible to be targeted. Do you have any fun ideas?"

Tang Yuanyuan: "They didn't get us today, and they were beaten. They must be unwilling to accept this. So let's be the bait and catch them in the trap."

The next day before evening study, Tang Yuanyuan and Yu Fangfang came to this restaurant to eat rice noodles as usual.

Yu Fangfang was a little worried: "Will this trick of yours work? They just snatched it away yesterday, maybe they won't come today."

Tang Yuanyuan stirred the bean sprouts inside and said, "You see, normal people think this way. If they like to be smart, they will think that we think the same way. If we do the opposite, maybe it will come."

Tang Yuanyuan and Yu Fangfang deliberately walked into the alley, and sure enough, Zhao Shun was wearing a baseball cap, and even his partner was the same person from yesterday.

Zhao Shun was furious: "You little bitch, I let you get away yesterday, but you won't be so lucky today."

To her surprise, Tang Yuanyuan took out the money on her own initiative today, and Yu Fangfang also quickly took out all the money in her pocket.

A total of five hundred yuan.

Zhao Shun was suspicious: "Are you trying to trick me?"

Tang Yuanyuan: "No, no, you brought a knife today, so of course your life is at stake."

Zhao Shun: "You're smart. You and Li Mu earn so much money anyway, you can't spend it all. From now on, remember to pay 200 every week, and I will protect you and make sure no one harasses you."

Tang Yuanyuan: "Okay."

Zhao Shun got the money and walked with his brothers without saying anything. When they reached the corner, they were blocked by two strong men.

Looking back, there were two more strong men.

They are all the strongest security guards in the cotton mill.

Yu Fangfang played with her pigtails and kicked Zhao Shun in the chest: "Fuck, all of you, if I don't teach you a lesson, you still think I'm easy to bully."

Since there were security guards around, Yu Fangfang just kept beating people up. She found it quite satisfying to beat people up like this, kicking each person twice before she was satisfied. Then she ordered the security guards, "Send them to the Public Security Bureau and have them jailed."

Zhao Shun and his friend were only fifteen years old. They were short of money and wanted to get some to spend. But how could they go to the police station for the first time? They heard that many criminals in the prison were particularly cruel, and the new criminals had to take care of people's excrement and urine. The cruelty and pleasure they had just felt were gone. Now there was only fear and terror, and their legs were weak.

Zhao Shun felt even more powerless. Her mother had already been imprisoned for theft, but because there was no substantial financial loss, she was only sentenced to three months.

She will be released soon, but he himself will go to jail for robbery.

Tang Yuanyuan blocked Zhao Shun's way and said, "Zhao Shun, do you regret it now?"

Zhao Shun already regretted it in his heart, but he was unhappy with Tang Yuanyuan because of her relationship with Li Mu, so he pursed his lips tightly.

But his uncontrollable trembling lips and frightened eyes betrayed him.

Tang Yuanyuan said, "I know that no one is supporting you now, and your family's reputation has been ruined. Your life is not easy."

"But if you rob once, you'll be stuck in jail for the rest of your life."

"If you choose to live a good life now and find a job, when your mother is released from prison, you can take her over and give her a place to settle down. In five or ten years, no one will remember your mother's theft, and time will prove that you are a good person."

"Tell me, do you want to live a good life, or do you want to go to jail and be a thief or robber for the rest of your life? Like the robber who robbed your father?"

Zhao Shun: "What do you mean by that?"

Tang Yuanyuan: "I still remember when I was ten years old, you guys were playing football together and you kicked me. You didn't take it seriously, but you were the only one who apologized to me."

Zhao Shun was surprised and in disbelief, and his eyes couldn't help but become moist.

His father is a wicked man who repays kindness with enmity, and his mother is a thief.

He seemed to be no longer worthy of living in this world. His former friends left him and his relatives avoided him.

Whenever his aunt was unhappy, she would pinch his waist and call him a thief son. He didn't even dare to eat at the table.

There are also people who remember that he was once a good boy.

Tang Yuanyuan: "If you are willing to come back, just nod your head. I won't send you to the police station."

Zhao Shun lowered his head and nodded.

Tang Yuanyuan asked the security guard to let him go. "Take this money. Take it and go south. There are many factories hiring. No one there knows your family background, and no one will say anything bad about you. You can start a new life."

"Working is definitely hard and may be physically tiring, but as long as you have an active mind, you'll always find a way out. Remember, no matter how difficult it is, the worst that can happen is begging, but you can't steal, let alone rob."

"I'm willing to help you today because of your kindness back then. It can be considered as you saving yourself."

Zhao Shun hadn't heard a word of affirmation from anyone for a long, long time.

He squatted on the ground, his bones turning white as he held the money, and he held his head and sobbed bitterly.

Yu Fangfang's eyes lit up, she discovered a new way to play!

Man, you can use it like this!

It seems like the male protagonist on TV has a younger brother, but Tang Yuanyuan is a girl, and she actually has her own younger brother.

So fun!

Usually in this situation, many years later, the other party becomes very successful and follows her lead.

Tang Yuanyuan is still the best.

She was also tempted and wanted to get one to play with. It would be much more interesting than sending it to the police station.

He glared at the other little rascal and said, "What about you? Do you know how to turn over a new leaf?"

"Can you let me go?"

Yu Fangfang played with her pigtails: "That depends on your sincerity."

"My fate is actually as tragic as Zhao Shun's. I'm an orphan, and I was so hungry I couldn't stand it anymore. I didn't want to be a bad person."

Yu Fangfang kicked him in the stomach and said, "Stop playing the victim and tell me your name and home address."

"well!"

The other party quickly gave his name, Wang Erniu, who had never seen his father or mother and grew up with his grandfather who picked up rags.

Yu Fangfang laughed so hard that her stomach hurt. Someone actually called her that name.

She tied the rope around his neck instead, tugged on it, and played with it like a cow: "If you can make me happy by imitating the mooing of a cow, I might consider letting you go."

As long as he could avoid going to the police station, he would be willing to imitate the sound of a cow, not to mention the barking of a dog. Wang Erniu shouted and imitated the sound of a cow very vividly, and Yu Fangfang was quite satisfied.

She came up with something more interesting.

"If you are willing to listen to me in the future, I will let you go. I will also arrange a job for you and make sure you have enough food to eat."

"well!"

"Miss, from now on I will do whatever you ask me to do. You are my aunt."

Yu Fangfang asked the security guard to take Wang Erniu back home for resettlement, while she and Tang Yuanyuan went to school.

Li Muru rushed over after hearing the news and stopped in front of Tang Yuanyuan: "Fuck, I heard someone is blocking you, that one is not long"

As he was speaking, he saw Zhao Shun holding the money, and his eyes flashed with sharp coldness: "Fuck, you're looking for death!"

Tang Yuanyuan held him back and said, "Forget it, let him go. His father is dead and his mother is not doing well either. Let him go to a new place and start over."

Li Mu turned his head and looked at Tang Yuanyuan: "Let him start over?"

"Tang Yuanyuan, do you want to see your second uncle and third uncle's sons live a good life?"

"Will you wish Tang An a happy life in the second half of his life?"

Hate is such an emotion, it is more profound and entangled than love, and one will only be satisfied if one gets it back ten or a thousand times.

"Tang An and I grew up together, and he's always been the one taking care of me. I don't care what others say about my heartlessness. I'm on your side, damn it."

"You have to stand by me too."