That was an unexpected person who appeared in the afternoon.
Meng Xueyun neatly packed up the last bag of trash in the house and carried it out the door.
She's in a pretty good mood right now.
Although I was laid off from the steel mill, I would soon receive the severance pay and be able to buy a house.
What makes her even more proud is that she has found a new job as a kitchen helper in a restaurant outside the cotton mill dormitory.
The work is a bit tiring, but I earn fifty yuan more a month than I would in the steel mill canteen, and they even provide two meals a day!
From then on, she was the only one in the family who earned money, and she no longer had to beg Ye Zhenghua for a penny.
This life has hope!
Meng Xueyun felt happier and happier as she thought about it. After throwing away the trash, she picked up her shopping basket and headed towards the market, planning to buy a piece of pork belly and make braised pork for dinner to satisfy her craving.
Just as I reached the alley entrance, a slightly hoarse male voice suddenly called out from behind me.
"elder sister!"
Meng Xueyun didn't realize that she was being called and just kept walking forward.
The voice persisted, calling after her and even including her full name:
"Meng Xueyun! Sister!"
Meng Xueyun then stopped and turned around.
She saw a thin, middle-aged man standing not far behind her, grinning at her.
The man looked to be about fifty years old, with sparse, graying hair. His old vest was so worn that it was almost see-through, and he had a dirty plastic woven bag slung over his shoulder.
Judging by his attire, he's probably a beggar.
Meng Xueyun felt a surge of disgust. She subconsciously hid the vegetable basket behind her back, waved her hand, and said irritably, "Go find someone else. I have no money! I'm almost starving myself!"
After saying that, he turned to leave.
"Sister, it's me! It's Xiaojun!"
When the man saw that she was about to leave, he panicked and took a few quick steps to try and grab her arm.
"Xiaojun?"
These two words were like a thunderclap, exploding in Meng Xueyun's mind, making her shudder and freeze on the spot.
Then, like a puppet without oil, she turned around very slowly, bit by bit, her gaze fixed on the man's face, scrutinizing him closely.
It's still the same face, yet it's completely different.
The contours of her brow bone, nose bridge, and mouth are still vaguely the same as I remember, but they seem to have been ruthlessly rubbed by time, covered with deep wrinkles.
Meng Xueyun was completely stunned, standing there like a wooden stake.
"You...you are..." Her lips trembled for a long time before she managed to squeeze out a few hoarse words, "Xiao Jun?"
"Sister! It's me, I'm back!" The man nodded excitedly when he saw that she recognized him, his eyes welling up with tears. "I finally managed to find you and found out that your family moved here!"
With a clang, the vegetable basket in Meng Xueyun's hand fell to the ground.
This really is her younger brother who has been missing for eighteen years, Meng Zihan's biological father, Meng Xuejun!
Her tears welled up instantly, and she murmured, "You're not dead...you're still alive..."
The Meng Xuejun before me is much thinner and much older than he was more than a decade ago.
He was already short, but because of his hunchback, he looked even thinner and smaller.
He was clearly a few years younger than Meng Xueyun, but his wrinkled face made him look more than ten years older than her.
Meng Xueyun felt heartbroken as she watched, but she was also filled with resentment when she thought about what he had done.
She rushed to Meng Xuejun in three strides, raised her arm and started punching him, cursing as she did so, her voice cracking.
"You bastard! You still know how to come back! You still remember you have a sister! Where have you been all these years? Not a single letter. I thought you'd died in some stinking ditch long ago!"
Meng Xuejun howled in pain as he was beaten, begging for mercy while dodging: "Sister! Sister! I know I was wrong! Please stop hitting me, ouch!"
"I'm just looking for my wife, aren't I?" he said, clutching his head and explaining awkwardly. "The country is so big, it would take so much effort for me to search everywhere! Sis! Stop hitting me, or you'll really break apart!"
Seeing that Meng Xueyun had no intention of stopping, he simply covered his head and began to wail dramatically: "Oh my! My dear sister! I've been on a slow train for three days and three nights, and I've only eaten a few dry buns. I'm so hungry I could eat people. If you hit me again, you'll kill me!"
Hearing him say he was hungry, Meng Xueyun's fist, which was about to strike, stopped in mid-air.
Seeing her brother's miserable and wretched state, her heart softened instantly, but she still wouldn't let it go.
"You only realize you're worried now that your wife has run away? Where were you all this time? I told you to work hard and earn money, but you insisted on gambling and drinking! She kept the house spotless, and you got drunk and started hitting her. Anyone would run away in that situation! If it were me, I'd run away even faster than her!"
Upon hearing this, Meng Xuejun put down his hand and muttered in dissatisfaction, "Sister, this is an old, messy debt from ages ago, why bring it up again? If I hadn't repented, would I have spent so many years looking for her?"
"Where is that person? Have you found them?" Meng Xueyun asked impatiently.
Meng Xuejun's head immediately drooped, shaking it like a rattle: "No... it's not that easy to find."
Meng Xueyun snorted inwardly. With her brother's character, saying he was looking for someone meant he was probably just desperate to make a living somewhere else and that's why he wanted to come home.
But the words stuck in my throat. What's the point of saying all this now that everyone's back?
Seeing that she was silent and only wiping away her tears, Meng Xuejun cautiously approached her and said, "Sister, don't cry. Um... what about Xiaohan? My daughter, is she... is she alright?"
Mentioning Meng Zihan reignited Meng Xueyun's anger. Pointing at him, she yelled, "Do you even remember you have a daughter?! How can you be so heartless, just throwing away such a tiny child like that! What kind of father are you?!"
Despite her cursing, she still bent down to pick up the vegetable basket from the ground, tossed her head towards home, and said, "Let's go, why are you still standing here making a fool of yourself?"
As she walked, she rambled on about Meng Zihan's life over the years, her tone full of heartache and grievance.
As they approached the door, she deliberately stopped and whispered, "She's had a rough few years, suffered a lot of injustices, and isn't in good spirits. You're still her father, she'll definitely be happy to see you, but be careful what you say later, go along with her, and don't upset her anymore, understand?"
Meng Xuejun patted his chest and readily agreed.
"Don't worry, sister! I know Xiaohan has suffered. It's all my fault as her father! I will definitely make it up to her!"
He looked every bit the loving father who cared deeply for his daughter and couldn't wait to see her.
Meng Xueyun felt a little comforted. She sighed, took out her keys from her pocket, and opened the door.
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