Chapter 136

When Zhong Jing said this, her eyes couldn't help but become redressed. She had been waiting for this moment for many years, and finally she was vindicated.

Not only Zhong Jing's eyes turned red, Lin Tao's eyes also became moist after hearing this, and she said hurriedly: "This, this is great."

Then he asked, "After you are rehabilitated, what will you do next? Have you resumed your work? Can you go back to teach at your previous school?"

Zhong Jing nodded and said, "Of course we can. We have already received a notice from the school, allowing Zhou Wen and I to continue teaching at the school, and Zhou Wen has been promoted to director. In fact, if this incident hadn't happened, he would have been promoted to director as well."

"It's not too late now, Teacher Zhong. There's still time for everything." Lin Tao said.

Zhong Jing nodded: "Yes, the country's policies are good now. Thank you to the country and the President."

"Look at me, I'm only talking about myself when I get here, and I haven't even mentioned the baby yet." Zhong Jing asked, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"For a boy, let's call him Li Yanxing." Lin Tao said with a smile.

Zhong Jing: "He is so handsome, and looks a lot like Deputy Brigade Commander Li, even more like him than Yueyue did back then. His skin is like yours, so fair and handsome."

After Lin Changhai came back from fishing, he learned about Zhou Wen's rehabilitation, so he said he was going to the food factory to buy some vegetables and asked them to have dinner at home tonight.

Zhong Jing felt embarrassed at first. After all, Lin Tao had just finished her confinement. Their original intention was to talk to Lin Tao, and it was not good to disturb the mother and the child.

But Lin Tao said, "After you go back this time, we can't say when we will meet again. We must eat."

That was true. Zhong Jing originally thought that since Lin Tao had just finished her confinement and it would be inconvenient for her, she would not bother her. However, she felt a little sad after hearing this, so she could only say, "If you ever go to Ancheng, you must come to see us."

"I definitely will." Lin Tao nodded. "I heard that the mutton soup steamed buns there are delicious. Yueyue loves it so much. I will definitely find a chance to take her there to have a look."

"There's more than just mutton soup with steamed buns. There are many other delicious foods. When you come, I'll take you around." Zhong Jing said.

Xu Yuting and Chen Shuifen learned that Zhou Wen was rehabilitated and that Zhong Jing and Zhou Wen were about to leave the island. They were very happy for them, but at the same time they couldn't help feeling sad.

After work, Chen Shuifen asked Zheng Youde to kill a goose, saying that she wanted to cook it in an iron pot: "Teacher Zhong, everyone says that my iron pot goose is delicious. I always felt sorry that you didn't come when we celebrated the New Year together last time. This time we are having dinner together, I will cook you an iron pot goose stew."

Lin Tao said: "Then I will make pickled fish and use the pickled fish soup to make noodles."

"Atao, you just came out of confinement and your body hasn't recovered yet, so you'd better rest. Let's cook together. My cooking skills have improved now. Even Wang Yuanliang said that my cooking is better than before." Xu Yuting said.

Chen Shuifen nodded: "Yes, Mr. Lin, please stop working. There are so many of us, how can we not even cook a meal?"

Zhong Jing said: "You haven't tasted my cooking skills yet, so I'll show you my skills today."

Zhong Jing is a very good cook. When she was cooking, Zhou Wen was helping her.

Seeing this, Xu Yuting couldn't help but joked, "It turns out that Teacher Zhou also helps Teacher Zhong with cooking. I rarely saw Teacher Zhou smile before, and I thought he was a particularly chauvinistic person who never helped with these things at home."

Zhou Wen felt a little embarrassed, and Zhong Jing helped explain: "In fact, when we were in Ancheng, he often helped me with housework."

"During the past few years on the island, I have not been able to adjust myself, and Xiaojing has suffered a lot. I will make it up to her in the future. Thanks to Xiaojing and you good friends, I am very grateful to everyone. When we have dinner later, I will definitely toast you all." Zhou Wen said.

"With your words, we feel relieved." Lin Tao said.

Under such circumstances, Zhong Jing continued to stick with Zhou Wen. This true love deserves to be treated well.

Several families had dinner together. It had been said at the beginning that the four families would have dinner together, but because Zhou Wen disagreed at that time, they waited for a few more years and finally sat together.

During the meal, Zhou Wen toasted everyone and thanked them for their help to him and his wife over the years. Lin Tao couldn't drink alcohol, so she used water instead.

Xie Cong was very happy to learn that Zhou Wen was rehabilitated and Zhong Jing could return to school to continue teaching. He bought a bottle of wine, went to the army canteen to get two dishes, and sat in the canteen to eat and drink.

Ren Ying brought her children to the cafeteria to get food. Seeing this, she asked, "Teacher Xie, what are you so happy about? You're even drinking."

Xie Cong smiled and said, "Good news, very good news."

Ren Ying's child is two years old this year and was clamoring to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy peach cakes. Ren Ying didn't ask any big questions, just smiled and took the child back.

Not long after, Zhou Wen arrived and immediately saw Xie Cong sitting in the cafeteria drinking. He walked over and called out, "Teacher Xie."

After being rehabilitated, Zhou Wen put on a neat Zhongshan suit. Although it was old, it was indeed very different from the way he wore it when he went out to sea to fish, and he looked more elegant.

"Teacher Zhou." Xie Cong nodded and invited, "How about we have a drink together?"

Zhou Wen sat down, and Xie Cong asked the chef in the cafeteria for a wine glass, poured a glass of wine for Zhou Wen, and they drank it. Xie Cong said, "I heard that you were rehabilitated. Congratulations. You and Zhong Jing can both go back to school to teach, right?"

Zhou Wen said, "Thank you."

He no longer felt inferior like before, always thinking that others looked down on him. This time, his thanks were sincere: "I've wanted to say thank you for a long time. If that hadn't happened, I wouldn't have been able to be with Zhong Jing. Zhong Jing also wanted me to say thank you to you on her behalf."

Thank him for coming all the way to see her after so many years, even though what happened back then has become a thing of the past in her heart.

Xie Cong smiled, nodded and took a sip of wine: "Tell her, I know."

Zhong Jing and Zhou Wen did not stay on the island for long. They stayed at Chen Shuifen's house for one night and left the island to return to Ancheng the next day.

Lin Tao had just finished her confinement and was not suitable to be exposed to the wind, so she did not go to see them off.

Chen Shuifen and Xu Yuting both went to see him off. When Chen Shuifen came back, she wiped her tears and muttered, "Tell me, it's obviously a good thing that Teacher Zhou was rehabilitated. Why am I crying? I really don't know what to say."

Xu Yuting said, "That's right, stop crying. If someone sees you, they will think I scolded you and made you cry. How unfair it would be for me."

This immediately made Chen Shuifen laugh. She said, "You must be joking. I wouldn't do that."

Lin Tao was watching the child in the yard. Xingxing was asleep in the cradle. When she saw the two men enter the yard, she asked, "What's going on?"

Chen Shuifen said, "I went to see Teacher Zhong off. I don't know what happened. Maybe the north wind made my eyes blurry or something. My eyes felt uncomfortable. Teacher Xu told me not to cry, or else people would think she had scolded me for crying. I said I wasn't worthy of being scolded by Teacher Xu."

Xu Yuting curled her lips: "Did the wind blow you? You were crying."

Seeing the two people arguing, Lin Tao could not help but smile. Xingxing in the rocking bed hummed a few times. Xu Yuting and Chen Shuifen quickly kept quiet for fear of waking up the child.

The three of them sat down and spoke in deliberately low voices, feeling very comfortable in the afternoon with the sea breeze.

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After the Chinese New Year, it was 1976. However, for some reason, the year started with something bad. On January 8, the beloved Premier Zhou Enlai passed away in Beijing. The whole country was in deep mourning, and the hearse of the Premier was lined up for miles.

In July, Chairman Zhu De also passed away.

During this year, the Chinese people lost two outstanding leaders. However, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon of September 9, the radio on the island announced the news that made everyone sad: "At 0:10 in the morning of that day, Chairman Mao, the great leader of the People's Republic of China, passed away."

When the news came out, everyone was shocked. They couldn't even believe their ears. Did they hear it wrong? Or did the announcer make a mistake?

How could the great leader Chairman Mao leave like this?

But it was not that they heard it wrong, nor was it that the announcer made a mistake. After the announcer finished broadcasting the news, he covered his face and burst into tears. In fact, last year, the Chairman's health was getting worse and worse. At the beginning of this year, he was hit again by the death of Premier Zhou and Chairman Zhu De.

By mid-May, he was already in critical condition and even suffered his first myocardial infarction.

The second and third myocardial infarctions occurred on June 26 and September 2.

Under such circumstances, the Chairman, despite his serious illness, was still very concerned about the earthquake situation when earthquakes occurred in Tangshan and Fengnan areas. The last document he read before his death was the "Notice on Earthquake Prevention and Disaster Relief in Tangshan and Fengnan Areas."

As soon as the news of Chairman Mao's death was announced, everyone fell into great grief. In the classroom, Lin Tao organized the students to observe a moment of silence, and the national flag was lowered on the school playground.

Lin Tao couldn't help but think of the great man she saw at Tiananmen Square when she went to Beijing that year. The great man was probably not in good health at the time, but he still cared about the people. Such a good leader...

Farewell, Chairman!

Looking at the students crying in the classroom, Lin Tao, as a teacher, didn't want to cry in front of the students, but she couldn't help it in the end. She lowered her eyes and tears flowed like rain.

On this day, Lin Changhai originally planned to go fishing, but after hearing the broadcast, he sat there blankly. He seemed not to notice when the fish took the bait, and he sat there like that for the entire afternoon.

Yueyue was someone who had met the Chairman. When she learned that the kind and gentle old man had passed away, after school, the first thing she did was not to hug her brother, but to throw herself into Lin Tao's arms and wipe away her tears: "Wuwuwu, Mom, Grandpa Mao passed away due to illness... Mom, Grandpa Mao was such a good person, why couldn't he live a hundred years?"

Lin Tao's eyes were red. She wiped Yueyue's tears and said, "Although the Chairman passed away, he still lives in our hearts. He can live not only a hundred years, but also a thousand years. Yueyue, don't you agree?"

"Well, I will always remember Grandpa Mao!" Yueyue nodded.

The year 1976 was a dark year for the Chinese people. They lost several outstanding leaders that year, and grief accompanied them for the entire year.

By 1977, Xingxing was already over one year old, almost two. Boys start speaking later than girls. Yueyue could call "Mom" when she was less than one year old, and called "Dad" on her first birthday. By the time she was one and a half years old and as old as Xingxing, she could already speak a lot.

Xingxing didn't start calling people until she was one and a half years old. The first word she called was not "Mom" or "Dad", but "Sister".

When Yueyue heard Xingxing call her "sister" in a soft voice, she was so happy that she jumped three feet high. She immediately ran over and hugged Xingxing, kissed him on the face, called him "good brother", and wanted to pick up Xingxing.

But Xingxing now weighs more than 20 kilograms, and Yueyue is now over seven years old but not yet eight. Lin Tao was afraid that she couldn't hold Xingxing, so she quickly hugged her tightly.

Not long after Xingxing turned two years old, Yueyue entered her tooth-losing period.

Yueyue is younger than the students in her class. She started school earlier and is now in the fourth grade. Most of the students in her class started to lose their teeth last year, but Yueyue hadn't yet. At that time, she thought it was funny that everyone was missing front teeth, but then it was her turn.

Yueyue's first tooth was loose at first, but a little bit of the edge was still attached and didn't fall off. In the end, she chewed the tooth off when eating an apple.

Yueyue, who had lost her first tooth, quickly took the tooth to show Lin Tao: "Mom, Mom, my tooth fell out!"

A mouth full of blood.

Lin Tao quickly poured her a glass of water and asked her to clear her mouth.

Lin Changhai took the tooth and said, "If the upper tooth falls off, throw it down, and if the lower tooth falls off, throw it onto the roof, otherwise the new tooth will grow back badly."

Having said that, he took Yueyue to get his teeth fixed.

When the second tooth fell out, Yueyue was playing with Zheng Hongxing and Wang Qingming. They were playing a guerrilla game and Yueyue accidentally bumped into it. It didn't hurt, but it knocked out a loose lower tooth.

"Brother Hongxing, my tooth fell out." Yueyue said.

Zheng Hongxing took her tooth and said, "I'll throw it away for you."

Throwing it away, Yueyue got anxious and stamped her feet, saying, "Brother Hongxing, these are my lower teeth. I have to throw them onto the roof, otherwise my teeth won't grow out."

Because of this, Yueyue didn't sleep well for two days. She was worried every day that her teeth wouldn't grow out and she would be missing a tooth in the future. How ugly it would be. Although Wang Qingming told her that day, those words were just lies to children. Even if the lower teeth were not thrown on the roof, they would not grow out. Even if they were buried in the soil, the teeth that were supposed to grow out would still grow out.

After Lin Changhai realized that his words to coax the child had made Yueyue so worried, he explained to her that it was okay and that the wound would grow out.

That afternoon, Wang Qingming came home.