Chapter 139

"Before he died, your dad said he wanted to be buried with your mom."

"Your father has you and your mother in his heart. He can't remember much in recent years and only remembers your mother and you. He always talks about your childhood. Cheng Xi, your father has always regretted what happened back then..." Zhang Sufen said.

However, before she could finish her words, Li Chengxi rejected her idea outright: "Impossible."

What happened in those days cannot be forgotten just because someone dies. There is no way he would agree to bury Li Guodong with his mother.

Li Chengxi refused without any hesitation. Zhang Sufen could only look at Lin Tao and beg, "Lin Tao, Auntie, please persuade Chengxi."

Lin Tao shook her head decisively: "I listen to Cheng Xi about everything at home, and I support Cheng Xi's decisions."

Zhang Sufen had no choice but to look at Li Chengxi, who looked 50% similar to Lu Xiangchun, and suddenly knelt down in front of him.

Lin Tao was stunned for a moment and didn't react.

Li Chengxi looked at Zhang Sufen kneeling in front of him and suddenly remembered that more than 20 years ago, he went to find Li Guodong because his mother wanted to see his father before she died, but Li Guodong was hesitant because Zhang Sufen had a difficult delivery. He knelt on the ground and begged him.

But he didn't go because of Zhang Sufen.

After Lin Tao reacted, she quickly supported Zhang Sufen and helped her up: "Aunt Zhang, what are you doing? If others see you, they will think Cheng Xi did something to you."

Zhang Sufen burst into tears: "Chengxi, I beg you, this is your father's only last wish before he died, please fulfill it. He really knows that he was wrong, he regrets it, he regrets it... He has been regretting it all these years..."

Li Chengqi thought it was ridiculous: "This was his only last wish before he died, and I have to fulfill it? Then who can fulfill my mother's last wish before she died?"

"Atao, let's go." Li Chengxi didn't want to say any more to Zhang Sufen, and took Lin Tao out of the room.

At this moment, Li Mingcheng and Lin Manman were outside the room. Lin Manman asked worriedly, "Mingcheng, I wonder what mom is talking to my sister and brother-in-law about. Is anything going to happen?"

Li Mingcheng asked: "Didn't you hear what Dad said to Mom at that time?"

"No, Dad was out of strength at the time and spoke in a very low voice. Mom was the one who lay down and put her ear close to him and heard it. Yanyan and I didn't hear it." Lin Manman shook her head.

At this time, the door was opened, and Li Chengxi and Li Tao walked out.

Lin Manman looked at Lin Tao, and Lin Tao pursed her lips and shook her head at her.

Li Mingcheng called out, "Brother, sister-in-law," and walked into the room. Zhang Sufen held his hand and said, "Mingcheng, you have had a good relationship with your brother since you were a child. Go and ask your brother on behalf of your mother to agree to bury your father with Lu Xiangchun."

Only then did Li Mingcheng know what Li Guodong's last wish was. No wonder Li Chengxi looked unhappy just now.

He looked at Zhang Sufen crying and sighed, "Mom, don't bother yourself. Big brother won't agree!"

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The first school term of 1978 was in March. Lin Tao, Xu Yuting and Ma Xiaoying left the island together to go to school.

Yueyue would be nine years old this year. She knew that Lintao was going to school. Although she was reluctant to let her go, she suppressed her sadness and asked her mother to study hard, do well in the exams, and come back early when she went to send Lintao off.

Xingxing also couldn't bear to leave her mother. She would cry for her mother before going to bed at night. Yueyue would come out of her room and coax Xingxing. Xingxing would curl up in her sister's arms and fall asleep.

During holidays, Lin Tao and Xu Yuting would return to the island. Sometimes, Lin Changhai would bring his three children to visit his mother, stay in the city for a day, and then take the children back the next day.

The goose at home has hatched little goslings. Xingxing gave the four little goslings names: "Zao Zao, Diandian, Hui Hui, Lai Lai", which together mean "come back early".

It was fine when Yueyue was at home on vacation or after school, because Xingxing was with her sister and didn't miss her mother so much. But when Yueyue went to school, Xingxing would sit in the yard, waiting for her sister and mother to come back.

Fortunately, college students have a lot of holidays, and can stay at home with their children during both winter and summer vacations.

Every time Lin Tao and Xu Yuting went back to the island on vacation, Chen Shuifen was happiest. She used to be used to sitting together with Lin Tao and Xu Yuting, chatting, doing some work, etc. to kill time. But since Lin Tao and Xu Yuting went to college, Chen Shuifen found it boring.

Sometimes she sighed, if only she was smarter, she could go to college with me. She thought those who said women read so many books were nonsense. Although she couldn't concentrate on reading, she knew that reading more books was good.

Three years passed in the blink of an eye, and it was 1981, when Lin Tao and Xu Yuting graduated.

Chen Shuifen cooked a table full of dishes for them to have dinner at her home, including swimming crabs, sauerkraut stewed with vermicelli, old hen stewed in an iron pot, braised hairtail, pickled beans, and pickled radish shreds.

As Chen Shuifen cooked, she said, "I have learned how to pickle sauerkraut from Teacher Lin for such a long time, but strangely, the sauerkraut I pickle is not as delicious as the one made by Teacher Lin. If I hadn't seen how Teacher Lin made it with my own eyes and knew that Teacher Lin was not the kind of person who would keep secrets, I would have suspected that Teacher Lin deliberately didn't want to teach me."

Lin Tao helped and laughed, "If you want to eat pickled cabbage in the future, ask me to pickle it."

Chen Shuifen said, "Okay, now that you've all graduated, I can come visit you again. Teacher Xu, next time when you're free, please design some clothes for me so I can try them on."

Xu Yuting said, "Okay, then I will dress you up so well that your deputy commander Zheng won't recognize you."

Chen Shuifen: "Is it popular outside the island to perm your hair into medium curls? The last time I left the island, I saw someone perming their hair. It was curly, like wool, and looked messy."

"Sister, that's fashion. It's about that kind of demure beauty." Xu Yuting said.

As they were talking, Zheng Hongxing came back from outside. Zheng Hongxing's grades were not very good, so he stopped studying after finishing junior high school and failed to get into high school, so he stayed at home for the time being. Zheng Xiangyang, on the other hand, took the college entrance exam last year and was admitted.

He went to the sea and got a lot of oysters. Zheng Hongxing is fifteen years old this year. From the little boy who ran to Lin Tao's house and wanted to be Lin Tao's son, he has grown into a big man.

Now standing next to Lin Tao, he is a head taller than Lin Tao. He looks very serious when he is not talking, but when he speaks and calls people, he reveals a naive spirit: "Aunt Lin, Aunt Xu, you are back. Qingming, Yueyue and Xingxing will definitely be very happy to see you after school."

The meal was ready and the three families sat together to have dinner.

Yueyue and Xingxing sat next to Lin Tao. Xingxing was six years old and was already in the second grade. Yueyue was twelve years old and started to grow rapidly in the first half of this year. Now she was almost as tall as Lin Tao.

On the contrary, Wang Qingming, who is half a year older than Yueyue, is not as tall as Yueyue when they stand next to each other.

Xu Yuting said, "You need to eat more. Look at Yueyue, she's taller than you."

Lin Tao said, "Girls grow up earlier than boys. Yueyue developed first. You and Brigade Commander Wang are both tall, so Qingming won't be short."

Although he said so, Wang Qingming glanced at Yueyue who was eating happily beside him. After finishing two steamed buns, he silently took another steamed bun and ate it with the dishes.

When Chen Shuifen saw the bucket of oysters, she looked at Lin Tao and Xu Yuting with an ambiguous look, and cooked the oysters specially. She said that Li Chengxi and Wang Yuanliang had not seen them for a long time, and they might have to work overtime tonight.

After turning off the lights at night, Lin Tao and Li Chengxi lay on the bed, and Lin Tao felt Li Chengxi's hand approaching first.

Li Chengxi is already in his early 40s, but every time Lin Tao comes back from school, he always tortures her. After Lin Tao gave birth to Xingxing, Li Chengxi had a sterilization, so that when they do that, they don't have to worry about getting pregnant again.

In fact, these days, it is usually women who get an IUD, but Lin Tao was afraid, and Li Chengxi didn't say a word and went for a vasectomy the day after Xingxing was born.

Afterwards, Lin Tao lay in Li Chengxi's arms. Under the dim light of the kerosene lamp, she looked at Li Chengxi's strong features and reached out to touch his straight nose.

Li Chengxi still looks the same as he did in his thirties, and you can't tell at all that he is already 41 years old this year. Lin Tao is nine years younger than Li Chengxi, and is also 32 years old this year, but when she was in school, people thought she was only 23 or 24.

Lin Tao has naturally fair skin and soft facial features. She has a face that doesn't look old, and her temperament is elegant and comfortable, which makes her very likable.

When she was in school, many younger classmates courted her. At first, Lin Tao said she was married, but no one believed her. Until one day, Li Chengxi brought Yueyue and Xingxing to the school to see Lin Tao.

Everyone then began to believe that Lin Tao was really married. Not only was she married, she had two children, and her eldest daughter was already that grown up.

The two have been married for more than ten years, but their relationship is still very good. When you think about it carefully, it seems that they have never even had a quarrel from 1968 to now.

From that day on, Wang Qingming would eat more every day and then go to the school playground to play basketball. Within half a year, he grew up like bamboo shoots after the rain and was already half a head taller than Yueyue.

Yueyue had her first menstruation.

Lin Tao talked to Yueyue about menstruation years ago, telling her that every girl will experience it. After menstruation, it means that she is moving towards adulthood. At the same time, she should pay more attention to hygiene issues. If she accidentally gets her pants dirty, she must wash them immediately. She must clean her body every day. She also taught her how to use a menstrual belt.

Lin Tao didn't have a mother, so Aunt Fang told her all these things. Because of Aunt Fang, she understood these things better than other girls in the class, so when the time came, she didn't panic and didn't know what to do.

On the contrary, the female classmates in the class who have mothers at home, because of their mothers' negligence not telling them these things, they didn't know what was going on when they got their period and thought their buttocks were bleeding.

Because of Lin Tao's advance notice, Yueyue was not so nervous and afraid when she found her period. However, her period came at night, and when she woke up the next day, she found that the bed sheets were already dirty.

Lin Tao prepared a menstrual belt for her, comforted her that it was okay, and went to help her wash the sheets.

But Yueyue was embarrassed, so she put the bed sheet into the basin she used to wash underwear and said, "Mom, I'll wash it myself."

Seeing this, Lin Tao didn't say anything. She just taught her to soak the sheets in warm water first and then wash them. This way the blood stains on the sheets would be easier to wash off.

However, while soaking the sheets, Xingxing saw blood spots on the sheets and a look of horror appeared on her face. Then she saw that her mother was making brown sugar water for her sister to drink. Xingxing felt that her guess must be correct and she ran outside quickly.

He bumped into Wang Qingming who was coming home. Wang Qingming asked, "Xingxing, what's wrong with you? Why are you running around like that?"

Xingxing said, "Brother Qingming, something bad has happened. My sister is bleeding. I have to go buy her some medicine."

Yueyue, who just walked out: "..."