Lin Tao smelled it, her pale face wrinkled at the stench, and she took two steps back.

This... this thing stinks!

It just so happened that Li Chengxi had already changed the bed sheets and quilt and put them in the basket, planning to wash them later.

Lin Tao saw him and called out, "Cheng Xi, is this broken? It stinks."

When Li Chengxi walked in, he saw a big durian. When Li Mingcheng first brought it two days ago, the shell was still a little green and had not cracked. Li Chengxi thought about leaving it for two more days. Now the shell has turned a little yellow and has burst open, and it is just right to eat.

Seeing Lin Tao covering her nose, Li Chengxi smiled and explained, "It's not bad, it's durian, this is the smell."

As he said this, he washed his hands and peeled open the durian shell, revealing the plump flesh. This durian was quite large, with plump flesh and thin skin, and several pods.

Li Chengxi: "This durian is pretty good."

Lin Tao: “…”

It stinks, but it’s not bad?!

Li Chengxi took out a bunch of durian and said to Lin Tao, "Durian smells bad but tastes good. Try it. It's delicious."

Lin Tao's disgust was evident in her words. She took two steps back and shook her head: "It stinks. I don't want it."

Li Chengxi saw that and did not force her, but took a bite of durian in front of Lin Tao. Hmm, the flesh was soft and fragrant, and melted in the mouth. He had not eaten durian for a long time, and it tasted as good as before.

Seeing Li Chengxi eating the stinky durian and looking very pleased with it, Lin Tao didn't know what to say. But she began to feel relieved. Is this durian really delicious?

Coupled with Li Chengxi's temptation, Lin Tao said: "Then, then I will give it a try. As long as she is greedy, it won't be me."

She pointed to the baby in her belly.

Li Chengxi chuckled and fed Lin Tao a mouthful.

Lin Tao had originally been prepared to give it a try, and was prepared to spit it out if it didn't taste good or was too smelly. But after taking a bite, her frown relaxed, and she actually thought it tasted pretty good.

"Are you okay?" Li Chengxi asked.

Lin Tao nodded: "It's quite delicious."

So, Lin Tao went from disliking durian at first to eating a whole piece of it in the end.

Li Chengxi said: "The nutritional value of durian is quite high. I have heard that one durian is equivalent to three chickens, but I just listen to it."

Durian is delicious, but you can’t eat too much of it as it can cause you to get a sore throat.

Especially now that Lin Tao is pregnant, she is more prone to getting angry than usual. Normally, she drinks a lot of water every day and always has soup when cooking, otherwise she will easily get angry and get blisters on her mouth.

Lin Tao had just eaten a whole bunch of durian when Li Chengxi stopped her from eating any more.

Ren Ping Lintao said that it was useless for the baby in her belly to eat.

After eating durian and taking a break, the dough was almost ready. Lin Tao instructed Li Chengxi to chop the pork into stuffing, and then picked a handful of chopped green onions and chives, planning to make two kinds of stuffing for the buns, one with chopped green onions and pork, and the other with chives.

Lin Tao usually likes to eat leeks when cooking, but she doesn't like leeks when eating buns. However, Li Chengxi likes it, so Lin Tao makes more.

While making dumplings, Lin Tao was thinking about Aunt Fang and Lin Manman. She looked out the window and said, "I wonder if Xiao Mu can pick up Aunt Fang and Manman."

According to Li Chengxi's original arrangement, he was going to let Xiao Ning pick up Aunt Fang and Lin Manman.

But Aunt Fang wrote to say that she would come back early. Coincidentally, Xiao Ning took a leave to visit his hometown during this period. She said that his family had introduced him to a girl and asked him to go back to meet her, so he had no way to pick her up.

So Li Chengxi sent Xiao Mu from the group to pick them up, but he didn't go to Xiangcheng to pick them up, but to the train station. Aunt Fang and Lin Manman were sent to the train by Lin Changhai, and as long as they sat there and got off at Shancheng Railway Station, they could meet Xiao Mu.

Xiao Mu left the island by boat last night, and should go to the train station to pick someone up today.

Taking into account the possibility of being late, Li Chengxi said that if he didn't get the call today, he would stay at the pier guesthouse for one night and go to the train station to wait for someone tomorrow.

"It should be no problem. The train station is so small and Xiao Mu is waiting at the door. I've told him what he will look like and what he should wear that day. There won't be any mistakes. I'll definitely be able to pick him up." Li Chengxi said.

He was also helping to make dumplings, but his skill was so poor that Lin Tao asked him to do other work after he had only made two dumplings: "If you have nothing to do, go feed the chickens at home and stop causing trouble for me."

Li Chengxi, who was rejected by his wife, went to feed the chickens silently.

When Lin Tao was a few months pregnant, Li Chengxi asked Chen Shuifen to help him buy a dozen chickens from fishermen and raise them. They started raising them at the beginning of the year and when the baby was born, they could kill them and feed them to Lin Tao during her confinement.

At that time, Chen Shuifen praised Li Chengxi many times in front of Lin Tao, saying that Captain Li was such a good man!

******************************

On the other side, Li Mingcheng took a two-hour boat ride and finally reached the shore.

He showed no signs of seasickness and walked with great ease. After getting off the boat, he had to go to the train station to take the train back to Shanghai.

In the train station, Aunt Fang and Lin Manman had already got off the train.

They each took a large bag. Lin Manman supported Aunt Fang and said, "Mom, let me take the bag."

"It's okay, Mom will get it." Aunt Fang said, "Your sister Tao said she sent soldiers to pick us up. They are wearing white navy uniforms, the same as your brother-in-law wore on his wedding day. Can you see where they are?"

While Aunt Fang was speaking, her eyes were looking around for soldiers in navy uniforms.

But the mother and daughter looked around several times and didn't see anyone in a marine uniform.

Lin Manman shook her head at Aunt Fang: "Mom, I didn't find him. Is that person not here yet? When we wrote to Sister Tao before, we said he might arrive today or tomorrow. Maybe he will come to pick us up tomorrow."

"It's not impossible." Aunt Fang nodded.

The mother and daughter discussed it and decided that they should go to the pier and take the boat by themselves.

In fact, before they came, they had already asked Lin Changhai where to get off the train. After getting off the train, they had to go to the pier to take a boat, and they knew where to get off.

But there were still some things they didn't know, such as which bus to take to get to the pier. At that time, they thought that someone would pick them up anyway, so they didn't ask.

As soon as the mother and daughter walked out of the train station, Lin Manman said, "Mom, sit here for a while. I'll go ask where we should go to catch the train."

"Okay." Aunt Fang nodded.

After sitting on the train for such a long time, she was really a little tired.

Lin Manman has been an introvert since she was young. She is usually very quiet and doesn't talk much. When she asked for directions, she chose an elderly person who looked kind.

"Grandpa, I want to ask, where can I take the bus to the pier? Is there a direct bus to the pier?" Lin Manman asked.

The old man looked at He Xi and seemed quite helpful, but he was hard of hearing and Lin Man Man didn't speak loudly enough, so he didn't hear clearly. He asked, "Ah? What did you say? Where are the steamed buns? Go over there, there's a state-owned restaurant that sells steamed buns!"

Lin Manman blushed when she saw that the old man had misheard her. She mustered up her courage and said loudly, "No, I'm asking what bus to take to get to the pier, the pier!"

"I know, you don't have to say it so loudly. I told you that you have to go to the state-owned hotel to sell steamed buns. Kid, your hearing is so poor at such a young age. What will happen to you in the future?" The old man put his hands behind his back, shook his head at Lin Manman and sighed.

Lin Manman: “…”

Just when Lin Manman was about to give up on her grandfather and ask someone else, a man in a long-sleeved shirt walked up to her and asked, "Comrade, do you want to go to the pier? I know where to get off. I'll take you there."

The man was quite good-looking, with an upright posture. Lin Manman had to look up at him.

but……

It was Lin Manman's first time going out, and she felt confident in her older grandfather. But facing the young man who offered to help her, Lin Manman felt a little wary.

She bit her lip and said nothing.

Li Mingcheng scratched his head and noticed the girl's hesitation. While explaining, he took out the boat ticket from his pocket and showed it to the girl.

"Comrade, don't worry, I'm not a bad person. My brother is a soldier. I just came back from visiting relatives on the island. If you don't believe me, look at my ticket. And my ID, you can take a look at it."

Lin Manman took the ticket and ID from Li Mingcheng, looked at them carefully, and felt relieved.

She blushed and whispered to Li Mingcheng, "I'm sorry, I have to be more cautious when I'm out. You just said you could take us to the car, is that true?"

"Of course, I have no reason to lie to you." Li Mingcheng said, "My train is in an hour, and there is still time. I will take you there."

Lin Manman said, "My mother is still waiting for me at the entrance of the train station. I'll go call her first."

Li Mingcheng followed Lin Manman and arrived at the entrance of the train station. Aunt Fang was already waiting. When she saw Li Mingcheng, she heard Lin Manman explain: "Mom, this comrade Lei Feng said he could take us to the train station."

"Thank you so much, young comrade." Aunt Fang thanked.

Li Mingcheng was originally embarrassed to be called "Living Thunder Blade" by Lin Manman, and Aunt Fang thanked him again. He quickly said, "No need to thank me, no need to thank me. We are all Chinese people, no need to be so polite."

Seeing two large bundles on the ground, he asked, "Are these your packages? I'll help you get them."

Lin Manman and Aunt Fang were too embarrassed to let him carry their luggage. He had already been so kind as to take them to the station, so they didn't feel comfortable asking him to do any more hard labor.

Lin Manman said: "No, no, we are already very grateful that you can take us to the station."

But Li Mingcheng simply picked up the two heavy bags and walked to the front.

While walking, I stared at Lin Manman's slender arms. I wondered how such thin arms could carry such a heavy bag.

Li Mingcheng picked up his bag and left, and Aunt Fang and Lin Manman, mother and daughter, could only follow behind him.

Knowing that Li Mingcheng deliberately walked faster than them in order to help them with their luggage, Aunt Fang took Lin Manman's hand and said that this young comrade was really nice and kind-hearted.

The bus stop is only about ten minutes away from the train station, which is not very far. However, if there is no one to show them the way, it would not be easy for Aunt Fang and Lin Manman to find it as they are unfamiliar with the place.

Li Mingcheng pointed to the sign and said, "To get to the pier, take bus No. 13. It should be here soon. Wait here. After getting off the bus, walk forward for ten minutes and you will reach the pier. When you get to the pier, just buy tickets to the island you want to go to."

"Thank you." Lin Manman thanked the man who carefully told them the route.

Aunt Fang took out a few tangerines from her bag and stuffed them into Li Mingcheng's pockets: "Little comrade, these are tangerines that are a specialty of our hometown. Take them and eat them on the way."

Li Mingcheng refused to accept it, but Lin Manman took the tangerine and stuffed it directly into his pocket.

Li Mingcheng glanced at Lin Manman and saw that the little girl's fair cheeks were flushed red. He guessed that she was extremely embarrassed, but wanted to accept it himself.

After thinking about it, he decided not to refuse.

"Then I'll accept it. Thank you for the tangerines. I have to catch the train, so I'll leave first." Li Mingcheng said with a smile.