Chapter 74

As soon as Lin Tao arrived at the school, she found a man in the office. He was wearing a Zhongshan suit, a crew cut, and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

The man was sitting at Jin Pingping's desk. When he saw Lin Tao come in, he looked at her for a while.

The man's gaze made Lin Tao feel uncomfortable. She frowned and looked at the man with a sharp look. The man met her gaze and his eyes flickered, pretending that he was just looking at the scenery outside.

But Lin Tao knew very well that he was indeed looking at her in an uncomfortable way.

Lin Tao had a very bad first impression of this man.

But after all, he hadn't done any substantial harm to her. If she pointed it out rashly and the man made excuses, it would be her fault. Lin Tao didn't say anything more because of this look. She sat at her desk and put Yueyue in her own small rocking bed.

In another small rocking bed, little Qingming was already sitting there playing.

Lin Tao teased him: "Oh, little Qingming seems to have grown a little taller, right?"

Xu Yuting said: "He is a little tall, but he doesn't like to eat. Look at him, he has no flesh on his body. When he is with Yueyue, Yueyue is heavier than him."

Xiao Qingming is now more than eight months old. A few months ago, Xu Yuting started to add complementary foods to his diet, such as soft porridge, some mashed vegetables, fish, and minced meat. She would slowly add these to his diet depending on the situation.

However, after starting to eat complementary foods, Xiao Qingming did not gain as much weight as he did when he was only drinking milk.

Zhong Jing just came over after morning self-study and said with a smile: "Children are like this. When they are breastfed, they are fat from milk. When Yueyue is older and can eat other things, she will be thinner."

Lin Tao said, "That's good. I thought Yueyue was too fat because of me. She can eat and sleep like a little pig."

The three of them chatted for a while, and then Jin Pingping came.

As soon as I entered the office, I called out to the man, "Jianshu, are you bored waiting for me?"

When Fan Jianshu saw Jin Pingping, he pushed his glasses up and said with a smile, "Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long."

"The next class is not mine, so I have time to take you to the island." Jin Pingping's tone was full of intimacy, and she obviously didn't take the other people in the office seriously.

Or maybe she did it on purpose for them to see.

Fan Jianshu was the cadre she met at the last excellent teacher conference. He was about 30 years old, but he was already a cadre in the Education Bureau. Although he was not a high-ranking official, he was already quite good in Jin Pingping's eyes. She was simply satisfied with this person and couldn't be more satisfied.

Taking advantage of the holiday yesterday, she went out of the island and met Fan Jianshu's parents. Today, she brought Fan Jianshu to the island specifically to let others see the excellent partner she has found.

Fan Jianshu stood up and said, "Okay, let's go now."

Not long after the two of them walked out of the school, Fan Jianshu said to Jin Pingping, "Pingping, why do I feel that your colleagues don't like me very much? Do they have any misunderstandings about me?"

Jin Pingping said, "Jianshu, don't pay attention to them. They are just jealous that I found such a good partner like you."

These words made Fan Jianshu smile complacently.

On the other side, in the office.

Xu Yuting winked at Lin Tao and Zhong Jing and said, "A Tao, Teacher Zhong, did you notice the person Jin Pingping was dating just now?"

"What's wrong?" Teacher Zhong asked. Today she was leading a morning self-study class for another class and went to the classroom early in the morning, but she didn't notice Jin Pingping's person.

Lin Tao said: "That person looks at people in a weird way, which makes people feel uncomfortable."

"Right, Tao, you think so too. I think so too. When I was preparing for class just now, I felt that he was peeking at me. He was dressed well and said he was an official from the Education Bureau. Is this the level of officials from the Education Bureau?" When Xu Yuting saw Lin Tao said so, she became more certain that she was not wrong at that time.

"People like this treat Jin Pingping like a treasure." Xu Yuting said unhappily.

Lin Tao didn't say anything else. If it were someone else, she might consider whether she should tell the other person about this, but the other person was Jin Pingping. If she told this to Jin Pingping, she was afraid that Jin Pingping would think that she was jealous of her for finding a good partner.

Lin Tao didn't plan to wade through this muddy water.

Xu Yuting and Zhong Jing did not plan to say anything more, because if they did, they would probably be treated the same way as Lin Tao. After all, in Jin Pingping's eyes, the three of them were accomplices in this corruption.

No matter which of the three of them told her about this, the effect would be the same.

The three of them soon stopped talking about this topic and instead talked about the winter vacation. In about half a month, the school will have final exams, and after the final exams, it will be vacation.

Not only students are looking forward to the holidays, but teachers are too.

Xu Yuting said, "A Tao, Wang Yuanliang and I have discussed that after the holiday, we will take Qingming to the island together, take a family photo and send it to my parents and my mother-in-law. Didn't you also say that you wanted to take Yueyue to take the photo? Otherwise, why don't we just go together this time?"

Aunt Wang had originally said she would come to the island to spend the New Year with them, but she accidentally twisted her waist while working in the fields a while ago and is still lying in bed.

Xu Yuting and Wang Yuanliang sent money home, but Aunt Wang was reluctant to leave her child and missed him very much. After discussing it, the couple decided to take a photo before the New Year and send it back.

It just so happened that Xu Yuting also planned to take photos and send them to her parents.

Xu Yuting invited Lin Tao to go, but she shook her head and said, "The weather was too cold at that time. It would be OK if Xiao Qingming was older, but Yueyue was still too young. I didn't dare to take her. I want to wait until next spring when the weather is warmer before going."

"That's fine. Yueyue really has too little, and you're seasick, so it's really inconvenient for you to go now." Xu Yuting said.

The story of Lin Tao being carried down from the island because she was boat-sick soon spread all over the island.

When Xu Yuting brought it up, Lin Tao still felt embarrassed.

Xu Yuting and Zhong Jing didn't think it was a big deal. After all, it was not the first day they knew that Captain Li doted on Lin Tao.

Lin Tao went to class. When she returned to the office after class, Li Mingcheng came in at some point and was teasing Yueyue.

Lin Tao knew that he was leaving tomorrow, so she didn't say anything and let Yueyue play with him.

At this time, Jin Pingping, who had been out for a walk with Fan Jianshu, happened to come back. Unexpectedly, they met Li Mingcheng in the office.

Thinking of what Li Mingcheng said to her last time, Jin Pingping was still angry. She wanted to take this opportunity to irritate Li Mingcheng.

As soon as Jin Pingping walked into the office, she cleared her throat and asked Fan Jianshu beside her: "Jianshu, the movie we watched last time was pretty good, right? Cinemas outside the island are better than those on the island. They are much more comfortable to watch."

Fan Jianshu said, "I'll take you to see a new movie next time it comes out. After we get married, you can go to the city with me and watch it every day."

Jin Pingping was so beautiful that she smiled and said, "Then after we get married, we won't live with your family, right?"

Fan Jianshu said: "My company just allocated me a house. We will move in after we get married. It's very spacious."

Jin Pingping said this on purpose for Li Mingcheng to hear, just to embarrass him.

Fan Jianshu was also happy to take the opportunity to talk about his "excellent" qualities in front of so many people. While speaking, he couldn't help but straighten the collar of his Zhongshan suit.

However, apart from the two of them, the rest of the people in the office didn't care about their performance at all.

Xu Yuting could hardly hold back her laughter when she heard this, and she winked at Lin Tao vigorously.

Lin Tao pretended not to notice and prepared her lessons seriously.

As for Li Mingcheng, he was having fun playing with Yueyue and didn't pay any attention to that place at all. He didn't even glance over. In his eyes, there was only his little niece Yueyue.

While his brother Li Chengxi was away, Li Mingcheng held Yueyue for a while.

Yueyue is much easier to hold now than when she was just born. Although Yueyue weighed 25.42 pounds when she was born, which is heavier than the average baby, she is not much bigger. She is so small in my arms that it is not that easy to hold her.

Now Yueyue weighs 18 kilograms, has gained weight and grown taller, and it is no longer difficult to hold her upright like before.

Li Mingcheng held Yueyue in his arms and looked at the sea in the corridor.

The school is in a great location. From the window of their office, you can see the endless sea.

Xu Yuting smiled at Lin Tao: "Your brother-in-law is just like your Captain Li. They both love daughters so much. He will definitely be a daughter slave in the future."

After hearing this, Lin Tao also smiled.

Li Mingcheng was leaving the next day. When Lin Tao was cooking dinner in the evening, she saw a small piece of bacon hanging in the kitchen, so she took it, cleaned it, and fried it.

Li Mingcheng likes to eat bacon, so today is a farewell for him.

When Lin Tao fried the bacon, she deliberately added a little less chili. She still remembered the last time Li Mingcheng ate bacon and his mouth turned red from the spicy taste.

In addition to stir-fried bacon, Lin Tao also stir-fried bean sprouts and stewed potato cubes.

Bean sprouts grow really quickly and don’t require any care. Just sprinkle a handful of dried soybeans in and they’ll sprout in no time.

The family had already eaten several crops of leeks, and the taste of those cut later would not be the same. Lin Tao simply ordered Li Mingcheng and Li Chengxi to pull out all the leeks in the vegetable garden.

The roots with mud are thrown away, and the section of leek seedlings on top are thrown into the rabbit nest for the rabbits to eat.

Yueyue was smiling happily as she watched the little rabbits eating leeks.

Zheng Hongxing from next door ran over and called out, "Auntie Lin, Auntie Lin, my mom bought me some fruit candies today, I want to share them with my sister."

He showed Lin Tao the candies in his palm. No one knew where the little guy had gone to play this afternoon. He was sweating all over in such a cold weather. His fingernails were covered with mud, but the candies were clean.

But Lin Tao still smiled and said, "Sister is still too young to eat these, Hongxing can eat them by yourself."

Zheng Hongxing scratched his head and looked at Yueyue who was looking at him eagerly: "Then I eat it?"

Then she said, "Aunt Lin, this is what my sister wants to eat. My sister is drooling."

Lin Tao saw that the little brat was drooling. She was really a greedy cat. She wiped the saliva from the corner of Yueyue's mouth with a small handkerchief, smiled and was about to speak.

Then I heard Chen Shuifen from next door calling Zheng Hongxing: "Zheng Hongxing, you little brat, you are so naughty, come back and wash yourself! Your Aunt Lin has told you so many times that your sister is still young and can't eat those, she can only drink milk, you don't remember it, right?"

Zheng Hongxing ran back and Chen Shuifen was still cursing.

Lin Tao smiled helplessly, handed Yueyue to Li Chengxi, went into the kitchen and saw that the potatoes were already cooked, then said, "Okay, it's time to eat."

The bacon was fried to a very nice taste. Li Mingcheng hadn't eaten bacon for a long time and had been thinking about it. The first thing he did was to pick up the bacon. After taking a bite, he said, "Sister-in-law, this time you didn't make it as spicy as last time."

Last time he felt his mouth was filled with spiciness after eating it, but this time it was just okay, a little spicy but acceptable.

Lin Tao said, "Last time I saw that you couldn't stand the spiciness, so I put less chili this time."

"My sister-in-law still cares about me." Li Mingcheng said with a smile.

He got a glare from Li Chengxi.

Li Mingcheng ate three bowls of rice in a row. He said that he was tired from helping to pick leeks today, so he wanted to eat more. But how could he be so tall that he would be tired from picking so few leeks?

I'm just thinking that I'll be leaving tomorrow, and I don't know when I'll be able to eat the bacon fried by my sister-in-law again, so I want to eat more today while I still have the chance.

After dinner, Li Mingcheng was not in a hurry to leave. He played with Yueyue for a long time until Yueyue was about to fall asleep. He then watched her sleeping for a long time.

While watching, he whispered: "Brother, Yueyue looks like you. The more I look at her, the more she looks like you. Fortunately, Yueyue loves to laugh, unlike you who always has a stern face."

Li Chengxi gave him a look: "It's getting late, why aren't you leaving yet?"

"I'm leaving, leaving right away." Li Mingcheng muttered, "Just hurry me away. When I really leave, you'll know how good a brother I am..."

Seeing that Li Chengxi was about to make another move, Li Mingcheng quickly said to Lin Tao in the inner room: "Sister-in-law, I'm leaving."

He ran out quickly.

Lin Tao was originally folding clothes. Taking advantage of the good weather over the past two days, Lin Tao washed the clothes and was about to fold them and put them in the closet.

Hearing Li Mingcheng's voice, he walked out of the bedroom and saw that only Li Chengxi was left in the living room. He asked, "Is Mingcheng gone?"

"Yeah." Li Chengxi nodded and went to pour water for Lin Tao to take a bath.

The two of them didn't talk much about Li Mingcheng. After washing up, they went to bed.

Li Mingcheng's boat ticket was for the next morning, so Lin Tao and Li Chengxi went to the dock to see him off.

It was too cold at the pier at that time. In fact, Li Mingcheng had always told Lin Tao not to take Yueyue to the pier, but Lin Tao still took Yueyue there and wrapped her up with a small blanket. It wasn't that cold after all.

Li Mingcheng looked at Yueyue, his eyes reddened, and said, "Yueyue, uncle is leaving soon, you must remember to miss him."

Then he said to Lin Tao, "Sister-in-law, when I settle down in Hainan, I will write to you and tell you my address. Don't forget to send me Yueyue's photo then."

Lin Tao noticed Li Mingcheng's red eyes and felt bad.

It was really the grudges of the previous generation that made these two brothers unable to act like brothers. Otherwise, Li Mingcheng would not have to travel thousands of miles to Hainan to join the army, and it would have been better for him to stay here.

But it doesn’t.

Lin Tao nodded and said, "Okay, I know, don't worry."

"Brother, I'm leaving now." Li Mingcheng said to Li Chengxi.

Li Chengxi nodded, not being serious for once, and said in a gentle voice: "Go there and work hard, and achieve results as soon as possible. I, Li Chengxi's younger brother, am not a coward."

These words made Li Mingcheng's eyes light up, and he saluted Li Chengxi in a formal military manner.

This is the first time in his life that the eldest brother has acknowledged the brotherhood between the two of them...

The boat was about to leave, and Li Mingcheng boarded. Perhaps because he had too many things on his mind, Li Mingcheng was not as relaxed as last time. After boarding the boat, he waved to his brother and sister-in-law at the dock.

After turning his back, he wiped the moisture from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand.

At the dock, Lin Tao looked at the boat going away and said to Li Chengxi beside her, "Let's go back."

"Okay, let's go back." Li Chengxi smiled at Lin Tao, took Yueyue in his arms, and found that the little girl had fallen asleep.

There were a lot of people at the pier and it was quite noisy, but I was able to sleep, which was quite amazing.

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

Time flies and the final exam is coming soon.

These days, all the teachers in the office are busy grading papers. The grades of the students in Lin Tao's class are quite good, even better than the fifth grade of the previous year. Lin Tao is not worried about their entrance exam to junior high school.

Ma Xiaoying was a little worried that after she was admitted to junior high school, Ma Debiao and Huang Aidi would not let her go. Lin Tao comforted her and said that the organization would step in to solve the problem, so she could study hard and just do well in the exam.

Not long after the final exams, Jin Pingping asked the principal to resign because she was going to marry Fan Jianshu.

After getting married, she will move out of the island and will not continue to be a teacher on the island.

There is a shortage of teachers on the island at the moment, and the principal tried to retain Jin Pingping, even suggesting that her classes could be postponed to one period in the morning and one period in the afternoon. In this way, even if Jin Pingping lives off the island, she can come by boat in the morning and leave the island by boat again in the afternoon.

In other words, you can live in the dormitory on the island on weekdays and leave the island on weekends.

Moreover, the school is already preparing to expand the junior high school, and the school’s welfare will be better by then. It is actually quite good to stay here.

But no matter what the principal said, Jin Pingping insisted on leaving.

Jin Pingping eventually resigned and left the island, and she did not stay on the island for many years.

After the final exams, the school entered the winter vacation. Not only the students were free, but the teachers were also free.

Winter is a good season for sleeping in. Since the holiday, Lin Tao has been sleeping peacefully at home for more than a week. She wakes up when Yueyue wakes up, and she also specifically tells Li Chengxi not to make breakfast for her in the morning, so that she won't be cold when she wakes up.

She simply cooked something for herself after she woke up.

The sweet potatoes in the field had already grown, and while Li Chengxi was on holiday, Lin Tao instructed him to turn over the sweet potatoes in the field.

The land here is fertile, and the sweet potatoes are growing lushly. Lin Tao only planted a small plot, and ended up digging out a small basket.

Staying at home for too long can easily make people lazy. Lin Tao looked at the sweet potatoes and said to Li Chengxi, "Chengxi, let's have roasted sweet potatoes for lunch."

Li Chengxi is not picky about food and can eat anything. He will agree to anything Lin Tao asks.

He acted without delay. Seeing that it was almost time for lunch, Li Chengxi simply lit the fire, and Lin Tao threw eight or nine sweet potatoes into the stove.

Sweet potatoes should not be thrown directly into the fire, as they will be burned into charcoal. They should be buried in the ashes and taken out when they are almost cooked. This way they will not be burned so easily.

About ten minutes later, Li Chengxi dug out a sweet potato from the ashes, rolled it on the ground a few times to shake off the ashes on the sweet potato skin, then squeezed it and found that it had become soft, so he guessed it was cooked and ready to eat.

Then he removed the firewood from the stove, dug the sweet potatoes out of the ashes, rolled them a few times as before to get rid of the dirt on the skins, and then put them into the basket.

Li Chengqi peeled the sweet potato skin, revealing the orange sweet potato flesh inside, which was still steaming.

As soon as the sweet potato skin was peeled off, the aroma of roasted sweet potatoes filled her nose. Lin Tao's mouth was filled with saliva unconsciously, and Li Chengxi handed the peeled sweet potato to her mouth.

Lin Tao took a bite and found it sweet and soft, very delicious.

Lin Tao ate two roasted sweet potatoes and Li Chengxi ate three. It was not because his appetite had decreased, but because he had eaten the leftovers from last night with these steamed buns before eating the sweet potatoes. Therefore, his stomach was already half full before eating the sweet potatoes.

Otherwise, Lin Tao would not dare to roast just nine sweet potatoes.

When they were eating roasted sweet potatoes, Yueyue was looking around in her crib, drooling.

Lin Tao saw it and wiped her saliva while making fun of her.

Lin Tao sent the remaining four sweet potatoes to Chen Shuifen's house next door. Chen Shuifen also grew sweet potatoes at home, but the planting season was different from Lin Tao's, so she was not growing sweet potatoes at the moment.

Zheng Xiangyang and Zheng Hongxing enjoyed the meal very much.

Zheng Hongxing was particularly impressed as he ate the sweet potatoes: "Auntie Lin's sweet potatoes are so delicious!"

Chen Shuifen was both angry and amused, and slapped Zheng Hongxing on the back of the head: "The shit from your Aunt Lin's house smells good!"

After returning home, Lin Tao began to tell Li Chengxi about her plans for the sweet potatoes. She wanted to wait until next year to dry some of them into dried sweet potatoes. By then, Yueyue would probably have teeth, and the dried sweet potatoes would be just right for her to use to grind her teeth. The rest could be ground into sweet potato flour and used to make sweet potato powder.

Li Chengxi didn't mind her talking about these boring things. She was happy to talk and he was happy to listen.

After a while, frost began to appear in the vegetable fields again.

In fact, the cabbages in the vegetable garden were almost ripe a few days ago, but there was no frost at that time. Cabbages without frost would not taste as sweet, so Lin Tao waited until the frost fell before harvesting the cabbages in the garden.

There were too many cabbages at home to eat, so Lin Tao sent several to Xu Yuting's home.

He picked out a few plump and tender ones to make kimchi, and the rest were hidden in the cellar.

Before the New Year, Lin Tao asked Zhong Jing to do some work in the fishing village. They were busy one day and free the next, and the New Year was only seven or eight days away.

Half a month ago, a letter from Lin Changhai was sent from Xiangcheng, in which he said that he would arrive on the 25th.

On the 24th, Li Chengxi made the bed in the guest room and cleaned it. On the 25th, Lin Tao woke up early, but Yueyue was still sleeping soundly. There was no choice but for Lin Tao to stay at home to look after Yueyue while Li Chengxi went to the dock to pick up Lin Changhai.

This time when Lin Changhai came, he took a lot of things in big and small bags.

Bacon, bacon and blood sausage were necessary. In addition, Lin Changhai also took out a rattle and a set of clothes from his bag.

Lin Changhai said, "This dress is what your mother made for you. See if you can let Yueyue wear it. I have washed it thoroughly."

Lin Changhai was reluctant to let Lin Tao wear this dress at first and kept it as a treasure. Therefore, even after so many years, the dress is still well preserved. Now he has specially given it to Yueyue to wear.

The color of the dress was very festive, bright red. Red fabric was hard to find at the time, but it was still available at the time. It also came with a tiger-head hat, which Tao Rong had made for Lin Tao.