Chapter 78

When Lin Tao took the boat again, she didn't feel dizzy as she did the first time.

In fact, it was all thanks to the good weather today, with calm seas. The day she arrived on the island, there were some rough seas. In addition, she had taken a train for dozens of hours before boarding the boat, so naturally she felt a little uncomfortable.

I can’t say I felt dizzy, actually I did feel a little dizzy, but it wasn’t that uncomfortable.

Yueyue was held by Li Chengxi. The little girl was like her father, not seasick at all. She was also very curious because it was her first time on a boat, looking left and right.

The boat ride lasted about two hours. By the end of the trip, Lin Tao was already feeling a little uncomfortable. Fortunately, the boat quickly docked and everyone got off the boat one after another.

Li Chengxi first sent the luggage ashore, and then came back to pick her and Yueyue up.

Li Chengxi held Yueyue in his arms and helped Lin Tao get ashore.

Li Chengxi represented the troops in a meeting, and the organization had prepared a guesthouse for him. However, the situation this time was special, as he brought his family with him, which was not very convenient. Therefore, he did not ask the organization to arrange a guesthouse for him, and he took Lin Tao to another guesthouse.

Li Chengxi booked a room with the letter of introduction and walked in with Lin Tao.

This was Lin Tao's first time staying in a guesthouse. The room was a little small and simply furnished, with just a bed, a table and a chair.

This is how it is in all guest houses. Li Chengxi has gotten used to it. He put down his luggage, asked Lin Tao to put Yueyue, who had already fallen asleep, to bed, and sat down to rest for a while.

Lin Tao asked Li Chengxi to take out Yueyue's blanket from the bag, spread it on the bed, and let Yueyue sleep on the blanket. Children's skin is delicate, unlike adults'.

Li Chengxi wiped the table and chairs. They were not dirty, probably because they were cleaned every day.

"Are you hungry? There's a state-owned hotel nearby. How about I go downstairs and buy you something to eat?" Li Chengxi asked.

It is already past ten o'clock, and Li Chengxi has to go to a meeting at twelve o'clock.

Lin Tao shook her head and said, "I just got off the boat and I'm still a little dizzy now. I can't eat anything. It's almost time. Shouldn't you go to the meeting?"

"It's okay. I'll buy it for you and keep it here. You can eat it when you're hungry." Li Chengxi said.

Their meetings were always long, and they would not be back until at least 3 or 4 in the afternoon. He was afraid that Lin Tao would bring Yueyue with her, and she would not be familiar with the place, and it would be inconvenient for her to buy food if she got hungry.

Li Chengxi said so, and Lin Tao did not refuse. She was also thinking that Li Chengxi was at a meeting and she didn't know when he would be back. It would be good to buy some food and put it aside for when she was hungry.

"Well, go ahead. I'll wait for you here." Lin Tao said.

Yueyue is sleeping, so someone must be with her.

Not long after Li Chengxi left the house, Lin Tao also wanted to lie down and rest for a while, so she took off her outer cotton padded jacket, hung it on the clothes rack, and slept next to Yueyue.

Li Chengxi was very fast, and the state-owned hotel was not far from the guesthouse, so he returned in about twenty minutes.

When Li Chengxi went out, Lin Tao locked the door from the inside just in case. When she heard the knock on the door, she tensed for no reason. Then she heard Li Chengxi's voice coming from outside the door: "Tao, it's me."

Lin Tao breathed a sigh of relief, put on her cotton jacket, walked to the door and opened it.

As expected, Li Chengxi was standing outside the door. He bought two meat buns, which were still hot and packed in an oil paper bag.

Li Chengxi guessed that Lin Tao was alert. It was a good thing for people to be alert when they were outside, but he would stay with them after the meeting.

However, to enter the state-owned guesthouse, one must have a letter of introduction, so ordinary bad guys could not enter, but the Little Red Soldiers could come.

Before leaving, Li Chengxi reminded him, "Keep the letter of introduction safe. If anyone comes to check on you, take it out and show it to them. Nothing else matters."

Lin Tao also knew who Li Chengxi was talking about. She nodded and placed the letter of introduction under her pillow for easy access.

"Then I'll leave first. If you need anything, just tell the comrade at the front desk." Li Chengxi reminded.

"Well, go ahead." Lin Tao nodded, walked Li Chengxi to the door, closed the door and bolted it.

Li Chengxi went downstairs and gave the young comrade at the front desk a few words, and gave him a pack of cigarettes. The young comrade's eyes lit up when he saw the cigarettes. Not only were the cigarettes not cheap, but if you didn't have an official at home, you couldn't even buy them.

Moreover, the military uniform that Li Chengxi was wearing was enough to show how powerful he was.

Li Chengxi asked him to take care of Lin Tao and her daughter, and to help them if they needed anything.

The young comrade agreed without hesitation, and not long after Li Chengxi left, he knocked on Lin Tao's door and diligently replaced the water in the room with freshly boiled water.

"Serve the people, sister-in-law. If you have any problem, just tell me and I will do whatever I can for you." The young comrade said enthusiastically.

Lin Tao originally wanted to sleep for a while, but not long after Li Chengxi left, she lay in bed for a while and found that she still couldn't fall asleep, so she just got up.

When leaving the island, Lin Tao wanted to avoid being bored when Li Chengxi was in a meeting, so she brought a book with her. This was a great opportunity for her to read and kill time.

This book is a very serious red book. Lin Tao also brought a red treasure book.

I had just read a book for a while when I heard a knock on the door. I asked and found out it was a young comrade from the guesthouse. After confirming it, I dared to open the door. Seeing him suddenly become so enthusiastic, I could guess that Li Chengxi had done something.

"Down with all those harmful insects. Thank you, little comrade." Lin Tao said.

After the young comrade left, Yueyue woke up more than half an hour later. Lin Tao felt hungry and had eaten the buns before, so she just happened to feed Yueyue.

It was already past three o'clock when Li Chengxi finished the meeting. After the meeting, a comrade-in-arms whom he hadn't seen for a long time invited him to have dinner together, but Li Chengxi refused and hurried to the guesthouse.

Someone smiled and patted the man on the shoulder, saying, "He came with his family this time, so he doesn't have time to drink and chat with us. He has to go back early to be with his wife."

Many of the people attending the meeting had known Li Chengxi before, and they all knew that he had never been too anxious about his personal problems before, and that the organization was more anxious than him. As a result, he initially gave the organization some face by meeting with them for show, but later he simply disappeared.

I don’t know how I finally came to my senses later on, but I got married.

I originally thought that such people were naturally not interested in women. Even if they got married, it was probably because they were annoyed by the pressure from their family and the organization, so they just married someone to get by.

I didn't expect that after marriage he would pamper his wife to such an extent that even men couldn't help but admire her.

Li Chengxi ignored them and immediately rushed back to the guesthouse after a while.

In the afternoon, the mother and daughter fell asleep again. Not long after they woke up, Li Chengxi came back.

It was already past four o'clock, and it was definitely too late to go to the supply and marketing cooperative, so Li Chengxi took Lin Tao and Yueyue out for a walk and waited until five o'clock to have dinner at the state-owned hotel.

Li Chengxi held Yueyue in his arms, and Lin Tao walked next to them. The family of three were all good-looking, and as they walked on the road, they attracted the attention of many passers-by.

There was also a little boy, about seven or eight years old, who pointed at Yueyue and said to his mother, "Mom, look at that little sister, she's so pretty. Can you give me a sister as pretty as this, too, please, mom?"

His mother's belly was bulging, and it was obvious that she was pregnant again.

After hearing this, the child's mother looked at Lin Tao's family of three and said with a smile: "Mom would like to give birth to a beautiful little sister for you, but I don't know if I can give birth to one. The little sister's parents are good-looking."

Lin Tao glanced at Li Chengxi and found that he was walking with Yueyue in his arms with a natural expression.

It seems that he has been exaggerated since he was a child and is used to encountering such things.

After strolling around the guesthouse, the family of three went to have dinner. Although I had never been to this state-owned hotel, Lin Tao, I felt that the taste seemed familiar when I ate buns at noon.

She remembered that two years ago, when she and Li Chengxi took the train to the mountain city, Li Chengxi bought her some steamed buns. Now she thought that the taste was exactly the same as this one.

When they arrived at the state-owned hotel, Lin Tao asked, "Is this the state-owned hotel where you bought me buns before?"

"Well, if we walk a little further, we will reach the train station." Li Chengxi sat down holding Yueyue.

Lin Tao was surprised that this place was so close to the train station. If Li Chengxi hadn't told her, she really wouldn't have known about it.

The family of three ordered a dish and a soup. The portions were quite large. Li Chengxi also ordered seven or eight steamed buns, which was enough for them.

Lin Tao is still breastfeeding, so she needs to drink more soup.

After dinner, they returned to the guesthouse and Lin Tao made some rice porridge for Yueyue. She brought the bowl and spoon from home. She soaked them in boiling water for a while and washed them again before making rice porridge for Yueyue.

This time, it was Li Chengxi who fed Yueyue rice porridge. In this aspect, Li Chengxi was still not as good as Lin Tao. After Lin Tao fed Yueyue half a bowl of rice porridge, Yueyue's face was clean, but after Li Chengxi fed Yueyue only a few mouthfuls, Yueyue's face was dirty like a little cat.

Lin Tao found it funny. She took the bowl and spoon from Li Chengxi and said, "Let me feed her. Go get some hot water and wipe Yueyue's body."

Li Chengxi went out and quickly brought back the hot water.

After Yueyue finished eating the rice porridge, she rested for a while and Lin Tao wiped her body.

The guy just got off the island today and was particularly excited. He slept at noon and in the afternoon, which made him particularly excited at night. He was not sleepy even after ten o'clock.

Lin Tao felt a little sleepy, so Li Chengxi took Yueyue in his arms and asked Lin Tao to go to sleep first: "You go to sleep first, I will take care of Yueyue."

Lin Tao was so sleepy that her eyelids were fighting each other. She couldn't stand it any longer, so she just let him go.

When he woke up, it was already the next morning. Li Chengxi got up at some point and even bought breakfast.

"Are you awake? Have breakfast first. We'll take some photos later and then go to the supply and marketing cooperative." Li Chengxi said.

Lin Tao nodded and said softly, "Okay."

Looking at Yueyue who was sleeping soundly beside him, he asked Li Chengxi, "What time did Yueyue go to bed last night?"

"It was a little after ten o'clock. She fell asleep not long after you did." Li Chengxi took out the toothbrush and toothpaste for Lin Tao to use.

"So fast?" Lin Tao was quite surprised. Seeing Yueyue's excitement last night, she thought this kid was planning to fight a protracted war, but she didn't expect him to surrender so quickly.

"Well," Li Chengxi said, "she refused to sleep, so I recited a passage to her in English, and she fell asleep in no time."

This made Lin Tao laugh. The joke was that Li Chengxi's prenatal education at that time had the opposite effect and had become Yueyue's lullaby.

The washing area in the guesthouse is in the public area. There are not many people staying in the guesthouse, so there was no one there when Lin Tao went to wash.

After breakfast, the family of three went to the photo studio.

You have to take a bus to get to the photo studio from here. The mountain town doesn't look particularly big, but Lin Tao is new here and there are many small alleys. If Li Chengxi hadn't led the way, Lin Tao really wouldn't have been able to find the place.

There were a lot of people on the bus, probably because we were rushing to go to work early in the morning.

Li Chengxi found a seat and let Lin Tao hold Yueyue in her arms. He stood by to protect them. After getting off the bus, they walked about ten minutes to the photo studio.

As soon as she walked into the photo studio, Lin Tao saw a photo of Xiao Qingming posted outside. Xiao Qingming was sitting on a small wooden horse with a hat on his head, looking very cute.

Lin Tao had seen this photo before at Xu Yuting's place, and Xu Yuting also said that this was the best photo.

Yueyue was held in Li Chengxi's arms. Lin Tao pointed at the photo and asked Yueyue: "Yueyue, look who this is, is it Brother Qingming?"

The only response she got was Yueyue's baby talk, which Lin Tao couldn't understand.

Glancing down, Lin Tao seemed to see another familiar face. After taking a closer look, she found that it was indeed an acquaintance. There was even a photo of Xiao Shengtian on the paper.

The owner of the photo studio came out and saw Lin Tao's family of three, his eyes lit up. It was not for anything else, but mainly because the family of three was so good-looking. If such good-looking people were photographed, wouldn't they look like paintings?

The boss saw Lin Tao looking at the photos and said, "This child ranked first in his grade in the city's No. 1 Middle School last time, so I gave him a photo as a reward. My photo studio has been open next to the city's No. 1 Middle School for more than 20 years. This is the rule I set when I first opened the store, and it has not changed over the years. I have photos of many children here, and I guess some of their children are now in school."

This photo studio opened early and was later transformed into a public-private partnership. This owner is still the original owner.

Because I am the original boss and my original intention is still there, I will pay for taking photos of the children out of my own pocket.

After listening to the boss' words, Lin Tao had a very good impression of him. The boss was now in his forties or fifties, but he looked very young and energetic. His clothes were a little old and a little bleached from washing, but they were neatly dressed.

"Boss, you are such a good person. I thank you on behalf of these children." Lin Tao smiled. "I once taught this child a lesson. I am considered his teacher."

"You are Teacher Lin, right?" asked the boss.

Unexpectedly, the boss actually knew Lin Tao. He learned from the boss that it was Xiao Shengtian who told him. Xiao Shengtian said that Lin Tao was the best teacher. Even for Lin Tao, he had to secure the first place in this grade and let everyone know about their Shengshan Primary School.

"This kid is a strong-willed person," the boss said. "Being strong-willed is a good thing. I wanted to be strong-willed too. If I wasn't strong-willed, I wouldn't be the only one in this photo studio."

In the early days of the public-private partnership, the government had to send people to work, but Boss Wu thought their attitude was too bad, and the regular customers of the photo studio were all driven away by them. After several disturbances, they finally drove away the people sent by the government. Now, although his photo studio is a product of the public-private partnership, he is the only one working there.

Boss Wu: “It’s a bit busy, but I feel comfortable.”

Boss Wu was a talkative man and chatted a lot with Lin Tao and Li Chengxi before asking them if they were there to take pictures.

Lin Tao said that they wanted to take some photos of their daughter and send them to their family.

"Okay, you can rest assured to ask me to take photos. I have been taking photos for decades. I deal with these machines every day. No customer will be dissatisfied with the photos I take." said Boss Wu.

Lin Tao knew that Boss Wu was not bragging. It was clear from the photos he took that he was a man of real ability.

Boss Wu has enough experience in taking pictures, and Yueyue is quite cooperative, laughing when asked. Lin Tao stood behind Boss Wu and guided Yueyue to look over here. After a few "clicks", a good picture was taken.

After taking the photo of Yueyue, Boss Wu suggested that they take a family photo: "It's not that I want you to spend more money, but I think your family is good-looking, so taking a family photo will definitely look good."

Lin Tao glanced at Li Chengxi and asked for his opinion: "Chengxi, what do you think?"

"Let's take a photo. Our family has never taken a photo together." Li Chengxi nodded.

Lin Tao and Li Chengxi sat on a stool, Yueyue was held in Lin Tao's arms, with her little fleshy hand in Li Chengxi's palm. The family of three looked at the camera, Yueyue looked at her mother and then at her father, and also giggled at the camera.

With a click, the photo is frozen at this moment.

"The photos are ready, they look great. I'm sure you'll like them when they're developed," said Boss Wu.

In the end, Boss Wu did as Xu Yuting said and proposed to print an extra photo and put it on the door of the store. However, he only printed one photo of Yueyue and one of their family, and asked Lin Tao and Li Chengxi if they agreed.

"I won't charge you for the extra photos, and I can even give you a lower price," Boss Wu explained.

Lin Tao smiled and said, "Of course, Mr. Wu, but the price for taking photos is what it should be. Don't you take photos of the children every year? This is also our support for you."

Boss Wu was also a sentimental person, and after hearing what Lin Tao said, he either declined or liked the family of three more and more.

It took a month to get the photos, so after leaving the photo studio, they went to the supply and marketing cooperative.

Fortunately, today is a weekday and it is also working hours, so there are not many people in the supply and marketing cooperative. Otherwise, if it were an ordinary day, entering the supply and marketing cooperative would be like entering a sea of ​​people.

The first thing Lin Tao did when she entered the supply and marketing cooperative was to buy cloth.

The cloth she brought from Shanghai two years ago was used to make clothes, curtains, and bedding, and has been almost used up. She and Li Chengxi were fine as they had enough clothes to wear, so it was okay if they didn't make any more clothes.

Yueyue is their first child and there are not many clothes at home. What she wears now are still the ones made by Lin Tao. She will have nothing to wear when summer comes.

After buying the cloth, Lin Tao looked at the things that the supply and marketing cooperative on the island didn’t have. She didn’t buy the things that were available on the island because there were too many things and it was difficult to carry them.

We didn’t buy much, we just took Yueyue shopping happily.

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On the other side, Lin Manman took out some dry food from her bag and ate it. She glanced at Old Lady Lin who was staring at her opposite her, bit her lip, and frowned.

Old Mrs. Lin followed her all the way, even when she went to the toilet, Old Mrs. Lin would wait at the door. When she was in Xiangcheng, she tried to run away once, but Old Mrs. Lin grabbed her arm and said that if she ran away, Old Mrs. Lin would not be able to find her home and get lost, and Old Mrs. Lin's son and his family would tear her and her mother apart.

Lin Manman really hated her in her heart. She treated Sister Tao like that at the beginning, and now she wanted to follow her to the island and get benefits from Sister Tao.

How can a person be so shameless? He is not a tree bark.

But it was obvious that Old Lady Lin's face was made of tree bark. After getting off the train, she still followed Lin Manman closely, going wherever Lin Manman went.

Lin Manman had no choice but to let her follow. She was actually afraid that if old lady Lin got lost and something happened, she would be blamed.

Fortunately, she had already sent a telegram to the island before, so Sister Tao should have received it a long time ago, right?

Sister Tao and her husband are both very smart people, and Lin Manman thinks they should be able to find a way.

After buying the ticket and getting on the boat, Lin Manman deliberately sat in a seat next to someone else. Old Mrs. Lin couldn't sit next to Lin Manman, so she sat behind her, still staring at her.

Lin Manman felt a little dizzy when she was on the boat, and she had a naughty thought that it would be better if Old Lady Lin was seasick. She could vomit enough first so that she would not have the energy to make trouble when we got to the island.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Mrs. Lin, who was such a bad person, did not suffer from seasickness at all.

The boat docked, and when Lin Manman got off the boat, she found that Li Chengxi and Lin Tao were not there. The car that Li Chengxi drove to pick them up last time was there, but she did not recognize the comrade in navy uniform next to them.

The last time Lin Manman and Aunt Fang came, Xiao Ning had just taken a leave to go back for a blind date. Before that, he had never met Lin Manman.

But he knew who it was as soon as he looked into the crowd. After all, at a glance, only Lin Manman had the same skin color as Lin Tao, while everyone else was dark.

"Comrade, you must be Lin Manman. I am the commander's bodyguard. The commander asked me to take you to the health center. Please register first." Xiao Ning said as he took the bag from Lin Manman's hand.

Lin Manman nodded and got in the car, knowing that this was the person Lin Tao and the others had arranged to pick her up. In front of Old Lady Lin, she did not ask Xiao Ning any extra questions, fearing that Old Lady Lin would overhear.

Seeing this, Old Lady Lin also quickly clung to the car door and refused to let go: "Lin Manman, where are you going? Take me with you, don't try to escape."

Xiao Ning smiled and said, "Grandma, I have to take her to the health center to register. If you want to go with me, then get in the car."

When Mrs. Lin saw that this young comrade with a sullen face and in military uniform was smiling at her, she felt relieved.

That's right, no matter what she said, she was still Lin Tao's grandmother, how could Lin Tao dare to deny her? If Lin Tao dared to do so, she would make a scene, the uglier the better. I heard that her husband was the head of the group, would Lin Tao dare to let herself make such a scene?

It was the first time for Old Mrs. Lin to ride in a car. She touched here and looked there, just like Grandma Liu visiting the Grand View Garden.

Xiao Ning started the car and Mrs. Lin hit her head on the front seat: "Ouch——"

Lin Manman couldn't help laughing out loud, Xiao Ning held back her laughter and reminded her, "Grandma, the car is starting, be careful and sit still."

When they arrived at the clinic, Xiao Ning sent Lin Manman in and said a few words to the comrade who was registering her.

After Lin Manman filled out the form, Xiao Ning said, "The team leader and his wife have left the island and will not be back for a few days. Someone will take you to the dormitory later. You can stay there and wait for arrangements. You can eat in the cafeteria on weekdays. These are the meal tickets the team leader left for you. Take them."

Lin Manman took the meal ticket and finally understood what was going on.

She glanced at Old Mrs. Lin, who was standing at the door looking around like a thief, and the feeling in her heart suddenly became much better.

Old Mrs. Lin seemed to be here to ask for money, but she didn't expect to get nothing.

After telling Lin Manman what to do, Xiao Ning walked to the door and asked Old Lady Lin, "Grandma, where are you going now? I can take you there."

Old Mrs. Lin said, "I want to go find my granddaughter!"

"Looking for your granddaughter? Okay, get in the car first, I'll take you there right away." Xiao Ning got in the driver's seat and saw Grandma Lin get in the car and drive towards Shen Guobin's house.