Chapter 85

Another Qingming Festival is here, and it is also the first birthday of Little Qingming.

Little Qingming could walk a month ago, but he was a little timid and afraid of falling, so he had to be led by Xu Yuting before he would walk.

Xu Yuting was helpless. She always felt that she had given birth to a little girl. As a boy, Qingming was too quiet and sometimes not as courageous as Yueyue.

Lin Tao laughed at her, saying that the child was still young, how could she see anything.

Although there is a saying that children do not celebrate birthdays, when Xu Yuting was at home, every birthday was celebrated with great ceremony. After all, this was little Qingming's first birthday, so Xu Yuting still made some preparations and celebrated his first birthday.

Xu Yuting invited Lin Tao, Chen Shuifen, and Zhong Jing's family to have dinner together.

Lin Tao also helped to make fish balls for Xiao Qingming, which tasted soft and delicious. Xiao Qingming has grown four teeth now, and he looks even cuter when he smiles. However, this little guy is not that fond of laughing. When he is with Yueyue, one of them is smiling like a flower, while the other one is looking at them strangely, not knowing what Yueyue is laughing at.

The two children together are quite funny.

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

Far away in Xiangcheng, Lin Changhai returned to Xiangcheng after celebrating the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, which was February or March in the solar calendar. It has been a month or two since he returned.

During this time, he asked someone to renovate Tao Rong's tomb and planted a peach tree in front of the tomb. Lin Tao married far away and he was also leaving Xiangcheng, so this tree could still accompany Tao Rong's tomb.

Although Tao Rong has been dead for more than 20 years, according to the old people in the village, she may have been reincarnated as a human being and remarried.

But no matter what, she is Lin Changhai's wife for life.

Tao Rong's life has ended, but Lin Changhai's life has not ended. As long as he is alive, his wife's name will be Tao Rong.

Lin Changhai also sent the chickens and ducks raised at home to Aunt Fang's house. Aunt Fang accepted them, but in the past one or two months, she also made delicious food in various ways for Lin Changhai and Shen Yongxing to have some wine at home. Except for a few chickens and ducks that were too young, Aunt Fang kept them, and basically killed and ate all the big ones.

The day before leaving Xiangcheng, Lin Changhai went to Tao Rong's grave again, sat with her for a whole day, and talked to her from the bottom of his heart.

It was evening when they went down the mountain.

All the daily necessities in the family were sent to Aunt Fang's house, and Lin Changhai had been eating at Aunt Fang's house for the past two days.

At this time, Aunt Fang had already started busying herself with cooking dinner. She killed a chicken and stir-fried it with spicy chicken cubes. She told Shen Yongxing to go to her own vegetable patch and pick some loofah and edamame. She peeled open the edamame shells and took out the beans inside. She stir-fried them with chili peppers and it tasted delicious.

The loofah is used to make soup with a few pieces of tofu inside, which tastes strong of tofu flavor.

The most delicious thing is the spicy chicken made by Aunt Fang. No one who has eaten it says it tastes bad.

It was Shen Yongxing who killed the chicken and plucked its feathers.

In the past, when there was no man and Lin Manman was taken care of by herself, Aunt Fang did everything at home by herself. When Lin Changhai was not doing transportation, he could come to help, but when he was doing long-distance trips, it would take ten days or half a month, and Aunt Fang didn't want to bother him all the time.

Over the years, she has gotten used to doing everything by herself. Now that she has a man to help her, Aunt Fang feels quite relieved.

The most important thing is that she knows that this man has her in his heart.

Perhaps no one except her, Shen Yongxing and Lin Changhai knew that Shen Yongxing had actually liked her ten years ago and wanted to start a new family with her.

But at that time, Aunt Fang was concerned about Lin Manman and did not agree to his request. She only said that she only wanted to raise her daughter and did not want to think about anything else. At that time, Shen Yongxing asked her how long she would wait.

Aunt Fang didn't want to let him wait, but since he asked, Aunt Fang answered and said that she would wait until Manman grew up and found a good job so that she wouldn't have to worry about him anymore, and then she would consider her personal problems.

Lin Manman was only six or seven years old at the time, and according to Aunt Fang, she would have to wait at least ten years.

Aunt Fang thought, who would be stupid enough to wait for her for ten years?

But Shen Yongxing really waited for her for ten years. During these ten years, many people wanted to introduce her to him, but he refused and never went to meet her. He would even secretly help Aunt Fang with some work.

He waited stubbornly, and finally, he finally got what he wanted.

After making up her mind, Aunt Fang first went to ask Lin Manman for her opinion. After learning that Lin Manman did not object and was very supportive of the word, she went to find Shen Yongxing the next day.

She dressed up specially that day. She was in her early forties, but she looked only in her thirties.

Shen Yongxing had just gone on a long trip a while ago and had just returned the day before. That day, he was sleeping at home when he heard Aunt Fang coming to see him. He quickly got dressed and got out of bed, and heard Aunt Fang asking him if he still wanted to marry her.

Shen Yongxing wondered if he had heard it wrong, and immediately slapped his forehead and said, "Marry, of course, why not!"

He has been waiting for this day for ten years!

The two of them happily went to get their marriage certificate that day.

After getting married, Shen Yongxing treated Aunt Fang very well. He handed over his salary to Aunt Fang for management, and everything at home was done according to his will.

In fact, Lin Changhai was the person who connected the two of them. It was he who suggested Fang Min to Shen Yongxing. After Shen Yongxing contacted her, he kept waiting.

When Lin Changhai arrived home, the meal was ready.

Aunt Fang took out the wine glasses and asked them to drink a glass: "You will leave tomorrow, we will see you off then."

Lin Changhai said, "I bought a ticket for the morning, which is quite early. I'd better not send you off."

Shen Yongxing: "How can that be? You have to send it. Come on, come and do it. I'll do it for you. When you get there, you can enjoy yourself."

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

The next morning, Lin Changhai set out with his luggage. Aunt Fang and Shen Yongxing saw him off to the train station and did not leave until the train started.

This was already Lin Changhai's third time taking the train from Xiangcheng to Shancheng. This time, he didn't know how long it would take before he could catch the train from Shancheng back to Xiangcheng.

Before leaving, Lin Changhai sent a letter to the island. After receiving the letter, Li Chengxi brought Lin Tao and Yueyue to the dock to pick him up.

This time when he came again, most of the things he brought in the big and small bags were Lin Changhai's own clothes.

The first thing Lin Changhai did after getting off the boat was to hug his little granddaughter, whom he hadn't seen for two months. Then the family got in the car and went home.

The guest room had been cleaned up, so Lin Changhai could just move in. Lin Tao helped put Lin Changhai's clothes into the closet. Lin Changhai said he was not too busy and would sort out the rest.

Lin Tao went to make lunch. She had wide noodles for lunch. She hadn't had wide noodles for a long time and she really wanted to eat it.

When Lin Changhai was packing up, he took out Tao Rong's photo, wiped it carefully, and then placed it on the cabinet.

Arong, this is our daughter's home now. It's great, isn't it? Our son-in-law is also very nice and filial. He was worried that I couldn't take care of myself in Xiangcheng, so he insisted on letting me come to the island.

…………………………

Not long after Qingming Festival, the Education Bureau outside the island held another meeting.

Originally, the principal was supposed to go, but she was too busy with junior high school affairs and couldn't get away, so she asked Lin Tao to go in her place.

Other schools would do the same thing. The principal is too busy, so it is normal to send a representative to attend the meeting. As long as the spirit of the meeting can be conveyed back at that time, it will be fine.

Yueyue was still young when the Outstanding Teachers Conference was held last year, and she definitely couldn't leave her mother. Now Yueyue is a little older and can eat rice porridge. In addition, with Lin Changhai coming to the island, it is still possible for Lin Tao to go out of the island for two days to attend the meeting.

When the principal assigned this task to Lin Tao, Lin Tao agreed without hesitation.

She also thought that since Yueyue was so old now, it would be okay for her to be away from her mother for two days. On the day of leaving the island, she was afraid that Yueyue would cry if she saw her boarding the ship without her, so she didn't even let Lin Changhai take Yueyue to see her off.

It was Li Chengxi who sent her on board and watched the boat sail away.

But as soon as the boat started moving, Lin Tao's eyes turned red.

Only then did she realize that the one she couldn't leave was herself. Although it was only two days, as soon as she got on the boat, she felt reluctant to leave.

Watching Li Chengxi on the shore getting smaller and smaller, until he could no longer be seen clearly, Lin Tao felt depressed and uncomfortable as she thought about whether Yueyue at home would cry and look for her mother when she found out that her mother was not around.

With concern, the feeling of missing someone is amplified a lot.

It was also Lin Tao's first time to leave the island alone, so it was inevitable that she felt reluctant to leave.

After sitting on the boat for two hours, Lin Tao started to close her eyes and rest as soon as she got on the boat. The wind and sea were calm today, and she didn't feel that dizzy when she got off the boat.

There is no guest house assigned for this conference, but the accommodation fee is paid at public expense and the school will reimburse it.

Lin Tao carried a small bag and went to the same guesthouse. The young comrade knew her and smiled when he saw her. He invited her upstairs and arranged the same room for her.

He also specifically assured: "Sister-in-law, I have already figured out the last incident. Someone anonymously reported that all the people we entertained had sex. This time, it will definitely be fine. Sister-in-law, you can live here with peace of mind."

After Lin Tao put down her luggage, she rested for a while and then went to a state-owned hotel to have a meal. Then she had to leave for a meeting at the Education Bureau. This meeting would last for two consecutive days.

Lin Tao asked the young comrade how to get to the Education Bureau. The young comrade explained it to her clearly and even drew the route on a piece of paper for her. She first took the bus and then walked for more than 20 minutes to get there.

Because it was her first time to the Education Bureau, she was afraid of being late due to delays on the road, and she also wanted to arrive early to familiarize herself with the Education Bureau, so she came early.

Just show the letter of introduction to the guard and you can get in.

The Education Bureau of Shancheng City is quite large, with three or four floors. After walking in from the main gate, Lin Tao looked for the direction of the conference room. When passing by an office, she heard some teasing inside.

"Director Fan, doesn't your wife bring you meals every day? Why do you still go to the cafeteria to eat like the rest of us? Can you eat so much? Aren't you afraid of choking?"

"As long as the food smells good, I can eat it anywhere. Today I think the food in the cafeteria smells better."

"Humph, you're not afraid of choking."