Ye Xuanhan held in his hand the address of Professor Zhang's home given by Grandma Meng. It was in a tube-shaped building near Capital University, where the families of the school's professors lived.
Professor Zhang lives on the second floor. After going up the dark staircase and passing through a corridor filled with the smell of cooking smoke and cluttered with debris, Ye Han and Jiang Wang stopped in front of a door with the words 207 printed on it.
Ye Xuanhan stretched out his right hand and knocked on the door three times. "Is Professor Zhang home?"
"Here it comes," a middle-aged female voice sounded.
About half a minute later, a middle-aged woman with curly hair and wearing a white dress opened the door a little and stuck her head out to look at Ye Han and Jiang Wang.
He couldn't go empty-handed, so Ye Hanhan bought a bag of egg cakes nearby in advance.
She handed the item to the woman and said, "Hello."
"Comrade, who are you?" The woman looked at Ye Hanhan and Jiang Wang warily. She did not take the egg cake from Ye Hanhan's hand and even looked a little disgusted.
"My name is Ye Hanhan, and the person standing next to me is my lover Jiang Wang," Ye Hanhan withdrew his hand somewhat awkwardly and said, "Are you Professor Zhang's lover?"
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"Yeah, do you have something to talk to him about? He's at school and probably won't be back until the evening."
Hearing that he had come to nothing, Ye Han was a little disappointed. He asked Professor Zhang when he would be home, but got an uncertain answer, so he turned and left.
After taking two steps, I heard Professor Zhang's wife closing the door of her house.
Ye Han felt something was strange, but he couldn't tell what was strange. He looked at Jiang Wang and found that his face was as confused as his.
When I reached the stairs, a door opened and a woman in a gray top and an apron shouted, "Hey, don't leave."
Ye Han turned his head and looked around to make sure there was no one around. Then he pointed at his nose and asked, "Are you calling me?"
“Yes, yes, it’s you,” the woman said with a smile but a malicious look on her face.
"What can I do for you?" Ye Han asked.
The other person's face was full of gossip, and he must want to ask me something.
"Come in and sit down," the woman greeted Ye Hanhan and Jiang Wang warmly, "I just can't stand some people hiding at home and eating alone, and when guests come to their doorstep, they chase them away."
The voice was very loud, and Ye Hanhan seriously suspected that she was implying Professor Zhang's lover.
The woman's words made Ye Han suddenly enlightened. No wonder she felt strange just now.
When guests came to the house, Professor Zhang's lover acted as if to avoid them. She didn't even let them drink a glass of boiled water and quickly closed the door.
Not knowing the most basic way of hospitality is not something an intellectual family would do.
Seeing Ye Hanhan hesitate, the woman whispered, "Girl, come in. I have something to tell you."
Ye Xuanhan and Jiang Wang looked at each other, then followed the woman into the house.
For some reason, Ye Han had a feeling that he would get some important information from this woman.
"Close the door," the woman reminded, "Let me introduce myself to you. My last name is Zhang, you can just call me Aunt Zhang."
After saying that, he poured a glass of orange soda for Ye Hanhan and Jiang Wang respectively, "Try it, this is our children's favorite drink, 1.2 cents a bottle."
Aunt Zhang's tone was boastful, and Ye Hanhan couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth.
Ye Xuanhan and Jiang Wang said thank you respectively, held the orange soda in their hands, and waited for Aunt Zhang's next words.
"Do you two know Professor Zhang?" Aunt Zhang asked.
"We're not familiar with the place. We just came here to take a look on behalf of a good friend of Professor Zhang," Ye Han complained in a fake tone, "Who knew we didn't even get through the door."
Aunt Zhang obviously had a conflict with Professor Zhang's wife, otherwise she wouldn't have spoken so loudly in the corridor just now.
Ye Xuanhan's complaint obviously touched the heart of the woman.
She curled her lips and said, "Shi Xiaoli is that kind of person. Don't pay attention to her. There are not many people in this world that she can respect."
Aunt Zhang's words were full of disdain.
Ye Hanhan continued her words, "We came here to see her for someone else, but we didn't know she didn't even want our egg cake."
"What? They don't even want egg cakes?" Aunt Zhang's eyes widened. "Does their family not even want egg cakes now?"
"Alas, I've brought it here," Ye Hanhan pretended to feel sorry and said, "It's troublesome to take it back, Aunt Zhang, how about this, if you don't mind, I'll give you the egg cake."
"Don't mind, don't mind," Aunt Zhang happily took the egg cake, "Egg cake is a precious thing. I want to buy it but I can't bear to. Our children love it the most."
After successfully bribing Aunt Zhang, Ye Han began to ask further questions.
"Aunt Zhang, why do you say she doesn't like my egg cake? I'm from the countryside, and it's rare for me to be given egg cake when I visit someone."
"Oh, that's right. Professor Zhang and his family eat and drink delicious food all day long, so they may not like this egg cake."
"Eat delicious food? Drink spicy food?" Ye Hanhan grasped a key piece of information.
Salaries in the 1970s were not high. Even university professors only earned 30 or 40 yuan a month, which was barely enough to feed their families. It was probably not realistic to think that they could eat and drink delicious food.
"Yes, they have a constant supply of fresh eggs and fruits, so why would they be interested in such small things?" Aunt Zhang said, her tone full of sarcasm.
"Isn't your wife also a professor? Aren't the conditions of the two families different?" Ye Han asked.
"Same, I just asked you to come in because I wanted to ask you why their family lives so comfortably, and whether they have done anything shameful," Aunt Zhang said angrily, "It seems you don't know either."
"I really don't know," Ye Hanhan said, "Do you have any grudge against her?"
"Celebrating a festival?" Aunt Zhang snorted. "There are so many of them. People with the surname Zhang and Shi are all ungrateful. Their children are also ungrateful."
Seeing that Aunt Zhang was quite resentful, Ye Han took the opportunity to ask, "Why do you say that? I heard that they are both very kind."
Old Wang and Grandma Meng had told her a little about Professor Zhang, so she had a preconceived notion that he must be an upright and kind person, and at least he would not be regarded as an ungrateful person by others.
"That's a long story," Aunt Zhang obviously had a lot of complaints about this.
Ye Hanhan glanced at Jiang Wang and found that although the other party had been listening quietly, his brows were getting more and more furrowed.
It seems that it will be a bit difficult for me to help Mr. Wang and Grandma Meng get their things back.
Aunt Zhang was a chatterbox. After talking for a long time, she finally listed the crimes of Professor Zhang and her lover one by one.
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