Chapter 17

Old Liu listened quietly to Tang Qingqing telling her other memory, the fire in the stove reflecting his sad face.

As he listened, he dug out the roasted sweet potatoes, and the kitchen was filled with a rich aroma.

"You must be hungry. Eat something first."

Tang Qingqing tried to guess from her master's expression whether he believed her, but she couldn't tell.

Her stomach was growling, but Tang Qingqing didn't care about anything else. She exhaled while peeling the hot sweet potato skin with her hands, switching between her left and right hands to take the sweet potatoes.

The sweet potatoes were roasted until honey was oozing out of them. Although they were very hot, Tang Qingqing was breathing heavily while eating them, but she was very satisfied.

It smells so good!

Tang Qingqing squinted her eyes while eating. This was a new variety of sweet potato, the seedlings distributed by the commune.

They taste sweeter than the sweet potatoes they grew before, have a higher yield, and are less prone to disease.

"You haven't told anyone about this, right?" Old Liu suddenly spoke.

Tang Qingqing shook her head, "I told you."

This incident was so miraculous that she didn't dare tell anyone about it for fear of being criticized for spreading feudal superstition.

"Don't tell anyone about this matter, no matter if it's true or not."

"Hey." Tang Qingqing responded obediently.

She kept stealing glances at Old Liu and asked tentatively:

"Master, do you also think that I want to live a good life too much and take dreams too seriously?"

This matter is so unbelievable that not only others but she herself sometimes has doubts.

"Your master has seen many strange things, this is nothing. You said that what you saw was a book. Maybe it's just like when we make a movie, some stories are true, but they are turned into stories and filmed.

It’s just that someone changed the story in the middle, and now it’s different from what’s written in the book.”

Tang Qingqing nodded suddenly, and then couldn't help asking: "Master, have you seen the movie?"

Old Liu looked at her in confusion, wondering what the hell was she talking about when she was talking about business.

"I have. Your uncle took me to the commune and took me there to see it."

Tang Qingqing was extremely curious, "Is it pretty? What does it look like? What is it talking about? Ouch——"

Old Liu tapped her head gently with his fingers.

Tang Qingqing touched her head and grinned foolishly.

She was confused before, but now that she told her master, she felt that it was not a big deal and she relaxed completely.

"No matter what book you read, it is not your life now, and many things will be different. You can read it, but you can't believe it completely. You can't just take it as it is. You have to figure it out for yourself."

Tang Qingqing put away her smile and listened attentively.

"It's just like when we listen to a play. The stories are true, but acting is acting, so it's definitely different. You have to observe carefully to see the truth."

Tang Qingqing couldn't help but interrupt again: "Master, I haven't heard of opera either."

Old Liu ignored her and continued:

"Even if what the book says is true, you can't rashly go and claim your biological parents."

People's hearts can change. The book does say that Tang Qingqing's biological parents loved her very much, but now everything has changed, and they have been separated for more than ten years. No one knows whether they still have such deep feelings for each other.

As the biological parents, who had taken care of the child for a while, they actually mistook the child for their own. This made Old Liu doubt how real their doting was.

Outsiders think that newborn babies look the same and can't even tell whether they are boys or girls.

But biological parents will never admit their mistakes. Admitting their mistakes only means that they don’t care much.

He has also been a father and has a deep understanding of the bond between father and son.

When his wife gave birth to a child, he was working outside to earn more money and was unable to come back in time. He did not return home until the child was almost a month old.

The first time he saw the child, he knew it was his own child, and he knew this little thing was different from other children.

The couple also saw Tang Qingqing when they went to pick up their child, and later came back again, but still failed to recognize her.

This made Old Liu feel very uncomfortable, and he felt that the company was not paying enough attention to the work.

Tang Qingqing had already been hurt, and if she were to be rejected again, Old Liu would feel sad just thinking about it.

In addition, they had no evidence to prove it, and Tang Qingqing's adventure could not be revealed to others. Even if they did, no one would probably believe it, which made the matter even more difficult.

Tang Qingqing slowed down her eating of sweet potatoes, "I thought so too."

I don't know why, but after she knew about this, she thought more about not having to listen to Zhao Dahua and Tang Jianjun and be filial to them just because they were her parents, but she didn't consider going to recognize them as her biological parents.

The book describes it very beautifully, being spoiled by a different family, which is very desirable.

But every time she immersed herself in such a warm moment, the way they looked at her would appear in her mind.

Tang Qingqing even dug out the memories buried deep in her heart. It was a sunny day and they came to the village.

When she and Tang Zhenzhen appeared together, their eyes did not stay on her, but went directly to Tang Zhenzhen beside her.

At that time, she had an indescribable feeling in her heart. Everyone was happy that day, but she was the only one who was unhappy.

Everyone, including myself later in life, thought that we were reluctant to let go of Tang Zhenzhen. Looking back now, it seems that it was not that simple.

They came again the second time, but their eyes still didn't stay on me. They just glanced at me and then looked away.

All this made Tang Qingqing feel resistant. She put the matter of recognizing her relatives behind her and didn't want to think about it too much.

Tang Qingqing felt the love of her parents from Old Liu. She liked this feeling and hoped that her parents would treat her like this. How happy she would be then.

But when she thought back to the interactions with her family in the books, she didn't seem to be that eager to do so.

At least for now, she is not ready to recognize her relatives.

"But this doesn't mean we can just get by in this muddle. Whether we admit it or not is one thing, but being played around by others is another."

Tang Qingqing laughed. She knew that her master couldn't bear to see her suffer any loss or humiliation.

"Girl, no matter what the future holds, having what others have is not as good as having it yourself, and relying on yourself is not as good as relying on others."

Early the next morning, Old Liu and Tang Qingqing went home together.

Tang Qingqing did not go home either, but went to herd sheep directly. Anyway, she had some biscuits given by the deputy captain of the Hongqiao Brigade in her pocket, so she was not afraid of being hungry.

"Sister Qingqing, I thought you weren't coming today, so I was just planning to help you release the sheep."

Wang Cao'er also came to the sheepfold at this time and was very happy to see Tang Qingqing.

"Thank you for yesterday. Are you tired?"

Tang Qingqing handed a cake to Wang Cao'er. Wang Cao'er wanted to refuse but she forced it into her arms.

"Here, I have several more."

The two of them often gave each other food, so Wang Cao'er didn't push it back after hearing this.

Tang Qingqing couldn't help laughing as she spoke: "These are all rewards for me. They even forced a piece of meat on us."

The meat has been taken back by Old Liu, so she will have meat to eat in the evening!

Wang Cao'er's eyes sparkled. "Sister Qingqing, have you caught the person who set the fire?"

Tang Qingqing raised her eyebrows, looking very proud.

"Sister Qingqing, you are so amazing!" Wang Cao'er said in admiration, "So Grandpa Liu is your master. I have never heard of him before."

"My master didn't want others to know that I had this ability, fearing that it would cause trouble, so I kept it a secret."

"Your master is so good to you. No wonder he made such a bet. Everyone said that Grandpa Liu was crazy before."

Wang Cao'er was thinking about something and wanted to laugh but didn't dare to.

"Don't hold it in. Your face is turning red."

"Does your mother plan to eat dirt or bark like a dog?"

Tang Qingqing burst out laughing, and Wang Cao'er also laughed when she saw her like that.

"It's better to have both."

Wang Cao'er covered her mouth with her little hands and her eyes were curved with laughter.

The news that the arsonist had been caught soon spread throughout the Rongshan Brigade.

After learning that the murderer was not from Caojiazhuang, although they were very angry, they no longer had the idea of ​​gathering together to go to Caojiazhuang to seek justice.

They have a good relationship with the people in Hongqiao Brigade. Many daughters-in-law in the brigade are from Hongqiao Brigade, and some girls have married there.

They cursed Yang Gang but did not take their anger out on others.

The person who brought the news back also emphasized Tang Qingqing's important role in this matter.

"The police said that if it wasn't for Tang Qingqing, they would never have caught that beast."

"What the hell, Tang Qingqing is capable of this? Did you hear it right?"

"I'm not hard of hearing. I heard that Tang Qingqing took Old Liu as her teacher and learned some code or something. Anyway, it's about finding people by looking at footprints."

"That one-eyed old man still has this ability?"

When the old people in the brigade heard this, they all recalled what happened twenty years ago.

"If we hadn't mentioned this, we would have almost forgotten that it was because of this ability that Old Liu's son was hired by the Public Security Bureau and became a police officer with a stable job."

The young people were very surprised; they had never heard of this before.

"It happened so many years ago, no one likes to talk about it."

Old Liu's son died in a terrible way. The murderer deliberately tortured him before killing him, and the body was tortured beyond the limit of appearance.

It was said that it was the spies who were taking revenge. In order to prevent hidden spies from causing trouble for Old Liu's family, no one liked to talk about this matter.

"Tang Qingqing is a good girl. She has learned the old man's true teachings without making any noise."

"I've noticed this girl is special. Her eyes are very bright and her pupils are very black and big."

"That's right. The day the girl was born, I remember the sky was different than usual."

"It's incredible that you can catch someone just by looking at their footprints. How can you tell that?"

Everyone was talking about it, and Tang Qingqing's name became the most frequently mentioned name at this time.

We talked about this while we were working.

Although the food was burned, at least the murderer was caught, which made them feel much better.

"The Tang family is so successful. They have produced two extremely smart people. It's a pity that they are both girls. Sooner or later, they will belong to other families."

Speaking of the Tang family, some people's eyes turned to Tang Jianjun standing aside.

"Tang Jianjun, when will your wife start eating dirt? We are all waiting."

Someone burst into laughter: "If you don't want to eat dirt, you can just lie on the ground and bark like a dog!"

Those who have a problem with Zhao Dahua or Tang Jianjun did not forget to fan the flames:

"Zhao Dahua didn't come to work today. Did she feel ashamed to face people and was thinking of shirking her debts?"

After being reminded like this, everyone realized that Zhao Dahua was not there, and they looked at Tang Jianjun with meaningful eyes.

Since his elder brother Tang Jianguo was a promising man, he did not break away from the family even after he was adopted, which allowed Tang Jianjun and his wife to show off all day long.

Looking down on this one and that the next makes people feel very unhappy. If you dare to say a few words, you will be accused of being jealous and unable to stand others doing well without any ability.

"No, no? Yesterday, I told everyone that I wanted to see Old Liu's jokes. I said I would not let him off just because he is an old man. I also said that we must keep our promises. We must correct this atmosphere. We cannot allow nonsense to appear in our team."

"Tang Jianjun, your family wouldn't be the kind of people who say one thing and do another, right?"

"Oh my god, that's not enough. I have a brother who is a factory manager. How can I be the same as an ignorant old farmer like us?"

"That's right. If I want to eat commercial food, I can have it. I just don't bother to go there. How can I say that I can't do it?"

Listening to everyone's ridicule, Tang Jianjun became so angry that his face turned red. Finally, he could no longer bear it and simply dropped the hoe and ran away.

I heard laughter from behind, and someone shouted: Even if you run away, this matter is not over yet!