Chapter 40
When Wang Heizi heard that there was a secret, he immediately became excited.
"What's the secret?"
Wang Xiaotie was also curious, wondering what else his sister knew.
Wang Tiantian looked mysterious as she led the group to a remote place. After making sure that no one was around, she lowered her voice and spoke:
"You can't tell anyone about this, or I'll be scolded to death."
Except for Zhai Hongyi, the other three people nodded like crazy and listened with anticipation.
"I actually overheard it by accident. I didn't eavesdrop on it on purpose."
The three of them responded again.
Wang Tiantian was still worried: "You guys will forget about this after hearing it..."
Wang Heizi couldn't hold it in any longer, "Hey, hey, what's going on? Please tell me quickly. I'm really getting anxious. It's a pity for you to become a storyteller."
Wang Tiantian looked confused: "What is a storyteller?"
"It's just... Hey, hurry up and don't interrupt!"
When Wang Tiantian was about to speak, everyone pricked up their ears and listened attentively, and Zhai Hongyi's attention was focused on her.
But she opened her mouth for a long time before she said, "Forget it, I won't say it."
"Ah ...
Wang Heizi jumped up and was about to rush towards Wang Tiantian. Wang Xiaotie quickly held him down, and Wang Tiantian hid behind Tang Qingqing.
"Tell me if she's evil or not. I've kept her on suspense for so long, but she doesn't say anything! No, you have to tell me today, or I won't be able to enjoy my meal!"
Wang Tiantian said bitterly, "It's not that I don't want to tell you, I just don't know how to start, and it doesn't seem right to tell others."
Wang Heizi was going crazy, howling and screaming.
Tang Qingqing thought for a moment and said, "You are seeing so many people that it is hard to say it out loud. Why don't you tell me quietly? If you tell only me, it will be a secret."
Wang Tiantian's eyes lit up and she nodded repeatedly.
The two little sisters hid aside and whispered.
Wang Heizi was finally released at this time. He was so angry that he picked up branches and started playing with them to vent his dissatisfaction.
Wang Tiantian and Tang Qingqing went to a quiet corner. Tang Qingqing did not question her immediately, but took out a piece of fruit candy.
Ever since Tang Qingqing knew that she had hypoglycemia, she always carried some sugar with her and would take a pill if she felt unwell.
She couldn't bear to buy the expensive White Rabbit candy, so she bought the cheapest fruit candy. Even without a ticket, she could buy eight pieces for only one cent.
Wang Tiantian, who only eats candy a few times a year, doesn't care whether it is cheap or expensive, she is happy to be able to eat candy.
She has eaten two candies today and feels so happy.
"Sister, I didn't mean to tease you. It just suddenly occurred to me that this might not be easy to tell anyone." Wang Tiantian shook her head in embarrassment.
Wang Tiantian often followed her mother around and listened to gossip. The old ladies did not shy away from it, always thinking that she was a child who could not understand or was not interested in her.
In fact, she would listen carefully every time and remember it in her heart.
Or maybe they think they have lowered their voices and think she can't hear them because she is playing or working, but in fact she can hear them clearly.
Tang Qingqing smiled and said, "I am not from your village, and people outside don't know people from your village. Even if you tell me, I can't tell people from your village. If I tell people outside, others won't know who I am talking about."
This was a bit confusing, but Wang Tiantian still understood it and her eyes lit up.
Wang Tiantian suddenly felt relieved and told the secret she had overheard.
"Grandma Zhao at the entrance of the village is the midwife of our brigade. She delivered many babies in our brigade, including me and my brother."
Tang Qingqing didn't understand why the topic came to this, but she didn't interrupt and just listened to her patiently.
"Grandma Zhao had a very good relationship with my grandma. She often talked to my grandma. One time, they were talking in the house, and I was working outside, and I heard them mention Uncle Liang."
Wang Tiantian leaned close to Tang Qingqing and whispered in her ear:
"Grandma Zhao said Aunt Hong was pregnant, but the baby didn't stay in bed and died."
Tang Qingqing was surprised, "Ah? Why is it gone? Is it injured?"
"Mrs. Zhao guessed it was Uncle Liang's problem."
Tang Qingqing looked unhappy: "Uncle Liang beat Aunt Hong?"
"No, no, no, that's not it." Wang Tiantian waved her hands quickly.
"How does that have anything to do with Uncle Liang?"
"Grandma Zhao was the one who delivered Uncle Liang. She said Uncle Liang's thing didn't look good."
"What?" Tang Qingqing was confused.
Wang Tiantian slapped her thigh and winked, "Oh, that's it."
"What?"
"The little bird of a boy."
Tang Qingqing covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming.
"Look, is it difficult for me to say this?"
Although Wang Tiantian was young and didn't know what this meant to a man, she could guess from the tone of conversation between Grandma Zhao and the others that this matter should not be spread out.
And she also heard that boys like to pee farther than anyone else.
Boys born in the family were often spanked by the elders when they were young. If they were not wearing open-crotch pants, their pants would be pulled down and spanked.
Therefore, in her impression, this thing should be very important.
As for what Grandma Zhao meant by "not looking good" and why she didn't look good, Wang Tiantian couldn't imagine it at all and had no idea what it was.
She also knew that this was a shameful matter and she couldn't talk about it outside, otherwise she would be laughed at. So she couldn't ask and could only keep it to herself.
"Grandma Zhao also said that she almost lost the baby when he was born."
Wang Tiantian burst into laughter as she spoke, she couldn't imagine what it was like to not be able to find anything.
The children in the village all wore open-crotch pants when they were young. Some children didn't even wear pants in the summer, so they know what a penis looks like.
"Sister, why is it that if a man's penis doesn't look good, it's bad for a woman to get pregnant?" This is something Wang Tiantian has never understood.
How would Tang Qingqing know? Her other memory came from that book, but it wasn't clearly written in the book. She just saw something like her waist hurt the next day. Why did her waist hurt?
Both girls looked confused, but they vaguely knew that a child can only be born when a couple lies together, and neither can be missing.
"It's probably like a person's face. If you look good, you're more likable?"
"Is that so?" Wang Tiantian always felt something was wrong.
This was a shameful matter, so the two of them tacitly skipped the topic.
"Anyway, Grandma Zhao said that Uncle Liang's condition makes it difficult for him to have children."
Grandma Zhao was not only a midwife, she also knew some herbal medicine and medical skills. Normally, when people had a headache or a fever, they would not go to the town or the commune to see a doctor, but would go to Grandma Zhao to get some herbal medicine to take.
When the barefoot doctors in the countryside were being trained, Grandma Zhao also attended the classes for a few days.
"Where is Grandma Zhao's home?"
"Grandma Zhao passed away at the end of last year. After she passed away, my grandma also fell ill." Wang Tiantian's face fell.
After Grandma Wang fell ill, she often couldn't recognize people. She often mistook Wang Xiaotie for Wang Dashan, Wang Tiantian for her aunt, or just treated them all as strangers.
But Grandma Wang remembered Grandma Zhao very clearly. She often said that she wanted to go see Grandma Zhao, and got angry when she was not allowed to go, leaving people at a loss as to what to do.
"Does anyone in your team know that Aunt Hong's child is gone?"
Wang Tiantian shook her head: "I don't know, I'm keeping it a secret."
"Are you sure that what Grandma Zhao said about Aunt Hong's child being missing was Uncle Liang's fault?"
"She said there might be a connection. She said Aunt Hong didn't do anything to cause the baby to die. She guessed that Uncle Liang was too weak, so the baby had trouble sitting still. When they spoke, their voices were very low, so I couldn't hear some of the words clearly."
"Auntie Hong has been married for several years but has no children. Doesn't anyone say anything behind her back? There is a couple in my family who has been childless for several years and people often talk about them."
"Of course someone said that..." Wang Tiantian reacted immediately, realizing something was wrong, "But everyone said that Aunt Hong couldn't have children..."
Aunt Hong was clearly pregnant before, but she died because she couldn't sit still, not because she was infertile.
Why do people outside say it's Aunt Hong's problem?
She hadn't thought about it so much before, because she didn't understand this memory at the time and didn't remember it very much. After all, it happened more than two years ago, and she only remembered it now when it was mentioned again.
"This Uncle Liang is not a very honest person. He doesn't seem to be the honest man you described him to be."
No matter what the reason was for Wang Xianghong to be unable to keep the fetus, it did not mean that she could not give birth.
Being unable to have children is extremely fatal to a woman, especially a country woman, and she will be looked down upon and ridiculed.
There was such a sister-in-law in Rongshan Brigade before, and she was often talked about behind her back.
Some people who passed by the sister-in-law with their children in their arms would hold their children tighter, as if they were afraid that the woman would snatch their children away.
The eldest sister-in-law had no status at all in her husband's family. She did all the dirty and tiring work, and she kept her head down all day for fear of being seen by others.
She was beaten and scolded at her husband's house, and her own family felt ashamed and did not dare to come forward to support her.
Later, the woman became pregnant and her situation was completely different. She wandered around the village with a big belly all day, showing off in front of those who had mocked her before.
That baby was a boy, which made her even more proud. Now she is singing the praises of a liberated peasant slave.
Tang Qingqing always felt something was wrong when she heard it, but she couldn't tell why.
If Cao Liang is really a good person, why doesn't he come out to clarify when people say such things about his wife?
Wang Tiantian wanted to refute, but she also felt that what he said made sense.
If she was wrongly accused and her family didn't let her explain and insisted on keeping it a secret, she would feel very wronged.
Wang Heizi finally waited until the two girls who were whispering came out. Seeing their tangled looks, he felt itchy in his heart.
"What did you say?"
Zhai Hongyi stopped him and said, "Let's go somewhere else first."
Wang Heizi couldn't get an answer and felt uncomfortable all over.
But he knew how powerful Zhai Hongyi was, so he didn't dare to talk nonsense. He could only put this matter behind him and ask another question:
"When did Aunt Hong run away?"
Wang Xiaotie: "Early in the morning on the second day of the Chinese New Year, everyone thought she had gone back to her parents' home. Later, when the police came to question her, they found out that she was missing."
"Then how do you know she ran away with someone?"
"She ran away with someone, so why did she disappear? And the aunt saw her walking up the mountain."
Wang Heizi was puzzled: "What's wrong with going up the mountain?"
"If you walk up the mountain, you will reach the train station, from there you can take a train south. Aunt Hong used to go there to sell things, and she always sold better than others. Everyone said that she hooked up with an outsider at that time, and now she must have gone to a big city in the south."
"This is all just guesswork. Did anyone see her get on the train and run away? Did anyone see the adulterer?"
Wang Tiantian and Wang Xiaotie both shook their heads.
Wang Tiantian: “That’s what everyone says.”
Wang Heizi rolled his eyes and said, "There's nothing. Just say he ran away with someone. What if he was kidnapping women? The people in your team are too unreliable."
Wang Xiaotie was puzzled. They had not thought too much about it before. They just ran away as they said. How could they know that there would be other accidents?
"Uncle Liang's mother also ran away with someone, and took away everything in the house. Later, she came back to see Uncle Liang, but he scolded her and ran away. People in the brigade said that Uncle Liang's family had bad feng shui and he couldn't keep women."
Compared to Wang Xianghong, Cao Liang's family is poor. In Tiandong Brigade, it is actually not bad.
Cao Liang was very diligent and could earn more than ten work points every time.
Since the train was put into operation, he often went to the train stops to sell things. In the early days, he even went with others to climb on the train, but he was never caught.
Therefore, his conditions are not bad compared to those in the Tiandong Brigade.
But even though he is such an ambitious man, his wife still ran away from him.
Zhai Hongyi: "Do you know where Aunt Hong went that day? Where did Auntie meet that person?"
Wang Xiaotie: "Yes, there is only one way to cross the mountain."
Wang Heizi urged, "Let's go and have a look together. Then we can go to the station to have a look. I have never seen a train in my life."
Several people went to the mountain road together. The mountain road was very small, only wide enough for one person to pass through, and was trampled out by people.
There were many trees on the mountain, and they were covered with snow. As soon as Wang Heizi arrived there, he forgot what he was doing.
He kicked a tree hard, then quickly dodged, catching the person following him off guard and getting drenched in snow.
"Hahaha, you all became snowmen!"
Tang Qingqing was almost mad, "I won't bring you here next time!"
Zhai Hongyi strode forward, lifted the back of his collar, and pressed his head into the snow.
"If you continue to mess around, I'll make you pay."
After Wang Heizi was dealt with, he immediately became much more obedient.
Wang Xiaotie and Wang Tiantian were covering their mouths and laughing, showing no sympathy at all.
Wang Heizi grabbed a ball of snow and threw it at the two of them, "What are you laughing at! Hehehe, look at my invincible cannonball!"
Wang Xiaotie and Wang Tiantian were not convinced, so they also grabbed snow and made snowballs to throw at him.
Suddenly, the snow flew everywhere.
Zhai Hongyi pointed to a flat area nearby and shouted, "Go play over there. If anyone throws a snowball here, I'll show you how I'll deal with you."
The three were frightened by his majesty. They immediately stopped fighting and ran to where he pointed to continue their snowball fight.
Seeing that the three of them were playing again and no longer paying attention to the situation here, Zhai Hongyi asked:
"What did Wang Tiantian tell you just now?"
Tang Qingqing understood why Wang Tiantian had been so reluctant to speak before. She hesitated for a while and finally repeated what Wang Tiantian had said.
"I don't quite understand."
Although it was said vaguely, Zhai Hongyi understood it, "It means it's not okay."
"Is it not possible?"
"Men are responsible for sowing seeds, while women are responsible for nurturing them. No matter how good a woman's land is, it will be useless if the seeds are not good. Even if she manages to grow something, it will still be dry and shapeless."
After this explanation, Tang Qingqing immediately understood.
"Then why don't you explain it to outsiders? It's just a waste of time for Wang Xianghong to be criticized."
"For some men, being told that a man is not virile is more serious than being told that a woman cannot have children. It's like being a eunuch in ancient times."
Tang Qingqing glared: "So the woman deserves to be scolded? This kind of man is too disgusting!"
Zhai Hongyi shrugged, "There are many evil things in the world."
"Is Cao Liang also this kind of person?"
"It's hard to say. Mrs. Zhao is just guessing. We need to go to the hospital for a check-up to find out what's going on. Some women are weak and prone to miscarriage."
Shortness can indeed easily lead to infertility, but it is not absolute and depends on the specific circumstances.
Zhai Hongyi didn't want to tell Tang Qingqing too much about it. Although this was a normal physiological phenomenon, it was not easy to bring it up, so he could only gloss over it vaguely.
Tang Qingqing didn't really understand these things, so she decided to start with her expertise.
Tang Qingqing squatted down and used a branch to push away the snow on the ground to check the situation on the ground.
Zhai Hongyi also came up to help her and cleared the snow off the ground.
There was no heavy snow during the Chinese New Year, and there was less snow on the road, so you can see the footprints left by previous people.
However, it was probably the Chinese New Year period and everyone wanted to stay at home to celebrate the New Year, so there were not many fresh footprints on the road.
"Did you find anything?"
Tang Qingqing surveyed for a long time, walked a long way, shook his head and said:
"There are only three clear footprints from men, and no women. One of the footprints was made three days ago, and the other two were made less than three days ago."
Zhai Hongyi was curious: "How did you figure that out?"
"I asked Tiantian about the recent weather before, and she said it snowed three days ago, and then it hasn't snowed since. Look, these two footprints are on the snow, and the other person's footprints are under the snow."
Zhai Hongyi hesitated for a moment and said, "We still have to find the aunt who saw Wang Xianghong and see where she saw him."
"But if we ask like this, it will be easy to be exposed."
Zhai Hongyi looked at Wang Heizi who was playing and said, "Let him try."
Wang Heizi was summoned and assigned such an important task, and he immediately felt like a completely different person.
"Guaranteed to complete the mission!"
Wang Heizi hooked Wang Xiaotie's shoulder and took him to find the aunt who last saw Wang Xianghong.
I don't know what method he used to trick that old lady into coming here.
"I was here that day, preparing to go back to her parents' home, and I saw Cao Liang's wife at that big tree, the biggest one, and she disappeared after a while."
Wang Heizi looked at the big tree, which was about 20 to 30 meters away, and his view was partially blocked by the branches.
"How can you tell it's Aunt Hong from such a distance?"
"Oh, I recognized her by the clothes she was wearing. In our entire brigade, no one wore brighter clothes than she did. Our jackets were all gray and blue, which were more resistant to dirt, but she had a red floral one."
Wang Xianghong's big red cotton jacket is very iconic. It was bought for her by her parents when she got married. It is not only bright in color but also very thick.
Everyone's clothes were basically patched up, and the quilts were particularly thin. The cotton in many people's clothes had become stiff, and the clothes were not warm at all.
Wang Xianghong's jacket looks beautiful and warm. Every time the aunties and sisters-in-law in the village see her wearing this jacket, they are very envious.
"So you recognize people by their clothes? You didn't see her in person?"
"That's enough. How could she be willing to lend it to others? Normally, when people see it and want to touch it, her face becomes long."
The lady answered and left, looking very happy and not feeling disturbed at all.
"What did you do to make that aunt willing to make such a trip in the middle of winter?" Taking advantage of the Wang siblings' inattention, Tang Qingqing asked in a low voice, "Did you tell her our identities?"
"How could that be possible? Am I that stupid? I am a qualified underground party member." Wang Heizi patted his chest.
"I started chatting with her, and then asked her where she saw it. The aunt was very enthusiastic and took the initiative to come over and show me the way."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Tang Qingqing was incredulous, "Isn't this too simple?"
"It's not complicated in the first place. These aunties love people to listen to them talk about these things. As long as you talk about something that interests her, even if you don't want to know too much, she will insist on telling you."
As long as you pay attention to complimenting the other person on being well-informed, they will be eager to open their hearts to you.
Not only Tang Qingqing, but also Zhai Hongyi couldn't help but twitch his lips.
If they had known it was so easy, why would they have been worried just now? They could have directly asked Wang Heizi to ask someone, and they wouldn't have wasted so much time.
It turns out that I have watched too many movies and have made things too complicated.
Tang Qingqing walked to the place her aunt mentioned and checked the situation there.
There was a pair of clear footprints under the big tree, and Tang Qingqing recognized them as the pair of footprints on the mountain path at a glance.
"This person stood here for quite a long time, and the footprints are very clear and complete."
If you were just passing by, the pair of footprints would not be standing side by side, they should be one in front and one behind.
"Only this person's footprints?"
"Well, there are a lot of stones here. Wang Xianghong might have walked on the stones, so there were no footprints left."
"What does the owner of this footprint look like?"
Tang Qingqing said: "He is about 23 years old, 1.7 meters tall, thin, and walks with his feet turned inward."
"Does it match Cao Liang's characteristics?"
Although they had never seen Cao Liang, they had asked about Cao Liang's appearance when they were at the Public Security Bureau.
"When I saw him, I could confirm whether the owner of the footprints was him, but it was useless to confirm that it was him. It was normal for him to appear here since his wife disappeared here."
Zhai Hongyi stroked his chin and said to himself, "But why is he standing here?"
"Perhaps he knew that his wife's last sight was here, so he stood here to remember her?"
Both of them thought this was unlikely.
But if it wasn't for this reason, why was he standing here? It just happened to be the position where the old lady last saw Wang Xianghong.
Zhai Hongyi called Wang Heizi over and asked, "Did the lady point out to Cao Liang the place where she last saw Wang Xianghong?"
Wang Heizi shook his head: "When she mentioned it to others, she just said it was in this area, but she didn't point it out to anyone. If I hadn't talked her into it and given each of her grandchildren a piece of candy, she wouldn't have been so diligent in the middle of winter."
This place is still quite far from where everyone lives, so it's enough to just listen to the gossip and get a general idea. There's no need to go to the scene to see it so clearly.
Zhai Hongyi's expression was solemn, which made Tang Qingqing and Wang Heizi feel that something was wrong.
"What's wrong?"
Zhai Hongyi shook his head and said, "Let's go to Cao Liang's house and take a look."
Wang Heizi was very depressed: "What's wrong with you guys today? Why do you always like to keep people in suspense? Don't you know that this will make people anxious to death?"
Tang Qingqing vaguely guessed something, but couldn't see it clearly, so no matter how Wang Heizi complained, she didn't say anything.
Cao Liang's house is some distance away from other houses, and the nearest neighbor's house is more than 20 meters away.
Wang Heizi was curious: "Why did they come here to build a house?"
Generally, people like to build houses together, which is safer.
In the past, wild beasts often came down the mountain. A family stood alone in a place and did not even know they were attacked by wild beasts.
If we all live together, we can be more cautious. Wild animals generally won't come into the house after seeing this fight.
"Cao Liang's mother hooked up with a relative from the next door who came to visit, and then ran away with him. Since then, the relationship between the two families has been bad, and they simply applied for another residential plot to build a house."
"So that's how it is. This man is really unlucky."
Wang Tiantian: “I actually heard another version of the story.”
"What do you mean?" Wang Heizi said, and immediately became alert. "You must explain it to me clearly this time. You are not allowed to hide anything."
Wang Tiantian felt a little embarrassed. She was indeed not very kind just now. She wanted to say it but felt ashamed, so she got stuck halfway.
"I heard from the elderly that Uncle Liang's mother was beaten away by his father. His father became a different person when he drank and beat his mother badly. Uncle Liang originally had a brother or sister, but they were beaten to death. Later, Uncle Liang's mother could no longer have children."
Wang Xiaotie also knew about this incident. "I heard that Uncle Liang's mother hooked up with a neighboring relative because that relative saw how badly he was beaten and felt sorry for him, so she took him away."
When Wang Heizi heard this, he clenched his fists.
"No wonder you want to run! If it were me, I would run too. We were both born and raised by our parents, so why are you hitting me? What a jerk! Only incompetent men hit women. If you have the guts, go find us and practice!"
Wang Xiaotie: "He's not like this normally. He's just drunk and not very clear-headed."
"Come on, when he's drunk, is he going to pick a fight with a strong man? I don't believe there's no man in the village he doesn't like. Would he dare to do that?"
Although these things happened in the past, Wang Xiaotie and Wang Tiantian had never heard of such a thing.
"So, this man is no good. If it was my mother who was beaten, I would beat him if I could, but if I can't, I would take my mother and run away." Wang Heizi was filled with righteous indignation.
Wang Xiaotie: "Uncle Liang doesn't drink alcohol because of his father."
The locals are great drinkers, and even though they often can't fill their stomachs, they just love drinking.
Sometimes, even if I don’t eat, I have to drink a sip of wine, as if it is feeding my stomach.
Cao Liang never drinks alcohol, which is rare in the brigade.
Although Wang Dashan seldom drinks because he thinks it wastes food and wants to save money, he is actually a heavy drinker.
Zhai Hongyi suddenly asked, "Does Cao Liang beat his wife?"
Wang Xiaotie and Wang Tiantian were both stunned.
"How is that possible! Uncle Liang is not that kind of person. He has a good temper and has never fought with anyone." Wang Xiaotie reacted and quickly denied it.
Wang Tiantian also said: "Uncle Liang is well-known for loving his wife. He never lets Aunt Hong do any dirty or tiring work. When Aunt Hong is thirsty at night, Uncle Liang goes to pour water for her. Aunt Hong likes to be clean, so she washes the house very frequently in winter. She has to wash the house every three or five days, and Uncle Liang collects firewood for her."
Hot water is not easy to come by, so many local people just wipe themselves clean in the winter and take a bath only once in a long time.
Wang Heizi clicked his tongue: "Did the person who passed the message sneak under someone else's bed to know the details so clearly?"
"Aunt Hong said so herself."
Wang Heizi was speechless now.
Several people walked to the door of Cao Liang's house, and Wang Xiaotie called people into the yard.
After a while, Cao Liang came out of the house.
Cao Liang is not tall, very fair and looks gentle.
His clothes were very neat and clean. If it wasn't for the fact that he was a native of Tiandong Brigade, one wouldn't be able to tell that he was a farmer's son. He looked more like a city dweller, and not even from an ordinary working-class family.
The moment she saw him, Tang Qingqing finally understood why Wang Xianghong insisted on marrying him.
I have to say that he is really good-looking. He is not as sharp and handsome as Zhai Hongyi, but he looks comfortable and non-aggressive. He has a very gentle temperament and it is easy for people to like him.
"What's up?"
"Uncle Liang, these are my brothers and sisters from the city. It's too cold outside and my house is too small, so we came to play with you."
Wang Heizi taught Wang Xiaotie to say this.
Cao Liang frowned, "Why did you come to my house? I don't have anything at home."
"We happened to pass by your house while we were playing, so we thought we'd come visit you, and your place is quiet."
The latter part of the sentence was added by Wang Xiaotie himself. Wang Heizi rolled his eyes when he heard it. Isn't this just hitting someone where it hurts?
Sure enough, Cao Liang looked unhappy, but he didn't say anything and let them in.
Cao Liang's home is very clean, and if you look closely, you can see that every detail is carefully thought out, and you can tell that the owner of the house takes its management of the home seriously.
Although I don't have much money, I try my best to do better within my ability.
There are some small ornaments on the windowsill. They are obviously made of grass and branches, but they look very beautiful.
There are beautiful window grilles on the windows, which are not only beautiful but also festive.
Tang Qingqing looked at the window paper-cuts that were filled with love, and couldn't imagine how a woman who was about to elope could have the leisure to decorate her home.
Looking at the themes of window paper-cuts, they all contain beautiful expectations for future life.
Things like flowers in full bloom and the full moon, a fat baby holding a koi, etc.
Each window paper-cut is very delicate and requires a lot of effort to cut out.
There is also a sewing machine in the room, which is the first of its kind in the Tiandong Brigade.
This was Wang Xianghong's dowry. When it was first carried in, it caused a sensation.
Many people came over to see the wonder and saw the sewing machine spinning, sewing evenly and quickly.
As soon as Tang Qingqing entered the room, her attention was attracted by the sewing machine.
She had only used it in her dreams and had never touched it in real life.
The sewing machine is covered with a dust cover crocheted with wool. The pattern is very complicated and beautiful. The craftsmanship of the maker is very skillful. It can be seen that the owner cherishes this sewing machine very much.
Cao Liang didn't like to talk. He let a few people in, put some peanuts and melon seeds on the table, and then sat aside without saying a word.
During this time, he just glanced at the tall Zhai Hongyi, but did not stay for too long.
Zhai Hongyi cast a questioning look at Tang Qingqing, and Tang Qingqing nodded at him.
The owner of the footprints is indeed Cao Liang, and his walking posture and pace are consistent.
Tang Qingqing looked around the house. The house was cleaned very well and there were no traces of anything in the yard. She really couldn't tell what was going on.
"This window paper-cut is so beautiful, and the artist is so skillful." said Tang Qingqing.
Wang Tiantian was a simple-minded person, so she said, "Auntie Hong's hands are very skillful. No one in our team can cut hair better than hers..."
She was halfway through her words when she realized what was happening and secretly glanced at Cao Liang.
Although Cao Liang looked unhappy, he didn't say anything. He just kept eating melon seeds, looking like it was none of his business.
Wang Xiaotie bravely asked, "Uncle, could Aunt Hong have been kidnapped? I don't think she is that kind of person."
Cao Liang's fair face showed impatience, "Don't mention her anymore!"
Wang Xiaotie stopped talking immediately and glanced secretly at Wang Heizi who kept giving him hints.
Seeing him like this, Wang Heizi hated him for being useless and not being able to even chat.
Cao Liang now clearly looked like he didn't want to talk to anyone, so no matter how talkative Wang Heizi was, he couldn't force himself to join him as it would be too easy to be exposed.
Wang Heizi was unwilling to give in, so he gritted his teeth and picked up the topic again:
"What did you just say about kidnapping? I heard about a woman kidnapping case before, and the man was later shot. There are many such cases nowadays, you'd better find the person first. If she was kidnapped and no one is looking for her, it would be too tragic."
Cao Liang's eyes swept over Wang Heizi, and Wang Heizi inexplicably felt a chill down his spine.
"Uncle, what's wrong? Am I wrong? If someone is missing from home, no matter what the reason is, don't we have to look for them first? What if something happened? Do you think I am right?"
"I have something to do here, please get out of here quickly."
Cao Liang suddenly stood up, put on a stern face and started to chase the guests away without allowing any discussion.
No matter how thick-skinned they were, they couldn't stay and had to leave the room.
Wang Xiaotie shook his head: "What's wrong with Uncle Liang? He's not like this usually. He's usually very easy to talk to. He never gets angry no matter how much nonsense you do."
Wang Heizi: "Didn't he say he had something to do? Let's just have fun by ourselves. This place is quite spacious, let's make a snowman here!"
"ah?"
"He said he had something to do, so he asked us to come out. It's not like he doesn't welcome us. Come on, let's make a snowman. If we make one that looks good, he'll be happy too."
Wang Heizi and a few others stayed behind and there was no movement in the house. He didn't care what they were doing outside and no one came out.
Wang Xiaotie and Wang Tiantian both sensed his weirdness, but they didn't think much about it.
After all, this kind of thing just happened in his family, so it's normal for him to be a little angry.
Tang Qingqing waited for a while before she went to talk to Zhai Hongyi:
"Brother, I don't think Wang Xianghong is someone who wants to elope, otherwise there would be no need to spend so much time celebrating this New Year. Cao Liang's reaction is also strange. Aren't they said to be in love? All he could hear was that they might have been abducted, but he didn't say anything at all."
If Wang Xianghong had no intention of eloping, why was Cao Liang so determined to cuckold her?
Could it be that he just happened to encounter it?
"Also, his house is very clean and tidy. Everywhere is mopped carefully. You can tell that he likes to tidy up. But you can see that the snow in the yard is not cleaned up in time."
The yard was a mess, completely different from the situation inside the house and very inconsistent with the owner's personality.
The yard is also part of the home, and it needs to be passed by and used frequently. Generally speaking, people who like to tidy up cannot tolerate a messy yard.
Zhai Hongyi: "Look at his footprints around his house and see if there's anything special."
Tang Qingqing was examining the footprints on the ground. Wang Heizi watched her start sweeping the snow and his eyes rolled.
"The yard is so dirty and covered with snow. Let's play here and help clean the yard."
Wang Tiantian and Wang Xiaotie had no objection and swept the snow in the yard together.
Several people worked together and soon cleaned up the yard.
Tang Qingqing kept her eyes fixed on the ground, not missing a single detail.
Soon she found an incomplete footprint. The soil there was relatively soft, so it left a tiny mark.
She couldn't help but frowned and gestured there with her hands.
Wang Tiantian noticed her strangeness: "Sister, what are you doing?"
Wang Heizi jumped in front of her and said mysteriously, "She is looking for snowworms."
"Snowworms? What are those? I've never heard of them before."
"There's a legend about a bug that looks like snow and feels cold to the touch. If you can find it and keep it, and put it on your body in the summer, you'll feel cool and never feel hot again."
"Wow! There are bugs like this!"
Wang Xiaotie and Wang Tiantian were stunned. They believed Wang Heizi's words without any doubt.
If we had snowworms, working under the sun in the hot summer wouldn't be so uncomfortable.
Wang Heizi made up a story about a snow bug in a very serious manner, which stunned the Wang siblings. They searched the ground according to what he said.
Seeing that no one was disturbing her, Tang Qingqing stopped caring about what was happening outside and continued to focus all her attention on her work.
She followed the footprints and walked around the area for a long time before she saw the footprints again about 20 meters away!
"He went off into the woods."
Tang Qingqing looked ahead and locked onto the direction in which the owner of the footprints was walking.
"Who is he?"
"Cao Liang."
After Tang Qingqing finished speaking, she chased in that direction, stopping from time to time to draw circles, and starting to run again from time to time, shuttling back and forth in the woods.
Wang Tiantian and Wang Xiaotie were very surprised.
Wang Tiantian: "Are you not looking for snow bugs? Why are you running so fast?"
According to Wang Heizi's nonsense, to find snow worms you have to be careful and search slowly on the ground before you can see them.
"Maybe she was in a hurry and was looking for a place to relieve herself."
Wang Xiaotie: "Then why did Brother Yi go with us? He is a man, this is not good."
"You're afraid of a blind bear, so follow her to protect her."
"Oh, how can you pee outside? Good things should be kept within the family! Go home!" Wang Tiantian stomped her feet.
As farmers, fertilizer is an extremely important resource. Even if we are halfway through pulling it out, we have to store it in the toilet at home and then release it.
"Maybe he found something interesting. Let's follow him."
Wang Heizi also followed, but Wang Tiantian and Wang Xiaotie didn't care about the snow bugs anymore and ran after him.
Several people ran into the woods and did not notice that the door behind them was opened. Cao Liang stood at the door gloomily, looking in the direction they disappeared.
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