Chapter 64

When Mrs. Wu heard this, her face suddenly darkened. "Jianguo is not that kind of person."

"Why don't you send me any kind of greeting during Chinese New Year? It was a long time ago that I last sent you money. Now you're just sending me some tattered clothes. What's the point of that?"

"What are you talking about? You don't care about these clothes, but there are many people who do! Look, they are all made of top-quality materials. Even your beggars are wearing them so well!"

Zhao Dahua rolled his eyes and said, "They are all clothes for young girls, not even seasonal clothes. What use are they?"

The clothes sent back this time were all colorful and looked like they were meant for little girls. I wanted to alter the clothes so that they wouldn't be suitable for Tang Xingwang and the others.

Even Zhao Dahua was embarrassed to wear such bright clothes. In the countryside, everyone wore gray clothes. Not to mention Zhao Dahua's age, even young girls who loved beauty didn't dare to wear such bright clothes, for fear that they would be criticized if they were too eye-catching.

If Zhao Dahua wore these clothes, I'm afraid that everyone in the group would start saying that she was indecent that day.

Mrs. Wu was annoyed. “Why can’t you wear them? Just modify them. Many of these are made of Dacron, so they are very durable.”

Tang Jianguo still cared about her, so in addition to these old clothes he also made her a new jacket, which was very warm to wear. She was very satisfied with it.

However, no money was sent back, which made Mrs. Wu feel very upset and she didn't understand what was going on.

Tang Qingqing heard their conversation and wanted to slip away, but was caught by Old Lady Wu.

"Qingqing, you just heard it, right? Tell me why your uncle stopped sending money to our family."

Now the Tang family has acknowledged that Tang Qingqing is smart. Although Old Lady Wu looks down on her because she is a girl, she does not dare to look at her with a conservative eye.

"I guess something happened at home and he's not well off financially." Tang Qingqing said casually.

Tang Jianguo has brought so many benefits to the family over the years, which is not quite consistent with what is written in the book.

In the book, although Tang Jianguo acknowledged his mother, he also considered himself an adopted son. He would only check on her occasionally and would not send so many gifts or so much money home every year.

Although Tang Jianguo is a factory manager with a good salary and his wife also has a job, they have four children to support.

The three are sons, and they have been big eaters since they were young. The youngest daughter is not in good health and has to go to the hospital from time to time. The food and other items she uses are relatively delicate, and the expenses are very high, so they don’t have much money.

Moreover, in the book, Tang Jianguo is very dissatisfied with his own mother and his brother and sister-in-law, and the relationship between them is not good.

She sent her little daughter to the countryside to let them help take care of her, and gave them 30 yuan a month, which was Su Rong's monthly salary. In the countryside, not to mention one child, three or four children could be raised well.

From time to time, Tang Jianjun and Zhao Dahua would send telegrams asking for money, saying that their child was sick and needed money to see a doctor.

Tang Jianguo would give money to his family every now and then, and it would add up to a considerable amount every year.

As a result, their little daughter became extremely thin due to their care, and a check-up at the hospital revealed that she was malnourished.

Their own children were all raised to be exceptionally strong. Their daughter, who was about the same age as their youngest daughter, was half a head taller than her.

This made Tang Jianguo very angry. After he was adopted, he spent less time with his family and the relationship between them became much more distant.

Furthermore, when adopting out, one must be aware of not being too close to the original family.

Even though the adoptive father said he didn't mind, you still have to pay attention, otherwise he's bound to have some thoughts.

As a result, the relationship became even colder.

The reason why Su Rong abandoned her newborn baby and went to find her was because she really couldn't stand Old Lady Wu. She was about to drive her to a breakdown, so she ran away.

At that time, her daughter was in a bad condition and she could no longer take care of her, so she just left her to the old lady and ran away.

This was not the first time Su Rong had given birth. She had always been very attentive to her children. This time she was forced into such a decisive move.

This already made Tang Jianguo feel uncomfortable, and now it was made worse. They could only maintain a superficial relationship and it was difficult for them to become intimate.

It is also because of this that the heroine in the book is loved and pampered by her family after being taken back home.

Both the parents and the three brothers treat the heroine like a porcelain doll.

But the reality is different from the book. Although the beginning is similar, when Tang Jianguo and others came to pick up their daughter, they found that their daughter was well raised and very smart. Not only Tang Jianguo, but even Su Rong forgot their previous unhappiness and were very grateful to them.

The relationship between the two sides has always been very good. After Tang Jianguo took the child back home, he still did not change the habit of sending money and gifts to his family. He just sent less things and less money, and the frequency changed from once a month to once a quarter.

Even so, it was still a considerable income for rural families, and the work points could be exchanged for money and food at the end of the year.

This has ensured that the Tang family has always been relatively well-off financially. Although Tang Jianjun is not a capable and hardworking person, they still live a good life with a disabled person like Tang Jianshe.

As for why Tang Jianguo was no longer used to it, Tang Qingqing had no idea.

The entire process had long been different from what was recorded in the book, so it was impossible to determine what had happened there.

According to the book, nothing major happened during this period.

But now everything has changed, and it’s hard to say.

When Mrs. Wu heard this, she became anxious: "Could someone be sick?"

Tang Jianjun: "If there is something, you will tell me, right? I am the same, every time I write a letter, I only say two sentences."

"If you want to know, just send a telegram and ask."

Mrs. Wu blurted out: "How expensive that is!"

Tang Jianjun rolled his eyes and said, "The telegram only has a few words, and it's not clear. How about I go over and take a look?"

Zhao Dahua also became excited when he heard this, "Speaking of which, Xingwang and the others have never been to the temple, so it's time to take them to see the world."

Old Mrs. Wu was shocked: "The ticket is free. It's outrageous for Jianjun to go alone. Do you want to take the children with you?"

Zhao Dahua softened her attitude, "Mom, the more we visit each other, the closer we become. How long has it been since our two families last met? It's time to visit each other." Xingwang was wondering when he could go visit his cousins.

The Jidong children have so many fun things to do in the city that they may have almost forgotten that they have three younger brothers who are very close to them. This won’t do. If this continues, when the children grow up, they will become two families.”

"With so many people going there, where will they be able to accommodate them?" Old Mrs. Wu hesitated.

"Why can't they accommodate us? We can just squeeze in. They are all boys anyway."

Tang Qingqing raised her eyebrows. It was obvious that he was not going to take her with him.

You don't have to think to know what's going on. She is gradually opening up and looking more and more like the person in the book, which means her eyebrows and eyes are very similar to Su Rong.

Sometimes when Zhao Dahua saw her, he would be stunned for a moment.

If she went with him, she would be exposed.

Tang Qingqing had very complicated feelings towards that family, which she herself could hardly describe.

At least for now, Tang Qingqing doesn't want to change her life. Although she is curious, she has not tried to change it.

She did have some escapist mentality, and always felt that she didn't want anything out of her control to happen before she became strong enough.

Old Mrs. Wu was still struggling in her heart. She knew her daughter-in-law's temper very well. She looked down on country people and thought they were dirty.

If their whole family went over to visit, I'm afraid their faces would be longer than a donkey's.

Old Mrs. Wu is not afraid of this daughter-in-law, but if she causes any unpleasantness, it may affect Tang Jianguo's attitude towards her.

At first they took Tang Zhenzhen back because they thought they had raised her well, and the previous conflicts were temporarily suppressed.

But this guy likes to bring up old things. If they do this, the daughter-in-law in the city might not be happy and would directly overturn the table and bring up the past.

When that time really comes, it will be difficult to repair the relationship between the two.

Tang Jianguo was adopted and eventually separated from his biological mother. He was different from her other sons.

She knew exactly what Tang Jianjun and Zhao Dahua were planning. They were just trying to get some money, which would easily make people dislike them.

"Let's talk about this later,"

Tang Jianjun was anxious: "Why talk about it later? We can hardly make ends meet now!"

Although the old lady always took the lion's share of the money every time they sent it, he could still get some as well. Even if he made some noise, he would still get some money every time.

But now, his extra income is gone, making him very anxious.

"It's Chinese New Year now, why are you traveling so far? Go back and write a letter and ask what's going on."

——

Yang City.

Tang Jixue slipped out of the room and looked around cautiously.

“Third brother!”

Tang Jixue was startled. He turned around and saw that it was his sister Tang Zhenzhen. He stroked his chest and said:

"Little sister, scaring people can kill you, do you know that?"

"Mom said that you have to stay at home and study hard today and not go out and fool around."

Tang Jixue put his index finger to his lips: "Hush, keep your voice down, I'm not hanging out, I'm just taking a walk. Can you just pretend you can't see me?"

Tang Zhenzhen stretched out her hand, and Tang Jixue understood instantly.

"Don't worry, I will definitely bring you something delicious when I come back."

"Then I'll let you go."

Tang Jixue cheered, "I knew you understood me the best, little sister. Everyone forced me to review, but you were the only one who didn't say these annoying words to me."

Tang Zhenzhen smiled and said, "Brother, you are so amazing, you will definitely pass the exam."

According to the original novel, Tang Ji will be able to be admitted to Beijing University next year, so there is no need to worry at all.

Among the three brothers, Tang Jixue was the most playful and often hung out with his peers from the factory.

But he also had a very smart mind. After he was admitted to Capital University, he made friends with many future bigwigs, which was very helpful to his future career.

"By the way, brother, I asked you to send money and things back to my hometown for me. Did you do it?"

Tang Jixue touched his nose and then smiled broadly:

"I have already sent it. I guess they have already received it. How could I forget what you told me to do?"

"I hope grandma and her friends can have a good New Year after receiving these twenty yuan."

Tang Jixue's face froze: "What? Twenty yuan, isn't it ten yuan?"

Tang Zhenzhen was stunned: "It's twenty, did you remember it wrong? I put two big reunion notes on the table and you took them."

“I only see a big unity.”

"Ah? Maybe you remembered it wrongly because it's been a long time? Why don't you go and take a look at the remittance receipt?"

Tang Jixue's face changed: "Yes, yes, yes, now that you mention it, I suddenly remembered that it is indeed ten yuan."

"Are you sure you remember it correctly? It's possible that the money was blown away. You can find out if you take out the receipt."

"It's been so long since I've remembered where I put the receipts. Now I remember they were two big group receipts. I got them mixed up."

Tang Zhenzhen said angrily, "Third brother, you are too careless. You forgot about it so soon."

"I'll be more careful next time!"

Tang Jixue saluted, then opened the door and slipped out.

Not long after Tang Jixue left, the postman came over.

Tang Zhenzhen collected all the letters and newspapers as usual.

When she saw that one of the letters was sent from the Red Star Commune, she opened it directly.

The handwriting on the letter was very childish, obviously written by a child.

There wasn't much in the letter, just a line of greetings, followed by a roundabout way of asking why I was only sending things and not money this time.

Although the language was used as gently as possible, it could not conceal their confusion and dissatisfaction.

She complained that the money given by Tang Jianguo and his wife was getting less and less, and now they simply didn't send a penny at all, which delayed Mrs. Wu's treatment.

Tang Zhenzhen quickly glanced at the contents of the letter and sneered.

Sure enough, this couple was as greedy as described in the original text, and that old lady Wu was not a good person either, she only cared about money.

Tang Zhenzhen put away the letter and envelope, walked into the kitchen and threw them all into the stove.

——

Tang Qingqing spent New Year's Eve at Old Liu's place.

She didn't go home, but stayed in Zhai Hongyi's original house.

Without Zhai Hongyi around, Tang Qingqing felt that this year's New Year's Day was a lot quieter.

Wang Heizi sneaked over in the middle of the night and said that Zhai Hongyi was not there, so he wanted to take his place to accompany Old Liu.

Unlike previous years, Wang Heizi and Tang Qingqing were not in a good mood. When preparing the New Year's Eve dinner, they were not as excited as last year.

Old Liu saw it all and said, "That kid is not a heartless person."

Wang Heizi: "It's been so long, why is there no news? Could something have happened to Brother Yi?!"

Tang Qingqing was panicked when she heard this. Compared to Zhai Hongyi's ruthlessness and disloyalty, they were more worried that something had happened to him.

"That kid is very lucky, nothing will happen to him. But his family is complicated, so I guess he can't do anything about it right now."

Tang Qingqing was curious: "Master, how do you know his family is complicated? Did he tell you?"

"Your master has not eaten for nothing for so many years."

Wang Heizi was confused: "We are all family, how complicated can it be? We can't just keep fighting and killing each other."

"Why not? I used to herd sheep for a landlord. The landlord had three sons. They fought over the little property in the family. The youngest son even colluded with the Hu Zi and wanted to kill his eldest brother."

"Do you know why I was forced to leave my hometown? My tracking ability only led to my being targeted. In the final analysis, it was because of the internal fighting among several sons that affected us innocent people."

Old Liu fled here during famine, and from time to time he worked as a sheep-watcher and sheep-finder for others in order to earn money.

At that time, families that could afford to raise sheep were all wealthy, and he had seen a lot of dirty things.

Wang Heizi found it unbelievable. Similar things happened in rural families before, but there were limits to how violent they could be. Besides, it was just a quarrel among their own family. When they went out to the outside world, they were all family and had to stick together, otherwise they would be bullied by outsiders.

How can someone actually let a wolf into the house? Aren't they afraid that their entire family will be killed?

"But they are all landlords. How can Yi's family be the same as them?"

"Aren't we all human beings?"

Wang Heizi was speechless. He had solved so many cases with Tang Qingqing and was no longer as naive as before. He just felt that what happened to Zhai Hongyi was a little unbelievable.

"Oh, if I had known earlier, I would have asked clearly, so as to avoid making wild guesses and causing trouble."

Tang Qingqing pursed her lips and said firmly:

"If there is still no news, let's go to the capital to look for someone when the weather gets warmer! Let's see what's going on."

Wang Heizi's eyes lit up: "It's settled! My grandfather must have his information, we can just go and look for him."

The two began to discuss how to take a bus to the capital and what they should prepare for the journey.

Old Liu would interject from time to time. He was also someone who had traveled through half of China. Although his experiences were from decades ago, they were still somewhat useful.

However, this plan was ultimately not implemented. On the ninth day of the first lunar month, they received a telegram from Zhai Hongyi.