Chapter 37: Winter

At this time, Tangji Snack Shop had just opened.

Xia Tang was the first to arrive. As soon as he walked into the commercial street, he saw a dark figure sitting at the door.

It looked like it was Lao Zhang who carried food for her.

Lao Zhang is a vegetable farmer in the suburbs of Yuncheng.

They are called vegetable farmers, but in fact they are just growing vegetables in their own assigned fields.

He grows a wide variety of vegetables, all at reasonable prices and with the right weight.

Xia Tang bought from him several times, and then made an agreement with him to deliver vegetables to the snack bar every day according to the variety and quantity ordered the day before. After the delivery, he would decide on the dishes for the next day.

He was originally sitting on the steps, smoking a pipe. When he saw Xia Tang coming over, he quickly stood up and greeted Xia Tang.

"Uncle Zhang, it's so early again today."

"Yes, the bus came earlier today, so I got on it."

Lao Zhang said happily.

You know, before he met Xia Tang, he always walked to the back street to sell vegetables.

After walking down the winding mountain road for several miles, you still have to walk a long stretch of loess road and a straight asphalt road.

I often have to start walking at four in the morning, and after walking for a while, my shoulders would be bruised.

Now I can take a bus for only one cent, which is considered a blessing.

Xia Tang opened the door and let Lao Zhang in. He then took out the dishes one by one from the bamboo basket that Lao Zhang was carrying and counted them one by one.

Shiny rapeseed, dewy coriander and mint leaves, a large basket full of plump potatoes, and the bright golden chrysanthemums I had bought from other people’s homes…

Lao Zhang watched Xia Tang counting the numbers while wiping his face in embarrassment:

"I'm afraid these chrysanthemums are the last. All the chrysanthemums in our village are about to be withered."

"This is nothing. If there are no chrysanthemums, I will sell something else."

Xia Tang lowered his head and nodded gently as he spoke.

Before I could finish, I heard a commotion coming from the door:

"Xia Tang! Is this Xia Tang's shop?"

"Get out of here!"

Xia Dong was shouting loudly outside.

He had never been to Xia Tang's store before, but he had heard about it from others before. However, deep down, he still looked down on Xia Tang's business.

It must be a madman for a worker in a medicinal herb factory who is paid a high salary to do such a lowly job.

Xia Dong was certain that Xia Tang's store must not be a good one, but when he got to the door and took a look, he found that it actually looked quite presentable, which immediately made him feel even more unbalanced.

His voice was louder than anyone else's, and even the people around him were startled.

As soon as he finished speaking, the door opened from the inside.

Xia Tang and a strange old man walked out from inside. When they saw Xia Dong standing alone at the bottom of the stairs, they frowned:

"Xia Dong, what are you going to do?"

"What am I doing? I'm asking you, did you hide Li Meifeng, huh?"

"Why did she come to see you once and then disappear? You must be the one who is being mean and can't stand seeing me get married and the Xia family live well, right?"

"What? Li Meifeng is gone?"

Xia Tang was stunned at first, but then he laughed:

"Xia Dong, why Li Meifeng left and where she went has nothing to do with me. You can believe what I said or not. But look at you now, she was right to leave!"

Hearing what Xia Tang said, Xia Dong became even angrier.

He took two or three steps forward and was about to pull Xia Tang down, saying:

"I made you fucking laugh!"

Just as Xia Tang was about to dodge, a long flat stick suddenly came from the side and knocked down Xia Dong's outstretched hand.

Xia Dong was beaten so hard that he screamed. The two men looked up and saw that Lao Zhang was holding a shoulder pole across the door, standing like a single man blocking a thousand enemies from getting through:

"Who told you to touch Boss Xia?"

Xia Dong's hands were swollen from the beating, and he was so angry that he was about to smoke. He immediately rushed forward to hit him again.

But he was unarmed, while Lao Zhang had cold weapons.

In addition, Lao Zhang has been doing farm work or carrying vegetables every day for many years, so his physique is not much stronger than that of him who sits next to the machine tool all day.

In a few seconds, Xia Dong was beaten so badly by Lao Zhang that he ran away in panic.

He ran and shouted:

"Xia Tang, you are such a shameless bastard! You ruined other people's business and even hooked up with such an old man!"

"I'm not done with you!"

"You still dare to say that?"

Lao Zhang chased after him carrying a shoulder pole.

Xia Dong cried out and ran away crawling away.

Only after seeing Xia Dong running away did Lao Zhang come back carrying the shoulder pole.

He touched the back of his head and couldn't help asking:

"Boss Xia, who was that person just now? I hope he won't cause you trouble again?"

Xia Tang said with a smile:

"He's a piece of trash. If you beat him away, he won't dare to come again."

She was well aware of the Xia family's nature of bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

Even if it wasn't Lao Zhang today, she would have been able to make Xia Dong speechless.

However, Xia Dong's habit of getting physical when there's nothing to do seems to have started earlier than in his previous life.

She thought of Li Meifeng who came to see her that day, and wondered where she was now or how she was doing.

But now that I'm gone, no matter how difficult things get in the future, it won't be any worse, right?

*

Xia Dong didn't expect that when he went to Xia Tang to ask about Li Meifeng's whereabouts, he didn't get any information, but was beaten with a stick.

I even fell while running away. What bad luck!

He limped back home, thinking that since he couldn't find Li Meifeng's whereabouts here, he would take the money and go look for her himself.

Didn’t she go to Yingcheng?

He turned Yingcheng upside down, and he didn't believe that he couldn't find the woman.

To be fair, he was not that satisfied with Li Meifeng.

But people are mean. The harder it is to get something, the more they want it.

He has been negotiating with the Li family for so long, and now that Li Meifeng has run away, he won’t get married?

He was unwilling to accept it.

He cursed the old man, Xia Tang, and everyone in his heart, and limped upstairs.

After opening the door, Liu Mei took a look and immediately came over with concern.

"My son! My son! What's the matter with you?"

Sister Liu felt the most sorry for her son. Normally, she would not even pluck out a single hair of his body. But to see that he was injured so badly today, it was a hundred times more painful than if she had been beaten herself.

"It's all because of Xia Tang."

Xia Dong gritted his teeth and said, then turned to Liu Mei,

"Mom, where is my 400 yuan? Give me the money. I want to take a bus to Yingcheng to find Li Meifeng!"

However, Liu Mei just stared at him without moving for a long time.

Xia Dong was impatient and urged:

"Mom, hurry up! Give me the money! I'm leaving today!"

Liu Mei's lips trembled:

"Xia Dong...this money..."

Xia Dong suddenly felt something was wrong.

He pushed Liu Mei away, limped into the bedroom, and began to search.

There is no cabinet, no bedside, no box...

As he searched, he threw things all over the floor, accompanied by Liu Mei's pleading voice:

"Son...don't turn over...don't be in a hurry...son..."

Xia Dong couldn't find the answer no matter how hard he tried. Finally, he stared at Liu Mei with red eyes:

"Mom! Where's the four hundred dollars? Where's my money? Huh?"

Liu Mei's mouth trembled for a long time and she stammered. It was not until the end that Xia Dong could hear clearly.

After he heard it clearly, he became even angrier and grabbed Liu Mei by the collar, almost pulling her up:

"What did you say? Why did you give money to Xia Lulu?!"

*

"Finally, I heard that Xia Dong didn't go to Chengying City, but had a fight with Xia Lulu. If Gu Minghui hadn't stopped her, I'm afraid Xia Lulu would have been injured."

Chen Minzhi and Xia Tang were beaming with joy when they talked about this:

"Hey, why did they fight?"

"How would I know?" Xia Tang was taking out the sour papaya slices from the altar, his movements careful and methodical.

She could probably guess why.

The world is bustling with people seeking profit, and the world is bustling with people seeking profit.

No matter what, it's nothing but interests.

However, she actually didn't understand why Xia Lulu would compete with Xia Dong for the Xia family's things.

After all, in her previous life, she had always been a sister-in-law who was particularly good at supporting her family. Even after getting married, she was still keen on using money and things from her husband's family to support her own family.

Why did we fall out in this life?

Xia Tang couldn't figure it out, so he quickly stopped thinking about it.

After all, the affairs of the Xia family were just flies that occasionally flew by her. What was more important to her right now was her small shop and the person who was hundreds of miles away.

Today, when Minzhi came, she brought her several letters and a big bulging package.

Those letters were all written by Qin Yue.

Perhaps something went wrong during the mailing process, and it was not until these few days that it was delivered to the mailroom in the factory. This time, there were several envelopes.

Not all of them were letters. Some of them were postcards with pictures of famous scenic spots in Guangzhou printed on them, such as the Eight Scenic Spots of Guangzhou and the Moon Reflected on the Zhu River. The colors were all very bright.

There were four more letters, and it was obvious that they were written by Qin Yue himself.

When I opened the other big package, I found that there were five or six pieces of clothing inside, including a gray-blue woolen coat, a sweater with exquisite and special patterns, a shirt with novel styles, several silk scarves with various patterns, and even a pair of black leather shoes that looked shiny and particularly delicate.

There was a sweater inside that Qin Yue designated for Chen Minzhi. Xia Tang took out the sweater and handed it to Chen Minzhi, and then picked out one of the two shirts to give to Minyun.

Chen Minzhi pursed her lips, feeling a little embarrassed, but she finally accepted it.

After all, the clothes shipped from Guangzhou were all fashionable goods, and no young girl or wife could really refuse them.

Xia Tang put the letters and postcards into the drawer first. After a busy day, when he returned to the guesthouse, he took them out and read them slowly.

Qin Yue's handwriting was not very detailed, but it was also very neat and powerful. Looking at his handwriting, it was like he was speaking in person. It was really like seeing him in person.

There weren't a lot of corny words in the letter, it mostly recorded daily life.

No matter where you went, what you saw, or what delicious food you ate, you would just say briefly at the end of the letter, "I'll take you with me next time."

The last letter excitedly stated the time to go home. Although it was a little later than previously agreed, it was finally coming.

Although the letter is simple, it is filled with longing between the lines.

There is a tiny window in the small room of the guest house.

Xia Tang was standing under the window, watching slowly under the light of the desk lamp.

The moon shone through the window, casting its light onto the letter paper.

She read them all carefully, and when she looked up, she could see the yellow moon, quietly looking at her in the sky.

Xia Tang gently folded the letter and held it against his chest.

Thinking in my mind:

He...will be back soon.