Chapter 47 Chapter 47 Tofu Xishi
Chen Xiulan and Yao Yuan divorced.
It was Chen Xiulan who took the initiative to call Shen Miao and said this.
Good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels far and wide. During the Chinese New Year when Yao Yuan was detained in the detention center, because it involved Hou Wentao, Chen Xiulan took into account the friendship she had with him for more than ten years and did not want to make a big deal out of it.
I don't know who was so blind as to spread the rumor and expose the affair between the three of them.
It's really explosive that a couple has an affair with the same man!
But this society is unfair to women. It is obvious that the past between Yao Yuan and Hou Wentao is more serious, but in the mouths of those who love gossip, Chen Xiulan has become the only sinner in this complicated relationship.
If she wasn't so unsympathetic, how could Yao Yuan have cheated on her?
Even if he wanted to look for the child, he couldn't look for a friend's child. How could Hou Wentao's mother feel at ease if she knew this?
Even if we take a step back, it was her fault for bringing the matter to the police station. Because of her, isn't this family going to break up?
Every day when Chen Xiulan goes out, she has to endure the pointing and criticizing of the villagers. On the surface, they treat her kindly, but behind her back, they poke at her spine and scold her in a way that is unbearable to hear.
Chen Xiulan didn't want to endure it any longer, nor did she want her son to be affected by her, so she chose to divorce Yao Yuan and leave Yu City.
On the contrary, those who were gossiping forgave Yao Yuan very quickly. Who made him cheat on his girlfriend with a man?
There would be no illegitimate children, and there would be no way for them to have any relationship. Besides, he was the main breadwinner in the family. He just made the mistake that all men would make.
So Chen Xiulan should have given up the custody of Yao Heng. First, she would not be a burden to him. Second, his quality of life would be better with Yao Yuan. Third,...
"Have you thought it through? You really want to go to the South," Shen Miao held Chen Xiulan's hand, feeling reluctant, "You don't know anyone, and you can't speak their language, what are you going to do when you go there?"
Chen Xiulan smoothed her frowning brows with her hands and said disapprovingly, "You underestimate me, don't you? I can do a lot more, such as cleaning and washing dishes. I have hands and feet, so how can I starve myself to death?"
Because Yao Yuan supports the family, Chen Xiulan has not gone out to work in the past few decades, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have the ability to work.
Yao Heng was raised by her with all her own hands. Taking care of a child is no easier than doing physical work. She believes that she can find a job that suits her in the south where there are many opportunities.
Even if you can't find a job, you can use the money from the divorce to open a small store for yourself and live a simple life.
While sitting at the station waiting for the bus, Chen Xiulan and Shen Miao kept talking to each other, and the conversation never stopped. However, Yao Heng on the side remained silent the whole time, only saying a few words occasionally.
He didn't want Chen Xiulan to leave, but he knew he couldn't stop her.
Chen Xiulan is very concerned about her reputation and can't stand people talking about her behind her back all day long. Leaving for a strange city may be very tiring and painful, but for her, at least she can start over, just like Hou Wentao promised her, and start a new life.
"Xiao Heng, go buy us a bottle of soda. We've been talking for so long and I'm a little thirsty." Chen Xiu Lan instructed him after looking at Yao Heng who was daydreaming at the other end of the bench.
"oh."
After Yao Heng stood up and left, Chen Xiulan looked at his back and sighed deeply. Her relaxed tone just now became serious and earnest: "Miao Miao, I have always regarded you as my own daughter-in-law. From now on... I will leave my Yao Heng to you."
"His father is not a good guy. I can't count on him at all. But I see that you and Yao Heng get along well, so no matter whether you two can succeed or not, I hope you can help me keep an eye on him."
A son is the apple of his mother's eye. No matter when, Chen Xiulan always puts Yao Heng first in her heart.
Now that she is about to leave, the one who is most worried is Yao Heng.
“Don’t worry, I’ve always considered Yao Heng my own brother, and I’ll definitely help you keep an eye out for him.” Shen Miao agreed straightforwardly.
She and Chen Xiulan got along very well, and she had long regarded Chen Xiulan as her good sister.
Although Yao Heng is older than her, in her eyes, he is her "real nephew". How could an aunt not love her nephew?
Twenty minutes later, the train from the north arrived at the station. I helped Chen Xiulan put her luggage on the train. Even though I was reluctant and unwilling, I still had to face the moment of parting.
"Xiao ah, study hard and find a good job after graduation."
"Eat on time, sleep well, don't stay up late, and take good care of yourself."
"Call me if you have any questions. Wait until the New Year. I will be back after the New Year."
…
Yao Heng acted stronger than Shen Miao had imagined. He did not cry, nor did he run far after the train like in the TV series. Instead, he responded to her instructions one by one, and told her to come back if she was tired, and he would definitely take care of her.
Watching the train going farther and farther away, Yao Heng let out a long sigh.
The tears that I had been holding back finally couldn't be held back and kept rolling in my eyes.
"Cry, it's okay, no one will laugh at you."
“Who said I was going to cry?” After hearing what Shen Miao said, Yao Heng immediately sniffed and wiped the moisture from the corners of his eyes with his hands, “It’s just that the wind was too strong and the sand got into my eyes just now.”
"Yo yo yo, I'm fascinated by your eyes~"
Shen Miao imitated his tone with dancing hands and feet to make him happy.
She doesn't know how to coax or comfort people, but she is very good at making people happy.
“You damn girl!” After being teased by Shen Miao, Yao Heng really turned from sadness to joy, and pinched the back of her neck like a kitten, “Is it because I haven’t beaten you for a long time, and your skin is itching?”
"Oh my! I was wrong, okay!"
After Shen Miao admitted her mistake, Yao Heng immediately loosened his grip, but he did not take his hand away. Instead, he slightly turned his head and put half of his body weight on her while placing his arm on her shoulder.
He knew that Shen Miao was trying to make him happy, but he...
"Miao Miao, I'm so tired. I feel like everyone around me has left me." He didn't cry, but his tone became very melancholy.
After the divorce, Chen Xiulan went to work in the south. Yao Yuan was busy with work and was rarely at home.
It's such a big house, but I'm afraid he will be the only one living there in the future.
Shen Miao: “Where’s Hou Wentao?”
As the fourth person in this family of three, Shen Miao couldn’t help but be curious about his fate.
Although he was not the one who instigated the relationship between Chen Xiulan and Yao Heng, he was the culprit that led to their divorce. I wonder how his life is going after he was released from the detention center.
"Gone," Yao Heng straightened up again when talking about Hou Wentao, "He went back to his hometown in the Northeast."
Judging from the tone of Yao Heng's voice, he should have let it go.
Compared to the gentleness in the past when he called him "Brother Hou", there was only indifference in his eyes at this moment.
During the Chinese New Year, Yao Heng visited Hou Wentao in the detention center and asked him about what happened between him and his parents.
"Between your mom and I, I was still young and didn't understand love. I thought your mom was a very nice person, so I wanted to be with her. But later I realized that it wasn't love, it was just dependence."
"I don't like your father. I sold my body because I was almost dying. Your father was very generous and he didn't ask for anything, so I agreed to maintain this regular relationship with him."
He and Chen Xiulan were young and ignorant, and his relationship with Yao Yuan was a monetary transaction, but his relationship with Yao Heng was his true love. This is how he explained it to himself.
Did Yao Heng believe it? Probably not.
Because after he came out of the detention center that day, he never contacted Hou Wentao again. Even when Hou Wentao called him or came to him, he never responded.
Later, Hou Wentao sold his shop and left Yu City with the money. Before leaving, he left a letter for Yao Heng, but he burned it without even reading it.
Shen Miao originally thought that Yao Heng was just as love-brained as Chen Xiulan, but now it seems that he is much more rational than Chen Xiulan. After seeing the other person's scumbag face clearly, he knows how to stop the loss in time and will not indulge in it like Chen Xiulan did back then.
"Let's go, I'll take you to Mozhai to eat Xiaolongbao~"
After coming out of the train station, Shen Miao took the initiative to ride her big 28 bicycle and invited him.
Seeing that her right foot is not stable on the ground, it is hard to imagine her riding a bike by herself.
Shaking his head and patting her shoulder, Yao Heng motioned for her to get out of the car: "Forget it, I'll treat you."
The Ma Ji steamed bun shop is very popular. Not only are there many people coming to eat in the morning, but there are also many people lining up to buy in the afternoon.
Yao Hengyi said that she just realized that it is not necessary to eat the steamed dumplings in the dumpling shop fresh out of the pot, but one can also buy them raw and steam them at home. Those who live far away but want to eat a hot dumpling will line up to buy some and steam them at home.
"This crab roe is delicious!"
“The winter bamboo shoots are also delicious and fresh!”
"It turns out that fish can be made into buns, hmm~very chewy~"
With Yao Heng by her side, Shen Miao tried several flavors she had never tried before, and she didn’t have to worry about not being able to finish them. She ate one of each herself, and Yao Heng was responsible for finishing the rest.
It was still early, and it was around three or four in the afternoon when we finished eating the buns.
Shen Miao bought a few more baskets of freshly wrapped steamed dumplings, and thinking that she had never been to Mozhai before, she dragged Yao Heng to accompany her to walk around.
The urban villages in Henan are not all the same, each village has its own characteristics:
For example, Nanguan Village has more buildings and more people living there, so there are relatively fewer people doing business on the streets; Beiguan Village is close to the city center, so the streets there are more lively; and Mozhai, located in the south of Yu City, is more like a miniature "small commodity city".
There are several main roads leading into the city to the south, all of which are very close to Mo Zhai. There are also many villages on the outskirts of the city nearby, so Mo Zhai became the bridge responsible for connection.
The streets in the city are strictly managed. Villagers from villages on the outskirts of the city who want to sell things in the city will set up stalls in Mozhai. Some items shipped in from other cities that do not comply with sales regulations will also appear on the stalls in Mozhai.
Therefore, as long as you shop carefully enough, you can always find some unexpected surprises here.
After just walking halfway down the street, Shen Miao bought quite a few small items:
I bought a small wooden hammer for my grandfather to use for back pounding. It only needs one battery to be used, which is much easier than pounding it yourself. I bought two pens for Chen Shansheng, each with six or seven colors. You can select one by pressing once, and switch colors by pressing twice. I bought a versatile headscarf for Wang Dongmei, which can be used as a headband, a hair tie, or untied to become a shawl...
They were all about eighty cents each and I didn't think they were expensive when I bought them, but when I did the math I found out the total cost was ten dollars.
Tired of shopping, they went to another street that mainly sold agricultural and sideline products, hoping to buy some sugarcane juice.
Save where you should and spend where you should. Soda and the like are a bit expensive, so sugarcane juice is better. It quenches your thirst and is good for your health.
On the way to find sugarcane juice, Shen Miao noticed that there were quite a few people gathered in front of a parked tricycle.
You pushed me and I pushed you, and we didn't do anything, just stood on tiptoe and looked inside.
Shen Miao usually loved to eat melons, so how could she give up such an opportunity to join in the fun? So she also pulled Yao Heng and tried hard to squeeze into the crowd.
"Make way, make way, please make way."
After squeezing through layer after layer, Shen Miao finally rushed to the front row with the advantage of her thin stature.
What hits you in the face is a very rich aroma of tofu.
This is a tricycle carrying tofu for sale. There are six or seven layers of tofu on the tricycle. There are also two buckets next to it, one filled with fresh soy milk and the other filled with tofu dregs.
The quality of homemade tofu is much better than that on the market, but what attracts people's attention is not the white and tender tofu, but the person sitting on the small stool, quietly guarding the tofu.
No, that's not right, she is not a "human", but a celestial being!
Shen Miao had never seen such a beautiful girl before, even though she was also a woman, her pupils would light up when she saw her face.
It is beautiful, really beautiful, so beautiful that even the profound cultural level cannot describe it.
She was a petite southern woman with a standard oval face only as big as a man's palm.
She was dressed simply, with patches on her clothes. It had been a long time since she last showered. Her long hair was a little messy, but she didn't look sloppy. Instead, it seemed that she looked like that because of the sufferings she had endured in the world, which made people feel pity for her.
The gazes around her were too hot, constantly lingering over her, with a few greedy glances even looking at the hole in her pants.
The woman just lowered her head and pretended to know nothing, and was busy sorting out the stack of brown paper used to wrap tofu.
"I've been waiting for so long, are you going to sell it or not?!"
"That's right, I have other things to do. Who can spend so much time just to buy some tofu?"
"Aren't you from the same family? Can't you sell it for her?"
Hearing the man squeezed in the tricycle constantly urging her, the woman became a little anxious. She put down the paper in her hand, made a "stop" gesture with her hand, and pointed in the direction of the other end of the street.
The woman seemed to be mute and could not speak.
"I've told you so many times, her mother-in-law went to the bathroom," the pork seller nearby couldn't stand it any longer, she slammed her knife on the chopping board and answered for her, "If you can't wait, go buy some from somewhere else. There are so many tofu sellers out there, are you afraid you won't be able to buy some even if you have money?"
As a woman, only the auntie selling pork knows these stinky men best.
They didn’t want to buy tofu. They just wanted to talk to the beautiful “tofu beauty”. Even if she was dumb and couldn’t speak, it would be nice to touch her hand and take advantage of her.
Those men are not soft-hearted. Who would want to lose face in front of a beautiful woman?
So instead of feeling ashamed after their true identities were exposed, they became even more excited.
"Why should you mind? Just sell your pork, why are you meddling in other people's business?"
"I want to buy some tofu from this store, but is that bothering you? You're the only one who talks too much."
"What's wrong? You can't sell your meat? Are you jealous?"
There are more people in the market, so there are more flies.
The aunt selling pork repeated many times that the girl was already married and was accompanying her mother-in-law to sell tofu, but these damn flies not only did not leave, but instead squeezed their heads in even harder.
Seeing that the aunt who was speaking for her was about to start an argument with the men, the woman quickly stood up to mediate, then tied her apron around herself and put on her sleeves.
She wants to sell tofu for her mother-in-law.
Picking up the iron sheet used to cut tofu, the woman forced a smile even though she was reluctant, and called the people in the queue to come forward.
Seeing that he was one step closer to becoming the tofu beauty, the man who had just been arguing with the aunt immediately handed her the money in a flattering manner: "I want five cents of tofu."
Counting the coins in her hand, the woman stretched out five fingers to confirm with him: Five cents?
When the woman looked him in the eye, and saw his reflection in her clear eyes, the man nodded like a pug, "Yes, yes, yes, five cents!"
The woman carefully cut a piece from the layer of tofu. Her movements were very gentle. Compared to the tofu, her skin was obviously whiter and smoother. She didn't look like a girl who worked in the village.
She used a piece of iron to shovel the tofu to the filmy side of the kraft paper. Her movements were clumsy, but she didn't break the tofu.
Carefully folding the brown paper and tying it with a thin hemp rope, the woman reluctantly handed the tofu to him.
The less than two minutes of interaction clearly did not satisfy him, so the man asked again: "How much do you sell this tofu dregs for?"
The woman put the money away and ignored him.
"Let's go, it's my turn." The man behind him couldn't wait any longer and pushed him away in a hurry.
Compared to the man just now, the smile on his face was even more obscene, and his fiery eyes made him look like someone who was here to buy tofu, but rather to look for a prostitute.
The woman seemed to have gotten used to their aggressive gazes, so she was not as scared as she was at the beginning.
“Look, look, isn’t she beautiful? She looks like the star on TV.” Shen Miao pulled Yao Heng’s sleeve and whispered to him.
Yao Heng pulled the corner of his mouth casually, "That's it, two eyes and one mouth."
"Where do you think she's from? She looks a bit like Southern Province to me."
"I don't know," Yao Heng said with little interest, "Let's go. We're not buying tofu, so let's not join in the fun."
Shen Miao rolled her eyes at him.
That is to say, this Tofu Xishi is a woman, not the gender that Yao Heng likes. If it were a handsome man with a muscular body, broad shoulders and narrow waist, Shen Miao would not believe that he would have such an attitude.
After buying the sugar cane juice, Shen Miao continued to walk around the street with Yao Heng. She had clearly decided not to spend any more money, but when she saw the interesting gadgets, her hands couldn’t help but want to reach into her pockets.
Seeing that she wanted to buy something but was reluctant to do so, Yao Heng curled his lips in disdain, and then took the initiative to buy her the things she liked.
Oh~ It’s really good to have a brother.
Seeing that it was getting late, and looking at the large and small packages in their hands, Shen Miao and Yao Heng also prepared to go home.
Before leaving, Shen Miao wanted to see the tofu beauty again, so she turned to that street again, wanting to take a closer look at her.
Not to mention men, even women will be moved when they see a beautiful sister.
When I came to the tofu stall again, there were even more people gathered there, not only men who wanted to look at the beauties, but also women who liked to join in the fun.
"I, I really didn't mean it."
"You won just by saying it wasn't intentional? Pay me! Look at what you did to me!"
"Okay, okay, compensate me, I..."
"Then hurry up and take the money. What are you standing there for? Don't give me that."
Looks like they started a quarrel?
Shen Miao stuffed the things into Yao Heng's arms, and then kept getting into the crowd. When she reached the front row, she only saw broken tofu and a tricycle lying on the ground.
The woman's mother-in-law came back and was sitting on the ground, holding her aching heart and trying to breathe. The tofu beauty knelt beside her mother-in-law, helping her to breathe and making "ah ah" sounds to seek help from the people around them.
Most of the people around were there to watch the fun. As for the men who had been so attentive when they were queuing up to buy tofu, now none of them spoke.
Standing in front of them was a man in his early thirties, who was probably the person involved in the incident. He looked...
Dirty man?
It was the wretched man who shamelessly chatted up Shen Miao when she was eating Xiaolongbao last morning!
Shen Miao recognized him at the first sight, because she remembered that face very clearly. Not only did he have shifty eyes, but he also had a mouth full of crooked, yellow, rotten teeth. He didn't look like a decent person.
It was all his fault last time that he accidentally threw Luo Jialin over his shoulder...
Although Shen Miao didn’t know what exactly happened here, she could be sure from the smug look on the wretched man’s face that this time he must have taken the initiative to cause this!
She doesn’t know who Tofu Xishi and her mother-in-law are, but doesn’t she know who the creepy man is?
Seeing her mother-in-law sitting on the ground with an increasingly ugly expression, Shen Miao hurriedly squeezed through the crowd, “Make way, everyone, make way!”
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