Xing Zhaozhao turned her head in surprise and looked over: "Oh, it's Jianguo."
Hao Jianguo, Aunt Hao's eldest son, now works at the town's scrap yard.
Hao Jianguo greeted her: "When did you come to town, sister-in-law? I just saw Xiuning, but she didn't mention it."
"I came by myself, not with her," Xing Zhaozhao said with a smile.
Hao Jianguo glanced in the direction Xing Zhaozhao had just come from, and his expression changed slightly.
He pulled Xing Zhaozhao aside, looked around to make sure no one was paying attention, and then asked, "Did your sister-in-law just go to the black market?"
Xing Zhaozhao forced a stiff smile: "Ah."
Hao Jianguo's expression was somewhat grave. He said, "Just tell me what you want to buy. Why take the risk yourself?"
If you get caught, it'll be a serious matter; you'll be paraded through the streets with a placard hanging over your head.
"I just happened to be passing by, took a look around, and didn't buy anything," Xing Zhaozhao replied casually.
Hao Jianguo was slightly relieved when he saw that she really had nothing in her hand.
"Why don't you come to my place for a while, sister-in-law?" he asked Xing Zhaozhao.
Xing Zhaozhao shook her head: "Never mind, I don't want to disturb your work."
Hao Jianguo laughed nonchalantly, "It's alright, I'm not busy either. I got a little wooden sword for my Xiaoqiangzi before, and Hongyu has been eyeing it ever since. I promised to get him a little pistol, and I just finished it. I also got a little airplane for Hongfei. You can take them back with you."
Xing Zhaozhao hesitated upon hearing this: "Wouldn't this be too much trouble for you?"
"What's the trouble? We've bothered Mingcheng so much before, and he never complained," Hao Jianguo said with a smile.
Xing Zhaozhao didn't stand on ceremony anymore: "Okay, I'll go sit for a while."
When Xing Zhaozhao followed Hao Jianguo to the scrap yard, she saw a cart unloaded at the entrance. It was mostly books, some brand new, some worn, some thick, some thin, and even a few foreign language books were mixed in. They were just casually discarded there and trampled on.
Xing Zhaozhao and Hao Jianguo both frowned when they saw this.
"Whose family has been hit by this again?" Hao Jianguo walked over and casually asked the old man pulling the cart.
The old man shook his head slightly and said, "A bunch of kids ransacked the old headmaster's house..."
The former principal of Lanyuan Middle School was a learned and virtuous man who was always highly respected. Because his wife was the daughter of a capitalist, she was targeted by others early on. He had long sensed that something was wrong and asked to step down, but in the end, he still couldn't escape it.
Hao Jianguo didn't know what to say, so he turned to Xing Zhaozhao and said, "Sister-in-law, be careful not to trip."
Xing Zhaozhao nodded and carefully walked around the pile of books, but she still accidentally kicked something with a "bang," which made her toes hurt.
"Are you alright, sister-in-law?" Hao Jianguo asked hurriedly.
Xing Zhaozhao hissed, frowned, and looked at the thing she had just kicked.
It's a wooden jewelry box, without any special carvings, just the natural grain of the wood, but it's still very beautiful. It's covered with a layer of varnish, and you can tell that its owner really likes it.
Hao Jianguo's eyes lit up immediately when he saw the jewelry box.
He picked it up casually: "Hey, this wooden box looks pretty good."
He opened it again and saw it was empty, so he picked up a newspaper from the side, wrapped it up casually, and stuffed it into Xing Zhaozhao's hands: "Sister-in-law, you can take it back and play with it."
Xing Zhaozhao stood there, holding the wooden box, momentarily stunned.
Is this... appropriate?
She looked at Hao Jianguo questioningly.
"Just take it. If you don't, it'll just end up being chopped up for firewood anyway," Hao Jianguo said, leaning close to Xing Zhaozhao's ear and whispering, "It's made of huanghuali wood."
Xing Zhaozhao's hand trembled slightly, and she subconsciously tightened her grip on the wooden box.
She didn't know anything about wood, but Uncle Hao was a carpenter, and Hao Jianguo had been learning from him since he was a child. He not only knew how to do carpentry, but also understood wood.
So, this wooden box is probably a good thing.
Hao Jianguo led Xing Zhaozhao into the scrap yard, brought her a stool to sit on, and then pulled out a bag from under a table and handed it to her.
Xing Zhaozhao opened it and found a finely crafted small wooden gun and a small airplane inside. Both were polished to a smooth finish and felt very rounded to the touch. She touched them and couldn't help but feel a little reluctant to put them down. However, the grain on the wood looked somewhat familiar.
Xing Zhaozhao opened the newspaper in her hand, looked at the wooden box inside, and then at the small wooden gun and the small airplane, which had the exact same pattern.
She looked at Hao Jianguo again, asking him the same question.
Hao Jianguo smiled and said, "It was made from scraps of a shattered table. It didn't waste anything good."
Xing Zhaozhao accepted it without any qualms.
She naturally wanted to take the toy gun and toy airplane back for the two little ones to play with. She wouldn't need the wooden box, so she planned to take it over there to see if it was really valuable and if she could exchange it for a few thousand yuan.
After sitting with Hao Jianguo for a while, Xing Zhaozhao said goodbye and left.
She went to the post office, bought stamps, affixed them, and then turned to leave with the envelope, intending to drop it into the mailbox by the door.
He ran into Hao Xiuning as soon as he came out.
Hao Xiuning looked surprised when she saw Xing Zhaozhao: "Sister-in-law, you've come to town too? I didn't see you when I arrived."
"I woke up late and missed Uncle Da Han's tractor, so I walked here," Xing Zhaozhao explained.
“I just ran into your brother and stopped by his place for a bit. I heard you were in town too, and I was wondering if we'd bump into each other. What a coincidence!” Xing Zhaozhao said, then asked, “Here for a visit?”
"Yes," Hao Xiuning replied with a smile, a hint of shyness on her face. "I came here with Wenming."
Xing Zhaozhao's smile froze, and she unconsciously tightened her grip on the envelope in her hand: "Zhang Wenming is here too?"
Hao Xiuning nodded, but before she could say anything, Zhang Wenming's gentle laughter came from the side: "What a coincidence, I didn't expect to run into Sister Xing here."
Xing Zhaozhao looked over, smiled faintly, and nodded: "It is indeed quite a coincidence."
Zhang Wenming's gaze quickly swept over the envelope in Xing Zhaozhao's hand, noticing the word "Beijing" written at the beginning of the address on the envelope, and his eyes flickered.
"Did your sister-in-law send a letter?" he asked.
"Okay," Xing Zhaozhao replied, and quickly dropped the envelope into the mailbox.
“It looks like it was sent to the capital. Does your sister-in-law have relatives in the capital?” Zhang Wenming asked.
“Yes, my sister-in-law lives in the capital right now,” Xing Zhaozhao said.
"Are Xing's sister-in-law from the capital?" Zhang Wenming asked in surprise.
“Yes.” Xing Zhaozhao nodded, her eyes darkening as she thought of her sister-in-law, who had always been distant from her.
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