Through Tan Rushong's simple narration, Lian Xiaomin understood the whole story.
In fact, his stepmother and biological father passed away two years ago. The younger brother "Baogen" born to his stepmother was mistreated by his older brother and sister, and was finally secretly given away.
Unlike his older brothers and sisters, Tan Rushong is kind-hearted and the only one who loves the child.
He was less than 18 years old when he joined the team, and he never expected that those two people would do such a thing.
However, his parents' jobs were taken away by his eldest brother and sister, and he had no share in them at all. Those two people didn't care about his life or death, let alone his younger brother.
There is no other way but to look for the child myself.
He came to cut in line with another purpose, which was to find his younger brother.
Unexpectedly, I found out that the child was being abused in that family, but I couldn’t raise Baogen myself.
Her mind narrowed, and she thought that she and Baogen would rather freeze to death or starve to death together than let him go back to that horrible home.
"Hey, if you have any problem, you can go and discuss it with Li Weidong and the others. Why do you have to go to the cave to suffer? What if something happens? Can you walk by yourself? I'll pull you up."
As Lian Xiaomin spoke, she held Baogen, who was wrapped in a cotton jacket, in her left arm, and grabbed Tan Rushong's shoulders with her right hand, pulling him up.
Then turn on the flashlight, put out the fire completely, and check it carefully.
Tan Rushong was leaning against the rock wall outside the cave, swaying and unable to stand steadily.
"Master Lian, there is no way to keep a child in the educated youth camp, and I don't have any food rations to give him."
"Other educated youth also pooled their money to buy food rations from the brigade, but it was still not enough... But I didn't have the money to buy food, I... didn't know what to do."
As he spoke, he wiped away his tears with the back of his hand.
Lian Xiaomin knew that for an educated youth to come to the countryside to work in a production team, the feeling of being in a desperate situation was probably the same as Tan Rushong's current situation.
He was just unable to think straight and had decided to go to a dead end, so he came to this cave and didn't want to go back.
"How about this, I can help you find a temporary place for Baogen to stay. The most important thing is that you can't let that family know that he is here with you, otherwise they will probably come to you to make trouble."
From the description just now, the family in the nearby Chenjiatun are not easy to deal with. They raised this child for more than a year, and then he ran away for nothing. If they knew about this, wouldn’t they blackmail you?
Besides, the educated youth center is not a place for this child to stay.
The only solution now is to move him to Sun Xuefeng's home in the commune and let him stay there for the time being.
It's winter now, and we can't let Baogen go back to Chenjiatun to continue being abused, so this is the only way, and it's also conveniently located near Sandaogou.
Lian Xiaomin turned off the flashlight again, put it back in the backpack, held the child in one hand and supported Tan Rushong with the other, otherwise he could not leave.
Finally, we reached the foot of the mountain.
"Wait here. I'll go back and get a rickshaw to take you to the commune. You can stay at a friend's house. He has an empty room."
"...I helped you today, so don't tell anyone about my encounter. Go back to the educated youth site tomorrow and say you were on some business and are staying at a friend's house in the commune."
"…Just make up any excuse you want, and don't say it has anything to do with Baogen. Keep all of this as secret as possible."
Tan Rushong stood against a big tree, nodded heavily, and choked with gratitude.
"Thank you, Master Lian..."
Lian Xiaomin carried the little boy who was still not fully conscious, returned to the gate of her home, unlocked the door and went in.
I put him in the car, took some things and put them in the car, then left home again.
This time when they arrived at the foot of the mountain, she asked Tan Rushong to get on the cart and covered him with a thick quilt. She then dragged the cart directly to the commune.
The snow was falling heavily, but fortunately the wind was not strong. Even after exerting herself, Xiaomin felt her muscles and bones were loosened and she felt comfortable all over.
She walked very fast. These modern snow boots were really convenient. They didn't get the shoes wet and allowed her to walk quickly.
After forty minutes, he arrived at the door of Sun Xuefeng's house in the commune and knocked on it.
It was almost nine o'clock in the evening and the lights were on in the house.
Sun Xuefeng came out quickly to open the door. He had gone to the county town with his cousin Shen Chuntian a few days ago and had been guarding the yard in Hongdou Hutong to protect the safety of the Pang family.
Later, seeing that there was nothing serious, he left his cousin there to continue guarding and came back first the night before yesterday.
When he opened the door, he wondered why Xiaomin was still pushing the person with the cart. Was she injured?
"This is an educated youth from our village. Something happened to them, not a big deal. They are staying with you for a few days with their little brother~"
Sun Xuefeng helped carry the child into the west room.
"Just stay here, just stay in Sun Juan's room. It's empty anyway, and it has bedding and everything, so you don't have to worry."
The Sun family has three rooms. Sun Xuefeng usually lives in the east room. The west room used to be Sun Juan's room. She is now enjoying a good life in Hong Kong and is married to Wang Duo.
Sun Xuefeng lit a candle and then went to heat the kang first.
Lian Xiaomin brought Tan Rushong into the house, put him on the kang, went to the kitchen, squatted next to Sun Xuefeng who was making the fire, and told him about their story.
After the kang was heated up and the room became warm, Sun Xuefeng also prepared the food.
Two bowls of noodles, four beaten eggs, some soy sauce, and brought them into the house for them to eat.
Lian Xiaomin also took a set of cotton-padded clothes, cotton pants and cotton shoes suitable for a six-year-old child, and two pairs of children's socks from the car.
Look at this child, he is horribly dressed and covered in wounds. That family is so wicked.
The dirty and rotten coat was taken off and thrown on the ground, and Baogen was covered with a blue cardigan sweater.
Just wear this one indoors. Put the other new clothes on the kang and wear them tomorrow.
The little guy was in a daze. He sat at the table, smelled the aroma of the noodles, tried hard to open his eyes, wake up a little, and start eating.
Lian Xiaomin prepared a children's version of cold medicine in an enamel jar and put it there for Baogen to drink later.
"Tan Rushong, are you okay? I'll make you a cup of cold medicine! Luckily I brought some."
It seems he is going to catch a cold too, so I’ll flush another tank.
Tan Rushong ate voraciously, devouring the food in no time.
Baogen ate hot noodles and drank some cold medicine. He had a high fever and Lian Xiaomin put a fever-reducing patch on his forehead.
Sun Xuefeng took out bedding and pillows and quickly let the child lie down and continue sleeping.
Lian Xiaomin also brought in the quilt from the trolley so that Tan Rushong could cover himself with it.
"This is a cold medicine for children, three times a day. I'll leave you two more fever-reducing patches for your forehead. Your own medicine is here."
Looking at Master Lian who was giving serious instructions, Tan Rushong's eyes were filled with tears.
"I can handle it myself... Master Lian, we don't have much friendship, but you are kind enough to help me like this, thank you! Tomorrow morning, I will go back to the educated youth point, tell them and come back to take care of my younger brother."
"... Don't worry, I will find another excuse and will never tell anyone about you. I... will definitely repay you for this great kindness in the future! You saved both of our lives..."
As he spoke, the young man couldn't help but shed tears.
It is easy to add icing on the cake, but difficult to provide timely assistance. How could he not be moved?
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