"What? Xiuyun, your house was burgled too?"
Hearing Zhao Xiuyun's words, Shen Qingming was shocked and blurted out, "Could it be that the house has also been completely emptied out?"
Upon hearing Shen Qingming's words, Zhao Xiuyun realized something was amiss and hurriedly asked, "Um, Brother Qingming, how did you know?"
Upon hearing Zhao Xiuyun's confirmation, Shen Qingming said with a hint of helplessness and bitterness, "My house was also robbed."
"What?"
Zhao Xiuyun was shocked when she heard Shen Qingming's words: her house had been emptied right under her nose, how could the Shen family's house have been robbed as well?
Having lived an extra life, Zhao Xiuyun keenly sensed something was amiss. Suddenly remembering Ruan Miaomiao's drastic change in attitude that afternoon, she asked, "Brother Qingming, could it be Miaomiao?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingming immediately retorted, "She's too busy sending me things, how could she bear to empty my house and make me suffer? Besides, how could she possibly have that kind of ability?"
Zhao Xiuyun wanted to say that she didn't have one, but she did have a capable father!
However, she knew that this was not a good time to argue with Shen Qingming. Going along with a man would make him love her more.
So she changed the subject and asked, "Then, Brother Qingming, how about we go to Miaomiao and ask her father for help?"
"The three of us are friends, and you're her boyfriend. With something like this happening in our family, there's no reason for her not to help."
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingming sighed: "My dad and I just went there, but we couldn't get into the military area. We can only tell her when she comes to see me tomorrow. Anyway, she feels uncomfortable if she doesn't see me every day."
After saying that, he gave Zhao Xiuyun a smug smile.
This smile calmed Zhao Xiuyun's panicked heart: her family had discovered that their house had been burgled, and because she had been home all day, her family blamed her. Her father even slapped her twice and told her to go to the division commander's daughter for help.
After all, in order to make life easier at home, she often used the excuse that her teacher's daughter was her friend.
With Shen Qingming's words, Zhao Xiuyun could go back and explain herself. The two of them comforted their family members while waiting for Ruan Miaomiao to come looking for them.
They waited until the afternoon of the second day. With the next day's departure for the countryside approaching, both the Shen and Zhao families were worried that since Shen Qingming and Zhao Xiuyun were not in Haicheng, the Ruan family was not sincere in helping. So they forced the two of them to go to the military region to find Ruan Miaomiao.
The reply they received was that Ruan Miaomiao had already gone to the countryside, and that her division commander had personally escorted her there.
This news shocked Shen Qingming and Zhao Xiuyun greatly:
"Why did she go to the countryside?"
"She...she really doesn't care about the two of us anymore?"
"She's been sent to the countryside, so where are we going to get train tickets for both of us?"
...
At this point, both of them panicked: in those days, not only did you need a letter of introduction to buy train tickets, but you also had to find connections in advance to get good seats.
They refused the hard-seat tickets offered by the educated youth office because they thought Ruan Miaomiao would help them get sleeper tickets.
Now, where are they going to get train tickets?
If I miss the deadline for going to the countryside, I might be branded as a backward element who sabotages development.
In a panic, the two of them realized that Ruan Miaomiao had left and they couldn't rely on the military region, so they had no choice but to go to the educated youth office to find a solution.
They were supposed to go to the countryside, but they couldn't get tickets, so don't blame them!
They passed the problem on to the people in the educated youth office.
The staff at the educated youth office were about to leave work when they heard the news and were furious. There was nothing they could do; these were the educated youth they had sent out, so they had to cover for them. They could only try to contact people for train tickets overnight and finally managed to get two train tickets for the two of them.
However, perhaps because the staff at the educated youth office were upset, the two train tickets were not next to each other, but were even several carriages apart.
After receiving the tickets, the two were heartbroken.
Fortunately, there were tickets available.
However, when they returned home, they learned that Ruan Miaomiao had abandoned them and left on her own. The Shen and Zhao families began to make things difficult for the two of them. Previously, because the two of them would occasionally take things back from Ruan Miaomiao, their situation at home had been gradually improving.
But now, everything has gone back to the beginning.
Shen's father sensed something was wrong and sternly warned Shen Qingming that after going to the countryside, he must keep his distance from Zhao Xiuyun and properly coax the young lady Ruan Miaomiao!
Both of them were scolded all night, and the next morning, when they went to the train station to catch their trains, they were both all alone.
Other educated youth sent to the countryside had relatives and friends to see them off.
Aside from the staff of the educated youth office, neither of them had any relatives or friends.
Zhao Xiuyun was alright. Although the Zhao family had taken back most of the things they had prepared for her to go to the countryside because of the theft at her home, she was still carrying a nylon bag on her back, with the words "urea" printed on the bag.
Shen Qingming was different; apart from the two pockets of fried soybeans, he was truly empty-handed and had nothing.
Shen's parents had borrowed money from her mother's colleagues to make ends meet, but Shen's father saw his own past self in Shen Qingming and refused to let Shen's mother utter a single word.
Mother Shen had always disliked her second son and was happy not to give him a single penny.
And so, while Shen's parents complained about being poor, they also painted a rosy picture for Shen Qingming:
Once they get to the countryside, they'll have everything they need if they can appease Ruan Miaomiao.
Shen's parents thought this way, and Shen Qingming thought the same way.
So even though he only had a little bit of roasted soybeans that his mother had given him before he left home, he wasn't worried at all.
Anyway, things will be easier once I see Ruan Miaomiao, right?
At worst, he'll just have to survive on the soybeans in his pocket and some water on the train for the next two days and two nights, right?
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