Chapter 99: The two of them actually got along quite well and soon became...
Qi Changxiao looked at the old man carefully. To be honest, judging from his facial features, he couldn't tell that the old man had any blood relationship with his mother-in-law.
But the old man is in his seventies after all. As people get older, time becomes naughty. Big eyes may become small eyes, and single eyelids may become double eyelids.
He couldn't conclude that the two had no relationship.
In short, this is not the first time that his wife has been mistaken for someone else. The old man is so anxious, maybe it is really some relative or friend of the Xie family.
He pointed to the office in front of him and made a hushing gesture.
The old man just had a strange temper, he was not out of his mind. He knew that "Xing'er" was doing something, so he stood quietly at the door waiting without knocking to interrupt the conversation inside.
It wasn't until Yao Zhizhi came out that he excitedly went to greet her, yelling, "Xing'er!"
Yao Zhizhi was a little surprised. She didn't know where the crazy woman who called her Xing'er last time was.
I didn't expect another old man to come today.
She looked at him suspiciously and asked, "Do you know my mother?"
"Your mother?" The old man was confused. After taking a closer look, he found that although the woman in front of him looked a bit like Xing'er, there were still differences.
Xing'er has been a crybaby since she was little, weak and frail, and has often been bullied. This female comrade, on the other hand, seems much stronger, with a gleam of unwillingness in her eyes. If someone says something to her, she probably won't cry, but will curse back or even fight back.
He is almost eighty years old and still has some judgment, but his eyes are blurry and he didn't see clearly.
Suddenly curious: "Is your mother Xie Chunxing?"
"Yes. You are..." Yao Zhizhi was confused. This old man didn't look like an uncle or nephew to her mother.
The old man suddenly laughed, laughed twice, and then cried again: "That doesn't count as admitting a mistake. You are Xing'er's daughter, which means you are my granddaughter! Come on, I'll take you somewhere."
What? Yao Zhizhi was completely confused. Besides, she wanted to go back early to see her child, so she was reluctant.
The old man didn't care. He pulled her sleeve and left. He went upstairs and found a man who looked like a leader and asked for a car.
The leader didn't refuse, this old man is so proud!
Yao Zhizhi and Qi Changxiao got into the car in a daze and headed towards an unknown destination.
Yao Zhizhi was speechless and asked, "Who are you? Neither my grandfather nor my second grandfather is called Xie Dayou."
"It's better not to call it that." The joy on the old man's face gradually faded, replaced by melancholy and regret.
Yao Zhizhi was completely confused. There was nothing wrong with the old man. He looked like an honest and upright person. She could only look at Qi Changxiao.
Qi Changxiao was also helpless. The old man's merit value was extremely high and golden, but his fortune value was a bit low. Come to think of it, the old man had lost his wife and children. He was alone and in his twilight years. Even if he got a windfall, it would not be considered good luck.
I could only shake my head, unable to make out anything.
The two of them came to a cemetery on the outskirts of the provincial capital in a daze.
Yao Zhizhi got out of the car, but still didn't know what to do here, so she had to follow all the way.
When they arrived in front of a tombstone, the old man stopped and began to mutter to himself. He also pulled Yao Zhizhi's sleeve and asked her to kneel down and kowtow.
Yao Zhizhi understood as soon as she saw the name on the tombstone.
Lying inside was her missing second uncle.
Yao Zhizhi pulled Qi Changxiao to kowtow together, then stood up and asked, "Then who are you?"
"Me? I am his brother, comrade-in-arms, and friend of life and death. My surname was not Xie, but I changed it to this one later." The old man told her a story with red eyes.
It turns out that he and Yao Zhizhi's grandfather and second uncle were childhood friends and grew up in the same village, so he knew her mother.
Later, he and his second uncle both joined the revolution. He was a few years older than his second uncle and had a family to support, so he was really worried and planned to send his family to the base to settle down.
As a result, they encountered the Japanese on the road, and the second uncle sacrificed himself in order to lead the Japanese away. In order to commemorate this good brother, the old man asked the whole family to change their surnames to pass on the second uncle's will.
A few years later, he still couldn't save his wife and children, and they all died.
He could not bear the blow and was in a coma for a while. When he woke up, he happened to catch up with the Battle of Crossing the Yangtze River. He risked his life and fought, but he survived and made great contributions.
Later, when New China was established, he went to the place where the accident happened, moved his second uncle's body and reburied it.
A few years ago, he returned to his hometown, hoping to find the descendants of the Xie family, but he couldn't find them. He heard that they had all moved away.
The old man's eyes were filled with tears: "If your second grandfather were still alive, he would definitely be very proud and happy to see China today."
Yes, every revolutionary who sacrificed his life would be proud of the strength of the motherland, and these young people can only make sure that their blood will not be shed in vain if they keep moving forward and ride the wind and waves.
"Child, go back and tell your mother that my last name is Liang." The old man warned with tears in his eyes.
Yao Zhizhi took note of it and sighed deeply. War is so cruel.
I didn’t expect that my missing second uncle had already been buried in the ground.
If her mother knew about this, she would probably come to pay her respects and visit this elder from the same village.
After paying homage to her second grandfather, Yao Zhizhi was taken by the old man by the sleeve to the government building to recognize people.
Wow, the old man is so influential that he can use the leader’s car and enter the leader’s office at will.
After a lot of trouble, Yao Zhizhi basically got to know all the leaders in the building. With such a grand ceremony, those who didn't know her would think that Yao Zhizhi was of great importance.
In short, she received a lot of praise and promises. One by one, they told her to go ahead and do it. As long as it was legal and compliant, she could just ask if she needed their help.
Yao Zhizhi agreed with a smile and wrote down a lot of addresses and numbers.
Because of the delay, it was dark when she returned. She left her address and phone number to the old man, and the old man gave her a canvas bag and asked her to take it to her mother.
She didn't want to open it without permission, so she took the bulging canvas bag back home intact.
It was already 11:30 at night when I got home. The bus had stopped running long ago, so I had to walk back.
Fortunately, the train station was not far from Ba Tiao Hutong, and Yao Zhizhi didn't want to wait a moment, so she jogged all the way there.
When I got home, I found that both children were asleep. They were not crying or making a fuss. They were so well-behaved that it made me feel distressed.
Finally, Yao Zhizhi felt relieved. She took a shower and let her mother-in-law go back to rest.
It was too late, and Tang Fengyuan didn’t ask whether things went well or not. He would talk about it tomorrow.
The next morning, Tang Fengyuan came over, fearing that his son and daughter-in-law would be humiliated and wronged in the provincial capital.
As a result... she was a little surprised. She didn't expect that her daughter-in-law would have such an opportunity.
Now relieved, Tang Fengyuan went to work happily.
Yao Zhizhi had made a trip to the provincial capital and had gained quite a bit. She held an editorial meeting to cheer everyone up: "Next month's first print run will be increased by 50,000 copies. This is an order from the Xinhua Bookstore in the provincial capital."
Wow! Editor-in-Chief Yao is amazing! With just one simple move, he secured a big order for the magazine!
Everyone is very happy. If sales are good, we will definitely print more. Including the orders from the capital, this year's year-end benefits are simply unimaginable.
After the meeting, everyone was extremely motivated and worked hard to achieve new sales records next month!
After get off work at noon, Yao Zhizhi went to her sister's house and handed the canvas bag to her mother.
When Xie Chunxing opened it, she was stunned. It was bulging with money.
It turned out that the old man didn't like passbooks. He would save the cash directly every time he got his salary. He had no wife or children and didn't have many expenses, so he had been saving for more than 20 years.
There are at least several thousand in the bag!
Terrified, Xie Chunxing quickly zipped up her pants: "I can't accept this! If people say your father's family accepted bribes, that would be disastrous!"
"Then go and return it to him yourself. I'm busy, Mom." Yao Zhizhi didn't expect this to happen. It was not appropriate for her to get involved in such matters, so she let her mother solve it herself.
A few days later, on a day off, Xie Chunxing sent the child to Yao Zhizhi's place and asked Yao Miaomiao to go to the provincial capital together.
When I came back, the canvas bag was gone, but I had a fresh and warm will in my hand.
Yao Miaomiao explained to Yao Zhizhi, "This old man directly acknowledged our mom as his niece and told us to call him Second Uncle from now on. He also said that he would give all his savings to our mom after a hundred years. At that time, it would be a legacy between family members and could not be considered a bribe."
Yao Zhizhi understood it very well. After all, the second uncle sacrificed his life to protect the old man's family. The old man had no children, so it didn't matter who he gave the money to. It would be better to give it to his good brother's niece.
He is also a kind and righteous person.
Soon, the new issue of the magazine was on sale. The provincial capital placed an additional order for 30,000 copies, for a total of 80,000 copies. The capital placed an additional order for 20,000 copies based on last month's order, for a total of 150,000 copies.
Seventy thousand copies were sold in Yicheng, and thirty thousand copies were sold in the neighboring Weicheng.
A total of 330,000 copies!
Yao Zhizhi was so happy that her heart was filled with joy. She felt more and more hopeful as the days passed.
There was also good news from my third brother. The small courtyard in Qi Tiao Hutong could be bought directly instead of renting it.
Yao Zhizhi was shocked: "Why?"
Yao Weihua said cheerfully, "They're just afraid of trouble. Someone wanted to rent it before, but changed their mind when they paid. The person in charge was afraid we'd change our minds, or maybe not rent it after a year or two, so they decided to just sell it. The asking price isn't high, just two thousand yuan."
That's great. Renting is not as comfortable as buying. And this way, you can tidy up and decorate the yard according to your family's preferences.
Yao Zhizhi quickly took the money.
Yao Weihua did not argue with her and planned to name the house after the couple, just like he did with the yard he bought before. However, Yao Zhizhi refused and insisted on using her third brother's name.
"If you don't agree to me, I won't let you take care of the child." Yao Zhizhi was firm.
Yao Weihua still refused, so the next day Yao Zhizhi took a leave of absence and secretly completed the formalities. When Yao Weihua came back from buying groceries and saw the situation, he was completely dumbfounded.
Okay, his sister is really nice.
*
After finishing her work, Yao Zhizhi went to the woolen mill and chatted with Xiao Cui.
See if the eldest daughter-in-law of the Wu family has any weaknesses.
Xiao Cui wanted to repay her wholeheartedly, so she told her everything she knew.
Yao Zhizhi knew what was going on. Wasn't Old Lady Wang paralyzed in bed? This woman didn't want to take care of her mother-in-law. Every night after taking a bath, she would go to Liutiao Hutong to chat with people. She would even set up her knitting needles and pretend that she was knitting a sweater.
One night, the woman came home howling in agony. When everyone asked her, they found out that she almost stepped on a frog while walking at night.
Yao Zhizhi was amused. This woman was afraid of frogs, which was great. They were not like poisonous snakes that could easily cause uncontrollable damage, nor were they like earthworms. Yao Zhizhi herself couldn't bring herself to kill them.
Frogs are easy to deal with, there are plenty of them around Yuhu Lake.
Then she would not be polite, because this woman had pinched her mother-in-law's arm so hard that it was bruised last time.
After dinner that day, Yao Zhizhi went to the edge of Yu Lake to catch a few frogs and put them in a net bag. She also found a skirt she wore when she was pregnant from the closet, tied a pillow to her belly, and put the skirt on.
My hair has grown long, so I'll cut it tomorrow. I won't tie it up today, so I'll just go out with my hair down.
Qi Changxiao wanted to follow her, but she refused and even brought up old grudges with him, almost causing her to miss her stop.
Qi Changxiao was in the wrong, so he had to stay at home and look after the children.
At seven o'clock in the evening, Wu Da's wife came out of the woolen mill dormitory and walked slowly towards Liu Tiao Hutong.
Yao Zhizhi was hiding at the entrance of the alley. When she saw Wu Da's wife coming from afar, she began to prepare. When the footsteps were approaching, she picked up the net bag and poured it over the woman's head.
The woman was so frightened that she screamed, dropped her knitting needles and wool and ran away, as if she had seen a ghost, and ran back to the woolen mill crying.
When someone asked her what happened, she trembled and stammered, saying that a pregnant crazy woman wanted to harm her.
Her husband was anxious and hurried to Liutiao Hutong to seek revenge. But when he got there, he found nothing except knitting needles and wool lying on the ground. As for the frog, there was no trace of it.
I give up. This stupid thing, maybe he didn't see clearly and stepped on one, and scared himself.
As for Yao Zhizhi, she had returned home calmly, washed her hands, sprayed alcohol, untied the pillow, tied up her hair, changed into a bucket skirt, and became the neat and capable professional woman again.
When she went to bed at night, Qi Changxiao was unhappy and insisted on asking her how to stop bringing up the past.
Yao Zhizhi was in a good mood today, so she was generous: "Let me see if you have made any progress in the past few days. If you have, I won't bother with you."
That's easy, come on.
The energetic man quickly demonstrated with his actions what progress is, great progress.
Yao Zhizhi felt a little weak in the knees when she went to work the next day, and bit his shoulder in anger.
When I arrived at the publishing house, I saw that the old man was there.
The messy long hair has been cut off, and now it has a neat short flat head. The hair is black and white, and it looks much neater.
He also changed his clothes. His white shirt was clean and his black trousers had few wrinkles.
Yao Zhizhi was amused: "Second Grandpa, why are you here?"
Xie Dayou said seriously, "I heard someone stole your manuscript before, and I'm worried. I'll guard the gate for you, voluntarily. Don't worry about me. I have a pension and a place to live."
Okay, the lonely old man needs comfort, it’s good to do something.
She led the old man to the message room. Uncle Zhao, the gatekeeper, was very happy when he heard that someone was coming to accompany him.
But while he was happy, he was also worried about his job, so he asked, "Brother, are you joining me? Are you considered a formal employee? Will you get paid?"
Xie Dayou was very cautious, and since the editorial department had experienced issues with submissions before, he planned to investigate before considering whether to hand it over.
Then he said vaguely: "This is not something I should consider."
Uncle Zhao's heart sank. He wondered if they were really here to steal his job! He then asked, "Where do you live? Your accent doesn't sound local."
Xie Dayou didn't want to reveal his situation. Keeping a low profile was the best way, so he smiled and replied, "The whole world is my home."
Uncle Zhao was really at a loss now. Why did he feel like the old man was playing tricks on him? When he returned home at noon, he sighed to Director Zhao, saying he was afraid he wouldn't be able to do this for much longer.
Director Zhao asked what was going on and advised, "Then you should try to get closer to him and build a good relationship with him. Even if that Yao guy wants to kick you out, he'll have to see what Old Man Xie's attitude is, right?"
That makes sense! Uncle Zhao understood the idea and had a great time chatting with Xie Dayou. When they had nothing to do, they would listen to the radio together, reminiscing about the good and the bad times. The atmosphere was harmonious and enjoyable. It was great.
Sometimes Xie Dayou would also come to the editorial office to sit and provide some ideas for the magazine for adults that Yao Zhizhi was organizing.
The two of them actually got along quite well and soon became close friends regardless of age difference.
After a few days, the old man discovered something was wrong. There was a young man in the publishing house who always followed Xiao Yao.
Whenever Xiao Yao wanted to go out to do something, that little tzi would definitely find an excuse to come out within two minutes.
He used to be an investigator, and he knew at first sight that the boy had bad intentions. After asking Uncle Zhao, he found out that the two families were relatives. So after work that day, Xie Dayou insisted on going to Uncle Zhao's house for a free meal.
He wanted to take this opportunity to get to know more about Xiao Zhao.
Unexpectedly, when he arrived at Uncle Zhao's son's house, Xie Dayou made an unexpected discovery.
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