It was not until Huo Yang and his colleagues came back from work in the evening that He Jiefang put away the kitchen knife. Du Jiang and Qian Meili also followed him out of the house and started working in the kitchen.
When the food was served, He Jiefang, who didn't have the habit of not talking while eating, immediately recounted his entire trip to Xiazhuang Village to attend the wedding. After he finished, he looked at Huo Yang with a look of help, "Brother Huo, do you think we should call the police?"
Huo Yang put down his chopsticks thoughtfully, "Are you sure that man's name is Zhou Changrui?"
Hearing Huo Yang's words, Du Jiang quickly looked up and asked, "Brother Huo, do you know this person?"
"If he has the same name, surname, appearance and address, I should know him. However, I have only heard of his name from my family. His adoptive father was a soldier accepted by my father, but he died many years ago. Although the two families are far away, they have some contacts. The man's wife was in poor health and had no children. Later, he adopted a child from a distant relative in his hometown. At that time, the family was poor and the child fell ill again, so he was adopted directly by Uncle Zhou. Uncle Zhou took the child to Linzhou, and after a few years, he had two more sons and a daughter. The family of six lived well, but later, when the child grew up, the family went to find him to recognize his relatives. The child seemed to think that Uncle Zhou was unfair and was biased towards his biological children. "I've been alienated from Uncle Zhou since then and have been giving things to that family in private. However, Uncle Zhou turned a blind eye because they were Zhou Changrui's biological parents." Huo Yang paused, a hint of sarcasm on his face. "It's a pity that people are greedy. I don't know how that family instigated it, but Zhou Changrui insisted on marrying Uncle Zhou's daughter to his biological brother. If Uncle Zhou hadn't discovered it in time, the girl would have been enrolled in the countryside. You know, the girl was only ten years old. Uncle Zhou was so angry that he changed the girl's name to Zhou Changrui. I heard about this from my dad and others on the phone when I left home. Uncle Zhou even cried on the phone, saying that he had raised an ungrateful person or something like that."
Then Huo Yang talked about some of the appearance characteristics of that person that he learned from Uncle Zhou, and it immediately matched the person that Du Jiang and the others met during the day. Du Jiang and the others didn't know what to say.
Qian Meili almost bit her tongue. "Isn't that so inhumane? But what's going on with Chen Xiaozhen?"
"I know this. Chen Xiaozhen and Zhou Changrui were dating. I saw them sneaking around. If I hadn't stayed out so late that day, I wouldn't have run into them." He Jiefang recalled it now, feeling a bit overwhelmed. "Isn't Chen Xiaozhen quite clever? How did she fall for Zhou Changrui's trick? He pretended to be deeply in love, but he watched his partner marry his brother. This is, this is too disgusting."
"I'm not sure about that, but I think you'd better call Chen Xiaozhen's family and inform them of the matter. Whether they call the police or do something else is up to them," Huo Yang picked up his chopsticks again and started eating the lukewarm meal.
Qian Meili and He Jiefang exchanged a bitter look, then hesitantly turned their gazes towards Huo Yang, saying in unison, "Brother Huo, can you come with us to town?"
"You can go on your own. Since Chen Xiaozhen said she'd move to town after getting married, the people in Xiazhuang Village shouldn't do anything to you." Facing Qian Meili and He Jiefang's uneasiness, Huo Yang explained the situation to them in a logical and logical manner. "Uncle Du and I have inquired. The Zhou family doesn't have a good reputation and isn't very popular in the village. So the blockade at noon was probably for the sake of the village's reputation. But since they didn't catch up with you after you left the village, it means they won't care. So go ahead and rest assured. I'll ask Uncle Du for leave on your behalf."
"Okay, I'll trouble you, Brother Huo," He Jiefang nodded in agreement, then turned to look at Qian Meili, "Well, Meili, you go to work with Du Jiang. I'll go make a phone call. I miss my parents, too. By the way, do you want to write back to your families? I can go to town tomorrow to post the letters for you."
Hearing this, Du Jiang raised his hand and said, "I, I have a letter to send back. I was supposed to wait for the postman to come. Since you have to go to town tomorrow, I'll trouble you."
Following Du Jiang's words, others began to express their desire to send letters as well.
After the meal, everyone washed their own dishes as usual. In accordance with the rule of girls first, Du Jiang and Qian Meili were the first to wash. After they finished washing, the boys came forward one after another to wash.
Perhaps because the pressure was gone from his heart, Du Jiang no longer felt the hesitation he had at noon, and he even had the energy to look at the vegetable patch in the yard.
After a month of watering and weeding, new sprouts have now begun to grow. Among them, the leeks are the best growing and are almost as big as the palm of your hand.
The two chicks in the chicken coop have now grown taller because people often dig worms to feed them. They are jumping around in the yard one after the other. After this period of training, the two chicks have consciously returned to the coop to rest and defecate, saving Du Jiang and Qian Meili from cleaning the yard every day.
The pumpkins planted against the wall were growing even better, with branches extending very long and spread on the ground. Du Jiang carefully picked up the branch on the ground. Seeing this, Qian Meili, who was behind him, quickly turned around and ran to the firewood pile beside the kitchen to find a few thin branches. The two of them worked together to find a new home for the pumpkin branches. The tender green branches wrapped around the earthy brown branches were particularly conspicuous.
"It's a pity that it hasn't bloomed. If it had, it would probably be close to fruiting." Qian Meili is particularly proud of the vegetables she planted with her own hands.
"It doesn't matter. If it doesn't work out this year, we can try next year. It looks like it's growing well. Maybe the heavy rain last time soaked the soil." Du Jiang was also very happy. After careful observation, she finally found a flower bud behind a few pumpkin leaves not far from the ground. Seeing this, she quickly pointed at it and said, "Sister Qian, look, there's a flower bud here. Maybe we can still eat pumpkin in winter."
"Oh, it's true, this little bud is quite good at hiding." Following the direction of Du Jiang's finger, Qian Meili finally found the flower. She was immediately surprised and squatted carefully beside Du Jiang, speaking in a low voice, for fear that her loud voice would scare the fragile bud away.
With this beginning, the two began to carefully observe the other two pumpkins. Unfortunately, among the three pumpkins, only this one, which grew the best, produced a single seedling. However, this was enough to make Du Jiang and Qian Meili happy. After all, it was the first time for the two to grow vegetables, and it was so successful. Even though they hadn't eaten it yet, it did not hinder their pride.
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