428 The World Outside

Downstairs.

Director Li has already scolded the male and female relatives.

Xiao Meizi put the prepared money into the female relative's hand and bowed to her:

"Thank you for your care during this time, but I really don't want to be a donkey anymore, and please don't bother me again in the future."

It must be said that Fu Yuanhang and Mumu used this unexpected and quick move to cut off the Gordian knot.

The male and female relatives didn't even have a chance to refute.

They watched Fu Yuanhang and Mumu take the person away, and were given a serious warning by Director Li, who scolded them for corrupting the atmosphere. If they don't behave, they will go back to where they came from and don't have to go to work anymore.

They didn't even dare to fart.

Seeing the excitement, the grandfather and the grandmother thought it was very gratifying and they were

full of praise for Fu Yuanhang and Mumu. Some said that Mumu and Xiaomeizi were a perfect match and wished them a long and happy marriage in advance.

Mumu thanked them generously. Anyway, they would not have much interactions in the future, so there was no need to explain too much.

Xiaomeizi was very silent along the way and did not care about being shy.

She had been living in a daze during this period, like a walking corpse every day, without even time to think.

Now she felt more guilty, guilty towards Fu Yuanhang and Mumu, and also grateful.

"I'm useless. Please come back to save me. I will never be so stupid again in the future." Xiaomeizi did not want to say thank you.

A simple "thank you" is too shallow. The favor she owes them cannot be expressed with a simple "thank you". She remembers every bit of it in her heart and will always find a chance to repay them.

Mumu tapped her head: "You...

forget it. When you get to the base in the future, just be smarter and don't trust people easily."

Xiaomeizi blinked: "What do you mean?"

Mumu: "It means literally. Sister Taozi means to get you a letter of employment and transfer your household registration to the base factory first.

In the future, you will be like Baihua. You will study hard during the weekdays and work part-time in the factory on weekends. You will be able to support yourself to finish high school."

Xiaomeizi knew who Baihua was. Mumu mentioned her in the letter.

"You, you want to take me with you, take me with you..." Xiaomeizi blushed and couldn't speak clearly.

Mumu glanced at her: "What? You don't want to go? Then go back and be a nanny for your relatives."

Xiaomeizi shook her head quickly: "No, no, I thought... I just don't want to cause you any more trouble. I'd better stay in the village.

I haven't spent much of the money you sent me. I can support myself by growing some vegetables."

Mumu was angry: "You..."

Fu Yuanhang pulled Mumu and shook his head at him: "Xiaomeizi, my sister-in-law's factory will always recruit students to work and study. If it's not you, it will be someone else.

There is always a way out. The roads in the world are made by people. You know Bai Hua, she relies on herself to make a living."

Fu Yuanhang stopped and looked at her: "We only I have pointed out a clear path for you. You can't cause us any trouble. We usually live in the base and only meet you on weekends when we go to the factory to work and study. You have to be self-sufficient like Bai Hua and rely on your own efforts.

Come if you have made up your mind. You only have one chance. If you really don't want to go with us, just stay in the village and we won't mention this matter again. "

Sister-in-law taught him that it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. They still have a long way to go in life. Material help is temporary. Not only he and Mumu need experience and the big classroom of society to teach them, but Xiaomeizi needs it even more. Only when she stands up on her own and becomes truly strong can she be invincible in the future.

Xiao Meizi thought about it carefully. Even though her mind was confused, she knew that Fu Yuanhang and Mu Mu were smarter than her, and they would definitely not harm her. It would be right to listen to them.

After figuring this out, Xiao Meizi nodded heavily: "I have decided. I will go with you. I want to walk my own path like Bai Hua!"

Mumu finally showed a gratified expression of "my daughter has grown up":

"That's right. It's worth our long journey. Xiao Meizi, if you don't go with us, I will really hate you and be angry with you." Xiao

Meizi lowered her head in shame: "I'm sorry, Mumu, my brain has been working less and less well recently, but don't worry, I will try to be smarter in the future and not make you angry." Mumu

: "Okay, who are we talking to? It's a bit awkward to say this, right?

Ah Hang, let's go to the post office first and call Sister Taozi to ask her to book return train tickets for us. We can go back just in time for the start of school on September 1st."

...

The old branch secretary was very pleased to see that they successfully brought Xiao Meizi back, and asked Uncle Aniu to drive a tractor to take them to the county to handle the procedures for transferring the household registration and food relations.

He never thought that Xiao Meizi, an orphan, would have such good fortune. He repeatedly reminded her to cherish her blessings and remember Su Taotao and others who had helped her.

She also didn't have to worry about her grandmother who was buried in the mountains. When he went to sweep the grave during the Qingming Festival, he would burn a stick of incense for her, pour a pot of wine, and tell her that the old lady was living a good life now and would be blessed in the future, so she didn't have to worry.

Xiao Meizi burst into tears and knelt down to kowtow to the old branch secretary several times.

It was the third morning when Fu Yuanhang and Mumu dealt with Xiao Meizi's aftermath.

It was Uncle Niu who took them to the county town on a tractor to catch a bus.

Uncle Niu had been taking these kids out these past few days. He loved them very much and was reluctant to leave them, so he asked them to come back more often when they had time.

They naturally agreed one by one.

The bus got on the national highway and drove away from the county town little by little, away from the place where Xiao Meizi had lived for more than ten years.

Before her grandmother passed away, the farthest place Xiao Meizi had ever been to was the commune when she was fifteen years old. It was only after her

grandmother passed away that she went to the county town for the first time.

But this county town was more like a nightmare to her.

She didn't want to come back again in the future.

But she would definitely come back to the small mountain village where her grandmother was buried, surrounded by mountains.

Thinking back to when she first got on the bus to the county town, she felt uneasy, not knowing what was waiting ahead.

But this time, Xiao Meizi felt extremely relieved as she watched the scenery receding.

Because Fu Yuanhang and Mumu said that there was a bright road ahead of her, a bright road that she could walk on her own and towards the future.

And she knew that on that bright road, there were Fu Yuanhang, Mumu, Bai Hua... and a group of like-minded friends walking together.

She would definitely not be alone.

Later on the road, Xiao Meizi did not feel strange at all.

The pictures in the picture book that Fu Yuanhang gave her became real little by little, and she seemed to follow Fu Yuanhang's footsteps and walk the road he had walked again.

Once, Fu Yuanhang told her that if she had the chance, she must go out of the mountains and see the outside world. He said:

In front of the mountains is the town, in front of the town is the county town, in front of the county town is the city, in front of the city is the provincial capital, and outside the city and the provincial capital there are other cities and other provincial capitals. Our country is vast, with more than 30 provinces and regions, and more than 600 cities, including the capital where the national flag rises every day...

How much Xiaomei longed for the "outside world", and now how unreal everything before her eyes seems.

The train slowly stopped at the terminal station. The heat wave that Mumu had written about in her letter, with the fishy smell of seawater, which was not in Xiaomei's cognition and would still appear in autumn, hit her face. She was shocked to realize that

she had really arrived at the southernmost part of the motherland, the "outside world" that had appeared countless times in Mumu's letters, in Fu Yuanhang's paintings, and in her own dreams.

...