Chapter 15 Debt Collection (2)

After the suspicion, the aunt remembered that Su Taotao said she was visiting relatives. She looked around for a long time but couldn't remember which relative it was, so she asked: "Are the relatives you are visiting our family? Are you..."

Su Taotao smiled and said: "It's just an excuse. We are here to see Comrade Chen Sihai."

The aunt suddenly realized: "So you are here to see my son. Come in first, Sihai, come out quickly, someone wants to see you."

The aunt had a good impression of this family. Usually, people who came to her house for her son to do things for no reason would be turned away by her before they saw Chen Sihai. It was rare for her to be so friendly: "You guys sit down first, I'll go get you a glass of water."

Su Taotao didn't bother to be polite with her. After thanking her, she led the few people to sit on the bench.

Zhou Linglan was a little embarrassed and sat down with Su Taotao.

It must be said that Zhou Linglan knew how to teach children. It was the first time for the two children to come to such a tube building, but they just looked around curiously. Chenchen sat obediently in the arms of his uncle and did not look around or touch anything. He did not even look at the eight-treasure box on the table with various candies and biscuits.

"Who's looking for me..."

A tall and strong man in his forties, with a decent temperament, pulled open the curtain and came out of the room. He was stunned when he saw Su Taotao and the others, frowned and asked, "Who are you?"

Su Taotao stood up, introduced herself, and directly handed him Cao Guohua's handwritten letter, "Take a look at this first." After

reading the letter, Chen Sihai was very excited, and hurriedly asked, "Where is Lao Cao now? How is he? Is he okay?"

Su Taotao nodded and said, "Teacher Cao is in our production team now. Everything is fine, don't worry." Chen

Sihai asked Su Taotao which production team she was from and some specific information about Cao Guohua. Su Taotao was not very clear, and Zhou Linglan answered most of the questions.

After listening to this, Chen Sihai nodded repeatedly, "That's good, that's good."

Seeing that he didn't mention the repayment for a long time, Su Taotao reminded him, "Then Comrade Chen, what Teacher Cao mentioned..."

Chen Sihai slapped his forehead, then he carefully looked at the IOU and photos in his hand, and said to Su Taotao, "That's the case, I'll get it for you now." After

Chen Sihai finished speaking, he went back to the room and took out a package, "There are three hundred yuan in it, and these are some common bills I have lying around."

Su Taotao didn't expect things to go so smoothly, and was about to refuse, saying that she would only take back two hundred and fifty yuan.

Chen Sihai raised his hand to interrupt her: "Please listen to me first. Two hundred and fifty yuan here is the debt. I will settle it after receiving your IOU and photos. The other fifty yuan is my request. I know Lao Cao. He has refused to contact us since he went to the countryside. If you hadn't come today, I wouldn't know his situation. Lao Cao mentioned in the letter that your family took care of him. Speaking of which,

Lao Fu and I have met a few times, so I shamelessly ask you to take care of Lao Cao on my behalf.

It won't be too difficult. Just send a portion to Lao Cao when it's convenient for you to improve your food. Let me know if he encounters difficulties. Use the tickets if you need them. Bring some to Lao Cao if it's convenient. If it's really inconvenient, just pretend I didn't say anything. Leave the tickets with me. I'll put it there, you guys can use it more, anyway, thank you."

Su Taotao knew Chen Sihai had a close relationship with Cao Guohua when she heard him say that, she shook her head and said, "Comrade Chen, you are too polite, there is not much we can do, Teacher Cao and my father-in-law are comrades-in-arms, we will definitely help if we can, don't worry, I will see to it."

Chen Sihai was delighted, "Thank you so much "Thank you. I am the director of the meat processing plant. It is quite convenient for you to buy meat. If you need to buy meat in the future, just come to me."

The mother and son of the Chen family are both good people. When leaving, Chen Sihai gave Su Taotao another piece of meat. It was not much, just a little over a pound, but this piece was the best front leg meat. Aunt Chen also insisted on giving Su Taotao a piece of defective cloth and kept giving candies to the two children.

Fu Yuanhang was so scared that he refused again and again. In the end, he couldn't resist and had to take two pieces of candies. The small bag embroidered with peanut patches was stuffed full by her.

Su Taotao also insisted on leaving all the remaining mountain products to them, and they did not refuse, but accepted them happily. Aunt Chen also made an appointment with Su Taotao that next time she had any mountain products, she could send them to her, and if she needed to exchange anything, she could tell her, because she knew a lot of people, and she would try to help her exchange.

Su Taotao thanked them one by one, but refused the Chen family's invitation to have them for dinner.

It was inappropriate to do what we had to do when we met by chance.

The whole family knew etiquette and knew when to advance and retreat. Chen Sihai and his mother had a better impression of them. In fact, it was not difficult to see from the children's family education that this family was worth making friends with.

Su Taotao never expected that she would have such a big unexpected gain from coming to the county to collect debts. Not only did she get back the money owed, but she also received such a big favor. It seems that she was still a bit lucky in the 1970s.

The family of four came out of Chen's house, and Zhou Linglan was still floating: "Taotao, we not only got the money back, but also exchanged it for a lot of meat. Is this true?"

Su Taotao hadn't come back yet, and Fu Yuanhang, who was also floating with the sweetness of the fruit candy, had already nodded: "It's true, mother, I saw a thick stack of money with my own eyes, and there was a lot of meat in the basket!"

Since the eldest brother left, except for the fish and meat distributed by the team during the New Year and festivals, Fu Yuanhang had forgotten how long he hadn't seen meat.

Before she got the money, Su Taotao was actually worried. Only now did she feel relieved. She nodded and said, "Yes, we can at least have meat every day in the future, so that you and Chenchen can grow taller, right, Chenchen?"

Chenchen lay on the uncle's shoulder and nodded, with candy in his mouth, big eyes and puffed cheeks, looking like a cute little hamster. Infected by the happy atmosphere, he also grinned.

After coming out, the family of four found a small park to sit and eat the dry food they brought. After eating, Su Taotao looked at the time. It was still a few hours before the tractor returned to the village.

There were quite a few cloth coupons in the tickets given by Chen Sihai, so Su Taotao decided to take them to the state-owned shopping mall first.

When they arrived at the gate of the state-owned shopping mall, Zhou Linglan said, "Taotao, I won't go in. Just watch the basket outside."

Su Taotao thought about it and felt that it was indeed inconvenient for Zhou Linglan to go in with the basket on her shoulder. She might be reluctant to buy this or that.

"Then you take a rest at the gate. We'll be out soon. Xiaohang must be tired too. Chenchen, let mommy hold him for a while."

Chenchen no longer resisted Su Taotao and took the initiative to extend her hand to her.

Fu Yuanhang actually wanted to say that he was not tired, but when he saw Su Taotao's expectant look, he took back the words.

Su Taotao was very satisfied to hold the little darling, and she loved him very much.

"Chenchen, can you pick out your own clothes and shoes?"

Chenchen tilted his head in confusion. This question was beyond his scope. It was his first time to come to a state-owned shopping mall, let alone buy clothes and shoes.

Su Taotao asked for directions and went straight to the children's clothing area.

Clothes these days don't have so many fancy styles, and the colors are not rich. The most popular is green military uniform.

It was also the first time for Fu Yuanhang to enter a state-owned shopping mall. The number of goods was already "dazzling" to him. He looked down at the Jiefang shoes on his feet that he had been wearing because they didn't fit his feet. They were bought by his brother before he left. He only wore them during the Chinese New Year, but they still had a hole. He shrank his toes embarrassedly and wanted to tell Su Taotao that he would go to the door with his mother to wait for her.

But the opportunity to enter a state-owned shopping mall was rare, and he couldn't help wanting to continue looking, so he had to bite the bullet and follow Su Taotao, looking at the new clothes, shoes and hats from a distance, and didn't dare to touch anything with his hands, for fear of accidentally getting them dirty.

"Xiaohang, pick a set for yourself." Su Taotao fiddled with her clothes and turned around to say to Fu Yuanhang.

Fu Yuanhang looked up at Su Taotao in astonishment, and then he shook his head again and again: "No, no, sister-in-law, I, I don't need it, just buy it for Chenchen."

Fu Yuanhang knew that what he had just taken back was the money that his sister-in-law's family had left for him to keep in the bottom of the box. Before leaving, his mother had told him not to spend his sister-in-law's money as much as possible.

Su Taotao actually wanted to touch the child's head. The envy and expectation in his eyes could not be hidden, but there was no greed or haze. He was also a sensible child that made people feel distressed.

"Xiaohang, look at these two sets of clothes. The large size you wear and the small size Chenchen wear are actually almost the same price. But think about it, this set is so much bigger, and when it doesn't fit you anymore, Chenchen can continue to wear it. Two people can wear the same set of clothes. Aren't we making a good deal?"

Fu Yuanhang blinked after listening to him. It seemed to make sense, but something seemed wrong. Before he could react, Chenchen's little hand was already pulling a green military uniform: "This, uncle..."

Su Taotao smiled and kissed Chenchen: "Chenchen has a good eye. Mom likes this set too. Let's buy these two sets, the big one for uncle and the small one for Chenchen."

Chenchen nodded, crooked his big eyes, and looked very happy.

The waiter who was picking his teeth nearby naturally heard their conversation. He had been indifferent since they came in, but now he spoke: "Ready-made clothes are very expensive, and they require cloth coupons. Can you afford them?"

Su Taotao didn't even look at her. She handed two large balls and the sorted cloth coupons to Fu Yuanhang, and pointed to another young female comrade who was smiling and introducing clothes to an old man in tattered clothes and said: "Xiaohang, go there and wait. When that sister is free, tell her that we want to buy these two sets of clothes."

Fu Yuanhang had never seen so much money and coupons in his life. He almost threw them away and said with difficulty: "Sister-in-law, I... "

Su Taotao put Chen Chen down, held his little hand, bent down and looked Fu Yuanhang in the eye and said, "Xiaohang is so good at studying, he must remember the 'equality of all' advocated by our great leader. People are not divided into different classes, and there is no high or low. Workers and farmers, leaders and employees are just different divisions of labor in society. Of course, there are differences in quality and education. For example, we don't need to care about some people who look down on others." Su Taotao patted the child on the back, "Hold your heads high in the future, go." Fu

Yuanhang's chest was hot and heaving, he nodded heavily, pursed his lips and said "um" seriously, then strode forward with his head held high.

Most salespeople these days take themselves too seriously and have no sense of service. They couldn't stand hearing Su Taotao say that, so they stood up and glared at Su Taotao: "Who do you think is looking down on others?"

Su Taotao was too lazy to argue with a fool, so she pointed to the banner on the wall: "Don't you know how to read? Let me read it to you, 'Serve the People', you don't think you are here to be a boss, do you?"

The salesperson didn't expect Su Taotao's face to be black and gray, and her clothes were not very good, and she looked soft and fluffy. She didn't expect that she was a tough guy, so she didn't dare to answer her, so she had to keep a dark face and didn't say anything. If

she didn't find fault, Su Taotao would naturally not argue with her.

Fu Yuanhang had already walked back with another salesperson. The child seemed to think that he had done something great, and his face was excited and confident.

Su Taotao was very relieved. She was afraid that the previous environment would make Fu Yuanhang feel inferior and cowardly, and develop a petty temper. It would be a pity to lose such a good child.

Su Taotao not only bought a set of clothes for him and Chenchen, but also a pair of sandals for each of them. Seeing that there were still cloth coupons left, she bought a piece of clothing and a pair of sandals for Zhou Linglan and herself.

Dacron is popular these days, but Su Taotao thinks pure cotton is more comfortable.

The uncle and nephew picked the sandals together, or more accurately, Chenchen picked them. The two children stood in front of the shoe cabinet and whispered to each other. Fu Yuanhang doted on Chenchen very much, and he thought whatever Chenchen pointed out was good, so he bought it according to Chenchen's instructions.

Money these days is very durable, but there are too many things that are missing, and there are too many people who spend money. Everything has to be bought, and for the whole family, and all the cloth coupons have been spent in a flash, spending nearly twenty yuan. Su Taotao never knew that one day she would actually feel heartbroken for spending ten or eight yuan.

This reminded her of the string of small change in her bank card from her previous life that she had not spent yet. It would be great if she could bring it here to spend.

After coming out to meet Zhou Linglan, she was naturally scolded. Zhou Linglan wanted to return the clothes and shoes she bought for herself.

Su Taotao refused to give in. She said with a painful look on her face: "If I had known, I would have gone in with you. Taotao, that is the money your father gave you to save. You can't spend it on me and Xiaohang anymore."

Fu Yuanhang just remembered this. He touched the green military uniform and shoes he had just received, and reluctantly handed them to Su Taotao: "Sister-in-law, how about..."

Su Taotao looked at them intently and said seriously: "Do you treat me as an outsider?"

The mother and son shook their heads repeatedly and said in unison: "No!"

Su Taotao said, "I told you to listen to me about family matters in the future. I know what's going on. I almost forgot to tell my dad. It's too late to write a letter now. I'll send a telegram to him."

Su Taotao put Chen Chen back on Fu Yuanhang's back and said, "You guys go to the supply and marketing cooperative and wait for me. I'll meet you after I send the telegram. If you get separated, just go to the place where the tractor is parked and meet. I'll be there before five o'clock."

Because the agreed meeting time was five o'clock.

Sending telegrams was really expensive these days. The telegram Su Taotao sent to Comrade Su Donghan had only seven words, and she didn't even waste a punctuation mark: "The debt has been collected. Don't worry about me."

After Su Taotao sent the telegram, she immediately rushed to the supply and marketing cooperative. The supply and marketing cooperative was still crowded at this time.

When she arrived, Zhou Linglan and the others were already waiting at the door.

Su Taotao told them not to squeeze in. She put all her things in a basket and squeezed in with the empty basket.

Seeing her like this, Zhou Linglan looked as if she wanted to say something but hesitated, and was worried, but in the end she said nothing.

When Su Taotao came out, the empty basket was almost full!

Zhou Linglan's heartbeat was irregular, but she didn't ask anything.

It was already 4:50 when the group returned to the gathering point where the tractor was parked.

Su Taotao felt like this trip was like a war, and she was almost exhausted.

The members who came with them kept looking at their full baskets, and some kept asking what they bought. Su Taotao answered them one by one, neither softly nor firmly. This was also thanks to Zhou Linglan's experience. She covered the basket tightly with a bamboo lid, so it couldn't be seen at all, and others didn't dare to really lift it.

This is how I ended a busy and fulfilling day in the county town, and returned to the small mountain village in the sunset...