Chapter 2 The Best Mother

The woman in front of her was about 40 or 50 years old, dark and thin, with gray hair and wrinkles all over her face. She looked kind and gentle, but her actual age might be younger. Su Taotao didn't dare to look directly into her eyes that were full of sorrow and pleading. How many hardships did she go through to have such eyes? Su Taotao

looked down. The little cub in the woman's arms was so thin that he was almost unrecognizable. His facial features were finely carved, but his expression was dull. He had a pair of large and lifeless eyes, as if he was looking at her, but also as if he was looking through her to other places, his eyes were not focused. In her previous

life, when Su Taotao went to remote mountainous areas to teach during the winter and summer vacations, she met left-behind children with autism. They would have such eyes, but in the 21st century, they would have enough food and warm clothes, so they would not be so thin and weak. The little kid in front of her was really skinny. Su Taotao had watched documentaries about war-torn countries, and she had only seen such skinny children and such distressing eyes in refugee camps where people had lost their homes due to the war. After all, this was the little kid born to this body, and perhaps because of the blood connection, Su Taotao's eyes suddenly became red. She had just looked at her own hands, green and tender, white, soft as if boneless, without any trace of labor, with some flesh, showing that she had never suffered any hardship, let alone been hungry. How kind of a mother must be to let her child suffer so much, how heartless must be to let her mother-in-law suffer so much, while she herself was well fed and clothed, Su Taotao wanted to slap the original owner a few times for the old and the young. She remembered that Fu Zhengtu had left a large sum of money for the family before he went on a mission. Rural consumption was low, so even if she didn't work, she could at least guarantee that she would be well fed. However, the original owner was very extravagant, and every now and then he would take the money to the town to eat and drink, and it was estimated that he had already spent it all. Su Taotao was so angry that she gnashed her teeth. Zhou Linglan had no idea that her daughter-in-law had changed her mind, let alone her mental activities. Seeing Su Taotao's red eyes and itchy look, she thought she was going to make trouble again, so she quickly changed her words and said, "Taotao, if you don't want to, forget it. If you must leave, Mom..." Thinking that calling "Mom" might not be appropriate anymore, Zhou Linglan changed her words and said, "I'll ask the old branch secretary to write you a letter of introduction so that you can return to the city. You must not do stupid things again. Nothing is more important than your life." Zhou Linglan began to cry again. Zhou Linglan didn't like to cry. She did not cry when her husband died in the war. She gritted her teeth and raised her two sons alone. The younger son was a posthumous child who had never seen his father since he was born. Her eldest son had been gone for more than two years without any news, but she did not cry either. She firmly believed that her son would not abandon them. He promised to come back in three years, but she could not contact them for the time being. After Su Taotao married into the family, the family was in turmoil, especially after the eldest son left. She cursed and made trouble all day long, and she had all kinds of ways to play tricks on people. She never cried or felt resentful. She understood the pain of being a widow better than anyone else. Just because she was a beautiful girl and gave birth to such a good grandson like Chenchen for the Fu family, Zhou Linglan could tolerate her no matter what she did. But today, when Su Taotao jumped into the river and was rescued dying, she cried bitterly. Her eldest son didn't know that Su Taotao was pregnant when he left. The poor grandson has never seen his father since he was born. If his mother is gone, how pitiful will the grandson be. Listening to Zhou Linglan's words, Su Taotao wanted to slap "her" again. Su Taotao took a deep breath and cursed the original owner as a black turtle bastard. "Taotao?" Zhou Linglan saw that Su Taotao's face was unpredictable, but she didn't say anything. She was worried that she was soaked. It was still cold in spring. It was just after the beginning of spring. Falling into the river in this weather could be a big deal. Su Taotao came back to her senses, looked at the kind and friendly woman, shook her head, and said without any psychological burden: "I'm fine, but when I fell into the river, I figured out a lot of things that I couldn't figure out before. I was too ignorant before and did a lot of wrong things. Now I think about it and feel ashamed." Whether she is willing or not, Su Taotao has to bear this big black pot that hits her head. Zhou Linglan was shocked and almost dropped the dust. She looked at Su Taotao in disbelief: "You, you, you are really okay? I, I, I will call Huang Liu back and check your pulse, check your pulse, you, you lie down first..." Zhou Linglan looked like she saw a ghost, and didn't give Su Taotao a chance to speak. She turned and walked out the door. Su Taotao couldn't stop her even if she wanted to. Alas, Su Taotao knew that she had scared her. How could the original owner say such a thing if he was not possessed by a ghost? Su Taotao lay back, her mind in a mess. Although she should make the best of it, the most important thing now was to think about how to survive in this era. She had read the plot and remembered the general idea. She knew that Fu Zhengtu would be back soon. According to the development of the plot, the original owner abandoned the child and returned to the city. At that time, Fu Zhengtu left in a hurry and missed the date originally agreed to get the marriage certificate. In this era, people paid more attention to the wedding ceremony and de facto marriage, so they were actually a couple who had not yet obtained the marriage certificate. After returning to the city, the original owner hid the fact that her childhood sweetheart had been married and had children in the countryside, and soon married her childhood sweetheart. However, the childhood sweetheart is not a good person either, or he is the same type of person as the original owner. In order to live comfortably in the countryside, he also married the daughter of the local production team leader soon after he went to the countryside, and had a child, but he also did not get married. Later, when he got the chance to return to the city, he abandoned his wife and child and ran back to the city alone. The so-called fullness and warmth, regardless of personality, the original owner's appearance is top-notch, with fair skin, beautiful face, long legs, and no pressure in life. Naturally, other women can't catch the eye of the childhood sweetheart, so he did everything he could to find the original owner, and the two hit it off immediately. The marriage of two people like this will naturally not end well. In short, when Fu Zhengtu came back and learned about this, he immediately went to the brigade to get a certificate, asking the brigade cadres to prove that his marriage with the original owner had broken down, and that they were free to marry and had nothing to do with each other in the future. Then they took the whole family away. Later, the original owner and her childhood sweetheart couldn't make it anymore and wanted to go back but couldn't find anyone. Su Taotao turned around and thought about her current situation. It was only 1973, and there were still more than four years before the college entrance examination was resumed. Not to mention that there was no other way to return to the city except to marry her childhood sweetheart. Even if she took Chenchen back to the city now, she would have no job and no place to live. The original owner's family of seven or eight people squeezed into a 20-square-meter house in a large compound. Her eldest brother waited until she went to the countryside to make room before he dared to go on a blind date and get married. The book didn't mention her much, not to mention her family. In the original owner's memory, she was not close to her family. In short, the way back to the city was blocked. The best way was to stay here and wait for her cheap husband to come back. I don't know how long it took, Su Taotao slept again in a daze. In a half-awake state, Zhou Linglan seemed to come back with a barefoot doctor to check her pulse, and her forehead was touched by a warm big hand. As for what they said, she couldn't remember clearly. When she woke up again, it was dark. Su Taotao opened her eyes and stared at the little boy sitting beside her bed. She was shocked before she realized that this little boy with delicate features was her adopted son.

Su Taotao's heart softened, and she reached out her hand to touch his face gently: "Chenchen, what are you doing?"

The pretty little boy pursed his lips and said nothing. He lowered his eyes to glance at her. His long and thick eyelashes moved up and down like a small fan, then moved away and continued to play with the toy in his hand.

Su Taotao looked at him closely, not even daring to breathe hard. She had never looked in the mirror, so she didn't know what "herself" looked like now, and she didn't remember what Fu Zhengtu looked like. She was very curious about what kind of parents could give birth to such a beautiful little angel.

Su Taotao wanted to pull his little hand, but when she saw the "toy" in his hand clearly, she was stunned again...