Chapter 5

Tang Wan's heart almost jumped into her throat. She swallowed hard and forced a smile.

"I couldn't sleep, so I got up and went to the bathroom."

Seeing how haggard she looked, Lu Huaijing thought of what happened at the Tang family yesterday and dispelled his doubts.

She must have felt bad because her parents were sent to the countryside, so her tone softened.

"It's still early, you can go back and rest for a while. I'll buy breakfast after my run."

"Thank you."

Tang Wan sighed slightly, moved to the door of her room like a ghost, opened the door and went in. Her back was filled with unspeakable sadness.

Lu Huaijing couldn't help but feel a little distressed. Even if it was just to repay her grandfather for helping his father, he had to be nice to her!

Tang Wan was unaware of the brief thought that suddenly occurred to Lu Huaijing, and she happily entered the space.

It is better to rely on yourself than on anyone else. She looked at the pile of things and smiled.

Having laughed enough, she first opened the wooden box that she had dug out from the yard of the Su Fu Factory. Wow, the box was half full of small yellow croakers, and there were also some miscellaneous gold jewelry and jade bracelets.

I don't think it's something obtained through any legitimate means.

She sneered and started counting the bills. When she left the Tang family, her mother stuffed a cloth bag into her hand.

In addition to the introduction letter and their siblings' household registration books, there were 800 yuan and a bunch of banknotes. She also looted 930 yuan from her cousin Qin's house.

I guess her mother gave Uncle Qin eight hundred yuan to support her younger brother.

In addition, she also received 6,000 yuan from the family of Deputy Factory Director Su. It must be said that the other party was really rich. Her father, a factory director, could not come up with so much money in a short time.

As for the tickets, Tang Wan quickly sorted out the local tickets and tickets that were about to expire, and stuffed the rest into the iron box.

She stroked her chin and thought for a while, then packed her luggage and changed into simple clothes. When she arrived at the front desk, the aunt there looked drowsy and her head was nodding.

"Big sister."

Tang Wan gently pushed the front desk auntie, who was startled and immediately said unhappily:

"Why are you yelling so early in the morning? You're calling your soul!"

Tang Wan didn't care about her morning grumpiness, but lowered her voice and asked her, "Sister, I'm about to leave Dongcheng, and I have some local tickets left that I haven't used yet, what do you think..."

She quietly revealed a corner of the cloth bag. The front desk aunt, who had been furious just now, suddenly became alert, looked around, and then smiled and pulled Tang Wan and said:

"I just woke up, please don't be surprised. You want to take a bath so early, right? I'll take you to get the bathhouse key."

As she spoke, she pulled Tang Wan to a small room behind the front desk, where they took a nap while on duty.

As soon as the door closed, the aunt at the front desk said excitedly: "Big sister, do you have cotton tickets? My eldest nephew is getting married soon, and all he needs is cotton tickets and radio tickets!"

The other tickets were also a little off, but they could be accommodated, except for this big item.

"have."

Tang Wan smiled mysteriously. Who made Deputy Director Su rich? Not only did he have a radio ticket, he even had a bicycle ticket, which was valid throughout the country. She was not in a hurry to take it out.

As soon as the colorful tickets were taken out, the aunt at the front desk couldn't stop smiling. She picked and chose and wanted all of them.

"Big sister, what do you want to exchange for it?"

"It doesn't matter what, money or food."

Tang Wan took the tickets and left by train, but she couldn't use them when she got there.

"Okay, I'll give you the market price."

This is a rare opportunity. After giving up a small number of tickets, the aunt at the front desk counted the tickets in her hand.

"The most expensive thing is the radio ticket, I'll give you 120 yuan. As for the rest, I'll calculate, how about 50 yuan for a bar of soap and an enamel bowl?"

There were quite a few tickets in this batch, including rare brown sugar tickets and oil tickets. The price given by the aunt at the front desk was very fair, so Tang Wan naturally would not refuse.

"Sister is a straightforward person, so I'll give you this tofu ticket."

Seeing Tang Wan being so generous, the front desk auntie was even happier. She smiled and said, "Big sister, wait for me. My home is behind the guesthouse. I will go back to get the money now."

"good."

Tang Wan was not worried that she would run away. Nowadays, every job is different and she might lose her job if she ran away.

The only thing to worry about is that she will report her.

So Tang Wan prepared herself for the worst. About five minutes later, the front desk aunt came in mysteriously, carrying a bag.

"Girl, take a look."

She did not exchange food with Tang Wan. People in Toucheng ate commercial food at that time, and food was in short supply. She even wanted to exchange food coupons with Tang Wan.

"That's right."

Tang Wan counted the money and found that it was fine, and the things were also good, so she took the bag back to her room.

There were still some tickets left, and she was too lazy to go out to exchange them. Lu Huaijing was a soldier, and she didn't want to reveal too much.

It’s expired, so let it expire. You can keep it as a souvenir. Fortunately, there aren’t many left.

After counting the small treasury, there was almost 8,000 yuan, which was a lot of money in the 1970s. She could live well no matter where she went.

The ingredient issue needs to be resolved as soon as possible, and her parents...

Bang, bang, bang…

Time passed quickly. Tang Wan packed her luggage and went out. Lu Huaijing and Tang Zhou stood at the door of her room. "It's still some distance to the train station. We should go there in advance."

"Sister, let me help you carry your things."

Tang Zhou tried to grab her suitcase, but Lu Huaijing got there first.

Tang Wan suddenly realized that she did not accompany Tang Zhou back to get the luggage yesterday. Fortunately, she emptied the Qin family's house in the middle of the night.

Thinking of this, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, "Zhou Zhou, when we get there, I'll buy you some cloth to make clothes."

"It's okay, sister. It's hot now. I washed it at night and can still wear it in the morning."

Tang Zhou grinned and left the Qin family. He smiled more often, but he couldn't help feeling lonely whenever he thought of his parents.

"I bought some steamed buns."

Lu Huaijing gave each of the siblings two steamed buns and an egg. This time they were white flour steamed buns, and although they were a bit dry, Tang Zhou and Tang Wan both enjoyed them very much.

Eggs are not comparable to the artificial eggs of later generations. Tang Wan feels that she can eat several in one breath.

When leaving the guesthouse, Tang Wan and the front desk aunt looked at each other, and both of them looked away as if they were strangers, and neither of them mentioned what happened in the morning.

That's how it is these days. It's better to be safe than sorry.

They didn't have much luggage. After receiving the telegram from Tang Shi, Lu Huaijing hurried over by train and only took two sets of clothes and a letter of introduction with him.

When the cotton textile factory was in chaos, Tang Wan and her team had already arrived at the train station. Lu Huaijing went to the side to call his comrades, and when he came back, he saw that Tang Wan looked a little suspicious.

"Comrade Lu, what's wrong?"

"Last night, the homes of Vice Director Su and Qin of the textile factory were robbed. The entire house was emptied out, and someone wrote a letter of complaint to the Revolutionary Committee."

Lu Huaijing thought of meeting Tang Wan at the door in the morning, and a sense of doubt arose in his heart, but he saw Tang Wan's eyes shining and she clapped her hands in approval.

"Who is so powerful that he could cause such a disaster?"