Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Where did this young man come from? ...

It was nothing to be praised by Lin Beibei. Lin Zhengrong suddenly said seriously that it was beautiful. Jiang Qiuyue put down the mirror embarrassedly and said, "Got it. Let's go. Let's go and wait for the tractor."

There are no buses in Taohua Village, so traveling is very inconvenient.

When she saw Wang Youren, Jiang Qiuyue waved immediately.

"Sister Qiuyue!" Wang Youren stopped the tractor and grabbed a handful of peanuts from his pocket and gave them to Jiang Qiuyue's family. "My mom fried them this morning. You can eat them on the way."

There were other people on the tractor. Hu Haizhi's wife Chen Meiru also went to the town. When she saw Jiang Qiuyue's family, she pinched Lin Beibei's chubby face and touched Lin Nannan. "It's better to separate the family. Qiuyue, you have made them more energetic. They were two listless ones before, but now they are plump and cute. I heard about the Lin family's affairs. It's a pity that I was not there. The Bai family is so brave that they dared to pretend to be police officers. And Lin Xiao, did she...did she really sleep with a man?"

Rumors are like that, they get more and more powerful as they spread.

Jiang Qiuyue said she didn’t know, “We broke off the engagement, they wouldn’t tell us about this.”

"I think it's probably true. Otherwise, why would the Bai family take such a big risk? Don't you think so?" Chen Meiru is talkative. When she heard Jiang Qiuyue say she didn't know, she used her elbow to nudge Zhou Cuicui beside her, "Cuicui, what do you think?"

Zhou Cuicui's face has been unhappy since Jiang Qiuyue and Lin Zhengrong came. "How would I know about this? But if the top beam is not straight, the bottom beam will be crooked. It will never be good."

"That's right. People should still live a serious life." Chen Meiru sighed, and after asking Jiang Qiuyue where she was going, she continued to talk about herself, "Cuicui and I plan to go to the cloth factory in town to buy some scraps of cloth. We don't need cloth coupons. We can take them home to make pants crotches or socks for the children. Qiuyue, do you want some? I'll bring some for you?"

When she heard that they didn't need tickets, Jiang Qiuyue immediately nodded and said yes, and gave Chen Meiru money. "Thank you so much, Sister Meiru. I'm just worried about what the two children will wear when the weather gets cold. Can you buy some more for me? You can just put them in my yard later."

Lin Zhengrong wanted to ask, didn’t Jiang Qiuyue just buy the cloth and make clothes for the two children? Could it be that she was making clothes for him?

But the tractor rumbled very loudly, and he swallowed his words back. If they were going to make clothes for him, he would just wait and there was no rush.

After arriving at the town, the two groups of people separated. Zhou Cuicui said unhappily, "Look at her. She is dressed like a vixen. Does she think she is the only woman in the world?"

Zhou Cuicui didn't mention any names, but Chen Meiru immediately knew who she was talking about and said, "Cuicui, this is your fault. I have to say something to you. Qiuyue didn't dress up before, but now that Dazhu is back, they are a loving couple, so she wants to dress up for Dazhu. Isn't that normal?"

"I just can't stand her coquettish look." Zhou Cuicui felt unbalanced.

"Cuicui, that's too much!" Chen Meiru thought Jiang Qiuyue was a nice person, soft-spoken, hardworking and capable. "It was because your parents asked for too much dowry that Wang Chunhua rejected your family. If you really wanted Dazhu, why didn't you persuade your parents? Now it's been so many years, and you're not living well with Dazhu, what right do you have to feel bad about it?"

Zhou Cuicui asked her parents to go to the Lin family to propose marriage, but how could Wang Chunhua and Lin Fugui possibly give more gifts for Lin Zhengrong? The two families did not reach an agreement on the gift, and the marriage was called off.

Lin Zhengrong was taking an exam at that time, so he didn't know about this and no one mentioned it to him afterwards.

Chen Meiru spoke directly, which made Zhou Cuicui unhappy. She walked quickly, leaving Chen Meiru behind.

Chen Meiru didn't catch up with her, so she simply gave up. If it weren't for the fact that their families were neighbors, she would not have associated with Zhou Cuicui.

Zhou Cuicui felt aggrieved.

She liked Lin Zhengrong back then, but her parents refused to lower the bride price. Later, her husband had an accident at work and became a cripple.

How could Zhou Cuicui feel balanced when she saw the tall and handsome Lin Zhengrong and then thought about her own useless cripple?

Here, Chen Meiru and her two friends went to buy some rags, while Jiang Qiuyue and her family took a bus and were on their way to the city.

Arriving in the city, Jiang Qiuyue went straight to the department store.

"Comrade, I want vanishing cream."

Jiang Qiuyue pointed at the vanishing cream on the counter.

"No more." The salesperson raised his head and glanced at Jiang Qiuyue and his group, snorted, and continued to look down at the newspaper in his hand.

"Aren't there two bottles? How come there is nothing left?" Jiang Qiuyue knew that sales clerks in this era had a stable job and were very proud of themselves, but for the sake of buying things, she didn't get angry.

The salesperson said directly, "I want one bottle myself, and someone else has reserved the other one. You can't afford it, so why are you bothering me here? Don't interrupt my work."

Jiang Qiuyue bought some cloth, but had no time to make new clothes. Her current clothes were washed white and had two patches on them, and she looked like she didn't have much money.

But she had already said she wanted to buy it, and the salesperson still said this, getting angry, "I didn't know your department store had a reservation system. Also, who said we can't afford it? What's this?"

She slapped the money on the table and said, "Either you give me the cream now, or call your manager over. I want to see if this is how you all serve the people here."

She slammed the table so loudly that people from all around came over.

Lin Beibei's eyes widened, and she whispered in her sister's ear, "Nannan, Mom is so awesome."

It was the first time that Lin Zhengrong saw Jiang Qiuyue buying something. He couldn't imagine how Jiang Qiuyue could be so tough now when she was so cowardly before.

The salesperson didn't expect Jiang Qiuyue to be so aggressive, and said unhappily, "Comrade, I said we are out of stock, so why are you making such a fuss?"

"Am I being too fussy, or are you abusing your authority? If everyone is like you, leaving things to people you know, how can we buy things after coming all the way here?" Jiang Qiuyue's words resonated with the others. People who often come to department stores know that many things are sold by the salesperson to people they are familiar with first. If you want to buy a hot water bottle, you have to spend more money or find connections.

Someone helped Jiang Qiuyue and said, "This female comrade is right. It is because of salespeople like you who are trying to break into the socialist market that it is difficult for us to buy things."

"Yes, they are available, why not sell them?"

"I've come here several times, but I can't buy a kettle every time. They just say they don't have any when I ask, and they won't tell me when they'll have them. You're occupying state positions, but you're profiting for yourselves. We should arrest them!"

"Yes, grab it!"

…

Many people are filled with indignation. They didn't dare to speak out before, but now that someone has taken the lead, they are expressing their dissatisfaction.

Jiang Qiuyue was not afraid of offending people. At worst, she could ask Lin Zhengrong to send it back from the army next time. She just simply didn't like the attitude of these sales clerks. They clearly looked down on people.

There was a lot of noise at the counter, and the supervisor came over to ask what was going on. Jiang Qiuyue immediately said, "Your salesperson is so arrogant. She obviously didn't sell some items, but she said she was keeping them for herself. She also said I was poor and disturbed her work. May I ask, comrade manager, you are a state-owned unit, and the state pays you, so does that mean you can look down on us ordinary people like this?"

In this era, people are most afraid of being flattered. The supervisor's face turned pale instantly, but the salesperson felt wronged, "Supervisor, she is unreasonable. I promised my friend that I would keep it for her."

"Hey, you opened the department store, and you left it to your friend?" Jiang Qiuyue said sarcastically.

The supervisor glared at the salesperson, but he knew that all salespeople would do this, and thought Jiang Qiuyue was really a troublemaker. "Comrade, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. Juhua is the salesperson at this counter. Since she said it's out of stock, you shouldn't make a fuss here. Isn't it better for everyone to be harmonious? If it's not available this time, just come back next time."

After hearing this, Jiang Qiuyue knew that this supervisor not only wanted to protect the salesperson, but also did not intend to sell the vanishing cream to her.

She had never imagined that buying something would be so difficult. No wonder when she read novels, the protagonists in period novels all wanted to have a stable job.

While Jiang Qiuyue was thinking about how to refute, Lin Zhengrong spoke first, "So you're saying that we were the ones causing the trouble?"

The manager didn't say anything, but his expression revealed his thoughts - what else?

Seeing that the supervisor had this attitude, many people felt that there would be no follow-up. After all, the salespersons were from a state-owned enterprise, so who could do anything to them? So they dispersed.

Lin Zhengrong: "Remember what you are saying now."

"I'll remember it." Wang Juhua felt that she and her supervisor had the upper hand, and said proudly, "You two country bumpkins, who do you really think you are?"

Lin Zhengrong leaned over to Jiang Qiuyue's ear and whispered, "Take Beibei and Nannan to buy some snacks. I'm going to make a phone call."

After hearing Lin Zhengrong say this, Jiang Qiuyue knew that Lin Zhengrong had a solution, so she took the two children to buy snacks.

Seeing Jiang Qiuyue leave, Wang Juhua happily said to her supervisor, "Uncle Zhou, thank you."

"Chrysanthemum, next time don't always give the customers the cold shoulder. How many times has this happened?" Zhou Shuyi said.

"How did I show my displeasure?" Wang Juhua didn't want to work in the department store. She wanted to join the art troupe. It was her family who insisted that she come here. "Anyway, Uncle Zhou is here. No one can do anything to me."

"You, you've really become willful because of what your parents have done to you." Zhou Shuyi couldn't do anything with Wang Juhua. After all, she was his friend's daughter, and when she was in his care, he always had to help take care of her.

He gave Wang Juhua a few more instructions, and when he saw the manager coming over, he hurriedly greeted him with a smile.

But Gao Qin ignored Zhou Shuyi and greeted Lin Zhengrong who was walking towards her. "It's you, Zhengrong. I heard from Qiu Jie that you're back. I was wondering when you'd come to my house for dinner. I know what you just said. Manager Zhou, you interviewed Wang Juhua, right?"

Zhou Shuyi didn't expect that the manager knew Lin Zhengrong. After nodding, he looked at Lin Zhengrong carefully. The man was tall and looked very upright. Apart from that, he couldn't see anything else.

"I just checked and Comrade Wang Juhua's written test score was very high. Why does she have such an attitude when working?"

As soon as Gao Qin mentioned this, Zhou Shuyi became obviously flustered, because it was Zhou Shuyi who revealed the written test questions to Wang Juhua in advance.

Without waiting for Zhou Shuyi to answer, Gao Qin asked Wang Juhua several questions about the counter. Wang Juhua hesitated and couldn't answer any of them.

Zhou Shuyi: "Manager, Juhua..."

"That's enough. I know what's going on with you. Zhou Shuyi, you've been doing this for so many years, how could you make such a big mistake?"

In the past, they were all colleagues, and because everyone did some things in the same way, Gao Qin turned a blind eye to it. But today, Zhou Shuyi and Wang Juhua were unlucky and met Lin Zhengrong.

She asked Wang Juhua and Zhou Shuyi to apologize to Lin Zhengrong first.

Lin Zhengrong said to wait a moment, and after finding Jiang Qiuyue, he said, "Now you can apologize to my wife."

Before Jiang Qiuyue could react, she heard Zhou Shuyi say "I'm sorry". Wang Juhua was young and stubborn, so she pursed her lips and refused to apologize.

"Say you're sorry!" Zhou Shuyi knew something was wrong and urged Wang Juhua to apologize.

"No, I was not wrong, I don't want an apology!" Wang Juhua started crying instead.

Gao Qin went to see Zhou Shuyi in silence. Zhou Shuyi now regretted helping Wang Juhua to work in the department store, but regret was useless. Things had already happened, and he had to find a way to resolve the matter.

But the more Zhou Shuyi urged, the louder Wang Juhua cried.

Gao Qin had no choice but to look at Lin Zhengrong helplessly, "I will take care of this matter. Your sister-in-law wants to buy some vanishing cream, right?"

As she said this, she went to see Jiang Qiuyue behind Lin Zhengrong. When her husband came home that day, he kept praising Lin Zhengrong for being lucky to marry a fairy-like person. She thought her husband was exaggerating. No matter how pretty a rural woman was, how pretty could she be?

Now that I have seen her in person, I know my husband was right, she is really beautiful!

Jiang Qiuyue smiled and said yes, Gao Qin came back to her senses, "How many bottles do you want?"

Jiang Qiuyue glanced at Wang Juhua who was still crying and said, "Give me both bottles." She used one bottle to wipe her face, and the other one was sometimes used as a body lotion. She was going to buy them anyway.

After hearing that Jiang Qiuyue wanted it, Wang Juhua refused to do it, "No, I promised my friend!"

"Zhou Shuyi!" Gao Qin glared at her. Zhou Shuyi's heart skipped a beat and he pulled Wang Juhua aside.

Gao Qin personally packed two bottles of vanishing cream for Jiang Qiuyue, and then went to see Lin Zhengrong, "Qiu Jie has been praising you for being lucky since he returned home. Now that I see you in person, I envy you too. Since you are in the city, let's go to my house for lunch at noon. I will be off work soon."

When Lin Zhengrong was in the army, Qiu Jie was a few levels older than him. Since they came from the same place, Qiu Jie took good care of him.

Now that he was in the city, he naturally had to pay the Qiu family a visit, so he agreed.

Before going to the Qiu family's house, Jiang Qiuyue went to the grocery store and bought a pound of halved pork head, snacks and wine, and the family followed Gao Qin to the Qiu family's house.

When Qiu Jie learned that Lin Zhengrong was coming, he bought fish on the way, Gao Qin cooked, and Jiang Qiuyue took the two children to eat sunflower seeds.

Qiu Jie's children have grown up and eat lunch at school. The tube-shaped building they live in is a two-bedroom apartment allocated to Qiu Jie's unit.

For people in the city, a house like this is considered very good employee housing.

Gao Qin’s cooking skills are indeed good. The braised fish is fragrant and tasty. She also made smashed cucumber, which is perfect for the men to eat with wine.

After the dishes were ready, Qiu Jie talked about Bai Yongquan and the others. "When they arrived at the police station, they confessed everything. Bai Yongquan was the mastermind, and his gun couldn't escape. Bai Shengli did a lot of petty thefts in the city, and if you add them up, he won't have an easy time either. You don't have to worry about retaliation."

"As for your adoptive parents, they really didn't know that Bai Yongquan hired someone to impersonate the police. Since they didn't participate, they can't be charged with a crime. But they deliberately obstructed it, and the police intend to detain them for five days. After this, they should be much more honest."

Jiang Qiuyue felt that five days were too short, and she should be kept in prison for a few more days to give her more quiet time.

However, she had no say in matters concerning the police station, so she silently served food to the two children.

"Sister-in-law, your two children are so well behaved, not noisy at all." Gao Qin looked at Lin Beibei and the others with envy, "You haven't seen how noisy my naughty monkeys are."

Jiang Qiuyue was also glad that the two children were well-behaved. "They are indeed obedient, but it's also because you cook delicious meals, sister-in-law. They ate so well that they had no time to talk."

"Haha, you are really good at talking." Gao Qin was in a good mood after being complimented.

When Jiang Qiuyue learned that Gao Qin was the manager of a department store, she wanted to get close to Gao Qin. She complimented her sweetly and the two of them started chatting.

"Sister-in-law, you are amazing. Your children have good grades and you are also good at work. You are so enviable." Jiang Qiuyue praised from the bottom of her heart. Gao Qin had to go to work, Qiu Jie was busy with work, and many things at home were done by Gao Qin. It was amazing that she could take care of both family and career at the same time.

"I think that women should also have jobs, so that we can realize our self-worth." Gao Qin has already eaten her fill. "My mother-in-law also told me not to work before and just stay at home to take care of the children, but I didn't want to. Look at me now, my salary is higher than Qiu Jie's, and I have the final say on all matters at home."

"If you ask me, you have a chance, you can find a job."

Jiang Qiuyue: ...Forget it, forget it, she doesn’t want to be a strong woman in this life, she just wants to lie down and do nothing.

"It's not easy to find a job. I'm a farmer and I just graduated from primary school. I can't find a job."

Jiang Qiuyue was telling the truth. Nowadays, all jobs can be inherited. Whether it is a factory or a company, there are too many people and too little meat. If she really wanted to work, she had to spend money to buy it.

But Jiang Qiuyue didn't care about spending a few hundred yuan to buy a job. She had suffered from work in her previous life. She was willing to live a salty life of doing nothing, but she was not so salty in public. "My children are still young and there is no one to help me take care of them. I'd better stay at home and take good care of them."

Gao Qin looked at the two children of the Lin family and sighed, "What you said makes sense. If you have any problems in the future, just come to me. Now that we know each other, we will be sisters from now on."

"Okay, sister-in-law, I feel very friendly when I see you. Let's have a drink instead of wine with tea!" Jiang Qiuyue raised the teacup and drank it all in one gulp. "Come to think of it, I really have something to ask you, sister-in-law. Do you know who has bicycle tickets for sale?"

"Why do you want a bicycle ticket?" Gao Qin asked.

"There is no car to go from the village to the town, and it takes an hour to walk each time. It is very troublesome to go back and forth. It will be different if there is a bicycle. If there is anything, I can go to the town at any time." What Jiang Qiuyue wants most now is a bicycle.

"It's not cheap to get a bicycle ticket." Gao Qin lowered her voice. "Last year, an activist in our unit got a bicycle ticket. He exchanged it for 40 kilograms of grain coupons!"

Jiang Qiuyue said it didn't matter, "Spend when you should, save when you should, buy first and use first, otherwise you will be the one who suffers."

"Your idea is good, sister-in-law. It's right." Gao Qin and her husband are both full-time workers, and their family is well off. "I don't know who has it now, but I'll keep an eye out for you. When someone has it, I'll send you a message."

"Okay, sister-in-law." Jiang Qiuyue felt that it was worth going into the city today. Getting to know a powerful person like Gao Qin would make her life much easier in the future.

After eating and drinking, Jiang Qiuyue took the two children to wash their hands. When they came out, they heard Qiu Jie talking to Lin Zhengrong about his biological parents.

Jiang Qiuyue never took the initiative to ask Lin Zhengrong about this. She felt that she and Lin Zhengrong were not familiar enough and she didn't know whether this question would touch Lin Zhengrong's bottom line.

Now listening to Qiu Jie, she listened attentively for a while.

"You asked me to keep an eye out for people who are looking for their relatives. I looked through every file at the police station, but none of them matched your situation."

Qiu Jie glanced at his watch. He had to go to work in the afternoon, so he had to hurry up. "Don't you have any clues at all?"

Lin Zhengrong shook his head. "I was only a few months old at the time and I don't remember anything. You know, my adoptive parents refused to say anything. I tried to get some words out of them before, but they were very sensitive and immediately called me an ungrateful person. Did I want to go find my biological parents?"

"It's okay. I'll keep an eye out for you. If the other party is also looking for you, you will eventually meet him." Qiu Jie said.

"It doesn't matter. I no longer have any hope. The situation was unstable at that time and no one knew what the situation was." Lin Zhengrong turned to look at Jiang Qiuyue and the two children. Now that he has his own family, he is not so eager to recognize his relatives.

When leaving the Qiu family, Jiang Qiuyue asked Lin Zhengrong, "I can try to ask Wang Chunhua and the others for you."

"Actually, they may not know much. The person who sold me was not from here, so I don't know his name and there is no photo of him. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. It all depends on fate. For me now, it's not that important whether I can find him or not." Lin Zhengrong said.

"Why?" Jiang Qiuyue asked.

Lin Zhengrong didn't answer. Instead, he smiled, touched his son's head and asked, "Beibei and Nannan, do you still want to eat chicken legs?"

"I want to!" Lin Beibei's eyes lit up instantly.

Lin Zhengrong picked up his son and went to look at Jiang Qiuyue again, "Because I have a home now."

Jiang Qiuyue was slightly stunned and felt sad. When Lin Zhengrong was a child, he must have been puzzled as to why he didn't get the love of his parents. When he later found out that he was not their biological son, he naturally wanted to find an answer.

It’s really not easy.

Jiang Qiuyue thought about it and decided to make a pair of pants for Lin Zhengrong with scraps of cloth after returning home. She had never thought of making pants for Lin Zhengrong before, but now she felt that she should do something.

Lin Zhengrong, who didn't know that he was about to get the color-blocked pants, used his last meat ticket to buy half a roast chicken.

Just now at the Qiu family, he found that the two children and Jiang Qiuyue loved to eat it, but half a roast chicken was too little, and it would be gone if so many people shared it.

"Dad is the best." Lin Beibei, who had a roast chicken to eat, praised him vigorously, "Nannan also nodded. We like Dad the best!"

Jiang Qiuyue smiled and nodded her son's head. "You, whoever gives you something delicious, you should say that person is good."

"Hello, Mom! I love you the most!" Lin Beibei quickly responded and handed the chicken leg in her hand to her mother to eat.

Jiang Qiuyue ate very full and let Lin Beibei eat by herself, "You can eat the rest when you get home. You can't eat any more now." Otherwise, her stomach will be upset.

Lin Beibei was very obedient and didn't want it anymore after eating the chicken leg.

Before going home, they bought eight servings of peach cakes to give as gifts. There were oranges in the supply and marketing cooperative, 1.5 yuan per pound. Jiang Qiuyue was rich now, so she wanted to buy ten pounds directly, but when she bought them, the salesperson reminded her that she needed a ticket, so she could only buy two pounds to try.

Everything in the supply and marketing cooperative required a ticket, and even if she had money she had nowhere to spend it. Jiang Qiuyue felt very sorry in her heart. She couldn't go to the black market with her family. It was such a rare opportunity, otherwise she would have definitely gone on a shopping spree!

However, when she was in the supply and marketing cooperative, Jiang Qiuyue saw a sewing machine and a radio.

Buying ready-made clothes is too expensive, and the styles are not good-looking. Jiang Qiuyue has plenty of time, she wants to make her own clothes. As for the radio, when she has nothing to do, she can listen to the radio, life is so comfortable.

She had only thought of buying a bicycle before, because it was a necessity, but after seeing the sewing machine and radio, she realized that there was more to life.

Where is she going to find so many tickets?

Along the way, Jiang Qiuyue was worried about the sewing machine and the radio. Lin Zhengrong thought that Jiang Qiuyue was thinking about his biological parents.

The tractor stopped near his home. After Lin Zhengrong jumped off the tractor, he first picked up his son and daughter. When he was about to tell Jiang Qiuyue that he was fine and asked her not to worry too much, he suddenly heard someone calling "Sister Qiuyue" in a sticky voice.

Lin Zhengrong turned around and saw a young man standing at the door of his house, waving at them with a big smile in his eyes.

"Sister Qiuyue, you're finally back!" There was a sack at Jiang Youcai's feet. He came specially to give Sister Qiuyue some homemade sweet potato vermicelli.

Lin Zhengrong frowned - where did this young man come from?