At noon, Zhou Shi'an asked Meng Tao to go home with him for lunch, saying that he would go to the brigade headquarters to discuss something after lunch.
Zhou Cuiling also came back from get off work. She and her mother prepared and served the meal. The staple food was corn porridge and black flour pancakes. There were three dishes: fried cowpea, eggplant with garlic, and salted dried radish. The dried radish was cut into small pieces and stir-fried with rapeseed oil and red pepper. The aroma was fragrant and it was delicious just by looking at it.
Zhou Cuiling fetched water for her father to wash his face and hands, and Meng Tao went to the water tank in the yard to scoop water to wash herself.
Cuiling's mother's surname is Yang, and Mengtao calls her Aunt Yang. Aunt Yang greeted Mengtao warmly. When they were about to start eating, three boys about ten years old ran in from outside. Some of them called mom and dad, and some called sister. Then they wanted to grab the bowls and chopsticks to eat, but Zhou Cuiling slapped them in the face one by one, and they all ran out to wash their hands and came back.
The three boys are all Zhou Cuiling's younger brothers. You can tell at a glance that they are naughty and playful. They are still fighting and making noises while eating. At the dinner table, Zhou Shian is kind to his daughter, but stern and glaring at his sons. Aunt Yang also takes good care of her daughters. If she sees any of her sons behaving too out of line, she will raise her chopsticks and pretend to hit him. The three boys are probably used to it and are not afraid of being beaten or scolded. They even laugh at their sister and rush to talk to her. This shows how favored Zhou Cuiling is at home.
Meng Tao looked at this with envy. In her previous life, her parents divorced, started their own families and had other children, leaving her to be raised by her elderly grandmother. In this life, Meng Taohua had also been an orphan and had to depend on Grandpa Meng since childhood. She had never enjoyed the happiness that Zhou Cuiling had. Alas, it is true that everyone has their own destiny and there is no comparison.
After dinner, Bao Shunfeng came over, so Meng Tao and Uncle Zhou didn’t have to go to the brigade headquarters and could talk directly in the main hall of the Zhou family.
When something like this happened to the Tian family, Tian Agui had a stroke and was hospitalized, but Wang Shuifeng refused to send a telegram to ask Tian Zhigao to come back. The brigade or Taohua could send a telegram, but if Tian Zhigao didn't take it seriously and didn't come back, what could they do with him? Zhou Shi'an and Bao Shunfeng discussed whether to send someone to accompany Taohua to the provincial capital to find Tian Zhigao directly and confront him face to face, asking him why he left his wife in the village and married someone else in the city?
If Tian Zhigao can break up with the woman outside and reconcile with Taohua, then it's fine. A prodigal son who returns is more valuable than gold. Give him a chance to turn over a new leaf. If he is stubborn, then don't be polite and report him to his unit! It was Mr. Meng who made him successful, but he turned around and dumped the lonely Taohua. Being ungrateful and morally corrupt is unacceptable! Meng Tao listened to Zhou Shian and Bao Shunfeng's discussion and nodded in agreement to go to the provincial capital. Even if the team didn't propose it, she would go. She didn't care about the prodigal son returning. In the article, Meng Taohua was abused and lived in poverty and misery all her life, all thanks to Tian Zhigao. Tian Zhigao deceived the grandfather and grandson and used Taohua as a stepping stone. Meng Tao couldn't let Tian Zhigao have an easy time. She had to step on him a few times. Even if his new wife in the city had a strong background and was powerful, she would at least skin him.
What worries Zhou Shian and Bao Shunfeng is that they need to take a bus and a train to go to the provincial capital, and it will take two days on the way. Taohua is not well-educated, so they dare not leave her alone. But who is free to accompany her to the provincial capital? It is harvest time, the production team is busy, and the commune is even busier. Anyway, the two of them cannot spare the time.
Zhou Cuiling was listening nearby and suddenly interrupted, "How about I take a day off, take Taohua to the regional train station, buy her a ticket and send her on the train. The train goes directly to the provincial capital. There are food for sale and toilets on the train. Just tell Taohua not to get off the train casually."
Bao Shunfeng: "What about when she gets to the provincial capital? She's completely clueless, how can she know where to go?"
Zhou Cuiling looked at Zhou Shian: "Actually, Guoqing is in the provincial capital now. He will be studying and training there for half a year. He wrote to me and gave me his phone number..."
Zhou Shian glanced at his daughter and said, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? Fine, then call Guoqing and ask him to pick her up at the provincial capital railway station, and then send Taohua to Qianjin Steel Plant and make sure she's handed over to Tian Zhigao, and then... Eh? Does Guoqing recognize Taohua?"
"I recognize him." Zhou Cuiling said, "I told him that this was peach blossoms when he came to our village during the National Day holiday. He later said that he saw peach blossoms on the road, but when he greeted them, they ignored him."
Meng Tao, the scapegoat, could only smile awkwardly: Meng Taohua used to be a bit introverted and autistic. She wouldn't pay much attention to even her acquaintances, let alone a young man from another village.
Zhou Shian said, "Then Cuiling will take Taohua to the regional train station, buy a ticket and get on the train. Taohua, you must stay on the train obediently, you can't follow others casually, you can't eat other people's food, and you are not allowed to get off the train during the journey. Do you understand?"
Meng Tao answered quickly, "Uncle, I know. If I follow anyone, they will kidnap me if they are bad people."
Zhou Shian nodded with satisfaction: "If you have any problems, you can ask the conductor or the police on the train for help. They are the ones who wear big hats and clothes like the police."
"Um."
Bao Shunfeng said, "You don't have to worry about this. The team will advance the money to you. When you get to the provincial capital, you have to ask Tian Zhigao for the money. If he doesn't agree, we will deduct the money from Tian's family when we distribute the food."
He paused and continued, "We will distribute food after the autumn harvest. Your rations will be distributed to you separately, and will not be shared with the Tian family. When you come back from the provincial capital, you can first get some food from the team's warehouse to get by for a while."
"Well, thank you, Uncle Shunfeng."
Next, Zhou Shi'an, Bao Shunfeng and Aunt Yang lined up to teach Meng Tao what to do and how to speak when they met Tian Zhigao in the provincial capital. They were not reassured until Meng Tao rehearsed it in front of them.
Zhou Cuiling helped Meng Tao. She asked Meng Tao to wash her hair, and then volunteered to pick up the scissors to trim Meng Tao's hair. However, her skills were not good enough, and the hair became shorter and shorter. Meng Tao's hair was in poor quality due to malnutrition, so it was fluffy, dry and disobedient. In the end, her hair was cut into a curled up bun. Meng Tao looked in the mirror and felt like a chicken with its feathers blown off. She was speechless.
But there is no other way, I can’t shave my head.
Zhou Cuiling used an elastic band to tie a small sideways braid on her forehead as a remedy, and also taught Meng Tao to remember to wet her hair with water from time to time so that it would not be so frizzy.
Speaking of packing, Zhou Cuiling gave Meng Tao a canvas backpack so that she could put the notebooks and pens she used for literacy class in it. It was very fashionable to carry it like this, and all educated young people did the same.
He also dug out the travel bag at home and lent it to Meng Tao, suggesting that she bring three sets of clothes to prevent them from being difficult to dry on rainy days. City people like cleanliness and change clothes every day.
Because the Meng family's house was cluttered, Zhou Cuiling asked Meng Tao to live with her first and tidy it up after returning from the provincial capital.
In the evening, the two of them went to the literacy class together. Several students who lived close to the Tian family saw Meng Tao, surrounded her and told her the news from the Tian family: Wang Shuifeng did not take good care of the two granddaughters during the day, making them cry all the time. Zhao Liulian got angry and got up to fight with her mother-in-law. She fainted and bled to the ground. Wang Baoshan hurriedly asked a barefoot doctor to take a look, and it turned out that she had a miscarriage!
After Tian Zhiyuan's girlfriend woke up, she struggled to run back home. In the afternoon, a large group of people came to Tian's house. Wang Shuifeng was able to receive them and closed the door without making any noise. According to the half-grown children who sneaked in, they were all the parents and relatives of Tian Zhiyuan's girlfriend. They said that Tian Zhiyuan had done that to the girl, and the family couldn't afford to lose face, so they were waiting for Wang Shuifeng to take the betrothal money, and they would go to register and marry the girl tomorrow! The betrothal money that the girl's parents wanted was 300 yuan, and they would not leave without this amount!
In the evening, the person who wanted the gift left, but Tian Yalan's crying could be heard from the courtyard again, accompanied by the sound of smashing bowls and pounding the table...
Meng Tao just listened to all this and said nothing. The Tian family was her absolute enemy, and she still had to go to the provincial capital, so she would not make any comments for the time being.
The next day, Zhou Shi'an and his daughter and Bao Shunfeng called Zhang Guoqing, and then Zhou Cuiling accompanied Meng Tao to the regional railway station and sent her on a train directly to the provincial capital.
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(End of this chapter)
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