She didn't dare to ask Shen Yu directly, but she gave him hints, but he refused to say anything. He went around in circles without mentioning her small amount of money. He also asked her to go to the county post office to call him and report safety after she returned to the county.

Holy shit, it's a two-hour drive from Mengzhou to Xingyang County. Although it's a gravel road, it's relatively flat and there aren't many vehicles. It's very safe, so there's nothing much to report.

Meng Tao became arrogant and decided to ignore Shen Yu for a few days. She would not call him even if she saw the post office.

He first bought four packs of Daqianmen cigarettes at the sugar, tobacco and alcohol counter on the first floor. With the cigarette coupons, each pack cost 38 cents. The Peony brand cigarettes he bought last time cost 18 cents each. Zhang Fu was very happy.

He put the cigarettes away, took out the coupons given by Shen Yu, and bought a lot of white sugar, brown sugar, and fruit candies to give as gifts.

She ate the food herself. She didn't know how long she would finish the box of chocolates, bonbons, toffee candies, crispy candies, and sugar biscuits, as well as plums and peach preserves that Shen Yu brought.

He went to the cloth counter on the third floor and bought several meters of thick velvet suitable for covering the table, and some brightly colored and elegant fabrics for making curtains. He also bought two pieces of pink and light green floral cotton cloth, each three feet long. Lin Dagang's wife might have given birth already, so he would send them to him when he returned to the village to make clothes for the baby.

By the way, she bought a few good locks at another counter. Next time she came to the Xingzi Lane courtyard, she would replace all the locks with new ones. With this house, she planned to store the antique tables, chairs, desks, various old books, and lotus jars she had found there to save them from taking up space. Although she could also pile things on them, she was always worried that they would be scratched and damaged.

Passing by Xinhua Bookstore, Meng Tao went in and bought five or six comic books for Meng Jinniu, two illustrated youth magazines, a thick China Pictorial, and an agricultural science book. It cost less than three yuan to buy all these books. Jinniu could lie on the bed and read them to pass the time. It didn't matter if he couldn't read, he could just guess the meaning from the pictures. Even kindergarten kids could do that.

Just consider this as part of the gift Shen Yu gave him.

Meng Tao planned to reduce the price from two hundred yuan to twenty yuan and told Jinniu that two hundred yuan was too heavy and it was obvious that he would not accept it.

After he recovers from his injury, I will let Jinniu go to the village literacy class to learn cultural knowledge, and then I will buy him notebooks and pens.

When Meng Tao took the bus back to Xingyang County, it was already past lunch time. She ate a bowl of noodles at the restaurant and then went to the hospital.

There were a bunch of people in the ward again, and they were all surrounding Meng Jinniu's bed. Meng Tao was startled, thinking that it was people from the old Meng family in Liuzhuang who came to make trouble again. Upon closer inspection, she found that there were several educated youth living in her home, and she was relieved.

Xu Guoliang saw Meng Tao first, and stood up from the edge of the golden bull bed with a smile on his face: "Taohua is back!"

Others, some sitting and some standing, also turned their heads. He Huijuan, Qian Xiaoyun and Jiang Limei came over. Qian Xiaoyun held Meng Tao's hand, and He Huijuan hugged her directly: "Taohua, I missed you so much!"

Qian Xiaoyun followed up, "Me too! I dreamed of you coming home. I've wanted to come and see Meng Jinniu for a long time, but Xu Guoliang insisted on collective action and wouldn't let us come first!"

Xu Guoliang glared at Qian Xiaoyun in dissatisfaction: "You women can just talk privately, why do you have to involve a man like me?"

"It's all your fault. We agreed to come to the county town together, but you went to look for your fellow villagers every day and didn't allow us to leave you behind."

Xu Guoliang seemed to want to say something but hesitated. In the end, he turned his head and said nothing.

Everyone has private matters that they don't want to talk about, so Meng Tao naturally didn't ask about them. She just smiled and said, "If you want to come to the county town to play, that's fine. If you want to visit Brother Jinniu, that's too grand. Just send one or two representatives."

Zhao Ming said: "Come and play, and see the Taurus, seeing the Taurus is the most important thing."

"Yes, we must come to see Jinniu. We are good brothers, right?" Qian Liang touched Jinniu's shoulder in a friendly manner, and Sun Yutang also touched his other arm with a smile. The bandages on Jinniu's head and neck had not been removed yet, so no one dared to touch him.

Taurus was very touched and laughed happily. In the past few days, he saw other patients in the ward receiving visitors and heard them talking. He also learned a few polite words and said in a serious tone:

The educated youth all laughed, and Meng Tao laughed so hard. Jinniu was so silly and really funny.

After Jiang Xiaodong called Taohua, he stood at the end of the bed and looked at Meng Tao with a smile. Zhao Ming asked Meng Tao: "Meng Tao, you have been taking care of Comrade Jinniu in the county town these days. It's hard. Have you reviewed your lessons?"

Qian Liang continued, "I wanted to ask that too. Learning a foreign language requires memorizing vocabulary words every day. You can't miss even a day. Have you fallen behind?"

Meng Tao wiped the tears from her laughter with the back of her hand, then she remembered that she was still a "student" at the literacy level. She sighed inwardly, but luckily she left in a hurry that day and they didn't have time to assign homework, so she didn't have to check the homework.

"Don't worry, teachers. I have reviewed everything. I have a notebook in my schoolbag. Teacher Qian, I take out the vocabulary booklet you made for me and read and memorize it every night before going to bed!"

Teacher Qian Liang shook his head and said proudly: "Well, this is more like it."

Zhao Ming smiled and said, "Very good, keep it up."

He Huijuan: "Taohua, you also need to review arithmetic. Do you remember the formulas and how to solve problems? We're going to take the test."

Meng Tao: "...I know, I'll be ready!"

Jinniu, who was leaning on the bed, looked at Meng Tao enviously. When he saw Meng Tao looking over, he pointed at the bedside table and said, "Look, sister, they gave me so many gifts and spent so much money. I said I don't want them."

Meng Tao saw the apples, pears, canned food, malted milk, and cakes and snacks in food bags piled up on the bedside table. They were bought by the eight educated youths. She smiled and said to Jinniu, "This is a kind gesture from everyone. Just accept it. We will remember this kindness and help each other in the future."

After hearing this, Jinniu sincerely thanked the educated youth again.

Meng Tao also said, "I'm sorry to have cost you all money. You must have taken the early train here, right? I was so happy to see you that I forgot to ask if you guys wanted to have lunch. There's a restaurant across the street that still has food available. Let's go down together!"

Jiang Limei said, "Taohua, you don't have to be so polite. We have already had lunch at the restaurant across the street."

Jiang Xiaodong said at this time: "Taohua, have you eaten? No matter how busy you are, you must not forget to eat."

Meng Tao smiled at him and said, "Thank you, Mr. Jiang, for reminding me. I have eaten it too."

"They said you went to Mengzhou?"

"Yes, I've been in the county town for too long, so I want to go somewhere farther away to have a look."

Qian Xiaoyun hurriedly pulled Meng Tao: "Did you buy anything good?"

"I didn't buy anything, so I brought some books for Brother Jinniu to help him cheer up."

(End of this chapter)