When the furniture was moved in, there were some pine strips used to pad the bottom of the car to prevent shock. Meng Tao took two of them, chopped them into thin strips with a newly bought kitchen knife, lit them in the stove, and then added charcoal. Soon a bright red charcoal fire was lit.

I scrubbed the newly bought pot, filled it with water, put it on the stove and boiled it, then poured it out, washed the pot again, added water and brought it to a boil, took out the cabbage and ham from the kitchen, washed and cut them, and cooked them together, then added noodles and eggs, and had a hot dinner with tomato sauce and chili sauce.

As night fell, Meng Tao once again declined Aunt Wang's invitation to her home for dinner. She sat alone in the living room, roasting a stove full of red charcoal, feeling warm. She turned on all the lights, and the whole room was bright. Electric light was so comfortable. Thinking back to the kerosene lamp in Linshui Village, with the flickering shadows and overlapping shadows like ghost lights, she felt so sad.

The next morning, Meng Tao took a few pieces of curtain cloth to a street sewing club and asked the aunt there to sew the edges for them, spending a total of 1.8 cents.

After coming back and hanging up everything one by one, there was a knock on the courtyard gate. When she walked out of the room, she heard several women's voices outside. Meng Tao first locked the bedroom and study doors, and then went to open the courtyard gate.

There were five or six aunties outside the door. The one in front was Aunt Zhong, the neighbor on the right. Meng Tao asked, "What's the matter?"

Aunt Zhong smiled and said, "It's okay! These aunties are our neighbors. They come to visit us when they have free time and chat with you to relieve their boredom."

Meng Tao: “…” I’m not bored, but I don’t have time to chat now, okay.

Among those aunties, three were the ones who stood in the middle of the road with Aunt Zhao yesterday, saying that Meng Tao looked down on people and had big eyes. Now they came to visit with smiles on their faces.

Meng Tao said: "I just moved, so I don't have much to prepare, and I don't have any tea or fruit to entertain."

Aunt Zhong said, "What do you need to prepare? Just a cup of boiling water and two handfuls of melon seeds will do."

"There's no boiled water, and I haven't even bought any cups." There were even fewer melon seeds, so he hadn't even thought about inviting anyone in for any ceremony.

Before Aunt Zhong could answer, another aunt smiled and said, "It's okay. We're all neighbors. We just came to visit and have fun, and get to know each other. Once we get to know each other, we can help each other if there's anything."

Meng Tao opened all the doors and let them in.

People are like this. Once they are interested in something, they will never forget it unless you satisfy their curiosity. These neighbor aunties are obsessed with seeing her new yard, so let them see it.

The neighbor aunties walked around the yard and the house, making clicking sounds all the time, but no one knew what that meant.

Meng Tao did not follow them. She was arranging the flower pots in the yard, picking out the dead ones and putting the ones that were still alive in a pile. Yesterday she bought a yard of plastic sheeting at the supply and marketing cooperative and used it to cover the flowers to protect them from rain and snow.

Aunt Zhong came out of the house, walked to Meng Tao and whispered, "The father and son of the Wang family only painted the walls and swept the yard. You should not be shy, just give as much as you ask...How much did they ask you for?"

Meng Tao said: "Neighbors help each other. I don't know how to repair the house, so I asked them to do it. I bought some candies and fruits to thank them, but I didn't talk about money."

Aunt Zhong curled her lips and glanced at her with a look of disbelief: "Humph, if you come to my house, then you really want to help without asking for money. Would the wife of the Wang family not ask for money? The sun will rise in the west!"

Meng Tao: “…” Don’t want to talk about this topic.

There was no tea and fruit discussion, but the neighbor aunties sat in the house and chatted for half a day, and only left when it was time to go home to make lunch.

Meng Tao also washed her hands, packed up, locked the house and the yard door, and rushed to the bus station to take the bus back to Xingyang County.

She didn't want to pass by the post office, but she turned in by herself.

In the study room on the second floor of Shen's house at Qianjin Steel Plant in the provincial capital, Meng Zhehan looked at Shen Yu with a face full of condemnation: "Are you doing me justice by doing this? If Taohua knew, she would not agree. She would always leave a copy for me!"

Shen Yu spread his hands: "This batch of goods has basically been sent out to divert the attention of those people, and it has been effective. They are now chasing the southern channels to get goods. Most of the unidentified personnel originally sent to investigate the Mengzhou area have dissipated. Relatively speaking, the possibility of Taohua being discovered has decreased... You can't contact me when you go to the base, so I just took some sauces and vegetables home. It seems that there is a pumpkin left. Do you want it?"

"Since you have allocated shares to the capital, and the Xu family has a share, why don't you give my family a share?"

"Do you think the company is distributing welfare quotas? That's the black market. It's a big deal if they can just let us know. It's a rare and precious ingredient. Those who know its benefits are desperately trying to grab it. Only those who are quick can get it. The Meng family reacted slowly. Who can we blame? You can wait until next time."

Meng Zhehan frowned: "I'm fine, it's my family, especially my uncle is in poor health. Last time I brought those mushrooms back, his old injury happened to flare up, so he returned to Beijing for treatment. He ate two meals of mushroom soup in the old house and found that it relieved his symptoms, so he kept asking me..."

Shen Yu leaned back in his chair leisurely: "Is it the mayor of H City? Meng Shaoan?"

Meng Zhehan glanced at him and said, "How many uncles can I have?"

"Aren't you disgusted by his two daughters?"

"He is him, and his daughter is his daughter. Don't compare them. Besides, not liking her is one thing, but can the bloodline be severed?"

Meng Zhehan sighed: "My uncle treated me very well since I was a child. He also suffered a lot and ruined his health. He is not like us. He has been very hardworking and enterprising since he was young. He has always been a pioneer and role model."

"Who isn't working hard? I've been a pioneer model before, it's just a title. I don't want more, so I'll give it to others."

"Oh, without your grandpa and uncle, no matter how capable you are, you won't get that title."

"He supported the frontier with all his passion, cleared wasteland and cut down trees, built a large granary in the most desolate and coldest northeastern border, and was injured countless times and nearly sacrificed his life countless times. Can you do that? You, who came out of an ivory tower, have also been trained in the barracks for a few years, but you can't change your nature after all."

"Tell me clearly, what is my nature?"

"I know it myself."

Shen Yu sneered, "No matter what my nature is, I am better than your uncle. I can raise a daughter like that and say that. In my eyes, your uncle is no different from those corrupt officials."

Meng Zhehan: “…”

This guy is so cold-blooded when he gets serious and won't give any face at all.

But I was helpless when such an incident happened. No matter how good my eloquence was, it was useless and I couldn't defend my respected uncle. Who made me have such a scum cousin?

My uncle and my second aunt got married on a farm under difficult conditions. The couple loved each other and had deep feelings for each other. They encouraged and supported each other. They did not rely on their family, but relied on their own abilities to work their way up from the grassroots level step by step. They did not return to the city until ten years after their marriage. With their abilities and qualifications, they have achieved their current achievements and status.

Their two daughters were born in the countryside with extremely poor conditions. They suffered a lot with their parents and only started to live a relatively stable and comfortable life when they were in their teens. The uncle and aunt felt deeply sorry for their two daughters, so they spoiled them too much.

But some children really cannot be spoiled, just like these two cousins, who were spoiled and developed very bad qualities. After Meng Zhehan found out, he thought about changing them, but to no avail. Instead, he was so angry that he didn't want to see them anymore.

Shen Yu was once fought over by his two cousins ​​as a marriage partner, and they used disgusting means on him one after another. Shen Yu never showed any mercy to women, so for his sake, he only taught them a lesson so that they would back off.

The uncle loved his daughter dearly, so he made a special trip to talk to Shen Yu, but was ruthlessly rejected by Shen Yu. After all, the uncle was the elder, so he couldn't help but get angry. From then on, the two of them disliked each other.

Meng Zhehan thought of the past and pinched his brows with a headache.

The room was quiet for a while, and then Master Jiang's voice came from downstairs: "Shen Yu, phone call!"

Shen Yu leaned back in the armchair and moved his body. Master Jiang continued to shout in a loud voice: "Girl, are you still there? Wait a moment..."

Shen Yu suddenly jumped up from his chair as if he was equipped with a spring, and flew to the table where the extension was placed. He grabbed the microphone and said, "Hello?"

Meng Zhehan squinted his eyes and watched. Shen Yu would not give his phone number to a girl, so this girl might be his love interest.

Sure enough, Shen Yu's face, which had just been stern, showed a sickening smile. He turned his back to him and said in a voice that could make one's teeth ache: "Little fool, where are you? Are you okay? You didn't call me that day, so you were angry, right? I was in the office at that time and it was inconvenient for me to talk, you know? Have you had lunch? Are you back in Xingyang? Why do you come to Mengzhou so often? You have to be obedient... Yeah, okay, I understand. What? Why did you suddenly think of him? Well, your fake brother is here, do you want me to convey my regards?"

When Meng Zhehan heard the word "fake brother", he hurried over, stared at Shen Yu as he turned around, and reluctantly handed the microphone to him. Meng Zhehan immediately took it and said, "Sister Taohua!"

Meng Tao: "Brother Meng Zhehan, how are you? I haven't seen you for a long time, I miss you so much."

Meng Zhehan was worried about him because of his romance, and he happened to be there too. They had a tacit understanding, which made him excited and relieved. Hearing these strange words, he couldn't help laughing out loud: "Girl, where did you learn that? You're so slick!"

“That’s the truth.”

"Okay, I'm glad! I missed you too! I went on a business trip some time ago and just came back."

"Really? Thank you for your hard work. I'll send you some delicious food later... You like sweet fruits, do you want some meat? Game, smoked wild boar, wild rabbit, wild deer, as well as chickens, ducks and geese from farmers in the mountains, do you want any?"

Meng Zhehan's eyes turned red: "I want them all! Brother wants to eat them all..."

Shen Yu stood aside, his smile gone, his face as dark as Bao Gong: His girl is so nice to Meng Zhehan? No! Unable to bear it any longer, he reached out and grabbed the microphone: "I want some too! I want to eat sweet fruit and meat!"

Meng Tao: "...You, are you going to send one too?"

Didn’t the whole truckload of food go away for you? You can eat as much as you want.

"No, leave a separate copy for me in the car. My copy is much more than Meng Zhehan's!"

Meng Tao: “…”

Isn't this Shen Yu? Did he also change the chip?

Oh my god, hang up the phone!

Shen Bingshan becomes Shen San Sui and scares Meng Taohua away...

(End of this chapter)