Can you eat without working? Meng Laosan is not used to it yet, but the food is already cooked, it would be a waste if he doesn't eat it, and his stomach is empty, so he has to eat it.

The educated youth also had to help other families carry wood and cut grass. They didn’t have to cook breakfast and could eat at other people’s homes.

The cousins ​​sat around the octagonal table, each having a large bowl of white rice, a bowl of cabbage soup and a salted duck egg.

Meng Laosan was uneasy: How could the food be so good? These were all his cousin's rations. If he ate them, his cousin might have to go hungry for a few meals. He came here to work, not to take up his cousin's rations.

"Sister, I'm not hungry. Save these for you to heat up and eat at noon or in the evening."

Meng Laosan was about to get up and leave when he finished speaking, but Meng Tao pulled him to sit down and said, "Eat quickly, it won't taste good if it gets cold. There's enough food, don't worry. When I left the Tian family, the team distributed the rations to me. I work every day and get a lot of work points. In addition, the educated youth don't live in my house for nothing, the team will give me some extra food subsidies."

After hearing this, Meng Laosan sat down obediently. He found that his cousin was quite strong and she grabbed his sleeve with one hand, and he couldn't break free.

He picked up the chopsticks to eat, and couldn't stop eating. The white rice was steamed, soft and chewy, and the more he chewed, the sweeter it became. The cabbage soup was delicious and refreshing. He wanted to save the salted duck egg, but his cousin cracked it open and stuffed it into his mouth. The taste was better than the meat at the banquet! Meng Laosan had never eaten any banquets since he was a child, and he rarely had the opportunity to eat meat at home. Geng Liuju was smart and favored other children and grandchildren, so he didn't get to eat meat. But he was occasionally sent to the infrastructure construction site by the production team. The construction site had a few pieces of braised pork as extra dishes. At that time, Meng Laosan thought he was eating a banquet.

Halfway through a bowl of rice, half a sausage was exposed at the bottom. Meng Lao San was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly picked it up with chopsticks to give it to his cousin. Meng Tao blocked him: "It's in your bowl. I don't want to eat your saliva. I have it here!"

When Meng Laosan saw that there was indeed sausage at the bottom of his cousin's bowl, he took it back embarrassedly, took a bite, and while chewing, tears actually fell from his eyes.

Meng Tao: “…”

"What's wrong with you, cousin? Is it not tasty?"

"tasty!"

So it was so delicious that she cried? Meng Tao couldn't help laughing.

Meng Lao San wiped away his tears and choked up, "Sister, I never came to see you before, and you were still so good to me."

"Then come visit me often. We are brother and sister, and we should support each other."

"Yes, for sure!" Meng Laosan nodded heavily.

In the novel, Meng Taohua was framed by Wang Shuifeng and her daughter, and her reputation was ruined and she became a slut. The old Meng family in Liuzhuang, Liang Commune, far away was even more disdainful of recognizing her. If Geng Caiyue had not eloped with someone later, making the old Meng family a laughing stock, Meng Laosan would not have been "exiled" to Linshui Village to inherit Meng Shengli's incense. After Meng Laosan came, Meng Taohua was less often beaten by Shi Datou.

In this village, Meng Taohua was despised and scorned by everyone, which was equivalent to being abandoned by the whole world. Only Meng Laosan still respected her, protected her, and would beat Shi Datou for her. When Meng Taohua died of illness, Meng Laosan did not let Shi Datou send her to the cemetery of his hometown deep in the mountains. Instead, he decided to place Meng Taohua next to Meng Shengli. The grandfather and grandson depended on each other during their lifetime, and after her death, Taohua could still get the protection of her grandfather.

For this reason alone, Meng Laosan deserves Meng Tao's kindness. After all, she is now Meng Taohua.

He asked Meng Tao if she had any other work to do. Meng Tao didn't want him to go back to Liuzhuang so soon and let Geng Liuju order her around, so she said she needed to do some delicate work for women and asked Meng Laosan to replace her in the production team and carry wood in the mountains for two days.

This old man Meng is happy to do so, as he has plenty of strength.

Bao Shunfeng met Meng Laosan and asked him about the situation of the Meng family in Liuzhuang. He also told him to visit more often and take care of his cousin.

Linshui Village soon learned that Meng Taohua's cousin had arrived.

Meng Laosan followed the team up the mountain to carry wood for two days. He also heard about Meng Tao's glorious deeds of bravely fighting a wild boar. While he was frightened, he was also very proud of his cousin.

Meng Tao was at home, thinking that Meng Laosan would come often in the future, and she couldn't let him sleep on the door every time he came, so she cleaned the back half of the main room, wiped the bed frame and old furniture left by Meng Shengli with a wet rag, opened the low cabinet, and found a set of military-colored clothes and pants, a half-new black cotton coat, neatly folded, and a pair of brand new rubber-soled shoes that had never been worn. These were kept by Meng Shengli during his lifetime. Fortunately, they had not been discovered by Wang Shuifeng and Tian Xianglan, otherwise Meng Tao would not have seen them.

It's just right for Meng Laosan to wear.

Continuing to look through the cabinets, he found another wooden box. He opened it and saw a few photos. Among them was the photo of three people that Meng Tao had seen at Liu Jianxin's place. Meng Shengli was in the other photos, and there was another photo of two young men and women who looked like a couple. Meng Tao didn't know them, so he wasn't interested. He took out the photos and found several medals, certificates, and letters underneath. Meng Tao didn't look through the letters, but only carefully picked up the medal and looked at it with reverence. Only then did he realize that Grandpa Meng had been in the regular army, not just the guerrillas as he said.

Why didn't he tell Meng Taohua about this? Meng Taohua couldn't figure it out, so she stopped thinking about it and closed the box to keep it safe.

Meng Laoshan carried wood in Linshui Village for two days, and then worked with everyone else for three or four days to break stones and repair the village road. He worked diligently, steadily and hard, which made Bao Shunfeng like him very much. He also got along well with the young people in Linshui Village. Everyone advised him to stay longer, but there was not much work to do in the production team, so Meng Laoshan prepared to go home.

Meng Tao sent him to the commune to take the bus. Meng Laosan didn't want to go at first, saying it was cold outside with a howling north wind, and why should he let his cousin go with him? Meng Tao insisted, saying that she would go to the highway to buy some small items. Then the brother and sister went out together.

Meng Laosan had a very happy time in Linshui, but he was worried that he ate too much. His cousin was so kind to him and every meal was full of oil and fat. The multi-grain steamed buns, high-grain porridge, cabbage soup, potatoes stewed with oil residue, and salted radish were all delicious. He ate so much these days that he felt much stronger. Meng Laosan was grateful to his cousin and thought to himself that next time he came, he would bring some rations with him, but his grandmother would not agree.

He could only ask his grandfather. If he didn't agree, he could go up to the mountain and dig traps to see if he could catch some pheasants or rabbits to give to his cousin. He heard that his cousin had suffered a lot in the Tian family before. The Tian family was really hateful! If he had come earlier, would the Tian family dare to divorce his cousin? However, it was good that his cousin was back now. She would live comfortably in her own home. She could marry someone better in the future. His cousin was pretty, capable, and kind. Was he still afraid that she wouldn't be able to get married?

When Meng Laosan left, he was still wearing the same clothes he had when he came, except that he had a sweater vest underneath. The weather was too cold, and the vest made him much warmer. He wore and washed the coat given by the educated youth and the clothes left by his third grandfather, and put them in his third grandfather's cabinet to wear next time he came.

He knew that after he took those clothes back, they would definitely be taken away by his grandmother and given to other brothers. If he had earned them himself, it wouldn't matter, but they were given to him by his cousin, and his cousin had told him that only he could wear them and not give them to others, so he had to keep them and not give them to anyone.

Here it comes, start updating.

(End of this chapter)