Chapter 38 Chapter 38 Someone shamelessly takes over the magpie's nest...
The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and cicadas are chirping outside the window.
Jiang Ling changed into short-sleeved shirt to replace her spring clothes. The small cut on her hand had healed long ago, but the long scabby scar on Song Guanshu's arm had not healed yet.
Jiang Ling didn't know whether he didn't want others to see the scars on his body, or he was simply not afraid of the heat and didn't like to wear short-sleeved shirts that exposed his skin.
Song Guanshu had been wearing a long-sleeved spring shirt, and Jiang Ling felt hot just by looking at him.
During the Dragon Boat Festival, the factory gave all workers a day off.
Jiang Ling and Song Guanshu bought some rice leaves and glutinous rice, and tried to make rice dumplings at home.
Jiang Ling had watched many videos in her previous life and had rich theoretical experience, but she was nothing when it came to practice.
Instead, Song Guanshu successfully wrapped the rice dumplings based on his movements and some understanding.
Even though the appearance of that zongzi is slightly different from a normal one, no matter what, as long as the rice does not leak out, it is a good zongzi.
The rice dumplings are filled with three kinds of fillings: peanuts, red dates and red beans.
The weather is getting warmer. Without a refrigerator to store food, if you pack too many dumplings at a time, they will easily go bad.
Even though they boiled a big pot of water to cook the dumplings, they actually made ten dumplings in total.
The rice dumplings were cooked in the pot for a whole day. At noon, the two of them simply ate two rice dumplings and the eggs cooked in the pot.
In the afternoon, when the rice dumplings were about to be served, Song Guanshu searched through boxes and cabinets for sugar.
If you don’t dip rice dumplings in sugar, they don’t taste right.
Jiang Ling remembered that she had accidentally broken the bottle of sugar again. She was afraid that Song Guanshu would scold her, so she didn't dare tell him. She cleaned up the broken pieces of sugar and glass bottle by herself, and then destroyed the whole thing.
"Haven't you found it yet?" Jiang Ling volunteered, "I'll go buy it."
Song Guanshu glanced at the bright sun outside and said, "You stay home and watch the fire. I'll go buy some."
Jiang Ling waved her hand and stood up and walked away. "It's just two steps. I don't know when the dumplings should be out of the pot. You should just watch over the pot."
She went to the grocery store in the family quarters and bought a pound of sugar. It was very hot on the way, and Jiang Ling wanted to eat a popsicle to cool down, but the grocery store had sold out of popsicles and no one was restocking them.
After much hesitation, Jiang Ling decided to go to the newly opened store to buy some popsicles.
The convenience store has a lot of goods, but its only drawback is that it is not that close to home, unlike a grocery store which is just a few steps away.
Jiang Ling wanted to convince herself not to go. Was it really worth walking for five more minutes under the scorching sun just for a popsicle?
The greedy girl used her actual actions to prove whether it was worth it.
Jiang Ling was afraid to go to the convenience store, not only because it was farther away, but also because she had to pass through a cornfield on the way.
The cornfield is the land cultivated by the steel plant. There are always various legends about the green tent. It is said that a girl was raped when she passed by this place in the early years.
Although Jiang Ling didn't take it seriously, she felt a little uncomfortable with this path.
Xiao Bing's two fathers were imprisoned one after another.
No one knows whether his eldest uncle is his biological father or his second uncle is his biological father. Even Xiao Bing's mother can't say for sure.
Uncle Xiao Bing was sentenced to death for intentional homicide and was executed immediately. He didn't even stay in the detention center for a few days before he was taken directly to the execution ground.
Mrs. Xiao was also convicted of the crime of harboring a criminal and was sentenced, but because she took the initiative to confess, it saved the judicial authorities a lot of trouble and she was only sentenced to one and a half years.
Mrs. Xiao's two daughters lost their father one moment and their mother went to prison the next. Not long after they started working, they were marginalized at work because of their parents' problems.
They couldn't bear it all, so they applied to their work unit for transfer to a remote mountainous area. At least there no one knew their past, and the two sisters kept each other company, so they weren't afraid of having no one to complain to if they were wronged.
After Xiao Bing's "second uncle" was imprisoned, the house allocated to them by the factory was taken back. The money in Xiao Bing's family had long been taken away by the investigation team. Xiao Bing's mother had no money, so she ran to her brother.
Uncle Xiao Bing is a worker in a steel plant. Because his brother-in-law is a leader, he once became a small leader of some importance.
As a relative of the factory leader, he was usually a bit arrogant in his dealings with others. His colleagues and leaders had long disliked him, but because he had a brother-in-law who was the factory director, they had to tolerate him.
After Xiao Zhenhua was imprisoned, Xiao Bing's uncle was quickly dismissed from his post. Although he was only a small leader, his salary and allowances were much higher than those of ordinary workers.
This caused an uproar in Xiao Bing's uncle's family. Some people complained that Xiao Zhenhua did not follow the right path and brought trouble to his family, while others complained that he had embezzled so much money without giving any to his family.
At this time, Xiao Bing's mother took Xiao Bing to live with his younger brother.
Even Uncle Xiao Bing himself was reluctant to entertain the mother and daughter, not to mention their aunt and cousin, who were not very close by blood.
When asked again, it turned out that they didn't want to stay there for a short period of time, but wanted to live there long term.
It was not easy for Uncle Xiao Bing to drive his sister and nephew away, so this difficult task was given to Aunt Xiao Bing.
Xiao Bing's mother is not someone you can easily mess with. She talks about the contributions she made to her brother's family in her early years. Now that her husband is in trouble, her brothers and sisters want to kick her away.
The neighbors are all elderly people who watched Xiao Bing's mother grow up. They think that the corrupt Xiao Zhenhua is despicable, but what did the mother and son do wrong?
Everyone came to persuade Uncle Xiao Bing to let the poor mother and daughter move in, including some elders whose words carried weight. Uncle Xiao Bing reluctantly let the mother and daughter move in.
Even after moving into the house, he treated the mother and daughter very rudely, ordering them around and acting like they were some dirty person.
Xiao Bing has been the son of a factory leader since he was born. Everyone around him, whether adults or children, compliments him.
The uncle who came to beg their family for help some time ago has now changed his attitude, and Xiao Bing feels very disappointed psychologically.
Several of his former subordinates, who used to follow him in doing evil and called him "Brother Soldier" all day long, now just pretend not to see him when they see him, or even hide away from him.
His family doesn't have the conditions to take him to the hospital from time to time, so his legs can only heal on their own.
Although his leg healed, the root of the disease remained. He would limp when he walked due to the right leg that was beaten by Xiao Zhenhua.
Xiao Bing's uncle's cousin has made fun of him countless times for this, thinking that he has done too many bad things.
This cousin was a classmate of the younger brother of the girl from the Yu family who was harmed by Xiao Bing. His classmates knew what his cousin had done and isolated him behind his back. He was a normal person and it was impossible for him to think that Xiao Bing was a good person and did nothing wrong.
When Xiao Bing was beaten, he discussed with his classmates how Xiao Bing was not beaten to death. By scolding Xiao Bing the harshest, he successfully gained acceptance from his classmates.
Because he often joins his classmates in scolding Xiao Bing, he is the person who hates Xiao Bing the most in the family.
Everything now seems like a dream to Xiao Bing.
Not long ago, he was the son of a factory director who was admired by countless people, but overnight, he became a despised rat crossing the street.
It was as if there was a big hand behind the scenes controlling everything. Xiao Bing didn't know who it was and couldn't find any evidence.
But the reason why he became a dirty, ugly and crippled man was closely related to Jiang Ling.
Although the police released Jiang Ling, they said the incident had nothing to do with her.
However, Xiao Bing was able to confirm that the woman who appeared that night was Jiang Ling.
As for why he kept holding on to her, it wasn't Jiang Ling who did it.
This has to do with his bad nature of bullying the weak and fearing the strong. He brought a few younger brothers with him at the beginning, but they were all beaten by the unarmed man with multiple fractures all over their bodies. Now he is alone, and his legs and feet are not very flexible, so there is no way he can beat that man.
Besides, it will take time to find that man, but Jiang Ling is right in front of us.
Xiao Bing's uncle lives in the steel plant's staff quarters. Xiao Bing has no job and occasionally sees Jiang Ling when he is wandering outside. However, Jiang Ling's husband is always by her side, making it difficult to take action.
Xiao Bing's mother found a job as a cleaner in a hospital and gave her precious son a few cents every day, fearing that he would not have enough to eat at home.
Xiao Bing used the money his mother saved to buy cigarettes. He used to smoke cigarettes that cost a few dollars, but now he can only afford cigarettes that cost a few cents.
When he went to the grocery store to buy cigarettes again, he met Jiang Ling carrying out a bottle of sugar.
Xiao Bing hid subconsciously. When he saw that she was alone, he followed her with the knife in his trouser pocket.
There were not many pedestrians on the road in the afternoon. Today is the Dragon Boat Festival and the factory gave the workers a holiday, so there were more pedestrians on the road than before.
After following for only two steps, he met several groups of pedestrians. Xiao Bing wanted to give up, but this was not a good time. He saw Jiang Ling change direction. Although he didn't know where Jiang Ling was going, he followed her anyway.
As Jiang Ling walked further and further away, Xiao Bing began to suspect that she had discovered him and was secretly conspiring with others to lure him to a deserted place and kill him.
However, Xiao Bing did not retreat. He still had the knife, so he might not suffer a loss this time.
Seeing the cornfield on the road, he understood Jiang Ling's intention. Past the cornfield was the West Residential Quarters, where his family originally lived.
There are many factory leaders in the west, so the families of the employees opened a small store in the west family quarters. The store has a wide variety of goods, but the prices are high.
Xiao Bing was overjoyed, even God was helping him.
He looked at the slender figure in front of him, with her snow-white arms exposed by her short sleeves, and obscene thoughts arose in Xiao Bing's mind.
He was a lustful man. He had never touched a woman since his leg was broken. It was inconvenient for him to be at his uncle's house, so when he suddenly saw a woman, and a beautiful one at that, some thoughts came to his mind like weeds.
"Jiang Ling!" Someone was shouting Jiang Ling from afar.
It was too far away for Jiang Ling to tell who the man was until he trotted up to him. Then Jiang Ling recognized him as Chen Xiangyang.
He wiped the sweat from his head and said, "When I saw your back from a distance, I thought it looked like you."
"Why are you here?"
Chen Xiangyang showed her the basket he was carrying, revealing golden apricots. "I picked some apricots from my neighbor's tree. They taste good. I don't like sweet food, but I thought you little girl would like them, so I gave you some."
Xiao Bing was startled by Chen Xiangyang's voice and ran away quickly.
Chen Xiangyang pointed at the man who was limping away and said, "Do you know that man? He seemed to have been following you just now."
It wasn't like he saw Jiang Ling from a long distance. He had only met Jiang Ling a few times. How could he know it was her just by looking at her back from a few dozen meters away?
Chen Xiangyang came to see Jiang Ling. The neighbor gave Chen Xiangyang a basket of yellow apricots because he helped repair bicycles for free some time ago.
He doesn't like eating apricots, so he'd rather give them away than waste them. He had many friends in North City, but he immediately thought of Jiang Ling, who was willing to lend him money.
He brought Huang Xing to find Jiang Ling. Xie Lang had brought him here once before, and he roughly remembered the way, but he had taken the wrong path a few times and was looking for someone to ask for directions.
I saw a wretched man following the girl. Based on his many years of experience in society, I knew that this man was definitely not a good person.
He wanted to warn the girl who was being followed, but was afraid of being mistaken for being in the same group, so he simply shouted Jiang Ling's name, as if he had recognized the wrong person.
What Chen Xiangyang didn't expect was that it was actually Jiang Ling.
Jiang Ling didn't realize that someone was following her, she just felt that this road was particularly eerie.
Just looking at the limping figure from behind, Jiang Ling didn't recognize who that person was. Xiao Bing had been living in his uncle's house and had not been getting enough nutrition. He had lost nearly 30 kilograms, and his back was a little hunched, like a weathered old man. It was hard to put him together with Xiao Bing.
“No.”
Chen Xiangyang reminded her, "Don't walk this way alone in the future. It's very chaotic outside."
"Thank you, I will pay attention to it next time."
When Chen Xiangyang smiled, the scar at the corner of his eye was particularly obvious. "Just don't think I'm meddling."
He has had the experience of being treated as a hooligan when he warned others.
"You're here, so come with me to the store to buy two popsicles."
Jiang Ling bought three popsicles and Chen Xiangyang got one. She bit the ice cubes until they were crunchy. She also held one in her hand to buy for Song Guanshu.
She walked quickly because she was afraid that the popsicle would melt when she got home.
Song Guanshu, who was at home, had not waited for Jiang Ling to come home for a long time. He felt a little uneasy. Did Jiang Ling not want him anymore?
He shouldn't have let Jiang Ling buy sugar by herself.
He couldn't stay in the kitchen peacefully, so Song Guanshu stood in the yard waiting for Jiang Ling.
Instead of waiting for Jiang Ling, she waited for Mrs. Fang's eldest daughter and son-in-law to ride their bicycles into the yard.
Old Lady Fang’s eldest daughter’s family is different from that of the second and third daughters. The two younger daughters, because their mother is in a hurry to remarry, threaten their mother that if she does not divorce Old Man Sun, they will not support her in her old age.
People who don’t have sons actually care a lot about the issue of retirement, and Old Mrs. Fang felt a little shaken.
Old man Sun moved out his granddaughter, but Fang Zhaodi was different from her two sisters. The more the two sisters threatened their mother, the more reasonable and understanding she became.
As long as she has a daughter standing on her side, Old Mrs. Fang feels confident, as it proves that she did nothing wrong.
What Old Mrs. Fang wants to see is that her eldest daughter is willing to be close to her after marriage. At least she can still rely on her eldest daughter for support in the future.
Old Man Sun was actually not very willing to have Fang Zhaodi bring her husband home to celebrate the festival, as this would mean that they would still have to eat his family's food.
This is a real pain for stingy people.
When Fang Zhaodi’s husband saw Song Guanshu, his eyes suddenly lit up.
He extended his right hand to shake hands with Song Guanshu, "Hello, comrade. I am Zhaodi's lover, my name is Zhao Lin. My mother-in-law has been taken care of by all the neighbors during this period."
Song Guanshu didn't like physical contact with people. He used to be able to pretend, but now he was too lazy to even pretend. He nodded coldly, "Hello."
Zhao Lin didn't seem to notice Song Guanshu's disdain. He continued, "Comrade, are you also a worker at the steel plant? I didn't seem to have seen you before when I accompanied my lover back to her parents' home."
This person was buzzing like a fly, making a lot of noise. Song Guanshu wanted to go to the street to wait for Jiang Ling.
"Song Guanshu, I'm back, look what I bought."
Jiang Ling held up the unopened popsicle high.
The handsome face that was as cold as ice just now suddenly melted away, and Zhao Lin could not help but stare in amazement.
The smile that had just bloomed froze slightly when he saw Chen Xiangyang following behind Jiang Ling.
Why is he here?
Zhao Lin's reaction was exactly the opposite of Song Guanshu's. When he saw Jiang Ling, he frowned and looked very disgusted.
However, when he saw Chen Xiangyang following Jiang Ling into the yard, his eyes lit up, even more excited than when he saw Song Guanshu.
His eyes were like laser rays, scanning Chen Xiangyang up and down, and he was extremely satisfied.
"Who is this young comrade?"
Chen Xiangyang was not like Song Guanshu, who was indifferent. He said without any defense, "My name is Chen Xiangyang, and I'm a friend of Jiang Ling and Song Ge."
He followed Xie Lang's example and addressed Jiang Ling and Song Guanshu.
Zhao Lin couldn't stop smiling, especially when he extended his hand and Chen Xiangyang also extended his hand to shake hands.
"I went to buy popsicles and met Chen Xiangyang on the way, so we came back together." Jiang Ling handed him the popsicle she had been holding.
Song Guanshu took the sugar from her arms and said, "Let's go home first."
The three of them entered the west wing one after another. Zhao Lin had a look of reluctance on his face. He turned around and saw the face of that stupid woman Fang Zhaodi.
He suppressed his nausea and said gently, "Let's go in too. Mom must be waiting anxiously."
Chen Xiangyang put Xingzi down and was about to go home. Jiang Ling couldn't let him go like this. Just as the rice dumplings were about to be cooked, she said, "Stay and eat together. You will eat alone when you go back. It will be more lively if we have more people."
Jiang Ling diligently tore off the wrapping paper on the popsicle and said, "I'm telling you, thanks to Chen Xiangyang, it seemed like someone was following me and I was scared away by him."
Ben was a little unhappy because Jiang Ling suddenly brought this person back home, but after hearing what Jiang Ling said, he immediately asked her about the situation.
"I shouldn't have let you go out alone." He felt a little scared. "Do you remember what that person looked like?"
Chen Xiangyang also said, "It's not safe for female comrades to go out alone. I've heard of many such cases on the street. Brother Song, you have to be careful. Try to accompany Jiang Ling when you go out."
Song Guanshu said solemnly, "I was negligent this time."
Because Chen Xiangyang helped Jiang Ling, Song Guanshu did not have such a strong resistance to him.
Jiang Ling and Song Guanshu repeatedly asked him to stay for dinner at their home. Smelling the fragrant aroma of rice dumplings wafting from the kitchen, Chen Xiangyang missed home and agreed. He really didn't want to go back to the rental house and face the cold stove.
The couple's original dinner was relatively simple, with rice dumplings dipped in sugar and eggs flavored with rice dumplings from a pot.
Chen Xiangyang is a real eater. He can finish an egg in two bites, and he ate five eggs at once.
Jiang Ling was stunned. "No wonder you are so strong."
Jiang Ling thought rice dumplings were too greasy, so she only ate one for dinner.
Chen Xiangyang not only ate eggs, but also ate two rice dumplings.
After finishing his meal, he wiped his mouth and smiled sheepishly, "I haven't had a full meal in a long time."
Chen Xiangyang cleared the table and washed the dishes skillfully. He was better at work than Xie Lang. He had been doing a lot of housework since he was a child. After leaving home, he became better at judging people's behavior.
He didn't want to cause trouble to others, so he offered to go home after finishing his work.
After receiving the apricots from Chen Xiangyang, Jiang Ling didn't want to let him go home empty-handed, so she looked around the bedroom and saw the "salary" that she and Song Guanshu had received not long ago.
The most common items at home now are soap and laundry detergent, which can never be used up.
Jiang Ling took out some soap and toothpaste from the box and put them into the basket that Chen Xiangyang was carrying.
Chen Xiangyang had already eaten a lot of delicious food at their house, so he didn't feel comfortable asking for more.
"I'm not a little girl. I don't need these things."
"There are plenty at home. If you don't need them yourself, you can give them away."
Chen Xiangyang: "Then you keep it for yourself and give it to others."
As they were tearing apart, Jiang Ling came up with an idea. She said, "When you set up a stall to repair cars, can you help us sell these things?"
Jiang Ling opened the wages she and Song Guanshu received and showed them to Chen Xiangyang.
Chen Xiangyang was shocked, "Why do you have so many in your house?" That's all the inventory in the convenience store.
Jiang Ling shrugged, "The factory didn't have money to pay wages, so they gave us some soap and toothpaste to replace our wages."
It was not uncommon to use products to offset wages during this period.
When Chen Xiangyang went to set up a stall, he met someone who set up a stall to sell the products distributed by the factory. He also met someone who was bartering things distributed by his factory with workers from other factories.
When helping friends, Chen Xiangyang never hesitates, “Sure, no problem.”
"Just sell it at 70% of the price in state-owned shopping malls." Jiang Ling said after thinking it over.
“This…you’re going to lose a lot of money.”
Jiang Ling said, "We have these things at home. We don't have a penny, and we can't eat soap or drink toothpaste in our daily lives. It's better to sell them at a low price and lose money than to leave them all at home and wait for them to expire."
Chen Xiangyang sighed, "It's not easy for you either. You thought dual-income families had a good life. If you meet a couple like this working in the same factory and both of them don't get paid, life would be unbearable."
"Don't worry, I will definitely help you sell it as soon as possible."
Jiang Ling added, "You take 10% as commission."
Chen Xiangyang would not ask for money when helping his friends. "You can help me, but I don't want any commission."
"Brothers should settle accounts clearly. I won't let you work for nothing."
Chen Xiangyang was about to say something else when Jiang Ling interrupted him, "You can sell it first. If our co-workers need your help in the future, you can take the 10% commission. How about that?"
"No matter what, I can't take your money."
Jiang Ling stuffed the basket into his arms and wanted to send him off. "Where do you live? We'll deliver these three boxes to your house tomorrow."
Chen Xiangyang gave an address and the two of them wrote it down.
After solving the big problem that was lingering in her mind, Jiang Ling stretched her body easily, and then she found that the temperature in the bedroom was too high.
The rice dumplings had been cooking in the pot for a day. The stove was connected to the kang, and the heat was transmitted to the bedroom.
Even with the doors and windows open, the temperature on the kang is still very high.
Jiang Ling was still lying on the kang. In winter, the kang was a good place.
It’s okay if you don’t use fire to cook in the summer, but once you do, the kang will be very hot.
Especially like today when the kang has been heated all day, Jiang Ling could still feel the heat under the kang even with the mattress underneath her.
She lay on the kang, tossing and turning all night long like a pancake.
Perhaps because she was too sleepy, Jiang Ling finally fell asleep near the end of the night.
Although the end of the kang was not as hot as the head, it was not comfortable either, and Song Guanshu could not fall asleep.
In the second half of the night, the temperature under my body gradually cooled down.
Someone noticed this subtle change earlier than Song Guanshu. Even though he had fallen asleep, his instinct to find a cool place was still there.
Song Guanshu opened his eyes and watched Jiang Ling's movements in the dark.
Her quilt was kicked away at some point. Song Guanshu got up in the dark and carefully picked up her quilt to cover Jiang Ling.
As soon as he covered it, Jiang Ling kicked it away.
This happened several times in a row. I don’t know if it was to avoid the quilt or because he felt that the end of the kang was cooler.
When Song Guanshu was kind enough to cover her with a blanket, someone shamelessly took over his bed and lay on his mattress.
Song Guanshu's breathing paused. He thought he had accidentally woken Jiang Ling up. He looked carefully but found nothing unusual. Her breathing was even and long, and she didn't look like she had been woken up.
Finally reaching a comfortable position, she fell into a deeper sleep.
Song Guanshu hesitated for a moment and lay back down.
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