Chapter 58 Chapter 58 Old Friends Meet

"Do you know how to find a woman with the surname Jiang?" Meng Cheng continued to ask.

The middle-aged man just shook his head: "She came the first time, and later it was always a man who took over. How would I know their names?"

“…”

"Take me to the man who picked me up!"

"I don't know..." Before he could finish his words, Meng Cheng exerted force with his hands. The middle-aged man's face immediately turned pale with pain. He stammered and finally uttered the truth: "Tonight... 8:30 is the agreed time... I really don't know anything else."

Meng Chengchong and Wang Nian nodded: "Let's call Comrade Shi back first, and we'll discuss the rest later."

Lao Xiao immediately responded: "I will go back to the unit and call Chief Engineer Shi."

Lao Xiao also works at the design institute, serving as deputy chief of the security department. He looks even more muscular than Meng Cheng.

"I'm Director Meng of the Municipal Public Security Bureau. Guess what you'll face if I arrest you and take you back to the Public Security Bureau..." Meng Cheng lifted the middle-aged man's collar and stared at him intently: "Even if you can get out of the Public Security Bureau by chance, you won't have a good life in the future."

When the Public Security Bureau and the Minister appeared one after another, the middle-aged man was already trembling with fear, and all he could do was beg for mercy and distance himself from the matter.

"If you want to live a peaceful life, you can..." Meng Cheng raised his eyebrows and let go of his hand: "Then...it depends on how you want to make amends for your crime."

The middle-aged man was still shaking violently. Meng Cheng suddenly shouted, "Fuck it! Stand up straight!"

Just the few people who were watching also shuddered.

Meng Cheng pointed to the door and said, "Come in with me."

The door creaked shut and the man trembled even more violently, fearing that Meng Cheng's casserole-sized fist would hit him at any time.

"When Chief Engineer Shi comes back, I will go with him to this old man's house to scout out the way."

Wang Nian understood that this was the best way at the moment.

Soon... the sound of the door key rang, and Shi Xiangming appeared in everyone's sight as if covered with a layer of frost, with a misty look in his eyes.

Before they could be happy about meeting an old acquaintance, the gay men pushed the middle-aged man out of the door.

"Is that Jiang Feng Chief Engineer Shi's ex-wife?" Hu Wenli asked curiously.

"right."

Wang Nian only knew a few fragments about Shi Xiangming's previous marriage and had never thought about what kind of person she was.

Shi Guizhi pondered for a while, and still felt very strange: "What is Jiang Feng trying to do?"

"Who knows..." Wang Nian sighed.

***

Binhe Temple.

Wang Nian personally took the children home, told them not to go out to play at night, and then went to the Binhe Temple with them.

She just wanted to see who was monitoring their family.

Shi Xiangming squeezed Wang Nian's hand vigorously, and his anxiety was transmitted to him through the sweat on his palms.

Wang Nian smiled, raised his other hand and patted that hand as a way of comforting him: "It's okay, I believe you!"

In the darkness, the people around me let out a long breath.

The middle-aged man is a local of Anhuai. He lives in the old house with his elderly mother.

Instead of entering the house, they stood under the eaves in the yard and waited quietly.

Before half past eight, there was a knock on the gate to the courtyard. There were three knocks, a pause, and then five knocks.

The man opened the door and walked out, looking at the people who were completely hidden in the darkness.

There was only a flickering light in the corner. The man knew that Meng Cheng was leaning there, and the occasional smoke was a warning.

The man's Adam's apple moved nervously, and then he cleared his throat and replied, "I'm here."

There was a knock on the door.

The door creaked open, and Wang Nian only heard the man ask in surprise: "Why are you here together today?"

Another deep voice chuckled: "Today is the last time."

Then several people walked into the yard, and the middle-aged man subconsciously looked towards Meng Cheng's position, but there was no light from the cigarette butt there.

"Let's go inside?"

The middle-aged man swallowed hard, unable to suppress his nervousness.

"Let's talk in the yard. I can't stand the smell of smoke." This time it was a woman who answered, her voice as gentle as a delicate flower blooming.

"Then...then you tell me!"

The breathing sound gradually approached my ear. The middle-aged man left a message and ran away. He walked into the house in a few steps and closed the door tightly.

Click——

"If you have any questions, you can ask me directly."

The light bulb under the eaves lit up dimly, illuminating Shi Xiangming's cold eyes that flickered.

He walked towards the two of them step by step, and said in a low voice: "Jiang Feng."

Jiang Feng was wearing the most popular red plaid suit at the time. The pearl necklace on her neck was shining in the light. Her willow-shaped eyebrows were slightly raised in surprise, and her whole body exuded a sense of fragility.

Jiang Feng was very pretty and delicate, and the man next to her was dressed just as elegantly. One could tell that his hair was carefully groomed and he looked pretty handsome.

"Do you know him?" Meng Cheng walked over slowly, lazily put the cigarette into his mouth and lit it: "It seems like we are old acquaintances."

"Jiang Feng is my ex-wife, and this..." Shi Xiangming glanced at Jiang Feng calmly: "Just assume he is her husband for now."

Liao Guang's expression was very calm, as if the appearance of those people did not frighten him at all. He reached out and held the frightened Jiang Feng, as if to protect her.

"Jiang Feng and I have been married for three years..." Liao Guang introduced himself and at the same time, he proactively stated to several people: "We have no ill intentions."

Jiang Feng tightly grasped Liao Guang's clothes and said in a coquettish voice: "I accidentally heard that you came to Anhuai, so I just wanted to see the child."

"You've been monitoring our family for a few days, and that's all?" Wang Nian stepped forward and asked angrily, "I don't think you just want to watch!"

Jiang Feng shrank into Liao Guanghuai's heart.

"Tell me! What exactly do you want to do..." Wang Nian asked directly.

"I want to take Shi Wan away." Jiang Feng said honestly, and then glanced at Wang Nian frequently: "Shuwen is Shi Xiangming's biological son. I know I can't take him away, but Shi Wan is not his biological child...any amount of money is fine."

While speaking, Jiang Feng kept observing Wang Nian's expression. Seeing that she was still cold and motionless, she immediately knew that Shi Xiangming had already revealed Shi Wan's background.

Meng Cheng and Lao Xiao both looked at Shi Xiangming in shock, their eyes seemed to be saying... so this is the reason for the divorce.

Wang Nian exhaled and waved his hands with a half-smile: "Then don't even think about it."

"But..." Jiang Feng opened her mouth.

"But what!" Shi Xiangming's eyes darkened, and his tone seemed to be covered with ice, so low that it made people shudder: "What qualifications do you have to question our kindness to Xiaowan?"

"You've been silent for eleven years, but now you come to snatch my child..." Meng Cheng walked to the middle and stood there, looking at Jiang Feng suspiciously: "Could it be that you remembered that you have a daughter because you can't have a child?"

Meng Cheng, who works in the public security system, has an intuition that is so accurate that he can always hit the nail on the head with just a casual guess.

Liao Guang's expression froze for a moment, then gradually became gloomy, and finally he could no longer maintain his calm expression.

Jiang Feng was equally cautious when he stole a glance at Liao Guang.

Liao Guang sneered, put his hands in his trouser pockets and said frankly: "I got injured while doing business a few years ago. I'm sure I won't be able to have my own children in this lifetime..."

Liao Guang was one of the earliest profiteers in the country. Unlike He Liang, who was only engaged in small-scale speculation, his business spread across Anhuai and several surrounding cities.

After the reform and opening up, I established a trading company and now my business is booming.

"I already knew about Jiang Feng's past before I married her. Of course..." Liao Guang sighed and continued, "I definitely knew about her cheating."

Jiang Feng turned her head away and rubbed the hem of her clothes nervously with her hands.

Liao Guang then sighed again: "I didn't agree to take the child away from you in the first place. I haven't been a good mother to him for even a day, so I don't have the nerve to do that... Even now I don't agree."

Jiang Feng's lips trembled slightly, as if she was hiding the pain in her heart. She lowered her head in a hurry, and a few tears fell.

Wang Nian: “…”

"Don't look at us like that. Jiang Feng just said she wanted a child just to test us. We really don't want to snatch the child away." Liao Guang shrugged and spread his hands.

Originally, the two of them had agreed to come here to finalize the deal today and no longer appear in Shi Xiangming's family's lives.

Who could have imagined that he would be caught red-handed?

Neither Shi Xiangming nor Wang Nian had expected the situation to unfold like this, and the verbal battle they had prepared for was of no use at all.

Liao Guang hugged Jiang Feng's shoulders and said in a gentle voice, "Didn't you always say you had something to say to your ex-husband when you saw him?"

Jiang Feng was startled, raised her head and wiped away her tears, her eyes red: "I have always wanted to say sorry to you."

Shi Xiangming was shocked and so surprised that he forgot to look away for a moment.

"I started learning the Three Obediences and Four Virtues when I was nine, and I left home for the first time when I was fourteen... Marrying you is the farthest place I have ever been..."

Grandpa Jiang Feng can be regarded as the last batch of scholars in feudal society, and he has always adopted feudal education for the women in his family.

The belief that parents' orders and matchmaker's words are engraved in her bones, so even if Shi Xiangming does not acknowledge the marriage, she is still determined not to cancel the engagement.

"After I met Liao Guang, I finally understood what a marriage based on love is like..." Jiang Feng looked at Wang Nian deliberately and smiled kindly with the corners of her lips raised.

What this sentence means is that she and Shi Xiangming had no feelings for each other during that marriage, and then when she met the cheater, she immediately plunged into him, which led to the disastrous consequences and she was sentenced to one year of labor reform.

After being released, Jiang Feng met Liao Guang, and with his help, she started to work and learn to read and write, and she deeply realized how stupid she was before.

"It was Liao Guang who taught me to face my past and admit my mistakes."

Liao Guang patted his wife's shoulder, and his smile became much more sincere: "You should feel relieved now."

Jiang Feng wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and nodded heavily.

"What the hell is going on here...oh my god..."

He was so engrossed in watching the movie that he didn't notice when the cigarette between his fingers burned his hand. Meng Cheng was so burned that he quickly threw the cigarette butt to the ground and stepped on it to put it out.

By this time, Wang Nian had already walked up to Shi Xiangming and held his hand.

Not to mention that Shi Xiangming was probably very confused at the moment, everyone else also looked very strange.

"It's okay." Shi Xiangming held Wang Nian's hand and sighed deeply: "There's no need to talk about the past. We all have our own new lives now. Just live a good life."

Wang Nian nodded: "Then let's go back! The children must be scared."

The few of them left in a hurry without telling the children where they were going. Plus, Shi Guizhi was extremely bad at lying, so they didn't know if there would be any trouble when they returned.

Shi Xiangming's brows relaxed and the faint smile appeared on the corners of his mouth again.

"Go back."

"Let's go." Meng Cheng waved his hand, turned around and shouted into the closed room: "Old man! Keep the words you just heard secret. If any rumors get out... then you should consider moving to another city."

Shi Xiangming led Wang Nian past Jiang Feng and suddenly stopped.

"It's impossible to take the children away, but you can come to see them... openly."

Liao Guang smiled: "Thank you."

Jiang Feng nodded.

"You can't take the child with you even if you want to," Wang Nian said suddenly. He was not being overconfident but stating the facts: "The child has been registered under your household registration for eleven years. We will definitely win even if we go to court."

Liao Guang: “…”

Meng Cheng nodded and smiled, "Words are not enough. If you want to sue, you have to produce evidence."

“…”

After the shocking war of words over the child, Wang Nian finally had the opportunity to ask about Zhou Yuying's situation.

Meng Cheng touched his nose, changed his previous rude attitude, and even felt a little embarrassed.

Wang Nian knew it immediately and pointed out with a smile: "You two got remarried, right?"

The moment Meng Cheng came all the way here, it was clear that his feelings for Zhou Yuying were still there. As long as the emotional foundation was there, remarriage was only a matter of time.

"Actually, Lao Xiao and I went to look at a house... This place is closer to the hospital where Yuying works."

The two originally lived in a public housing unit allocated by their work unit. Zhou Yuying had to squeeze into a public bus for an hour every day to go to and from get off work. Meng Cheng couldn't bear to see his wife going through this every day, so he thought about seeing if there was a suitable house nearby.

Today I heard from my comrade Lao Xiao that there was a house for sale here, so I came to take a look after get off work.

"It's No. 13 Guanghua Street, on the second floor of the western-style building next to your house." said Lao Xiao.

"If Yuying knew that she could live next door to you again, she would be very happy." Meng Cheng smiled and scratched his head: "I have to go back and tell her the good news."

"Haven't you seen the house yet?" Wang Nian said hurriedly.

"I'll have Yuying come and see it in person tomorrow." Meng Cheng immediately said, "You two can discuss it slowly. I'm a grown man and I just follow the leader's instructions... Chief Engineer Shi, don't you agree?"

Shi Xiangming nodded and chuckled: "I will resolutely follow the leader's instructions. If they tell me to go east, I will never go west."

"Hahaha--"

Wang Nian was also amused and laughed out loud, and he gently punched Shi Xiangming in the chest with his backhand.

After parting at the intersection, the couple held hands and walked slowly towards their door.

"I'm sorry for letting them see the child without consulting you."

Wang Nian shook her head: "After all, she is the biological mother of the child. The blood relationship cannot be severed... and Shuwen and Shi Wan both want to see their biological mother." She stretched out her hand to hold Shi Xiangming's arm and smiled more deeply: "If they want to see, they can come and see!"

"In our family, only Feiying can be tricked away with a piece of candy..."

"Dad!" Shi Feiying was mentioned, and the boy suddenly opened the door and ran over, winking his eyes with great pride: "Hehe, you were scared by me, right?"

"How long have you been hiding behind the door?" Wang Nian caught Shi Feiying who jumped into his arms and pinched her soft face.

Shi Wan stepped out of the door with a helpless expression: "I have been standing there since after dinner. I guess my legs are numb now."

"No, it's not numb." Shi Feiying said immediately.

"Mom, Second Aunt left some food for you." Shi Shuwen held a book in his hand and poked his head out to take a look, then immediately retracted his head and said, "I'll go light the fire and heat up the food."

"Go home for dinner." Wang Nian smiled.

The whole family entered the house happily. As for the biological mother coming to meet them... let's talk about it later.

***

15 Kwong Wah Street.

"You are not kind!"

When old friends met, Wang Nian first received a soft punch from Zhou Yuying, and then the two laughed and hugged each other.

"An Huai is so old, if you don't tell me where I can find you."

They left in such a hurry that both of them forgot to leave their contact information. Even after An Xin had calmed down, Wang Nian still wanted to find an opportunity to visit major hospitals to inquire.

"It's all Meng Cheng's fault." Zhou Yuying smiled and glared at Meng Cheng who was just smiling foolishly.

If his wife says it is his problem then it must be. If he talks back at this time, he might not even be able to get into bed that night.

"Don't stand, sit in the upper courtyard." Shi Xiangming hurriedly invited the two people in.

Zhou Yuying happily held Wang Nian's arm, and finally had time to look around the house which was a little too big with curiosity.

"What kind of unit did Director Shi join? How come the houses keep getting bigger and bigger..."

"Now you should call me Chief Engineer Shi." Meng Chengzhen addressed his wife and patted Shi Xiangming on the shoulder with a smile: "Am I right, Chief Engineer Shi?"

"It's just good luck." Shi Xiangming said modestly.

"Don't pretend!" The second palm was more powerful, and Meng Cheng's fake smile made his mouth twitch: "I've heard from Lao Xiao that you are now the living signboard of the Municipal Design Institute, and all the funds allocated by the higher authorities must be named after you."

"If you want to talk about work, go over there." Zhou Yuying was most impatient to hear men flattering each other hypocritically, so she immediately dismissed the two men impatiently: "Wang Nian and I will go and look at the house, you guys just stay at home and brag as much as you want."

After saying that, he pulled Wang Nian back out and went to check out the house next door.

Number 13 was also a small Western-style building before, but after the land reform it was divided among two families for living. After repeated construction and renovation, it no longer resembles its original appearance.

Now it looks like a two-story red brick house. The first floor is a public building of the plastic factory, and the upper floor is a private house.

The stairs to the second floor are built on the right wall of the house, and the door is also on the right wall.

The house is not big, with a single floor area of ​​just over 60 square meters, two bedrooms, a living room and a rooftop.

It's a very standard house with ample balconies. The toilet was built later, but the kitchen is located at the corner of the stairs on the first floor, which is a bit inconvenient.

However, this shortcoming has little impact on Zhou Yuying and her husband.

"Lao Meng and I both eat lunch at work, and we usually go back to our parents' house during breaks. We just make do with each other on weekdays... Besides, don't we have you here now?"

I used to go to the factory to eat every now and then, but now I live next door and can go there just by walking up and down.

The previous owner specially renovated the roof, built a shed on one side, and built a high enough wall on the other side.

“Isn’t that your backyard?”

A patch of green in the afterglow was particularly eye-catching. Even without seeing clearly whose house it was, Zhou Yuying immediately guessed that it must have been Wang Nian's.

Wang Nian tilted his head towards his home and gestured, "Let's go take a look?"

"Walk!"

As long as the house can be lived in, it's fine. Anyway, the main purpose of buying this house is just for convenience.

In the courtyard, Shi Xiangming and a few others were talking about the recent crackdown by the Public Security Bureau, when suddenly two people walked in, chatting and laughing.

Meng Cheng was surprised: "Is this the end?"

"You go find the landlord to transfer the property later. We'll have dinner at Wang Nian's tonight... Change the house keys and move in tomorrow!"

Meng Cheng caught the key that was thrown to him, and before he could say a word, he could only watch his wife walk away.

"Doctor Zhou is still so impetuous." Shi Xiangming smiled and took a sip of his teacup: "I know where the locksmith is. I'll take you there later."

"We'll have to see each other more often in the future." Meng Cheng also picked up the teacup, blew on the tea leaves, and gulped down a large cup: "Let's go! Let's go now."

This is the backyard.

Zhou Yuying casually lifted the plastic sheet of the greenhouse and poked her head inside, then immediately went in with surprise.

Several kinds of fruits are planted in the shed which is over 100 square meters.

What caught Zhou Yuying's attention the most was naturally the bright red strawberries with a sweet and sour aroma. She didn't have time to look at anything else.

“You actually grew strawberries!”

Strawberries are as rare as imported medicines. If the troops had not given fresh fruits to veteran cadres during festivals, Zhou Yuying would definitely not have known about this fruit.

"Shi Xiangming's unit leader sent me a small basket of seeds. I left some seeds there to try and see if they would work. I didn't expect that they would actually grow..."

It is true that the leader sent strawberries, but these strawberry seeds came from space, with a short ripening period and an astonishing amount of fruit.

The strawberries were dark red in color and large in size. If the children had not gone to school these two days and had not noticed that the strawberries were ripe, they would have probably been eaten up by a few mouths.

"Try it."

Zhou Yuying had already picked the largest one and stuffed it into her mouth. She just applied a little force with her teeth, and the sweet and sour juice instantly burst out in her mouth.

Before the tip of the tongue could exert force, the juice had already flowed along the corners of the mouth to the chin.

Zhou Yuying bent down, wiping the juice while chewing hurriedly.

Wang Nian saw that she liked the fruits, so he took a small basket from the shed and handed it to her: "Pick more and take them home to eat later."

Zhou Yuying took the basket without hesitation.

Wang Nian also picked up the basket and chose the big ones, thinking that the children would be out of school soon, and he would send some to Qiu Shasha and Hu Wenli later.

Last night, Lao Xiao helped run around and was so busy that Wang Nian didn't even think of calling him to eat when he got home in the evening.

"It's still nice to be with you."

As Zhou Yuying was picking the fruits, she suddenly felt emotional and didn't even bother to wipe the pink juice off her chin.

"Is work going badly?"

"You may not know this yet... I have been transferred from the medical position to the logistics position."

"Why?" Wang Nian was puzzled, and immediately thought of Zhou Yuying's frame-up: "Could it be that the things in the factory have been reported to your unit?"

Zhou Yuying shrugged and nodded: "In fact, I didn't want to be a doctor in the first place. I was transferred to another position, but the tiny logistics department is always involved in factionalism. Don't you think it's annoying?"

Zhou Yuying was still disappointed by the factory employees' indifferent attitude. After returning to An Huai, she actually wanted to change her job. Could a transfer by the unit be the same as her own application? She felt depressed just thinking about it.

"I think you are not just worried about your work station." Wang Nian said again.

"You still understand me." Zhou Yuying sighed twice and said, "Meng Cheng and I have been remarried for almost a year, and there is still no movement in my belly."

The background was there, and no one in any faction dared to crowd in. What bothered her was still the matter of the child.

Meng Cheng has an older brother and an older sister, but his older brother died on the battlefield a few years ago. He is now the only son in the family. Zhou Yuying can't let the Meng family die out...

I was young before and didn’t understand the importance of children to Meng Cheng. I only put my own feelings first.

It was only after I saw Wang Nian and Shi Xiangming’s marriage that I realized what home means.

But she realized... God didn't give her a chance to correct herself.