Chapter 125 A Fortuitous Encounter: This child is the heroine's fortuitous encounter! ...
The domestically produced piano that Qin Xiangxiang and her husband bought arrived. They bought it for a little over a thousand yuan. After carrying it back, they placed it in the bedroom, adding another big item to their collection. Qin Xiangxiang covered the old piano in their home with a dust cover and, as usual, played it every now and then.
Qin Xiangxiang wanted Xiaopang to practice piano, but she was afraid that all the neighbors upstairs and downstairs would rebel.
"Let's wait until the factory's cultural activity room is built before providing it for the children of employees to learn piano, harmonica, and accordion. We can also let Little Fatty go and learn there, so as not to disturb them."
Li Jianzhi: "Your textile factory is becoming more and more presentable every day."
The guy trying to lose weight was estimating that he would soon be promoted to the rank of regimental commander, but compared to his wife, he was a nobody, at least when it came to making money.
If a state-owned factory is built well in this day and age, his wife will still be the factory director. If the factory avoids problems with mismanagement and is responsible for its own profits and losses, his wife can probably become a female factory director with assets of hundreds of millions.
With his guidance, his wife figured that they would definitely not go bankrupt after the reform and opening up.
However, despite being able to foresee the future, Qin Xiangxiang still went to university to seriously study textiles and, ideally, learn some foreign languages, as this would be helpful for her future development.
The first batch of college students after the resumption of the college entrance examination produced countless talents. Taking the college entrance examination and going to university was not just about learning knowledge, but also about making connections.
Two or five years later, talking about building connections through university might be considered a joke, but for the first batch of university students in the 1970s, it was definitely not a joke.
Because of the special circumstances of this year's college students, many of them may have been leaders in various units or even secretaries of communes before they were admitted to university, and they all have work and life experience.
However, it's only 1972 now, and there are still five years until the resumption of the college entrance examination. There's plenty of time to review, so there's no need to rush.
Little Fatty exclaimed excitedly, "Dad! Mom! Try the shumai I made!"
Qin Xiangxiang decisively said, "Let your dad eat it!"
"Son, Dad won't eat it."
Recalling how the chubby boy made the shumai, Li Jianzhi felt his eyes burning. The boy was too greedy, filling it with soy sauce, which looked a bit disgusting. He secretly complained to his wife, Qin Xiangxiang, "Your son's cooking is definitely like a restaurant chef! The salt content is way too high. I saw that he not only added soy sauce, but also sugar, Sichuan peppercorns, and even stuffed a shrimp inside."
"And they even added a huge spoonful of lard at the end! High in fat!"
Qin Xiangxiang: "..."
"It's absolutely salty enough to not kill you, but if it's not salty or oily, I'll write my name backwards."
Now, Qin Xiangxiang and her husband are a family of four. Li Jianzhi's style is to use less salt and oil for steaming and boiling, Qin Xiangxiang's style is delicate and small with beautiful plating, their son Xiaopang's style is to add a little bit of everything with lots of oil and salt, and Sui Sui is still too young to tell her style.
Each member of the family is quite different.
"Hmph!" Little Fatty put his hands on his hips: "If you guys don't eat, I'll eat it all by myself, Mom. It'll be like a steamed bun, all juicy and delicious!"
Qin Xiangxiang was not tempted at all.
Little Fatty hadn't even finished his shumai when he found it too oily, salty, and disgusting to eat anymore! You know, even though his grandfather's cooking was terrible, he could still eat it. But when it came to the shumai he made himself, he couldn't even finish one.
"Get out! Get this child out of here! Are you stupid?!"
"Zhao Yangyang, have you lost your mind? They're trying to shift the blame onto you! What kind of people work at your company? They're always bullying you."
"Chen Ruifeng, the wife you married isn't very bright!"
...
Qin Xiangxiang and Li Jianzhi heard the shouting and cursing from upstairs. It was the voice of Old Mrs. Chen. These past few days, Chen Ruifeng's mother and Chen Ruifeng's sister, Chen Xiaomei, had come over and were staying with them temporarily.
The old woman's loud and forceful cursing was truly something else.
Qin Xiangxiang couldn't help but think of Lin Xiuqin, the other female protagonist in her dream. Lin Xiuqin fought against her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, firmly grasping the initiative. Now the female protagonist has become Zhao Yangyang. She wondered how the battle was going.
Li Jianzhi: "That old lady upstairs is a bit disgusting."
"I hate these kinds of awful old ladies the most."
Qin Xiangxiang nodded: "My mother-in-law is the best, but—"
She thought to herself that a terrible mother-in-law and a terrible sister-in-law were also standard trope for the female protagonist, because it seemed that readers of that book liked to read about fighting against terrible relatives.
To be honest, Qin Xiangxiang herself also enjoys dealing with her awful relatives.
"This must be Zhao Yangyang's battle with her awful mother-in-law. We're in for a good show." Qin Xiangxiang had no intention of helping; it wasn't her place to save the male and female leads.
Li Jianzhi: "It seems that Zhao Yangyang's voice is not as loud as her mother-in-law's right now."
"Even an upright official can't settle family disputes. Anyway, let's not get involved in these kinds of things and just watch from the sidelines."
The arguing upstairs grew louder and louder, and Little Fatty became more and more guilty. He thought about the few shumai left in the pot and didn't know what to do. Wasting food was shameful, and he had added so much oil and salt... He felt his butt hurt.
The shouting from upstairs was deafening, and every word pierced Little Fatty's heart.
"Sui Sui, would you like some shumai that your brother made?"
Little Sui Sui shook her head mercilessly.
"Why are they still cursing upstairs? It looks like Sister Gao has come over."
Li Jianzhi and Qin Xiangxiang went out to see what was going on. With such a commotion upstairs, they couldn't stay home and watch the excitement. As soon as they stepped outside, they ran into Bai Yun, the woman from across the street, who also couldn't stay at home any longer.
"Shh!" Bai Yun leaned over and said to them, "It seems that Zhao Yangyang brought a son back."
Qin Xiangxiang and Li Jianzhi were utterly shocked: "??!!"
"You can't just say that."
Zhong Li pushed open the door and spoke to them: "I heard that Zhao Yangyang brought a child back."
Qin Xiangxiang was shocked: "!"
Did the female lead, Zhao Yangyang, get married before? And have a child before?
It's no wonder Qin Xiangxiang thought this way. When a large number of educated youth returned to the city in the future, many of them abandoned their husbands and children, and found new husbands or wives after returning to the city. They didn't care about their children from before at all. It wasn't until later that some children came to the city to look for their relatives, but their parents had already formed new families.
Qin Xiangxiang and the others went upstairs to inquire and found out that the child was not Zhao Yangyang's biological child, but a child brought back from her workplace.
Zhao Yangyang: "How can you be so unkind? This child is only staying here for a day or two. Once we find the child's home, we will naturally return him/her."
Old Mrs. Chen scolded, "Pah! You're so stupid, why can't you figure it out? There are so many people in your workplace, why are you the only one allowed to take your child home? Why don't the others take their children home to stay for a few days?"
"If we can't find the child's home, you'll raise this mute man as your son for the rest of your life? You're really showing off."
Zhao Yangyang brought a child home from work today. The child was about four or five years old, a boy, who was mute and could not speak. He knew nothing when asked. It was estimated that he had been abducted and had contracted a parasitic disease. He was sent to the epidemic prevention station to be treated for the parasites. After he finished taking the deworming medicine, no one claimed the child, and the child's parents could not be found. The epidemic prevention station was about to close down.
A middle-aged man and woman at the epidemic prevention station told Zhao Yangyang to take the child home and look after him for a few days. Zhao Yangyang didn't take it too seriously, thinking that it was just taking the child home to stay for a few days.
Now that her relationship with Chen Ruifeng is stable, Zhao Yangyang is also planning to have a child. Now that she has a baby, she thinks it would be good to experience what it's like to be a mother.
Zhao Yangyang was young and easygoing, so she didn't take it too seriously. She noticed that although the child's clothes were dirty, they weren't patched, and his skin was tender and smooth, unlike someone raised in a poor family.
The family has lost their child and is probably in a complete mess looking for them. Once they find the child's parents, they'll definitely return the child, so it won't cause any delays.
When Old Mrs. Chen learned that her daughter-in-law had brought home a mute child from her workplace, she immediately became furious. She felt that the women at Zhao Yangyang's workplace were trying to trick her by having Zhao Yangyang bring the child home so that she would adopt the mute child.
"I didn't give birth to a son myself, but I raised a son for someone else. What kind of bastard did my son marry?"
Sister Gao advised, "Grandma, please calm down. Zhao Yangyang may have made some mistakes, but it's not wrong for her to bring the child back."
“This child was abducted. Once the child’s parents are found, they will definitely take the child back.”
“Look how well he’s been raised. His clothes are a bit dirty, but his little face is so tender. You can tell his family is well-off.”
"His family will definitely look for the child."
Old Mrs. Chen sneered a few times: "This is a mute. You'd be better off believing that he was kidnapped by abductors than that his grandmother abandoned him herself. They didn't want to raise him, so they threw him out. Looking for his parents? You'll never find them in your entire life!"
"You think they'll come back after you throw this burden out? Dream on!"
Qin Xiangxiang said, "Grandma, you're being too harsh with your words."
When Qin Xiangxiang saw the small child beside Zhao Yangyang's legs, she remembered something from her dream: this child was the protagonist's destiny! It seemed to be the lost grandson of a master of traditional Chinese painting.
After the family found their child, they seemed to have given the original female lead, Lin Xiuqin, a lot of gifts to express their gratitude. Qin Xiangxiang didn't know exactly what they were, but she had done a great favor for the family of the master painter and made a good connection, so there must be some benefits.
Zhao Yangyang is indeed the new female lead; this opportunity has now fallen into her lap.
"I'm being mean, but you, as the female relative, shouldn't make sarcastic remarks. It's easy for you to talk when you're not in my shoes. If you have extra food at home, why don't you feed them yourselves!"
Qin Xiangxiang shook her head. She was too lazy to steal the female lead's opportunity. She had two children at home, and besides, it wouldn't be long before the other girl's children would be taken back by their families.
Old Mrs. Chen sneered a few times: "If you don't want to raise them, then don't make a sound."
"Are you hungry?" The chubby boy held a plate with three bulging shumai in it, his eyes darting around to the four or five-year-old mute boy.
The other person seemed to understand his voice, and the little guy was also hungry.
"I'll treat you to shumai." Li Xiaopang generously offered his homemade "Little Fatty Meal."
Grandma Chen was stunned by the sight of those shumai; they were filled with glutinous rice and smelled of meat.
The little mute was indeed hungry. He was already frightened after hearing the Chen family's argument, and the little bit of kindness the little fat boy showed him touched him deeply. Ever since he was abducted, he hadn't been eating well, otherwise he wouldn't have contracted a parasitic disease.
The little mute boy carefully reached out and took a large shumai. He lowered his head and took a bite, tears welling up in his eyes.
Although the shumai was oily, salty, and greasy... to him, who had been starving for several days, it was a true delicacy.
He took a bite, and under everyone's gaze, his palm was covered in lard.
Everyone present was stunned!
Especially Old Mrs. Chen, staring at that hand full of lard, felt her stomach churning with cravings, and she couldn't help but lick her lips.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
