Chapter 188 Two in One
The next morning at around ten o'clock, Ding Guo was preparing to return to his home. The old man came back from the army. In addition to Xiao He, he was followed by a woman in her early forties.
This is the person the old man asked to take care of Ding Guo.
The woman's surname was Qiao, and her name was Qiao Aiyun. Her husband was also a soldier. He was injured on the battlefield and had one leg lame. He had no choice but to change his career and work as a warehouse manager in a factory in the suburbs of Beijing.
The couple has four children. The eldest daughter got married two years ago, the second child just went to the countryside last year, and the third and fourth children are still in school.
Qiao Aiyun doesn't have a job and usually stays at home to take care of her husband and children. When the old man asked someone to come to her house and explain his intentions, Qiao Aiyun immediately agreed.
To take care of a pregnant woman, I just have to cook and clean during the day and then go home to visit her. Three meals are provided, but I have to stay at the employer's home at night. I am paid 10 yuan a month.
Is there anything else you don’t agree to?
Before Qiao Aiyun, the old man asked around several military dependents, but in the end he felt they weren't suitable and didn't even mention them to those people.
Although he is willing to take care of the families of retired or transferred soldiers, he cannot ignore the quality of life of his granddaughter-in-law. In addition to being a good cook, she also needs to be dexterous and not like to interfere in other people's lifestyles.
After much deliberation, I finally chose Qiao Aiyun.
Qiao Aiyun is a quiet person, but she works very efficiently and keeps her home in good order. Although she herself is not well educated, she has educated her children to be well-mannered and sensible, and she is also a good cook.
Qiao Aiyun's clothes were patched with neat and fine stitching, and they were washed especially clean. Her hair was neatly combed into a bun at the back of her head, but she looked a little restrained.
The old man introduced Ding Guo: "This is Comrade Qiao Aiyun, you can just call her Aunt Qiao."
Ding Guo hurriedly smiled and called out, "Aunt Qiao, I'll trouble you from now on!"
Qiao Aiyun looked nervous, but still responded to the old man's introduction and said, "It's my duty. It's no trouble."
When Qiao Aiyun spoke, Ding Guo asked in surprise, "Aunt Qiao, are you from Henan Province?"
Although the accent was not particularly strong, Ding Guo had a deep impression of the Henan accent. Her college roommate in her previous life was from Henan Province, so she could tell it as soon as Aunt Qiao opened her mouth.
Qiao Aiyun smiled and said, "My mother's family is from Henan Province."
She met her husband through his comrade-in-arms from Henan Province, and they got together unexpectedly.
The old man saw Ding Guo carrying a bag and knew she was going back, so he said directly: "Come on, I'll take you there!"
They asked Xiao He to fix Ding Guo's bicycle on the roof of the car, and then they drove back to Zizhu Bridge.
Qiao Aiyun didn't talk much, and didn't know what to say. As soon as he entered the door, he rolled up his sleeves and said, "Comrade Ding Guo, how about I cook a meal for you to try and see if it suits your taste. If there is anything wrong, please tell me."
"Thank you for your hard work, Aunt Qiao." Ding Guo said again, "Aunt Qiao, you can just call me Xiao Ding or Ding Guo."
Qiao Aiyun was a little nervous throughout the whole process, fearing that Ding Guo would not be used to the food she cooked and she would lose her job.
Ding Guo was of course satisfied. She made a small request at the beginning, asking Aunt Qiao not to be reluctant to use oil, and then let Aunt Qiao do it as she pleased.
For lunch, I made stir-fried cucumber with meat, stir-fried cabbage with vinegar, stir-fried potato chips with meat, and Ding Guo’s never-ending stir-fried tomato and eggs.
I steamed a big pot of rice.
It tasted great and the four of us finished it all.
Qiao Aiyun was not ready to sit at the table at first, so Ding Guo pulled her to sit down.
The old man also said that there is no such rule at home, and everyone sits down to eat together.
The old man didn't stay long, allowing Ding Guo and Qiao Aiyun to slowly get to know each other and get used to each other, and then left after dinner.
Qiao Aiyun cleaned up the kitchen and Ding Guo led her to the west room, which was where Aunt Qiao would live in the future.
However, because it was her first day, Ding Guo was worried that her family had not made arrangements yet, so he asked her if she wanted to go back and take a look.
Qiao Aiyun was very satisfied with her work environment. She shook her head and said, "Everything has been arranged at home. I will go back and take a look when I have nothing to do during the day tomorrow."
Ding Guo nodded, and then said, "Aunt Qiao, if you need anything else in your house, please let me know. After all, this is where we're going to live permanently, so we'd better live comfortably."
Qiao Aiyun waved her hands repeatedly: "There's nothing to add, it's very good, really very good."
The room was more spacious than their bedroom. The bed was clean and the quilt was new. She felt a little embarrassed and thought of just replacing the old bed with hers. She thought it was a bit of a waste to use a new one.
Ding Guo didn't force it. She could see that Qiao Aiyun was a little reserved, so she decided to wait until they got to know each other better before talking about it.
"Aunt Qiao, take a rest. I have something to go out for."
She had to go out and get two more keys, and also find a carpenter to make a large wardrobe and cabinets so that Qiao Aiyun could get familiar with the home environment.
Leaving her alone at home? Qiao Aiyun was a little nervous subconsciously, but then she remembered that Comrade Ding Guo had a job, and she would be alone at home most of the time in the future. Her nervousness slowly relaxed and she asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"No, I'm just going out for a walk."
Ding Guo said this with a smile, covered himself tightly, put on gloves, and pushed the cart out.
Qiao Aiyun didn't really rest. She wanted to find something to do, but the house was very tidy inside and out. There were only a few fallen leaves in the yard. She hurriedly picked up the broom and swept the yard. After sweeping, she went to the kitchen and cleaned every corner of the kitchen.
Ding Guo got the information of the carpenter from Li Shumei, and followed the address given by Li Shumei. He turned into a narrow alley and found the home of the carpenter named Li Kaichun.
Li Kaichun's parents were carpenters, and were later hired by a furniture factory as master craftsmen. He inherited his father's business and also became a carpenter. Now he is also a worker in the furniture factory, and usually uses his time after get off work to take on some private work.
Ding Guo explained her purpose, showed the design she had drawn in the past few days to Li Kaichun, and said, "Master Li, can this be done?"
Li Kaichun looked at the design and was a little surprised: "Wide and high dimensions?"
Internal structure diagram... He had seen similar ones before, but the layout was not as reasonable as the one in his hand. The layout design was ingenious.
There was ample space for hanging and folding clothes, but he didn't understand why two rows of small drawers were added to the middle compartment.
What can this hold?
But since they asked him to do so, he had no choice but to do it. It just required more wood and a mirror, so the price was higher than that of an ordinary wardrobe.
Looking at the cabinets, the layout and design are also different from those on the market.
Seeing that he hadn't said anything, Ding Guo hurriedly asked, "Can you do it?"
Li Kaichun nodded: "We can do it, but the price may be higher if it is made according to your required size."
Price is not an issue, as long as it can be done.
Li Kaichun doesn't have any very precious wood here, the best material is birch.
After final discussion, the large wardrobe with mirror cost two hundred and fifteen yuan, and the cupboard cost one hundred and thirty-five yuan.
After paying the deposit and asking about the approximate delivery time, Ding Guo rode away on his bike.
I went to get two keys and rode my bike home.
On the way, he calmly bought some pork belly from the system mall and brought it back. He gave the meat and the new key to Aunt Qiao and said, "Aunt Qiao, there is a snack called 'Zhuang Mo' in your hometown. Can you make it?"
Qiao Aiyun didn't expect Ding Guo to know the snacks from her hometown, so she nodded quickly and said, "Yes."
"Then let's make some strong steamed buns tomorrow morning and put more meat in them."
Perhaps because Ding Guo knew her hometown and the special food there, Qiao Aiyun felt less reserved and said with a smile, "Yes!"
Now that Ding Guo has someone to take care of him, Yu Shaofen doesn't have to rush here every day after get off work.
Ding Guo actually hopes that Aunt Yu can come to stay at home at night. It will be more lively with more people, and living at home is always more comfortable than living in the dormitory.
She was ready to light the stove.
Yu Shaofen didn't agree. She smiled and said, "It's not like I don't come here. I come here every now and then to stay overnight."
Ding Guo felt a little reluctant, so he held Yu Shaofen's arm and rubbed it against her shoulder.
Yu Shaofen couldn't help but tap Ding Guo's forehead with a smile and said, "I applied for the factory dormitory with great difficulty. If I don't live in it for a long time and the factory takes it back, I will lose a lot."
Ding Guo knew that this was half true and half an excuse. Aunt Yu was probably afraid that if she stayed there for too long, people would say something gossipy about her.
After being with Aunt Yu for so long, Ding Guo has more or less understood Yu Shaofen's personality. She doesn't like people to think that she wants to depend on anyone.
"Then don't live in the dormitory, just move here directly." Although he knew that Yu Shaofen would not agree, Ding Guo still tried to persuade her.
"That won't do." Yu Shaofen said, "If my dormitory is really taken back by the factory, won't those people who reported me be very happy?"
Ding Guo was startled, raised his head and asked: "Report?"
Yu Shaofen nodded and sighed, "Some people think that my family is from the local area and should not occupy dormitory quotas. They reported it to the factory, but it was rejected."
Why doesn’t she take up a dormitory spot?
First of all, she was a factory employee and had the right to apply for a dormitory. Moreover, she made a contribution soon after joining the factory. She discovered the failure of the workshop equipment in time, which enabled the workshop to avoid a production accident and prevent losses to the factory.
When the factory approves dormitory applications, seniority is one factor, but it is only one of them. It also depends on personal performance, whether you are a model worker or an advanced worker, and another factor is your contribution to the factory.
She has made a contribution and needs a dormitory, so why shouldn't she use her power?
However, the fundamental reason why she doesn't want to live at home is that at her age, she has experienced a marital change. Living in the family compound and going in and out every day will give those gossipers enough things to talk about.
Although she didn't care what others said, she was afraid that her old man and old lady would get angry and suffer in vain after hearing too much.
In fact, she had thought about renting a house. If the factory had not approved her dormitory application, she would have rented a house. Since it was approved, she moved to the dormitory assigned to her, which was closer to the factory and more convenient.
The next morning, Aunt Qiao got up and made some steamed buns.
Ding Guo liked it very much and ate several pieces with a crunch. Yu Shaofen also praised it highly.
She also got up in the morning to help, assisted Qiao Aiyun, and cooked some millet porridge.
The lunch that Yu Shaofen brought for Ding Guo was stir-fried pork with peppers, and two eggs were fried according to Ding Guo's preferences.
The staple food is steamed rice.
After breakfast, Ding Guo and Yu Shaofen went out to work together. Qiao Aiyun finished cleaning the house, locked the door, and returned home.
In the past two days, Yue Hongmei's name often appeared in Ding Guo's backstage, and indirectly Ding Nianjun's name also popped up from time to time.
She didn't care, as it was a good thing for her to have income. She just didn't know what bad things the mother and daughter were thinking about her and were secretly bullying her.
System: "Ding Jianguo and Ding Zhigang have also appeared, but not frequently."
Ding Guo rolled his eyes: "Who knows what's wrong with him? Don't pay any attention to it."
Just wait for the income.
Until she received the letter from Taozi.
The two and a half pages of crookedly written letter shocked Ding Guo.
Before she even read the letter, she guessed that something big must have happened in Fengning, otherwise Taozi wouldn't have written so many words.
Sure enough, she saw a lot of gossip about the Ding family.
A small section is about Taozi’s experience in her new job.
Taozi no longer lives in the family compound, so I don’t know who she asked about these things.
"My cousin's wife discovered that Ding Nianjun was speculating in the black market and reported her. After my cousin found out, he quarreled with my cousin's wife and beat her up. My cousin's mother-in-law beat my cousin up and slapped him several times. My cousin's sister-in-law's brother came to the house and beat my cousin up again. My cousin's wife started divorcing my cousin again..."
Well, before Ding Guo came to the capital, Ding Jianguo and his wife had been arguing about divorce for a few days, but the divorce was not successful in the end.
But Ding Guo was still quite surprised that Lu Xiaomei reported Ding Nianjun.
I knew that their friendship had capsized, but I didn't expect that they would smash the boat directly.
"Ding Nianjun has been arrested and has not yet come out. Auntie..."
Having written this far, Ding Tao crossed out the word "Auntie" and later changed it to "Jianguo's mother".
Ding Guo was amused by Ding Tao's words.
Ding Tao had long seen that Ding Guo did not want to acknowledge that mother, but she could not write Yue Hongmei's name directly, so she simply used the title "Jianguo's mother".
"Jianguo's mother was very worried. She wanted you to use your brother-in-law's family connections to save Ding Nianjun. She asked me for your workplace phone number. I said I didn't know. Jianguo's mother didn't believe me and scolded me, saying I was black-hearted and ungrateful. She also said she wanted to get rid of my job. I was scared to death..."
Ding Guo: ...
She continued reading, trying to make out Taozi's increasingly sloppy handwriting, and it was obvious that her patience was running out by the second half.
I finally finished reading the letter, and the final conclusion was that Ding Nianjun was reported for speculation and was put in jail, and had not yet been released before Taozi sent the letter.
Moreover, Pan Dingfeng performed quite well and rushed to Fengning to rescue his wife, but failed.
Now Yue Hongmei is alone with her unrelated grandson, trying to find connections everywhere, and even went to the steel plant to make a scene, trying to get Ding Zhigang for help.
The reason is, 'Nianjun has called you dad for twenty years after all.'
But Ding Zhigang ignored it, because... he was about to start his second spring.
Even though Ding Xiang and her family were very resistant to their father's idea of finding them a stepmother, Ding Zhigang was determined to marry a new wife.
Although Ding Xiang has dropped out of school to help with housework, the aunt who was enthusiastic about introducing Ding Zhigang to other people thinks more long-term.
Ding Xiang can help with housework now, but can she do it forever? Who will take care of Ding Zhigang after Ding Xiang goes to the countryside next year or two?
Even if she doesn't go to the countryside, won't Dingxiang get married in the future?
If Ding Zhigang was prepared to work during the day and cook and do his own laundry after get off work, then he wouldn't need to look for one, but Ding Zhigang wasn't that diligent.
Since you have to find it sooner or later, why wait for a few years? It is always better to find it early than late.
Ding Zhigang thought about it and decided that it would be better to find someone than to be single.
So how could he agree when Yue Hongmei asked him to help rescue Ding Nianjun?
If he agreed, outsiders would think he was having an affair with his ex-wife, which would affect his reputation.
Yue Hongmei started to make a fuss.
She just wanted to ask Ding Zhigang for help, but she unexpectedly learned that Ding Zhigang was going to find a new person so soon. This was a bit of a shock for her, and she had gone crazy several times at the gate of the steel plant.
Ding Zhigang is getting married, but Ding Jianguo is getting a divorce... The excitement in the Ding family is simply endless.
Putting the letter back into the envelope, she guessed that it would not be long before she would see the follow-up.
"Mouse, do I have any income these two days?"
System: "Yue Hongmei occasionally jumped around and was surprised to see Xiao Laoliu's name. Oh, your sister-in-law is online."
Lu Xiaomei suddenly gave her 3 points of internal friction.
"It's just venting anger on others." Ding Guo took out a handful of melon seeds and gave half to Sister Shumei, cracking them while speaking.
Xiao Laoliu and Lu Xiaomei were both taking their anger out on others.
I didn't do anything to those two people, I just didn't care about their trivial matters according to their wishes.
Yue Hongmei is online so rarely, probably because she is busy making trouble for Ding Zhigang and finding connections for her baby Junjun, so she doesn't have much time to blame her.
When someone came to pay, Ding Guo put his mind at ease and skillfully collected the money and made the change. After the customer left, he took the notebook and recorded the bill.
Although there is no follow-up from the old Ding family for the time being, Ding Guo began to pay attention to the background. From the list of people that pop up from time to time in the background, he could guess that nothing about Fengning had a good outcome.
There was a period of time when Ding Nianjun's name became a little popular.
I just don't know whether she hates herself in the police station or outside the police station.
Why hate her? It wasn't her who asked Lu Xiaomei to report it.
Of course, Lu Xiaomei also often teased her, and her name would pop up from time to time, followed by Ding Jianguo.
What does their divorce have to do with her?
Ding Guo couldn't figure it out and just accepted their internal consumption value.
After get off work, Ding Guo rode his bike home. Just as he entered the house and was trying to identify the delicious aroma wafting from his kitchen, Aunt Qiao poked her head out of the kitchen and said, "Xiao Ding, there's a letter for you. It was sent by Sister Zhang from the compound."
She is talking about Aunt Zhang. Ding Guo calls her Aunt and Qiao Aiyun calls her Sister.
Who wrote the letter to her and sent it to the compound?
Ding Guo guessed that it was a letter written to her by her mother-in-law, because she left the address of the bookstore in the letter to Fengning.
I didn't expect to walk into the room and pick up the letter on the table...it was from Fengning.
When I opened it, I was even more surprised to find that it was Ding Jianguo.
"How does he know the address of the compound..."
Ding Guo smiled.
Ding Nianjun and Pan Dingfeng used to live in the compound. Ding Jianguo didn't know the address of her unit, but it was not difficult to find out the address of the compound.
He opened the letter, scanned it quickly, took it out and stuffed it into the stove along with the envelope.
What a fool. Last time he was drunk and stopped Xiao Hong on the road, but Xiao Hong was soft-hearted and didn't directly report him for being a hooligan. Now he actually wrote a letter to ask Ding Guo to ask Xiao Hong for help, hoping to use Xiao Hong's uncle's relationship to get Ding Nianjun out.
He also used both emotion and reason in the letter, saying that Nianjun's son was still young and couldn't lose his mother at such a young age, and asked her to help.
Who cares about her?
The original owner raised Ding Nianjun’s child personally, but what did he get in the end?
Yue Hongmei always says that she is an ungrateful person, but Ding Nianjun’s son is an ungrateful person.
The original owner brought him up and treated him as her own son. He regarded the original owner as a nanny and thought that the original owner took care of him because his parents were outstanding and could bring wealth and glory to the entire family. On the other hand, how could the original owner's aunt, who had done nothing, help the family if not help his parents take care of the children?
On the other hand, he thought that his aunt was being nice to him because she and her fool uncle couldn't have children of their own, and that she would count on him for support in her old age. So he didn't need to be grateful, because after all, his aunt would rely on him in the future!
Ding Guo wanted to see what would be the final outcome of Yue Hongmei's life if Ding Nianjun really couldn't get out of the police station.
Let’s see if she can raise that arrogant and ungrateful boy in the book into a filial son.
The next day, Ding Guo called Ding Jianguo's workplace. When Ding Jianguo answered the phone, she started to scold him: "Have you lost your mind? You still want me to ask Xiao Hong for help? What can you help me with? Help me change Ding Nianjun's sentence from fixed-term to life imprisonment, or from life imprisonment to death penalty. If she has already been sentenced to death, can you help me find some connections to have her shot today? If you feel so sorry for Ding Nianjun, why don't you go to jail for her? If this doesn't express your love, then die for her, and save yourself from wasting air!"
If she wasn't afraid of exposing Ding Tao's remote delivery of melons, she would have asked Ding Jianguo a series of questions, "Have you coaxed your wife?" "Have your mother-in-law and brothers-in-law beaten you again recently?" "Have the injuries from the last beating healed?" "Has your stepmother come into the family?" "Are the fifth and sixth children in a good mood recently? Have you, as the eldest brother, ever cared about them?"
He doesn't worry about what he should worry about, and he worries about what he shouldn't worry about. He has nothing to do.
Ding Jianguo was stunned by the scolding. His face turned red and he tried to defend himself: "It's not that I'm your elder sister, but because the child is still young..."
Beep beep beep!
Ding Guo has hung up the phone.
Ding Jianguo sighed, hung up the phone and walked out of the office.
Nianjun has a conflict with her eldest sister, and her son has not offended her eldest sister, so why can't she lend a hand for the sake of the child's young age?
How could my elder sister be so cruel?
Or are all women cruel?
Thinking about Lu Xiaomei, who took her child back to her parents' home and insisted on getting a divorce, Ding Jianguo felt a headache.
The sisters who were once so good to each other actually acted so cruelly and sent Nianjun to the police station. What did Nianjun do to her? Wasn't it just because she bought a house? But she didn't spend Lu Xiaomei's money to buy the house. What was she angry about?
He really couldn't understand the train of thought of that crazy woman.
Ding Jianguo couldn't help but scratch his hair.
Just when he was feeling overwhelmed, someone called him and said that his father was looking for him.
Ding Jianguo suddenly remembered another bad thing—his father was going to find a stepmother for him!
If his parents had just divorced, he might have objected if Ding Zhigang wanted to find a stepmother for them.
But now I am not so repulsive anymore.
His parents have no hope of remarrying, so as his children, they would feel relieved if there was someone who cared for his father and understood his feelings.
In fact, it was because Ding Jianguo hadn't lived in the family compound for a long time, so he didn't have much of a feeling about whether there should be another hostess at home.
What upset him was that his mother had been making a big fuss recently because his father was getting married. Ding Zhigang wanted him to persuade Yue Hongmei and had come to see her several times.
But when he went to his mother's place, his mother forced him to find a way to rescue Junjun as soon as possible, and cursed Ding Zhigang for being heartless, and cursed those who instigated Ding Zhigang to find a new wife to die a horrible death, and cursed his father's blind date as a vixen...
In short, there was not a single nice word said, and the mother and son could not communicate normally at all.
Moreover, the fifth and sixth children reacted very strongly to their stepmother. They had some emotional breakdowns during this period and always came to him to ask him to stop their father from finding a stepmother for them.
He is the eldest son in the family, and at critical moments everyone hopes that he can take on the responsibility and perfectly resolve all conflicts in the family.
But I don’t have that ability!
Thinking of this, Ding Jianguo couldn't help but blame Ding Guo again.
If his eldest sister was doing well with the family, and he had her to help share the burden at this time, he couldn't imagine how easy life would be.
Dragging heavy steps to the factory gate, Ding Jianguo saw his father and the scratches on his father's face at a glance.
Ding Jianguo suddenly felt something was wrong.
"Your mother went to the steel mill to cause trouble again today. Look what she got." Ding Zhigang said angrily, "Jianguo, you are the eldest son in the family. You have to take responsibility for some things. Go tell your mother that this is the last time. If she makes trouble like this again next time, I will send her directly to the security department."
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