◎Two in One◎
As soon as Feng Juan said this, she immediately realized something was wrong. She covered her mouth and looked around in panic, not knowing where to look. She subconsciously looked at her man, only to see Xu Mingliang staring at her with his eyes seemingly popping out.
"No...I was wrong, no...we didn't take any money." This excuse was not convincing at all, after all, everyone heard it clearly just now.
"Auntie, there's nothing to hide." Liang Baozhen rarely showed a good face to her, with a faint smile on her face, which made Feng Juan dazed for a moment, "Didn't you and Uncle San say that we are all family, and we should not talk about different things. Sheng Jie didn't intend to pursue anything about what happened back then. It's been many years, and now he is just thinking about his parents, so he just said it casually."
Xu Shengjie nodded naturally, and said calmly, "Auntie, did Chen Yong really give you ten yuan? Ten yuan more than ten years ago is really a lot."
"Of course not!" Feng Juan felt that her nephew and his wife really treated her as a family member. She immediately became interested and recalled the past, talking nonstop, "At that time, Chen Yong had not yet become the factory director. He was just a worker, but he was really capable and had a bad temper. Many people in the factory respected him and many called him brother. Who would have thought that he actually cared about your parents' affairs."
Feng Juan recalled that she and Mingliang wanted to go to the National Cotton Mill to make some noise to get some benefits and improve the situation at home, but they were driven away by the security department before they could make any progress. They went there for two days in a row and were not ready to give up. They thought about going to find a reporter from a daily newspaper. Anyway, the bigger the noise, the better, so that the National Cotton Mill would have to spend money to get rid of them.
Who would have thought that before they could wait for the leader of the National Cotton Mill to come and send them away, they actually waited for Chen Yong first.
Chen Yong has always been brave and fierce. Xu Mingliang had also heard of his name and was a little scared when he saw him. But he didn't expect that Chen Yong would be so polite. He earnestly advised them to bury the body as soon as possible and not to make a fuss. He even paid ten yuan out of his own pocket to let them go back.
"You mean, Chen Yong specifically told us not to make a big deal out of this?"
"Yes." Feng Juan was still very impressed, because this was the first time she earned so much money, a full ten dollars. She had wondered why Chen Yong was so generous, but people said that he couldn't bear to see Xu Mingyuan and Wu Huacui not being buried, so she let it go.
Seeing that the truth could not be hidden, Xu Mingliang could only help Feng Juan to embellish the whole cause and effect, saying that he really wanted to seek justice for his second brother and second sister-in-law. However, he did not cover up the part about Chen Yong. This happened more than ten years ago. Could Xu Shengjie still explain it away for ten dollars?
Now, even this nephew who can spend 20,000 yuan to buy a courtyard house would look down on ten yuan.
Xu Shengjie's dark eyes seemed to be filled with emotions, obscure and unclear, "Did Chen Yong come to you later? I remember that he didn't come to our house to attend my parents' funeral."
Feng Juan remembered this incident. "He came before! You were young at that time and probably didn't notice him. He came on the day of the burial. He gave me ten yuan a while ago. I was sure I could recognize him at a glance. But just when I wanted to go over and say hello, Chen Yong left."
"I haven't seen him since then." Xu Mingliang had never expected that this man would rise rapidly to become the director of the National Cotton Mill, and he would no longer be able to reach such a high position.
Xu Shengjie and Liang Baozhen came out of Xu Mingliang's house, and they felt something was wrong.
"I think Chen Yong might have something to do with your parents' sudden death."
"I feel the same way." Xu Shengjie's emotions were churning inside, and he couldn't tell what he felt. He had always believed that his parents had accidentally fallen into the water and died. Now, maybe there was something hidden?
"Let's go to the National Cotton Mill and take a look. It was quite a big incident back then, and I think a lot of people still remember it." Liang Baozhen thought of her master Meng Ping and the several aunties she had met in the blind elimination class back then, and they all knew her mother-in-law.
"Let's go." Xu Shengjie said casually, "Just chat casually, don't make any surprises. If it was really Chen Yong who killed my parents, this man must have been able to keep it a secret for more than ten years. It must be very difficult."
"Know."
The two of them acted separately, Xu Shengjie went to the flower cleaning workshop, and Liang Baozhen went to the fine yarn workshop.
It was lunch time. Wang Xin was taking his lunch box and preparing to go to the cafeteria to get food. He was surprised and delighted to see Liang Baozhen at the door of the workshop.
"Baozhen, why are you here?"
"Come back and have a look!"
Liang Baozhen and Wang Xin had not seen each other for several months, but they were "comrades-in-arms" who entered the National Cotton Factory at about the same time and had a deep revolutionary friendship. They did not feel strange at all when they met each other now.
"Ready to eat?"
"Yes, have you eaten yet?" Wang Xin took Liang Baozhen's arm and said generously, "Come on, I'll treat you to a meal. I still have meal tickets for this month."
Liang Baozhen nodded in agreement and looked around again, "Where is Master Meng?"
"She hasn't left yet. She's checking the equipment."
"Let's ask Master Meng to come along."
Liang Baozhen's sudden appearance also surprised Meng Ping. The work at hand was not very urgent, so she also took her lunch box to get food. However, the three of them did not go to the cafeteria to eat. Instead, they found a secluded place on the steps to eat.
Meng Ping and Wang Xin were sincerely happy for Liang Baozhen when they learned that she had graduated from Peking University and was now working at Beijing TV Station.
"That's great. You're going to be a news anchor in the future, right? I've listened to the radio. Although I can't see the person, I know from the voice that the announcer must be beautiful, powerful, and professional."
Wang Xin felt jealous because she was still a young factory worker, while Liang Baozhen would be a big anchor in the future.
"I'm just a little intern now." Liang Baozhen feels that she is still far from being a news anchor.
"No matter what you do, it's just a screw." Meng Ping thinks any job is good as long as you do it well.
As the three of them were eating, Liang Baozhen smelled the long-lost aroma of food cooked by the chef in the canteen of the National Cotton Mill, and she felt a sense of familiarity.
"To be honest, the cooking skills of the factory cafeteria chef are really good. Sometimes I still miss the taste of this."
"That's because you eat too much other things." Wang Xin didn't understand her, "We don't want to eat what we eat every day, hahaha."
Meng Ping actually liked the taste. "You've only been eating it for a few years? Are you sick of it? What should I do if I've been eating it for decades?"
Liang Baozhen was alerted when she heard the words "decades ago" and continued, "Master Meng, was Master Zhou the one who worked in the cafeteria when you first joined the factory?"
"That's right. Chef Zhou has much more experience than me. He is the backbone." Meng Ping recalled that when she first entered the National Cotton Mill, she almost swallowed her tongue when she ate the braised lion's head made by Chef Zhou in the cafeteria. "At that time, we were all new to the factory, but there was one person who was the calmest."
"Who is it?"
"Your mother-in-law, Wu Huacui."
Speaking of Wu Huacui, Liang Baozhen put down her chopsticks and turned to look at Meng Ping. "You all had a good relationship back then, right? Xinxin and I had a firm revolutionary friendship."
Wang Xin was delighted when he heard this, and bared his big white teeth at Liang Baozhen, "Yes, very revolutionary!"
Meng Ping seemed to see the shadow of her own youth in these two young people.
"We had a good relationship. We were so innocent back then. We were able to work in the factory and earn a living. We were envied by many people outside. We often worked together, ate together, and went out together. We were like you back then. We were most happy when we could buy a piece of cloth to make a new piece of clothing."
"My mother-in-law passed away so suddenly, you must be very sad."
"Oh, how could I not be sad? How could such a good person just leave like that?" Meng Ping still sighs when she thinks back on it now.
"Did everyone think it was an accident? Did no one suspect anything else?"
"Yes, at that time, several people in our workshop thought it was unlikely. How could two people fall into the river? Especially Hua Cui, she can swim and paddle in the water." Meng Ping recalled that year and felt that the two people were unlucky. She didn't know if it was fate. "We reported the situation to the police and the factory at that time, but later the police investigated and found that there was nothing wrong. The money on the two people was still there. It was impossible that someone wanted to steal money and do such a murderous thing. It was raining those days and the ground was slippery. It seems that they are really unlucky."
"Did my parents-in-law offend anyone in the factory before? Maybe someone did it to them?"
"That's impossible!" Meng Ping knew very well, "Your parents-in-law have a good reputation in the factory. They are usually polite to everyone they meet. It's impossible for them to offend anyone."
As she was talking, Meng Ping remembered something and looked around, "The only time I saw your father-in-law get angry with someone was with the current factory manager Chen Yong."
"Ah?" Wang Xin seemed to be listening to a story, but he didn't expect it to involve the current factory director. "Master Meng, you don't mean that the factory director..."
"Bah! What nonsense are you talking about?" Meng Ping explained hastily, "That's not what I meant. It's just that the factory director Chen Yong had pursued Baozhen's mother-in-law before. Later, Baozhen's parents-in-law started dating someone, and Chen Yong even went to Xu Mingyuan to make trouble. The two almost got into a fight. But Xu Mingyuan was no match for Chen Yong. Chen Yong was so strong that I guess no one in the National Cotton Mill could beat him. At most, Liu Shengqiang could compete with him when he was young."
Liang Baozhen was excited when she heard the news, "Then the police didn't suspect him at the time?"
"The fight happened many years ago. Your husband was already twelve years old when your parents-in-law got into trouble. It's all in the past. Who would still bring it up?"
Liang Baozhen believed that other people had forgotten about this past event, but Chen Yong was a man of unusual character. She increasingly felt that Chen Yong was related to the death of her parents-in-law.
——
On the other side, Xu Shengjie was also talking to the old man in the workshop. He dispersed everyone with a few Daqianmen cigarettes and mentioned casually that his family used to work at the National Cotton Mill, but now they have all left, with a sigh.
Liu Shengqiang was the one who felt the most emotional. He entered the factory a year or so ago as Xu Shengjie's father Xu Mingyuan. Liu Shengqiang, who entered the factory later, got along well with Xu Mingyuan and they had a good relationship. Xu Mingyuan helped him a lot, but he passed away at a young age.
Liu Shengqiang is now a middle-aged man with more than half of his hair gone. He has dark circles under his eyes and his mind is in a mess. "I still remember your father's death. I really don't believe that your father could have fallen into the river and drowned."
Xu Shengjie did not have a deep impression of Liu Shengqiang. He only remembered that he was a big and strong man with a hot temper. After he was discharged from the army and joined the National Cotton Factory, this man would take care of him from time to time and give him some advice. However, because the two were in different workshops, they did not interact much.
"Uncle Liu, what do you know about this?"
Liu Shengqiang shook his head, "I don't know. I just think it's impossible for your father to fall into the river at night. You said that if I got drunk, maybe it's possible. I was reckless when I was young, but your father and mother would never do such a thing!"
"Did my parents offend anyone in the factory?"
"That shouldn't be the case. They are all good people. My temper may offend people, but they can't." Liu Shengqiang threw the cigarette butt to the ground. Thinking of Xu Mingyuan, he felt really bad. "In the past, Chen Yong and I were the ones with the hottest tempers in the National Cotton Mill. We couldn't stand each other. We had a few fights. Your father even advised me not to confront him head-on, but to work hard. I hope I can become a veteran in the factory and live a good life in the future. As a result, I am now a level 6 worker and my life is good, but your father... is gone."
Xu Shengjie suppressed the sadness in his heart and asked, "Did you also fight with the factory director?"
"Yes, he is the factory director now, and I don't care about him. When we were young, we didn't obey each other. Now that he is old, he pretends to be a good person. Bah! I tell you, don't be fooled by Chen Yong's words and deeds now, he has a black heart."
Liu Shengqiang has a bad temper, but he is also honest and straightforward. When he and Chen Yong were both young and energetic, there is no room for two tigers in one mountain, and there were many frictions between the two. As a result, Liu Shengqiang was no match for Chen Yong and was tricked by him several times. It was Xu Mingyuan who helped and persuaded Liu Shengqiang to calm down.
Otherwise, Liu Shengqiang will be finished off by Chen Yong sooner or later.
"So, do my dad and Chen Yong have any conflicts?"
"That shouldn't be the case." Liu Shengqiang remembered that there was no conflict between the two of them.
Several other senior workers were also impressed by Xu Mingyuan, but the information they talked about was almost the same. Xu Shengjie thanked several people and met with his wife at the gate of the National Cotton Mill.
The two got on their bicycles, and Xu Shengjie exchanged the news he had just received with Liang Baozhen on the back seat. In fact, there was no direct evidence, but once the seed of doubt was planted, he could not control it. The knowledge that his parents' death might not be an accident occupied his mind.
"Do you think Chen Yong is really involved in my parents' death?"
Liang Baozhen was unsure, but very suspicious. "To be honest, I am quite suspicious, but it has been so many years since the incident, I don't know who I can ask."
"Let's go to the police station." Xu Shengjie held the handlebars of the 28-bar bicycle and turned to go to the police station.
The street police station under the management of Yueya Hutong has his comrades from his previous unit, and the two have always had some contact. However, his comrade Song Jun was a little surprised when he suddenly came to inquire about what happened more than ten years ago today.
"It happened so many years ago, it's not enough for you to just doubt it now." Not to mention asking the police station to help investigate a case that they wanted to overturn without any evidence many years ago, they are already too busy to handle the big and small things that happen every day.
"We understand, but can you help check the files from that year?" Xu Shengjie didn't know if there were any clues left at that time. He was too young at the time, and his memory was vague, so he didn't know enough about many details.
"I can still help with this." Song Jun patted Xu Shengjie on the shoulder. This matter concerned someone's deceased parents, so this was the only way he could comfort them.
Xu Shengjie and Liang Baozhen were worried, so they returned home and tried their best to adjust their mood, at least not to let their grandmother find out about the problem. Zhou Yun was over seventy years old and could not withstand much hardship. Xu Shengjie was worried that his grandmother was too emotional and her body could not bear it.
After dinner, Zhou Yun took Shanshan to the courtyard next door to play and talk to someone. There are many courtyards in the alleys in spring, but not many can accommodate one family. Most of them are large mixed courtyards with many families living in them. She likes the hustle and bustle, and she spends time talking with some of the uncles and aunts next door and reminiscing about the past. Life was pretty good.
Liang Baozhen and Xu Shengjie found a photo of Xu Mingyuan and Wu Huacui taken many years ago. Looking at the blurry faces of the two people in the photo, Liang Baozhen sighed, "I will go back to Yueya Hutong tomorrow to ask around. The neighbors must know a lot about what happened back then."
Xu Shengjie nodded silently, took out a pack of Daqianmen from the drawer, held it in his hand, shook out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, looking at his wife, "Have one."
Liang Baozhen knew that he must be very upset, so she didn't stop him. "Okay."
Xu Shengjie went outside to smoke a cigarette. Standing in the empty yard, he recalled scenes from his childhood. His life was pretty good at that time. He had a kind grandmother, loving parents, and a pair of newly born twins... But everything was broken after a rainy night.
The smoke was swirling around, and a cigarette with a numbing smell of tobacco quickly burned out. Xu Shengjie pressed the cigarette head against the wall to extinguish the spark...
The weather was not very good today. The sky was gloomy in the evening, as if it was going to rain heavily, which made Xu Shengjie feel depressed.
"dad!"
A clear child's voice broke the loneliness in the courtyard. Xu Shengjie saw the lady running over and a smile immediately appeared on his face. His eyes followed the lady. Today, Shanshan was wearing a white strawberry-dot shirt with a doll collar. She ran to her father, hugged his thigh and acted coquettishly, "Daddy, hug me!"
Shanshan went to the courtyard next door to play for a while. She was playing marbles just now and hit the ball so far that she excitedly rushed home to show off to her parents.
"Dad, I was just playing marbles. I'm so good at it. Bang, I hit the marbles so far. I'm better than Sister Huahua and Brother Junjun!"
Xu Shengjie looked at the lady who was sweating from playing, and reached out to wipe the sweat off her forehead. "Shanshan is so amazing?"
"Yes!" Shanshan raised her rosy face, looking very proud. After saying that, she looked around for her mother, "Where's my mother? She doesn't know yet."
"Mom is in the house."
"Then let's go in and find her." Shanshan was held by her father and urged her father to go into the house quickly.
In the house, Liang Baozhen had already heard the chattering sounds outside. Who else could it be? It must be Shanshan.
"What's wrong, Shanshan?"
"Mom, Mom! Shanshan won the first place in the marble game." When Shanshan saw her mother, she struggled to get out of her father's arms, threw herself to her mother's side, put her little hands on her mother's legs, stood up straight and continued to show off.
Xu Shengjie listened to the young lady's chattering, and the melancholy in his heart dissipated a lot. He just gently touched Shanshan's little braid. The child's hair was very soft, as if it softened his heart.
"Our Shanshan is so great." Liang Baozhen kissed the girl on the cheek and praised the child highly.
Shanshan's face turned even redder. She was very proud of herself when she praised herself, but when her mother praised her, she became shy.
"Mom, what is this?" Shanshan saw the yellowed old photo on the table and stood on tiptoe curiously.
Liang Baozhen held Shanshan in her arms and sat her on her lap. She held up a photo and told her, "These are Dad's dad and mom, your grandparents."
In fact, Liang Baozhen had shown her children photos of her parents-in-law, but Shanshan was young and had a bad memory, so she simply couldn't remember them.
"Grandpa and grandma?" Shanshan looked at the photo carefully, staring at it as if she wanted to see a hole in it, "Are these Daddy's parents?"
She turned around and looked at her father. He nodded and then looked at the photo again. "Why don't grandpa and grandma come out? They haven't held Shanshan yet."
"Grandpa and grandma went to a far place, but they must love Shanshan very much."
"Yes, everyone likes Shanshan!" Shanshan had a smile on her face, her eyes were full of crescents, and she waved at the photo, "Hello, grandpa and grandma~ I am Shanshan~
Grandpa and grandma, when will you come back? Shanshan wants to see you."
Looking at his daughter's appearance, Xu Shengjie curled his lips unconsciously, put his big hand on the child's head and rubbed it gently.
Liang Baozhen turned around and held the man's hand, squeezed it, and felt that his hand was cold. It took a while for it to become warm.
The next day, Liang Baozhen put the photos of her parents-in-law in her bag and rode her bicycle back to the compound. As soon as she walked out the door, she heard Xu Shengya calling her.
Xu Shengya knew that her sister-in-law was going back, and she also wanted to go back to see her good friends.
The two set out on a bicycle and returned to Crescent Alley.
"Why didn't you bring Shanshan back?" Cheng Caili looked around and was a little dissatisfied when she didn't see the little girl. "Our Chuchu misses Shanshan so much."
Chuchu on the side nodded.
"Next time. Today is not convenient."
Liang Baozhen sat and talked at Cheng Caili's house for a while, and then the two of them went to Liu Nianhua's house. The three of them talked about their daily lives and there was constant laughter.
When Cheng Caili and Liu Nianhua moved into the big compound, Xu Mingyuan and Wu Huacui had already passed away, so they naturally didn't know about it. Liang Baozhen decided to ask Aunt Zhang and Aunt Li.
However, as soon as she left Liu Nianhua's house, she ran into Zhou Qingdang.
"Is Xiao Liang back?"
"Yeah, Brother Zhou, where are the coal briquettes?"
Zhou Qingdang was pulling a cart with coal briquettes and started unloading. "Yes, this cart belongs to Xiaolong's family."
Xiaolong's house? Isn't this Sister Hua's house? Liang Baozhen looked at Liu Nianhua reflexively, then at Zhou Qingdang, and finally at Zhang Rong's house, wondering what was going on.
"No, no, no need to bother you." Seeing this, Liu Nianhua hurriedly stopped him and looked at the people in the yard, fearing that others would discover the problem and spread rumors.
"Sister Hua, what's the big deal? I just sent a truckload of gifts to Brother Sun's family and Sister Qian's family. We are all neighbors, so it's just a side job."
Not far away, Sun Zhiqiang also chimed in after hearing this, "Xiao Liu, why are you not happy when someone helps you? You really don't know how to enjoy life. Xiao Zhou is helping our family, and I didn't refuse. Hahaha, don't hold me back, go and help build the wall."
After hearing this, Liu Nianhua felt even more embarrassed to refuse. It would be wrong to refuse now, so he could only thank Zhou Qingdang and help unload the coal briquettes.
Liang Baozhen looked for a while and then went to talk to Aunt Zhang and Aunt Li. As she was talking, she brought up the past events many years ago, which made the two of them sigh.
The author has something to say:
Adjust the update time. It should be updated at 21:00 in the evening. Two-in-one update. If there is time, there will be more updates. See you tomorrow~ Enjoy the last day of the May Day holiday.
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2023-05-01 21:10:48~2023-05-02 20:57:13~
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution: 1 bottle of Fuji frosted glass;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
