"Thank you again, Comrade Zhang."
"No need to be so polite, my dad already told you to call him brother."
Zhang Hongmei felt incredibly embarrassed; she couldn't bring herself to call him "brother," but seeing Zhang Shouyi's encouraging expression, she hesitated. In the end, she decided to tell the truth.
"I'm sorry, I can't bring myself to call you 'brother.' Is there any other way to address you?"
"Then let's call him Brother Shouyi."
Zhang Hongmei felt uncomfortable looking at Zhang Shouyi's fake refined demeanor. She still preferred burly, strong men; they made her feel safer. Zhang Shouyi was too cunning. In her previous life, she had seen too many such shrewd and despicable men during her studies. She had lost all interest in them, so she disliked Zhang Shouyi.
"Alright, Brother Shouyi, I'll be troubling you to borrow books quite often in the future."
Zhang Shouyi was puzzled by the young girl's cold and indifferent attitude. Had he done something to offend her? His appearance had caused him a lot of trouble; women would fawn over him whenever they saw him, and he found them all annoying. That's why he had encouraged his father to leave and come here to enjoy a few years of leisure. He never expected to see someone bother him like this. Finding the young girl interesting, he decided to tease her.
"Your name is Zhang Hongmei, right? Let's keep in touch often, don't be shy."
"Thank you again, Brother Shouyi. I have to go now; I have things to take care of. I'll just take these two books to read for now."
"Okay, I'll take you."
"No need, I'm already embarrassed."
When Zhang Shouyi and Zhang Hongmei came out together, Yu Chenglong hurriedly stood up, wishing he could leave immediately. He felt ashamed that his most shameless side had been exposed.
"Uncle Zhang, thank you. I'll be going now, but I'll come visit you again when I have time."
"Okay, remember what you said. You must come to see me."
Zhang Hongmei was speechless. He didn't realize that this was just him being polite.
Zhang Xingguo and Zhang Shouyi burst into laughter when they saw Zhang Hongmei's constipated expression. Enraged, Zhang Hongmei turned and left; how utterly shameless!
As Wang Xiaoshun drove, he kept looking back at Zhang Hongmei. This girl was really something, able to make the leader so happy.
Zhang Hongmei noticed that Yu Chenglong was in low spirits, but she didn't ask him anything.
But Zhang Shouyi, unusually, sat down next to Zhang Xingguo and chatted with him casually. "Dad, is this girl Zhang Aiguo's daughter?"
"Hmm, this girl is quite good. She's bold, meticulous, speaks appropriately, and most importantly, she's intelligent. I suggested adopting her, and guess what she said?"
"I definitely have to refuse, but why did I say it that made you so happy?"
“He said he didn’t want to implicate me, and that he didn’t want to make things difficult for us since we came to avoid trouble. This child is so insightful; she could even sense that her parents’ deaths were suspicious.”
Zhang Shouyi sat there, his mind racing. This person was definitely not Zhang Aiguo's daughter. It wasn't that he looked down on rural people, but the things she said couldn't have come from an uneducated child; they were too shrewd. Who was she?
"You know what? When I told her I have a handsome older brother at home, guess what she said?"
"Dad, just tell me straight. Stop playing guessing games. It's childish!"
"You brat, talking to your old man like that."
"Then you should at least act like me!"
"She said she wasn't interested in handsome guys, hahaha. Her dismissive little expression was so cute."
"Alright, stop saying I'm pretty. I'm already twenty."
"You know you're twenty? Why don't you find someone and get married?"
"There's no woman I'm interested in." I was single until I died in my past life, so how could I possibly find a woman who understands me in this one?
"You haven't fallen for a man, have you?"
Zhang Shouyi looked at his father helplessly, amazed that he could come up with such an answer. "I have even less interest in men."
"That can't be a little girl, can it?" Zhang Xingguo looked at his son with disgust, as if he were looking at an animal.
Zhang Shouyi was speechless, stood up and left; there was no way to talk to him anymore.
Zhang Xingguo watched his son leave, clutching his chest. The hurt his son had suffered was a pain he would never forget. He had always tried to be cheerful and easygoing with him, hoping he would be more optimistic and peaceful. But fate is cruel.
Zhang Shouyi returned to his study, sat down in a chair, and recalled his past life, a sense of frustration welling up in his heart once again.
In her past life, her father died a violent death, and she was powerless to stop it. Although she traded one of her father's arms for her life in this life, she was still unwilling to accept it.
As long as they're alive, that's good enough. He wanted to see if that family could still be living so comfortably without him earning their lives. Memories flooded back, and he couldn't suppress his regret.
Fortunately, my father and I had escaped that family. I couldn't have asked for anything more than a newspaper and radio appearance. This was the only thing they had ever done in my two lifetimes that made me feel satisfied.
When Zhang Hongmei and her group arrived in the county, it was almost midnight, and they didn't know if there would be any food left at the restaurants. Since Yu Chenglong was in a low mood, Zhang Hongmei took it upon herself to arrange the meal.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, Yu Chenglong perked up and asked, "Hongmei, Xiao Wang, what would you like to eat?"
Zhang Hongmei looked at the menu on the blackboard: steamed buns, two bowls of rice, braised pork, cabbage and tofu, and pickled cabbage and frozen tofu. "Uncle Yu, I just want one steamed bun and a bowl of cabbage and tofu."
Wang Xiaoshun looked at the blackboard and said, "Commander, I want to eat braised pork and steamed buns."
The waiter, watching the three of them discuss, said unhurriedly, "We don't have braised pork, we don't have rice, and we don't have cabbage stew with tofu."
Goodness, all they want to eat is steamed buns.
Yu Chenglong glanced helplessly at the two men and said to the waiter, "Then give me ten steamed buns and three bowls of pickled cabbage and frozen tofu."
"A steamed bun made from two kinds of flour costs five cents and one tael of grain coupons. A serving of pickled cabbage and frozen tofu costs two cents and doesn't require coupons. The total is one dollar and one jin of grain coupons."
Zhang Hongmei took out her money and food coupons, but Yu Chenglong stopped her, saying, "With me here, why would you need to spend money? Take them back, and don't do this again next time."
Zhang Hongmei shrugged, put the money and tickets back in her pocket, and saved herself the trouble.
Zhang Hongmei asked for an extra empty bowl, poured out more than half of it and placed it in the middle, and ate only a steamed bun and a little less than half a bowl of vegetables.
After finishing his meal, Yu Chenglong checked the time. "It's 12:30 now. Let's go to the county government now and wait for them. We have to get this done today. I have to go back to the army tomorrow. After I send Hongmei back this afternoon, I have to go back to the city."
"Okay, Uncle Yu, thank you for running around and helping me a lot."
Yu Chenglong glanced at Zhang Hongmei with a complicated expression, then took out two pieces of paper from his bag and handed them to Zhang Hongmei. "These are your parents' certificates of honor. Keep them safe, you'll need them later."
Zhang Hongmei took it and saw that it contained a handwritten biography of Zhang Aiguo and Cui Lin, praising their glorious deeds of sacrificing for the country. She decided to keep this safe; it might become her protective charm in the future.
After Wang Xiaoshun returned with the bowls and chopsticks, the three of them headed towards the county government. Wang Xiaoshun knew the way very well, so Zhang Hongmei and the other woman could just sit and wait. There was no need for them to worry at all.
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