Xu Zhuo looked at her and asked again, "Didn't you receive the letter?"
Ruan Xi's eyes slowly focused, and she shook her head and said, "No."
Xu Zhuo also thought about it, "Maybe it was lost once, but it can't be lost twice? Someone touched the letter?"
At that time, because she was fully busy with the college entrance examination, Ruan Xi didn't care about other trivial things in life. Also, because the frequency of letters from home was too low, only one letter came every few months, so she didn't often check the mailbox.
Ruan Changfu's work letters and the like were not sent to the family, and Feng Xiuying and several other children didn't have the habit of keeping in touch with anyone, so basically no one would check the mailbox at home, only Ruan Xi would check it occasionally.
Because she didn't pay attention to these little things, her mind was full of the college entrance examination and getting Ruan Jie into college, so she didn't think there was any problem. Anyway, Xu Zhuo and the others didn't write to her, so it didn't affect her.
Even in modern society, with the development of mobile phone communications, good friends in elementary school will lose contact in junior high school, good friends in junior high school will fade in high school, and good friends in high school will lose contact in college.
Regarding the loss of contact, she thinks it is normal and inevitable, and there is nothing to worry about.
If there is no other person involved, she would not take it to heart.
But now that this matter is obviously problematic, she naturally has to think more about it.
If she thought about it further, it might be that there were more than two letters from Xu Zhuo and Chen Weidong, there should also be Ling Yao's letters, all of which did not reach her. And why only their letters did not reach her, but all the letters from home were received, it is more worth pondering.
After a moment, she looked at Xu Zhuo and said, "If it didn't arrive twice, someone must have tampered with the letter."
Xu Zhuo felt suffocated instantly, took a deep breath and said, "Who could it be? I'll chop him up!"
Ruan Xi couldn't say who it was casually, just said, "Wait a minute."
As he spoke, Xie Dongyang returned the bowl of noodles.
He sat down in front of his stall and asked Xu Zhuo in a casual way, "Are you studying in a military academy?"
Xu Zhuo looked at Xie Dongyang and replied, "Yes."
Ruan Xi only remembered at this moment that she hadn't formally introduced them to each other yet.
So she looked at Xie Dongyang and said, "He is Xu Zhuo, my friend from high school, and he lives in the same compound."
Then she looked at Xu Zhuo and said, "This is a friend I just made when I came to Beijing, Xie Dongyang, also known as Mr. Xie Sanye of the City."
Xie Dongyang understood, and before Xu Zhuo could say anything, he asked, "Do you live in the military compound?"
Ruan Xi nodded at him, "Yes."
Xie Dongyang stared at Ruan Xi for a while, "Master Xi, you really are a person who hides his true colors. After all the fuss, you are actually the son of an official! Then why do you work so hard and go to such a good school, and you still come out to set up a stall?"
Ruan Xi said, "Father , Mother is my parents, I am me, we have no relationship."
Xie Dongyang suddenly remembered that Ruan Xi had just quarreled with the couple in front of the stall, saying that the parents belonged to that girl and she didn't want them, so he asked again: "Who were those two people just now? Is the girl your sister?"
Ruan Xi nodded at him again, "My parents adopted her."
Xie Dongyang became more curious, "Then what about your relationship... you are always at odds with each other... you are incompatible..."
Ruan Xi didn't want to say more, she just said: "This is a long story, we can talk about it later when we have the chance."
Xie Dongyang saw that she didn't want to say more, so he didn't ask any more questions.
Ruan Xi dropped the topic and turned to look at Xu Zhuo, asking him: "I may be busy here until the evening, so I don't have time to go shopping with you. Why don't you go find your classmates? I'll treat you to dinner after I'm done with my work."
Xu Zhuo didn't mean to leave, "There's nothing to go shopping for, how about I accompany you to look after the stalls."
?
Ruan Xi looked at him in surprise for a while, smiled and said: "Aren't you embarrassed?"
He has always been the most face-conscious, and loves to do things that attract attention, but he has rarely done such embarrassing things.
Xu Zhuo turned his head to look at the street, turned back and cleared his throat and said: "Anyway, no one knows me here."
That's true. Ruan Xi saw that he really didn't plan to leave, so she let him stay here. He
happened to work for her here, and she would treat him to dinner in the evening.
There were few people at noon, so the two of them sat and chatted for a while. They talked about their experiences in the past two years, talked about their current situations, and exchanged various information.
Ruan Xi actually didn't have much to say. During the second year of junior high school, she and Ruan Jie stayed at home every day until the college entrance examination was resumed. She took the college entrance examination and was admitted to the university of her choice, which made her excited.
After entering university, she studied and went to factories outside.
Of course, she didn't talk about going to factories, after all, it was not something to talk about in depth.
Xu Zhuo's life in the past two years was even more monotonous than Ruan Xi's, because the life in the army was more boring and unchanging. Every day, there was training, and except for the different content and intensity of the training, there was almost no change.
While the two of them were reminiscing about the past, Xie Dongyang took a nap on the stall when no one was around at noon.
After noon, there were slightly more people on the street in the afternoon. Some people came up to look at things and ask about prices. Xie Dongyang was woken up by Ruan Xi, jumped up, blinked, and started his busy afternoon again.
Ruan Xi was busy for a while, and when no one was around, she said to Xu Zhuo: "Help me watch the stall for a while, I'll be back soon."
Xu Zhuo thought she was going to the restroom, so he naturally agreed and let her go.
Ruan Xi did go to the restroom, but she didn't come back immediately after going to the restroom. She went directly to the nearby post office and called Ruan Changfu's office.
She had memorized Ruan Changfu's office phone number and still remembered it in her mind.
But today is Sunday, and Ruan Changfu may not be at work.
Ruan Xi dialed the number with a try-it attitude, holding the receiver to her ear and listening for a while.
The phone rang for about four or five times, and someone picked up the phone. "Hello? Who is this?"
Ruan Xi recognized Ruan Changfu's voice, so she cleared her throat and said, "Old Ruan, it's me."
But Ruan Changfu didn't recognize her voice, and asked cautiously, "Who are you?"
Ruan Xi didn't want to waste more phone bills with him, as long-distance calls were extremely expensive, so she quickly said, "I'm Ruan Xi, and I have something to ask you. Has anyone touched my letters during the last year I've lived at home?"
Ruan Changfu had been away from home for a long time, so how could he know this?
Ruan Xi did not let him speak, and said, "Forget it, don't answer. Go home tonight and ask for me if anyone has moved my letters. I haven't received any letters since I went back home after the Chinese New Year in 1977. Now I met Xu Zhuo in Beijing, and he said he wrote me two letters, but I didn't receive them."
Ruan Changfu had time to speak: "Do you suspect someone has moved your letters?"
Ruan Xi said to the phone: "Yes, go home and ask for me. The phone bill here is too expensive, so I won't tell you more. Tomorrow night after work, you stay at the unit for a while, and I will call you again."
It would be good to call him, and Ruan Changfu quickly responded: "Okay, okay, I will go back and ask for you."
Ruan Xi looked at the time on the phone, said "thank you", and hung up immediately.
After paying and leaving the post office, they went back to the street to continue selling.
Due to the impact of the past decade or so, the night market has not yet recovered, and there are not many people out shopping at night, so when the shops on the street closed one after another, Ruan Xi and Xie Dongyang packed up and left.
The two packed up their things and rode back to the repair shop to put the things down.
Xu Zhuo followed them to the repair shop, and then watched them sit together and count money.
During the day, he did think that setting up a stall was not decent, but now watching Ruan Xi and Xie Dongyang counting money, he knew that it was not a big deal whether it was decent or not, because they earned more in a day than others' monthly salary.
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have found it hard to believe that money was so easy to make.
After counting the money, Xie Dongyang asked Ruan Xi how much he had earned. He was surprised to learn that Ruan Xi had earned half as much as he did, "Why?"
Ruan Xi didn't answer why, but just looked at him and said, "It may be more in the future."
After counting the money, the two of them packed up the money. Xie Dongyang looked at Ruan Xi and said, "What do you think? Do you plan to go out to eat alone, or take me with you? If you take me with you, I'm a local and I'm the host, so I'll treat you today."
Ruan Xi said without hesitation, "Then let's go together."
It wasn't that she wanted Xie Dongyang to treat her, but it would be lively with so many people.
So the three of them went out of the repair shop to find a restaurant to eat.
In the second-floor house of the Ruan family.
Ruan Changfu came home from work and went straight to the kitchen to find Feng Xiuying. When he entered the kitchen, he asked her: "In the year before Xiaoxi went to college, did you touch the mailbox at home? She said that she had not received several letters."
Feng Xiuying was stunned for a moment and said: "No, no one wrote to me. Why should I touch the mailbox?"
Ruan Changfu asked again: "You didn't see anyone else moving?"
Feng Xiuying said: "I didn't pay much attention to this."
Who has nothing to do all day long to stare at the mailbox? No one wrote to her in the first place. Even letters from her hometown to Ruan Changfu were sent directly to his work. She almost didn't pay attention to it.
Ruan Changfu saw that she didn't know, so he didn't ask again.
When everyone in the family sat down to eat in the restaurant, he scanned everyone at the table and asked again: "The year before Xiaoxi and Xiaojie went to college, did any of you touch the mailbox at home or her letters?"
This question was asked suddenly, and the children were all stunned for a moment, and then shook their heads together.
Ye Fan is currently studying at university, but because he lives close to home, he still goes home on weekends.
Ruan Changfu looked at Ruan Qiuyang alone, "Did you move it?"
Ruan Qiuyang looked flustered and explained hurriedly, "I didn't. Why would I move her letters? I'm not interested in that thing."
Ruan Hongjun echoed from the side, "She didn't lie this time. The appraisal is completed."
Ruan Qiuyue looked at Ruan Changfu and asked, "What did the eldest sister say?"
Ruan Changfu hummed, "She called my office in the afternoon and said that she had not received several letters at home. She suspected that someone had moved her letters. If no one in our family moved it, has anyone seen anyone else move our mailbox?"
There were not many people in the family who paid attention to the mailbox. After a moment, everyone shook their heads again.
Just when Ruan Changfu felt a little depressed, Ruan Hongbing suddenly said, "Sister Qiuwen."
Hearing this, Ruan Changfu turned around and looked at him, "What?"
Ruan Hongbing looked at him and said, "Sister Qiuwen, there was a period of time when she often went to check the mailbox at home. Every day when she went to and from school, she would walk there to check and sometimes take out the letters."
Ruan Changfu frowned slowly, "Her again?"
Ruan Hongbing shook his head, "I don't know, I thought she was waiting for her own letter."
Ruan Qiuyue thought for a while and asked again, "Who wrote the letter to the elder sister?"
Ruan Changfu said, "It was said that Xu Zhuo, they met in Beijing."
Hearing this, Ruan Qiuyue immediately affirmed, "It must be her, she is jealous of the elder sister."
Then she looked at Ruan Qiuyang, "If you don't believe me, ask her, Is Ye Qiuwen jealous of Xu Zhuo and her elder sister having such a good time? Because Ye Qiuwen knew in her heart that Lu Yuanzheng was not as good as Xu Zhuo, and she didn't want her elder sister to have any contact with Xu Zhuo. "
Ruan Changfu immediately looked at Ruan Qiuyang again and asked her with a dark face: "Really?"
Ruan Qiuyang was not very good at lying, so she hesitated for a moment and gave up lying, and replied: "Yeah."
Ruan Changfu was so angry that he slammed the table hard, almost shaking it up, "How could I raise such a thing! If she was here, I would beat her to death today!"
Ruan Qiuyue said: "Fortunately, Xu Zhuo and my elder sister met again."
Because he made almost two hundred yuan this week, which was more than what he made in the previous six months, Xie Dongyang seemed particularly generous today. Without saying a word, he took Ruan Xi and Xu Zhuo to the Western restaurant.
After sitting down and ordering, Xie Dongyang asked with some pride: "How is it here?"
Ruan Xi turned around and looked around, "Not bad, very fashionable!"
Xie Dongyang smiled and said: "You are taking me to make money together, so I must not be stingy."
Watching them from the road to the restaurant, talking back and forth like this, Xu Zhuo still felt a little uncomfortable. After all, they have been separated for two years, and their lives have changed a lot. These topics have nothing to do with him.
Compared with Xie Dongyang, he has obviously been far away from Ruan Xi's life.
Of course, he didn't show anything, listening when he should listen and talking when he should talk.
Besides, he wasn't a very sensitive person, so he would get over it after a little discomfort. Then, he continued to drink, eat, brag and chat with Ruan Xi and Xie Dongyang. When the topic came to him, he would brag for a long time.
Boys all dreamed of being soldiers, and Xie Dongyang loved to hear him brag about the army, such as how bullets rubbed his face, how one shot hit his heart, and how exciting it was to throw a grenade and it exploded. Later, the two of them hugged each other and bragged.
Xie Dongyang said with regret that they had met too late: "Brother, if you were in Sijiu City, I would definitely follow you. You are my Brother Zhuo, not Master Zhuo. In our Sijiu City, all the famous people must be Masters."
"Master, have you eaten?"
"Master, where are you going?"
"Master, what are you walking?"
"Master is walking a fucking bird!"
...
Ruan Xi was sitting opposite and eating lamb chops, looking at the two of them. Seeing their faces full of disdain, she couldn't help laughing while looking disdainful - men don't know how old they are after drinking a little, and they all think they are the best in the world.
Of course, Xu Zhuo and Xie Dongyang just drank a few glasses of beer to cheer themselves up, and they didn't get drunk.
But the two of them really had a good chat, and they were reluctant to leave after dinner.
But Ruan Xi and Xu Zhuo couldn't stay outside for too long, as the school had its own rules. So after finishing their meal, the three of them didn't stay in the restaurant for long, nor did they go anywhere else, and they hurried back to school.
Because Ruan Xi and Xu Zhuo's schools were close to each other, and Xie Dongyang's home was also there, so they were going back in the same direction.
Ruan Xi didn't let Xu Zhuo ride a bike, she rode her own, got on the bike, pedaled, and left.
Xu Zhuo squinted, and Xie Dongyang patted his seat and called him, "Come on."
There was no other way, so Xu Zhuo had to get on Xie Dongyang's bike.
Xie Dongyang stepped on the pedals and rode against the wind.
When he was riding fast, he shouted, "Hold your brother tight!"
Xu Zhuo squinted in the wind: "..." It
was already late when Ruan Xi returned to school, so she took her clothes, washbasin, and toiletries to the bathhouse to take a bath. After taking a shower and sitting down to calm down for a few minutes, it was time to turn off the lights and go to bed.
She didn't even say a word to her roommate, and climbed onto the bed and lay down.
The next day, she woke up to start a new week of campus life. Li Xiaofang went to the cafeteria with her to eat, and asked her curiously: "What are you busy with every Sunday? You get up early and leave early, and come back very late."
Ruan Xi smiled and didn't elaborate: "Just find something to do, and I've never been to Beijing before, so I'm curious."
Li Xiaofang saw that she was perfunctory and didn't want to elaborate, so she didn't ask any more questions.
The two went to the teaching building together for class. During the break after class, Ruan Xi took out her sketchbook and continued to draw design drawings on it. Every time she drew, Li Xiaofang would stand by and stare at her.
Today, she was still the same. While watching, she said, "You draw so well. You must have learned to draw for many years, right? The clothes you draw are so beautiful. I wonder what they will look like when they are made and worn."
Ruan Xi saw that she was really curious and liked them. This was a natural love that girls had for beautiful clothes. She smiled while drawing and said, "How about I make one when I have time and let you see it?"
Li Xiaofang was surprised, "Really? You can make clothes?"
Ruan Xi nodded, "I'll make one when I have time and show it to you."
Li Xiaofang was really looking forward to it, "Okay, I really want to see it."
In the evening, after class, Ruan Xi did not go to the cafeteria with Li Xiaofang to eat immediately. She went to the store inside the school first, stood in line at the back of the line and waited for a while. When she got to the phone, she called Ruan Changfu.
Ruan Changfu was waiting for her in the office.
As soon as the call was connected, Ruan Xi asked, "Did you find out?"
Ruan Changfu said, "It should be Qiuwen who touched your letter, but there is no definite evidence. Hongbing was the only one at home who noticed that she had been checking the mailbox for a while, going to school and coming home from school, and even took letters from it."
Ruan Xi gritted her teeth and said, "I knew it was her."
Ruan Changfu said, "She is not at home now, otherwise I would have found out for you. Last year, she was sent to the farm to join the production team, but this year she was not allowed to leave. "At first she ran away from the farm, and now I don't know where she is. I have already treated this daughter as if I had never raised her."
Ruan Xi told him, "She is in Beijing now, looking for Lu Yuanzheng."
Ruan Changfu's voice was high, "Lu Yuanzheng? They are still together?"
Ruan Xi said, "How could they not be together? They are still very sweet."
Ruan Changfu was so angry that he almost died, "She is waiting for me. I will go back to Lu's house and ask for clarification now!"
After saying that, he hung up the phone without waiting for Ruan Xi to say anything else.
Ruan Xi put down the phone, paid the bill and left the store.
After coming out, she did not go to eat. She rode her bicycle under the carport outside the dormitory and went directly to find Xu Zhuo.
Xu Zhuo's school was closer to her school, and she would arrive there in a short while by bicycle.
She reported Xu Zhuo's information outside the school gate and stood outside the gate waiting for ten minutes.
Xu Zhuo ran to the door, saw her and asked, "What's wrong?"
Ruan Xi pushed her bicycle and moved to the side with him, although there were not many people coming and going at the gate.
Standing at a farther place, Ruan Xi looked at him and said, "Help me to ask Lu Yuanzheng and Ye Qiuwen out."
Xu Zhuo still asked, "What's wrong?"
Ruan Xi looked at him and said, "Ye Qiuwen touched my letters, not only yours and Chen Weidong's, but also others'."
Xu Zhuo frowned and instantly showed annoyance, "Is it her?"
Ruan Xi nodded and said, "It's her. You will know after you make an appointment. I guess she won't come out easily. If she did something shameful, she will definitely not dare to meet us again. If she doesn't come out, it will be confirmed. You can ask Lu Yuanzheng out first."
Xu Zhuo looked at Ruan Xi and nodded, "Okay, I'll try to make an appointment."
Ruan Xi put her fingers on the brakes of the bicycle and squeezed them subconsciously, "This time I will make her lose everything."
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