Chapter 44

"...When you get to Tingting's place, the two sisters should stop arguing, or they will become a laughing stock to the in-laws."

In the living room, under the dim candlelight, Li Taohong was stuffing things neatly into a large cloth bag. Her mouth was also busy as she chattered on and on about giving instructions to her young lady.

With her eldest daughter next to her and her youngest daughter in her arms, Zhui Zhu lowered her eyes and pulled her lips uncomfortably: "How old am I? I have three children already, how can I still quarrel?"

When she was young and had never suffered any loss, her mind was full of romantic thoughts. But now she is very sober and only feels grateful to her sister.

Li Taohong glanced at the daughter and said, "No matter how old she is, she is still my flesh and blood. How can I not worry about her? You said you have grown up, but you are going to meet Tingting with such reluctance on your face? People who don't know would think you are going to collect debts."

Zhui Shuang was somewhat helpless: "Mom, you know that the relationship between me and Ting Ting has been awkward in the past few years, and...she is living a good life. I am a divorced sister with a bad reputation, and I am bringing my family to live with me. I don't know if my brother-in-law will mind."

If it weren't for the second brother's analysis that this unit was the safest, and if it weren't for the fact that her younger sister was pregnant and the elder sister was taking care of her as an excuse to write the letter of introduction, Rui Rui really didn't want to trouble Ting Rui.

I was not a good sister before, so why should I bother my younger sister now?

"Your brother-in-law is not that kind of person, and your mother-in-law is also reasonable. Don't think about it all day long." Li Taohong didn't know that the eldest daughter felt guilty, so she quickly said a few words of scolding.

But after he finished speaking, thinking of the suffering she had endured these days and the bruises on her body that had finally healed, his nose ached again, but he didn't dare to show it. He quickly turned around and pretended to be busy: "As the old saying goes, broken bones are still connected by tendons. The same is true for the blood relationship between sisters. It can't be severed. Moreover, if we get help, as long as we remember your sister's kindness and the kindness of our in-laws, we won't be afraid of repaying them slowly."

There was a lump in her throat, and after a while she uttered a soft "hmm".

Seeing that the lively and carefree lady had completely changed, Li Taohong felt distressed and comforted her: "Just go for a month or so, just help me go and see your sister. Tingting has been saying that she is pregnant, and the second brother is clueless. How can I really feel at ease?"

Zhuo Qing was amused by her mother: "My second brother has never been married, so how can he understand things like pregnancy?"

Speaking of this, Li Taohong became even more angry: "The brat is already 25 years old. He refused to see a girl before, and now he is flying away. I don't know when he can get married."

"There's no rush. Look at your brother-in-law. He got married at the age of 28, and he met our younger sister, too. Tingting is a college student." Although she had quarreled with her younger sister in the past, in her heart, Tingting was still very proud of her younger sister.

When talking about the little lady who has been reading since she was young, Li Taohong smiled and said, "You are right, good things are worth waiting for. So, it is OK for the second son to find a wife at the age of 30."

Hearing the urging of marriage outside the door, Wei was too stiff to move...

Instead, Ming pushed open the door with a smile: "Mom, I'm back."

Li Taohong was surprised: "Why did you come back? Did you ask for leave?"

"No, just get up early tomorrow. My eldest sister and the second brother are going to the army tomorrow, so how can I not come back to see them off?" As he said that, Ming took out ten big reunion tickets from his pocket and stuffed them into the eldest sister.

She frowned and dodged away: "I have money."

Seeing that the eldest sister didn't want to take it, Ming stuffed it directly into her pocket: "Poor family, rich road, it is more important to carry more money when you are outside. Besides, when you go back to live at your brother-in-law's house, you have to buy some things for people. By the way, your sister-in-law also knows about this money, but Yuanyuan has a fever, otherwise she would definitely come back with me, don't think too much."

Speaking of which, the work of a buyer at the Weiwei Supply and Marketing Cooperative is also full of twists and turns.

At first, he gave it to his eldest sister. Since Li Qing had little money and was determined not to take Li Wei's job for nothing, they agreed that two-thirds of the salary would be given to his younger brother in the first five years.

But unexpectedly, something went wrong after only ten days on the job.

In recent years, Wei Wei had saved a lot of money by taking advantage of business trips across the country, so he didn't mind selling his job for a few hundred yuan, so he simply gave the job to his sister-in-law.

In this way, my eldest sister-in-law and eldest brother and his wife both became city residents. Not only did they no longer have to live apart, but Yuanyuan could also go to elementary school in the county town.

Of course, it was impossible for the good-natured man Ming and his wife He Yun to work for free, but they did not have more than a few hundred yuan in their pockets, so they could only pay back the money in installments.

As for the one hundred yuan that they had originally intended to use to pay off debts and had saved with great difficulty, now that they had given it to their eldest sister, Ming and his wife did not feel sorry about it.

After all, times have changed. He has good carpentry skills and was rated as a senior worker last month. In addition, his wife works as a salesperson in a supply and marketing cooperative, so one hundred yuan is the couple's monthly income.

Thinking of this, Ming frowned again and stopped his sister from returning the money. He glared at her and said, "I am your elder brother. Now that conditions are good, what's wrong with giving you some money? When you are better off, buy me a woolen coat. That thing is very expensive."

It's not easy to improve her conditions. If she can only farm, she doesn't know how many years it will take to save a hundred yuan. What's more, she has three children to raise. Her eldest brother obviously just wants to subsidize her...

Besides, my brother is planing wood every day and is very dirty, so how could he be willing to wear woolen clothes?

Thinking of this, Ruishen tightly grasped the big ball, her throat seemed to be blocked by something, after a long while, she smiled hoarsely and said, "The woolen coat only costs a few dozen yuan."

Seeing that his sister was no longer refusing, Ming smiled with his white teeth and said nonchalantly, "Then buy another pair of leather shoes."

Wei laughed and said, "Don't you want to give one to your sister-in-law?"

He didn't want anything, just to appease his sister, and rubbed his hands in embarrassment: "Well, buy the woolen coat for your sister-in-law."

Li Taohong was more concerned about her granddaughter whom she had raised since she was a child: "Yuanyuan has a fever? How is she? Has she seen a doctor?"

Ming waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, I just took off my coat when I was playing with the neighbor's kid at night and caught a cold wind. It's not serious."

Hearing this, Li Taohong was still a little worried and frowned, "Making money is important, but we also have to take care of the children."

Rui Ming is used to spoiling children, especially since he is almost 30 and Yuanyuan is his only precious child, so he naturally agreed.

Then he looked at his eldest sister, "Your sister-in-law said that when you come back, she will ask Pingping and Meimei to transfer to the county town to attend primary school. The education there is good. The Zhao family looks down on girls. We must send our children to school and support them until high school. Girls are no worse than boys when they succeed. Look at how great Tingting is. Those bastards of the Zhao family will regret it when the time comes."

Luo Huiping and Luo Huimei, who have already taken care of their mother, are Luo Zhuo's two daughters.

Naturally, she was tempted by her elder brother and sister-in-law's suggestion, as she herself suffered the loss of not having enough education.

But... right now she is so confused about her future, she can't just rely on her family.

At least find a way to support her and the children so that they can have a good life.

Thinking of this, and thinking of the job that was inexplicably ruined, Zhui Shuang couldn't help but say angrily: "Why did I suffer so badly? What's the name of Wang Meimei's man? Why doesn't he have to worry about anything? Just because I'm a woman? Do women deserve to suffer?"

Hearing this, Lu Wei smiled, but his smile was a little cold: "Don't worry, big sister, I have already found someone to deal with him."

Before Rui Shuang could react, Li Taohong, who was about to get up to turn over some dates to bring to the young lady, was startled: "Don't mess around, just break one leg at most."

Ming...(⊙⊙)

Atractylodes...(*^▽^*)

The silent Lu Shengli looked at his wife who was obviously angry, and hesitated to speak...

Lu Wei curled his beautiful peach blossom eyes and said, "What are you thinking about? How could he break his legs? Your son is a real soldier now." At most, he wanted his brothers to create more romantic stories for each other after he left.

Otherwise, if I ruin the job of the culprit, how can I justify the suffering my elder sister has endured?

That's fair, isn't it?

Troops Family Home.

I learned that Ruiqing was coming.

Hu Xiu cleaned up the vacant room immediately.

Not only did they lend me a wooden bed, but they also provided me with a blue checkered homespun bed sheet and the curtains were the same color.

Plus a large wooden box for clothes and a half-worn small desk covered with floral cloth.

Hu Xiu also put a bunch of unknown purple wild flowers that she dug up from the back mountain into a can and hung it halfway on the window.

After a few days of dressing up, it already looks quite presentable.

At least from the perspective of Ruiting who came back for lunch, although it cannot be compared with the home decoration of later generations, it is really not bad in this era.

"This morning's train will arrive the day after tomorrow in the evening. I have to say hello to the kitchen staff tomorrow and order two pounds of meat in advance." Hu Xiu, who was also very satisfied, did not forget to close the door when she and her daughter-in-law walked out of the small room to prevent Guoguo from running in and dirtying the blanket.

Tingting: "Do you still have meat tickets?"

Hearing this, Hu Xiu slapped his forehead and said, "Oh my god, look at my brain, I almost forgot, I'll go check it out."

Sure enough, there were not many meat tickets left.

However, Hu Xiu was already used to the soldiers exchanging tickets with each other, so he didn't care and said, "Let Xiao take the cigarette tickets later and exchange them with those comrades who don't have families."

Tingting: "It's okay if we can't change it. We are all family. We still have a pickled rabbit at home."

Hu Xiu rolled her eyes at her daughter-in-law and said angrily, "That rabbit was given to me by your parents. Who am I to take it out to entertain your brothers and sisters?"

"You are too picky." Li Ting didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Hu Xiu, who holds the older generation’s thoughts, insisted: “This is human nature and also a rule. We cannot violate it.”

Just as the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were chatting about the ways of the world, Tang Wenlan ran over with a half-finished pair of knitted pants: "Tingting, hurry up, the people from the art troupe are here to pick up Fang's daughter."

Ruiting was startled and got up in a hurry. Just as she was about to leave, she remembered something and quickly turned back to take out a small bag from the cabinet. She walked out and asked, "It's only been 7 days since the notice came down. Didn't they say it would take 10 days?"

Tang Wenlan waved her hands: "What's the big deal? I must have found a ride. I can't make a special trip just for a little girl."

Seeing this, Hu Xiu, who had never seen the art troupe before, also led the twins out.

Because the car came suddenly.

Fang Yitong could only drag her sister to school while explaining things to her: "...Did you remember everything I said?"

Fang Yiling, who was only ten years old, nodded vigorously.

Looking at her sister's thin body, Fang Yitong felt sad. After all, she was only 14 years old. Facing the farewell, her eyes were red: "What did I say?"

Fang Yiling pursed her lips and said, "I run away and cry when my parents hit me. I also run away and cry when they don't give me food. Don't bother with them about other things."

After making sure her sister had really taken note, Fang Yitong was still worried. However, the warriors who came to pick her up were in a hurry, so she didn't dare to let them wait too long.

I could only remind her again, and finally assured her, "I have one day off every week, and I will try to come back to see you more often."

Fang Yiling was young but sensible: "No, the bus fare costs money."

Hearing this, Fang Yitong's expression eased. She moved closer to her sister and whispered, "Don't worry. I've saved a few cents over the years. It's enough for a round trip. I can bring you some delicious food when I get my salary next month."

After saying this, Fang Yiling, who had hardly eaten a full meal, swallowed her saliva subconsciously: "Then...how about a meat bun?"

Fang Yitong had never eaten meat buns, but she had smelled them when her younger brother was eating them. She also swallowed her saliva and gritted her teeth and agreed: "As long as you are smart, I will buy you some."

The two sisters were whispering to each other all the way, and when they got to the school, they found that there were many people there, including several teachers.

Fang Yitong immediately took her sister and walked towards Teacher Ruo.

Seeing the little girl coming over, Li Ting handed the package in her hand to her and said with a smile, "Congratulations, classmate Fang."

Fang Yitong held the bag in confusion: "Teacher, this is..."

Ruting pretended not to notice the empty bag on her back and said with a smile, "This is some daily necessities prepared by Teacher and Teacher Gu for you. You must do your best there. However, your health is also important. Eat well and sleep well. There are teachers here at Yiling who will help keep an eye on you."

Upon hearing this, Fang Yitong could no longer hold back the tears that she had been holding back, and they instantly burst out of her eyes.

But she was used to swallowing all her grievances, so even if tears fell in strings, she would just whimper like a little beast.

Seeing this, Ruiting sighed softly, walked forward, hugged the little girl into her arms, and patted her back to comfort her.

Gu Fang, who was accompanying him, also wanted to wipe away her tears.

But when he found out that Fang Shuigen and Ding Feiyan were only concerned with showing off to others, he immediately got angry.

She first motioned to the other teachers around her to go and look, then she poked Tingting again.

Ruting glanced in the direction of the couple's aqueous humor, said nothing, just let go of the little girl, took out a handkerchief to help wipe her tears, and then tied a big red flower on her chest.

Then, he smiled and encouraged: "From now on, you are a soldier, well... you are also an adult who can get a salary, so you can't cry anymore."

Hearing this, Fang Yitong sniffed, rubbed the big red flower on her chest with care, then took a step back with her sister and bowed to them: "Thank you, teacher. I will study hard."

The others looked at each other and none of them avoided looking away, because they knew that only this way could the little girl feel more at ease.

After Fang Yitong stood up, he touched his sister's head reluctantly, then gritted his teeth, turned around and ran quickly towards the jeep.

Like other teachers, Ruting was holding Fang Yiling who was still crying.

Standing there, I watched the car slowly drive away with relief and blessings.

the other side.

Fang Yitong, who was sitting in the back seat, wiped her tears silently for a long time before she calmed down with the driver's comfort.

It was also at this time that she realized that the package given by Teacher Rui was still in her arms.

After thinking for a few seconds, Fang Yitong's curiosity prompted her to quietly open the bag.

Then, when she saw that there was not only a set of clothes but also soap, toothpaste, toothbrush and other items inside, her eyes became red again.

There was a letter in the bundle, and Fang Yitong opened the envelope with trembling hands.

There was only one piece of letter paper, with words of encouragement written by several of her teachers and Principal Huang.

And a few bills.

There are ten-dollar ones, five-dollar ones, and two-dollar ones.

Fang Yitong held the money in her hands, which was almost life-saving money for her, and tears finally fell.

She thought that meeting the teachers was probably the greatest luck in her 14 years of unfortunate life.

And she will work hard to continue this good fortune.

Maybe one day, I can bring it to others.