Chapter 126 Another Year (1)
Taotao had no idea that she had experienced a journey around the buildings in her dream, from this building to that building... and then back to this building.
She also had no idea that the Ministry of National Security was also trying to figure out a plan to deal with the Japanese delegation's investigation of her...
During this period, the Ministry of State Security talked to Song Zhi and said that they hoped Comrade Bai Taotao could join the Ministry of State Security.
Song Zhi declined politely.
When the leader of the Ministry of State Security heard about Tao Tao's willingness and goal from Song Zhi, he was very happy. He patted Song Zhi on the shoulder and said, "Comrade Bai Taotao's dream is also our dream... In this case, let's think of other ways. Comrade Song, please work hard with Comrade Bai Taotao to make the dream of eating meat freely realized for all the people in the country!"
So, Taotao, who knew nothing about it, happily participated in the last day's meeting with the Neon Group, and then returned home happily.
It's already the end of the year.
During the Chinese New Year, the whole family should be together.
But because Taotao and Xingxing are both pregnant this year, Bai Zhenggan and Tang Liren will bring their entire family to Kyoto to celebrate the New Year.
Sister Li Zi lives in a government compound, so it’s not very convenient for her to rent a house.
Taotao asked around in the compound of the retirement home where she lived...
It just so happened that Sister Xiao, who lived in the yard next door, and her family were going to take their elderly and children back to their hometown in the countryside to celebrate the New Year. Taotao told Sister Xiao that she wanted to rent her house.
When Sister Xiao heard the rent Taotao offered, she was very tempted and agreed immediately.
So these few days, Sister Xiao spent several days packing up all of her valuables and locking them up.
At this moment, Sister Xiao was relieved to see Taotao coming home, and said, "You are finally back! We didn't book the train tickets for the 16th day of the twelfth lunar month, so we have to leave early. Come on, you and Xiao Song, come to our house quickly. I will tell you which things you should not touch and which things you can do with as you please..."
Taotao and Song Zhi followed Sister Xiao.
Sister Xiao's house is much bigger than Taotao and Song Zhi's, with eight bedrooms. Sister Xiao locked one of the rooms and told Taotao not to go into that room...then she took Taotao to see the other rooms.
In the other bedrooms, only the bedding on the beds remained.
The clothes in the closet, the books in the bookcase, and the things in the drawers were all emptied!
In the words of Sister Xiao -
"... To be honest with you, Taotao, I put all the scattered things from the seven rooms into that one room. This way, when we come back, if there is a book that we misplaced, or some other small things are missing... we would be suspicious that someone in your hometown mistook it for junk and threw it away..."
"So don't blame me for being mean. I left an empty house for you!" said Sister Xiao.
Taotao smiled, "How could that be? Sister Xiao, your way of handling this is the best... After all, my family will only stay here for a month, but our two families will be neighbors for life! It would be best if everything is explained clearly!"
Seeing that Taotao didn't care, Sister Xiao felt relieved and took Taotao to see the kitchen and the yard.
"All the oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, rice, flour... in the kitchen are for you to use! After all, we will be gone for about a month and a half. It would be bad if these foods were left there and got infested with insects. Wait until we come back and we'll buy new ones." Sister Xiao said.
Tao Tao immediately said, "I'll give you an estimate based on the market price and convert it into cash! My family members are coming to buy rice and coal for cooking!"
"No, no! The rent you paid is already a lot!" Sister Xiao refused.
Taotao smiled and didn't say much, but after looking at the kitchen, she made a rough estimate of the price, went home to get the cash and handed it to Sister Xiao.
Sister Xiao naturally refused to accept it.
But in the end, he accepted it happily.
"The only problem with you and Xiao Song is that you are too polite!" Sister Xiao scolded.
Tao Tao smiled and said, "We don't treat others like this either. It's mainly because Sister Xiao and your family are so kind..."
The two sides exchanged a few pleasantries and then went home.
The next morning, Sister Xiao and her family carried large and small bags on their backs and went to the train station to catch a long-distance train.
The Agricultural University has already had its winter vacation.
Taotao was completely free, but Song Zhi was very busy.
But after what happened with Fang Shenghao, Song Zhi no longer dared to be careless. He first sent a telegram to Song Sui, asking him to bring Xingxing over immediately.
Song Zhi stayed at home to take care of Taotao for two days until Song Sui arrived with Xingxing, then he hurried to the company to work overtime.
As a result, Mrs. Tanaka, who had already returned to Japan, commissioned a clothing company to place an order for nine knitted wool skirts totaling more than 20,000 pieces to Kyoto Daiichi Textile Factory through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in accordance with the instructions of Shirari's secretary (actually Howard's instructions).
As soon as the order came in, Howard took a look at it.
Um? The delivery time is... one month?
Subconsciously, he wanted to ask his secretary to mediate with Neon to see if the date could be postponed.
But then I thought: it is winter now, the knitted skirts can be made and exported quickly, and it is the season in Japan. If I postpone the date, I probably won’t be able to wear them by the time the goods arrive in Japan.
Besides, the most important thing at the moment is that Japan mistakenly believes that China's light industry has its own system. This is actually a very good sleight of hand and can be used as a diplomatic weapon.
Although it's just a trick.
So Howard gave a death order - we must find a way to complete this task within 20 days!
When the news came out, the First Textile Factory became anxious.
When Taotao got the news, she immediately brought Wang Bingyuan and her brother, Zhang Lingzhi and her husband, carried the knitting board, the hand-cranked turntable, and a complete set of nine skirts left over from the original pattern making, got on the car that Howard specially provided for her, and rushed to the First Textile Factory.
To be honest, when the leaders of the textile factory saw that Taotao and her friends were using a few wooden boards to store their sweaters, they were all shocked.
Then, in front of them, Wang Xuepeng and Chen Quansheng spent two hours weaving the pieces of cloth and putting them together to make a skirt...
The leaders were stunned again.
Is this ok?
However, several leaders are considered to be people with vision and foresight.
They quickly held a meeting, wrote letters of introduction, and asked someone to go to a nearby machinery factory to invite professional technicians. At the same time, they arranged for someone to immediately prepare wool, beads, fabrics and other accessories according to the clothing samples.
Soon, a dozen professional technicians rushed to the First Textile Factory, and everyone once again witnessed the "weaving" technology of Wang Xuepeng and Chen Quansheng.
Everyone was shocked!
——The common people are really smart!
However, this purely manual operation method cannot meet order requirements.
There were a total of 20,000 knitted skirts, and the leader required delivery within 25 days. The textile factory took 5 days to prepare the materials, which meant that the daily output had to reach 1,000 pieces!
In order to prevent material shortages and other situations, the textile factories have to reserve one or two days for turnover.
Therefore, the daily output must reach about 1200-1500, and must not be less than 1200 pieces per day.
It is absolutely impossible to rely on a few wooden boards made by Wang Xuepeng and Chen Quansheng!
After a long discussion, the technicians designed the first generation of semi-manual wool knitting machine.
——The main body refers to the method of nailing wooden boards by Wang Xuepeng and others, but the nails are installed on the cylinder and then the wire is wound. The winding part adopts Song Zhi's original design, which is a large hand-cranked bearing turntable.
Then another improvement was made: two wires were wound simultaneously.
——In this way, the big turntable is still turned manually, but before one turn would wind one string, but now it winds two strings per turn.
Next, the technicians discussed: Since it is possible to wind two wires at a time, is it possible to wind hundreds of wires at the same time?
After some tinkering, it worked!
Just by turning the large turntable a few times manually, you can finish a sweater in a few minutes.
Then the question arises again.
——Threading is a big problem! It has to be threaded one thread at a time by hand by experienced workers. A knitted skirt has at least 800 stitches from head to toe, and it takes two or three hours to thread the needles manually. If you accidentally thread the wrong hole, all the threads will get tangled together when the machine starts, and even the knitting pile will be destroyed.
So the technicians began to discuss the third generation of improvements: how to quickly thread hundreds of yarns into the needle holes at the same time.
Finally they stayed up all night and finally solved the problem.
On one side, the technicians worked non-stop for several days and finally built more than a dozen machines; on the other side, the textile factory finally obtained various production materials within the planned time.
All of a sudden, the textile workers became busy, working in three shifts. The skilled workers also stayed in the factory, repairing machines when there were problems, and refitting new machines when there were no problems...
On the first day, the workers worked in three shifts 24 hours a day and knitted more than 800 knitted skirts. The scrap rate was as high as 10%, and even two machines broke down.
Everyone worked day and night to repair and speed up the work...
The next day, working in three shifts 24 hours a day, the output reached one thousand pieces and the scrap rate dropped to 8%!
On the third day, we worked in three shifts 24 hours a day, and the output reached 1,100 pieces, with the scrap rate remaining at 8%...
On the fourth day, we worked in three shifts 24 hours a day, and the output reached 1,300 pieces, and the scrap rate dropped to 5%...
Day 5…
After ten days, more than half of the 20,000 skirts had been completed.
Quality inspection, packaging and other things are also done in one go.
Because he was worried, Howard went to the factory to inspect it in person.
Finally, I saw the factory in full swing, the mountains of raw materials, and the finished products that had been packaged and boxed...
He was very happy and encouraged everyone, then pulled Taotao aside and said, "Everything is back on track here, so you should go home. The noise in the factory is quite loud, and I'm afraid it's not good for your health. Your sister told me several times that you wouldn't listen even though she told you to go home... So she gave me a death order, I must send you home today!"
Taotao: "I..."
Howard, "Stop talking so much and go back. You, a pregnant woman, can't help much if you stay here. Besides, my father-in-law and mother-in-law are already here..."
Taotao then remembered that she hadn't been home for fifteen days!
She thought about it carefully and realized that the production process here was indeed on track and there was nothing she could do to help here, so she nodded in agreement.
On the way home, Tao Tao asked Howard again, "Brother-in-law, will people all over the country be able to wear warm and cheap knitted sweaters in winter in the future?"
Although she is pregnant, Taotao's innocent expression and tone... still reveal a bit of cute childishness.
Howard smiled and told the truth: "Although the technical problems of the sweater knitting machine have been initially solved, the real problem lies in the raw materials. The production of cotton and wool in our country is not much, and our own production of polyester fiber is very small..."
Taotao understood, "So we should plant more cotton!"
Howard smiled and said, "We need to grow more high-quality and high-yield cotton... Most of the country's arable land still needs to be used to grow food. The people must first have enough to eat before they can wear warm clothes!"
Taotao listened attentively, her lips pursed into a straight line.
Howard sent Taotao back home.
Sure enough, Bai Zhenggan, Tang Liren and their entire family had arrived two days ago.
While Tan Fenghui and Xingxing were busy, everyone had a lively dinner together. Then they made an appointment with Howard to visit Lili the next day. Only then did Howard say goodbye and leave.
The whole family started to revolve around Taotao.
——Bai Zhenggan frowned, "Aren't you pregnant? How come you haven't gained any weight, but have lost weight?"
——Tang Liren also looked disgusted, "You've been pregnant for three months, and your belly is still not noticeable? Is it because you don't eat well?"
——Bai Dongsheng, "Doesn't Song Zhi give you food?"
——Tan Fenghui, "Taotao, didn't I write a recipe for you and ask Song Zhi to cook it for you? Why didn't you eat it?"
——Xingxing, "Fourth sister! How come you are slimmer than before? Look at your clothes, they are still the same old style as last year. They look even more empty this year than last year..."
——Song Sui, "Sister-in-law, you are so thin. Has my brother gained weight or lost weight?"
A few little kids also surrounded Taotao and asked her all kinds of questions.
With so many people caring about her and loving her... Taotao was very happy.
She quickly said, "I'm fine! I've just been too busy with work lately... Song Zhi is even busier than me!"
Then she told her parents and family about her past year: she participated in the foreign language training organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also participated in the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; as for school, she will graduate from university next year. At Song Zhi's suggestion, she decided to apply to stay on to teach at the school and take the postgraduate entrance examination at the same time. Her supervisor is Professor Fu...
When Taotao started like this, everyone was excited.
"Our Taotao is really doing well!"
“Taotao’s progress may be the most obvious one in our family!”
"Fourth sister, you are so kind. I want to learn from you!"
"We should all learn from Taotao!"
"Taotao, you are awesome!"
Next, everyone talked about what happened at work this year.
Bai Zhenggan was promoted to a higher level, his official position remained the same but his rank went up.
Although Bai Dongsheng is still the mayor's secretary, he has been in charge of a lot of functional work from his superiors and is highly valued.
Tang Liren has already established a firm foothold in the Women's Federation of Song City. Although Tan Fenghui is still working as a temporary worker in a bank, she has taught herself all the textbooks of the accounting major and is currently competing with several other temporary workers for a position to become a regular employee!
Xingxing is still working as a temporary worker in the store, and she is still working hard to learn English...
In addition, although Hongdou is only eleven years old, she skipped two grades in elementary school and is now in the first grade of junior high school. Soybean is about to graduate from elementary school, mung bean is about to go to elementary school, and potato is still in kindergarten.
Song Sui was transferred to Song City this year and was just an ordinary employee of the Labor Bureau. However, he was also influenced by Xing Xing and is currently learning English...
After everyone talked about their work situation, Bai Zhenggan sighed again: "Song Zhi was really foresighted! When he first came to our village to join the production team and stayed at our house, he pushed you all to learn foreign languages... Look, this is your chance!"
Bai Zhenggan continued, "In the first half of this year, the United States visited, and in the second half, Japan visited... Today, I heard on the news that China and Japan have established diplomatic relations! Oh, when you were all learning foreign languages, I was thinking, what's the point of learning these? Look, Taotao got such a good opportunity to serve the country and the people just because she knows Japanese!"
Finally, Bai Zhenggan encouraged his children, "Our country will get better and better every year, and this can be seen from our family! Just think about it, five years ago when we were still in Ruyi Village and hadn't separated, we couldn't even get enough food to eat!"
"Nowadays? Ruyi is rated as a wealthy village every year, and every year other villages send people to ask for the experience of getting rich... Our family has even moved from our hometown to the city! In the future, our lives will get better and better! Our country will also get better and better! Once this country develops, everyone will have the opportunity to make further progress..."
"So, all of you should study hard, just like Song Zhi and Tao Tao! Always be prepared! You know... opportunities always come to those who are always prepared!"
Everyone clapped excitedly.
Taotao also clapped her hands happily.
After everyone finished their meal, the whole family went to Sister Xiao's house next door to rest.
Tang Liren and Tan Fenghui accompanied Taotao to sleep.
Taotao's bed is very big, more than enough for three people to sleep.
Tan Fenghui couldn't help but ask, "Why did you and Song Zhi get such a big bed?"
Taotao pursed her lips and smiled, "Let's play!"
Tan Fenghui's face turned red all of a sudden.
Tang Liren was a little worried. "Your bed is so big, the quilt is fine, but the bedding must be specially made, right?"
Tao Tao, "Then make it special! It's not rare to have something that you can get for extra money!"
The mother and her two children all laughed.
Tang Liren and Tan Fenghui started discussing it with Taotao.
Tang Liren said, "It's like this, your third sister's due date is February, so after I come here this time, I don't plan to go back in the short term... I have to watch your third sister give birth! She is still young, and it's her first child. If I'm not by her side, I'm worried that she will be scared!"
Taotao nodded.
Tan Fenghui also said, "Mom will stay here the whole time and wait for Lili to finish her confinement before going back... Taotao, when your due date comes in June, I will take care of you, okay?"
Then, Tan Fenghui explained, "It's mainly because Lili gave birth, so Mom took three months off... The time between your and Lili's births is not much different, so it's really not easy to take more leave..."
Taotao nodded, "No problem, thank you sister-in-law first!"
Tan Fenghui smiled and touched Taotao's head, sighing: "Ah, time flies so fast. In my memory, Taotao is still a child, and in the blink of an eye, I am going to be a mother!"
Tang Liren also said: "Yes! So what I am most worried about is this stupid peach!"
"I'm not stupid!" Taotao was angry.
Tan Fenghui and Tang Liren both laughed.
"Look, she's still the same as when she was little. She gets very upset when someone says she's stupid."
"What's rare is that this angry look is exactly the same as when she was a child!"
After laughing for a while, Tang Liren continued, "Taotao, you are so thin, the baby in your belly will also starve with you! Tomorrow, mom will make you some delicious food... From now on, mom will always be with you until March next year, and I promise to raise you fat and white!"
Tao Tao, "Aren't we going to Third Sister's place tomorrow?"
Tang Li was stunned and patted her forehead, "Look at my memory!"
The mother and her two children fell asleep laughing.
The next day, the whole family went to the agency’s family compound in a grand manner.
Bai Lili was so happy to see her family!
I also heard that my mother would stay in Beijing and would not return to Song City until she had given birth and finished her confinement?
Bai Lili cried with joy, "That's great! That's great...Mom, thank you!"
Then she described Taotao's performance in the past year to her family in vivid detail... Taotao was not to be outdone and told her about the changes that Sister Lizi had undergone in the past year, especially how she had worked hard at the Disabled Persons' Federation, done a lot of practical things for the disabled, and secured a lot of benefits...
The whole family was stunned.
——The nine sons of the dragon are all different. There are five brothers and sisters in the family, and their personalities are completely different. Lili is the softest among her siblings, but also the most dedicated.
What the family is most worried about are Lili and Taotao.
I am worried about Taotao because I always feel that she is naive about the world, but Taotao has never been a person who is willing to suffer anger or grievances for no reason.
Lili is the one that the whole family cares about the most.
Because Lili always reports good news but not bad news: she went to work at the state-owned restaurant in Song County and was bullied like that but she didn't say a word... If Cheng Zhujun hadn't sent a message to tell her family that Lili was bullied, the whole family wouldn't have known! Later, she went to work at Songshi Guest House. Even though Howard showed his love to her so strongly, she didn't dare to tell her family and kept it all to herself...
Now that we hear that Lili has made such achievements at work, everyone is so happy!
Tang Liren was still a little unconvinced, and she muttered, "Anyway, I'm not leaving this time... I'm going to stay here and watch over you every day. I can only feel at ease if that boy is really good to you. If he does you the slightest bit of wrong... Humph, after you give birth to the baby, I will take you and the baby back to my hometown together!"
——Even though Lili has been married to Howard for two years, Tang Liren still dislikes Howard.
At this moment, Tang Liren said this in front of Mrs. Huo and Huo Huaen...
Mrs. Huo was a little embarrassed and said, "Mother-in-law, you are here to accompany Lili and talk to me... Lili is happy, and I am happy too!"
Howard said without changing his expression: "Mom, please teach me how to take care of Lili later. I will learn it well."
Tang Liren ignored him.
In order to ease the awkwardness, Lili said to Taotao: "By the way, when will Song Zhi come home?"
Tao Tao, "There's no definite news yet! I haven't seen him for a long time. What's the matter?"
Lili said, "Fang Shenghao is getting married and sent an invitation... did you receive it?"
"No!"
Lili said, "It must have been delivered to Song Zhi...Hold a banquet at the Guest House, I'll go with you!"
Tao Tao was curious: "Who is he marrying? How come he got married so suddenly without any announcement?"
Lili said, "He is getting married to Lin Weizhi! But now Lin Weizhi has changed her name to Li Rui! The name Li Rui is also written on the wedding invitation. When I first saw the wedding invitation, I was wondering why the name Li Rui sounded so familiar. Later, when I asked your brother-in-law, I remembered..."
Taotao and Lili didn't know that Fang Ling had brought Taotao to her room...
Song Zhi was kept in the dark.
Because Taotao and Lili were both pregnant, he was afraid that they would get sick from this, so he was very cautious and didn't say a word.
But Song Zhi did not hide it from Howard.
Howard knew everything. When he heard the sisters talking about this, he quickly spoke up, "Don't discuss this matter. It involves state secrets... Anyway, 'Lin Yuerong' is dead, 'Lin Weizhi' is still working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Fang Shenghao's wife is called 'Li Rui'... Do you understand?"
He was in a high position and said this in a very serious tone...
Everyone was shocked and nodded.
Sure enough, Song Zhi came back the next night.
He looked haggard, with hair that covered his ears and a scruffy beard. He had lost a lot of weight and looked like a skeleton. The clothes he was wearing were the same ones he had worn when he left. Not only were they stained with layer upon layer of oil and dirt, they also gave off an unpleasant sour odor of sweat that had stained them countless times.
When Taotao was pregnant, her sense of smell was the most acute.
As soon as he entered the house——
She was almost suffocated by him.
"Go wash it quickly!" Taotao quickly ran out of the house.
Song Zhi went into the bathroom to take a shower and wash his hair, looking embarrassed; Taotao went to call Brother Dongsheng to come up - Brother Dongsheng knew how to cut hair.
By the way, pinching his nose with one hand and holding a clothes hanger with the other, he picked up the dirty and smelly clothes he had taken off, put them in a tin bucket, and then carried the tin bucket to the balcony on the second-floor terrace.
After the eldest brother cut Song Zhi's hair, Taotao asked the eldest brother to bring half a bucket of water, poured it into the tin bucket, soaked Song Zhi's dirty clothes, and sprinkled some detergent in to soak them.
Song Zhi took a bath, had his hair cut, changed into clean clothes, went downstairs, and ate a large bowl of noodle soup that Tang Liren cooked for him...
Looking at him wolfing down the food, the family members looked at each other in bewilderment.
Bai Zhenggan couldn't help but ask, "Song Zhi, how many days have you not eaten?"
Song Zhi was stunned for a moment, a little confused.
——The closer it gets to the end of the year, the more the machinery factories will arrange holidays. At this time, a large number of skilled workers are needed to repair and maintain various machines. Also, all the broken machines are piled up in the warehouse, waiting to be repaired.
Therefore, the tasks at the end of each year are extremely heavy.
Song Zhi wanted to save up some vacation time to spend more time with Taotao, so he has been working day and night during this period of time. Sometimes he was too busy to eat, and sometimes when he was not so busy and it was meal time, he would go to the factory canteen to eat a few bites and then come back to work...
So, when Bai Zhenggan asked a simple question, Song Zhi couldn't answer it at all.
Tang Liren had long regarded Song Zhi as her own son - after all, during the most difficult years for the family, Bai Zhenggan injured his waist and could not do heavy work. Although she had two sons, Dongsheng was in school and Nansheng was in the army... There were three strong laborers in total, and none of them were useful!
The old, weak, sick and disabled in this family all depended on Song Zhi's ten yuan per month for food and full work points per month to support the family...
Tang Liren was not polite and complained to Song Zhi: "Hey, are you a fool? You have been out working for a few days, how come you don't even remember how many meals you have eaten?"
Song Zhi was scolded, but he felt warm inside. He smiled and said, "My mother's noodles are so delicious!"
Then eat it all in one go!
Tang Li asked distressedly, "Are you full? There's more in the pot."
Song Zhi nodded.
Tang Liren then brought the pot over and poured all the remaining noodles in the pot into Song Zhi's bowl. Song Zhi then ate them all up like whirlwind.
After taking a bath, feeling refreshed and full, Song Zhi breathed a sigh of relief, took out two invitations and placed them on the table.
——Both invitations were sent by Fang Shenghao, one was for him and Taotao, and the other was for Bai Zhenggan’s entire family.
Song Zhi explained, "Dad, Mom, Fang Shenghao is having a wedding banquet tomorrow, and he doesn't know you're coming... He only gave me and Taotao a ticket at first, but later when he heard you were coming, he gave us another one. Let's go together tomorrow!"
Bai Zhenggan nodded, "I have nothing to do anyway, so I might as well go and have some fun."
Tang Liren asked Song Zhi how much money was usually given as a wedding gift in Kyoto...
When Taotao and Song Zhi were resting at night, Taotao couldn't help but ask Song Zhi, "Lin Weizhi..."
"Call her Li Rui from now on." Song Zhi corrected Taotao.
Tao Tao, "Okay, Li Rui. Didn't Li Rui already have sex with Fang Shenghao a long time ago? Her body is in that condition now... Can they still get married? Does Fang Shenghao's mother agree? No trouble?"
Song Zhi, "Fang Shenghao is an adult. Whoever he marries... it only needs the consent of him and the woman. As for his family, it would be best if they can give their blessing. If not, he is already financially independent, so it doesn't matter whether his parents bless him or not."
Tao Tao muttered, "Anyway, this is weird."
Song Zhi didn't want to talk to her about Fang Shenghao, so he picked up Tao Tao, weighed her, and frowned, "Looks like you've lost weight? A lot lighter!"
Taotao smiled and told him about her recent work on knitting orders from Japan. She then said to Song Zhi, "You said I lost weight, but you are the one who lost weight! Come on, let me see if your biceps and abdominal muscles are still there..."
Song Zhi also laughed.
So I took off my clothes for her to check...
Then, the young couple, who had been separated for half a month, naturally quarreled again in the middle of the night.
The next day, Song Zhi led the whole family to the guesthouse to attend Fang Shenghao's wedding.
Not many people attended the wedding.
All together, there are no more than fifty people.
There are only five tables in total.
Among them, Taotao's family accounts for more than ten...
But because of this, this deserted wedding became lively.
Taotao noticed that most of the people who came to the wedding, apart from her family and Guan's relatives, were from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a few from the Ministry of State Security.
However, the bride and groom were not there.
Guan Qingbai was there, but after not seeing him for half a year, his hair had turned completely white and his expression looked a little dull. But when he saw the Bai family, he was still very happy and came over to chat with Bai Zhenggan with a smile.
Taotao keenly felt that the Guan family members also looked uncomfortable?
——Guan Haifu’s eyes were red and swollen, she must have been crying. The faces of the other relatives with the surname Guan also did not look good. Even Lin's parents and brother and sister-in-law looked worried.
Taotao thought: This wedding banquet looks weird.
At this moment, Fang Shenghao was arguing with Fang Ling.
Fang Ling was very emotional, "Fang Shenghao! I don't allow you to do this! Lin Weizhi she..."
"My wife's name is Li Rui." Fang Shenghao said word by word.
On this point, Fang Ling still cooperated, after all, this was the requirement of the country.
"Li Rui is Li Rui!"
Fang Ling took a deep breath and said, "Sheng Hao, you can't marry her... She is a sickly girl now! Her own family hates her and doesn't care about her! And you are still rushing to marry her? Her family will be so happy!"
Fang Shenghao, "I married her, and her family is happy about it. Is there anything wrong with that?"
"you--"
Fang Ling took a deep breath and asked, "Fang Shenghao, let me ask you, do you want to marry Lin...Li Rui just to go against me?"
Fang Shenghao said calmly, "Mom, I'm almost 30 years old, and getting married and starting a family is a natural thing. And she and I grew up together since we were little, and we know each other well. Isn't that great? Besides, haven't you been urging me to get married?"
Fang Ling shook her head desperately, "Sheng Hao, I thought about it... It's also my fault. I mistakenly brought Bai Taotao to my room that day... Because I was too emotional, we became separated... But I really did it for your own good."
Speaking of this, Fang Ling burst into tears.
"Son, Mom has been married twice. I've suffered a lot in terms of marriage and family! Your dad and I were in a free love relationship. We had a good relationship. The three of us...had a very good life. You should still remember it, right?"
Fang Shenghao said nothing.
He recalled his childhood - his biological father had a very gentle temper, was not afraid of difficulties, loved to laugh, and was very kind and doting to him and his mother. At that time, even my mother's temper was made very gentle by my biological father.
When his biological father was still alive, he and his mother were like two birds well protected by a towering tree, and had never known the sufferings of the world.
The mother was still speaking, her voice trembling slightly.
"...It's a pity that your father passed away early. I was raising you by myself, and I had no work experience. I really didn't have the ability to do it. Later, the organization introduced me and Lao Guan to form a new family... Then I thought, for your sake, I must give it a try..."
"You have experienced the days my mother and I spent in Guan's house. I don't need to explain it to you. My son, I miss the happy life we had when your father was still alive. So..."
Fang Ling sniffed and said softly, "That's why I'm so determined... I hope Bai Taotao can marry you!"
Fang Shenghao's heart skipped a beat.
Fang Ling continued, "Son, a relationship where two people love each other is the most beautiful, just like what happened between your father and I! The second-rate love is when she doesn't love you, but you have a lifetime to slowly warm her up... That's what happened to Howard and Bai Lili!"
"The worst thing is to force yourself to marry a woman you don't love at all, just like you are doing now. You don't love her, and she is sickly and weak... You will have endless troubles because of her!"
"Sheng Hao, I am your mother! I have experienced the most beautiful love and the most cruel marriage, so I... hope you can be with your beloved girl, even if I have to come out and play the bad guy!"
"So, son, I'm begging you, just listen to my advice... Since you don't love Li Rui, then just break off the engagement with her, okay? You don't want me to interfere in your affairs, so I promise you that I won't care about it in the future. But don't jump into that fire pit without hesitation just to fight against me!" Fang Ling begged in a sad voice.
Fang Shenghao knew his mother too well.
This is certainly what she really thinks, but once her expectations are met, she will immediately become even more extreme!
"Mom, thank you for your advice and suggestions. I appreciate it," Fang Shenghao said, "but marrying Li Rui... is something I have thought about very clearly. And we have already discussed it. After the wedding banquet, when she is in better health, we will go to the welfare home to adopt a child..."
Hearing this, Fang Ling was stunned.
Fang Shenghao continued, "And I can't possibly break off the engagement with her...Mom, Li and I
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