Chapter 31 Tao Tao's Chance VS Yan Na...(1)
Taotao and Huangdou had a great time playing by the shallow river in the village.
Huangdou is still young after all. After being played with by Taotao for a while, he started to laugh and was willing to speak. However, he was not as talkative as before. He only uttered single words such as "hmm", "good", "girl", "play", "shrimp", "more"...
The aunt and niece were having a great time. Tang Liren waited for them to come home for dinner, but she waited and waited but they didn't show up, so she had to ask Song Zhi to go out and look for them.
Song Zhi readily agreed.
I walked around the village, asked people, and finally found the river.
The aunt and niece took off their shoes, rolled up their trouser legs, and stood in the clear stream that was shallow enough to cover their ankles. Each of them held a bamboo hat and were fishing for fish and shrimp in the river.
To be precise, it's more like playing.
You splash water on me, I splash water on you, and we compete to see whose hat leaks the most...
Song Zhi laughed and stood aside, watching the two of them quietly.
The hot wind of midsummer blew down a patch of reeds on a shallow beach not far away, making them rise and fall like gentle waves in the vast ocean, one after another, endless.
The sounds of clinking and frying vegetables could be heard in every household, and smoke rose up. The aroma of various foods wafted through the village, mixed with the charming fragrance of tuberose grown by someone unknown... There was actually a very harmonious scent of fireworks.
In the distance, a team of production team members who had just finished work were walking barefoot on the edge of the field, carrying farm tools, singing a distorted song in their hoarse voices. Someone told a joke, and everyone burst into laughter.
Nearby, I don’t know which woman is scolding her child, which sister is laughing, sparrows are chirping on the branches, and the old yellow cow in the cowshed is mooing...
What a warm and plain pastoral countryside picture!
Of course, the most pleasant to hear is Taotao’s laughter.
In the end, Song Zhi's attention was all on Taotao.
Her smile is as beautiful as a flower and her laughter is so loud that it has the magic power to make people forget all the unpleasantness.
In the end, it was Huang Dou who first discovered Song Zhi who was standing blankly on the river bank. He pointed in the direction where he was standing and called out "Uncle", and then Taotao saw him.
Song Zhi then smiled and waved at them, "Go home for dinner!"
Taotao held Huangdou's hand, went ashore, dried her feet and put on her shoes.
Song Zhi suddenly handed something to Taotao.
Taotao took a look and found it was a piece of clothing?
——He took off his white shirt and put on a vest.
Song Zhi looked at Tao Tao's eyes, which were as clear as gemstones, and smiled, "Put mine on the outside, be careful not to catch a cold."
He didn't dare to explain it too clearly - she was soaked, and her slender and graceful figure was fully exposed. Although it was not enough to make people think of something impure, she looked youthful and beautiful.
Taotao looked down at her wet clothes and understood.
However, Huang Dou was younger and his clothes were also all wet.
Song Zhi said, "I'll carry Huang Dou on my back. I'll block the wind for him, so... he shouldn't be cold."
Taotao nodded, opened the white shirt and put it on. The hem of the white shirt covered her hips, like she was wearing a white miniskirt. She bent down to pack up her backpack and hat, and put the shrimps she had caught into the backpack.
When she bent down, the hem of her white shirt lifted up slightly, revealing her solid figure. Her wet trousers clung to her body, and a pair of slender, straight legs appeared under her "white skirt".
Song Zhi didn't dare to look any further. He squatted down, picked up the soybeans, and walked up the mountain.
Bai Taotao picked up the backpack and followed. After thinking for a while, she put one hand on Song Zhi's arm and touched Huang Dou's head with the other.
While madly absorbing the spiritual energy from Song Zhi, he also infused the spiritual energy into Huang Dou.
"Huangdou, did you catch more shrimps today, or did I?" Taotao deliberately asked Huangdou.
Huang Dou, "Me!"
"Who caught the biggest shrimp?"
"you!"
Tao Tao asked again, "By the way, Huang Dou, what's the name of the fish you caught?"
——She had heard Hongdou say before that the small fish with patterns on its body was called "Modegu".
As a result, Huang Dou stared at Taotao blankly, opened his mouth, and looked like he was about to say something, but finally closed his mouth, looking a little dejected.
Taotao sighed, loosened her hand, and stopped absorbing and infusing spiritual energy.
The hot wind lifted the corners of her clothes. She suddenly remembered something and asked Song Zhi, "Hey, Song Zhi, do you always wear a white shirt?"
I don't think he wears clothes of other colors or styles?
However, when he was forging iron, he would take off his white shirt and wear only a vest with a tattered old leather apron on the outside.
Song Zhi: ...
He really didn't pay attention to this detail.
Now that Taotao brought it up, he felt a little embarrassed and explained, "It's mainly for convenience..." He could save the clothing tickets and buy four or five white shirts at a time, which would be enough for replacement and washing. It was very convenient.
Tao Tao, "Obviously just lazy!"
She looked up and said, "You're just too lazy to match them. You think a pair of black pants with a white shirt won't be rude no matter what you do or where you go, right?"
Song Zhi smiled and said, "Yes."
"Then what do you do when you sleep?" Taotao asked again.
Song Zhi: ...
——Sometimes I wear a white shirt even when I sleep.
Well, I didn't have the courage to say it out loud.
An idea suddenly occurred to him. "Taotao, can you help me buy some pajamas or other types of clothes and pants?"
Taotao was also a little worried: mainly because in this world and in this era, everyone dresses very simply, either gray or black, or dark blue or white. Even if a girl dresses too much, she will be despised and criticized.
How weird!
but!
Simplicity also has its own beauty! Can you be a little cunning without making a fuss?
Taotao nodded seriously, "Okay!"
Seeing that she was not angry, Song Zhi became a little bolder, "Then, will you make clothes for me yourself?"
After spending more than two months together, he got to know her well. He knew that she could cut clothes and sew them herself, and that her skills were particularly good. The stitches on the clothes she sewed were even finer than those on the ready-made clothes sold in the supply and marketing cooperative.
Tao Tao, "But we don't have any cloth at home! This time my mother went to the city and bought some cloth... But you just wait, based on her taste, she will definitely think that the cloth is very suitable for making panties."
Song Zhi couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Tao Tao was helpless. "I don't know why she has such a special liking for underpants. Whenever she sees a piece of softer cloth, she thinks it's especially suitable for making underpants..."
Chatting and laughing, the three of them returned home.
Huang Dou was still enjoying the fun of playing in the water. He shouted to Tang Liren, "Milk!" and then pointed at the basket Taotao was carrying, "Shrimp!"
Tang Liren, "Hey - grandma's dear grandson! Oh, did you go to the creek to play? Did you catch any shrimps? Let me take a look, they are pretty good, about half a bowl. I'll take care of them after dinner and dry them. You can catch more later so I can make shrimp chili sauce! Oh, look at you, all covered in mud! Go take a bath first! I'll pour you some hot water..."
While Tang Liren was taking Huang Dou to take a bath, Tao Tao asked Song Zhi, "Song Zhi, when you were in the city, did you hear about...if a child was frightened and had some abnormal mental or behavioral problems, how to treat him?"
Song Zhi looked at Tang Liren who was hurriedly leaving with the soybeans.
Taotao, "Huangdou can't speak anymore."
Song Zhi was surprised, "He, he said something..."
After hearing this, Song Zhi quickly realized that Huang Dou, who used to be innocent, talkative and cheerful, was obviously not in good spirits these past two days. He stopped smiling and spoke less and less.
"What are you two doing standing here?" Bai Dongsheng's voice rang out.
Tang Liren was afraid that her daughter-in-law would be hungry and would have no milk to feed the baby, so she sent food to her second aunt's house early for Dongsheng and his wife. Now that the couple had finished their meal, Dongsheng brought the bowl up and saw Song Zhi and Taotao standing together whispering.
Although the man and the woman look handsome and pretty, Dongsheng does not want to marry his sister off too early.
But then I heard Taotao say, "Brother, Huangdou has been acting a little weird these days!"
Dongsheng was stunned.
After hearing Taotao talk about the symptoms of soybeans, Dongsheng thought about it carefully, is it true?
——He came back in the early morning, and the child threw himself on him affectionately, but in the past, he would definitely keep shouting "Daddy, Daddy". The fact is, the child just kept humming like a baby who couldn't speak!
Dongsheng frowned.
At this time, Tang Liren came out of the bathroom behind the kitchen and turned back to shout, "Huangdou, don't splash water. Grandma will get you some clean clothes..."
When I walked into the yard, I saw my children standing there, especially Song Zhi who was only wearing a sweatshirt and his white shirt was draped over Taotao? Tang Liren shouted at the top of her lungs again, "Taotao, go back to the room and change your clothes first!" Then she left in a hurry.
Taotao said to Dongsheng, "Brother, if mom and sister-in-law haven't found out yet, don't tell them for now... You don't have to hide it from mom, but as for sister-in-law... She was worried about Hongdou at first. She couldn't eat or sleep. She didn't even have milk. It was all up to my mom and sister to feed the baby with porridge and milk powder. It was only after she heard that Hongdou woke up that she slept well and had a good appetite, so she had milk to feed the baby, right?"
"…But now it's Huangdou's turn. If she gets worried and can't eat or sleep well, that will be bad. I'll play with Huangdou more these few days to see if he's willing to talk more. If he still can't, then you take him to town and tell him that Huangdou misses his sister and you'll take him to see his sister. When you get to town, take Huangdou to see a doctor right away." Taotao said.
Dongsheng nodded.
Song Zhi added a few words, "It's better to go early. Sister-in-law didn't care about Hongdou before. Now that Hongdou has woken up, sister-in-law's mental state is normal. She will soon notice that Huangdou is not doing well... Besides, it's better to intervene in Huangdou's situation sooner rather than later."
Dongsheng, "I'll take him to town tomorrow."
Taotao, "We'll tell mom about this tonight when Huangdou falls asleep."
As she was talking, Tang Liren went back to the house to get Huang Dou's clothes, then hurried to the bathroom, only to see her daughter still standing at the door?
"Taotao, hurry back to the house and change your clothes!" Tang Liren yelled again.
Taotao stuck out her tongue and ran back to her room.
There are many girls in the family, so it is crowded for washing and other things. When the house was being built, the parents listened to their daughters' advice and built a separate bathroom behind the house where they lived. They also opened a back door so that they could go directly from the back of the house to the kitchen to get hot water.
But the weather is quite hot today, and Taotao wants to cool down, so she just rubs it with cold water.
When she finished her bath and changed her clothes——
Is there a faint noise outside?
There are only a few people at home, why is it so lively?
Taotao quickly opened the door——
As a result, when she opened the door, a little man leaning against the door panel rolled into her room due to weightlessness.
"Soybeans?" Taotao asked in surprise.
She quickly picked up the soybeans.
Huangdou stretched out his thin fingers with a look of fear on his face, poked outside, then grabbed Taotao's clothes and tried desperately to pull her into the house.
"Huangdou, we don't have to be afraid. Let's go out and see what's going on." Taotao held her nephew's hand and walked outside steadily.
Huang Dou was still dragging her and didn't want her to go to the main room.
Taotao heard the crying of Aunt San——
"Why can't Taotao follow me? I, I am Taotao's third aunt!"
Then Tang Liren's disdainful voice rang out, "Tsk, I'm still her mother! Of course I can make the decision for her! But you, you're sneaking around and it's almost dark. Where are you going to take my Taotao? Humph, don't think I don't know what shameful tricks you have in mind!"
The third aunt stammered, "W-what? You know?"
"Your second brother is a kidnapper!" Tang Liren shouted, "I asked you where you wanted to take my Taotao, but you couldn't say a word! Humph, do you want to kidnap my Taotao to your second brother's house? Do you want to sell my Taotao away like Pan Jin?"
Aunt Bai: ...
Oh my god, Tang Liren is so amazing. She didn’t say anything, so how did she get it right?
"One, one thousand yuan! Wuuuu, one thousand yuan..." Aunt Bai burst into tears.
Bai Taotao looked around and found that only her mother and her third aunt were in the yard. Brother Dongsheng and Song Zhi were not there.
When Aunt Bai saw Bai Taotao, who had just taken a bath and was wearing a flowered jacket and knee-length skirt and pants, her eyes lit up!
"Taotao! Taotao... come to your aunt quickly. I'll take you out to play, okay?" Aunt Bai stretched her neck and shouted at Taotao.
Taotao: ...
——There is no electricity in the countryside at night. Once it gets dark, everything is dark. Where can you go to play? Do you want to go to the dense forest to look for blind bears? Besides, isn’t the conflict between my family and the third branch small in recent days? At this critical moment, Third Aunt wants to take her out to play late at night? Is it because Third Aunt is so stupid that she thinks others are as stupid as she is?
Taotao ignored her and took Huangdou to the kitchen to prepare the meal. After walking a few steps, he met Song Zhi who was coming out of the bathroom behind the kitchen.
He must have just finished taking a shower, his hair was wet, and although he was still wearing a white shirt, his whole body was wet, and there was a faint fresh scent of jasmine soap.
Song Zhi also heard the argument between Aunt Bai San and Tang Liren, and asked Tao Tao, "What does she want to do?"
Taotao, "She said she wanted to take me out to play! She's really crazy!" Then she took Huangdou into the kitchen.
Song Zhi frowned.
Over there, Tang Liren and Aunt Bai had already started fighting.
Aunt Bai tried desperately to rush into the yard, "Taotao has agreed! She wants to go out and play with me!"
Tang Liren reached out her hand and hit her, cursing, "Are you sick? Get out of here! Did I let you in?"
Song Zhi walked over quickly and wanted to help stop Aunt Bai.
Then, a loud and clear voice suddenly sounded outside the door, "Liren, Taozi...are you in the room?"
Everyone was stunned.
Tang Liren immediately smiled happily, "Brother! Come in quickly, we are at home!"
Taotao also heard it, and poked her head out of the kitchen door. When she saw who was coming, she shouted in surprise, "Uncle!"
The person who came was Tang Liren's brother, Uncle Tang. He is an old farmer, tall and strong. He is over 50 years old, as strong as an ox, and his muscular arms are thicker than Taotao's waist!
Uncle Tang entered the yard.
He was carrying an extremely large backpack, a large bag hanging on his chest, an extremely large bag on his shoulders, and another bag in his hand...
Aunt Bai was very afraid of Uncle Tang and was unhappy about him making more trouble, so she quietly took two steps back.
Uncle Tang took off the things hanging on his body with a smile on his face, and suddenly saw Aunt Bai?
His eyes widened instantly and he asked Tang Liren, "Big sister, didn't you split up? Why is this guy still here?"
Aunt Bai's legs were shaking violently.
Tang Liren, "It was already dark, and she came to me and said she wanted to take Taotao out to play! Who knows what she was thinking!"
Uncle Tang yelled, "Get out of here!"
——Many years ago, Fuguier from the fourth room snatched Taotao's eggs to eat. Later, due to Chen Juxiang's favoritism, it evolved into a melee among the four rooms of the Bai family. Uncle Tang led his relatives to cheer for Liren Tang. When he was tired of arguing, he leaned against the gate and dozed off. The hunting dog raised by the neighbor next door suddenly saw Uncle Tang and barked at him because he was a stranger. Uncle Tang was half asleep and thought they were wolves, so he jumped up and punched the two vicious dogs to death one by one!
Of course, Uncle Tang later compensated the owner of the hunting dog, so nothing happened.
But Uncle Tang's bravery still made all the Ruyi villagers feel in awe.
What Aunt Bai fears most is Uncle Tang.
He yelled at me to get out, and I was so scared that my legs went limp and I ran away crawling.
Taotao jumped over with Huangdou, "Uncle!"
Huang Dou, "Uncle--grandfather!" At least two words came out of his mouth.
Uncle Tang said "Hey", and touched Taotao's head with a smile, then touched Huangdou's head, took out a few things that looked like tree branches from his backpack, and handed them to Taotao and Huangdou, "Take them and eat them!"
Taotao took a look and found that it was ripe wild mulberries?
Uncle Tang looked around again and said, "Song Zhi is at home!"
"Hello, uncle!"
"Okay, okay!" After Uncle Tang greeted Song Zhi, he saw that the house was deserted and asked Tang Liren, "Where are my pear and my apricot?"
Tang Liren, "They went to town, so it's Dongsheng's turn to come back and rest. Oh, by the way, Hongdou is awake! Your brother-in-law's back is fine... By the way, brother, why are you here so late today?"
Uncle Tang breathed a sigh of relief, "It's good that nothing serious happened! Your sister-in-law asked me to come over and give something to my nephew's wife!"
Tang Liren was a little embarrassed, "Didn't I send it to you a few days ago?"
"That's different. Last time it was my mother who asked me to send it, but this time it was your sister-in-law who asked me to send it... Let me tell you, there are two laying hens in the sack, take them out quickly and put them in the cellar, otherwise they will get suffocated! There is also a pheasant and a fat rabbit that your nephew caught in the mountains. I guess they died not long ago, so you should deal with them quickly, stew one tomorrow and the other the day after tomorrow to nourish my nephew's wife..."
Uncle Tang started to talk about what the things on the floor were...
Tang Liren winked at Taotao and then pouted in the direction of the kitchen.
Taotao understood and quickly ran into the kitchen.
——My uncle must not have had dinner since he came home at this time! But we always cook according to the number of people at home. We haven’t prepared anything now, so there will definitely not be enough food.
However, Taotao walked around the kitchen and was stumped by how to make a fire.
Usually, the third sister is too capable and takes care of all the work in the kitchen. Even Xingxing doesn’t have many opportunities to cook, let alone Taotao who is spoiled by the whole family.
Taotao tried it and decisively admitted defeat, and asked Huangdou to call Song Zhi in.
She began to rummage through the drawers and cabinets looking for ingredients.
Soon, Huang Dou brought Song Zhi here.
Taotao also found a bag of flour.
"Song Zhi, can you make a fire?" Taotao poured the flour into a basin, added water and started kneading.
Song Zhi: "Yes."
——Actually, he doesn’t know how to do it, but he has seen others cook fire and knows the steps, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
So he first found the matchbox, then the small dry firewood pieces for starting the fire, then he went to the firewood pile and took a few pieces of firewood, stuffed them into the stove first, lit the small dry firewood pieces with a match, waited until the fire was a little stronger, then stuffed the small firewood pieces for starting the fire into the stove, and finally took the blowpipe and blew gently...
Slowly, the fire started.
Tao Tao arranged for Song Zhi again, "Song Zhi, add water to the pot, we will steam the noodles!"
Song Zhi set up the pot as instructed and added water into it.
Seeing her struggling to knead the dough, he went to wash his hands and said, "...I'll do it."
Taotao gave up her seat, washed her hands and went to prepare the stuffing.
She plans to make both savory and sweet fillings.
For the salty one, she could use the small fish and shrimps she caught with Xiao Dou today, mix them with homemade pickles and chili sauce, it would definitely taste good!
If you want something sweet, you can use the mulberries that my uncle picked on the way, mix them with white sugar and mash them into a paste. Use a spoon to spread it on the dough and roll it up to eat. It must be delicious too!
Tao Tao ordered Xiao Huangdou, "Huangdou, go to the vegetable garden and pick some green onions!"
Huangdou nodded and ran away.
Taotao first picked the mulberries, washed them with water, put them in a basin, scooped two spoonfuls of white sugar and sprinkled them on the surface, and then began to process the small fish and shrimps caught today.
Seeing that Song Zhi had already kneaded the dough, she asked him to use a rolling pin to roll the dough into four or five large pancakes. Then she took the steamer, put it in the pot, and covered it with clean gauze.
At this time, Huangdou went to the vegetable garden to pick some onions and ran back. Taotao taught Huangdou to take the spoon and mash the mulberries in the bowl into paste.
Taotao quickly washed the ginger, onion and garlic, chopped them, took another small pot, put the cleaned small fish and shrimp, chopped ginger, onion and garlic, as well as oil, salt and sauce into it, and stuffed it directly into the stove.
After a while, the small pot started to explode with a crackling sound.
Taotao was afraid that the exploding oil would hurt her, so she kept hiding behind him.
Song Zhi, "I'll switch with you. The dough is already spread out. When you see this one is cooked, take it out and put another one on to steam."
Taotao couldn't ask for more.
The two switched positions.
Soon, the dough cakes in the pot were cooked. Taotao took them out with a bamboo tongs and put a piece of raw dough cake into the pot to steam. The cooked pancake was cut into quarter-sized slices and placed on a plate. After five pancakes were steamed, Taotao saw that there was still half a pot of boiling water in the pot, so she simply cracked two more duck eggs into the pot and added salt and chopped green onions to season it.
Song Zhi had already prepared the small fish and shrimp paste. Taotao tried a bite and it was fragrant and crispy, super delicious!
She rewarded Huang Dou with a "Mo De Gu" and Song Zhi with a fried crispy shrimp, and asked, "Is it delicious?"
Huang Dou and Song Zhi nodded repeatedly.
Taotao smiled with her lips pursed.
The amount of shrimp paste was still a little insufficient, so she took out the sauce and pickled vegetables made by her mother and put them all on the plate.
The three of them carried the food to the main room.
Tang Liren was a little uneasy, worried that her daughter, who had never done any housework, would blow up the kitchen...
Now she saw the three people not only brought out the meal she had prepared earlier, but also steamed buns, a plate of fragrant fried fish and shrimps, a large bowl of duck egg and chopped green onion soup, some pickled vegetables and a bowl of black stuff that she didn't know what it was?
"You guys are awesome!" Tang Liren said with a smile. Then he instructed Taotao, "Taotao, go to the gate of the yard and shout downstairs, saying that your uncle is home and ask your elder brother to come up and sit with him."
Taotao went and shouted.
Brother Dongsheng heard it downstairs and said he would be back soon.
The whole family sat on the kang bed and ate dinner.
Taotao demonstrated to everyone by wrapping the shrimp paste and pickled vegetables in a dough and handed it to her uncle. I rolled another sweet one for Xiao Huangdou.
The uncle took a bite and said, "It's delicious! This way of eating... is so exquisite! Taotao must have seen this in the city, right? We country people don't eat such expensive food!"
Tang Liren felt proud and said, "Hey! She just loves to mess around..." Her tone was filled with pride and pride.
It was the first time that Xiao Huangdou ate the wrap with mulberry sweet sauce and was so amazed that his little mouth was stuffed full. "Delicious, delicious!" He handed the half-eaten wrap in his hand to Tang Liren.
Tang Liren was so happy that she took a bite and praised, "This sweet thing is mulberry?"
Taotao nodded.
"Good! Delicious!" Tang Liren praised it highly.
Bai Dongsheng hurried over and asked, "My uncle is here?"
"Hey, come sit down," Uncle Tang asked about Bai Zhenggan and Xiao Hongdou with concern, and then got down to business.
"Dongsheng, I was going to send you a message. Since you are here, I will tell you in person! The quota for workers, peasants and soldiers will be announced soon. We have more than 300 people in Jixiang Village, and we could have been allocated a quota last year. Your Ruyi Village has 500 to 600 people, so it will be the same as last year, so you will have at least two quotas..."
"I think about it, the most outstanding young man in your village is none other than you! But you still have to be careful of those educated youth. They are your competitors!"
Bai Dongsheng hesitated. "I've heard about this, but things have been unsettled at home lately, and Nansheng has joined the army again, so I'd better..."
Tang Liren slapped her son hard and said, "You'd better honestly fight for a place in the admission list! This is a good opportunity to learn advanced knowledge and cultural skills. Why don't you want it when it's right in front of you?"
Bai Dongsheng, "But you may not be able to get it, right?"
Uncle Tang whispered, "Your father's bravery will give you a lot of points! Look around your village, is there any other young man who can surpass you? Your competitors are not the young men in this village, but those in the Youth Educated Student Station. They can go crazy just to get back to the city!"
Tang Liren: "The educated youth are already intellectuals, so how can they go to the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University?"
"We didn't have this kind of thing in our township, but last year, there was a village in the neighboring township that couldn't find any advanced youth. Finally, an educated youth from that village spent 200 yuan to buy the quota and left! I guess they didn't know about it before, but after the opening was made last year, they will definitely grab the quota this year!"
Bai Dongsheng fell into deep thought.
Uncle Tang ate his fill of the wrap and drank half a bowl of duck egg and chopped green onion soup. He wiped his mouth and said he was leaving.
Tang Liren rushed to look for the dried food that her family had dried in the sun, wanting Uncle Tang to take it back, but Uncle Tang refused to let her. "Look at your house, everyone is sick and weak... Your mother is over 70 years old, and she cries at home every day, saying that you are also 50 years old, and you are still suffering with Bai Zhenggan. Now he is the one who is hurt, and we can't blame him! After he recovers, if you still follow him and eat coarse food, our family will not agree!"
"Besides, these things are not for you, they are for the children! If you want to suffer with Bai Zhenggan, go ahead and suffer it yourself. I won't stop you. But don't make the children suffer!" With that, Uncle Tang took the empty backpack and left.
Taotao ran out quickly, "Uncle!"
She handed two handkerchiefs wrapped with things to her uncle, "Uncle, these two packages, one is a hairband I made myself, for my cousins from the third room. The other is buttons and buttonholes I made with wooden beads and scraps of cloth, for my three aunts and seven cousins-in-law... Please help me take them back, don't lose them."
Uncle Tang smiled happily, "My Taotao is really thoughtful!"
——What rural areas lack most are small daily necessities. Most women just use rubber bands as hair ties, but those kind of bands are very tangled in the hair. Taotao wraps the rubber ring with colorful wool, and sometimes mixes in some wool of other colors. It looks beautiful but not ostentatious, and is very popular among relatives.
Buttons are the most popular little things among rural women. Almost no one can own clothes that don't have buttons falling off. Once a button falls off, you can never find the same button again...
With the help of the little grape vine, Taotao found a shrub plant in the back mountain. The fruit of this plant is a round woody fruit with beautiful gray and white stripes on the skin, and it is a naturally hollow fruit.
Taotao collected a lot of these small fruits, dried them, and sewed them with floral cloth to make beautiful cloth buttons.
Last time when Taotao's family split up and built a new house, Uncle Tang brought dozens of male and female relatives to help. When my cousin's mother saw the buttons on Taotao's and her sisters' clothes, she was very surprised and kept asking Taotao how she made them...
So Taotao made about two or three hundred buttons and gave them all to her relatives there.
Uncle Tang took the hairband and buttons given by Taotao and left with a smile.
Tang Liren and Bai Dongsheng went to see them off.
Bai Taotao grabbed Song Zhi's hand and said, "Song Zhi, what is the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University?"
——If brother Dongsheng can go to the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University, can she?
==
Standing halfway up the hill, Aunt Bai pouted and looked towards the eldest son's yard, thinking angrily: One thousand yuan, one thousand yuan!
For a moment, she was in a state of confusion.
——If I go back empty-handed, will my second brother give me the jade? I failed to trick Taotao away and lost a thousand dollars. What a pity!
Aunt Bai rolled her eyes and came up with an idea: How about just finding a random woman? Since she doesn't have the ability to bring peaches worth three thousand dollars, why not try bringing just any woman? If I can’t get one thousand yuan, two hundred yuan will do! The most important thing is to bring the jade back.
But where can she find a woman?
Aunt Bai thought about all the families in the village with girls of marriageable age and felt that no one would be willing to let a 17 or 18-year-old girl go out at night...
Finally, she thought of her third daughter, Bai Zhenzhu, who lived at the educated youth station.
The only person she had a chance to convince was Pearl!
How about letting Pearl go with her? As long as the jade can be exchanged back, everything will be fine.
Aunt Bai didn't care about anything else and hurried to the Youth League Station.
Unexpectedly, when I walked to the Youth League Station, I saw a figure wandering at the entrance of the Youth League Station?
Taking advantage of the faint moonlight, Aunt Bai recognized that the person who had been standing hesitantly at the door of the Youth League Station was Yan Naqian? !
A bold idea popped into Aunt Bai's mind.
"Yan Zhiqing, what are you doing here?" asked Aunt Bai.
Yan Naqian turned around suddenly and saw that it was Aunt Bai?
She breathed a sigh of relief, "I, I..."
"Take a walk?" asked Aunt Bai.
——So many things happened in the village these days that she didn’t even notice that Yan Naqian hadn’t returned to the village for several days.
Yan Naqian laughed twice, "Yeah, let's go out for a walk, hahahaha..."
——Yan Naqian has been out for several days and just came back today. However, she hadn't figured out how to evade Jiang Hongzhi's question, so she stood at the door, hesitating.
"Aunt, are you... here for something?" Yan Naqian had no idea what had happened in the village recently, nor did she know that Bai Zhenzhu was now living in the Youth League Station.
Aunt Bai thought quickly and pulled Yan Naqian aside, "Naqian, this is what happened! My daughter Zhenzhu accidentally fell down the mountain. I, I am in a hurry to go to her uncle's house to get money! Only with money can I send Zhenzhu to the hospital for treatment, right?"
Third Aunt Bai tried to act sincere and sincere, "Na Qian, can you... accompany me to Huang Village? It's not far, and we can get there in an hour! Then I'll give you ten yuan as a reward, okay?"
Yan Naqian originally wanted to refuse——
When I heard there was a ten-dollar reward?
Yan Naqian asked, "Aren't Third Uncle Bai and Feicui at home?"
Aunt Bai, "Your Uncle Bai... went to Chenjia Village to borrow money! As for the jadeite... she, she had a quarrel with her aunt and refused to go no matter what..."
Yan Naqian was very tempted. "Oh, it takes an hour to get there? It's late at night, I'm afraid it's not safe."
Aunt Bai San, "It's safe! The security in the villages and towns near us is the best! Naqian, thank you for your hard work... When we get to my brother's house, we can borrow his bicycle and ride back, okay?"
Yan Naqian: "This..."
Aunt Bai San, "I'll give you twenty yuan for your hard work!"
Yan Naqian, "Let's go now, auntie."
——In addition to the 20 yuan hard work fee, Yan Naqian felt that she would be able to find out something from Aunt Bai later, which could help her think of a way to cover up her whereabouts in the past few days!
Aunt Bai was overjoyed and happily took Yan Naqian out of the village.
After a moment of silence, Yan Naqian asked, "Aunt, has anything happened recently?"
Aunt Bai was stunned. "Ah?"
——Such a big thing happened in the village, and Yan Naqian is... asking questions even though she already knows the answer?
Yan Naqian was shocked by Aunt Bai's reaction, and suddenly realized - didn't Aunt Bai know that she was not in the village these days?
That’s good, that’s good!
In this day and age, if an unmarried girl with no partner runs away without saying goodbye and disappears for several days...it will have a very bad reputation.
Yan Naqian quickly said, "I, I mean, is there any news in Huangcun recently? Hahahaha..."
Aunt Bai thought: What other news could there be from Huangcun? In two days, the police might come to arrest her second brother, the human trafficker!
Seeing that Third Aunt Bai didn't say anything, Yan Naqian made small talk, "By the way, Aunt, I heard that Uncle Zhenzhu seems to be a famous matchmaker?"
Aunt Bai felt bitter, but in order to successfully trick Yan Naqian to Huangcun, she continued to say, "That's right, there are so many people.
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