“I don’t remember.” Song’s mother lowered her eyes, but her tone was very firm. “But I really have seen him, I’m sure I have seen him, Little Shadow, you have to believe me, I’m not lying to you.”
"Although one side of his face is swollen like a pig's head now, I have really seen him before, but I just can't remember where I saw him."
"Pig head? She actually said he looks like a pig's head?" Qi Yanyun's eyes flashed with a cold light as he looked at Song's mother.
After glancing at Qi Yanyun's swollen face, Song Yueying wholeheartedly agreed with her mother's words, finding them very apt.
"I believe you." Knowing that Song's mother wouldn't lie, Song Yueying reassured her, "If you can't remember where you saw him, then don't think about it. Anyway, it's not an important matter."
Whether Song's mother had ever met this Qi Yanyun or not was really unimportant to her.
Looking up at her daughter's pretty face, Song's mother asked, "Little Shadow, do you really believe me?"
"Of course," Song Yueying said with a smile. "You are my mother, so I definitely trust you."
Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Song's mother was delighted.
Song Yueying frowned slightly and handed the cloth bag she was carrying to her mother. Then, pointing at Qi Yanyun, she asked her mother, "Mom, now that you've met him, do you still remember his name?"
"His name." This question stumped Song's mother again. She didn't remember his name, but she was certain she had seen him before.
Seeing the blank look on Song's mother's face, Song Yueying knew the answer in her heart.
I don't remember.
Therefore, there are only two possibilities.
The first possibility is that this guy named Qi Yanyun looks like Qi Yanjue, and Song's mother mistook him for Qi Yanjue, which is why she was so sure that she had seen him before.
The second possibility is that Song's mother had seen him before, but forgot about him, and now seeing him again brings back a vague memory.
Song Yueying narrowed her eyes and looked at Qi Yanyun, "You've been to my house before?"
"No, I've never been here before," Qi Yanyun quickly explained. "You left without even saying goodbye, and I thought you didn't care about me and didn't take me to heart."
"I'm very angry and sad."
"I even thought angrily, if you don't care about me, then I won't talk to you either. But a few days later my anger subsided, and I found myself missing you more and more."
"I want to see you, I want to talk to you."
"I have no energy to do anything when I can't see you. I feel like I can't find any reason to be happy when I don't talk to you."
“I started asking around for your hometown address. I didn’t dare ask your family directly, so I asked the neighbors in the courtyard.”
"I was afraid my family would find out I was asking about your hometown address, so I had to do it secretly. But as the saying goes, perseverance pays off, and I finally found out your hometown address."
"I signed up to go to the countryside that very day."
"I couldn't wait to see you as soon as I got off the train. Please ask the comrade who came with me to take my luggage to the educated youth settlement."
Qi Yanyun then launched into a long tirade.
Song's mother stared at him in astonishment, unaware that the cloth bag she was holding had fallen from her arms. He stretched out a foot to catch the falling bag, and with a little force, kicked it back into Song's mother's arms.
Although she didn't see clearly how her daughter did it, Song's mother still instinctively hugged the cloth bag.
Song Yueying glanced at Qi Yanyun, and with great effort, she resisted the urge to beat him up again. She took her mother's arm and led her into the courtyard.
The courtyard gate slammed shut, and Qi Yanyun, following behind, nearly bumped into his nose. He angrily raised his hand to bang on the door, but then, remembering something, reluctantly lowered it.
Taking a breath to suppress his anger, he said gently, "Yueyue, you resent me, blame me, are angry with me, and even beating me didn't make you feel better, did it?"
There was no response from the courtyard.
Qi Yanyun wasn't annoyed and continued, "It's okay, I've already come to find you. Even if you don't forgive me right away, I won't blame you."
“I have seen you and spoken to you, which has eased my longing.”
“We live in the same village now, and there’s plenty of time ahead. I believe you will see my sincerity. I will explain things to you slowly and ask for your forgiveness gradually.”
"However, I just arrived here today and I don't know anyone here. I don't even know which direction the educated youth settlement is in. Could you come out and take me there?"
In the courtyard.
After slamming the door shut, Song Yueying locked it and then pulled her mother into the main room. She only vaguely heard one sentence of Qi Yanyun's conversation outside the courtyard.
Even just vaguely hearing that nonsense made her feel incredibly disgusted. If her mother hadn't been there, she would have rushed out and given Qi Yanyun another beating.
This man is even more teasing than Song Rumeng next door.
"Little Shadow, who is that man? Do you know him?" Song's mother sat on a long bench by the square table, looking at Song Yueying cautiously.
The expression on her daughter's face frightened her a little; her daughter used to have this same expression when she wanted to hit someone.
Song Yueying frowned and asked, "Didn't you just say you'd seen him? Why are you asking me who he is now?"
“I have seen him before!” Song’s mother nodded confidently, then added with a guilty look, “But I really don’t remember who he is!”
Song Yueying was speechless.
"Little Shadow, you still haven't answered me. Do you know that man?" Song's mother asked again, stubbornly demanding an answer from Song Yueying.
Song Yueying said, "We might know each other, but I have nothing to do with him. He's a liar. No matter what he says to you in the future, don't believe him."
Just by listening to the nonsense Qi Yanyun spouted, Song Yueying could tell that Qi Yanyun was a complete, utter, and genuine fraudster.
Song's mother's mental state was sometimes good and sometimes bad, so she had to give her a warning to prevent her from being deceived by Qi Yanyun.
"He's a liar!" Song's mother exclaimed in shock, standing up abruptly. She walked to the other side, grabbed Song Yueying's hand, and tried to pull her outside.
"Where are we going?" Song Yueying asked, pulling her along.
“We went to the brigade leader’s house to report that a swindler came to our door.” Song’s mother said anxiously, “I just heard him say that he was going to the educated youth settlement.”
"He's definitely trying to scam those educated youth from the city. Let's hurry and talk to the brigade leader so that no one gets fooled."
“We don’t need to go for now.” Song Yueying broke free from her mother’s hand. “Besides, he didn’t lie to us about anything. If we go to tell the brigade leader now, he might not believe us.”
After saying that, she silently added in her mind, "The captain isn't just unlikely to believe it, he definitely won't."
"Then how can we expose him as a fraud?" Song's mother frowned worriedly.
Song Yueying said, "Let's do nothing and wait to see what he's up to. If he's doing something bad, we'll catch him red-handed and then send him to get a free meal."
"What is a free meal?" Song's mother asked curiously.
“The government provides food, the kind that doesn’t cost me anything,” Song Yueying replied.
"That's not a secure job!" Song's mother exclaimed, then said indignantly, "It's outrageous that a swindler can have a secure job! It's so unfair!"
It's her fault, she didn't explain clearly, causing Song's mother to misunderstand. Song Yueying explained, "When I said I was sending him to eat free meals, I meant sending him to a labor camp, not giving him a secure job."
"He's a fraud; how could he possibly deserve a stable job?"
"Oh, so it's a labor camp! You scared me!" Song's mother looked relieved, then leaned closer to Song Yueying and asked her with great interest.
"Little Shadow, when are we going to send that swindler to a labor camp?"
Song Yueying sighed and said, "They've only just arrived here, and you're already planning to send them to a labor camp. You're being too hasty."
Qi Yanyun's current identity is that of an educated youth sent from the city to the countryside to help build rural areas. On his first day in the village, he didn't do any work and didn't know anyone. So, his mother and daughter went to report him as a fraud.
Who would believe that!
You can't just assume he's a liar because he was loitering outside their house.
Even if no one believed him, Qi Yanyun could easily find an excuse to say that he wasn't a fraudster, but simply got lost in the village and came to ask for directions.
Was she anxious? Of course she was, sighed, lowering her head. Her anxiety stemmed from her fear that her daughter would be swindled by that conman.
Song Yueying was unaware of what her mother was thinking at that moment. She patted the back of her mother's hand and pointed to the spot where her mother had been sitting.
Understanding her daughter's meaning instantly, Song's mother slowly walked over and sat down.
Seeing how obedient her mother was, Song Yueying smiled with satisfaction. She reached for the cloth bag on the table, opened it, and took the contents out.
Meat buns, steamed egg custard, fruit candies, brown sugar, milk candies, cloth... were placed on the table. At first, Song's mother's eyes lit up, but as more and more items were placed on the table...
Her eyes widened, and she suddenly stood up, pointing at the items on the table.
"Little...Little Shadow, where did you get so many...things?" Song's mother stammered.
"The meat buns were bought at a state-run restaurant, and the rest of the things were bought at the supply and marketing cooperative," Song Yueying replied with a smile. This was hardly a lot; she had also bought…
Song Yueying's expression suddenly changed.
She said she felt like she had forgotten something, right?
She forgot that she had asked Zhou Feng to deliver the first batch of goods she bought at the supply and marketing cooperative to the hospital. When she left the hospital, she forgot to take them with her.
Song Yueying slapped her head in frustration.
Seeing her daughter hitting her own head, Song's mother's expression changed drastically. She hurriedly asked with concern, "What's wrong? What's wrong? Why are you hitting your own head for no reason? What if you make yourself stupid?"
"It's nothing." Realizing that her actions might have frightened her mother, Song Yueying quickly tried to cover it up. "I wasn't hitting my head, I was just patting it. Patting my head makes me clearer."
"Is that so?" Song's mother looked at her suspiciously.
“That’s right.” Song Yueying nodded firmly, then picked up the paper bag containing the meat buns and handed it to her mother. “Mom, I’m hungry. Go heat up the buns.”
"We're having meat buns for dinner tonight."
"We're having steamed buns tonight," Song's mother repeated her daughter's words, her attention instantly diverted. Looking at the plump, white meat buns, she swallowed hard.
Song's mother happily took the meat buns to the kitchen to heat them up.
Song Yueying then cleared the food off the table and took it to her mother's room. She then returned to the main room, sat at the square table, and took out the German instruction manual.
As a habit formed in her past life, Song Yueying first carefully read through the German instruction manual.
Only after she had a clear understanding of the situation did she begin translating. She habitually reached for paper and pen, but found nothing.
After a moment of stunned silence, Song Yueying gave a self-deprecating twitch. She took out a black ballpoint pen and a notebook from the space experiment vehicle and sat down at the square table, writing furiously.
The sooner we finish translating, the sooner we can hand it in.
The steamed buns from state-run restaurants back then were truly amazing. Although they weren't as extravagant as Xiang Qianli's, they were definitely as good as Xiang Linju's.
The aroma of steamed buns wafted into Wang Muxiang's house first, since it was only separated by a courtyard wall.
At that time, Uncle Song was digging holes in his vegetable garden with a hoe. Song Rumeng was following behind him, planting seedlings with a handful of small seedlings in one hand.
Not far from the kitchen doorway, Wang Muxiang sat on a small stool washing vegetables.
As I washed the vegetables and was about to go into the kitchen, I noticed a father and daughter working slowly and listlessly in their vegetable garden. "Are you two planting mushrooms? Hurry up!"
"If you don't finish planting the vegetables, neither you nor your daughter will have dinner tonight."
After saying that, Wang Muxiang went into the kitchen.
"knew."
"Understood," the father and daughter replied in unison.
Uncle Song glanced back at his daughter and saw that she was several holes behind. He stopped hoeing and urged her, "Mengmeng, didn't you hear what your mother just said?"
"Hurry up, or neither my daughter nor I will be able to have dinner."
“It won’t be quick.” Song Rumeng said weakly, “Dad, I’ve been working in the fields all day, and I still have to plant vegetables when I get back. I’m really, really tired.”
“You think you’re the only one who’s tired? Everyone’s tired! Aren’t your mother and I tired too? We’ve been working on the farm all day too.” Uncle Song retorted directly. “Hurry up and finish planting the seedlings so you can rest.”
"I'm already moving fast enough. If you want me to go any faster, I can only say I can't." Song Rumeng continued working slowly.
"What's that smell?" Uncle Song was about to scold his daughter when a delicious aroma wafted into his nostrils. He sniffed the air and said, "It smells so good, it's meat, such fragrant meat."
"Whose family is so extravagant that they can afford to eat meat for dinner?"
“No one in our village is extravagant. We can’t even afford meat at night. We’re lucky if we can have cornbread.” Song Rumeng, who was squatting on the ground planting vegetable seedlings, rolled her eyes.
She thought her dad was so hungry he was delirious, that's why he thought he smelled meat.
Press a clump of mud firmly onto the roots of the seedling, then slowly move it to the next small hole to plant the seedling.
She hates farm work the most, not only because it easily gets her clothes dirty, but it also makes her hands rough and chapped.
The farm work in the team was better; there were many people working together, so you wouldn't get caught if you slacked off. But in my own family, there were only four or five people, and the division of labor was clear, so there was no way to slack off.
“There really are people eating meat.” Uncle Song’s gaze was fixed on a rooftop that was emitting smoke.
Song Rumeng smelled it too, and she sniffed. Without putting down the seedlings in her hand, she stood up and looked around, finally fixing her gaze on the roof of Song Yueying's kitchen.
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