Chapter 237 Old Dreams
The dining table and the floor were covered with open booklets.
Tu Chaoxi didn't know how many times he had read it. With each reading, absurd irritation engulfed him layer by layer.
The present situation is too perfect, so much so that Tu Chaoxi hasn't reminisced about the past for a long time.
Suddenly, at this moment, some memories uncontrollably surfaced in his mind.
They didn't have much money back then. Sometimes Chu Man would disappear for months at a time, leaving behind very little money. He had to be careful with his money and find some work to keep his younger siblings from going hungry.
So they ate from a large pot, with a piece of meat cut into countless thin slices and cooked in a large basket of vegetables.
Their younger sister would always run to him with her rice bowl in advance, and then look at him obediently.
She said, "Brother, when feeding Yaoyao, make sure there's lots of meat and only a little vegetables."
Tu Chaoxi, with a stern face, immediately slapped a large spoonful of food over the dish.
A child's voice said sternly, "No picky eating allowed!"
He was an impartial elder brother who loved each of his younger siblings equally.
But they would unequally add two slices of meat to that large spoonful of vegetables.
It didn't matter that Tu Yao had a bowl full of vegetables over her. She carried the heavy bowl herself, sat down opposite her brother, and painstakingly stuffed the food into her mouth.
Halfway through the meal, she would tilt her head back and look at him with a puzzled expression.
Tu Chaoxi pretended not to see it.
Tu Yao panicked, pointing to the extra meat in the bowl, and stammered excitedly, "Brother...brother! There's too much meat!"
Then either he or Nan Ke will tell her at the right time.
"My brother doesn't want to eat meat today."
Then he casually added two slices to Lin Yue's bowl as well.
Tu Yao didn't understand, but that didn't stop her from being as shocked as a groundhog that had found pine nuts, clutching the bowl in astonishment, and then, as she savored the taste, excitedly swinging her legs.
...
Unlike the Crane Village where Tu Xiaomao lived, where the villagers all lived their lives behind closed doors, they were no different.
The village was poor, and the school was located two mountains away. Tu Chaoxi had neither money nor time to go to school.
So he bought a sixth-grade workbook.
Whether it was him at ten years old or his two younger brothers at six or seven years old, they all did the same set of questions.
Similarly, five-year-old Tu Yao is also like that.
At five years old, an age when she couldn't recognize all the characters, she would carefully erase every pencil mark and struggle to decipher the questions on the blank page once again.
Not recognizing her at all, he could only dejectedly lean against Nan Ke's chest and pitifully sniffle a couple of times.
"Second brother, I can't learn it..."
Nan Ke was not as impulsive as him. He was incredibly patient and managed to teach their sister to sit obediently on the doorstep and solve the chicken-and-rabbit problem.
...
At that time, Tu Yao never longed for any lavish family banquets.
She's so happy she'll jump for joy with just a piece of meat.
Back then, Tu Yao wouldn't leave a whole workbook empty and write sloppy, impatient handwriting on it.
Even a simple number, she writes it neatly and correctly.
But the messy handwriting all over the floor... Tu Chaoxi covered her throbbing head.
What happened...?
He actually thought there were two Tu Yaos in the world...
...
Meanwhile, Tu Yao followed Lin Yue to a business restaurant.
Along the way, Lin Yue glanced at his sister, who looked particularly listless, several times.
Finally, unable to hold back, I asked, "...Did your older brother scold you badly yesterday?"
Tu Yao lowered her head and shook it twice: "...No."
"But it would be better to just give them a good scolding."
It would be better to treat her like Tu Yao and give her a good scolding than to vent your anger alone.
Lin Yue: ?
Tu Yao sighed and glanced at him: "Young man, you don't understand."
Lin Yue fell silent.
Tu Yao glanced at him again: "Why aren't you asking anymore?"
Lin Yue said seriously, "I don't understand, and it's no use asking."
Tu Yao: ...
Tu Yao opened her mouth, then closed it again, choked up for the first time and didn't know how to speak.
She looked up and stared at him with a deep, unsettling gaze.
For the first time, Lin Yue voluntarily shed his usual sullen expression and couldn't help but laugh.
For some reason, he suddenly remembered many years ago.
When he was little, his older brothers would always find excuses to add meat to his and Tu Xiaomao's bowls.
Tu Xiaomao likes to eat meat first and then vegetables, while he likes to eat vegetables first and then meat.
Towards the end of the meal, you'd always meet Tu Xiaomao's longing gaze as he held his rice bowl.
Then, under her expectant gaze, he ate the last of the meat, bite by bite.
Her expectant gaze immediately turned resentful.
Just like now.
...
Lin Yue snapped out of his thoughts, looked up, and realized he had unknowingly reached the door of the private room.
After finding the buyer, Tu Xiaomao assembled a fleet of transport vehicles and made an appointment with Mr. Li well in advance.
He knocked on the door and was about to push it open when he heard the sound of porcelain shattering inside.
Tu Yao snapped out of her daze and quickly looked over.
Inside the private room, on one side was Mr. Li, the buyer, and on the other was a stranger of similar age, both with furious expressions. The two had already started fighting.
Tu Yao frowned, held back for a while, and couldn't help but complain: "Brother, why do we always end up fighting whenever we're together?"
Lin Yue's dark face suddenly flushed red.
He hesitated for a moment: "This has nothing to do with me, right?"
This time it wasn't him who did the hitting, so he probably won't have to go to jail...
Tu Yao pondered for a moment, "That makes sense."
The words had barely left his mouth when the shouting from the other side intensified. Suddenly! A shadow loomed over him!
"Hey buddy, watch out!"
Just as Tu Yao was about to stand in front of Lin Yue, a dark, thin, and strong hand grabbed her tightly in the next second!
In an instant, their positions reversed, and Lin Yue held her tightly in his arms!
With his other hand, he slammed the backpack down hard!
It hit the man right in the face, causing him to lose his footing and fall to the ground with a thud, a scream echoing through the private room.
Several security guards rushed over and immediately pinned the person down.
"Tu Xiaomao, how are you?"
Within seconds, Lin Yue broke out in a cold sweat and quickly checked the girl in his arms.
Tu Yao peeked out and silently looked inside.
The man, covered in blood and unable to stand, cursed angrily, "Why are you arresting me! Can't you see someone deliberately injured me!"
"Who threw this bag?! I'm calling the police to arrest them!"
Tu Yao silently shrank back and whispered:
"Damn it, buddy, looks like we're going to have to go to jail..."
Lin Yue: ...
"No, no, you don't need to come in!"
Upon seeing this, the buyer quickly came over and apologized repeatedly: "I'm so sorry, that's my younger brother."
“A few years ago, in order to go solo, he took over all my procurement lines and left me alone in the Tibetan area.”
"Business is bad now, and they're trying to come back and curry favor with me to cooperate with me. I didn't agree, so we got into a fight. It has nothing to do with you."
Before Lin Yue could fully absorb the information in her words, the girl in his arms suddenly stiffened.
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