428 The World Outside

downstairs.

Director Li has already reprimanded the male and female relatives.

Xiao Meizi stuffed the prepared money into her female relative's hand and bowed to her as well:

"Thank you for your care during this time, but I really don't want to be a donkey anymore, and please don't bother me again in the future."

I have to say that Fu Yuanhang and Mumu used this unexpected and quick move to cut through the chaos brilliantly.

Male and female relatives don't even have a chance to refute.

He watched Fu Yuanhang and Mumu take the person away and was given a serious warning by Director Li, who scolded them for corrupting the work style. If they didn't behave themselves, they would be sent back to where they came from and would not be allowed to go to work anymore.

They don't even dare to fart.

Seeing the excitement, the grandfather and the mother thought this was a very gratifying event and praised Fu Yuanhang and Mumu endlessly.

Some people said that Mumu and Xiaomeizi were a perfect match and wished them a happy marriage in advance.

Mumu thanked them generously. Anyway, they wouldn't have much interaction in the future, so there was no need to explain too much.

Xiao Meizi was silent all the way and didn't care about being shy.

She was living in a daze during this period, like a walking corpse every day, without even time to think.

Now I feel more guilty, guilty towards Fu Yuanhang and Mu Mu, and also grateful.

"I'm useless. Please come back to save me. I won't be so stupid again in the future." Xiao Meizi didn't want to say thank you.

A simple "thank you" is too shallow to express the gratitude she owes them. She keeps every bit of it in her heart and will always find a chance to repay them.

Mumu tapped her head: "You...

Forget it, I'll just be smarter when I get to the base next time and don't trust people so easily."

Xiao Meizi blinked her eyes: "What do you mean?"

Mumu: “Literally, Sister Taozi means to get you a letter of employment and transfer your household registration to the base factory first.

In the future, you can be like Bai Hua, study hard during the week and work part-time in the factory on weekends to earn money for your studies. You will be able to support yourself to finish high school."

Xiao Meizi knew who Bai Hua was, Mu Mu mentioned her in the letter.

"You, you want to take me away, take me away..." Xiao Meizi's face turned red and she couldn't speak clearly.

Mumu glanced at her and said, "Why? You don't want to go? Then go back and be a nanny for your relatives."

Xiao Meizi shook her head quickly: "No, no, I thought... I just don't want to cause you any more trouble, I'd better stay in the village.

I haven’t spent much of the money you sent me, and if I grow some vegetables myself, I can support myself through high school.”

Mumu was angry: "You..."

Fu Yuanhang pulled Mumu and shook his head at him: "Xiao Meizi, my sister-in-law's factory is always looking for students to work and study, if it's not you, it will be someone else.

There is always a way out. All roads in the world are made by people. You know Bai Hua. She has made her own way."

Fu Yuanhang stopped and looked at her: "We just pointed out a clear path for you. You can't cause us any trouble. We usually live in the base, and we only meet you when we go to the factory to work and study on weekends. You have to be self-sufficient like Bai Hua and rely on your own efforts.

Think it over, you only have one chance, if you really don't want to go with us, just stay in the village and we won't mention this matter again."

His sister-in-law taught him that it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. They still have a long way to go in life and material help is only temporary. Not only do he and Mumu need experience and the big classroom of society to teach them, but Xiaomeizi needs it even more. Only when she stands up on her own and becomes truly strong, can she be invincible in the future.

Xiao Meizi thought about it carefully. Even though her mind was confused, she knew that Fu Yuanhang and Mu Mu were smarter than her, and they would definitely not harm her. It would be right to listen to them.

After realizing this, Xiao Meizi nodded heavily: "I have decided to go with you. I want to walk my own path just like Bai Hua!"

Mumu finally showed a relieved expression of "my daughter has grown up":

"That's right. It's worth our long journey. Xiao Meizi, if you don't come with us, I will really be angry with you."

Xiao Meizi lowered her head in shame: "I'm sorry, Mumu, my brain has been working less and less well recently, but don't worry, I will try to be smarter in the future and not make you angry."

Mumu: "Okay, who are we talking to each other? It's a bit awkward to say this, isn't it?

Ah Hang, let's go to the post office first and call Sister Taozi to ask her to book a return train ticket for us. We will be back just in time for the start of school on September 1st."

…

The old branch secretary was very pleased to see that they had successfully brought Xiao Meizi back, and he asked Uncle Niu to drive a tractor to take them to the county to handle the procedures for transferring their household registration and food relations.

He never thought that an orphan like Xiao Meizi would have such good fortune. He repeatedly told her to cherish her blessings and remember Su Taotao and others who had helped her.

It also allows her not to worry about her grandmother who is buried in the mountains. When he goes to sweep the grave during the Qingming Festival, he will burn a stick of incense for her, offer her a pot of wine, and tell her that the old lady is living a good life now and will be blessed in the future, so that she doesn't have to worry.

Xiao Meizi burst into tears and knelt down to kowtow to the old secretary several times.

It was the third morning when Fu Yuanhang and Mumu finished taking care of Xiao Meizi.

It was Uncle Niu who took them to the county town on a tractor to take the bus.

Uncle Niu has been taking these children out for a walk these past few days. He likes them very much and is a little reluctant to leave them, so he asks them to come back more often when they have time.

They naturally agreed one by one.

The bus went onto the national highway and slowly left the county town, away from the place where Xiao Meizi had lived for more than ten years.

Before her grandmother passed away, the farthest place Xiao Meizi, who was fifteen years old, had ever been to was the commune.

It was only after her grandmother died that she went to the county town for the first time.

But this county town was more like a nightmare to her.

She didn't want to come back anymore.

But she will definitely come back to the small mountain village where her grandmother is buried, amidst the mountains.

Thinking back to when she first got on the bus to the county seat, she felt very nervous, not knowing what was waiting ahead.

But this time, Xiao Meizi felt extremely relieved as she watched the scenery receding.

Because Fu Yuanhang and Mumu said that there is a bright road ahead of her, a road that she can walk on her own and lead to the future.

And she knew that on that bright road, there were Fu Yuanhang, Mumu, Bai Hua... and a group of like-minded young companions walking together.

She will never be alone.

Later on the way, Xiao Meizi didn't feel strange at all.

The pictures in the picture book that Fu Yuanhang gave her gradually became real, and she felt as if she was following in Fu Yuanhang's footsteps and walking the same path he had walked before.

Once, Fu Yuanhang told her that if she had the chance, she must go out of the mountains and see the outside world. He said:

In front of the mountains is the town, in front of the town is the county town, in front of the county town is the city, in front of the city is the provincial capital, in addition to the city and the provincial capital there are other cities and other provincial capitals. Our motherland is vast and rich in resources, with more than 30 provinces and regions, and more than 600 cities, including the capital where the national flag rises every day...

How much Xiao Meizi longed for the "outside world" before, how unreal everything she sees now seems.

The train slowly stopped at the terminal. The heat wave that Mumu had written about in the letter, with the fishy smell of seawater, which was not familiar to Xiaomei and would appear in autumn, came over her face. She was shocked:

She had really arrived at the southernmost part of her motherland, the "outside world" that had appeared countless times in Mumu's letters, in Fu Yuanhang's paintings, and in her own dreams.

…