Chapter 46 Goodbye, Little Mountain Village

The nights in the countryside were quiet to begin with, so any movement was particularly noticeable. Fu Zhengtu was a light sleeper, and he had always slept alone before. Su Taotao tossed and turned, which naturally affected his sleep.

He closed his eyes, stretched out his hand, and lifted the soft person onto himself.

Su Taotao was inexplicably turned 180 degrees, and her head was pressed against the warm side of her neck by a big hand, which gently patted her back. A steady voice was like raindrops falling into a jade plate, with a warm and hoarse sound in her ears: "Go to sleep."

Su Taotao gave up and didn't fight. She simply closed her eyes and lay on Fu Zhengtu, rubbing his neck: "I can't sleep."

Fu Zhengtu: "Don't say anything, close your eyes, and count to the rhythm of my hands."

Fu Zhengtu took the palm-leaf fan with his other hand and fanned her gently.

It would be tiring to travel with two children tomorrow, so she couldn't be tired tonight and had to get enough sleep, otherwise he wouldn't mind using another birth control product to help her fall asleep.

I don't know if it's because Fu Zhengtu's voice has a hypnotic effect, or because his voice is too nice, or because of the artificial fan, the gentle breeze is just right for sleep. Su Taotao listened to him and counted the beats to the rhythm of his hands clapping on her back. After a while, she felt her eyelids become heavy, and she fell asleep before she could even count to a hundred.

Fu Zhengtu listened to her steady breathing and knew that she had fallen asleep, but his hands did not stop. After about ten minutes, when he was sure that she was asleep, he carefully turned her over and let her sleep comfortably on the pillow.

Su Taotao wrinkled her nose as soon as she touched the pillow. She reached around and touched Fu Zhengtu's arm. She turned over and hugged him. She put one foot directly on Fu Zhengtu's body and hugged him tightly like a koala hugging a tree, muttering, "Sleep..."

Under the moonlight, Su Taotao's jade-white little feet were hooked around his legs, her white toes slightly curled up, even more crystal clear than the white pieces on the chessboard.

Fu Zhengtu had never paid attention to lesbians before, but he knew that not every lesbian was like his wife, whose every part of her body was as exquisite as a work of art carefully carved by God, with every part perfect.

Zhou Linglan said that she deliberately played an ugly role to avoid a lot of troubles. This did attract a lot of troubles for her. She must have suffered a lot of grievances due to being ignored for the past three years.

Fu Zhengtu held her in his arms and gently waved a palm-leaf fan, trying hard to recall what she looked like when he first met her, but he could never remember it vaguely. Perhaps he was too young and impetuous at the time and did not know how to appreciate her beauty and kindness. He only thought that she was eccentric and clingy. Even after marrying her, he did not really care about her.

When he came back this time, everyone had changed. He was really blind. No matter what, he decided to treat her well in the future.

In fact, Zhou Linglan said when she was first married that if she hadn't been sent to work in the countryside, how could a phoenix from a big city like her end up in a peasant family like theirs? It was right for them to be more caring.

Fu Zhengtu thought about how she was so coquettish and pretentious when she was directing him to do the work today, and he stroked Su Taotao's arm unconsciously. She was exactly like the Golden Phoenix, so tender and coquettish in every way.

How could Fu Zhengtu know that his wife had changed her heart? If she was still the same "Su Taotao" as before, he probably wouldn't have taken it to heart.

Fu Zhengtu didn't know when he fell asleep. His mind was in a mess the whole night. Su Taotao was making a mess in his mind the whole night.

When she woke up, she was still hanging on him like an octopus.

Su Taotao also woke up, not realizing she was hanging on him. She turned over, rubbed her eyes, and asked, "What time is it?"

Fu Zhengtu took the watch and looked at it: "It's six o'clock."

Su Taotao rubbed her face against the pillow: "What time do we leave?"

Fu Zhengtu didn't sleep well. He stretched out his hand and pinched his temple, which was in great pain. "If you're not going to City G, you don't have to leave so early. The train is at 10 pm. If you want to stay in the city, leave after breakfast. If you don't want to stay, leave after lunch."

Su Taotao sat up and stretched: "I'll go prepare some dry food and ask the children for their opinions after they get up."

After spending a few days together, Fu Zhengtu discovered that Su Taotao advocated democracy and practiced it. No matter whether it was Fu Yuanhang or Chen Chen, she always put them on an equal footing, never using her adult status to oppress them, and would only make decisions after consulting them first.

But she doesn't spoil them either, and usually lets them do things within their ability.

Chenchen was so young that Su Taotao would let him do things independently, such as washing his face, putting on shoes, and packing his schoolbag.

Chenchen must be very happy to have a mother like this.

Chenchen was indeed very happy. She was not angry with her uncle even though he dug her out of bed early in the morning.

Generally, a child of Chenchen’s age would probably forget what you said to him last night after a night’s sleep.

But Chenchen wouldn't do that. He remembered clearly that he was going on a long trip with his parents and uncle today. As soon as he got up, he put on the new clothes made by his grandmother and carried the small schoolbag made by his grandmother.

Zhou Linglan still did not go to work today. She waited for her youngest son and eldest grandson to get up early in the morning. While she and Su Taotao were making mugwort rice cakes in the kitchen, she was trying to do two things at once. From time to time, she would run to their door to listen and see if they had gotten up.

Su Taotao pinched a piece of mugwort and put it in the banana leaf, then said with a smile: "Mom, if you really can't bear to leave, then come with us."

Zhou Linglan shook her head: "Now is not the right time, let's talk about it later."

Su Taotao didn't force her, the first pot of steamed mugwort rice cakes were almost ready to be served.

The mugwort at this time is no longer as tender as in spring. Zhou Linglan went to pick it early in the morning in the dew. She only used a little bit at the tip, which was still very tender. After blanching it in water, it was not bitter at all. Su Taotao left a plate of it for cold mixing, to be eaten with porridge later.

Su Taotao made two flavors of mugwort rice cakes. One is with peanut sesame candy filling, which children like. Children all like sweet taste. The other is with preserved vegetable and minced meat filling, which Su Taotao likes salty taste.

In fact, mugwort glutinous rice cakes are not as durable as pancakes. Generally, people like to make pancakes when they are in a hurry, but mugwort glutinous rice cakes are more delicious than pancakes, and you don’t have to eat them with vegetables. You can easily eat them on the train for one or half a meal.

Zhou Linglan also cooked all the eggs in the house, more than twenty in total. It was enough to take these two kinds of dry food with her on the road in case of emergency.

When the first pot of mugwort rice cake came out of the pot, Zhou Linglan squatted at the door of the room and saw the sleepy Chenchen. She hugged the little guy, touched his head and kissed his face. Chenchen was confused by her and hid back with his nose wrinkled.

When Fu Yuanhang came back from washing up, Su Taotao gave him six mugwort cakes, three each of salty and sweet flavors, and asked him to say goodbye to Cao Guohua.

When all the mugwort cakes were out of the pot, Fu Zhengtu had already loaded all the large items into the car and put them away. He also took a shower and changed his clothes.

This man is very clean, but he is not a mysophobe. He just pays great attention to personal hygiene.

While eating breakfast, Su Taotao asked, "I heard from Chef Xu that there is a zoo in the city. Do Xiaohang and Chenchen want to go to the zoo? If you want to go, let's go after breakfast."

Shopping malls, supply and marketing cooperatives, etc., all seem the same to Su Taotao, just places where things are sold. Zoos are much more interesting.

The farthest place the two children had ever been was the county seat, so naturally they had no idea what a zoo was.

After Su Taotao gave them some scientific information, they all expressed their desire to go.

So we unanimously decided to set off after breakfast and go to the zoo first.

After the meal, Fu Zhengtu went to the brigade to get a certificate first, and Su Taotao began to check for deficiencies and fill in the gaps.

Zhou Linglan called Fu Yuanhang into the room. It was unknown what she said to him, but when they came out, both of them had red eyes.

Zhou Linglan thought she could hold back her tears, but when the car started and she saw Su Taotao and the two children waving goodbye to her, she still burst into tears.

She cried at the door of her house, while Fu Yuanhang and Chen Chen cried in the car.

Fu Yuanhang's eyes were red and he lowered his head to hold back his tears.

Chenchen was precocious and could tell the difference between this waving goodbye and the usual waving goodbyes when he went to the county town and came back. He probably knew that he would not be able to see his grandmother for a long time, so he cried and called for her.

It was the first time that Su Taotao saw the little guy crying so hard. She was so heartbroken that she wanted to ask Fu Zhengtu to stop the car and go back to pick up Zhou Linglan several times.

In fact, Su Taotao vaguely knew why Zhou Linglan was unwilling to leave. At least she would not leave here for a few years. The reason she mentioned openly was certainly one of the reasons, but Zhou Linglan could not express the deeper reasons.

Even if Su Taotao knew, she didn't dare to say it or ask.

Even for Su Taotao herself, it is difficult to get rid of the shackles imposed on women by this era, and she must follow the survival rules of this era.

In short, her position is that it is natural for parents to raise their own children and they have no obligation to revolve around their grandchildren unless she is willing and feels happy. Otherwise, she hopes that her parents have their own space and time to live the life they want.

Raising Chen Chen is her and Fu Zhengtu's responsibility, not Zhou Linglan's.

Su Taotao let the child lie on her chest and gently stroked his back:

"Don't cry, Chenchen. We can come back to see grandma during the Chinese New Year. Look, mom, dad, and uncle are all with Chenchen. Only when Chenchen is happy will grandma be happy."

Su Taotao pointed at the scenery outside the window to divert Chen Chen's attention, and the little guy gradually calmed down.

The car had driven a long way away. Su Taotao turned around and saw Zhou Linglan still standing in front of the yard gate, following her eyes and waving at their car.

What Zhou Linglan couldn't see was that Cao Guohua was standing silently at the corner of the alley behind her, his eyes following her...

Goodbye, little mountain village.

Goodbye, Qinglian Commune.