Coming down from the office building of the Irene Toy Factory, Ye Zhao and Zeng Xiang walked side by side. They had hardly slept the whole night before and had just used up so many brain cells that they were now feeling overwhelmed with fatigue.
Ye Zhao yawned and looked at Zeng Xiang. He was still in very good spirits. This guy was very strange. When he was in class at school, he was like a snake, with a decadent look on his face. But when he was fighting outside, he was like a little tiger, refreshed and vigorous.
Ye Zhao said politely, "It's a good thing you're here today."
"I wasn't helping either." He thought there was going to be a fight, but that wasn't necessary.
"Without you, I wouldn't have been able to get the tape so easily. I'll treat you to barbecue at the restaurant downstairs." Every night when tutoring homework, Ye Zhao could smell the aroma of barbecue. He had been craving it for a long time.
Zeng Xiang just had an expression of "don't care, just do whatever you want with BKing" on his face.
When she reached the gate, Ye Zhao discovered that Li Ruixiang was actually waiting for her there.
"Xiao Zhao!" Li Ruixiang saw her from afar and waved vigorously.
Ye Zhao walked over and asked with a smile: "Don't you have to go to work at this time?"
"I was selected by the factory to participate in the chorus, and I just came back from the audition. I heard from Lao Li that you were here, so I waited here to see if I could see you, and I finally got to see you." Li Ruixiang quickly glanced at Zeng Xiang and asked in a low voice, "Who is it?"
Ye Zhao also lowered his voice: "The landlady's son."
"native?"
Ye Zhao nodded: "Yes."
Zeng Xiang had already walked ahead and went to the parking shed to ride his motorcycle.
Li Ruixiang looked at his figure and exclaimed softly, "So handsome! So handsome!"
Ye Zhao smiled dumbly, and lowered her voice, "He is handsome, but he is just a facade, and he is not good at studying."
"I heard from others that the locals don't seem to be very good at studying. I guess they use their skills to reincarnate."
After saying that, both of them couldn't help laughing. Li Ruixiang was as enthusiastic as ever, "Why do you look a little haggard today? There are dark circles under your eyes."
"I didn't get enough rest last night."
"Hey, how are you now?" Li Ruixiang didn't know Ye Zhao's identity yet, and Old Li didn't dare to tell anyone else.
Ye Zhao didn't intend to hide it, "I'm repeating a grade."
"Really?! Are you repeating your senior year? I really admire you. Books always make me dizzy, why do you want to study for another year? I admire you so much."
"I was sick this year and didn't take the college entrance examination. I want to try again for another year."
"You can do it. Even if you don't pass the college entrance examination, you can become a small leader in the factory after you enter the factory, which is much better than us. Brother Feng said a few days ago that I was climbing up the social ladder, but I wondered what high-ranking I was climbing. He has been very nice to Gao Yueyue and me recently, and even arranged for us to go in and sing. I don't know what's wrong with him."
Brother Feng must have known Ye Zhao's identity, so he was friendly to her classmate. She was curious, "What song did he arrange for you to sing?"
Li Ruixiang explained: "It was a large singing competition with many people competing. I joined the chorus and Gao Yueyue sang solo."
"A big singing competition?"
"I don't know the details, but it's a school-enterprise music competition, and it's on a large scale. The factory has to do a round of screening, and then you have to compete with several other factories for the spot. It's quite difficult, but as long as you enter the competition, the factory will reward you with 100 yuan."
School-enterprise music competition
Ye Zhao asked: "Is it the music competition where the first prize is 10,000 yuan?"
"Yes, that's right. How did you know?"
“There are also people from our school participating.”
Li Ruixiang patted her arm, looked at Zeng Xiang who was waiting on his motorcycle in the distance, and said, "Hey, look, he's really handsome. His motorcycle must be imported! I heard that one costs tens of thousands of yuan! Oh my God. I can't even imagine it. Xiao Zhao, you don't know, this place is like heaven, it's completely different from Wancheng."
"Why is it different?"
"In Wancheng, you need tickets to buy a lot of things, but here you only need cash to go out! Coming here is like being on TV. Gao Yueyue and I have decided that we must stay here in the future."
Xiao Zhao knows a lot of stories about the struggles of the younger generation. As long as you work hard and persevere, don't give up halfway, and be bold and careful, you will eventually achieve good results. She is optimistic about Li Ruixiang: "You can do it, I believe in you. Be brave!"
"Xiao Zhao, you are so nice. Oh, I still have to work another shift. Are you free at noon? I'll treat you to a meal."
Ye Zhao pointed at his dark circles and said, "I want to go back to sleep. Is tomorrow afternoon ok?"
"Tomorrow at noon is fine. Where should I meet you?"
Ye Zhao gave the address to Li Ruixiang. After they parted, Zeng Xiang came over on a motorcycle.
After returning home, Ye Zhao changed his clothes and fell asleep, dreaming different dreams in a daze.
It was raining heavily in the dream. She and Xiaoqin were picking up scraps at a construction site in the rain. The two sisters were carrying two large bundles of iron rods. It was getting dark, and they were trapped at the construction site and couldn't find the exit. They finally saw a bright place in front of them, but when they looked back, Xiaoqin was gone.
The building behind her was pitch black. She was the only one left in this huge world, and there was the sound of the pattering rain...
When she woke up, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.
She lay there for a while before she got up and found that there was no one in the room.
Xiaoqin is gone. Zeng Xiang, who has a rich daily schedule, is not at home. Qiaoyi is still playing mahjong and has not returned yet. She feels empty inside, as if something is missing.
She packed up Xiaoqin's clothes, comic books, and some other things and gave them to the girl who rented the house opposite.
Then she cleaned the room thoroughly and cleared her heart as well. In fact, it was good this way. She was alone, without any worries or constraints, just like her former self, fearless.
She has a lot of things to do and to raise funds for, so who has time to be sad about the passing of time
After finishing his work, Ye Zhao suddenly remembered that he had gone downstairs to look for Granny Liang yesterday, but was interrupted by this wave of trouble and almost forgot about it today.
Ye Zhao quickly changed her clothes and went downstairs. The mute's bicycle was parked in the yard. She called out, "Uncle Fugui, can you lend me your bicycle?"
The mute uttered twice, nodded, and let her ride away.
The last time I rode a bicycle was on a shared bicycle on the university campus. This 28-inch bicycle is much more difficult to control than the delicate shared bicycles.
I rode my bike through the streets and alleys, carefully avoiding pedestrians. It was a cloudy day with a sea breeze, and it was very pleasant to ride a bike on the road.
Soon they arrived at the blue greenhouse for collecting scrap. Granny Liang was receiving the goods and seemed to be unhappy with the other party.
Ye Zhao parked his bicycle outside and stood at the door to watch the fun. He only heard the old man selling goods say, "Every time I come to your shop, there are always two or three pounds less."
"This is a fair scale. If anyone tries to trick you into giving me this little thing, just take it away if you don't trust me!"
The old man was helpless. She was the only one in the area who collected junk. He didn't want to go further to sell for such a small amount of goods. "Forget it, just give me the money."
"78 cents, count it carefully, don't lose it and then say I didn't give you the money. I was confused."
After watching the old salesman go out, Ye Zhao hurried forward to say hello. Granny Liang said that she had been waiting for her yesterday until eight or nine o'clock, but she didn't show up. Her words implied that she was going to raise the price.
Ye Zhao knew that the other party had found the photos. She was not stupid and knew that there was no other buyer for Liang Po's photos except her, so how could the price go up
The two parties bargained and finally decided to give 40 yuan as agreed last time.
Ye Zhao stated: "I want to inspect the goods. I want to make sure it is the photo I am looking for."
"Oh, girl, you are so smart!" Granny Liang came into the house and took out two photos. "My husband saved a lot of photos of them as educated youth, but unfortunately they were all damaged by moisture. Only these two are still usable. See if they are what you want!"
Both are old black-and-white photos. Although there are some moldy marks on the surface due to moisture, they are still clearly visible.
The first photo was a group photo of three girls, taken in a photo studio. Ye Zhao recognized the girl with pigtails in the middle at first sight. She was Aunt He Huiqiang.
Aunt He is the most ordinary-looking of the three girls. The girl on her left has twin ponytails and a bright smile, and looks very lively. The girl on her right has beautiful facial features, shoulder-length hair, and is wearing a scarf, and looks more fashionable.
Judging from her clothes, the girl with twin ponytails on the left is dressed simply and is more likely to be her mother.
But she still asked: "Which one is my mother?"
Granny Liang pointed at the twin ponytails and said, "This, this is your mother Jin Jingzhi, Xiao Jin."
Sure enough, she guessed right.
Granny Liang said, "Xiao Jin loves to laugh. He also has a good temper."
"What about this one? Is it Xiao Guo?" Ye Zhao pointed to the girl on the right.
"Yes, this is Xiao Guo. She is pretty and well-educated. Eight out of ten male educated youth liked her. But Xiao Guo is close to your mother. The two girls are always very close to each other."
When Ye Zhao heard this, he felt something was wrong and asked hurriedly, "What do you mean?"
"what do you mean?"
"Two girls being sticky?"
"What's so strange about this? Xiao Guo has a good family background and high standards. She looks down on everyone. Your mother has a good temper. Xiao Guo gets along well with your mother. We are good sisters."
Oh, it seems she was overthinking it.
Liang Po suddenly asked: "Do you know Ye Dingguo?"
"Huh?" Ye Zhao was a little surprised to hear her father's name.
"You may not know this because you are young. Ye Dingguo is the owner of the largest stationery factory in our village. He was also in the same batch of educated youth as them, in Group A. He liked Xiao Guo, but it was a pity that Xiao Guo didn't like him and didn't catch up with him. Ye Dingguo was a poor educated youth. Who would have thought that he would have such a big business and become a big boss now? I wonder if Xiao Guo regrets it."
It seems that Jin Jingzhi was not Ye Dingguo's first choice back then.
From Ye Dingguo's attitude towards his daughter, it can be seen that he really does not love her mother, otherwise he would not be so partial to her. He does not love his own daughter, but loves Bai Lu, who is not even his stepdaughter.
Ye Zhao asked curiously: "Grandma, what is Xiao Guo's name?"
"I can't remember what Guo said at the moment."
Ye Zhao laughed teasingly, "Don't you have a good memory? Your grandfather said you can become the top female scholar."
"Don't interrupt me, let me think, Guo what Yan, I remember the middle character is also a surname..." The old woman remembered, "Guo Xuyan, this girl is arrogant, her father is a diplomat, very arrogant."
The second photo was blurry, it was an outdoor photo, there were four or five people in the photo, Ye Zhao took it to a bright spot and identified them carefully, on the left bench sat her mother Jin Jingzhi and a young man, the young man looked quite handsome, on the right bench sat Guo Xuyan and two children of seven or eight years old.
Looking at the young man in the photo, Ye Zhao immediately remembered what Uncle Su said about her mother fleeing to Hong Kong with a man.
"Who is this man?"
"No one knows his name. They all call him Hongchengzi. I heard that he drifted here from Hongcheng and stayed here for several years. Then he disappeared and no one knows where he went. Some people say that he may have returned to Hongcheng."
That should be him. Ye Zhao stared at the man in the photo. The more he looked, the more he felt that the man looked familiar, but he couldn't remember why he looked familiar.
Ye Zhao asked: "If he is from Hong Kong, how could he end up here?"
"He fell into the sea accidentally and was rescued by fishermen. His accent is that of a Hong Kong person."
Granny Liang picked up a plastic bottle from a snakeskin bag on the ground and walked inside. "Gang Chengzi used to help deliver supplies to various educated youth groups. He is familiar with all of them."
Ye Zhao followed him and asked, "Why let him transport the materials?"
"When he was rescued, his brain was a little traumatized and he wasn't very smart. He wasn't talkative, but he was handsome and likable. He lived in the old village chief's home and usually helped with village work, herding cattle, transporting supplies, and doing all kinds of work."
"Is he educated?" Ye Zhao thought, it would be reasonable for her mother to find someone who is educated.
Granny Liang sorted the contents of the two snakeskin bags and threw them into the pile of plastic. "You can't tell. Later, he got together with the old branch secretary's niece and had a wedding banquet. But within half a year, he disappeared."
"Gangchengzi married the old Party Secretary's niece?"
Granny Liang whispered, "You're pregnant now, what should we do if we don't have a wedding? Hong Kong City Boy doesn't have a hukou, so he can't get a marriage certificate."
Ye Zhao took another look at the photo of Gang Chengzai, and her mind exploded. She remembered who Gang Chengzai looked like, Zeng Xiang.
"Could the old branch secretary's niece be Zeng Erqiao?"
"how do you know?"
Therefore, Zeng Xiang is the son of Gang Chengzai and Zeng Erqiao.
Ye Zhao smelled a hint of a melodramatic plot.
Jin Jingzhi and Ye Dingguo gave birth to the original owner out of wedlock. They had a bad relationship, so after giving birth to the child, perhaps out of stimulation or for some other reason, Jin Jingzhi chose to elope with Gang Chengzai.
As to when Jin Jingzhi and Gang Chengzai developed their affair, it is currently unknown.
If this is the case, the possibility of successfully finding Jin Jingzhi increases.
And something seemed wrong. She always felt that the Jin Jingzhi described by Grandma Liang was different from the one described by Uncle Su and Aunt He, which was very contradictory.
Ye Zhao helped Liang Po move the junk outside in and asked, "Has Gang Chengzi never come to look for his son in all these years?"
Granny Liang waved her hands, "I can't figure it out. Some people say they came to look for her and took her son to Gangcheng for a few years. But some people say it was her relatives, not her husband, who took Zeng Erqiao's son to Gangcheng. I think so too. If the child was taken away by her husband, how could he come back? Wouldn't it be better for him to stay in Gangcheng, a wealthy place? Zeng Erqiao didn't want to say anything, and no one dared to ask her."
"Why are all the villagers afraid of Zeng Erqiao?"
Seeing Ye Zhao helping with the work, Granny Liang couldn't help but say a few more words, "Zeng Erqiao's father used to be a boxer. He could break a brick with one finger. He was very powerful. Her family is the Zeng family, so no one in this area dared to mess with them. It's much better now. There are many outsiders now, so who cares whether you were powerful in the past. Right?"
Ye Zhao probably understood.
"Grandma, why are you the only one collecting junk here?"
Granny Liang shook her head and said, "My life is so miserable. After my old man passed away, I was left alone with no one to rely on."
"Where are your children?"
"Escaped to Hong Kong."
"Didn't I come back to see you?"
Granny Liang snorted coldly, "If you marry a Hong Kong woman, who will still remember you, a country girl?"
Ye Zhao smiled helplessly. If Liang Po's son knew that these lands would be worth at least hundreds of millions in the future, he would definitely come back to serve his mother. Some people are so realistic and cold-blooded, even when facing their closest relatives.
After helping the old lady sort out her things, Ye Zhao gave her 40 yuan and bought the photos.
On the way home, Ye Zhao passed by the vegetable market and happened to meet Aunt Qiao buying vegetables, so he stopped his bicycle and called her.
Aunt Qiao was picking seafood at the seafood stall. She turned around and saw Ye Zhao, and asked with a smile, "Why are you riding the dumb man's broken bicycle?"
"I borrowed it from Uncle Fugui."
“Do you like crabs?”
"like."
The uncle selling seafood was obviously a fisherman from nearby. He was tanned. There were no oxygenators in those days, so the shrimps and flower crabs displayed outside would die as soon as they came ashore. But they were still fresh.
"Auntie Liang, the flower crabs have just landed. I'll give them to you at a discount."
If you want to eat, eat good, fresh food. Aunt Qiao pointed at the live blue crabs in the bamboo basket and asked, "Are these crab roe or crab meat?"
"Crab roe, full of yellow crab roe."
"Then take them all."
"Auntie Liang knows what she's talking about! If you want to eat crabs, you have to eat crab roe!"
"Crab roe is nothing, crab with butter is better. If you have crab with butter next time, save it for me. My house is the second one at the intersection, you can just deliver it to me."
"Okay." The seafood uncle took out a scale to weigh the crabs. He asked Aunt Qiao, "Is this your daughter? What a pretty girl."
Aunt Qiao smiled smugly and didn't answer.
After buying crab roe, they went to buy ginger, onion and vegetables, and the two of them chatted as they walked.
After returning home, Ye Zhao helped pick vegetables in the kitchen. Aunt Qiao killed the crab roe and steamed half of it and stir-fried the other half with ginger and scallions.
"Without Xiaoqin's rations, you don't have to give me food money. I can just deduct it from the tutoring fee."
Ye Zhao nodded: "Aunt Qiao, you arrange it, you are so good to me."
"How is this considered good for you? I still have to charge you for food." Aunt Qiao laughed.
Ye Zhao also laughed, thinking of the possible bloody relationship between Jin Jingzhi and Aunt Qiao. Whether the original owner's mother had done something wrong to Aunt Qiao or not, it had nothing to do with her personally. Once she found Jin Jingzhi, her mission would be completed.
If Jin Jingzhi and Aunt Qiao have an antagonistic relationship, she will choose to stand on Aunt Qiao's side. She can break off her relationship with Jin Jingzhi. After all, Jin Jingzhi never raised the original owner, let alone loved her.
Aunt Qiao was different. She was her old angel (crossed out) little angel. They met by chance. Knowing that she was from a single-parent family, she lowered the rent for her, made birthday noodles for her, and bought cakes for her. She was much better than the average landlord.
When she grows up, she is willing to repay Aunt Qiao and treat her better.
Aunt Qiao was smacking garlic nearby. Seeing Ye Zhao in a daze, she thought she was thinking about what happened in the past two days, so she couldn't help but persuade him, "Don't be too sad. It's good for Xiaoqin to go back. You have one less burden. Otherwise, when you get into college, you still have to worry about her affairs. How tiring."
"I'm not sad. It's her own choice. I have nothing to say."
"I like you, you're quick and decisive. You're very similar to me. Just leave the vegetables alone after you pick them. Go read your book. I'm going to cook."
Ye Zhao knew that she was in the way, so she washed the picked water spinach and walked out, wiping her hands.
As soon as I came out, I met Zeng Xiang coming back from outside with a big guitar case on his back.
"Did you buy a new guitar?"
“It’s not the guitar, it’s the bass.”
"Do you want to learn bass?"
"I'm not the one learning." Zeng Xiang took down the bass box and handed it to her, "You learn."
"ha?"
"Do you really want to play the erhu in our band?"
Playing the erhu in their band
After being stunned for two seconds, no more than two seconds, Ye Zhao immediately reacted and shouted in surprise: "You agreed to participate in the competition?"
Zeng Xiang walked into the room, and Ye Zhao followed behind him holding his violin case. As they walked, he teased, "Do you find it quite enjoyable and fulfilling to be my partner?"
Zeng Xiang didn't say anything. Ye Zhao's experience in the past two days did make him feel "compassion" that he had never felt before, so he decided to help her and help her earn the bonus.
Ye Zhao followed him into his room, "Hey! Xiangzi! You are so loyal, I will repay you."
Xiangzi corrected him in time, "Call me Brother Xiang!"
Ye Zhao immediately slid down to his knees, "Brother Xiang, I will repay you."
"How do you repay me?"
Ye Zhao thought about it. As for money, the other party had more than her, so she didn't care. What could she give him
Oh, she thought, "I'll give you half an hour of tutoring every night, from three hours to three and a half hours, how about that?"
Zeng Xiang glanced at her, wondering why she could come up with such a plan. "See, you want to torture me."
"No, it's full of sincerity. If you don't want to accept this reward, forget it. I'll give you a few more little red flowers in the future." Ye Zhao unzipped the guitar case and took out the bass inside. The bass looked very new. "Did you borrow it or buy it?"
"It's hard to buy new ones right now. I borrowed this from someone. If you like it, you can buy it later."
"Forget it, I'm poor, I won't buy it."
The bass has four strings, two less than the guitar. Zeng Xiang stood aside and talked eloquently: "It is difficult to master the bass, but it is easier to play than the guitar. You only need to learn a few chords, and that's enough for us."
"You mean, the main purpose of my playing bass is to fool people?"
"do you have any opinion?"
"No problem! It's great to be able to fool people."
He asked her, "How was the singing?"
"Me? I think I'm OK. The old dean loved to listen to my singing."
"Old Dean?"
The old director of the orphanage, but Ye Zhao couldn't tell the truth, so he just said casually: "One of my music teachers."
"Sing any song for me."
"What should I sing?" What songs were popular in this era? Ye Zhao couldn't remember a single one. Ah, Teresa Teng, "I'll sing 'The Moon Represents My Heart'. This is the only lyrics I remember."
Ye Zhao sang a short piece of "The Moon Represents My Heart" casually, and Zeng Xiang, who was listening at the side, frowned more and more.
"Your voice is pretty good, but you're a little... tone-deaf."
Tone-deaf? How is that possible
Ye Zhao protested solemnly: "How can I be tone-deaf?! I am a erhu player, how can I be tone-deaf?"
She sang so beautifully.
(End of this chapter)