People here usually watch TVB in Hong Kong. In addition to watching the TV dramas, they mainly watch the news and weather forecast. The weather forecast in Hong Kong is more accurate.
According to the weather forecast, a super typhoon that has not been seen in a decade will land today. The villagers have made preparations early, and most families have stockpiled enough meat and vegetables for two or three days.
The canteen has also contacted the suppliers and prepared the ingredients in advance.
Even the school has issued a notice that today and tomorrow will be a holiday, and students will study independently at home.
There was no wind at this time and it was drizzling. Ye Zhao had made an appointment with Ni Meng to go to his house to discuss something, and she arrived on time as promised.
Ni Meng's family lives in a two-story building. A new building is being built in front of his house. Ni Meng walked out in the drizzle and pointed at the foundation and said, "230 square meters, six floors. The first to fifth floors will be rented out in the future, and we will live on the top floor."
Ye Zhao was very envious. She asked, "Do we need to approve land to build a building now?"
"Of course I have to approve it. We are all acquaintances, so it is not difficult to approve it." Ni Meng invited her to sit in the house.
Ye Zhao put away his umbrella and went into the house. His living room was furnished with typical mahogany furniture that was both rustic and luxurious. In the middle was a large color TV, a refrigerator, and a shrine. On the wall hung four or five large black-and-white photos.
“This is my grandfather, my great grandfather, and my great grandmother… They were all well-known figures in Zengwuwei.”
Ni Meng boasted while making her Kung Fu tea, "Come, have some tea. You came to see Uncle Wang today, what can I do for you?"
Ye Zhao picked up the Kung Fu tea and drank it in one gulp. "How dare I teach you? I'm here to borrow money from Uncle Wang."
Ni Meng paused while pouring tea. "You want to borrow money?"
"Yes, I'll lend you the money. Don't worry, I'll pay you the interest." Ye Zhao said as he took out his passbook, "And I'll show you the collateral. I'm sure I can pay you back."
There was quite a bit of money in the passbook, nearly 40,000 yuan, and the account was in Ye Zhao's name. Ni Meng didn't understand: "You have your own money, why do you need to borrow?"
Ye Zhao whispered, "Uncle Wang, I'm telling you the truth, but you have to keep it a secret for me."
"As long as you trust me, I will keep it a secret for you."
"I have contracted the canteen of the Irene Toy Factory..."
Ni Meng was shocked. The person opposite him was a female student. He asked, "Didn't they say that your classmate's parents took care of it?"
"If I were to contract the canteen, my dad would definitely stop me, so I had to find someone to help me." Ye Zhao began to complain, "I put down 10,000 yuan in cash to contract the canteen, and the finance department is holding back the money for a month. I have 4,000 people to eat, and I won't get the money until after National Day. This month's expenses are tens of thousands..."
Ni Meng understood, and he couldn't help but give a thumbs up and praised: "Amazing! You and Xiaoling are in the same class, and you have come out to do a big business worth tens of thousands of dollars. Our Xiaoling was angry with her mother yesterday because of a few cents of pocket money. This is the difference! Uncle admires you!"
Ye Zhao: "I can't hold on any longer. Can I borrow some money from my uncle?"
"Don't you have 40,000 in your bankbook?"
"This is the meal card deposit collected from the workers. A few days ago, the factory's finance department came to trouble us and insisted on taking the deposit. We resisted the pressure and kept the deposit, but I am afraid that they will continue to cause trouble, so I dare not easily take out the money to use."
"Oh, I see. So you want to use this as collateral to borrow money from me? As long as you ask, I will give you the lowest interest rate even without collateral. How much do you want to borrow?"
Ni Meng spoke tactfully, but without the deposit as collateral, Ye Zhao believed that he would be lucky if he could lend her a few thousand.
Ye Zhao calculated that it would cost 60,000 to 70,000 yuan or more to collect small yellow ginger. Up front, 10,000 yuan would be needed as a deposit and other funds. He didn't know how much money the canteen would earn later, so he had to make arrangements in advance to be prepared.
Her main purpose of coming here today was to test the waters.
"I'm not sure how much I'll need to borrow later. I'll borrow 10,000 first, and then I might need to borrow another 40,000 or 50,000 later if needed."
Ni Meng thought about it and nodded, "Okay, my interest rate to other people is 1.2%, I'll charge you 8%, is that ok?"
This interest rate is definitely higher than that of a bank, but Ye Zhao understands that the other party relies on this for a living. If she borrows from others, the interest rate will be higher, and she may not be able to borrow the money.
"No problem. 8 cents is fine. I'll just borrow it for a month or two for cash flow."
Ni Meng is very good at dealing with people. He said, "You don't have to pledge your passbook for the first 10,000 yuan. If you borrow more later, you can use your passbook as collateral. Am I being nice?"
Ye Zhao thanked him, "Uncle Wang, you are so kind!"
"Then I'll get you ten thousand first." Ni Meng made a phone call and asked someone to bring the money over.
Ye Zhao signed his name on the IOU, put his fingerprint on it, and received 10,000 yuan.
"Don't tell my dad that I asked you to borrow money." Ye Zhao reminded him again and again, "Don't tell anyone."
Ni Meng laughed and said, "Of course, we have professional ethics, I won't tell anyone."
Before leaving, Ye Zhao looked at the new house that Ni Meng's family was building and said, "Uncle Wang, if anyone in the village wants to sell land or houses in the future, remember to tell me if there are any cheap ones."
“Do you want to buy a house or land?”
"It's all fine. The best is land. I also want to build a house." Then have a home of your own.
Ni Meng promised to help her keep an eye out for it. "You are different from your father in this respect. Your father doesn't like to buy houses or land. The village wanted to sell the factory building of Irene Toy Factory to your father half a year ago. The price was also right, but he didn't want it. If you have money, it would be great to buy it yourself."
“Why does the village want to sell the factory?”
"The Ailin Toy Factory is going to open a branch in another place, and the villagers are worried that they will move away sooner or later. If your father bought the factory here, he would definitely not move. The village will definitely try every means to retain a large factory."
Ye Zhao smiled. This might be the limitation of the times. More than ten years later, the government here disliked these factories as low-end manufacturing industries and gradually introduced policies to drive all the factories away.
If I could buy a factory as big as the Irene Toy Factory, it would be more than just making money.
However, the factory is industrial land. If it is to be converted into commercial and residential land, it will require good relationships, which are all big things. Ye Zhao was just thinking about it in her heart. It seemed that these things were far away from her.
Her current goal is to buy a plot of land in Zengwuwei that is as large as the new residential building in Nimeng and build a few floors. She will be satisfied if she can be a landlady in the future.
When he came out of Ni Meng's house, he met Zeng Xiaoling who had just returned from outside. The two greeted each other and Ye Zhao went back first.
In the evening, the wind started to pick up, and then it turned into a storm and there was no TV signal.
Ye Zhao and Zeng Xiang went to Xiaotian's house to play musical instruments, drink wine, and sing rock music. They were very happy.
The bass has been returned. Zeng Xiang taught Ye Zhao to play the guitar. Ye Zhao learns very quickly. Although he is tone-deaf in singing, he is a first-class player of playing musical instruments.
"When I can't eat one day, I can set up a stall on the street to perform." Ye Zhao was full of confidence.
Xiaotian: "I can, too."
"It's inconvenient to take your drum set out."
"I can sing. I sing better than you."
Ye Zhao's tone-deafness is her Achilles' heel.
She rolled her eyes at him and said, "How come you sing better than me? I sing well too. It's not like I'm going to a competition. Can't I just perform on the street?"
Xiaotian admitted: "I didn't say you can't."
Ye Zhao deliberately snorted and muttered softly: "You just said that you sing better than me."
"Sister, is it okay for me to sing better than you? Brother Xiang, tell me, who sings better, me or Xiao Zhao?"
Zeng Xiang was playing the keyboard next to him. The topic he brought up was very poisonous. The lead singer of the Wen Tianxiang band has always been taken turns between him and Awen, and Xiaotian's singing is indeed average.
At this moment, most people would pursue a policy of not offending anyone, but Brother Xiang's thinking was different. He said directly: "No."
Ye Zhao and Xiaotian looked at each other, and Ye Zhao secretly reached out and unplugged the keyboard.
The keyboard sound stopped, Zeng Xiang looked up and glared at the two of them, Xiao Tian was busy selling out his friend for glory, raising his hands in surrender: "Brother Xiang, look, my hand is here! It's obviously not me."
Ye Zhao smiled proudly, gently picked up the pick and strummed the guitar, singing to himself: "My singing is beautiful. If you don't like it, don't listen! La la la la la la! If you don't like it, don't listen!"
Snapped!
The lights went out, and the room was completely dark. There was a power outage.
Can't even listen to the electricity? Ye Zhao was furious: "Can you give me some face?"
The wind was howling outside, and the person in the corner sighed helplessly, "It sounds good. It's very beautiful."
Xiaotian snorted twice and tapped the drum to protest, "Brother Xiang, you are biased. Where are your principles?"
Ye Zhao smiled proudly and said, "It is a great honor to know your mistakes and improve yourself. This is called the improvement of aesthetics. Brother Xiang, do I sing well?"
"It sounds good." Zeng Xiang coaxed her again without any principles or partiality.
Xiao Tianqi shouted, "Just sing a duet."
Zeng Xiuqun came upstairs with a candle and brought poker cards. The four of them sat together and played hoeing the earth. After a few rounds, Zeng Xiang and Xiaotian stopped playing, and the two brothers continued to play their instruments.
Ye Zhao and Zeng Xiuquan sat aside eating melon seeds and chatting.
Zeng Xiuqun had a bitter face. She had been in a bad mood ever since her mother discovered that she was in a relationship with a classmate.
"I really don't want to go to school. It's too boring every day. I can't understand what the teacher is saying."
Ye Zhao smiled: "If you don't want to go to school, then don't go."
"I wish you were my mother."
Ye Zhao: “…”
"Sister Xiao Zhao, attending class is like torture. You don't understand the sadness of poor students. Alas..." Zeng Xiuquan lay on the table, her face full of pain.
"You don't understand the sadness of being poor. Your family has so many houses. If it were me, I would just lie down." According to what Ye Zhao knew, Fatty Ying had one more building to rent out than Aunt Qiao, so she must be much richer than Aunt Qiao.
Zeng Xiuqun asked curiously, "Isn't your father also quite rich?"
"My family is different from yours. My father's money is not mine."
"None of my things belong to me. They all belong to my brother."
Ye Zhao knew that most people here favored boys over girls. She sighed helplessly, thinking there was no solution to this problem.
The typhoon lasted for two days and the heavy rain continued without stopping, and some low-lying areas were flooded.
Ye Zhao waited a week before going to Xishan to find Huang Dongliang and decided on the small yellow ginger from Xiangxi Village. The deposit cost about five or six thousand yuan.
Ye Zhao asked Huang Dongliang to keep a close eye on the other villages that had canceled their subscriptions and build good relationships with them. When the time was right, they would harvest together with Zhangjia Village and Xiangxi Village and try to collect 100,000 kilograms of turmeric.
Mid-Autumn Festival came in a blink of an eye. Aunt He called a few days in advance to invite Ye Zhao to have dinner at their house.
That day was Sunday, and Ye Zhao was helping to pack mooncakes in the cafeteria. Each worker would receive an extra mooncake for dinner that day, which was paid for by the supplier.
It was almost five o'clock when she finished her work and went to Su's house.
The Su family and the Ye family live in the same community but different buildings. Ye Zhao has been in Shenzhen for so long, and her father has called her home for dinner twice, but Ye Zhao did not go. Later, Ye Dingguo stopped calling her.
The Su family lives on the top floor, the 7th floor. Elevator apartments are not popular nowadays. This is considered the best residential area around, but there is still no elevator. Ye Zhao climbed to the 7th floor with mooncakes in his hand. He couldn't get up to this floor because of his poor legs and feet.
Su Yingmin and his wife have a son and a daughter. Their son is in the first year of high school and their daughter is in the second year of junior high school. Their family is very happy.
As soon as you step into their house, the atmosphere is different, so harmonious.
If the original owner's parents had formed a stable small family, would the original owner's living environment have been much better since childhood
A capable and wealthy father and a talented mother, how enviable it is to talk about it...
However, who knows? Many families that appear harmonious on the surface are actually made possible by women's grievances and compromises. Obviously, Guo Xuyan is not a person who is good at compromise.
Unless she finds someone she loves very much, she is willing to compromise for love.
Aunt He was busy in the kitchen. Ye Zhao just went in to take a look and chat for a while. She really couldn't help, so she came out again.
She and the He family's youngest daughter, Yunyun, spent their time reading novels in the room. Yunyun was a flower in a greenhouse, completely innocent and didn't know what not to say.
She asked Ye Zhao: "Sister Bailu and the others went to the Ocean Park, why didn't you go, Sister Xiaozhao?"
Ye Zhao then realized that Ye Dingguo had taken his girlfriend and her daughter to enjoy the family happiness. She smiled and said, "I've never been to Ocean Park. Is it fun?"
Su Yingmin heard it in the living room, and he said in a sad voice: "Yunyun, you said daddy, daddy can hear you. Come out and eat pomelo, Xiaozhao! Eat pomelo!"
Yunyun didn't want to eat, so Ye Zhao got up and went out, eating pomelo while watching TV and chatting with Su Yingmin.
As a foreigner, Su Yingmin doesn't like watching local or Hong Kong TV stations. His TV at home plays programs from CCTV.
Ye Zhao picked out the grapefruit seeds one by one. She looked at the TV, then at Su Yingmin, and said softly, "Uncle Su..."
"How is it? Is it delicious?"
"Not bad." Ye Zhao said suddenly, "Why did you burn my mother's photo that day?"
Su Yingmin, who was peeling a grapefruit, was stunned. He probably didn't expect that Ye Zhao would find out about the burning of the photos. He smiled awkwardly, "How did you know?"
"I saw the photographic paper you burned."
Su Yingmin put down the pomelo, took a tissue and wiped his hands, "What else did you find?"
Ye Zhao continued to eat his grapefruit and said very calmly and quietly: "I want to know who my mother is?"
Su Yingmin was stunned for a few seconds: "Who is your mother? Why are you talking nonsense all of a sudden?"
Ye Zhao took the backpack from behind the sofa, unzipped it, took out a photo, and handed it to Su Yingmin.
Su Yingmin hesitated for a moment, then took the photo. On it was a piece of information that read, "Proficient in Russian, a little French and English, and a lover of Soviet literature..."
It was a handwriting he was familiar with. His heartbeat quickened. "Where did you get it from?"
"Archives. This is Guo Xuyan's handwriting. The description here is almost exactly the same as the words Aunt He used to describe my mother that day. Jin Jingzhi and Guo Xuyan are two people with completely different backgrounds, different personalities, and different hobbies. Only Guo Xuyan fits the description of my mother by all of you."
Su Yingmin said nothing.
"Guo Xuyan is my mother, right?" Ye Zhao stared at Su Yingmin without blinking. Su Yingmin lowered his head and looked at the photo again and again, his eyes seemed fixed.
Yunyun kicked off her slippers and went to her brother's room to talk. In the kitchen, there was the sound of hot oil being put into the pot.
After a long while, Su Yingmin sighed softly: "Your mother's handwriting is very beautiful, just like her."
Then, Su Yingmin looked at her and said, "You are very smart. You know everything."
"No, I'm not smart. I should have suspected it earlier and shouldn't have waited until now to discover it. It's because I didn't think about it at all at the beginning that I was deceived by you for so long."
"We didn't mean to hide it from you."
Ye Zhao smiled silently: "So, what you want to burn is the photo of Guo Xuyan. Why? Why do you want to change my mother? Can't you just tell me from the beginning that my mother's name is Guo Xuyan?"
Yunyun came out of her brother's room again and stood in front of the TV to watch a skit.
Su Yingmin didn't want the children to hear their conversation, so he stood up and said, "Come, come to the study with me and talk."
Ye Zhao followed Su Yingmin into the study. Su Yingmin stood in front of the window with his hands in his pockets. He said truthfully, "Back then, your mother wanted to go back to the city, but she couldn't go back when you were here..."
"But why didn't you tell me who my biological mother was for so many years?"
Su Yingmin wanted to say something several times, but swallowed his words back. He was afraid that Ye Zhao would not be able to bear it if he said too harshly, but he kept avoiding the main point, as he was afraid that Ye Zhao would get entangled in this issue.
After struggling for a while, Su Yingmin finally chose to tell her: "Your mother doesn't want others to know about your existence."
I don't want others to know her existence. What a cold sentence. How sad the original owner would be if she knew.
Ye Zhao felt sad for the original owner again, perhaps her existence was a mistake.
"Where is Guo Xuyan?"
"You want to go find her?"
Ye Zhao didn't want to tell Su Yingmin the truth. She tapped the corner of the table and said, "I don't want to find her, I just want to know where she is and whether she is doing well."
"She's living a good life. Xiao Zhao, listen to your uncle and don't look for your mother. I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. She has already abandoned you, so just pretend she doesn't exist."
Yes, Guo Xuyan had chosen to abandon her eighteen years ago.
Ye Zhao stared at Su Yingmin. For the first time, she truly felt that what Uncle Su said to her was sincere.
"She doesn't want me anymore, does she?"
Su Yingmin's eyes suddenly became moist. He wanted to comfort the girl in front of him: "It's okay, Xiao Zhao. Without her, you are still so outstanding. Even if she doesn't want you anymore, you still have your father, Uncle Su and Aunt He..."
For a child, the presence of a mother cannot be easily replaced by others.
Ye Zhao suddenly empathized with the original owner. She lowered her head and tried hard to control her emotions. Fortunately, she was a strong person and would not cry easily.
"Where is she? In Beijing, Hong Kong, or somewhere else?"
Su Yingmin answered straightforwardly, "She is in Hong Kong City."
"Has she remarried?"
"No. She never married."
Ye Zhao was a little surprised. This was different from what she had imagined.
"Uncle Su, you know where she is, don't you?"
Su Yingmin: "I know."
"If one day I must find her, will you help me? I mean, I must find her." She must find Guo Xuyan. This is her mission and there is no way to avoid it.
Su Yingmin nodded heavily this time: "When you grow up, we will discuss this matter again. Under the current circumstances, don't go looking for her. Don't let your father know that you have been looking for your mother's whereabouts. Don't tell your father that you already know who your biological mother is. Okay?"
Ye Zhao didn't understand: "Why can't I tell him?"
Su Yingmin sighed, "They couldn't get the love they wanted, and they had a complete falling out. There's no way to mend their relationship. You were raised by your father, and if you don't side with him and instead go to find your biological mother, he will definitely be angry. And your father doesn't know that Guo Xuyan is in Hongcheng at the moment."
Ye Dingguo didn't know that Guo Xuyan was in Hong Kong City, but Su Yingmin knew? She had always thought that Su Yingmin, He Huiqiong and Ye Dingguo were on the same front when it came to her mother's affairs. Now it seemed that she had misjudged
"Uncle Su, are you hiding something from me?"
"Xiao Zhao, Uncle Su has told you everything he can say. Some things that happened more than ten years ago are no longer worth mentioning. They have become the past. You have to believe that in these complicated relationships, Uncle Su will always stand by you. That's all." Su Yingmin said earnestly.
Ye Zhao knew that if he continued to ask, he would not get any more results. Yes, everyone has secrets, and there are some things that you don't have to explore to find out the inside story.
It’s not that she isn’t curious, but she just can’t do it at the moment.
At least today it was confirmed that Guo Xuyan was her biological mother, lived in Hong Kong, was unmarried, and lived a good life.
"What about Jin Jingzhi? Where did she go?"
Su Yingmin picked up the cup of water on the table and took a sip of tea: "Jin Jingzhi has immigrated."
Ye Zhao shook his head: "She didn't return to Beijing. How did she immigrate?"
"Jin Jingzhi fled to Hong Kong with your mother, and then she immigrated abroad."
This is also a reasonable explanation.
Someone knocked on the door, and Ho Wai-king poked her head in. "What are you guys talking about? Let's get ready for dinner."
"She caught me asking about her mother. She was very smart and found out who her real mother was by herself."
Ho Wai-king was surprised: "How did you find out?"
"Eat, I'll tell you later."
He Huiqiong comforted Ye Zhao: "Whoever feeds you is your real mother! Do you understand? Just treat Aunt He as your real mother, okay? You can just move in and keep Yunyun company. I'm always worried about you living alone outside."
"It's okay, the landlady is a very nice person."
Su Yingmin: "She has her own ideas, just follow her."
Ho Wai-king prepared a table full of Wancheng-style hometown dishes. Ye Zhao actually couldn't eat spicy food very well, and he felt reserved when being a guest in someone else's home, so he didn't enjoy the meal very much.
After sitting for a while after dinner, Ye Zhao went home on the pretext that he had not finished his homework.
Back at the Little West Building, Auntie Qiao was serving dishes for dinner. Auntie Qiao asked her, "Have you eaten yet?"
Seeing Zeng Xiang answering the phone in the living room, Ye Zhao whispered back, "I've eaten. Why are you guys so late today?"
"We finished playing mahjong late today. I cooked a lot of dishes. Let's eat some more."
Ye Zhao was a little tempted when he saw the crabs on the table, "Then I'll have some crabs."
"Come and eat it, it's butter crab! The seafood guy specially left it for me, you can't buy it even if you have money."
Ye Zhao went to wash his hands and came out. Aunt Qiao had already added more dishes and chopsticks.
Ye Zhao: "I just came back and saw many people worshiping the moon on the road."
"Let's go watch the moon after dinner." Aunt Qiao said, her eyes looking at Zeng Xiang.
It was a long while before Zeng Xiang hung up the phone and came over to eat.
Aunt Qiao asked him, "What are you talking about? Why are you talking for so long?"
"Nothing."
"You're allowed to go again?"
"We'll go at Christmas."
Ye Zhao recognized that it was a call from Zeng Xiang's father.
"Are you allowed to take the exam next year? Next time, just refuse directly and say I don't agree."
Zeng Xiang didn't answer while eating. After a pause, he said, "Auntie asked you to go too."
"Aunt, you call me so affectionately! What's the point of me going? I won't go. It's wrong to ask you to celebrate Christmas every year with a group of Chinese people celebrating a foreign holiday."
Ye Zhao ate crabs but didn't dare to speak. The only sound on the table was chewing. The atmosphere was a bit awkward. She changed the subject softly, "Where are we going to watch the moon later? To the rooftop?"
Zeng Erqiao didn't want to spoil the fun of the festival, so she said, "The view of the moon from the rooftop is great, let's call Fatty Ying and the others."
Ye Zhao took the initiative to take the job: "I'll go and call them later."
[Hello, Luo Shen!]
I'm Xiaodao. Did you receive the last letter
I'm sorry I didn't leave you my address. I thought you must be very busy, so you don't need to reply.
Today is Mid-Autumn Festival. I am sitting by the window writing you a letter. The round moon is hanging on the roof of someone else's house. I am feeling depressed (crossed out) or happy, thinking of you who is far away. Have you also enjoyed the moon today
Let me tell you a little secret. Today I finally found out that my mother had chosen not to have me a long time ago. I don’t know why, but I feel a little sad.
Dear friend, you are happier than me, at least your mother loves you.
Looking up, we are looking at the same moon. Thinking of this, I feel happy.
Your friend, Xiaodao]
Ye Zhao gritted her teeth and wrote. She had to borrow a collection of love poems. She wanted to influence him with her passionate love poems.
(End of this chapter)