Jiang Zhilan came over with a basin of hot water, bent down and placed it at Wen Liang's feet, then squatted down, gathered the white towel floating in the basin in her hands and gently wrung out the water. Her beautiful face was reflected on the white enamel basin bottom embroidered with a mandarin duck pattern, but it was only for this brief moment before it disappeared into nothingness with the ripples of the water.
"Wipe your face. I've tried it. The water isn't hot."
Jiang Zhilan raised her head, and from her neck to her chest and then to her waist, she formed a perfect curve with ups and downs. Because she was squatting, the tight trouser legs outlined her plumpness and slenderness, almost revealing the softness and elegance of a traditional woman without any hindrance.
Wen Liang withdrew his gaze. He had no distracting thoughts in his mind, so naturally he would not do anything unusual. He quickly took the towel and said, "Sister-in-law, please get up quickly. I can do it myself."
Jiang Zhilan chuckled and said, "It's okay. You took so much effort to push the cart back. What I'm doing is nothing. Hurry up and wipe it off before it gets cold again."
Wen Liang couldn't refuse the kindness, so he wiped his face casually, handed the towel over, and said with a smile: "Okay, I'm not a picky person, sister-in-law, you don't have to take care of me too much."
Although Jiang Zhilan had always thought of Wen Liang as a hooligans, she could tell that he was a very clean person, very different from those people who usually hang out on the streets. His simple clothes were always wrinkled, and the places behind his ears and nails, which were the most likely to hide dirt, were also cleaner than those of ordinary people. Knowing that he said this out of respect for her, she stood up with the basin in her hand, smiled and said, "Then I'll go get you a cup of tea..."
"Sister-in-law, stop busying yourself. Come, sit down and have a chat." Wen Liang took her hand without saying anything and pushed her to sit on the chair beside him. He looked directly into her eyes that contained countless vicissitudes but were still gentle and kind, and said, "How is business recently?"
"It's OK," Jiang Zhilan raised her hand to brush a strand of hair to her ear, the skin on her cheeks faintly glowing with jade color, and said, "There are more people in the morning, and it seems that there is a concentrated rectification of some kind of public security action in the evening. There are fewer people coming out, and not many people eating supper..."
It was April, and the severe cold weather that had ravaged the city for several months had passed. The business of the food stalls should have gradually entered the peak season, but now it seems that it is not as good as before. Wen Liang had just returned to Qingzhou and did not know what Jiang Zhilan said, but after a little hesitation, he guessed that it was probably affected by the situation in the Taiwan Strait in February and March. Qingzhou is located on the coastal line and has a very important geographical location. It is reasonable for the city to be nervous. Didn't Liu Tianlai cooperate with the higher authorities to carry out a suppression operation a while ago? Of course, he couldn't say it too directly to the outside world, and it was expected that he would carry out security rectification under the pretext of it.
"Yeah, I heard about that. Don't worry, it'll only be a month or two, it'll be over soon."
"Ah, so long? It will take another month or two?" Jiang Zhilan obviously did not expect that it would drag on for so long. Previous public security rectifications only took a few weeks, with much ado about nothing and it was over after just shouting slogans. What happened this time
Wen Liang saw that Jiang Zhilan had a worried look between her brows and was rubbing her hands nervously together, looking very restless. With her character of never complaining about anything, she actually had such a reaction to the success or failure of the business. It was obvious that she was worried about her daughter's college tuition.
At that time, there were no student loans for college students, and the Hope Project only focused on the compulsory education stage. In fact, even if there were, in the first few years when the student loan model had not yet fully matured, it was not easy for ordinary people to get a loan smoothly through the three links of applying to schools, banks, and the place of residence.
Every year’s college entrance examination marks the beginning of many people’s dreams and the end of many people’s dream-chasing journey.
A life that can be changed with a few thousand dollars is, for a family like Jiang Zhilan's, a chasm that can never be crossed!
"I just said that casually. It may not be that long," Wen Liang hesitated. He was afraid that if he directly offered to sponsor her daughter's tuition, Jiang Zhilan might not take the money. So he asked tentatively, "Sister-in-law, didn't I hear you say that your daughter is already in the third year of high school? There are only two or three months before the exam. How is her review going?"
Jiang Zhilan's face showed the tenderness and tranquility of maternal love. She stopped her nervous hands and put them on her knees and whispered, "She has always had good grades. Last week, she scored 68 points in the second simulation exercise for senior high school students in the city, ranking fourth in the city. Her homeroom teacher said that she didn't perform to her usual level in one class, otherwise she would have been very likely to compete for first place."
Such an achievement is indeed worthy of the pride and honor of every mother in the world, but after Jiang Zhilan finished speaking, there was unspeakable pain and helplessness in her eyes. Her daughter was so hardworking, but she, as a mother, had no way to provide her with a good living environment. She had not even raised enough money for her college tuition. She was really incompetent.
Jiang Zhilan was afraid that Wen Liang would notice something, so she lowered her head. He couldn't help her if she told him about these things. How much money does it cost to go to college? Especially for famous universities, the tuition fee is several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan a year. Why bother to make others worry about it
She knew that with his gentle personality, if she really told him about these difficulties, he would definitely find ways to help her. But he was just a small thug, and being chased by a group of people on the street at night was already difficult enough. If she wanted to make things difficult for him, would she still be a human being
"I don't know how the girl is doing now. Her school implements military management for senior high school students, and they can only go home once a week. I have told her to take care of her health, but I'm afraid she won't listen. She goes to bed late and gets up early every day. Studying is important, but you can't ignore your health..."
Jiang Zhilan changed the subject and started talking about trivial matters. Wenliang, a very thoughtful person, could see through her thoughts in the blink of an eye. She couldn't help but regret that she should have made her identity clear when she was outside just now, so that she wouldn't have to not know where to start if she wanted to intervene.
"Sister-in-law, I seem to have heard that a fat, big-eared guy has been harassing you recently?"
Jiang Zhilan thought of the man who had appeared at the snack stand from time to time during this period. He was in his early forties, with a square face and big eyes, and a dignified appearance. At first, she didn't take him seriously, but just felt that he exuded a bit of nobility, and his manners and clothes didn't seem like someone who would eat at such a place. But since he was opening a shop for business and receiving customers from all over the world, she didn't take it to heart.
But I didn't expect that after the first breakfast, this man would appear more and more frequently every few days. He would come not only in the morning, but sometimes in the evening, often alone, and occasionally with one or two friends. The content of the conversation also evolved from a few simple words of ordering and paying the bill at the beginning to asking about family matters. Jiang Zhilan was a widow and was always very sensitive to men's intentions. She could not help but see this man's intentions. She mostly spoke politely and refused to say a word to him.
After a few days, even the old neighbor Fang Sao noticed something was wrong and secretly told Jiang Zhilan that the man was quite important. The black Mercedes parked outside the Workers' Stadium was his car, which cost more than one million yuan. What kind of wealth is this? If such a person is willing to come here to eat, it is probably not for the food, but for the person.
Sister Fang was a warm-hearted person and was very caring towards the Jiang family. She understood how hard it was for Jiang Zhilan to raise a child alone. Seeing that this man looked good and was a good match for Jiang Zhilan, she was interested in him, so she wanted to bring them together. In fact, she had no ill intentions.
Jiang Zhilan didn't really plan to be a widow for the rest of her life. She had done this for her daughter over the years, and secondly, she hadn't met the right person. Most of the time, she had met disgusting men like Niu Guifang who only cared about her body. After all this, she had lost interest in him.
But that night, when she heard Sister Fang teasing her about that man, saying that she would become a lady in the future, Jiang Zhilan felt a fire rising in her heart for some reason, burning her face with pain, as if something extremely precious to her had left her with Sister Fang's words that she should get married, and no matter how she screamed or chased, she could never find it back.
What is that thing
She doesn't know!
But that night, she was cold to Sister Fang for the first time, and she also said that she would never marry again in this life, and the two of them parted unhappily. After that, the square-faced man came more frequently, but his true face finally showed up. Once when paying the bill, his hand almost touched Jiang Zhilan's palm, but she quickly dodged it, but as always, for the sake of life, she still endured it.
After all, no store owner can keep his store open for long if he often argues with customers!
Perhaps it was this tolerance that made the square-faced man more arrogant. One night, when all the customers had left and Jiang Zhilan was about to close the stall, he suddenly rushed up and said some crazy things. He even went a step further and wanted to hug and kiss her, but Jiang Zhilan took a knife from the chopping board and almost cut him in the face.
Sister Fang happened to be walking by the door, and rushed in to ask what was going on. The square-faced man left in a huff, and before leaving, he threw down a business card, and said with a lecherous look: Isn't the purpose of life to make money? You can go and ask around, who I am, I have plenty of money! Ten thousand is not enough for fifty thousand, fifty thousand is not enough for a hundred thousand, wait for me and I will come again, I want to see, is your legs tighter, or my money looser!
Jiang Zhilan didn't say anything. Ever since Wen Liang rescued her from Niu Guifang's clutches that night, she no longer took such verbal humiliation to heart. She didn't even know how much courage and strength that little gangster, whom she had only met a few times, gave her!
Sister Fang was so angry that she wanted to yell, but she was afraid that others would hear her and ruin Jiang Zhilan's reputation. She hugged the poor woman and said that it was all Sister Fang's fault. She didn't see that this was a beast in human form. All men are damn bad.
Jiang Zhilan shook her head and threw the business card directly into the coal fire without even looking at it. Her eyes drifted to an unknown place outside the workstation, as if there was something there that was an indispensable part of her life.
There was a man there, of humble origin, but more gentleman than all the men in the world,
He is not afraid of evil and does not bully the good. He may look weak, but he is stronger than all those men in the world who think that power can satisfy all their desires!
Really powerful! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.) (To be continued)