Chapter 231 Like

Chapter 231 Like

Chapter 231 Like
Xu Mingyuan looked at Xiao Yangzhi with a frown on his face and frowned unconsciously as well.

Last night she was carrying Xiao Yangzhi on her back. I don't know when she ran in front of him, with her hands tightly around his neck.

Even though Xu Mingyuan had never had any strange thoughts about this pretty little sister, the abnormality in his body was something he could not control.

Realizing that Xu Mingyuan was moving, Yang Zhi, who was sleeping uneasy, opened her eyes, and tactfully retracted her crossed legs, stretched her legs and stretched.

Then he took the opportunity to stretch his arms and pulled the quilt to cover his face.

After washing up, Xiao Yangzhi's face looked pretty and rosy. She had some bread and milk for breakfast, and then the two of them restarted their journey.

The cotton socks I washed with shampoo yesterday were not dried.

Yang Zhi treated the car like a small room in her home. She put her socks on the dashboard near the heater, spread the towel she used in the morning on it, hung her hat and scarf on the pillow, and put the bags of used snacks in a small box as a trash can, making the entire car full of life.

After passing through two provinces, it wasn’t as cold as in Nanxi.

Xiao Yangzhi, who had not left home for many years, finally couldn't resist the sleepiness and fell asleep. She didn't even wake up when Xu Mingyuan stopped at a service area to rest.

Xu Mingyuan was afraid that the weak Yangzhi would catch a cold, so he took off his coat and put it on her.

Next we entered the territory of Zhongzhou Province, and the view gradually widened to reveal an endless plain.

Yang Zhi's eyes were stung by the sunlight. He rubbed them with the back of his hand and squinted to look aside.

"Brother, I fell asleep..." Yang Zhi said embarrassedly.

"We're in Zhongzhou Province now. Does it look familiar?" Xu Mingyuan asked with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Yang Zhi quickly sat up straight and looked out the window curiously.

Without the embellishment of snow, winter is actually not beautiful.

The tree trunks in the distance are still bare, but the fields are full of green winter wheat, which is very pleasing to the eye.

"Hmm, kind of familiar."

Yang Zhi said softly, with an inexplicable sense of sadness rising in his heart.

After all, she had lived on this land for the first half of her life. After leaving her hometown for many years, she stepped on this land again and vaguely recalled the days when she was a child farming and weeding.

Childhood was hard, but it was not without any happiness. Children are naturally curious about the world and will always find some fun, such as watching ants moving on the ground or sparrows flying in the sky.

The visibility is good during the day. Seeing that the drivers on the road have stepped on the gas tank and overtaken the A6 he was driving with a "whoosh", Xu Mingyuan also unconsciously increased the speed.

It was almost one o'clock in the afternoon when we finally arrived in Yuyang City.

I am even more timid when I am close to my hometown.

Although Yang Zhi had already decided that Nanxi was her home, she couldn't describe the feeling she had when she saw the name in her memory again.

"Did you live here when you were a child?" Xu Mingyuan asked.

"Hmm..." Yang Zhi thought for a while and said softly, "I haven't always been here. I went to school in Yuyang in the first and second grades of elementary school. Later, I transferred to a private elementary school in Xincheng and lived on the school grounds. Then, my uncle took me to Nanxi..."

In the 1990s, the conditions of private primary schools were very poor. Most of the students were children of migrant workers who came to the city from the countryside. Since there was no time to take care of them, they boarded in these schools. Every day they ate things like radish and corn porridge, and lived in dormitories with bunk beds for 20 to 30 girls.

Eating was almost a problem, but there were so many people crowded in the same dormitory that Yang Zhi felt very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, after getting over this experience, I was taken away by Xu Jun and did not have to endure the hard days that followed.

"Hey, you have quite a lot of life experience."

Xu Mingyuan couldn't help but sigh.

No wonder Xiao Yangzhi doesn’t have many friends. She started transferring schools before she was familiar with the new environment, and became a transfer student when she arrived in Nanxi.

Primary school lasts for six years in total. It is difficult for students like her who join the class midway to integrate into various small circles, not to mention that she is a taciturn person by nature.

"not bad."

Fortunately, it's all in the past, and things will get better and better in the future. Yang Zhi smiled and looked at Xu Mingyuan, indicating that she didn't care anymore.

Xu Jun was afraid that flying during his parole period would cause delays, so he chose to take the train where inspections were not so strict.

There was still enough time. There were only two trains a day in the small city of Yuyang. After a simple meal, Xu Mingyuan took Xiao Yangzhi to the train station to buy two pick-up tickets, holding a paper sign with Xu Jun's name on it.

Today is only the fifth day of the Chinese New Year, and there are only about a hundred passengers leaving the station. Xiao Yangzhi searched for Xu Jun in the crowd for a long time, and when the staff locked the door, there was no sign of Xu Jun.

Seeing this, Xu Mingyuan asked the staff member beside him: "Brother, are there only two of us leaving the station? Is there no other exit?"

"Just this one."

The staff was busy getting off work, so they cleared him and Xiao Yangzhi out and left.

"Brother, what should I do?"

Yang Zhi panicked and had to ask Xu Mingyuan for help.

"Didn't you say my dad came to Yuyang?"

Xu Mingyuan was also helpless. He and his father only said two words before he hung up. The rest of the information was what Xiao Yangzhi got out of him.

Xiao Yangzhi was naturally not as considerate as Xu Mingyuan. She was afraid that something might happen to Xu Jun, so she impulsively thought of asking him to come over and take a look.

"That's what you said. I'll make another call..."

Yang Zhi quickly took out Xu Mingyuan's mobile phone. Her phone was not compatible with inter-provincial services, so she used Xu Mingyuan's phone to make the call.

"Did you get through?"

Seeing that she had been dialing for several minutes, Xu Mingyuan smiled.

"No……"

Yang Zhi lowered his head and dared not look at him again.

"It's okay. Send two text messages to your Uncle Xu and tell him we're in Yuyang. He'll see it when he turns on his phone. Let's go. We've finally come here, so let's go around and take a look."

After waiting outside for a long time and seeing no one coming out, Xu Mingyuan pulled the pitiful little Yangzhi back to the car.

Although the weather in Yuyang is cold, it is not as biting as in Nanxi. Xu Mingyuan took off his sweater and trousers and only wore thermal underwear and coat.

Xiao Yangzhi also took off the sweater she was wearing, and when she took off the sweater, she revealed the warm clothes tucked into her fleece pants. Her smooth belly was seen by Xu Mingyuan.

Yang Zhi was not in a hurry to tidy up. She first folded the scattered clothes and placed them on the back seat, and then tucked the hem of her thermal underwear into her fleece pants.

The development in the 1990s and the millennium is not on the same level. Even though Yuyang is a small city, it has changed a lot.

Xiao Yangzhi had been running around for too long and had only stayed in Yuyang for a few years. His primary school was in the suburbs. He was also very young at the time and was very unfamiliar with the surrounding environment.

Xu Mingyuan hadn't been out for a long time, so he decided to take this trip as a trip. He asked Xiao Yangzhi for a long time with great interest, and she finally remembered a place, which was a small shop next to the bus station. In her memory, the ice cream in that shop was delicious, and every time her mother took her around, she would buy her an ice cream.

Xu Mingyuan took her for a walk. The small sales window that Xiao Yangzhi remembered was no longer there. It was transformed into a store. It still sold snacks, but unfortunately there was no ice cream.

After asking the shop owner, they learned that the primary school Xiao Yangzhi attended had been merged into the Third Primary School four or five years ago due to the lack of new students. In the end, the two could only look at the old site that had been transformed into a breeding farm.

Yang Zhi looked empty. The things in memory are just memories after all, and they will return to reality eventually.

Seeing that Xu Mingyuan was very interested in everything around him, Yang Zhi carefully searched the remaining memories in his mind and told some scattered stories.

The introverted Yang Zhi doesn’t have many stories to tell. Her stories always happen around her but are buried in her heart.

After thinking for a long time, I could only talk about things like listening to lectures and doing homework at school, and the peasant house my mother rented nearby. However, the place where she used to live has long been converted into a factory.

In fact, it was a good thing to demolish it, as it also demolished the mess that had kept her locked up in the rental house.

Xiao Yangzhi's face was originally pale, and now she was in a bad mood, which made her look even more distressed. Xu Mingyuan asked, "Do you want to visit your relatives?"

"In no mood……"

Yang Zhi shook her head slightly, returned to the car, and continued to wander around aimlessly with Xu Mingyuan.

After a long silence, Yang Zhi finally whispered, "Brother, my grandfather's home is in Xiaping Township, Tongtai County."

"You remember it so clearly?"

"I heard my mother mention it when I was with her."

"Then do you want to go back and take a look?" Xu Mingyuan asked again.

There was another silence. Yang Zhi looked at Xu Mingyuan with some confusion and said, "I don't know..."

"Then go and take a look. Otherwise, it will always be a thought in your heart. You have too many things hidden in your heart, and sooner or later you will be depressed." Xu Mingyuan said with a sigh.

Yuyang is all plains. It takes more than an hour to reach the destination, a distance of about 100 kilometers, even if you take the cement road.

Yang Zhi couldn't remember the exact location, she only remembered that there were a few very tall trees and she often played there when she was a child.

However, it was much easier with the direction signs, and Xu Mingyuan drove forward confidently following the navigation.

But as soon as he entered Xiaping Township, he was in trouble.

There are only three or four hundred households here, and it's a large plain. Every household has a lot of arable land. It looks like the land is vast and sparsely populated, with little smoke from cooking fires.

From time to time, you can see a few tall trees, all bare and drooping by the roadside, which can't serve as a guide at all.

"Brother, why don't you stop looking for it." Yang Zhi said in a low voice.

"Now that we're here, why give up halfway?" Xu Mingyuan said with a smile.

Seeing an old man walking and smoking a pipe on the side of the road, Xu Mingyuan quickly stopped the car, took out the cigarettes and alcohol bought by Xu Jun from the trunk, opened two boxes of Zhonghua cigarettes and handed them over.

"Uncle, do you know that there is a family named Zhang nearby?"

"Surname Zhang? There are many people with the surname Zhang in our village."

The old man spoke in a strong dialect, but fortunately the dialect in Zhongzhou Province was not much different from Mandarin, so Xu Mingyuan could barely understand it.

"It is said that in 1987 or 1988, a young man named Zhang was arrested and interrogated. Do you remember?" Xu Mingyuan asked.

I had heard Xiao Yangzhi mention this matter in her fragmentary words.

People in the countryside are mostly simple and honest. Fighting is common, but it is very rare for people to die.

In the old man's long life, he naturally remembered this kind of major event clearly. He knocked the cigarette butt on the sole of his shoe and said, "Are you talking about the third child of Zhang Shuguo's family? He cheated a lot of money that year and was caught and shot..."

Xu Mingyuan frowned, carefully asked about the original reason, and gradually understood the situation.

Xiao Yangzhi's father was doing a deceptive business under the guise of raising funds to start a business.

Later, the matter was exposed, which happened to be the last year of the crackdown. Before little Yangzhi was born, he was dealt with specially.

Xu Mingyuan didn't know whether Yang Hongyu participated in the incident or not. But she probably got some benefits. After all, she had a good life for a few years and even worked in a state-owned enterprise. It was just a pity that she was laid off again during the mass layoffs.

Hearing these old stories, Xu Mingyuan felt a little sad. The tide of the times is like a mountain when it hits a person, and no one can stop it.

Perhaps if little Yangzhi's father had been a stable and honest man, or if Yang Hongyu had had a smooth life, all these troubles would not have happened later.

Xu Mingyuan deliberately called the old man far away to talk, but the old man had a loud voice and he didn't know whether Xiao Yangzhi heard him.

He opened the car door and sat back in the driver's seat. Xiao Yangzhi beside him forced a smile, as if to welcome him back.

Seeing that the car window was opened a crack, Xu Mingyuan touched her head and said, "Forget it, let's not go and see. Let's go home."

Xiao Yangzhi has already found out the location of her grandfather's home, but the only grandfather who treated her well passed away five or six years ago.

Her grandmother had cataracts and her mind was probably not very clear. People in the village had heard her sitting at the gate and cursing in the street. Among those who cursed was of course Yang Zhi's mother, Yang Hongyu, who was accused of corrupting her son and killing him.

Despite the old man's vivid explanation, the words he said were all very unpleasant.

"elder brother."

"Hey."

"Does everyone hate me?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Who hates you? Tell me and I'll beat them up."

Xu Mingyuan wiped away the tears on her smooth face with a smile, then wiped it again, and then again and again, he could hardly stop himself.

"Brother, you don't hate me, do you?"

"Of course I don't hate you. You're so likable."

"So, do you like me?"

Yang Zhi raised her tearful eyes and said.

"Of course I like you. You are a pretty and sensible little girl. Who wouldn't like you?"

"it is good."

Yang Zhi sniffed and tried hard to hold back her tears.

Although I know that what my brother expressed is not what I expected, it is also very good...

(End of this chapter)