Chapter 1077

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Wang Zhanggen spoke these words with righteous confidence!

Because he didn't feel he was lying at all; he felt this was the honest truth!

In his memory, he had never neglected managing the three brothers.

Especially Wang Xiaohua!

Back when Wang Xiaohua was in junior high he went astray, wanting to buy some MP3 player or tape recorder, he couldn't recall exactly, anyway it was electronic equipment that would delay his studies.

It was his timely correction that prevented Wang Xiaohua from becoming addicted to electronic devices.

Otherwise he might not have gotten into Tsinghua University!

"Without me as a father disciplining them, those three brothers would be nothing!"

Wang Zhanggen even spoke like this.

"Right right right, you're right!"

Li Xiulan couldn't be bothered to waste breath on him!

"I've already cooked the rice and dishes for noon and evening and put them in the refrigerator. I have to set off now, otherwise the bus will leave, and Erhai would have to run back to the village to pick me up, that would be too troublesome for him."

Li Xiulan said this while cleaning up the breakfast bowls and chopsticks.

She quickly went to wash the bowls and chopsticks, then prepared to depart.

Wang Zhanggen watched her hurriedly retreating figure, really wanting to call out a sentence, that he wanted to go too.

It was just that he had already spoken his final word earlier, causing him now to be unable to open that mouth no matter what.

In the end he could only watch helplessly as Li Xiulan walked out of the village entrance.

While he just kept simmering in silent anger.

Li Xiulan had just reached the highway at the village entrance when the bus arrived.

She hurriedly got on the bus, paid seven yuan fare, then said to the driver:

"Master, to the county town!"

The township buses here charge by route segment: three yuan to the town, four yuan from the town to the county town, and seven yuan directly from Shanggou Village to the county town.

Li Xiulan found a seat and sat down, secretly rejoicing in her heart.

Good thing she left in time, otherwise she would have missed this morning bus.

This township bus route only has four trips a day: one around six in the morning, one around ten in the morning, one around two in the afternoon, and one around six in the evening.

Miss it, and you'd have to wait several hours.

"Auntie, seeing your age isn't small, how come you haven't gotten a senior free card?"

There weren't many people on the bus, the driver casually asked Li Xiulan this question.

Now the elderly can all apply for senior free cards; once obtained, riding the bus is free.

Li Xiulan, asked like this, felt somewhat embarrassed:

"Not yet sixty."

"Oh oh, thought you had reached it."

Li Xiulan smiled with a wrinkled face, feeling uncomfortable inside.

Do I look that old?

Just in my early fifties, yet the driver actually thought I could get a senior free card.

But she indeed looks very old; overwork in her youth caused all sorts of bodily damage that is irreversible.

Especially that face polished by hardship, giving her a face full of wrinkles.

Even though life is better now, it cannot change the bitter visage the past shaped for her.

The bus went stop-and-go, passengers increasing.

All middle-aged and elderly people.

Everyone chatting and laughing.

Talking about trivial everyday matters.

Whose chicks were carried off by a weasel.

Whose family struck it rich in the city.

Whose old house collapsed again.

And so on.

"Sister-in-law Xiulan, have your three sons returned?"

Zhang Xia from the neighboring village is a few years younger than Li Xiulan; Li Xiulan's relationship with her only stops at the stage of mutual recognition, usually no interaction, but she is enthusiastic, actively finding topics to chat with Li Xiulan.

After all, Li Xiulan's three sons are all very promising; this is known in the several nearby villages.

"Not returned yet, I'm going down to the county town to find my second son!"

Li Xiulan smiled broadly, answering honestly.

"What about your husband, how come he didn't come along?"

"He didn't come, legs and feet inconvenient."

"Heard your eldest son had a baby, when's the full moon banquet?"

"That's up to them to decide; they said they might not hold one."

"That's how it is — young people nowadays don't go in for all that anymore! No wedding banquet, no full-month banquet for the baby either. Our village's Dahu's son is the same way!"

The two chatted away, and before they knew it the bus had arrived at the county town.

Li Xiulan got off at the bus stop near Yinzuo Mall, then called Wang Erhai.

Wang Erhai said:

"Mom, wait a bit, Yueran and I'll be right over to pick you up!"

After about ten minutes, Wang Erhai drove up, Zhang Yueran sitting in the passenger seat.

Zhang Yueran got out on her own initiative and went to open the car door for Li Xiulan.

"Mom, do you want to sit in front or in back?"

"I'll sit in back, you sit up front."

"If you want to sit up front, I'll go in back!"

Zhang Yueran said this with a smile.

Li Xiulan waved her hand:

"You sit up front, keep Erhai company."

Li Xiulan got in the car, Wang Erhai turned on the navigation, and they set off.

"Mom, how come Dad didn't come?"

Wang Erhai asked this while driving.

"He went last time, so he doesn't want to go again."

"Oh, it's fine he's not coming, his legs and feet aren't convenient."

At this point Zhang Yueran said to Wang Erhai:

"The summer vacation travel route, I've already planned it out more or less."

Wang Erhai said:

"Tell me about it."

Zhang Yueran said with a smile:

"We'll go to Guangxi first, then Yunnan, then Guizhou, then from Guizhou to Sichuan, then from Sichuan to Tibet, after Tibet to Xinjiang, after Xinjiang to Beijing, then from Beijing all the way south back to Guangzhou."

Wang Erhai didn't know whether to laugh or cry:

"Your itinerary — isn't it a bit too rushed?"

Zhang Yueran said:

"It is a bit rushed, but to hit as many places as possible, this is the only way."

Wang Erhai said:

"If it's too rushed, it feels like it loses the meaning of travel."

Zhang Yueran heard this and also thought it made sense, so she said:

"If it turns out too rushed, we'll adjust the plan then. This is my first time traveling like this, I have no experience."

"You've never gone before? Summer and winter vacations — isn't there plenty of time?" Wang Erhai was a bit surprised.

Zhang Yueran said:

"I used to be quite a homebody. Mainly, traveling alone isn't interesting, so I didn't go out often."

Li Xiulan sat in the back seat, listening to her second son and second daughter-in-law's conversation, her eyes full of light.

If only she could have had such happy times when she was young.

But fate is like that — when she was young, forget traveling outside with a partner, they barely had any time together at all.

Poverty is like a shackle, not only locking her body dead in Shanggou Village, but also locking her spirit dead in Shanggou Village.

"Mom, how about bringing you along on the trip when the time comes?"

Zhang Yueran suddenly said this to Li Xiulan in the back seat through the rearview mirror.

Because she inadvertently glanced and saw the longing in Li Xiulan's eyes.

"No no no, this old body of mine, how could it stand the tossing about? If I spoil your fun then, that wouldn't be good!"

Although Li Xiulan really wanted to go in her heart, she still firmly refused.

Because she knew, this trip belongs only to her second son and second daughter-in-law, not to her, this old woman.

Her going would only get in the way.