Chapter 56: Washing Away the Powder and Revealing a Pure Appearance

  Prosperity is accompanied by vanity.

  Disaster accompanies defeat.

  The city's transformation and economic growth have brought prosperity from the surface to deeper penetration, but behind the glamour, in the depths of the city, in the corners of cold high-rise buildings wrapped in steel and concrete, there are still some scattered and dirty old streets.

  Lively, boisterous, and down-to-earth, with an authentic flavor.

  A bumpy and narrow road that can barely accommodate two cars passing each other, a row of small shops with narrow storefronts, people from the Zhang and Li families complaining about how hard life is.

  A heavy rain a few days ago made the roads in the old district behind the train station muddy. Occasionally, when a car passes by, it forces motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians to squeeze against the side of the road to avoid being splashed. You can't drive fast either, as the mud and water that gets pressed out will invite curses from pedestrians.

  Zhang Shidong stopped the car at the intersection and bought a fruit basket from a fruit store. Given the scale of this fruit store, the fruit basket was obviously not a hot-selling item. Zhang Shidong waited for ten minutes to let the owner reassemble a new fruit basket with fresh fruits.

  The memory is a bit fuzzy, the expansion and development of the store made it impossible for him to compare with his memories, he could only rely on his feelings to get close, occasionally stopping an aunt who was buying vegetables to ask for directions, and fumbling around until he found that familiar little road. The road was curved, one side was a courtyard wall, and the other side was the back window of a row house resident's backyard wall. At the corner of the wall was a drainage ditch, with mossy green hair and some disgusting attachments. Every time someone used it to drain wastewater, the flowing dirty water would bring out the nauseating smell, and waves of mixed pungent smells would waft out.

  Dogs barking, cats jumping, with runny noses and rosy cheeks, children wearing clothes stained with dirt are playing and running around. Almost every household's gate is wide open, the aroma of cooking wafts out to dispel the stench from the sewers. One by one, weary men sit in their yards smoking, chatting with their wives through the door curtain about today's rice, firewood, oil, and salt.

  Zhang Shidong stood in front of the second-to-last courtyard at the end of the alley, which was not large. Two doors were stuck together, one closed and the other open. In the courtyard, a figure wearing an old-fashioned unmarked sportswear was fanning a bucket stove with a fan, and a strong medicinal smell wafted through the air, followed by thick smoke drifting into the sky, becoming another pollutant in the air.

  "You're brewing it like this, at least it will weaken the medicinal effect by 30%."

  That figure shook, turned his head with a smile: "I didn't think you still remembered this place, how about it, what happened in the afternoon..."

  Zhang Shidong handed the fruit basket to what was once the most beautiful joke in his mind, and his old classmate Lingshengyun dared to be so sure that she was not a person who would bend her waist for money. This was because he understood that since junior high school, this girl had already shouldered the burden of supporting her entire family, and although it wasn't difficult enough to force her to drop out of school and work to support her family, it also didn't give her a carefree and beautiful youth.

  Father was a worker at Pingjiang National Machinery Factory, who died in an accident at work. The factory's efficiency was not bad, and they gave our family a lot of money as one-time compensation, and arranged for my mother to become a state-owned worker at the machinery factory. Father's departure also made my mother, Lingyun, quickly decline and fall ill. Although the factory still had some old feelings, the monthly living expenses were only enough for the two women to live frugally, and the medical expenses for my mother's illness were always deducted from the compensation money left by my father.

  This family hasn't collapsed yet, and the surprising thing is that they haven't tasted the bitterness of society early on. It's because the medical expenses for their mother have not been paid back by their father's compensation money, which is the last straw that has not crushed them.

  Zhang Shidong knew that Lian Jia had stayed six years ago, and now it seemed that the passage of time had not changed anything. The girl who did not bow to money was still squatting in the courtyard, decocting bitter Chinese medicine for her mother, just like she was back then.

  "Has Auntie gone to sleep?"

  Zhang Shidong's words left Ling Yun stunned for several seconds, that naughty little boy from back then still remembered his mother's situation.

  "The house is small, just..."

  "Just sit in the yard for a bit."

  Jing Yun unconsciously picked up a small stool, and before she could finish her sentence, Zhang Shidong continued the conversation. The two of them simultaneously froze, shook their heads, and lost their smiles. If it weren't for the mature facial features and changes in clothing, perhaps they were still the same as six years ago.

  As he was in the courtyard, Zhang Shidong also lit a cigarette without hesitation, and then poked at the furnace with a poker to reduce the flames. He looked at that face which had become more mature and flavorful, and there was an awkward silence for a moment.

  Finally, Jingyun broke the brief silence: "There has been no news from you for years. Last year at the class reunion, many people asked about you. It just so happened that Ah Guang was also there, and everyone asked him about you. As a result, he didn't know either, only saying that you had joined the army. When did you come back? How are you now?"

  Zhang Shidong waved his hand: "It's still the same, muddling along. How is Ah Guang doing now? This kid has been clever since he was a child and can think on his feet."

  Jing Yun shook his head: "He's not doing well, soon after you dropped out of school, he also stopped studying. Later, something happened and he went to prison. He just got out last year, it's really bad, his right hand is disabled and his right foot is lame. I only know that he works in a car wash, at this time today he should be off work too. I don't know where he lives or what his phone number is. If you want to find him, wait until Sunday when you're off work, I'll go with you."

  Zhang Shidong furrowed his brow: "Tomorrow, if you're free tomorrow, take me to see him."

  Ling Yun nodded: "Alright."

  The ethereal piano melody of the mobile phone ringtone sounded, causing Jingyun to look up and reveal a hint of helplessness and bitterness on his face, but more prominent was the determination and resilience flowing in his eyes.

  "Zhang Shidong, I still have something to do, you go back first, and I'll contact you tomorrow. As for Kong Xin, I will talk to him and not let him bother you. He is the mayor's son, we can't afford to offend him. We are all adults now, we should be rational in what we do. It's hard to find a job."

  "Uh, thank you, I'll go first then."

  After Zhang Shidong left, Ling Yun carefully carried the bowl of medicinal soup that had been simmered and placed it in the house.

  To the right of the entrance was a wooden door, which when pushed open revealed a room of about ten square meters. Inside, there was a single bed, an old wardrobe, an old-fashioned 21-inch TV, and a desk - that was all the furniture in the room. On the bed lay a frail woman with her eyes closed, her brow furrowed even in sleep. Jingyun placed the medicinal soup on the desk, carefully pouring it into a bowl and adding hot water from a thermos to slow down its cooling. He then quietly exited the room, walking along the narrow corridor of about half a meter wide to the back, where there was a small kitchen. To the right of the kitchen, or rather behind the previous room, was another tiny room with only a few square meters of space. Inside, there was only a small window, and apart from a small bed and a desk, it could barely fit a chair. If the chair were pulled out from under the desk, there would be no place to stand. Above the bed, there was a small cabinet embedded in the wall, just large enough for some clothes to hang inside.

  She closed the door, and on the door there was a slightly larger mirror inside. Lingyun let out a soft sigh, then took a deep breath in, slowly exhaled, clenched her fists, and said softly to the mirror: "Lingyun, you can do it, after holding on for so many years, you can't give up."

  PS: Thanks for the reward from Good Han Brother for saving me!

  PS2: Honestly, I need more clicks. There's another chapter in six hours. For the new book chart, please forgive my shamelessness! It's not easy to come out and mix things up!

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