Reborn veteran, lying flat since high school

Tang Yisheng walked east along the path leading to the south gate of Binjiang University. There was a delicatessen diagonally opposite the intersection.

The shop is narrow, and the signs stand upright, reading from top to bottom: Zhao's Cooked Food.

This is a shop that belongs to Tang Yisheng's memories.

The superposition of two childhood memories makes them even clearer, and looking at them a few more times can even evoke a sense of familiarity.

"Boss, cut me a hand's bread of ham, and a pig's trotter too."

Tang Yisheng stood on two steps and called out to the aunt inside through the small window.

The ham was thicker than Tang Yisheng's upper arm and nearly two meters long.

This was after only one morning of sales.

Customers usually buy them one piece at a time, the smaller ones are one or two centimeters thick, and the larger ones are no more than two or three fingers wide.

It's rare to see someone like Tang Yisheng who demands a whole handful of money with just a few words.

The term "one span" refers to the distance between the thumb and index and middle fingers when the web of the hand is stretched out to its maximum.

As for whether to choose the index finger or the middle finger, it depends on which one is further apart.

The old lady had radish-like fingers, and the space between her thumb and index finger wasn't very big. But she was very experienced. As she pressed her thumb down and stretched her index finger to reach further away, her thumb moved forward a bit.

Before Tang Yisheng could remind her, the old woman pressed her index finger down and swiftly brought the knife down in her right hand.

A large section of ham, longer than her palm, was cut off.

Good guy.

This strike demonstrates considerable skill.

Tang Yisheng felt a sense of déjà vu as if he were seeing his own mother.

It wasn't friendliness, but rather an overwhelming sense of shamelessness, typical of a cheap, opportunistic vendor.

"Choose a big pig's trotter, or get two small ones."

Tang Yisheng found it interesting and couldn't resist testing it out.

really.

The beaming old lady rummaged around for a while and picked out two large pig trotters for Tang Yisheng.

Chubby and plump.

She's just like her youngest son.

In the late 90s, even in small fourth- and fifth-tier counties, people valued a balanced diet of lean and fatty meat, and pig's trotters were not as expensive as ham.

Two plastic bags wrapped in oil paper were weighed separately, and Tang Yisheng was even given a discount of 51 yuan.

In a typical family, this would be equivalent to a week's worth of food expenses.

Compared to Tangjia Village, it's worth more than half a month.

Tang Yisheng paid the money but didn't leave immediately.

"Auntie, Tie Jun isn't home?"

"Hey, are you Tie Jun? I've never seen you before?"

"We were deskmates in elementary school. I'm Tang Yisheng, Auntie."

"Hey, Tang, didn't you move away? When did you come back?"

The older woman exchanged pleasantries while handing over two small purple banknotes.

"Here, fifty is fine, we're not strangers."

"Thank you, Auntie. Where's Tiejun?"

"That kid's never home, who knows where he's off gallivanting off to this time!"

Zhao Tiejun was Tang Yisheng's best friend in elementary school.

Tang Yisheng went to the Experimental Junior High School, while Zhao Tiejun stayed at the town's middle school. They could still play video games together every weekend. Later, Tang Yisheng went to the provincial capital, and the two lost contact.

In this era, communication is inconvenient, and children have even less say in making phone calls.

As for writing letters...

You need to contact them by phone first, and you need their address before you can send it.

Tang Yisheng carried the plastic bag home.

Although it's a short detour, it only takes about twenty minutes to walk home.

At the entrance of her alley, an elderly woman with gray hair was sitting on a small stool chatting with the grandmother of her great-uncle's family to the north.

The old man was dressed simply, wearing cloth shoes with thick soles, but the gold bracelet on his wrist, about the thickness of a little finger, was quite eye-catching.

Tang Yisheng was more than ten meters away from the entrance of the alley. The old man turned his head and glanced at him twice, but did not react.

It wasn't until Tang Yisheng passed by the two and turned into the alley that the old man called out to Tang Yisheng.

"Yisheng? I'm your great-aunt."

It's not an insult.

It really was Tang Shujuan, a married-out elder of the Tang family, and Tang Yisheng's great-aunt.

When his grandparents are in front of him, Tang Yisheng will definitely let them into the house and pour them water to make tea.

"Oh my, you've grown into such a big boy. When your dad brought you home, you even peed on my pillow."

Ha ha.

The old man has no sense of humor.

Do whatever makes you feel awkward.

"Grandma, please have some tea."

"Hmm, have some tea. I've been waiting for you for half an hour, and I'm a little thirsty."

The old lady was very straightforward. She took two sips of tea, but probably because it was too hot, she put it down and touched the leather of the sofa.

"Yisheng, your great-aunt has come here today to ask for your help."

"Hey, Grandma, what are you saying? If you need me to run errands, just say the word."

Tang Yisheng was startled.

The word "ask" can be understood implicitly, but it should be avoided as much as possible, especially when elders ask younger people for it.

He was afraid of feeling guilty.

Who knows what they want to do? If I agree, I'll feel stifled; if I don't, I'll feel uncomfortable.

"Your younger cousin was in a car accident and is in the hospital..."

Mei Baoguo has been bedridden in the county hospital for more than half a month, and it is said that he has been consulted by doctors from several major cities.

After Tian Xiaocui's commotion yesterday, Tang Yisheng had nowhere to inquire and was still unclear about the situation. Following his aunt Tang Shujuan's lead, he asked a few more questions.

Mei Baoguo got married in the first month of the lunar calendar. After the wedding, he rented a restaurant, a small restaurant with two private rooms and five tables in the main hall.

A while ago, I got drunk and crashed my motorcycle into the back of a large truck parked on the side of the road.

The truck had a trailer, and the driver in front finished using the restroom and drove off without looking at the back of the truck.

Mei Baoguo, who had fallen and was sleeping under the rear of the motorcycle, was chased by the rear tire along with the motorcycle.

One of his right legs suffered a comminuted fracture of the tibia from the hip to the calf, while the other leg was cushioned under the motorcycle, with the ankle to the knee almost completely crushed into bone fragments.

The truck fled the scene, but Mei Baoguo was spotted by passersby who called the police and an ambulance arrived.

Thanks to the fact that the Nanjing "Help or Not" case has not yet been resolved, Mei Baoguo was able to be rescued, but his injuries were too severe, and the truck was nowhere to be found. The bottomless pit that the hospital had to fill itself was left to his great-aunt's family.

Tang Yisheng understood what he meant.

My great-aunt is new here and came to borrow money.

Tang Yisheng might hesitate about other things, but when it comes to money, he's very confident.

I had already considered this kind of thing.

After all, he had been "scammed out of his apartment." If he returned to his village in Chengguan Town and brazenly moved furniture and tidied up his house, no one in the village would believe he had no money.

It's good to find a suitable family to lend the money to, thus silencing any other people's ulterior motives.

Tang Yisheng quite liked his great-aunt's straightforward personality.

Moreover, they didn't act arrogantly because of their age, nor did they behave disrespectfully; they even gave us time to repay the money.

"My eldest son sends me 300 yuan every month, and I also have a pension that I can receive over 100 yuan. Even if we can't find the person who caused the accident to pay compensation, I can still pay it off. I'm not afraid of not being able to get it back."

My great-aunt, Tang Shujuan, asked to borrow three thousand yuan.

In 1999, there were quite a few such cases in the towns and villages of a small county.

"Grandma, I'll lend you the money. But there's one thing..."

Facing his straightforward aunt, Tang Yisheng didn't hide anything or beat around the bush; he explained his situation and expressed his concerns.

"Okay, kid, don't worry. I'll take the blame for you. If anyone comes looking for you, just tell them I took them all."

Without a second thought, Aunt Tang Shujuan immediately agreed.