Time flies and it’s August, the hottest time of the year.
At this time of year, both the south and the north are shrouded in heat.
Ah Qiao has developed at its own pace, opening three stores in Beijing and eight in Suzhou, one of which is a supermarket. Six stores in Hohhot, three in Baotou, and two in Hangzhou. The most are in provincial capitals, with 12 stores.
Although Lao Tan is still the president, most of the work is done by Zhou Xiaomei, who directs behind the scenes. According to his age, he is not old enough to take a back seat, but his successor needs to be cultivated. To be honest, he is really tired.
Yanhua is five months pregnant and is currently waiting for delivery at home. Lao Deng is taking good care of her and rarely comes to restaurants or headquarters.
Yanzi and Zhang Yu are still the couple of gods and immortals, living a carefree life without paying attention to political affairs.
Zhang Li and Lao Huang have officially started dating. Although they don't live together, they will soon.
Lao Tan and Lin Yan are still the same as before, neither hot nor cold, and they live their own lives. The two of them sat together and talked once, and it was not very harmonious. Although it did not reach the level of divorce, they were more distant than before.
At the beginning of the year, Lao Tan agreed to accompany Xiaohui's family of three back to Hunan Province to get married. At the end of August, Wang Shulan finished opening a new store and wanted to go out and relax, so she accompanied Lao Tan as a tourist.
Xiaohui was four years old when she and her mother came out of their hometown. She is now twenty-four. Twenty years have passed in a flash, and home is just a vague impression in her mind. But she knows where home is, where her father and mother are buried.
Before she died, she told her to go back and pay her father a grave after having a child.
Are there anyone else in the family? Yes, but my memory is fuzzy because I was too young at that time.
When my mother was alive, she said that she had an uncle, but he was not good to them. He married a powerful aunt who often bullied their orphans and widowed mothers. My mother had two sisters and one brother. The sister married outside, and the brother was exchanged, that is, the mother.
I married my father, and my father’s sister married my uncle.
After my uncle got married, the couple went out to work and there was no news.
The home in my memory is in the mountains, with more than twenty households. Everyone in the village has the surname Zhao, and the village is called Zhaojiawan.
My mother told me the way home, and the county I was in was Yiyang.
Yiyang Lao Tan is familiar with it. He came with Zhang Li when he inspected the open kitchen of "Rice Soup Taste". At that time, Rice Soup Taste had four stores. Now it has branches in Shenzhen and Guiyang, and it is developing very well.
The group did not stop in Changsha and arrived in Yiyang that afternoon. It was already four o'clock in Yiyang and it was too late to go to Zhaojiawan. They found a hotel to stay in and prepared to catch the morning guests the next day.
Naturally, we had rice soup for dinner. Being a caterer is so good, you can make friends from all over the world, and you can eat wherever you go. The manager at that time, Wang Zheng, is now the regional manager, and has always been in contact with Lao Tan, so it is natural that Lao Tan is here.
Hospitality.
I heard that Lao Tan and the others were going to Zhaojiawan the next day and planned to send a car to deliver them, but Lao Tan declined because he didn't want to owe too many favors.
At seven o'clock the next morning, four adults and one child boarded a passenger car and headed for Zhaojiawan.
The passenger drove out of the city and drove onto a flat county-level highway. Half an hour later, he entered the winding mountain road and drove into the mountains.
There is a difference between the mountains in the south and the mountains in the north. The green of the mountains in the south stretches from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain, layer upon layer. The peaks are delicate, each standing upright, not far apart, and echoing each other.
Most of the mountains in the north exist as mountain ranges. From a distance, there are several mountain tops. When you look closer, they are connected by the same chain, but they are separated halfway up the mountain. Most of them are stone mountains, with green covering most of the mountainside. Above that, there are gray mountain tops with rocks.
There are trees and goshawks circling.
The passenger was crawling slowly on a winding mountain road that could only accommodate two cars parallel to each other. When he reached the halfway point of the mountain, he had already circled half of the mountain. Then he went downhill, still winding and slow.
After passing a mountain, we walked along the river at the bottom of the mountain, then climbed over another mountain, and there was a town in front of us. The town was not big, it was called Qianhu Town, and Zhaojiawan was managed here.
The passenger stopped, and after going down to four fellow villagers, no one else got on board. Then he moved forward, and after passing through the town, the asphalt road turned into a gravel road. The passenger began to climb up and down the hill bumpily, and arrived at Zhaojiawan at noon.
After Lao Tan and the others came down, the passenger turned around and prepared to drive back. Lao Tan asked the driver if there was a bus back to Yiyang in the afternoon. The driver said no. If he wanted to go back, he could only wait for the passenger from Qianhu Town at eight o'clock the next day. One day
One trip.
Lao Tan sighed and regretted not asking Wang Zheng to send a car to take them off.
Standing at the intersection, there is a village in front of you, with more than 20 families living sparsely on the mountain.
"Xiao Hui, do you have any impressions?" Old Tan asked Xiao Hui, who had an excited and confused face.
Xiaohui stood there, searching hard for her childhood memories, and murmured: "This is it - this is it, I have an impression."
"Do you still remember where your home is?" Lao Tan asked.
"My house seems to be on a hillside. There is a well behind the village." Xiaohui pointed to the hillside halfway behind the village and said.
"Let's go."
After Lao Tan finished speaking, he started to walk forward. Next to him was Wang Shulan, followed by Xiao Long who was holding the child and Xiao Hui who was excited.
They came to the first house at the head of the village. This family was living a good life. The house was newly built, the gatehouse and the courtyard wall were repaired. There were National Taiwan University four-wheelers and Taiwanese motorcycles parked in the yard.
It was midday, the sun was hot, and there was no one in the yard.
Lao Tan wanted to go forward and inquire. As soon as he reached the gate, he heard a dog barking. Then a black dog jumped out and stood in the gate, barking.
The door to the main room opened, and a man in his fifties walked out, wearing a hurdle vest, black trousers, and a pair of high-heeled yellow rubber shoes.
The man shouted twice at the black dog, but the black dog stopped barking and retreated in frustration.
The man came to the gate, first looked at Lao Tan, then looked at the people not far behind Lao Tan, and asked: "Where are you from?"
Lao Tan took a step forward and asked with a smile: "Brother, is this Zhaojiawan?"
"Yes, who are you looking for?" the man asked.
"We -" Lao Tan was speechless and turned around to call Xiaohui.
Xiaohui stepped forward and looked at the man, and the man looked at Xiaohui.
"Uncle, my name is Zhao Xiaohui, and I am Zhao Muben's daughter." Xiaohui said her father's name.
The man was stunned, looked at Xiaohui up and down and murmured: "Zhao Muben, Muben------are you Muben's girl?"
Xiaohui nodded and said, "Yes, I am his daughter."
"Your name------call------"
"Xiaohui, Zhao Xiaohui."
The man was a little excited, but not serious. He looked at Xiaohui carefully, and then asked: "Where are you coming back from?"
"From the provincial capital." Xiaohui said.
"Didn't your mother say she was going to Binhai when she took you away?" the man asked.
"We went to Binhai first, and then we arrived at the provincial capital," Xiaohui said.
What else did the man want to ask? A woman in her fifties walked out of the door and asked as she walked: "Who is it? What are you doing?"
The man turned around and said excitedly: "Quick, look, who's back."
While talking, the woman came closer and looked at Xiao Hui and Lao Tan with confusion. She also looked at Wang Shulan and Xiao Long behind them, but she didn't recognize them. She asked the man: "This is -"
"Young girl, Xiaohui." the man said.
"Muben girl? Hui'er?"
The woman took two steps forward involuntarily, looking up and down at Xiaohui in surprise.
"Are you Hui'er?" the woman asked, her voice trembling.
"I am Xiaohui, Zhao Xiaohui."
There were tears in the woman's eyes, and they fell down.