Chapter 16: Secret bases

Lin Jingyi doesn’t know how to hide her heart yet, all her thoughts are written on her face.

Cheng Ming watched her furrow her brows and grit her teeth as she put down another portion of her snacks, and just found it amusing and funny.

My sister is not so easy to tease, she whacks and bites when she gets angry, not soft and cuddly enough.

Waiting for her sister to become slightly softer and more compassionate after she goes through a family change.

But it went to the other extreme because of that incident.

But Process will nip any bad seeds in the bud, and her sister should remain a well-behaved, willful little grandparent until she’s old enough to know better.

Cheng Ming chewed bubble gum in his mouth, blowing a bubble every now and then, gumming up his lips before licking it all into his mouth.

Gradually moving away from the city center and heading to Mingxi Village, where Zhao Lei’s family lives, the aged road is full of potholes, cracks and small stones.

“This road is so broken.” Lin Jingyi, who was shaken to the point that her butt hurt, spat out.

“After all, it’s a suburb, and it’s not a major transportation route like a state highway that doesn’t get renovated often.”

On both sides of the highway are lush green rice paddies, which are considered to be one of the few large cultivated plains in Nanming City.

But ten years later, the arable land will be planted with reinforced concrete buildings, and this side of the city will be transformed into a new development zone in Nanming.

Thanks to this, the old mansion was able to be demolished for the construction of a train station, thus paying off the debt.

The sun was setting in the west, and a cool river breeze brushed his cheeks.

The Mingxi River, which runs through Nanming City, has an old cow with its calf grazing in a low-lying water area, and jagged bungalows situated on both sides of the river.

“I didn’t realize that there was such a view on our side, it’s almost like the countryside.” Lin Jingyi said as she looked around incredulously.

“Take out the word like and this is the countryside.”

Although it is very close to the city, the villagers living in Mingxi Village are all real farmers, and some of them will go to the city to work in their spare time.

Cheng Ming and Lin Jingyi rode their bicycles over the stone bridge without guardrails, even if they had truly arrived at Mingxi Village.

Woof woof–

The yellow hyena guarding the head of the village barked very hard at the sight of outsiders.

Lin Jingyi was very afraid of dogs, stopped the car, grabbed Cheng Ming’s lapel, and asked fearfully, “Xiao Ming, it won’t suddenly bite, will it?”

“Don’t worry, rhubarb is just mean looking, but it’s actually quite tame.”

“Rhubarb, come here ……”

Cheng Ming leaned down and extended his hand towards Big Yellow, whistling tentatively.

Big Yellow hesitantly ran over, tentatively sniffing the smell of Cheng Ming’s body, it was unfamiliar, but the whistle had a general pull of the soul.

Cheng Ming rubbed a face of stupid dog-like rhubarb, it is a stray dog in the village, eat a hundred meals, everywhere string, some people home if there are bones and so on will be thrown to it to eat a eat, often and stray cats grab something to eat.

Big Yellow was touched twice by Cheng Ming, pulled his legs and ran away, standing at a distance to observe Cheng Ming.

Unfortunately, Cheng Ming hadn’t brought any dog food with him, so he could only play nice with him next time.

“Ming, hurry up and go wash your hands, it’s dirty.”

“I’ll go wash my hands later.”

Free-range chickens and ducks, and their feces, can be seen everywhere in the village head.

Lin Jingyi said heartily, “I’ll have to go back and wash the car properly, hopefully it won’t leave a smell.”

In fact, Cheng Ming wanted to say that the alley they walked down every day wasn’t much cleaner than this side, it was just darker and they couldn’t see the bottom of their feet.

Mingxi Village has both exquisite mansions that have just been restored and look like small villas, as well as old mansions that have fallen into disrepair and desolation.

“Zhao Lei’s house should be here.”

Black tiles and gray walls, a broken dog hole in the compound fence blocked with a fence, rotting square wooden windows covered directly with a storm shelter, weeds growing out of the stone cracks.

Cheng Ming got off the bike and locked it, holding Zhao Lei’s book, and pushed open the hidden wooden door.

At a glance, Cheng Ming saw Zhao Ren sitting on a small wooden stool, her thin body bent into a bow as she was fetching water to wash vegetables.

Zhao Ren’s little face was waxy and the tips of her hair were light yellow, she looked a little malnourished, looking at the future big girl who was now just a complete brat, Cheng Ming also felt a lot of emotions.

In one corner of the yard are piles of all sorts of scraps, waste paper, plastic bottles, cans and old appliances to name a few.

Zhao Lei’s grandfather was a collector of scrap to make ends meet, and under the eaves of the house were neatly arranged dry wood for the fire.

Cheng Ming walked into the courtyard and asked familiarly, “Xiao Ren, is your brother home?”

Zhao Ren stood up, her wet hands crossed to protect her chest, and asked warily, “Who are you guys? What are you doing in my house? My family doesn’t have any money, I don’t know you guys, get out of my house!”

“Ming, what a rude little kid, put the book over here and let’s go.”

Lin Jingyi twisted her head and was about to leave.

“We are your brother’s classmates, this is the uniform of Nanming No. 5 Middle School, you should recognize it, right?” Cheng Ming said as he pulled on his clothes.

“Uh-huh.”

Zhao Ren nodded slightly, this she did recognize.

“I’m still your brother’s deskmate, my name is Cheng Ming, your brother left his textbook at school, I brought it back for him, where’s your brother? Not at home?” Cheng Ming said as he patted the textbook in his arms.

“He’s out collecting rags with my grandpa, he should be home soon.”

Zhao Ren sat back down on the small bench to wash the vegetables, and even though some of the doubts were dispelled in her mind, she raised her head every now and then to look warily at Cheng Ming and Lin Jingyi, who were standing in the doorway with their pestles.

Cheng Ming stood dry, even if he didn’t say a word, just looking at the surroundings and thinking about the past, and what he was going to do next would pass the time.

Lin Jingyi, however, couldn’t stand the atmosphere and walked over to Zhao Ren and squatted down next to her, saying in a friendly manner, “Little sister, let me help you wash the vegetables.”

“No, I can do it myself.”

Lin Jingyi didn’t care if Zhao Ren refused, she picked up the vegetable leaves and washed them herself and asked, “What’s your name, little sister?”

“Zhao of Zhao Qian, Sun and Li, poor Mercy, but I’m not poor at all, huh?”

After washing the greens, Lin Jingyi helped Zhao Ren remove the bean tendons from the string beans, then broke them into small sections and washed them.

“I have snacks over here, want some?” Lin Jingyi asked as she pulled out an assortment of snacks from her pocket.

“To ……”

Zhao Ren was subconsciously about to agree, and immediately remembered her brother and grandfather’s teachings.

You can’t just eat people who give you things to eat. Especially lollipop people. Definitely traffickers.

Zhao Ren twisted her head away and said firmly, “No food!”

“Are you sure you don’t want to eat it? This is delicious.”

Lin Jingyi unwrapped a small packet of snacks and ate it pompously, making a barfy drooling sound.

“Well …… it’s delicious.”

Before Lin Jingyi put the snack into her mouth, she didn’t forget to spin it around in front of Zhao Ren’s eyes, tempting La Man.

Zhao Ren clenched her small fists, biting her lips lightly and not looking away, she wasn’t going to lose.

“Actually sis I bought more than I can eat, can you help me eliminate some of them? Otherwise I’m going to throw it away.” Lin Jingyi said with coaxing.

“You’re not allowed to waste food.” Zhao Ren huffed.

Zhao Ren gulped and said, “Then I’ll take a bite.”

After Zhao Ren loosened her mouth, things were much better, Lin Jingyi opened the packages of each snack and let Zhao Ren try them out.

It’s supposed to be easier for girls to get closer to girls.

Lin Jingyi’s affinity was also high, she was better at getting along with small children, and with snacks as a big killer, Lin Jingyi quickly struck up a good relationship with Zhenxiang’s Zhao Ren, calling out with her mouth open and her mouth shut, Sister Lin.

Cheng Ming looked at this scene with a complicated mood, feeding Zhao Ren, this should have been something that he should have done, but it turned out to be snatched away by Lin Jingyi.

“Bulk recycling of waste paper, plastic bottles, black and white televisions, tape recorders ……”

The sound of a recorded horn came from far away and a human tricycle stopped in front of the courtyard.

Zhao Lei’s grandfather, Zhao Sifa, led the bike up the steps into the yard while Zhao Lei pushed the bike behind him.

“Brother, Grandpa, you’re back.”

Jo Ren ran to the door to greet him.

“What are you guys doing in my house?” The gray-headed Zhao Lei asked suspiciously.

“Came to return a book you left at school.”

Cheng Ming trotted out this seamless rhetoric of his again.

Zhao Lei saw his sister with a lollipop in her mouth, and saw the snack packages scattered around the small bench, and said with a stern face, “Don’t you guys give my sister this kind of nutrient-less snacks, it’ll feed her mouth.”

Zhao Lei’s tone was not good, his pride was thwarted by his classmates seeing his dilapidated home, and he was ashamed and angry for a while.

“What did you say?” Lin Jingyi frowned her willow eyebrows in displeasure and asked back, treating your sister to a delicious meal, even if you don’t thank them, how dare you accuse them.

Cheng Ming hurriedly pulled Lin Jingyi and said, “Zhao Lei, don’t worry about it, Xiao Ren is a good kid and won’t become greedy for a little snack.”

“You guys are Zhao Lei’s classmates, right? Did he bully you guys in school?” The gray-haired Zhao Sifa asked as he pounded his old back.

Zhao Sifa looks much older than his actual age, a person has to pull the underage grandson and granddaughter, waist also to the hard life pressure bent down, he carried Zhao Lei was withdrawn from school, but failed to carry Zhao Lei in prison this wave of blows.

That was why Zhao Lei had to entrust his sister to Cheng Ming’s care.

“No, Zhao Lei doesn’t get into trouble at school, the fight thing is actually not Zhao Lei’s fault, it’s really Fatty Li who is too annoying.”

Cheng Ming told the truth about Zhao Lei’s performance in school.

Except for not being able to study, I can do everything else.

Zhao Sifa full of grin and smile, revealing no more than a few teeth bed, in fact, he had known his grandson’s academic performance is not good, every day after coming home to help themselves to work which has the mind of learning, he was afraid that Zhao Lei went astray, learning bad.

Zhao Lei stood beside him without saying a word, afraid that Cheng Ming would say something bad about him.

It was getting dark, but there were no streetlights on the road from Mingxi Village to the city.

Cheng Ming took the initiative to say goodbye and said, “It’s getting late, we should go home, otherwise mom and dad will be worried, come back to play later.”

“Why don’t you stay for dinner before you leave?” Zhao Sifa politely retained.

“No, no, no, the family has already cooked and waited for us to return for dinner.”

Cheng Ming waved his hand and politely refused, if he really stayed instead, he would be causing them trouble.

“See you later, Sister Lin.” Zhao Ren said with a smile and waved her hand.

“Well, see you later Rei.”

What about me?

Cheng Ming tilted his head and pointed at himself speechlessly, obviously the snacks were paid for by him, but as a result, the goodwill didn’t increase at all ah, he could only come back next time.

Leaving Zhao Lei’s house, Cheng Ming rode his bicycle a few dozen meters further into the village.

“Ming, aren’t we going back? This side isn’t the way back, is it?”

“There’s one more place I want to see.”

Cheng Ming looked at a dilapidated and deserted old mansion in the distance, the fence was covered with green creepers, and it was quite a bit more dilapidated than Zhao Lei’s house.

Before mom and dad got divorced, Cheng Ming didn’t even know that dad actually had a mansion in Mingxi village, was it left to dad by his grandfather who he had never met?

The village of Mingxi is basically dominated by the Zhao surname, with a few other surnames, as if there is not a single person surnamed Cheng.

Although Cheng Ming did not want to live in this shabby house where he had to find a basin to catch the rain whenever it rained, Cheng Ming still wanted to go in and have a look. If you want to climb over the wall like a thief, forget about it and ask your dad for the door key.

“What’s there to see in this old house? It looks deserted for years, just like a haunted house.” Lin Jingyi asked in disbelief.

Cheng Ming raised his hands high and said, “This will be my secret base from now on.”

“You boys like to engage in this kind of thing, all middle school students, still like elementary school students, but the secret base well, secret ……”

A secret base known only to two people, Lin Jingyi began to add fuel to her brain.