Chapter 64

Zhang Ma is also from a poor family, otherwise she would not have come out to work as a servant, a do is for life.

Her original home is in the suburbs of the village, the family has parents and siblings, poor people have a hard time, there is not so much to pay attention to, and there is no big family doors do not come out of the two doors do not step on the rules. She worked from the time she was only a stool high, and when she could speak clearly, she went out to do labor.

Her first few brothers and sisters were sold, this sale, close to the parents can still go to see, if the main family is far away, that is, life and death, never see each other again.

But that’s the way it is. If you can’t get enough to eat at home, you can at least get enough to eat when you’re sold, and your family can get more money to pay the rent and taxes.

But when she grew up, suddenly it was no longer popular to buy a woman, and the matchmakers refused to take her, saying that the emperor was gone and it was a new era, and they couldn’t tell you exactly what was going on.

If you sell your body, then the money is more, sold off for life, life and death are no longer related to parents.

If you are just a servant, the money will be less, but you will get money every month, and it is also close to your home, so you can go home more often.

At that time, Zhang Ma’s parents discussed the matter and sent her out to work as a servant.

She first worked as a cook, washing and cutting vegetables, washing rice and chopping wood, and she got up at dawn every day to do this work, and she could not lie down until the end of the day.

After a year, she heard that washerwomen could learn to sew and mend, so she went to another family to become a washerwoman.

After another year, she grew up to fifteen years old, and was so beautiful that the matchmaker who introduced her to the work said, “You are clean, and you work well, and your speech is clear, so I’ll introduce you to a good family, and you’ll go to work as a maid. If you do a good job, you won’t have to work so hard in the future, and you’ll be able to dress and eat like the master’s family!”

Thus, she entered the Zhu family.

The Zhu family house was large, with the master, the wife and a young lady. There are more than fifty underlings in the house, more than thirty maids, and several yellow-haired, blue-eyed women, she didn’t dare to look into their eyes for fear that they were ghosts.

She worked for six years before the madam knew her: “It’s that clean-looking maid.”

She cleaned her wife’s house, and she praised her for her skill. She also stewed sweet soup for her wife, who praised her for making it just right, not astringent.

She watched Miss learn foreign languages from women with yellow hair and blue eyes, and when she was happy, she laughed as beautifully as the women in the picture posters.

Later on, the young lady got married to a poor student taught by the master.

That poor student can be very attentive, every time to see the lady downstairs with a book over, followed by the lady to the yard outside to talk to. Miss good, did not look down on him, every time he came over, Miss smile and talk to him.

Later, the lady more and more like to talk to him, once said to smile, smile up two eyes have stars like. They quietly danced together in the back corner of the house, listening to the music coming from upstairs, with their arms around each other.

Later, they got married.

His lordship divided the house and gave them the upstairs, and his lordship and wife moved downstairs.

And, the lord said he wouldn’t let them wait on them, so that the young lady could do the housework herself, and the poor student could earn her own living.

Where would the young lady be able to do housework? Only one day after the wedding, she ran downstairs to find Mrs. Mrs. heartbroken Miss, so she discussed with the master to send a little girl over.

She was picked just like that.

Mrs. said, let her not do too much work, but also let Miss do some properly.

Mrs. said that she should keep her mouth shut about Miss living with the poor student, no matter what they did in their room.

The poor student can’t find a job, no one wants the articles he submits, and longs for them.

The young lady took money out for him, bought clothes and shoes for him, and dressed him up with all her heart.

The poor student stopped looking for a job and spent his days dancing with the young lady, reading, writing poems, and playing with his friends.

But those people always laugh at the poor student, behind the back of the Miss said bad words to him, he gradually do not like those friends to the family guests, Miss no playmate, go to play cards, shopping.

Following that, Missy was born, and Missy suffered greatly.

The madam became the old lady, and the lord became the old master. But the old master still won’t allow the old lady to give Miss money, nor will he allow her to send her old mom there again.

Zhang Ma can only take care of their own menstruation Miss and was born Miss, she does not know anything, nothing, busy feet, Miss soon became emaciated, day and night holding a small child will only wail, those pre-wedding leisure all thrown away.

Then the second young lady was born. The second young lady from the ground from the first young lady more twisted more difficult to raise, like to cry, like people to hold, but also do not love milk, picky eaters.

Miss has become Mrs., but it is more difficult than Mrs.. Because Mrs. has the help of the master, the poor student will only hide in the study every day to write essays, except for meals, do not come out at all. Miss has to take the first miss to open her eyes to recognize words every day, to feed the second miss, and the rest of the time is too late to go and read poems and dance with the poor students, but it is the card table that is more popular with her.

Since then, Zhang Ma knew that Miss and the poor students could not last long, and the good life had come to an end, and the only thing left was the chicken skin. Although she has never been married in her life, she understands men better than the young lady who has been married. If a man loves you, he will never see you work hard alone. If a man loves you, he will never see you struggle alone. A man who faces you in front of you and turns his back but can’t remember you at all is not a good man.

Zhang Ma, whose face is now covered with wrinkles, looked at Su Chunjun, who was following her, and could only sigh that the luck of the Zhu family’s mother and daughter had finally changed for the better, and that this one looked pretty good.

Su Chunjun got off the yellow cart and led Zhang Ma forward, saying as he did so, “This is the place I found when I came to look for a house before, it’s just up ahead.” He reached out to help Zhang Ma, “Be careful, the road here is not easy to walk.”

Narrow alleyways, muddy ground, deep puddles, puddles emitting a foul odor, and dust in the air. All sorts of sounds mingled together, the barking of cows, horses, dogs, chickens, the yelling of people, the clacking of crates, the sound of carpenters sawing wood, and so on.

The people in this part of the country lived quite densely, and the fences were so low that you could see into the walls by sticking your head out. Chickens are locked in the hole under the house, can only stick out a chicken head clucking, thin dog coiled in the corner, see people come to stand up woof two.

In the yard, there are ropes, clothes and rags hanging all over the place.

While walking and looking, Zhang Ma said: “There are really a lot of people living here, why is this place so dirty? How come it’s not as good as my old neighborhood.” She saw a few pieces of dry, hard poop in the corner and covered her nose in disgust.

Su Chunjun smiled and said, “I was shocked when I came over back then too. Zhang Ma, where is your hometown?”

Zhang Ma: “Not far, about forty to fifty miles west from here.”

Su Chunjun: “That’s pretty close, who else is in your family?”

Zhang Ma shook her head, “Long gone. After my parents died, my three remaining brothers all disappeared. Two of them were taken away by the arresting officers, and one of them ran away. No one is left, the village is already empty.” She was in the Zhu family at the time, and when she heard that the village had been captured by the Ding she even borrowed money from all over the place to send them back, because she had heard that they wouldn’t be captured as long as they paid, but it turned out to be too late. Now there was no way of knowing if any of the three younger brothers had survived and where they were now.

At the end of the day, surprisingly, she was the one who survived when she first entered the Zhu family as a servant.

Walking forward to the end, surprisingly is a not bad two-story building.

Su Chunjun said, “This is it.”

From a distance, the building looked pretty good, but on closer inspection, I realized that there were no windows and no doors. It turned out that the doors and windows were all broken, the doors were all gone, and the windows were covered with newspaper.

There was a woman sitting on the steps, washing clothes, and she didn’t greet Su Chunjun and Zhang Ma when she saw them approaching.

Su Chunjun went forward and asked, “May I ask if there is a family named Ma here? A family of three, we are their friends and have come here specifically to look for them. ”

The woman glanced at him, picked up the basin and went inside, not even answering the words.

Zhang Ma said, “I’ll do it, you can’t.”

She went in and sought out an old man lying in bed and asked, “Grandpa, is there one who just moved in? Surname Ma, is my relative, I heard they are sick, no money hospitalization out, so I came to find them.”

The old man was skinny as a skeleton, like a skeleton, and his mouth was full of teeth that had fallen out.

Zhang Ma took out a steamed bun from her bag and handed it to him.

The old man took it and hid it under the quilt, lifted himself up and pointed, saying hoarsely, “Second floor.”

Zhang Ma: “Thank you, Grand Master.”

Su Chunjun and Zhang Ma then went up to the second floor.

The second floor was the same as the first, with people lying in the corridors, using newspapers, cardboard boxes, and all sorts of garbage to make “beds” and take up space.

Su Chunjun and Zhang Ma did not have to make much effort to find Ma Tianbao, because he was the only one sitting on the ground, supported by a wooden board, writing.

Beside him lay an old man, breathing hard.

Su Chunjun walked over and called down to him, “Ma Tianbao?”

Ma Tianbao was startled violently, raised his head to see him, and asked alertly, “Who are you? What do you want?”

Zhang Ma went over at this time and said, “Student Ma? Do you remember me? I opened the door for you when you went to look for my children.”

Ma Tianbao recognized Zhang Ma, and the hostility in his body disappeared; he stiffened for a moment, scrambled to put away the paper on the board, stood up, and said, “Did student Yang ask you to find me?” He was filled with anticipation, and his excitement and emotion gradually caused his eyes to overflow with tears.

Seeing him in this difficult state, Zhang Ma was both heartbroken and uncomfortable, she sighed deeply and first took out the bucket of chicken noodle soup she had brought and handed it to Ma Tianbao, “Eat something first, and give some to your father as well. Alas, how did it come to this.”

Ma Tianbao wiped a handful of tears, took the thermos bucket, squatted down to help his dad up and leaned against the wall, picking up the noodles one by one and feeding them into his mouth.

Su Chunjun also didn’t mind squatting down to help Ma Tianbao support his dad. Because Ma Tianbao’s father couldn’t sit down at all and kept sliding down, Ma Tianbao could only sit on the ground and hold his father with his legs to help him sit up, while Zhang Ma and Su Chunjun helped feed him.

Zhang Ma and Su Chunjun helped to feed him. After feeding most of the noodles into the bucket, Ma Tianbao’s father shook his head and pushed the thermos bucket to Ma Tianbao.

Ma Tianbao ate the rest of the noodles with the soup in three or two bites. Zhang Ma also brought ten steamed buns, and he ate four more buns before he was full.

Zhang Ma sighed: “How long have you been hungry?”

Ma Tianbao said not too kindly: “Not long, I just didn’t eat in the morning, but I ate late yesterday. I want to finish copying first, go and hand in my errands and get the money and then buy food back.”

Ma Tianbao’s father fell asleep, and Ma Tianbao took Zhang Ma and Su Chunjun out to talk.

He washed the thermos bucket by the water well outside and returned it to Zhang Ma, telling what had happened in the meantime.

Ever since Yang Yucan told him to save his money, find a job as soon as possible, and find a place to house his parents, he had taken it to heart, so it wasn’t exactly a complete lack of a plan.

In order to save money, he first moved his father from the hospital room to the stairwell, where it was windy but bearable. The hospital bill he saved that way would allow him to buy an extra day’s worth of medication, and he wanted to save a little more money and stock up on medication for a few more days.

Then the hospital found out they were living in the stairwell, and he moved with his dad to a little corner in the back of the hospital, but that was soon found out too.

He had to go out and find an apartment and move his dad there, and his mom is still living in a Chinese medicine hall that he goes over to see once a day.

He rents only one bed here, which is for his dad, so that the rent is only two dollars a month.

Su Chunjun: “I remember it was one dollar.” It was one yuan when he came to ask at the time.

Ma Tianbao did not expect Su Chunjun, who looks like a young master, to have lived here, and felt that he was even more affectionate, and said with a smile, “The price has gone up, for most of the year.”

A bunk costs two dollars, renting two will cost four, renting three will cost six, while he copies letters, a thousand of them only costs one dollar, and has to ride on ink and paper, all these costs have to be deducted from his money.

He is now copying every day in the daytime in the house, wait for the night to go outside to borrow street lamps to copy, day and night copying, in exchange for the money is at most enough for a family of three daily meal money.

Because he can’t cook here, and he doesn’t know how to cook, he can only buy the cheapest cakes outside to eat, he can eat the cakes himself, his parents are sick, so he buys them noodles in soup, and every time he asks the shopkeeper to send him an extra portion of soup, which he uses to eat the cakes.

He still had about fifty dollars left in his hand, but his parents had to take medicine every day, so the fifty dollars wouldn’t last long. All he could think about now was how to make more money, and nothing else.

When he said this, he said heavily to Zhang Ma, “Please tell Mr. Yang that we …… are done here!”

After saying this, he wiped his face and turned around to leave.

Su Chunjun called out to him, “Wait a minute, classmate Ma, do you know that there are rumors in the school right now that classmate Yang abandoned you because he dislikes the poor and loves the rich?”

Ma Tianbao turned back violently, shocked, “What did you say? Who said that!”

Zhang Ma’s eyes instantly reddened and she choked, “They all say that! My big sister is so pitiful that she can’t even go to school now and can only stay at home. You don’t know how she feels about you. At that time, she also learned to do housework from me, washing and brushing dishes and cooking everything, just wanting …… to be able to help you later.”

Ma Tianbao clenched his fists.

Su Chunjun: “We want to know, is it that you said something to someone? Otherwise, how would they know about you wanting to break up with Ms. Yang?”

Ma’s family had an accident, Yang Yucan organized two donations, classmates and teachers school searched all over, how can this look like a couple who are going to break up, right? Yang Yuchan last saw Ma Tianbao, he said to break up such words, but Yang Yuchan in addition to the family told, and did not tell students.

There were no such rumors before New Year’s Eve, and they only came out after New Year’s Eve. So it could only be that during the New Year period, someone came to see Ma Tianbao and learned about their breakup.

Ma Tianbao recalled blankly and suddenly remembered, “Yes, it was Qian Bin! He came to visit me in the hospital and gave me a copy of his reading notes, telling me not to forget to study. He asked about Ms. Yang, and I told him that we had already broken up and asked him not to mention …… it again.”

He snapped his mouth shut and realized that it was he who had given Qian Bin the reason to frame Yang Yucan.

He slapped himself hard and covered his face and squatted down. He just didn’t want Yang Yucan to be implicated by him again, and didn’t want people to think that she still had a relationship with someone like him before saying that.

Su Chunjun helped him up and comforted him, “It’s not your fault, it’s a villain who is messing around, don’t take it to heart.”

He felt that Ma Tianbao didn’t mean to discredit Yang Yu Cicada, he just didn’t expect that the bad guy was someone else. This really made them breathe a sigh of relief. Compared to the villain surnamed Qian, if Ma Tianbao had intended to harm Yang Yucan, it would have been even more difficult.

Now that they got this result, they could rest assured. After solving the villain surnamed Qian, there would be no need to worry about any other aftermath.