Chapter 186 - Tong Xuelu will need Tong Jiaming and Tong Jiaxin's help. (3)
Edited by Lulu
Pu Jianyi nodded, pleased with the answer. Suddenly, his stomach growled.
He cracked his mouth open and smiled. “Comrade Tong, Rugui mentioned that you are a great cook. See, I’ve waited for you to get back this entire time and haven't even had dinner yet……”
If you want a horse to run for you, it is vital to feed the horse amply. Even if Pu Jianyi didn’t ask, Tong Xuelu would have.
Standing up, she asked, “What would Comrade Pu like? Anything that you can’t have?”
Pu Jianyi was smiling from ear to ear. “I eat everything. There is nothing that I don’t eat!”
No wonder he was so stoutly built. He was an easy one to feed.
Thought Tong Xuelu to herself as she walked over to the kitchen.
In the past few days, in addition to having Tong Jiaming and Tong Jiaxin continue with their studies at home, she also taught them how to sprout greens and soybeans.
Thus, she has very good bean sprouts in her kitchen right now.
The Wei family had given her some dried noodles, so she made two bowls of cabbage and eggs noodles and a bean sprout cold dish.
Since she had dried noodles, it didn’t take her long to cook everything. It only took a total of 20 minutes.
Truth was, Wen Rugui had never mentioned Tong Xuelu’s cooking to Pu Jianyi, but Wen Rugui wouldn’t even spare a piece of date cake with him last time. This had bothered him until now.
Slurping the noodles mixed with the crunchy bean sprouts, Pu Jianyi couldn’t be more satisfied.
When Wen Rugui returns, he must gloat and mention to Wen Rugui that he had eaten noodles that Tong Xuelu had made.
Not sharing date cakes with him? Hmph!
***
Tong Xuelu went out collecting information in the next couple of days.
Finally, on the third day, she found out something about Ma Mei’s affair.
The doors to the houses next to Ma Mei’s rendezvous place with the person she was having an affair with were closed when Tong Xuelu headed over the last two days. However, the doors of one of the houses were finally opened today.
Next to them lived a 60-something old woman. The daughter of the paramour was playing in the old lady’s yard right now.
Tong Xuelu used the excuse of buying a house to get close to the old lady and was successfully able to get information on the man from her.
The paramour’s name was Duan Wanfu; he was a worker at a metal factory.
He has a wife and a daughter. His wife was an educated youth sent to the countryside, while he lived in the capital city with his daughter. The old lady next to him babysat his daughter for him in the daytime.
The old lady had no children but had a nephew in the countryside. She visited her nephew every Saturday afternoon and would only return Sunday night.
That gave Tong Xuelu an idea.
If she was right, Ma Mei and her lover met up on Saturday nights to do their deeds.
Since the old lady would be gone and the other house next to them was empty, nobody would run into them.
Tong Xuelu retreated quickly after she had gained that piece of information.
She then found out more from Pu Jianyi’s side.
Ma Mei’s husband worked in the well-drilling team in the Water Resources Bureau. He worked long hours, normally working till 8 or 9 at night. As the Water Resources Bureau was not in the city, he only went home once a month.
Ma Mei’s mother- and father-in-law didn’t live with them. They live with their oldest boy. As such, nobody would question Ma Mei coming home late on Saturday nights.
Tong Xuelu tsked to herself and planned to start acting this coming Saturday.
She wouldn’t be able to do it all on her own, so she had Tong Jiaming and Tong Jiaxin join in.
In the compound of the Logistic Department.
The other Tong family finally learned about what had happened on Tong Xuelu’s end.
Big Brother Tong said to his wife, “My little sister would not know what to do. Perhaps we should find time and go visit her.”
Chen Yueling was just about to agree when Mother Tong walked in and said, “What’s the point of visiting her? Can you help her solve her problem?”
Big Brother Tong scratched his head. “Regardless of whether or not I can solve her problem for her, it would still be nice to go and see what is going on.”
Mother Tong’s face dropped. “What is there to find out? Did she tell us when she switched to a restaurant job? Has she ever come to visit us?”
Chen Yueling tried defending Tong Xuelu. “I’ve heard that those who work at the government-operated restaurant don’t get any time off. Xuelu probably didn’t have time to come visit us.”
Mother Tong did not look happy. “One way or another, none of you are allowed to go. We didn’t abuse our power when Zhenzhen was in trouble. Are we now going to abuse our power for an outsider?”
Her words silenced both Big Brother Tong and Chen Yueling.