The Hope You Gave Me: 10-younger

At 7:15 p.m., they finally arrived in Mingshui County, got out of the car, and immediately called Tong Tianhai, the contact person of the suspected family. Tong Tianhai said that he would only be free after nine o'clock, and would meet at his house at ten ten.

Exiting the passenger station, Min Hui looked around and found that it was an empty county town, facing a bumpy road, and there were vehicles on the opposite side, but no traffic line could be seen. Opposite is a row of shops with uneven heights, selling fruits and vegetables, snacks and fast food, hardware and daily miscellaneous and so on. Among them, a six-story hotel has a yellow exterior wall, and there are commercial buildings on the left and right. It seems that the development has not been long, and there is no greenery. Some are still under construction. The cement exterior wall is only half pasted, and some building materials and sand are piled on the ground. .

There are still two hours before the meeting time, so you can't walk around with your luggage, so Min Hui pointed to the hotel across the road: "Let's stay there tonight, put your luggage down and talk about it."

Although she pretended to be Su Tian, ​​Min Hui didn't want to take too much advantage and felt that she couldn't let Xin Qi pay for everything. You can't afford to live in a villa on the top of the mountain, and you still have money to book a hotel in a small county town. I don't want Xin Qi to live too badly. Anyway, he is also entertaining the friend of the savior. The location of the hotel is really convenient, it is only 30 steps away from them, but the decoration is extremely ordinary, there is not even a decent door, and it is estimated that the inside is not much better, so he quickly took out his mobile phone and said to Xin Qi, "Wait. Wait, let me check everyone's reviews first-"

Just as he was about to start Ctrip, Xin Qi held him down: "Do you really want to stay at this hotel? I already booked a business hotel last night. It's a little farther than this one, and it's okay to look at the reviews. Of course... if you If I insist, I can refund it, but the deposit has already been paid."

"Then stay at the one you booked. Do you need a taxi?" Min Hui asked.

Before they finished speaking, a khaki taxi stopped in front of them, and the driver pointed out, "Is it Mr. Xin who is going to the business hotel?"

"Master Shen?"

"Yes, yes."

Xin Qi looked at the license plate, and the driver immediately got out of the car and graciously took the luggage of the two and put them in the trunk.

"When did you order the rental?" Min Hui was stunned for a moment.

"After booking the hotel last night. I have already booked this car, and the driver will follow us for the next few days to pick up and drop off." Xin Qi opened the car door, "Get in the car."

The two of them sat in, and Min Hui felt that it was a big deal: "There are rentals everywhere, and you are always on call. You can't afford to rent one, right? How expensive."

"First, this is not Beijing, and there are not many taxis. Second, Tong Tianhai lives in a very remote place, so it is not easy to take a taxi, and the security in the vicinity is not good. It is more convenient if you have a car."

Min Hui thought for a while, then asked: "How do you know it's very remote? Have you been here?"

"Researched the map and asked the driver."

"What else have you arranged?" Min Hui shrugged, "I seem to be able to be a hands-off shopkeeper with you."

"These trivial things don't need to be bothered by wise women, just leave them to us stupid men."

"Pfft—" Min Hui couldn't help laughing.

***

He went to the hotel to put down his luggage and had dinner nearby. Xin Qi's arrangement was to go to the restaurant to watch the two of them turn around. It is said that the driver recommended it.

The teahouse was very lively. The two stood for a while before waiting for an empty table. In the middle of the stage, two actors, a man and a woman, had already "turned". I only heard one person sing: "...Dou Tianzhang returns to Sanyang County, and it is heartbreaking to return to his homeland. I wanted to leave the capital to go to the election, leave my son at home, and the father and daughter will not be reunited..."

Min Hui was perplexed and pushed Xin Qi: "What kind of drama is this?"

"Dou E is wronged."

Min Hui vaguely remembered that she had learned this story in high school and could still recite it at the time, but now she can't remember exactly what it was about.

"So Dou E's real name is Dou Tianzhang?"

"Dou Tianzhang is Dou E's father."

I just heard the actor continue to sing: "...In the post house at sunset, a gust of wind swept across the hall. Dou Tianzhang, I was in a drowsy place, and I suddenly looked up and saw a female ghost standing in front of me. I have a self-defense sword in my hand. The wild ghosts are disturbing this official—"

Min Hui couldn't listen. First, the environment is too noisy, everyone is chatting, and the performance is purely used as background music. The voices of the aunts were louder than the loudspeakers, and they couldn't hear what the people on the stage were singing; secondly, they had poor acting skills and exaggerated movements. It was obviously a story from the Yuan Dynasty, but they were wearing costumes from the Qing Dynasty. He also wore a melon hat.

The more Min Hui looked at it, the more she wondered: "Are those two wearing the wrong costumes?"

Xin Qi said with relish: "The next release is "Wang Erjie Sifu", I guess it's too late to change it."

"Hey, do you remember that Sun Hao from our class before?" Min Hui suddenly remembered that Su Tian mentioned "Second Sister Wang Sifu" in her diary. Every time Xin Qi was hospitalized, Sun Hao would make fun of Su Tian, ​​saying that she was the second sister Wang, and he had to sing the paragraph "Second Sister Wang Sifu" in front of her, making Su Tian cry. Xin Qi also fought him several times because of this. Min Hui was very curious, so she went to find that passage, and the lyrics were really amusing, so she downloaded the audio to her mobile phone, and listened to it if she had anything to do, and she could sing it when she heard it.

"The one who bullied us?"

"That's right. In the past, he always loved to sing the "Second Sister Wang Sifu", what "little face is yellow and thin, and his eyes are still digging in"——"

"The hair is like grass, and the neck is like an axle." Xin Qi said.

"I dropped the mirror and the frame—"

"Pull down the big quilt on the kang."

"Second brother, he doesn't care about me, why am I still alive..."

The two of them sang together and laughed, Xin Qi said, "I brought you to the teahouse just to listen to this play. Let's see how much you can remember."

Min Hui secretly sucked in a breath while laughing. She almost broke through just now, but fortunately she wrote down the lyrics. After saying that, he looked down at his watch, there was still an hour left.

"Don't be nervous, I won't miss it, I set an alarm clock." Xin Qi patted her hand and asked, "I see Tong Tianhai later, if DNA confirms that his adopted son is your brother, that is, Applejack, what are your plans next?"

Min Hui said "oh" and was speechless.

She hadn't thought about it. Playing Su Tian well in front of Xin Qi has been very hard, and playing a sister in front of my younger brother...it is very difficult. The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she became: about Su Tian's death, if he was worried about his health without knowing it from Xin Qi, there was absolutely no reason and no reason to hide it from his younger brother. However, she couldn't tell the truth in front of Xin Qi...

Min Hui's heart began to tangle again: after the sister and brother met, should she secretly tell her brother the truth first, and then make an appointment to hide Xin Qi together? Or simply have a tortoise-backed slate - carry it to the end, no one will say?

In short, Min Hui is not mentally prepared for this upcoming younger brother, let alone has any plans. But if you really didn't plan on it, it would be too unreasonable to be a responsible sister.

"It mainly depends on what my brother thinks. On my side, try to cooperate with him as much as possible." Min Hui had to say, "If he is used to the life here and doesn't want to leave, I will consider moving in and living in Nearby, we can take care of each other.”

"Yes." Xin Qi nodded, took out his mobile phone, and searched for something inside.

"What are you doing?"

"Look at the house prices in this area."

"I said move, you don't have to buy a house, you can rent it."

"It's not Beijing and Shanghai. The housing prices here are not expensive, so let's buy it." His fingers clicked on the interface, "Look, there is a cantaloupe orchard here, 30 acres of land plus a two-story building. The house, the price is negotiable, how about it?"

"Cantaloupe Garden? Why?" Min Hui was taken aback, she just talked casually, and Xin Qi made a real move.

"Let's live here and have to earn money to live, what should we do?" Xin Qi pointed to the picture above, "I can grow cantaloupe. We all love to eat cantaloupe, especially you, who used to go to please the kitchen. Master Fang, let him cut cantaloupe for us to eat. We can run the orchard together."

"Really?" Min Hui looked up at him, no matter how she heard it, she thought it was flickering.

"Really."

"Would you like to move here from New York? Grow cantaloupe?—Who are you kidding, Xin Qi?"

"Yes! Didn't you agree? As long as we're together, I'll follow you wherever you go. If you decide to settle here, all I can do...I'm afraid it's just planting cantaloupe. For other fruits, I'll do it. Not interested either."

"Why do I think this is unreliable?"

"Then let's persuade my brother to go to New York together."

——Our brother?

"I can't go." Min Hui shook her head decisively.

"Why?"

"My brother is 23 this year. If he is still in Mingshui County, he is unlikely to understand English."

"What about you? How much do you know?"

Min Hui glared at him, Xin Qi patted his head: "I'm sorry but I forgot, I agreed not to ask the past."

"It's almost time, let's go."

"I will notify the driver."

***

At ten o'clock, Min Hui and Xin Qi arrived on time at No. 107 XX Road, where Tong Tianhai lived - a dilapidated dormitory building. Tong Tianhai was an old man in his 60s, with a round face, a chubby face, and he didn't like to lift his feet when walking, and his slippers rattled on the floor. His face was fierce, and in the middle was a red to purple rosacea, and his voice was thick and loud, as if there was phlegm in his throat.

Tong Tianhai's adopted son is named Tong Minghao. According to the volunteers of Xunqian.com, Tong Tianhai seems to be very protective of this adopted son, and all contacts are made by himself. Except for a few basic items registered on the website, everyone knows nothing about Tong Minghao's current situation: neither his education level, nor his occupation or work place.

Tong Tianhai's room is a single room of less than 15 square meters. It is messy inside. There is old grease on the stove. The ground is very clean. watermark.

Min Hui looked from east to west, only Tong Tianhai was in the room, and there was no Tong Minghao.

"Uncle Tong, are you alone at home?" Xin Qi took the coke that Tong Tianhai handed over and took a sip.

"Yes."

"Where's your son?"

"He hasn't lived with me all these years."

"Have a family?" Min Hui asked.

"No."

“Working in another place?”

"No."

Min Hui and Xin Qi looked at each other, dumbfounded.

"He's sick." Tong Tianhai hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "He's sick."

Both of them were taken aback and said "oh" in unison, wondering if the "sickness of the brain" is really a disease or a metaphor.

Immediately afterwards, Tong Tianhai was also silent, his eyes swept back and forth between the two people in front of him, observing their reactions.

"Brain—what's wrong?" Min Hui asked.

There was another silence, and Tong Tianhai hesitated for a while, and said, "Mental illness. Delusional disorder."

"Is it serious?" Xin Qi unconsciously held Min Hui's hand.

"It's very serious. I've lived in a mental hospital for several years." Tong Tianhai's fingers began to tremble, and he lit a cigarette for himself, "He always felt that someone wanted to hurt him, but it wasn't serious at first. , I kept him at home. Later...once I nearly burned the house down, the neighbors were terrified, and I had to take him to the hospital."

"Do you think this disease...is related to trafficking?" Xin Qi asked.

"He was brought here by my cousin on behalf of me, saying that the child's family was too poor to support him. At that time, there were two boys, both over a year old, one was thin and small, the other was white and white. Fat, I chose the white and fat one. I gave 20,000 yuan, thinking that someone will be retired in the future, it's good..."

"Then does he know that he is not biological?" Min Hui frowned.

Tong Tianhai shook his head: "I never told him. He doesn't know until now."

Min Hui is confused again: "Isn't the person who registered on the relative search website you?"

"Last month I went to the hospital to see a doctor, and it was found... that he had cancer. The doctor said that it would take at most half a year. After thinking about it, I decided to help him find his biological parents. I'm gone, at least there are people who can take care of him. They say, you are most likely his sister?"

Min Hui hesitated and nodded.

"That's great." He happily shook Min Hui's hand, pulled out a folder from the drawer and stuffed it to her, "Here are his medical records and diagnostic instructions. . . . I'm sorry, I've never been Dare to explain that Hao is sick. I'm afraid everyone will hear about it, such a big trouble, and no medical insurance, and the monthly hospital bills are not old or young, so I'm too scared to come, and I don't want to recognize it."

Min Hui hurriedly said, "How could you—"

"He's actually quite normal when he's normal. He was cute when he was young, but he's very timid. He's afraid of the sound of flushing the toilet when he goes to the toilet. He doesn't look like a boy. I've been beaten a lot for this. He is a greedy drinker, and if he doesn't like it, he will take his anger out. I am a part-time worker myself, and I don't have the money to send him to school..."

Probably because of conscience, Tong Tianhai began to repent and muttered to himself for a long time. Min Hui and Xin Qi were not easy to interrupt. Anyway, they wanted to know more about the situation, so they had to listen silently.

After muttering for ten minutes, Tong Tianhai finally asked: "If you want to see him, of course you are welcome. If you don't want to see him, I also understand. After all, his situation is special now, and for you... it's also a kind of... ...a heavy burden..."

"Do you have the address of the hospital?" Min Hui said, "I want to see him as soon as possible."

He pointed to the folder: "The address is on it. The hospital is called 'Cining Hospital', and it is about an hour away from here by car. There is a guest house in the hospital, and you can live there."

"Thank you."

Min Hui stood up and was about to leave when Xin Qi suddenly said, "Uncle, do you have a picture of this child Minghao?"

"Yes, yes."

He took out a cardboard box, picked out four photos and handed them over to Min Hui: "This is two years old, this is five years old, this is thirteen years old, this is a photo taken the year before, and he is twenty-one years old. ."

Xin Qi took pictures one by one with his mobile phone.

Seeing Min Hui staring at the thirteen-year-old photo without blinking, Tong Tianhai said with a smile: "You two brothers and sisters look alike. I knew you were his sister when I first saw you."

The photo shows a delicate, fair-skinned boy with a tall and straight profile, melancholy eyes and a shy smile.

I would have thought it was a girl if it wasn't for her shaved size.