CHAPTER 24
After moving the items, Li Xia looked at the sky. It was still early in the morning and there were not many people at the shipping station. Her son was sitting alone in the cart. She suddenly raised her hand and patted herself. She was so busy that she didn’t know how to let such a young child stay outside alone.
”Okay, Mom will go in and move the things. You three stay outside and help Mom look after the cart and the goods.”
Shen Hui said, “I’ll go with you, and let Huihua and Yiyi stay outside.” The bag was so heavy, how could the mother carry it alone.
”No, I can just ask someone to help me. I can carry it.”
”Mom, there’s no one else in there. My uncle is very busy at work and he definitely can’t take care of it.”
Huihua also said: “Mom, let brother help you. I will watch yiyi and make sure he doesn’t run around.”
”Good. If anything seems wrong just yell.”
”Okay.”
It was broad daylight, and she would be out soon after she went in, so the siblings should be fine. She was still a little hesitant, and an old man passing by interrupted her with a smile.
”Don’t worry, you can’t lose a child this big.”
Isn’t it because she is afraid of losing them? She is not afraid of being kidnapped, because the two children have snacks and pocket money every day, so they will not be tempted. She is afraid of being taken away by force, because the children are too young to resist.
”Huihui you also stay outside with your sister. Mommy will carry the things herself. You don’t have to worry about it.”
It was better to be safe. No one could knock out three children and take them away in broad daylight. The cart was right in front of the shipping center. If she shouted loudly, people inside would hear her. There were also pedestrians outside. She went in to find someone to help her, and then she carried the big bag on her shoulders.
After several large bags were loaded, there was no extra space for people to sit on the cart. There was still a cargo left, so she asked the staff what to do.
”You have three children with you, so just let them help look after them for you.”
The child was watching the goods. What if the child lost the goods? Where could she cry? “Is there no other way?”
”Short-term custody, but you have to pay.” You have three children, and you don’t even have to spend money to take care of it by keeping them to look after the goods. You are such a weird woman.
”Okay, I’ll take care of it for two hours. I’ll come back later.”
After paying the fee, a note was attached to the goods, and someone was watching them. She would come back with the custody slip to pick up the goods. She went out to get a rope to tie up the goods on the cart, and when everything was ready, she was about to ask her child to follow slowly behind her, but when she turned around, she found that her son was gone.
”Where’s Yiyi?” She looked around and shouted, “Yiyi, where have you been?”
The two older ones were also anxious, looking for their younger brother everywhere. Huihua even looked under the cart very experiencedly. Yiyi would hide there when he was naughty, but today there was no one there. She and her brother had just helped their mother pull the rope, and it had only been a few minutes. Where had the little brat gone?
”Fang Ruyi, come out quickly, or I’ll beat you up.” It took her only a short time to tie the things, and he was just squatting on the ground playing. It was impossible for him to be kidnapped under her nose, so the brat must have run away on his own.
”Yi Yi, Yi Yi, come out quickly.” HuiHua was also shouting.
”Yiyi, I’ll buy you candy, red bean popsicles, and… whatever you want to eat. Come out quickly, come out quickly.”
”Mother,”
Just when she felt her heart pounding, she saw the boy running over from the side. In less than two minutes, she was already anxious: “Where did you run to? Do you want to be beaten? What did mother say…”
The distance was not far and soon they were in front of him. The little guy was very tactful and interrupted to explain: “I went to the toilet over there. I ran back as soon as possible.”
Li Xia stopped in front of her son, looked at him, took a deep breath, squatted down and hugged him. Then, without saying anything, she took the child and quickly returned to the tricycle.
It was a false alarm. The children were fine and the goods were also safe. Patting her chest to calm herself down, she took a deep breath and rode home, letting the three children follow behind.
”Hold your brother tightly and stay away from the tricycle.”
The two elders ones replied in unison: “Okay, I know.”
The brat wanted to go to the toilet without telling her, and he scared her out of her wits. If it were in the past, Li Xia would have immediately turned her worries into anger and beat him up, but now she just took a deep breath to calm herself down, and didn’t beat the child or give him a lecture.
The brat must have heard them yelling. Seeing them like that, he must have been quite frightened. The panic on his face was so obvious. Since the child knew that it was wrong, she would wait until the incident was over before explaining the seriousness of the matter to him.
At this moment, she was in a panic and could not control her emotions. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth, she would start to scold or even hit him. What she conveyed to the child was not her mother’s concern for him, but her rage. He would be depressed and reminded himself not to do it again, and he would also remember how fierce his mother was.
He didn’t mean it, he didn’t mean it. People in this period didn’t pay as much attention to the safety of their children as people in later generations. It wasn’t long before another parent wouldn’t have taken it seriously. She knew the abominations of human traffickers from reports in later generations, so she reacted so strongly.
All the while, Li Xia reminded herself of the pair of frightened eyes she had just seen, turned all her emotions into motivation, and rode her bike down the road in one go.
The journey home from the train station was not bumpy. The two big slopes were very gentle, one going up and one going down. When going down, she braked slowly, and when going up, the children came to help push. Although the three of them were not big, the combined strength of the three of them was still considerable, helping their mother to push up the slope smoothly.
The cart was full of goods piled high. When the cart was unloading at the street gate, the neighbors passing by were curious about what it was. Someone who was familiar with Li Xia asked, and she smiled and answered that it was clothing.
”We have skirts, sweaters, jackets, pants, all kinds of things, and if people want to buy then come over at night.”
”Really? Where did you get this stuff from? Is it expensive?”
”The latest clothing from the South, absolutely good quality and low price. I’ll pack it up first, if you’re interested, come and have a look in the evening.”
”Oh, okay.”
Li Xia took out the key to open the house door. Murong Danling came back from work and saw her mountain of goods. She wanted to say something to Shen Hui, but the boy opened the door and ran back home. Li Xia didn’t say hello to her, and rode her bike into the yard.
She was very angry with her son. After entering the next yard, she heard the neighbor say that Li Xia brought back a lot of clothes from the south. She immediately thought of the mountain of sacks she had seen just now. How much goods did she bring in? How much did so many clothes cost?
For a moment, she was filled with jealousy and hated Shen Haiyang and his son. They were a pair of fools. They gave Li Xia so much money as start-up capital and didn’t even give her money. Was Shen Haiyang blind? What did he like about Li Xia?
And Shen Hui is just an ungrateful person. The father and son live in a big house, but they don’t think about her as a mother. He used to talk to her, but now he runs away when he sees her. The sisters’ plan has no chance to be implemented, and no one dares to use force. Shen Haiyang works in the procuratorate and has acquaintances everywhere in the public security, procuratorate and courts.
She was so jealous of the goods that she was mad at the cart. After unloading the cart, Li Xia set off for the train station again. This time she bought a lot of goods, and one cart couldn’t carry them all. In this era, the demand for clothing is still mainly low prices. The more goods she bought, the lower the price, so she was very bold and bought a lot at one time.
”You’re back.” Shen Haiyang parked his bike in the yard and watched her prepare to go out again. “Where are you going next?”
”The train station. I haven’t finished pulling the goods yet.”
The man nodded: “Come on, I’ll go with you.”
”No, kids, helped me bring them and gave me a push up the hill, and I’ll be back.”
”Am I worse than a child in your heart?”
Shen Haiyang knew what she meant. She was just being considerate of his heart condition. But he felt that it was not serious. At least he could lead a normal life. As for the future, even if he lay in bed and did nothing, the disease would still develop. He would deal with it as it came. If it really could not be cured, he would deal with it later.
”Well, then.”
She agreed to go with him, but it was still Li Xia who pedaled the bike. When they arrived at the train station, she went to move the goods and asked him to watch over them. The man wanted to go in to help, but she pointed at the bike and asked him to take care of it.
”This cart is worth a lot of money, and there will be more goods on it later. If you don’t watch it, what if it gets lost?”
”Watch me move the goods.”
”Shen Haiyang,”
Seeing that she was getting anxious, Shen Haiyang stopped insisting. She went in to move the goods, and he only helped her when she came out to put the goods down. They were piled up high again, and she tied the goods up with ropes and fixed them on the car.
On the way back, Shen Haiyang did what the children had done before, pushing the cart uphill from behind. Li Xia was afraid that he would get tired, so she pedaled with all her strength.
”Don’t push too hard. As long as the bike doesn’t fall backwards, just ignore it and I’ll pedal it myself.”
”Okay.” He knew what to do. When the cart went up the slope, he stood in front of his wife and asked, “Look at my face. Is it normal?”
His breathing was not heavy and his complexion was fine. Li Xia nodded silently and continued to ride. The man followed her on foot, and the two talked as they walked.
”The doctor said my case is mild, don’t worry too much.”
”No matter how minor it is, it’s still a heart problem. The heart is an organ that can kill you in an instant.”
He knew she was worried about him, and smiled at his wife while adjusting his breathing as he walked. “It’s okay, this disease is not serious, and I carry quick-acting heart pills with me.”
After bringing all the consigned goods home, Li Xia began to unpack and sort them. She had just come back and was going to cook first, but Huihua had already cooked porridge, so Shen Haiyang asked her to help him make pancakes.
The whole wing was filled with her things, and she took out some of the various things. This time she planned to sell them both wholesale and retail, so if anyone was willing to sell them wholesale, that would be fine.
”Let’s eat first.”
”good.”
