Five years of marriage, always separated [1970s]

Dabao stood up and said, "I'll go remind my aunt to go to the north park and sell with Sister Huihui."

Zhang Xiaodi reached out and grabbed Dabao. Dabao was puzzled: "What are you doing?"

Geng Benben also saw it at this moment, and whispered: "Sit down first, sit down!"

Dabao shook off Zhang Xiaodi, went back to sit next to Erbao, and stared at them: Speak!
Zhang Xiaodi first said, "Don't get excited," and then told him to look at Geng Zhiqin. Dabao thought, what's going on? Dabao turned his head, eyes wide open, and turned to the two of them, asking in disbelief, "I--" lowering his voice, "Am I seeing things?"

Erbao was equally surprised, he covered his mouth and whispered, "Brother, you are not mistaken, that is not Xiaozhi's boyfriend, that is Xiaogu's boyfriend."

Dabao looked over again and saw Geng Zhiqin parked the car and sat next to the man with his back to them. Dabao subconsciously covered his eyes. Is this something he can see? Thinking of something, Dabao raised his hand to cover Erbao's eyes.

Little brother Zhang was amused by the brother and sister, but he covered his mouth when he laughed because he was afraid that Geng Zhiqin would find out.

Geng Benben was still hoping for a lucky break just now, but now he just wants to find a hole to crawl into - it's so embarrassing to watch his sister-in-law go on a date.

Geng Benben wanted to say, let's quit. Suddenly he remembered something and asked Dabao, "When did my aunt find a boyfriend?"

Dabao put down his hand and turned Erbao's head to the side: "How should I know?"

Zhang Xiaodi covered half of his face and turned to Geng Benben, "Your aunt doesn't know we are here. Your sister is in the north park, and your aunt must think that we are going to the north just to have fun."

Geng Benben didn't understand: "So what?"

"They did it secretly, and they must have kept it a secret from all of you." Zhang Xiaodi asked, "Does your aunt know?"

Geng Benben shook his head: "My aunt never said that. So -" looking at his aunt, "Aren't you afraid that this man will cheat on her?"

Ye Fan often helped the Zhang family, and for her sake, Zhang Xiaodi didn't want Geng Zhiqin to be cheated. Zhang Xiaodi put down his hand and turned his head to look at the man carefully. Although he could only see his side face, he felt familiar.

Zhang Xiaodi suspected that he was overthinking the similarity and asked, "Benben, have we seen him somewhere before?"

The sun had not yet set, and there was a patch of sunlight between this side and the other side. Geng Benben felt it was too dazzling, so he squinted his eyes and looked around, "I think I've seen him somewhere before."

Erbao was young and found it very interesting to encounter such a coincidence. Dabao did not stop her. She looked at him with eyes wide open, "Brother, this uncle is very handsome."

Geng Benben paused for a moment and said helplessly, "Erbao, the point is not whether he is good or not, but that my aunt is secretly looking for a partner."

Erbao: "It's time for my aunt to find a date. Grandma asked her a few days ago if there is anyone suitable in her school."

Dabao suddenly had an idea: "Is it a teacher from our school?"

Zhang Xiaodi and Geng Benben looked at each other, covered their mouths and said in unison: "Grade 1 math teacher? He just arrived this year!" After that, they nodded together. That's right! Last year when they were in Grade 1, they knew all the teachers in the grade except this one.

Dabao thought about it and there was no such male teacher in the junior high school: "If he is a teacher, it should be good. But why do I feel that he is younger than my aunt?" After saying that, the four of them looked at the male comrade together, and the more they looked at him, the more they felt that he was young and unreliable.

After a while, Dabao asked, "Little brother, are you still waiting for your sister?"

Zhang Xiaodi didn't want to wait for Geng Zhiqin to turn around and face him, it would be too embarrassing. Zhang Xiaodi looked around and said, "Let's go to the back and come back after your aunt leaves."

The four of them got up and quietly hid deep in the park. Half an hour later, Dabao sent Erbao out. When Erbao saw that his aunt's car was gone, he immediately went back to report.

The four of them walked out openly, but they looked around as if their eyes were not enough. After looking around for a few minutes, they saw an acquaintance under a tree about 20 meters away from the park exit.

Zhang asked everyone to stop and asked Dabao or Erbao whether he should go.

Erbao: "I'll go meet him!"

Dabao was afraid that the other party might have a bad temper and beat Erbao, "I'll follow behind."

With his brother following him, Erbao was even less afraid. He thought about how his brother rushed around when he was just learning to skate, bumping into a guy's arm. Erbao stopped and said, "I'm sorry!"

"Why are you running? Don't you see anyone here——"

When Zhang Xiaozhi saw that it was Erbao, she said, "She didn't mean it—"

The man interrupted Zhang Xiaozhi: "It's not okay even if it wasn't intentional. Luckily it happened to me. If it was someone older, he would have fallen down by now. Can you afford to pay for it if he got hurt?"

Erbao had never been yelled at like this in his life, and he involuntarily took two steps back.

Dabao ran over and stood in front of Erbao: "Uncle, my sister accidentally bumped into you. Let me say sorry on her behalf."

"You are her brother? Keep an eye on your sister——"

Dabao interrupted: "I will take good care of my sister! I haven't finished speaking yet, you asked if I can afford the compensation, I tell you, even if I hit you to death, my family can still afford it!"

The gay man choked and his throat hurt. He asked with a serious face, "You - where are you from? You are so amazing, where are your parents?"

Dabao pointed at Zhang Xiaozhi: "Her family."

The gay man was stunned.

Zhang Xiaozhi instinctively wanted to talk about her neighbor. Dabao then said, "Erbao was very happy to see Sister Xiaozhi, so he came to see Sister Xiaozhi and ran into you."

The man knew Zhang Xiaozhi's name, and when he heard Dabao say Zhang Xiaozhi's name, he believed what he said. This also made the man embarrassed for a moment, "Comrade Xiao Zhang, I, I don't think they are naughty. There are so many people in the park, jumping around is dangerous, I am also doing it for their own good."

Dabao turned around and grabbed his sister, asking with his eyes: "Are you scared?"

Erbao shook his head, and Dabao immediately said, "Let's go home!"

Zhang Xiaozhi immediately said, "Wait for me." Then she said to the man, "We are not suitable, forget it."

The gay man couldn't help but call her: "No, I just -"

"No need to explain, I understand. I am usually careless. You should find someone who is careful and cautious." After saying this, Zhang Xiaozhi caught up with Dabao and Erbao.

But when she saw Dabao and Erbao heading into the park, Zhang Xiaozhi asked, "Are you two not going home?"

Dabao shouted to an old tree, "Come out."

Fearing that they would be discovered by Zhang Xiaozhi, the two men came out immediately. Zhang Xiaozhi saw that her brother's mind was frozen, and asked stupidly: "When did you come?"

The man's voice was quite loud and Zhang could hear it clearly. He thought to himself that it was no wonder that Sister Ye didn't let them try anything. He didn't expect that the result of such a small experiment would be so speechless.

Zhang went to his sister and confessed that they wanted to help her test the man's temper. Unexpectedly, he had a bad temper and liked to go to extremes - if he didn't jump around in the park, would he play on the main road?

Zhang Xiaozhi looked at Erbao: "Did you do this on purpose?" Erbao nodded obediently: "Sister Xiaozhi, do you blame me?"

After taking a shower and changing clothes, Zhang Xiaozhi took this blind date very seriously. As a result, she felt a little uncomfortable. But when she thought of the man scolding Erbao, she said, "It's not strange. He was very polite when he spoke to me. I didn't expect that he would be so angry just because you touched his arm."

Zhang Xiaodi said, "Aren't there two more? Let's meet them tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

Zhang Xiaozhi recalled how many times her elder brother had met with them in the early years, and the one that had the best chance of success didn't work out. "Right. Let's go."

The five of them walked towards the park entrance.

There was no one at the door at this moment.

Dabao noticed that the park was more crowded in the evening than in the morning and afternoon, and couldn't help but say, "Isn't it true that popsicles are selling well in the evening?"

Zhang Xiaodi: "It's cool at night so no one will buy it. Other things should sell well."

Dabao, think about other things, like food and playthings? It's not easy to wholesale. If you make them yourself, it's not worth it to get heatstroke in such a hot day.

"It would be nice if I could wholesale some small toys and sell them."

Zhang Xiaozhi wanted to laugh: "Dabao, why do you love making money so much at such a young age?"

"Don't you like money?"

Zhang Xiaozhi was speechless.

Dabao: "If you can sell things at night, then you can work during the day and sell things at night, and you will become a rich man in no time."

Geng Benben: "There are no street lights in the park at night, only a few outside. It's hard to sell anything. Dabao, don't think about it. Let's go home quickly. It's time to cook dinner."

Dabao looked at the sunset in the west and realized that the family hadn't cooked yet. But he also wanted to go back quickly so he stopped talking nonsense.

When they heard a familiar voice at the door, Dabao and Erbao looked at each other and ran into the house: "Dad!"

Geng Zhiye came out of the kitchen with a kettle in his hand. The brother and sister hurriedly stopped. Dabao said, "Dad, are you thirsty? I'll pick some melons for you."

Erbao went to pick tomatoes.

Geng Zhiye had just arrived home a few minutes ago. He was smelly and his face was covered with sweat, which made him feel uncomfortable. He wanted to take a shower first. Geng Zhiye wanted to use the tap water, but Ye Fan told him to use warm water. Geng Zhiye was not happy, but he did not dare to disobey his wife, "Dabao, Erbao, don't be busy yet, Daddy is going to take a shower."

Dabao: "You wash yours. I'll wash it and put it in the refrigerator."

Geng Zhiye nodded and went to the south room to take a shower.

After washing the melons and tomatoes, the brother and sister went to the main room. When they saw Geng Zhiqin, they looked at each other, put the things in the refrigerator first, and then pulled their mother out, one on each side.

Geng Zhiqin sneered: "What are you whispering about?"

Dabao: "Speak your private words."

Geng Zhiqin thought he was talking back on purpose, so he said, "Go ahead and say it as loud as you can."

When we got outside, Dabao said that his aunt had gone to the park to date a gay man after selling popsicles. The gay man looked several years younger than his aunt.

Ye Fan was stunned for a minute. If she remembered correctly, the younger ones said they were going to try out Xiao Zhi's partner in the afternoon, but how come it turned out to be her sister-in-law? "Da Bao, isn't Xiao Zhi having a blind date in the park?"

Dabao nodded and briefly described what happened after Erbao bumped into someone. He then added, "That guy doesn't look like my aunt's boyfriend, and he doesn't seem to have a good temper either."

Ye Fan: "So you met two pairs?"

Dabao nodded: "Mom, you really don't know that my aunt is in love?"

"——I'm afraid that apart from you two and Benben, no one in our family knows about it." Ye Fan couldn't help but glance towards the main room, "Your aunt is really good at hiding it."

Erbao held his mother's hand and asked, "What should I do?"

Ye Fan: "Maybe she is too embarrassed to tell her family because they just started dating. Let's wait until she wants to tell her."

Dabao asked: "What if that person has bad character?"

Ye Fan: "Divorce. He doesn't dare to act arrogantly. We have people in our family, and Hongwei and his brothers can take care of him."

Dabao felt relieved after hearing this and pretended that he didn't know about it. Then he told Erbao: "Don't ask my aunt. She will be embarrassed."

Erbao nodded obediently: "Does that mean we can't go to the South Park anymore?"

Ye Fan was worried that Geng Zhiqin was being cheated. Although she had work experience and had recently been busy selling popsicles and had met many people, she had Ye Fan's protection at the supply and marketing cooperative. Now that she was with Chen Xiaohui every day, no one bullied her. It was very likely that she could not tell the good from the bad, so she decided to find an opportunity to persuade her mother-in-law to go to the South Park for a "chance encounter" tomorrow and take the opportunity to investigate Geng Zhiqin's situation.

Ye Fan: "You guys go to the north park recently. Wait until your aunt stops selling popsicles before going to the south."

Erbao nodded and went back to the house with Dabao.

Ye Fan turned to where Geng Zhiye was taking a shower and asked, "How many days will you stay at home?"

Geng Zhiye: “Half a month.”

Ye Fan whispered to him about Geng Zhiqin, and then said, "Do you have a friend who is a teacher at Dabao School? Ask someone to check who he is."

Geng Zhiye: "She should learn to face the wind and rain."

Ye Fan leaned against the door frame speechlessly: "She's not drinking or fighting and is unruly. There's no need to deliberately discipline her."

"Then I'll ask Cheng Shitou some other day. He knows a lot of people in government agencies." Geng Zhiye said.

Ye Fan: "Can you tell me what you've been busy with these days?"

Geng Zhiye sighed: "I went back to Yongcheng a few days ago."

Ye Fan stood up suddenly: "What happened?"

Geng Zhiye was speechless when he thought of this: "Doesn't the school have a holiday on July 20? Before the holiday, I was going to ask when my file would be transferred back, but I was transferred to the Army. I thought the Navy didn't want me."

(End of this chapter)