The beloved but ungrateful girl is reborn: This time she has truly changed.

They exchanged a few words inside the room.

Tang Aijun began to think about which of his neighbors still didn't have a bicycle.

After a while, Old Zhang finally came out with a wad of cash. He counted it and handed it to Tang Aijun: "This is 180. This is all I have. Leave the bike here for now, and come back to ride it when you have more money."

One hundred and eighty!

Sure enough, Old Zhang is an honest man.

Tang Aijun's eyes lit up.

Adding the twenty yuan Zhang Qingtian gave, that makes two hundred!

That's enough to cover the deposit, and I'll still have over a hundred left, enough to last me a while!

"Thank you, Uncle Zhang! Thank you! You are the savior of my Tang family!"

He took the money, thanked him repeatedly, pushed his bicycle into Old Zhang's shed, and ran away.

The two hundred yuan in his pocket felt heavy, which made him feel more at ease.

He jogged all the way back to the hospital.

The inpatient building was brightly lit and bustling with people.

The air was filled with the smell of disinfectant, mixed with the smell of food, sweat, and the unique decaying aura of patients.

As soon as Tang Aijun entered the hall, Tang Yaozong and Tang Yaozu rushed over like two small cannonballs, each grabbing one of his legs.

"Daddy! I'm so hungry! I'm starving!!!" Tang Yaozong looked up, his face covered in tears and snot.

"Hungry! Hungry!" Tang Yaozu cried out, his voice shrill.

Tang Aijun frowned and looked down at the two children.

They were wearing dirty cotton-padded jackets, their little faces were streaked with black and white, and their hair was messy, making them look like two little beggars.

"How is your grandma?" he asked, without rushing to hug them.

Tang Yaozong blinked, thought for a moment, and said, "I don't know. Dad, does it mean we can eat again once Grandma dies?"

That's both naive and cruel.

Tang Aijun's mind went blank for a moment, and a surge of anger welled up inside him.

"What did you say?!" he shouted angrily, shoving Tang Yaozong aside.

Tang Yaozong lost his balance and fell to the ground with a thud. He froze for two seconds, then burst into tears, crying, "Daddy's bad!"

Tang Yaozu was terrified and released Tang Aijun's leg, shrinking back a bit.

"What nonsense are you spouting at such a young age!" Tang Aijun pointed at Tang Yaozong and yelled, "That's your grandmother! How could you say such a thing?!"

People around looked over.

Some people frowned, some shook their heads, and some whispered among themselves.

Tang Aijun felt a burning sensation on his face.

Just then, a middle-aged man wearing a cap and blue overalls walked over and patted Tang Aijun on the shoulder: "Comrade, calm down. The child is young and doesn't understand. We'll educate him slowly."

Tang Aijun turned his head and saw an unfamiliar face.

The hat was pulled down low, obscuring the eyes; only the lower half of the face was visible, with a scruffy beard.

"Thank you," he said, taking a breath.

The man nodded, said nothing more, turned and left, quickly disappearing into the crowd.

Tang Aijun then calmed down.

Looking at Tang Yaozong, who was still crying on the ground, and Tang Yaozu, who was huddled to the side, he felt a surge of inexplicable weariness.

He bent down, picked up Tang Yaozu, and then pulled Tang Yaozong up: "Alright, stop crying. Let's pay Grandma's hospital fees first, and then I'll take you to the hospital cafeteria for a meal."

The two boys immediately stopped crying.

"Really?" Tang Yaozong's eyes lit up. "I want braised pork!"

"I want scrambled eggs!" Tang Yaozu shouted.

"Okay, okay," Tang Aijun replied perfunctorily, carrying one in his arms and pulling the other along as they walked towards the payment counter.

When we arrived at the payment counter, there weren't many people in line.

Soon it was his turn.

"Pay up, Sun Xidi, for the hospital deposit," he said to the cashier at the window.

"Fifty." The toll collector replied without looking up.

Tang Aijun reached out to untie the safety pin.

My fingers touched my pocket.

empty.

He paused for a moment, then touched it again.

It's still empty.

He quickly looked down.

The breast pocket lay flat against the clothes, the safety pin was still there, but the area where the safety pin was attached was empty.

What about money?

His mind went completely blank.

"Comrade, are you going to pay or not?" the toll collector asked impatiently.

"Wait...wait..." Tang Aijun frantically searched through all the pockets on his body.

The shirt pockets were empty.

Two hundred yuan has vanished without a trace!

He suddenly remembered that in the lobby earlier, the man wearing a cap had patted him on the shoulder and tried to calm him down.

He did feel a touch on his chest at that moment.

But he thought it was just a comforting pat.

Looking back now...

That's a thief!

The man stole his money while his attention was drawn to his son!

"The money... the money was stolen..." Tang Aijun murmured, his face ashen.

"What?" The toll collector frowned. "Why did you come to pay without money? Next!"

"No... my money was stolen! Right there in the hospital lobby!" Tang Aijun cried out anxiously, "There was a man wearing a cap just now..."

"Alright, alright, take this to the security department." The toll collector waved his hand. "Don't hold up the people behind you."

Tang Aijun wanted to say something more, but the people in line behind him were already impatiently urging him on.

He had no choice but to back away.

Standing next to the toll booth, he felt ice-cold all over.

Two hundred yuan.

The 180 yuan he got from selling the bicycle, plus the 20 yuan Zhang Qingtian gave him, were all gone.

It was stolen.

He didn't even see what the thief looked like, only remembering a hat with a brim pulled low.

Despair surged up like a tide.

Tang Aijun turned around abruptly and rushed back into the hall.

He frantically searched through the crowd for the bearded man with the cap.

No.

There isn't anywhere.

That person vanished without a trace, as if they had evaporated.

Tang Aijun rushed out of the inpatient building.

It was completely dark outside.

The cold wind howled, stirring up dust and fallen leaves from the ground.

The streetlights were dim, casting his long, swaying shadow.

The streets were deserted; there wasn't a single person in sight.

Only the wind is crying.

.

At the same time, in the military barracks on the outskirts of Beijing, a completely different scene unfolded in Liang Bing's courtyard.

The kitchen was brightly lit and steaming.

The fire in the stove was burning brightly, and meat was stewing in a large iron pot, bubbling and simmering, filling the whole house with its aroma.

Qi Weiwei, wearing an apron, was helping Liang Bing's wife, Chen Hongli, and mother, Chen Hongxia.

Chen Hongli is in her early forties, slightly plump, with a round face, and loves to laugh; she has a cheerful and warm-hearted personality.

She was wearing a floral cotton-padded jacket with the sleeves rolled up to her forearms, and was deftly slicing potatoes into shreds.

"Weiwei, peel these scallions, ginger, and garlic."

She gave the instructions, then turned to Chen Hongxia and said,

"Sister Hongxia, your knife skills are really good. You've cut these potato shreds so finely and evenly."

Chen Hongxia's wrist injury hadn't fully healed, but she insisted on helping. She was carefully cutting potatoes at the moment, and smiled when she heard this: "When I was young, I worked at the supply and marketing cooperative. My first job was cutting vegetables in the canteen. I got the hang of it a long time ago."

"A supply and marketing cooperative?" Chen Hongli's eyes lit up. "Which supply and marketing cooperative are you in?"