Chapter 775
Tang Xiaobao's Thoughts
Thinking of this, Bai Susu couldn't help but shake her head.
No, no, that's absolutely impossible.
Although she did not dislike Xu Bo'an, she certainly did not feel romantic feelings for him.
She knew perfectly well in her heart that all she felt for Xu Bo'an was admiration. She must have been out of her mind to have such a mistaken perception about what happened today.
After this mental preparation, Bai Susu quickly dismissed these tedious thoughts from her mind.
Of course, this was just what she thought was a dismissal.
Little do they know that once a woman develops a strong sense of admiration for a man, she is not far from falling in love with him.
However, Bai Susu hadn't thought of this at the time. After dismissing the absurd idea in her mind, she felt that she had become much more insightful.
She immediately got up, straightened her skirt which had become a little wrinkled from the lunch break, and walked nonchalantly toward the room where she had studied medicine that morning.
Xu Bo'an felt a little uneasy when he saw Bai Susu come in.
He had originally thought that Bai Susu would feel embarrassed because of what had just happened, and he was thinking about how to ease the awkward atmosphere.
To Xu Bo'an's surprise, Bai Susu's expression was very natural when facing him, and there was not a trace of embarrassment on her face.
As a result, Xu Bo'an was somewhat at a loss.
What's wrong? Am I overthinking things? Am I the one who needs comforting?
Xu Bo'an originally thought that he had been rude to the beauty and was thinking about whether he should apologize or, if that didn't work, "spend money to avoid disaster" and buy a gift to send over, as a way of showing his attitude.
Unexpectedly, the other party didn't take it to heart at all, and suddenly I felt like I was the one who was taken advantage of!
Xu Bo'an breathed a sigh of relief, and comforted himself in his heart: Don't be angry, Xu Bo'an. Isn't this better? It saves me the trouble of trying to defuse the awkward situation.
And so, Xu Bo'an and Bai Susu pretended to continue their afternoon medical lessons. Despite Xu Bo'an's best efforts to patiently guide them, the learning efficiency that afternoon was still very poor. Either Xu Bo'an would digress while talking, or Bai Susu would lose focus while listening.
Because this kind of learning is not very efficient, the knowledge points that were originally planned to be studied until 6 o'clock were not basically explained until 8 o'clock.
It was getting late, and Bai Susu hurriedly said goodbye, not even thinking about having dinner with Xu Bo'an anymore.
After Bai Susu left, it was getting late. Xu Bo'an observed the situation in the bonsai world for a while and saw that everything was normal. So he washed up and went to bed to rest.
Nothing was said that night, but I had many dreams.
In his dream, he wasn't sleeping alone; Bai Susu was actually by his side.
It's true what they say, what you think about during the day, you dream about at night!
The next morning, Xu Bo'an was still lost in his dreams when he was awakened by a sudden ringing of his cell phone.
Xu Bo'an was slightly stunned as he looked at the caller ID on his phone screen.
It was a landline phone number!
Today, Xu Bo'an rarely receives calls from landline numbers on his mobile phone.
With the popularity and widespread use of mobile phones, landlines have become detached from the lives of many people.
When Xu Bo'an was still working at the company, he sometimes needed to liaise with local units, departments, and organizations, and these entities might have a habit of making phone calls using landlines.
After all, using a landline to make calls is a form of self-protection, preventing the other party from remembering your mobile number and then bothering you later.
Landlines are different. When you call a landline number, whoever answers is free to answer, and during rest hours, no one answers the phone.
Later, Xu Bo'an took on a project leadership role, and he no longer had to do many basic tasks himself. As he built his network, people were also willing to give him their personal mobile phone numbers, so Xu Bo'an rarely received calls from landlines anymore.
Although he occasionally received calls from insurance companies, his phone's smart system automatically marked them as "sales calls," making it easy for Xu Bo'an to reject them.
Seeing this clean, unmarked landline number, Xu Bo'an felt quite uncomfortable.
However, seeing that the area code was from Dongjiang City, Xu Bo'an had no doubts and immediately answered the phone.
Perhaps it's someone from an organization we've worked with before.
After Xu Bo'an answered the phone, he had just said "hello" when he heard a hurried greeting from the other end.
"Um, hey, it's...it's me!"
Xu Bo'an was slightly taken aback. Who is this? Who introduces themselves like this, like a child?
If you don't say your name, how can anyone know who you are?
A person's voice will change a lot after it is transmitted through a telephone. People who don't chat with each other often will find it really hard to recognize each other.
Even many AI-synthesized voices sound more like him on the phone than real people.
However, the person speaking to me like that must be someone I know.
Therefore, although Xu Bo'an frowned slightly, he still patiently asked, "I am Xu Bo'an. May I ask who you are?"
The voice on the other end was still somewhat drawn out and unclear: "It's me! It's Xiao Bao... It's me! It's me! Xiao Bao!"
Xiaobao?
Brother Baozi!
Xu Bo'an shuddered instantly.
Tang Xiaobao from Tangjiaping Village, also known as Brother Bao!
The "village guardians" of Tangjiaping Village.
My childhood friend!
Because of his intellectual disability and being an orphan, Tang Xiaobao has had no contact with Xu Bo'an over the years.
The last time they met was when Xu Bo'an and his mother, Tang Rongzhi, returned to Tangjiaping Village and encountered Tang Xiaobao on the village road. Xu Bo'an even gave him some cigarettes in exchange for food.
Because Tang Xiaobao doesn't have a cell phone and his intelligence doesn't allow him to figure out how to use one, Xu Bo'an can't exchange phone numbers or WeChat messages with him.
He simply wrote his phone number on a cigarette pack and left it with Tang Xiaobao, patiently instructing him that if he needed anything in the future, he could ask someone from the village to call him.
Being poor cares themselves, being wealthy cares the world.
Xu Bo'an doesn't consider himself a saint, but he feels that he has the ability to take care of those he wants to take care of.
In his youth, he was constantly on the go, never daring to stop, in order to cope with all kinds of pressures in order to survive, and he was not able to take care of everyone he wanted to take care of. Therefore, although Xu Bo'an felt regret and pity whenever he saw Tang Xiaobao when he returned to his hometown, he was not able to help him much, and could only give him some food as much as he could.
Xu Bo'an had no spare capacity to provide too much assistance.
Moreover, he doesn't have enough energy to understand the karma of others and bear the resulting karmic burdens.
Now that he has the "golden touch" of Bonsai World, Xu Bo'an has become more capable than many people in terms of money and various other abilities. This is why he dares to give Tang Xiaobao more help, leave his phone number, and get involved in Tang Xiaobao's karma.
Xu Bo'an asked with some concern, "Brother Baozi, what's wrong? Is something the matter on your end?"
"I...I...I!" The more anxious Tang Xiaobao became, the less he could speak.
But soon, a sigh and hushed conversation came from the other end of the phone: "Come on, Xiao Bao, I'll say it for you."
Then, an old voice came: "Hey, I'm Erhu's father. You must be Xiao Anzi."
Xu Bo'an quickly recalled the small shop in Tangjiaping Village, which the local villagers called the store.
In addition to snacks and cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, the store also sells everyday items such as needles and thread, brooms, buckets, grain seeds, and even landline telephones that no longer exist in many places.
Because many elderly people in the village don't know how to use mobile phones and don't have landlines at home, when they need to call their children, they come here with their notebooks containing phone numbers and make the calls here, much like how people used to make calls at newsstands many years ago.
As for Erhu mentioned on the phone, he is the son of the shop owner, and is about the same age as Xu Bo'an and the others. They played together when they were young.
This way of introducing oneself on the phone makes it easier to explain one's identity.
"Grandpa! It's me. What happened to Brother Baozi? Is he alright?" In Tangjiaping, men older than one's father are called "Grandpa." Erhu's father is older than Xu Bo'an's father, Xu Jiancheng, so he is called "Grandpa."
Erhu's father sighed and said, "Xiaobao is fine. He's Lizhu, the kid you used to play with when you were little. Something happened to Lizhu's family. Lizhu fell down while repairing the roof a few days ago and didn't make it. Sigh, that kid was only in his early forties. It's such a pity."
Upon hearing this, Xu Bo'an was also taken aback.
This pillar is named Chen Lizhu. His father's generation migrated here from elsewhere to escape famine. Later, he built a stone house here and settled down. In his forties, he married a woman with a physical disability who collected scraps. They had a child named Lizhu late in life.
To be honest, Xu Bo'an wasn't very familiar with Chen Lizhu. Chen Lizhu was a bit older than him, and because there were many people with the surname Tang in Tangjiaping Village, there was bound to be some exclusionary behavior, so they didn't hang out much.
Tang Xiaobao, due to his intellectual disability, was also ostracized to some extent, so he became closer to Chen Lizhu.
Although Xu Bo'an and Chen Lizhu didn't have much contact, since it was Tang Xiaobao who called, Xu Bo'an still wanted to find out the details.
"Grandpa, is Brother Baozi not very happy?" Xu Bo'an asked in a somewhat somber mood.
Erhu's father sighed deeply and said, "Sigh, it's more than just being unhappy, he cried so hard. There are fewer and fewer young people in the village these days, and even fewer playmates that Xiaobao has grown up with. He still keeps in touch with Lizhu, and Lizhu often brings him some dry food or something. I think Xiaobao is heartbroken and I don't know what to do. Luckily, I have your contact information, so I thought I'd let him vent his bitterness."
Xu Bo'an felt a pang of sadness and raised his voice, saying, "Brother Baozi, wait for me, I'll go back to see you right away."
Tang Xiaobao also heard Xu Bo'an's words and started chattering away, making it impossible to understand what he was saying.
Erhu's father explained on the phone, "Xiaobao heard it and was very happy. Um, Anzi, if you come back, please bring Erhu back with you. He works in Dongjiang. He said he was coming back before, but his wife thought it was too much trouble to transfer cars and wouldn't let him come back. If you can bring him back, I'll get you the paper flowers and stuff you saw at Lizhu's house."
"No problem, sir. You have my phone number now. Just tell Brother Erhu to contact me."
Xu Bo'an lived in Tangjiaping Village for several years when he was a child, but he moved out to go to school, so he doesn't have the contact information of many of his childhood friends.
Moreover, to be frank, the friendship isn't that deep anymore; it's just that when I occasionally think back to my childhood in the quiet of the night, I feel happy.
……
Since he was no longer tied down by work, Xu Bo'an decided to leave immediately.
Xu Bo'an immediately grabbed his car keys and headed straight for the gas station!
A short while later, Xu Bo'an received a call from Erhu, who told him his location. After refueling, Xu Bo'an went to pick up Erhu and embarked on his journey home.
It was already evening when the car returned to Tangjiaping Village.
To Xu Bo'an's surprise, Tang Xiaobao was actually waiting at the village entrance, and he didn't know how long he had been waiting.
"Brother Baozi!" Xu Bo'an hurriedly opened the car window and called out.
Tang Xiaobao staggered over, taking three steps at a time, exclaiming, "I'm...I'm back!"
Xu Bo'an nodded heavily and said, "Yes! You're back."
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Xu Bo'an, led by Tang Xiaobao, arrived at Chen Lizhu's home.
"Lizhu, your friend has come to see you." The person in charge of arranging the funeral in the village called out from the doorway.
A young man kneeling in front of the hall looked up and glanced at him, a hint of unfamiliarity in his eyes. But the man had come to see Chen Lizhu off, and according to custom, the host family had to kowtow.
Xu Bo'an helped the man up and listened to his self-introduction, only to learn that the man was Chen Lizhu's son.
After offering a few words of comfort, Xu Bo'an approached the mourning hall to offer incense and then placed a paper bag on the ground.
"Lizhu, Erhu told me you don't have many hobbies, but you like to have a drink or two. This is a 50-year-old bottle of liquor. I brought you two bottles. If you're watching from heaven, please soothe your throat."
Upon hearing Xu Bo'an's words, Chen Lizhu's son, who was kneeling to the side, immediately raised his head and stared intently at the brown paper bag that Xu Bo'an had placed there.
That ordinary paper bag seemed to possess an immense magic, drawing his gaze in.
A platform! Good heavens, that's the legendary platform!
It's still fifty years old.
I know about Taizi liquor; I've always heard people say that Taizi is the best and most expensive liquor, but I've never heard of Taizi having a 50-year-old variety.
It’s just that!
If I brought this wine to a dinner party, I would really feel proud.
He was still daydreaming about inviting those people out for dinner so he could impress them perfectly.
Suddenly, a commotion arose outside. (End of Chapter)