Chapter 32 Do you...know each other?
After waiting for a few minutes, a bus came speeding from the morning mist ahead.

drop--

The driver honked the horn and asked Jiang Daguo if he wanted to ride.

Jiang Daguo waved to the bus driver, and the bus slowed down and stopped in front of Jiang Daguo.

The bus was packed with people. Jiang Daguo got on the bus carrying a woven bag.

"Get on the bus and buy a ticket." The fat ticket seller shouted at Jiang Daguo, waving the ticket clip.

Having taken the bus once before, Jiang Daguo already knew the fare, and he paid one yuan and fifty cents.

After taking the ticket, Jiang Daguo carried the woven bag and looked to the back of the car for a seat.

Because he was dressed simply and carried a wet woven bag on his back, many people looked at him coldly, as if they didn't want to sit with him.

Jiang Daguo noticed a young woman with her head down, packing her backpack without looking at him, so he walked over and sat down next to her.

As soon as he put down the woven bag and sat down, the woman screamed, "Who told you to sit over here? You country bumpkin!"

Most of the people in the car looked this way.

Jiang Daguo looked a little embarrassed. "I bought a ticket and this place was empty, so I sat down."

"Can't you sit somewhere else? Why sit here?" the woman screamed again.

"Your seat is the only empty seat." Jiang Daguo said with a frown.

The woman looked around and found that her seat was the only empty seat.

But she still didn't want Jiang Daguo to sit here, and pointed at the woven bag and said, "What's in this? It stinks!"

"There are vegetables in here, so it doesn't smell bad," Jiang Daguo explained.

But the woman still disliked Jiang Daguo very much. Sometimes she scolded him for squeezing her, and sometimes she said that Jiang Daguo stank all over and asked if he had carried manure without taking a shower or changing clothes.

Jiang Daguo looked unhappy, but he couldn't argue with the woman, so he had to shut up.

An older woman sitting in front of him couldn't stand it anymore, so she turned around and glared at the young woman and said, "You're eating vegetables grown by farmers, and you're complaining about the smell of manure they picked up. If you have the guts, don't eat vegetables, eat dirt instead."

"Who are you? Why are you saying that to me?" The woman started attacking the older sister again.

"Just because I eat more rice than you eat salt!" The elder sister snorted coldly.

"Comrade, you can't look down on those who grow crops." Another old man shook his head in dissatisfaction.

With these two people starting to talk about the young woman, many people in the car also started talking about the young woman.

Although the young woman was aggressive, she could never win an argument with more than ten people.

She had no choice but to shut up.

But she was unwilling to give up and put her bag in the middle of the seat.

Jiang Daguo was worried that her bag would be squeezed and damaged, so he had to move away and give up half of his seat.

Fortunately, the one and a half hour drive passed quickly amid the noise.

The young woman grabbed her bag and patted Jiang Daguo, "Get out of the way!"

When it was time to get off the bus, Jiang Daguo could no longer endure it and said angrily, "Please be respectful!"

"I won't. Are you worthy?" The young woman raised her chin. "I'm not afraid to tell you that my man is an officer of the Civil Affairs Bureau of City A. I'm not afraid of you!"

After saying that, she slung over her small backpack, stepped on her high heels, and got out of the car proudly, twisting her body.

Outside the car, a woman in her forties walked towards her, "Donying, why do you look so bad? Who scolded you?" "Don't mention it. I'm so unlucky. It's early in the morning, and I'm sitting in the same row with a stupid farmer. People in the car are speaking for him and scolding me. I'm so angry." Xiang Dongying said gritting her teeth.

"Country people are all like this! Next time you see him, just scold him and drive him away!" Xiang's mother raised her eyebrows with disgust.

"Humph, next time I see him, I will beat him up. He is so annoying!" Xiang Dongying snorted coldly. Thinking of something, she turned from anger to joy. "By the way, Mom, I did as you said. After I arrived at the Qi family's hometown, I bought canned food and snacks for his grandmother and chatted with her every day. Grandma Qi liked me very much. When she left, she gave me a pair of silver bracelets."

As he spoke, he unzipped Dongying's bag.

Xiang's mother's eyes lit up, "Dongying, I think so. Now that you have given birth to a son, the whole Qi family will think highly of you."

Thinking that the adopted son was not the blood of the Qi family, Xiang Dongying felt guilty, "Yes, yes."

She said embarrassedly.

The mother and daughter chatted and walked away.

In the car, the older sister who helped Jiang Daguo out patted him on the shoulder and said, "Forget it, forget it. Don't bother with such a person. Anyway, you won't see her after you get off the car."

Jiang Daguo smiled slightly, "Thank you, Auntie, for helping me."

"Hey, it's nothing. I just don't like her look. Whose ancestors didn't grow crops? Why is she so arrogant?" The eldest sister shook her head and got out of the car.

Because everyone went their separate ways after getting off the car, they were not afraid of offending the young woman, and the people in the car also talked about the young woman's unreasonableness in twos and threes.

Jiang Daguo didn't say anything, picked up the woven bag and got out of the car.

He asked passers-by for directions to the Civil Affairs Bureau, spent five cents on the bus, and left carrying the woven bag.

Arriving at the Civil Affairs Bureau, Jiang Daguo looked at the tall gate and hesitated for a long time before walking to the window of the guard room. He imitated the city dwellers' tone and asked in half-broken Mandarin, "Excuse me, does Comrade Hu Qingsong work here?"

The doorman wearing reading glasses was reading a newspaper. He looked up at him and said, "Yeah, who are you? What do you want from him?"

Jiang Daguo was about to speak when he heard a cry of surprise from behind him, "Why are you here again? You are following me? I want to call the police!"

Jiang Daguo turned around and found the young woman who had just quarreled with him in the car, pushing a brand new bicycle and walking towards him angrily.

The old man guarding the gate looked at the young woman and said, "Dongying, is this man a bad guy? Did he follow you?"

"Yes, I came back from Chengye's hometown this morning. While I was in the car, this man kept arguing with me. He was very fierce! I didn't expect that he would come here when I came. He probably wanted to do something bad. Uncle Liu, call the police quickly!" Xiang Dongying said angrily.

"I'm not following you. I'm here to look for someone." Jiang Daguo explained.

"Looking for someone? Haha, you're just a country bumpkin, how do you know anyone here? Do you know where this is? Do you recognize the words on the sign hanging on the gate?" Xiang Dongying pointed at the words "Civil Affairs Bureau of City A" and said proudly.

"I'm looking for Hu Qingsong. I heard he works here."

"You're looking for Deputy Director Hu?" Xiang Dongying laughed. "Does he know you?"

"Who's looking for me?" A young man's voice came towards the gate.

Xiang Dongying turned around and saw Hu Qingsong riding a bicycle. She nodded and smiled respectfully, "Deputy Director Hu, are you at work?"

"Well, good morning, Comrade Xiang Dongying, are you here to see your lover?" Hu Qingsong got off his bicycle and nodded.

"Yes, I came back from his hometown and came to see him before going to work at the towel factory." Xiang Dongying said with a smile, but soon she stopped smiling and pointed at Jiang Daguo and said, "But I was unlucky. When I was on the bus, I was scolded by this guy all the way. He even followed me here! And he even pretended to know you."

Hu Qingsong pushed up his glasses and looked at Jiang Daguo. "Aren't you... aren't you the comrade Jiang Daguo who was waiting for the bus that day? Why is it you?"

He recognized Jiang Daguo and waved with a smile.

Jiang Daguo was embarrassed. "Hu... Hutong... Deputy Director Hu, I didn't quarrel with her, I didn't follow her, I came to see you."

Xiang Dongying widened her eyes, looked at Jiang Daguo, and then looked at Hu Qingsong, "Deputy Director Hu, do you... know each other?"

(End of this chapter)