half thorns, half joy

Tang Xuan's hometown is a small northern county called Songyang County.

The development of Songyang County is slow. There are only more than [-] people in the entire county. At the moment when housing prices are soaring across the country, the housing prices are only [-]. People's living standards and housing prices have maintained a slow growth level for ten years.

Xiao Zihan and Tang Xuan got off the plane in the provincial capital city of Songyang County, took a taxi to a car dealership and rented a car, Xiao Zihan acted as the driver himself, and drove to Songyang County.

In fact, Xiao Zihan didn't have to work so hard in the first place. Xiao Zihan's friends who have business contacts are here to do business. As long as Xiao Zihan is willing, just say a word, the boss will definitely prepare a luxury car to pick up Xiao Zihan and serve Xiao Zihan all the way.

But Xiao Zihan didn't want to make a big fuss, nor did he want to be hypocritical, he just wanted to come quietly and experience the feeling of returning home with Tang Xuan.

"I haven't been back for several years, and I don't know if my home is still there." Looking at the drastically changed buildings along the way, Tang Xuan teased herself.

Xiao Zihan smiled, "It's okay, let's see when we get there. There is no traffic jam here, and we will be there in an hour."

Thanks to the development of technology, even though Xiao Zihan has never been here, he doesn't have to worry about finding his way after turning on the navigation.

An hour later, Xiao Zihan's car drove into the county seat, and Tang Xuan sat up straight with a familiar aura.

Looking at both sides of the street and the shops that hadn't changed at all a few years ago, she couldn't help expressing emotion, "It's been a few years, and it still hasn't changed at all."

Today, with the rapid economic development, this small county seems to have been abandoned by the times. The leather bag shop selling two yuan stores, and the old people sitting around playing chess in the alley have persisted tenaciously for decades.

Xiao Zihan was born in a big city since he was a child, and he rarely came to such a small county town. For him, it was also full of novelty.

Tang Xuan directed Xiao Zihan to drive across two streets, then turned into a small alley, turned to the end, and parked the car.

"It's here." Tang Xuan's tone was a little excited.

Xiao Zihan glanced out the car window and asked Tang Xuan, "The car is parked here, is that okay?"

"Should be fine, just pull over." Tang Xuan took a deep breath, opened the car door, and got out of the car with the baby in her arms.

The baby fell asleep all the way, with his eyes still tightly closed at this moment, as if he had some fun dream, the corners of his mouth were curled up, and he was sleeping very sweetly.

Xiao Zihan also got out of the car, walked over to take the child from Tang Xuan's arms, looked around, and commented, "This is an old house."

"That's right. Not long after my parents got married, they chipped in to buy an apartment." Tang Xuan looked up at the low-rise building, her eyes were slightly warm.

When Tang Xuan was young, she always felt that the building was very tall, and she had to look up, and her neck still hurt from looking at it.But now, when Tang Xuan raised her head, she could see the top.

After getting used to seeing those towering skyscrapers, the small family courtyard with only five or six floors in front of him seemed even shorter.

At this time, a middle-aged woman carrying a plastic bag walked over. Seeing Xiao Zihan and Tang Xuan, she slowed down and looked up and down suspiciously.

Tang Xuan also saw the woman. Looking at the wrinkles on the woman's face and the curly hair, she frowned.

"Tang...Tang Xuan?" The woman recognized Tang Xuan and asked tentatively.

Xiao Zihan was taken aback and looked at Tang Xuan.

It was only now that Tang Xuan recognized that the person in front of her was Aunt Liu who lived downstairs from her house.Tang Xuan smiled, stepped forward and nodded, "Aunt Liu, it's me."

"It's really you!" The woman grabbed Tang Xuan's arm, smiling all over her face, "It's getting more and more beautiful, I can't even recognize it!"

"No way." Tang Xuan looked down at the plastic bag in the woman's hand, and greeted her familiarly, "Aunt Liu, you went grocery shopping."

The woman hummed, then looked at Xiao Zihan curiously, and asked Tang Xuan with flickering eyes, "This one is your friend?"

Tang Xuan shook her head, "No, this is my husband and our child."

The people in the small county were straightforward in their conversations, and Tang Xuan didn't use those official phrases, and directly pulled Xiao Zihan to introduce them to the women.

This was the first time Xiao Zihan heard Tang Xuan say that he was my husband, and a different kind of sweetness filled his heart.

Despite this, Xiao Zihan nodded very politely, and stretched out his hand, "Hello, Aunt Liu, thanks to you for helping Tang Xuan all these years."

These words are particularly pleasing to the ear, as soon as they are heard, they can be said by educated and educated people.

The woman immediately waved her hand in embarrassment, "Where is it? You are too polite. We can't help Tang Xuan if she strives for success. She is the most promising girl in our yard."

"Aunt Liu, if you praise me like that again, the others will not be happy." Tang Xuan said with a smile, seeing that the child was woken up, she continued, "Aunt Liu, go upstairs first. Don't stand still, we just got off the plane and drove here, the child needs to eat."

The woman nodded quickly when she heard that, "Yes, yes, go upstairs first, I will cook, and you will bring your husband and children to my house for dinner later."

"No trouble, Aunt Liu, we'll go out to eat later, and we need to buy some paper money." Tang Xuan declined as she walked.

"Hey, don't bother, don't bother, you must come and eat."

Tang Xuan bid farewell to the woman, smiling so hard that her face almost froze.Standing at the door of her house, Tang Xuan sighed heavily while touching the keys.

Seeing this, Xiao Zihan asked Tang Xuan, "What's the matter, you don't like her?"

"No, it's just... I don't know how to say it, forget it, it's all over." Tang Xuan inserted the key into the door, turned it a few times, and the lock of the iron door opened with a sound.

A musty, dusty smell rushed out of the room.

Xiao Zihan moved aside with the child in his arms, and waited for the smell to dissipate before he said, "You're tired after driving all day today, so let's stay in a hotel today."

Tang Xuan smiled wryly, "We are a small county, and the best hotels are just like that. Let me clean it up, and you can take the children and go outside first."

The house that I haven't lived in for a few years has much more dust than Tang Xuan imagined.

Xiao Zihan took out his phone and swiped it a few times before dialing the number. After the call was connected, he said a few words to Tang Xuan, "Tell me the address."

Although Tang Xuan was puzzled, she reported the address truthfully.

After she finished the report, she heard the other person say that she would come right away.

Seeing Xiao Zihan hang up the phone, Tang Xuan was puzzled, "What was that just now?"

"Housekeeping company." Xiao Zihan answered briefly.

"Huh?" Tang Xuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "You really are..."

It's really a young master's style.

Xiao Zihan shrugged, "We must pay attention to efficiency in doing things, the baby can't wait."

Although Tang Xuan was helpless, she had to agree with Xiao Zihan's words.

If Xiao Zihan and Tang Xuan were the only ones who came, then the two of them could clean up slowly. Anyway, the two of them are not such sloppy and lazy people, so this kind of work is not a problem.

But now that they still have children, there must be someone to coax the children, and they don't have so much time to dawdle.

The small county is small and there is no traffic jam. The people from the housekeeping company will arrive in 10 minutes.

Xiao Zihan took out his wallet and paid the cash, and discussed the tip with the foreman of the housekeeping team as a boss. Encouraged by the money, the housekeeping team immediately started cleaning vigorously.

Xiao Zihan and Tang Xuan stood in the corridor, smelling the aroma of food wafting from the upstairs and downstairs, and looked at each other warmly.

"Young Master Xiao, welcome to experience civilian life." Somehow, Tang Xuan thought of this sentence, and she teased Xiao Zihan with a playful smile.

"Hmph." Xiao Zihan smiled straight. He focused his eyes on the small advertisement on the wall behind Tang Xuan, and read out word by word, "Issuing various certificates, mobile phone monitoring card, phone number, 187xxxx9609."

Tang Xuan turned her head to look behind her, and saw that the already dirty and dark walls were covered with various small advertisements in red, black and white. In addition to certificates, there were also those for plumbing repairs and engraved seals. There are everything from home sellers to home sellers, almost covering the entire wall.

This was originally a very immoral behavior, but Tang Xuan burst out laughing as she looked at the wall that seemed to be polluted by spirits.

That's right, this is the hometown she is familiar with. This down-to-earth and criticized thing is more familiar than the warm greeting from the aunt downstairs.

After all, my aunt hadn't been so enthusiastic about her in the past, and this small garbage advertisement that couldn't be eradicated had run through her entire adolescence.

In the past, she was not used to it. She thought it was not good-looking, and she would tear it off and paint it off. Later, she couldn't finish tearing and painting it, and she didn't care about it, so she went along with it and let the small advertisement Layer after layer was pasted, one covering the other, densely packed.

She is real and back again.