Mingdong led Guihua to the most prosperous area of Bingcheng and got off the car. According to the experienced Meng Weishan, shopping in the department store is the best way to increase feelings. Mingdong has only read about how beautiful love is described in books, but he has only a vague idea of how to talk about it. Since Meng Weishan was in a free love relationship and got married, he naturally has rich experience in this area. Mingdong followed his introduction and prepared to take Guihua to visit the First Department Store.
In fact, don’t be fooled by Mingdong’s familiarity with the streets of Bingcheng. In fact, he only went around these places with his classmates before school started. After school started, he either attended classes or worked on the farm. Not to mention shopping, he hardly ever left school.
Guihua looked at the five-story First Department Store in front of her and couldn't help but hesitate. Mingdong whispered to her, "It's okay. When I first came to Bingcheng, I didn't dare to go in either. It was my classmates who dragged me in. The sales staff there are very nice. You don't have to worry."
Guihua looked at Mingdong and nodded. She followed Mingdong and just as they entered the gate, they saw a huge gouache painting of the sea and sailboats in the lobby on the first floor. Guihua was stunned after just one look. She was completely immersed in the painting. The painting was all in her eyes and mind.
Mingdong was just about to ask Guihua to look at the advertising decorations in the window when he was attracted by the obsession and concentration in Guihua's eyes. He slowly lowered his outstretched hand and looked back at the painting. It really looked shocking and beautiful, but he couldn't understand why Guihua couldn't move away after just one look.
"Oh, this painting is so magnificent." Several women came in from outside, stood in front of the painting and shouted, then rushed to the counter inside. Guihua was awakened by her loud voice, and then she realized that she had been standing here for a long time. She smiled at Mingdong a little embarrassedly: "You are so fascinated by it, you have wasted time, right?"
"Nothing to waste time, just going shopping, nothing else to do." Mingdong's nose was a little red. He looked at the painting and then at Guihua who was reluctant to move away, and couldn't help asking: "Do you like painting?"
"Yes." Guihua said shyly, "I learned from a teacher for a few years when I was a child."
Mingdong then remembered that Guihua was originally from a wealthy family, but since there were so many people here, Mingdong didn't dare to ask more questions. The two followed the crowd and walked in. The goods in the First Department Store were dazzling, and cheap items like needles and thimbles, as well as expensive items like watches and bicycles, could all be bought. It was a pity that the money given by Mrs. Li was for wedding items. Mingdong had just been in school for a few months, and the allowance he had saved was not much. Apart from buying wedding items, he could only look at other things.
The cool and refreshing days of autumn are a good time to hold a wedding. At this time of year, the grain has been harvested, and the cloth coupons and industrial coupons that have been saved for a year are almost enough. You can buy what you need, set off some firecrackers and get married. In the countryside, weddings can usually be held in the winter when there is free time. But at that time, it is too cold to go out easily, and most people go out for a walk when it is not so cold. Even if they can't afford to buy anything, they can still broaden their horizons. Guihua saw that the young couples in front and behind her were all out to buy things for their wedding, and her earlobes couldn't help but turn red.
Mingdong didn't pay attention to these. He looked at a counter in front of him that was surrounded by a group of female comrades, who said they were selling some kind of "Gala Oil" for hand rubbing. Mingdong couldn't help but glance at Guihua's hands.
In fact, Guihua's hands are not ugly. Compared with many girls of the same age, they are even pretty. Her fingers are slender and her skin is not dark. Because Guihua soaks her hands in hot water every morning and evening, they look quite delicate. However, Guihua is the one who does most of the washing at home, so it is inevitable that there are some thin calluses on her fingertips after a long time.
Mingdong waited until the group of female comrades opened their tickets, bought the Gala oil and left. He quickly walked over and asked, "Comrade, how much is a box of Gala oil?"
Guihua got anxious when she heard this, and she went up and pulled Mingdong aside: "The money grandma gave you is limited, you can't buy this."
Mingdong couldn't help but feel warm inside when he saw Guihua's blushing face: "I know, I want to buy it for you with my allowance." Guihua was stunned when she heard it, and her hand slowly slid down from Mingdong's sleeve. Mingdong took out some money from his pocket: "You see, I have never bought anything for you in all these years. Well, the school has an allowance, and I want to buy something for you."
Mingdong spoke haltingly and dryly, but to Guihua's ears, his words sounded sweeter than the sound of nature. She looked at Mingdong and didn't know what to say for a moment. After a long time, she wanted to say thank you, but tears fell as soon as she opened her mouth.
This was the first time Mingdong saw Guihua cry since she was nine years old and came to Lao Li's house. He hurriedly raised his hand and wiped her face with his sleeve, but his tears were not wiped away. Instead, the rough sleeve rubbed Guihua's face, making it red.
Mingdong looked at Guihua and laughed foolishly. He scratched his head and then remembered to buy Gala oil. He quickly went over to get a receipt and bought a box. He stuffed it into Guihua's hand and said, "I don't have much money. I'll save up for a few months and buy you a box of vanishing cream."
"No need." Osmanthus grinned, "I'm happy if you say that."
Mingdong laughed foolishly after hearing Guihua's words, not knowing what to say. Although Mingdong usually talks about academic matters fluently at school, he is tongue-tied today when he is with Guihua.
Leaving the counter, next to it was a store selling daily necessities. Guihua saw the red iron thermos at first sight. She tugged at Mingdong, pointed at the thermos with a slightly red face and said, "Grandma told me to buy that one."
Mingdong took a look and felt a little embarrassed: "I've been thinking about this too. I'll buy a pot and a basin by the way. You can get a pot of hot water at night to soak your feet and drink some hot water."
Guihua shook her head: "We need new ones for our wedding, how can I use them myself first? This is not good."
"It's okay." Mingdong pinched her fingertips: "It's not like I'm giving it to other people, so why worry? Besides, I'll be going to school outside in the future, and I'll buy these for you to use."
Guihua was never a hypocritical person, she nodded and said, "Okay, I'll clean it before I go home so no one can see it."
Mingdong couldn't help laughing at Guihua's straightforwardness. He waved to the waiter and said, "Buy two kettles and two jars."
"Three!" Guihua quickly corrected: "You have to buy three, and there's one for Zhenzhen."
Mingdong quickly added: "Get a small enamel pot."
The waiter knew at first glance that these were young people who were getting married, and immediately brought over two big red tin kettles with a pair of mandarin ducks painted on them, which looked festive.
After buying these two things, both of their hands were already full. Mingdong regretted it very much at this time. You know, with Mingxi, that silly boy, it would be too much of a waste of time to have such things in his hands.
The two returned to school. Mingdong asked Guihua to take a thermos, a jar and a basin, and he took the rest back to the boys' dormitory. As soon as they entered the room, Mingxi jumped up from the bed and jumped in front of Mingdong: "Why did you leave me behind? Where have you been?"
He stuffed the things in his hand into Mingxi's arms: "I'm not buying anything, grandma told me to do that."
Mingxi immediately clasped her hands tightly upon hearing this, and carefully placed the things in her arms on the bed. She then jumped from behind Mingdong to his back and shook him vigorously: "Why didn't you take me with you when you went shopping? Why did you abandon me? Aren't you afraid that I'd get lost?"
"Who else could kidnap you?" Mingdong threw Mingxi down and looked at her indignant face. He said calmly, "Didn't you tell me that you wanted to date Guihua first? I'm not going to date now."
"Why can't you take me with you when you're dating?" Mingxi said angrily, "I'll just go home and tell grandma how you two dated."
Mingdong was so angry that he laughed. He straightened the clothes that Mingxi had wrinkled and sat on the stool panting: "Go home and tell grandma, and see if she will beat you up."
"It's ok if you don't bring me along, then why don't you come back earlier to take me out for dinner?" Mingxi was almost crying, "Grandma gave all the money and meal tickets to Sister Guihua when we came here, so I didn't have a dime in my pocket, and I had to ask Fourth Uncle for the money for the tram when I came back."
Mingdong burst into laughter after hearing this, and Mingxi was so angry that she stretched out her legs to kick him. Mingdong took out a steamed bun from the cloth bag and threw it into Mingxi's arms, then ran out.
Mingdong ran directly to the third floor of the girls' dormitory. He sat on the cement table tennis table downstairs and thought about the little things he had experienced with Guihua over the years. In fact, Mingdong and Guihua had been together for ten years. When Guihua was brought back, he knew that the beautiful little girl would be his wife when she grew up.
Looking at the appearance of the girls from the neighboring families, and then looking at Guihua, Mingdong, even though he was a teenager at that time, knew that Guihua was prettier than the average girl. When she was in school, there were always those naughty boys who would come over to pull Guihua's braids or put a bug in her pencil case to get her attention. At that time, Mingdong's mind was full of thoughts of "dare to bully my wife, I will beat you to death", so he took Mingxi to beat up all the boys who bullied Guihua, and Guihua finally finished elementary school safely.
Mingdong couldn't tell when his mind began to change. Before entering high school, he thought it was natural to marry Guihua. Later, when he was in the second and third year of high school, he saw many classmates drop out of school and get married early, so he subconsciously resisted arranged marriages. It was not until he read the banned books that his classmates spread privately that Li Mingdong realized that in Western countries, marriage comes after love, which is the same as the pursuit of marriage freedom by young people.
Mingdong has always believed that he is a new youth and should pursue free love and free marriage. He longs for the romantic love described in the book and does not want to enter into such a dull marriage. So he avoids Guihua's straightforward eyes, but when he leaves home and thinks of Guihua's disappointed eyes, he feels empty in his heart, as if something is missing.
Mingxi's words were a clue to his thinking, but in fact, they were also a reason Mingdong gave himself to accept this traditional marriage. Today, he finally mustered up the courage to jog along with Guihua. The excitement at that moment made Mingdong realize that he had been deceiving himself before. It turned out that love was not as far away as described in the books.
In the girls' dormitory, Li Xian put down the book in her hand and looked at Guihua, who was holding the enamel pot she brought back and couldn't let it go. She smiled softly and said, "Is this for the wedding?"
Guihua blushed and nodded: "Brother Mingdong took the rest, and he let me use this one first."
"Oh, I didn't expect Li Mingdong to be so considerate." Li Xian smiled at Guihua: "You came back late, and there is no hot water now. Go to the water room to clean the tub first, and I'll pour you a cup."
"Thank you, Sister Li Xian." Guihua quickly washed the pot and came back, but the table was full of books. Li Xian asked her to put the pot on the windowsill. When the hot water was slowly flowing into the pot, Guihua suddenly turned around and ran out of the dormitory.
Several students who were reading were startled by her and looked out one by one: "What happened to her?"
Li Xian pointed out the window with a smile: "Student Li Mingdong is sitting downstairs."
Mingdong was immersed in his own thoughts when he suddenly saw Guihua jogging out of the dormitory building. He quickly jumped down from the table tennis table and looked at the breathless Guihua with some embarrassment: "I just came out for a walk, I didn't expect you to come down."
Guihua grinned: "It's okay, I just want to take a walk."
Now that they were out, Mingdong took Guihua for a walk around the school. The sky was not yet dark. The two of them walked from one in front of the other to side by side, but neither of them spoke first. Mingdong always felt that he should say something to break the silence, but his mind was blank at this moment and he didn't know what to say.
"Do you like the painting in the First Department Store?" Mingdong couldn't help but ask as he recalled the scene of shopping in the First Department Store in the afternoon.
Seeing that the playground was empty with only the two of them, Guihua whispered, "When my family was relatively well off, my mother said that girls must read and learn more to have temperament, so when I was just five years old, I followed my teacher to practice calligraphy and painting, and also learned piano."
Mingdong thought back to when Guihua first came to his home: "I remember you went to school with us at that time. You knew everything the teacher taught, and your handwriting was better than ours. It's a pity that you didn't go to junior high school. In fact, you should have continued to go to school at that time."
Guihua smiled and said, "In fact, it's not bad to be able to live a stable life. I don't think too much about other things."
"Have you always liked painting?" Mingdong couldn't help but ask one more question.
"I like it! I think painting is a happy thing." Guihua laughed at herself and said, "In fact, my mother really likes painting, and she paints well. After all, I have only been learning for a short time, so I don't have much understanding of painting yet."
"Actually, this isn't my first time in Bingcheng." Guihua suddenly said, "I came here once when I was a kid with my parents. At that time, the largest department store in Bingcheng was Qiulin Department Store. An old Russian in a black suit and a hat stood at the door to open the door for customers. There were beautiful chandeliers inside, and you could buy all kinds of delicious sausages, dark chocolate, bagels, and pickled cucumbers in glass bottles. That was the first time I ate Black Sea caviar. I didn't like the taste, but my dad did."
After looking at Mingdong seriously, Guihua stopped and said, "Actually, I know that you have been avoiding our marriage before. Grandma didn't say it, but she saw it. I wanted to come to Bingcheng to find you and ask you what you really think. Actually, I know that my family background is not good. I had a capitalist life when I was a child. These may drag you down. Besides, you are in college now, and I have only finished elementary school. I can't compare with you in terms of knowledge. Brother Mingdong, to be honest, I really like you, but I don't want you to marry me out of responsibility." She glanced at Mingdong's silent profile and showed a strong smile: "My family has raised me for ten years. You can't sacrifice your lifelong happiness for me."
"I thought I made myself clear." Mingdong suddenly said, "If you didn't want to get married, why would I buy you gala oil and a thermos? Those things are not cheap and they cost industrial tickets."
Guihua bit her lip and showed a hint of shyness: "Actually, I felt that you were particularly close to me since today, but I was afraid that I was overthinking it."
"You didn't think too much, I figured it out." Mingdong scratched the back of his head: "You always want to chase the unattainable love described in books, but when you stop, you will find that love is actually right beside you."
Guihua blushed at Li Mingdong's blunt words, but she still raised her head and looked at Mingdong with burning eyes, saying seriously: "Have you thought it through? Don't regret it if you have!"
"No regrets!" Mingdong puffed out his chest: "If I regret again, that brat Mingxi will definitely snatch you away, and I won't do that."
****
The hometown of Beicha is bustling with activity. The family is busy without the two laborers, Mingxi and Guihua. The beans picked from the fields are blanched and put in the warehouse to dry. The harvested soybeans are sent to be exchanged for soybean oil and made into soybean paste. The cabbages also have to be washed and prepared for pickling. They are so busy that they are almost running out of energy.
Winter comes early in Beicha. Although the harvest has just begun, the weather has gradually turned colder. Zhenzhen looked at the shorter and shorter days and the full yard of grain drying, and couldn't help but worry about her family. She secretly tried several times to see if she could have more sunny weather, but it seemed that her ability was related to the earth. Except for the flying birds in the sky, she could control them, and the rest of the wind, rain, and sun did not bother her.
Zhenzhen still thought about her own special ability, trying to control the food on the ground to squeeze out excess water, and then let the earth absorb it. But the food was drying under her nose all day, so Zhenzhen didn't dare to do too much. It wasn't until half a month later when Mingxi and Guihua came back from Ice City that the food at home was basically dried.
Mingxi and Guihua came in with their bags. As soon as they got home and put down their things, they collapsed on the kang. Old Mrs. Li leaned on her cane and looked at this and that, shaking her head and sighing, "You are tired after walking such a short distance. We were so tired when we were harvesting crops a while ago. I'll ask Mingbei to come and take a look at you. Look how dark you are."
Mingxi rubbed his waist and said, "It's mainly because there are too many things and they take up too much space. I'm afraid someone will take them away or they will get bumped or scratched on the train. I have to watch them day and night."
"That's enough. I know you're tired." Old Lady Li patted Mingxi's thigh and said, "Ask your mother to make some steamed sorghum rice for lunch."
Speaking of sorghum rice, Mingxi's eyes lit up. He didn't care about his backache and quickly got up from the kang: "Grandma, when I walked in, you almost scared me. Why do we have so much food? Will we not go hungry next year?"
"You won't be hungry anymore!" Old Lady Li looked at Mingxi with a smile. "At the beginning of this spring, your father reclaimed a few acres of wasteland and planted some fine grains with the seeds your uncle sent back. I didn't expect them to survive, but they grew quite well. This year, our family will have no shortage of rice and flour for the New Year."
"Really? They're still growing rice and flour? Right on the mountain?" Ming Xi was so happy that he forgot he was tired. He stood up and was about to get off the kang to go out and take a look. Old Lady Li grabbed him and hit him with her pipe: "Just take a rest and come back to take a look."
Mingxi said, "Grandma, you don't know. I went to my brother's school this time and heard from them that there are only a few farms with paddy fields in our province. The rice supplied during the New Year and other festivals was shipped from other provinces. But I heard that my brother's farm also has paddy fields, not only those grown in water, but also those grown on land."
"We also grow rice on the ground." Old Mrs. Li almost let it slip, but luckily she reacted and answered immediately: "Yes, yes, yes, the variety we have is grown on the ground, and it grows pretty well!"
In the kitchen, Wang Sufen took out the white sorghum rice that she harvested last time and steamed it in a large pot. She also cut a piece of salty wild boar meat with three layers of pork belly and stewed a pot of oily beans. Soon, the aroma of the white sorghum rice and the stewed beans mixed together, filling the house with fragrance.
Although Zhenzhen is still breastfeeding, she also eats a lot of other things. She drinks the milk powder twice a day and eats a few bites of home-cooked meals from time to time. In other words, the dishes cooked by Lao Li are all mushy, so Zhenzhen can still chew them.
There was a pot of fragrant steamed white sorghum rice. Mingxi picked up some vegetables from the bowl with his chopsticks and finished half of the rice. Zhenzhen, who was sitting opposite him, was stunned. She even forgot to eat the egg custard that Wang Sufen brought to her mouth.
After eating two bowls in a row, Mingxi finally felt full. While putting food into her mouth, she couldn't help but complain: "Grandma, let me tell you, my brother is so wicked."
After hearing this, Mrs. Li subconsciously glanced at Guihua, only to see a smile in her eyes. Then she looked at Mingxi and asked, "Why is your brother so wicked?"
"He threw me out on the street the second day after I arrived. He was usually nowhere to be seen, so he just left me alone in the dormitory like a fool. His classmates gloated over his misfortune every day, saying that I delayed my brother from finding a girlfriend." Mingxi rolled up some fresh wild vegetables, dipped them in soybean paste and stuffed them into his mouth, saying indignantly, "How did I delay him? Can't he help carry things when he took me shopping? And can't he take me to the park or the movies to see something new? Grandma, let me tell you, my brother and Sister Guihua went to three movies and didn't take me with them once."
Zhenzhen was giggling at the table, feeling sympathy for Mingxi, the despised light bulb. Mingxi felt much better after making a complaint. He glanced at Zhenzhen, who was laughing at him, and pinched her face: "You little heartless girl, you laugh at your brother too. I brought you good things for nothing!"
Zhenzhen immediately turned to look at Old Lady Li, who knocked on the table with her chopsticks: "What cool stuff did you bring?"
Mingxi climbed down from the kang resolutely, opened the bundle and took out a piece of floral cotton cloth: "My fourth uncle gave it to Zhenzhen, saying he wanted to make her a smock."
Zhenzhen was immediately happy: "Finally I can wear a new dress."
The author has something to say: The prototypes of Mingdong and Guihua are my uncle and my aunt. To this day, my aunt always talks about her courage to go to Harbin alone to win back her love. At that time, my uncle, like Mingdong, went to college, was exposed to more knowledge, and hoped to choose a marriage on his own, so he wrote a letter home to regret the marriage. Then my aunt, who was still a child bride at the time, saw the letter my uncle wrote back and asked my grandmother for money and went straight to kill him. I don’t know much about what happened after arriving in Harbin. As a result, my uncle happily followed him back to get married, and later gave birth to two sons and two daughters~~~
Good comments will still send red envelopes, muah