After dinner, Zhenzhen returned to her room early and quickly came to Su Weiran's home in the capital. As Su Weiran expected, the house was no longer in the tidy state it was before she left. The door was half hanging on the door frame, the stools in the room were gone, and there were traces of being smashed on the table and wardrobe.
Zhenzhen closed the door and looked at the wardrobe. Fortunately, the wardrobe was made of solid wood and was wide and tall. Most people couldn't lift it, so it was still intact. Zhenzhen opened the wardrobe and found that everything inside had been plundered. Not even the original clothes rack was left.
Zhenzhen did not move the wardrobe, but went straight to the basement, which was about 20 square meters in size. There were shelves around the walls, filled with various papers, paints and brushes.
After putting these things into the space, Zhen Zhen's eyes fell on a row of painting jars placed in the corner. Because this place is underground, it is a bit cold and damp. In just two years, some of the scrolls have slightly yellowed edges. Zhen Zhen was worried that this place would be discovered sooner or later, so she simply put everything in the space and found an open space to store it separately.
The next morning, Zhenzhen teleported to the Imperial Capital Mountain after breakfast. She took out a large stack of papers from the backpack she brought with her, and placed paints, brushes, and other things on the table one by one: "There is basically nothing left at home, but the basement is locked well and no one has found it. I saw that it was a bit too humid in there, so I moved everything to another place. When it's calm outside and you want to go home, I will send the things to you."
Su Weiran showed a grateful look on his face: "Thanks to you this time, otherwise I'm afraid my paintings would be ruined if time went on for a long time."
Zhenzhen chuckled and took a breath of cool air through her missing teeth: "You are my teacher, so why are you being polite?"
"Yes, yes, yes. You don't have to be polite." Su Weiran said with a hearty smile. He walked quickly to the table, put the cut paper on the shore, picked out a set of paints from the ones Zhenzhen brought and put them on the table. He looked at Zhenzhen with a smile on his face: "What flowers are you painting today?"
"plum bossom."
The proud and unyielding plum blossoms have always been popular among painters, and the combination of plum blossoms and snow is considered a classic combination. Zhenzhen mixed the colors and began to depict the brilliant red on paper. Zhenzhen did not show the proud and unyielding nature of the red plum blossoms in the snow in the painting, but instead showed its brilliant red color to the fullest.
Red is also more likely to arouse people's passion. Compared with yesterday's "Lotus Painting", Zhenzhen's "Ode to Plum Blossoms" uses bolder colors and a slightly more exaggerated expression than before, showing the passionate side of red plum blossoms. Su Weiran smiled a little, stroked his beard and nodded in appreciation.
*****
At 12:00 pm, after dinner, Mingbei called Wang Zehai outside while everyone was washing up. Facing the howling north wind, Mingbei lowered his head and said, "I want to buy back the pen my brother gave me."
Wang Zehai chuckled twice and looked at Li Mingbei with a mocking look in his eyes: "What? Do you regret it? At the beginning, you patted your chest and promised that you would never regret it."
Mingbei didn't say anything. After a while, he said, "I regret it. Give me a price and I'll give you the money."
Wang Zehai kicked the snow under his feet, turned his head and looked at Mingbei and said, "Five yuan. Of course, if you think it's expensive, you can go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy the same one yourself. A new one is only eight yuan."
"Just buy back my one." Mingbei took out money from his pocket without hesitation, counted out five dollars and handed it to Wang Zehai: "This is what my brother bought for me. It has a different meaning than a new one. Besides, I have to teach myself a lesson."
Wang Zehai took the money and sneered at Mingbei, then counted out two more yuan and handed them to him: "Since we are classmates, I will not take advantage of you. I will return the two yuan to you, but you have to give me my old pen."
Mingbei was a little dazed when he saw Wang Zehai's hand reaching out to him. Wang Zehai stretched out his hand impatiently: "Hurry up, it's so cold that your hand will freeze off soon."
Mingbei came back to his senses and quickly took the money. He looked at Wang Zehai with an expression that looked like both crying and laughing. Wang Zehai pulled the corners of his mouth and turned back to the house.
Mingbei put the money in his pocket and squatted down by the wall. It was the fifteenth day of the lunar month, and the moonlight shone white light on the thick snow. Mingbei looked in the direction of home, his eyes a little red: "Grandma, I miss home."
The door creaked open from the inside. Mingbei was startled and quickly wiped his tears and looked towards the door. He saw Wang Zehai standing in the room looking down at Mingbei, pretending not to see the traces of tears on his face. He just said expressionlessly: "Hurry back to the room and give me my pen. I still need to write something."
Mingbei uttered "Ah" and stood up quickly and went in. As soon as the door wrapped in plastic was closed, the cold wind was immediately blocked out. The stove in the middle of the room was burning very strongly. Mingbei sneezed as the coldness in his body changed. He took off his cotton-padded jacket and put it on top of his quilt. He quickly opened his schoolbag, returned Wang Zehai's old pen to him, and took back the one Mingdong gave him.
Mingbei only thought about changing his position after the summer vacation this year. He thought that he still had one last semester and if he didn't try hard, he might not have a chance in the future. So he foolishly changed the pen. Before that, Mingbei didn't understand the significance of this fountain pen. In addition, he was clumsy and had smeared a lot of fountain pen ink on the pen cap and pen barrel. However, when the fountain pen came to Wang Zehai, he cleaned all the traces and used it very carefully. Now the fountain pen looks even newer and brighter than when he exchanged it.
Mingbei held the pen, feeling a little sad. He now understood that the reason why his grandmother hit him with a pipe was not entirely because of the price of the pen, but because he had ruined Mingdong's expectations and love for him. Closing his eyes, Mingbei could still remember the scene when Mingdong sent back the package and the letter. Although Mingdong was unable to deliver the things home in person, he could still see Mingdong's joy and excitement between the lines when he read the letter. The first salary and the first gift to his family meant a lot to Mingdong.
Mingbei put the pen into the wooden box in his schoolbag and placed it carefully under his feet. He took off his cotton jacket and put it on the quilt, then immediately got into the warm bed.
Mingbei's shoulders still felt a little sore after carrying wood all day, and he estimated that he might not be able to lift anything tomorrow. But even so, he still did not complete all the work today and only received seven and a half work points, which means that he did not even earn two cents today.
Mingbei sighed, his young face full of sorrow. He calculated based on today's meal ticket, and the monthly food expenses would be at least five or six yuan, which means that his pitiful salary would not have much left after eating. In fact, it is easy to understand. The construction of the youth center was not originally for them to make money, but a place to solve the problem of unemployed young people eating.
Mingbei couldn't help but take out the change from his pocket and count it again. He spent 20 cents on food today, plus the three yuan he gave to Wang Zehai, and only had three yuan left. According to his appetite, this was enough for fifteen days of meals. According to Li Mengwei, he would only change the money once a month, which meant that he would probably have to owe the young man some money for meals in the second half of the month.
Mingbei gritted his teeth and felt upset: he had never owed anyone anything in his life.
Maybe he was hiding something on his mind, Mingbei got up at dawn the next day. As expected, his right shoulder was sore and painful, and he couldn't help but grimace when he moved a little. Rubbing his shoulder, Mingbei grabbed the cotton jacket with his left hand and put it on with difficulty. Looking at the people around him, they were basically in the same position as him, and the room was filled with groans early in the morning.
After washing up, Mingbei went to the kitchen to get breakfast. He stretched his neck to see what was in the pot, and was suddenly attracted by a familiar figure. Yu Wanqiu collected the meal tickets and scooped porridge for people one by one. Finally, it was Mingbei's turn. He handed the bowl over and asked softly, "Are you in the kitchen? Aren't you going up the mountain today?"
Yu Wanqiu uttered a soft “hmm” and scooped a spoonful of thick soup from the bottom of the pot. She scooped a bowl of it for Mingbei, then took the meal ticket from Mingbei and looked back expressionlessly: “Next.”
Mingbei returned to the house with the bowl. He was already used to Wanqiu's attitude. Although he felt a little disappointed, it did not affect his mood too much. Currently, he was thinking about how to avoid owing the young man a meal ticket.
It is impossible to save money. If you don't have enough food, you won't have the strength to carry wood with such a high intensity of labor. If you want to fill the hole of money, you can ask your family for money or do more extra work. Although Mingbei used to get a lot of pocket money from Grandma Li, after he came to the youth center, he always felt that it was a bit unpromising for a young man like him to ask his grandmother for money. Even if his grandmother didn't say anything, he felt embarrassed. When his eldest, second, and third brothers graduated, they didn't ask for a penny from their family.
Mingbei thought about it for a while and decided that he should just work harder.
This group of educated youths were basically the children of the hydrolysis factory. In addition, the railway track had not been renovated yet, so the hydrolysis factory gave them two days off every ten days and asked them to go home and rest. The educated youths finally waited for the day off, and they ate breakfast early in the morning and went back with their things on their backs. Mingbei went in and out and hesitated several times but still couldn't make up his mind whether to go home. Li Mengwei counted the records in his notebook and saw that Mingbei looked like he had lost his soul. He couldn't help but ask him: "Why don't you go home?"
Mingbei hesitated for a moment, then walked up to Li Mengwei and asked him, "If I don't go home during the holidays and go up the mountain to carry wood, will I get work points?"
Li Mengwei said without even looking up: "Record your work points, just like usual. If you don't go home, hurry up and go up the mountain. If you're late, you'll miss work."
Mingbei was immediately happy. He agreed solemnly, put his schoolbag on the kang quickly, and called a few educated youth who did not go home to go up the mountain together.
The educated youth camp was not too far from Beicha, and these educated youth were used to walking on the mountain roads these days, so it took them an hour to get back to the hydrolysis plant. Mingnan came home from get off work and didn't see Mingbei. He asked curiously, "Where did Mingbei go to buy things again?"
Wang Sufen raised her head from the stove and said in confusion, "Mingbei hasn't come back yet? Did you send someone to see him?"
Mingnan took off his fur coat, with a puzzled look on his face: "A lot of educated youth came back from the hydrolysis plant today. They said the youth center will have a two-day holiday. If Mingbei doesn't come back this time, he won't be able to go home until the twelfth lunar month."
Wang Sufen was immediately furious when she heard this, and threw the firewood stick in her hand heavily to the ground: "This bastard must have gone wild, just wait and see how I'll punish him when he comes back."
Mingnan went out and brought back some firewood, and helped Wang Sufen add firewood to the stove: "Mom, I think you may have misunderstood my brother this time. Master Wang from our class said during work in the afternoon that Mingbei and his friends at the youth center were carrying wood down from the mountain. Master Wang's son was so tired that he fell asleep before he even finished his lunch. He was so distressed that he cried."
After Mingnan said this, Wang Sufen couldn't stay still. She asked Mingnan to watch the food in the pot, and hurried into the east room, repeating Mingnan's words to Old Lady Li: "Mom, you said Mingbei didn't come back this time, nothing will happen, right?"
"What's the matter?" Old Lady Li said without even raising her eyelids: "He must be too tired to walk, so he's catching up on his sleep on the kang. It's okay if he doesn't come back. Have you forgotten what I told you a few days ago?"
"Oh! Yes! Yes!" Wang Sufen came back to her senses. She glanced at Old Lady Li and said nothing more, but her expression was obviously a little dazed.
Zhenzhen heard Wang Sufen and Old Lady Li talking in the house, so she looked towards the youth center. She saw that the several large rooms in the youth center were empty, but there were two people sleeping. Zhenzhen took a closer look and found that they were not Mingbei. She looked outside and found that Mingbei was carrying two pieces of wood as thick as bowls and walking down the mountain.
The heavy wood pressed Mingbei's shoulders to one side. He held the wood with both hands, gritted his teeth and walked forward step by step, digging a snow pit. Zhenzhen felt distressed and wanted to use her supernatural power to help Mingbei hold the wood to save him some strength, but the words that old lady Li told her before reappeared in her ears: "They have their own way to go, and they will have to suffer. You can't help them forever."
Zhenzhen bit her lip and retracted her supernatural power. She didn't know why Mingbei didn't come back during the holiday but chose to continue earning work points, but she knew that since Mingbei made this choice, he must have his reasons.
Zhenzhen pulled back consciousness, pretending to be unaware of all this, and turned to ask Old Lady Li about the New Year. Last month, Mingdong sent a letter home, roughly stating the time of his return, which was expected to be in the next few days.
At this time, in the staff family area of Anbei Agricultural College, Guihua hurriedly took Doubao to the red class to pick up Roubao to take home. Mingdong finished this class today and finished the course for this semester. According to the plan of the two, they would take the train the day after tomorrow to return to Beicha to celebrate the New Year.
Mingdong returned to his courtyard after class. When he opened the door, he saw a spotless courtyard. He opened the door and went into the house. While taking off his cotton-padded jacket, he stretched his head to greet Guihua who was cooking in the kitchen: "Did you sweep the snow in the yard again? I heard from the office radio that it will snow tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. You are working in vain."
Guihua used a stove hook to take out a few potatoes from the stove and put them aside to cool. She turned around and smiled at Mingdong: "At least you cleaned up the house before going home for the New Year. Otherwise, I always feel like I haven't done anything."
Mingdong squatted in front of the stove and warmed himself by the fire. He tilted his head and stared at Guihua's profile. "You have to clean the house and work in the kindergarten these days. Do you feel tired? If you can't stand it, just quit your job in the kindergarten. Your health is important. Don't get sick from working yourself to death."
"It's not tiring at all, it's just taking care of the baby." Guihua turned around and smiled at Mingdong: "Actually, I like this job very much. I have something to do every day and can earn ten yuan. When I go home for the New Year, I can give her more milk. I feel very happy just thinking about it."
Seeing her beaming with joy, Mingdong couldn't help but stand up and kiss her on the face: "I'll buy you something for the New Year. Have you finished using that vanishing cream? I'll go with you to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some when we get back to Beicha."
Although they had been married for several years, Mingdong kissing her in broad daylight still made Guihua blush. She glanced at Mingdong coquettishly and said in a soft voice, "You are so annoying. If the children see it, it will make us so embarrassed."
Mingdong laughed twice and gently bit Guihua's red ear: "Then let's kiss again in the evening. We don't have to go to work tomorrow, so we can get up later."
Guihua's neck was tickled by Mingdong's hot air. Before she could speak, Mingdong pecked her mouth quickly. His big hand reached into her clothes and pinched her waist: "You've given birth to two children, but your waist is still so thin, like an unmarried girl."
Guihua was teased by Mingdong until her face turned red. She slapped Mingdong's hand away and said, "Stop it. I'll be angry if you continue to make trouble!"
"Don't make a fuss!" Mingdong smiled and held her hand. "I just feel that I haven't been able to spend enough time with you since you came. You have to work and take care of the family, so I always feel a little guilty about you. How about I take you and the sons out for a walk tomorrow? Although Anbei is not as big as Beicha, it also has a supply and marketing cooperative, and it's not far from our home."
After finally cooling down the heat on her face, Guihua couldn't help but smile at Mingdong's face: "Okay, then let's go out after breakfast tomorrow and see if there's anything good to buy for grandma and the others."
Mingdong reached out and touched Guihua's hand, then he shouted into the house with a smile, "Roubao, Doubao, wash your hands and get ready for dinner. After dinner, go to bed early. Your mother and I have something important to do."
Guihua was both ashamed and angry, and she pinched Mingdong's ribs twice: "What nonsense are you talking about? What will it look like if the children hear it?"
Mingdong was hiding while laughing. Roubao ran out of the house and asked the two curiously, "Mom, what important things are you and my dad going to do tonight?"
Guihua glared at Mingdong, stood up and walked into the house with Roubao in her arms: "Don't listen to your father's nonsense, he wants you to go to bed early and take you to play in the street tomorrow."
When they heard that they were going out tomorrow, Roubao and Doubao were extremely happy. They chattered about what good things there were outside and finished their meal quickly and well. Without waiting for Mingdong to urge them, the two brothers washed up and went back to the room to sleep.
Guihua put the dishes in the kitchen and was about to scoop water to wash the dishes when Mingdong appeared out of nowhere, picked her up and strode into the house. Guihua was so frightened by the sudden hug that she almost screamed. She covered her mouth to swallow the scream. She subconsciously hugged Mingdong's neck with one hand and hit his chest with the other hand: "I'm going to die, why are you making a fuss."
"I'm not dying. If you don't save me, I will really die. I've been teaching students at night this month, and we haven't been together for a long time." Mingdong chuckled and put Guihua on the kang, then turned off the light with a pull: "It's finally a holiday tomorrow, shouldn't you spend some time with me?"
Guihua groaned, put her hands on Mingdong's chest, and couldn't help but pat him twice with a smile: "I haven't made the kang yet, why are you in such a hurry?"
"No need to make the kang, I'll be your blanket." Mingdong hugged Guihua tightly in his arms, closed his eyes and kissed her red lips, and said with a somewhat unstable breath: "Guihua, I love you, do you know that?"
Guihua panted, reached out and pulled Mingdong's neck down, and blocked Mingdong's mouth with her hot lips.
In the second bedroom next door, Roubao was lying on the kang. Seeing the lights next door turned off, he looked happy: "Mom went to bed really early today. It looks like we can go out to the street very early tomorrow. Doubao, go to bed quickly. Don't stay in bed tomorrow."
Doubao nodded seriously and closed his eyes obediently: "I won't talk, I'm going to sleep now."
Unexpectedly, the next day, Doubao got up early and sat on the kang for a long time without seeing his parents coming. He pouted unhappily and said, "Brother, didn't you say we could go out early this morning? It's already dawn, why haven't my parents gotten up yet? Are you lying to me?"
Roubao pounded the kang angrily: "My dad lied to me."
Doubao looked at Roubao aggrievedly: "Then go and wake up Dad."
Roubao looked sad: "Dad locked the door. I knocked for a long time but he didn't open the door for me."
Mingdong, who was sleeping soundly, said: "Huh...Huh..."
Guihua, lying in Mingdong's arms: "Hu...Hu..."
The author has something to say: An angel asked me if I had completed the resignation procedures. Actually, I haven’t. I don’t know where the person who will take over my job is. I feel like crying but I have no tears. I just skipped the movie-watching event this afternoon and worked hard.
I'm too sleepy today, I don't want to find typos, I'll find them tomorrow morning, good night~~