Guihua turned over in her sleep, and Mingdong immediately came over and hugged her in a daze. Guihua woke up under the pressure of his heavy arms. She opened her eyes and saw that it was bright outside. She quickly sat up and looked at the alarm clock on the box. It was already half past seven.
"Oh no, I got up too late." Guihua quickly got up from the bed, took all the clothes Mingdong had thrown away last night and put them on one by one. Mingdong was awakened by the sound of Guihua getting dressed, and he opened his eyes dazedly. He put his arms around Guihua's waist, put his face on her legs, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Why did you get up so early?"
"It's getting late. It's already 7:30. Roubao and Doubao must have woken up early." Guihua put on her clothes and patted Mingdong's hand: "Let me go. I'll go downstairs to check on the kids."
Just as he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door, followed by Roubao's aggrieved voice: "Are mom and dad up yet? The sun is shining on your butt!"
"Get up!" Guihua responded quickly, and then patted Mingdong's arm hard, asking him to let go. Mingdong hugged Guihua's waist and laughed but refused to let go. Guihua rubbed his head helplessly and talked to him kindly: "Don't make trouble, the child is waiting." Seeing Mingdong closed his eyes and did not move, Guihua could only whisper: "It's night, don't make trouble now."
Mingdong immediately opened his eyes and looked at Guihua expectantly: "Just the posture I mentioned last night."
Guihua blushed with shame and reached out to pinch Mingdong's arm: "Get up quickly and stop making trouble."
"Is it okay?" Mingdong rubbed his face against Guihua's legs, and there was a little bit of coquettishness in his voice. Guihua got goose bumps from his noise. She glanced at Mingdong's expectant eyes and nodded shyly, "Just this once."
Mingdong cheered quietly, sat up and kissed Guihua on the face: "You will know the benefits after one time, I guarantee you will ask for a second time next time." Seeing Guihua's expression as if she was about to hit him, Mingdong quickly dodged a little and put on his clothes as if nothing had happened: "Get up, get up, I'll go to the street to buy some vanishing cream for my wife later."
Guihua smiled and got off the kang, collected the messy papers on the floor, opened the kang hole and threw them in. The remaining sparks rolled up the papers and burned them. After opening the door, Roubao and Doubao immediately threw themselves into Guihua's arms. They hugged her waist tightly, and their similar little faces were full of anger and condemnation: "We agreed to get up early." "Doubao has already gotten up, but mom hasn't gotten up yet." "It's not a good thing to stay in bed!"
"I'm sorry, I'm late." Guihua, with two little balls hanging from her body, struggled to move to the washbasin rack to get some water to wash her hands, then picked up the two boys: "Mom will cook for you right now, what do you want to eat in the morning?"
Doubao put his finger to his mouth and looked at Guihua with sparkling eyes: "I want to eat noodles. I haven't eaten noodles for a long time."
There was still some flour brought from Beicha, enough to make a bowl of noodles. Guihua touched her youngest son's chubby face and said with a smile, "Okay, let's have noodles this morning."
Roubao and Doubao cheered and ran to the east room to wake Mingdong up. Mingdong had just put on his fleece jacket and trousers, and hadn't even put on his cotton jacket when he was pushed down by his two sons who had climbed onto the kang. Mingdong quickly reached out to pick up his glasses and put them on the windowsill, then turned around and flipped his two sons onto the bed, scratching their armpits with his hands. Roubao and Doubao laughed non-stop, and the three of them rolled into a ball on the kang.
Guihua kneaded and rolled the dough skillfully, and soon the noodles were in the pot. When the steaming egg noodles were ready, the third brother had also washed up and got up. Each of them had a bowl of noodles. Because there was only one egg left at home, Guihua did not make a poached egg, but broke the egg and put it directly into the pot. The noodles were covered with egg flowers, and the two boys ate so much without even raising their heads.
Unlike Beicha, Anbei has rural areas and farms. Even the location of the Agricultural College itself is relatively remote. It takes 40 to 50 minutes to walk to the town. Doubao is too young to walk too far, and even Roubao probably can't stand it. Mingdong dragged out the sled he had welded for his two sons, put a wooden board on it, and Roubao and Doubao happily sat on it.
It was already the twelfth lunar month, and Anbei was covered with thick snow. Mingdong and Guihua each pulled a rope and led their son to the town. The road to the town was crowded with people, and carriages passed by from time to time, so the road surface was extremely smooth. Mingdong and Guihua could drag the sled without any effort. When there were few people, they even slid while dragging, and the sled was swaying from side to side, which made Roubao and Doubao applaud happily.
Anbei is a small town with only one supply and marketing cooperative. Mingdong tied the sled to a tree by the roadside and led his family into the cooperative. People in this era were still simple and honest. Whenever someone put something outside, people nearby would help keep an eye out. In addition, everyone in this place had a few sleds at home, so this was not a rare thing.
Because the Agricultural College had just had a holiday, teachers and students were preparing to take home New Year's goods, so today the supply and marketing cooperative was filled with familiar faces, and the small place was packed. Guihua picked up Doubao, and Mingdong carried Roubao on his shoulders. The two followed the flow of people and walked inside. Roubao and Doubao were both very excited, and their heads turned around, looking here and there, and their eyes were not enough.
Mingdong was sweating profusely from being squeezed, and he only bought some vanishing cream and a pair of corduroy cotton shoes for Wang Sufen, and then hurried out with his family. Doubao pouted a little dissatisfiedly: "We haven't even looked inside yet."
Mingdong wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "I can't stay in here anymore. It squeezed my shoes so hard that they almost fell off. I think we should just not buy anything here. It's the same if we buy from Beicha when we get home."
Guihua nodded. She bent down to help Doubao adjust his hat and scarf, and coaxed him, "Let's go to the grain store over there and see if they're selling sesame cakes today. I'll buy one for you to try."
Roubao and Doubao nodded immediately and didn't even sit on the sled, for fear that if they went too slowly, they would run out of food. The grain store in Anbei has only been selling sesame cakes in the past two months, and they are not available every day, only every few days, and only forty or fifty sesame cakes are available each time.
A sesame seed cake cost five cents and you had to get a grain coupon. Farmers basically didn't buy it because they thought it was too expensive and didn't satisfy their hunger. Only working families with few children or working couples with more money would occasionally buy one for their children to try.
When Mingdong just graduated and became a teacher, his salary was 56 yuan. Last year, he was in labor reform at Anbei Farm and had no salary. After the establishment of the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University, he continued to be a teacher, and the school still paid him according to the previous standard. Guihua only started working in the past two months. As more and more teachers from Anbei Agricultural College came with their families, the campus was full of children. In order to prevent teachers from being distracted during class, the school allocated several houses and a yard to set up a nursery and a red education class.
Guihua was young, pretty, and dressed neatly. The school chose her at first sight when selecting students, and directly asked her to work in the kindergarten. She usually looked after the children, and there was another sister-in-law who was responsible for cooking. She earned 14 yuan a month.
Mingdong and Guihua earn a lot and have only two children, so their burden is light. They are both happy to buy small things every now and then to make their children happy.
Because it was not the day to sell supplies, there were not many people in front of the grain store. Guihua and her child were queuing up. Mingdong went to the front and took a look. In addition to sesame cakes, the window also sold grate.
The stove grate refers to the pancakes that are shaped like the iron box used to store ashes in the stove. They are made of pure white flour and are deep-fried. In this era of oil and water shortage, they are a luxury food. However, they are very expensive, costing only 10 cents a piece, as they use a lot of oil and white flour.
If some people are willing to buy sesame cakes, even fewer people are willing to buy stove grates. One reason is that they are expensive, and the other is that they are not genuine. At only one cent, they are not filling at all, and except for the fact that they taste better, they are not real at all.
Doubao smelled the aroma of oil in the air and swallowed his saliva: "Mom, it's delicious!"
"You know it's delicious even before you eat it?" Guihua smiled and shook the bean curd in her arms. She turned around and discussed with Mingdong: "We just had breakfast and we're not too hungry. Let's just buy them a stove grate to eat on."
"Okay, let's buy two, one for each of them, so we can both taste what they taste like." Mingdong took out the Mao and grain coupons from his pocket and handed them over: "Comrade, I want two stove grates." The person at the window took the money and grain coupons, and after a while handed over two paper bags: "Comrade, please take them, 'Serve the People'."
Mingdong took the grate and was looking around to find a place to shelter from the wind. The staff of the grain store greeted him hurriedly: "If you want to eat it while it's hot, go to the empty room next door. We are not selling grain today, so there's nothing in it." Mingdong thanked them quickly and took his wife and children to the empty room next door.
The grate was just fried and still a little hot in the hand. Mingdong handed one to Guihua. Guihua held it to the mouth of the meat bun. After the meat bun took a bite, she passed it to the mouth of the bean bun. Mingdong looked at his wife and son with tenderness in his eyes. He pulled the paper on the grate in his hand down and handed it to Guihua. Guihua took a bite and looked at Mingdong with a smile in her eyes: "It smells so good."
Doubao looked at Mingdong and Guihua and suddenly laughed: "Mom feeds me and my brother, and Dad feeds Mom. It's so fun."
Guihua put the oil cake to Roubao's mouth and couldn't help but laugh and scold: "Eat your grate, stop talking too much."
*****
Old Mrs. Li calculated that Mingdong and Guihua would be back soon, so she lit the kang and stove in the back room two days in advance. She figured that Mingdong and his family would not carry bedding back with the child, so she took out the cleaned bedding from the house and put it on the kang in advance. The stove was warm within two days.
Mingdong and Guihua got off the train with their children and their bags. They had just walked towards home for less than ten minutes when a large truck came by. Mingdong heard the sound of horse hooves and looked back. It was his neighbor, Old Chen, and he called out quickly, "Uncle Chen, where are you going?"
Old Chen turned around and saw Mingdong, and quickly grabbed the reins: "Mingdong, are you on vacation? Hurry up and take your wife and children to the car, I will take you back."
Mingdong agreed and quickly helped Guihua onto the carriage, then carried his two sons up. He took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket and handed the first two to Lao Chen.
Uncle Chen immediately took them happily, put one on his ear and put the other in his mouth. Mingdong took out a box of matches and helped Uncle Chen light the cigarette, then got on the carriage.
Old Chen's family lived not far from Old Li's family, and they were both governed by the same neighborhood. While driving the carriage, he talked to Mingdong about his family's affairs: "Did your family write to you to tell you that Mingnan is going to get married? I heard that the girl he met is from the hydrolysis factory, and she looks very energetic."
Mingdong nodded with a smile: "Mingnan wrote to say that the house has been built, and they will have the wedding when it gets warmer next year after the furniture is finished. Uncle Chen can bring my brothers to our house for the wedding banquet then."
"Of course!" Uncle Chen said with a smile, "All of your children grew up under my watch. They are almost like my own children. All of us in the family will go."
Mingdong smiled and asked about the children of Old Chen's family: "I heard that your second son graduated last year. Where is he working now?"
"They haven't been hired since graduation. Last month, the street office arranged for the eldest brother to work in the business office, and the other guys have all gone to the youth center." Uncle Chen said, "It's not far, it's in the production team over at Liuying, and they can come back once a month." Uncle Chen took two puffs of his cigarette, blew a smoke ring, and turned back to look at Mingdong: "Your Mingbei has also gone to the countryside to work, but he didn't go to the youth center at the grain depot. He went with the hydrolysis plant to carry wood and plant trees." Mingdong didn't know this yet, so he asked a few more questions.
Mingdong chatted all the way, and when he got home, he knew almost everything about the family. Uncle Chen drove the carriage to the gate of Lao Li's house. Mingdong helped his children and wife down, and handed Uncle Chen a cigarette: "Well, Uncle Chen, thank you very much. Come to my house for a drink when you are free."
"Okay." Uncle Chen agreed readily, watched Mingdong and others enter the house, and then drove the cart home.
"Grandma, grandma, aunt, we're back." As soon as Guihua opened the door, Roubao and Doubao rushed in. They ran towards the kitchen and gave Wang Sufen a tight hug.
Wang Sufen looked at the two chubby grandchildren lying in her arms, her mouth wide open with joy: "Oh, grandma's baby is back." She hugged one with each hand, and looked at Mingdong and Guihua who came in from behind, her face full of joy: "Why didn't you tell us in advance so that your father could borrow a big car to take you."
Mingdong called "Mom" with a smile, and then said, "I ran into my uncle Chen as soon as I came out. He was not tired." Old Mrs. Li and Zhenzhen also came out of the house after hearing the noise. The two little kids let go of Wang Sufen as soon as they saw Zhenzhen, and rushed to Zhenzhen: "Aunt, Aunt, I missed you so much."
Although they were called aunt and niece, they were actually no more than two years apart in age. After they greeted Old Lady Li, Zhen Zhen led them to take off their clothes and wash their hands, and then took out a pack of biscuits from her room. These were bought from a mall in the capital, with milk powder and sugar added to them, and they were fragrant and crispy when you took a bite.
The two little guys had their mouths full of food. Roubao didn't forget to stuff biscuits into the hands of everyone on the kang while eating. Old Mrs. Li couldn't help but smile and pinched Roubao's chubby little face: "You really know how to use your aunt's things to be a good person."
The son and grandson are back, so they have to prepare a good dinner. Wang Sufen went to the yard and brought back a piece of pork belly and a piece of venison. When she entered the house, she asked Zhenzhen, "How are we going to eat this meat tonight?"
Zhenzhen has a lot of ideas about eating meat, and the key is that every time she comes up with something, it tastes pretty good. If she follows her idea, it would be the most fragrant if it is sliced and roasted, but roasted meat is easy to hurt the two little ones, so Zhenzhen said, "Why don't we just braise it at home, put some potatoes, carrots, etc. in it, and it will be fragrant and delicious with rice."
After hearing this, Guihua quickly got off the kang and said, "I'll go cook."
Wang Sufen glanced at her in a reproachful manner: "You are not in harmony with your mother, are you? You should take a good rest after sitting on the train for such a long time. Cooking a meal won't tire me out. You should listen to your mother and sit on the kang to chat with your grandma. Talk about Anbei's affairs. She likes to hear that."
Guihua smiled and said, "Mom, if you are too busy, you have to call me."
"Okay, I know, don't worry." Wang Sufen responded and went out carrying two large pieces of meat.
With the return of four people, the house immediately became lively. With a smile on her face, Old Mrs. Li spread the melon seeds, oranges and candies in the box on the kang. If the two little kids hadn't been thinking about the two pieces of meat in Wang Sufen's hand, they would have eaten so much that their bellies were full.
In the evening, when Mingnan came home from get off work, he was very happy to see Mingdong's family. The two brothers put two kang tables together and helped Wang Sufen bring the prepared dishes to the table.
As soon as the dinner was ready, the area around the kang table was instantly filled with people. Old Lady Li, Li Muwu, Wang Sufen, Mingdong, and Mingnan all placed wine cups in front of them and poured two taels of wine for each of them.
The Li family didn't have any particular way of eating. Guihua and the children all had white rice first. Mingdong smelled the fragrance of the rice and asked curiously, "Mom, why does our rice taste so good and have a high yield? Can you bring me some seeds when I leave? I'll try planting some in the school's experimental field next year to see what the yield is like on the plain over there?"
Wang Sufen glanced at Zhenzhen subconsciously, and Zhenzhen immediately smiled and said, "What's there to discuss about this matter? This year, mother specially saved some extra seeds to prepare for another piece of wasteland next year. I said it was too tiring, so it's just right that big brother took the extra seeds away to save us from the wasteland."
"Yes!" Wang Sufen also reacted: "Then you can take it, but I can't guarantee whether it can be grown or not."
The land at home was planted by Zhenzhen using her supernatural power. Wang Sufen was a little worried that the seeds would not grow well in ordinary land. In fact, this worry was unnecessary. After several years of supernatural power planting and seed preservation, the rice seeds had already evolved under the influence of supernatural power. Although the yield might not be much higher if planted on flat land, the taste would definitely be the best. After all, Zhenzhen's taste for food has become more and more picky.
Mingdong smiled and said, "It's okay. That's why we need to plant test fields and study how to increase production."
Old Lady Li nodded and said, "Study it carefully. If it can really increase production, it will be a great thing. I will give you credit for it."
"It doesn't matter whether I get rewarded or not. This is just my job." Mingdong smiled and started talking about how to grow the crops at home so that they can grow better.
After returning to Beicha from Anbei, not only Mingdong and Guihua felt relaxed, but also the two children had a great time. When in Anbei, Mingdong and Guihua had to work during the day, and the two children, one in the Yuhong class and the other in the kindergarten, could not go out to play. This time, they finally got to go out and play. The two children dragged Zhenzhen to the river early in the morning to play, build snowmen, have snowball fights, and play sledding. The three of them seemed to be growing on the ice, and they were away from home all day long.
Zhenzhen has been traveling around the country for the past two years. In addition to buying a lot of things, she also brought back a lot of ancient books, calligraphy and paintings from various purchasing stations. When she has time, she squats in the space and puts them in different categories. Several foreign-style buildings are full. Busy with these things all day long, Zhenzhen's mind is always on how to save more antiques, more calligraphy and ancient books. Sometimes at night, when her body is asleep, her consciousness is also checking everywhere. Her nerves are always tense. Now she is relaxing and playing on the ice with her two little nephews. Zhenzhen suddenly feels a sense of relief.
Seeing her two nephews running away, Zhenzhen lay down on the thick ice alone, resting her head on her hands, squinting her eyes at the blue sky, exhaled heavily, and felt extremely comfortable all over.
Roubao slipped over from a distance, threw a snowball at Zhenzhen's face and turned around and ran away. Zhenzhen laughed and wiped the snow off her face, climbed up from the ice, made a snowball and threw it at Roubao, hitting him right on the back of the head. She laughed triumphantly.
After having enough fun during the day, the two boys didn't want to sleep in the back room at night. One of them hugged Old Lady Li and the other hugged Wang Sufen and insisted on sleeping in the front room with them.
Mingdong wanted to relax for a few days, so that the two brats wouldn't knock on his door before he woke up in the morning. Wang Sufen was also an experienced person, and she was speechless when she saw the secret joy on her son's face. She could only give him a way out: "You who work outside all day can only have a good rest for this month. You don't have to worry about the children sleeping in the front room. Sleep in more in the morning and relax."
"Okay, OK." Mingdong's mouth was almost grinning to the back of his ears, and he grabbed his wife and walked out. Wang Sufen looked at the backs of the young couple and suddenly remembered something important: "Oh, I forgot to put toilet paper in the back room, Mingdong, come and get a roll."
Guihua staggered and almost fell, and Old Mrs. Li burst into laughter.
The author has something to say: Kaka's aunt, who has been out of order for half a month, has finally come to visit. I'm going to take a rest. I still have to take my child to learn English in the evening, so I can't guarantee whether there will be a second update~~ If there is an update, it will still be in the middle of the night~~ Please don't wait too late, muah!
Let me tell you a story about my mother's childhood: When she was a child, my mother had a particular resentment towards sesame cakes, and she still talks about it now. My grandfather was an eighth-level worker in the hydrolysis plant. He should have been a very powerful person. His salary was about a hundred yuan. Every time when the salary was paid, my grandmother would send twenty yuan back home, and the rest of the money was used for the family's expenses. My uncle was very greedy and he was the youngest son, so he was especially spoiled by the family. He refused to eat big pancakes and cried and made a fuss every day for sesame cakes. Because my aunt cooked, the task of running errands to buy pancakes fell on my mother. My mother was very hungry when she came home from school every day, and she had to queue up at the grain store to buy sesame cakes for my uncle. When they got home, my mother was so angry that she had to beat my uncle twice before giving him sesame cakes. So my uncle got beaten every day for the sesame cakes and continued to ask for them every day, 23333~~~~