Mingbei walked in with a petite girl. The girl's face was full of happiness and a little shy. After greeting Zhenzhen, she entered the house and said, "Grandma, I'm pregnant."
"Really? That's great. Your mother would be so happy if she knew." Old Mrs. Li was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling. She extended her hand to Wang Xinwen and said, "Wenwen, sit on the kang and have a rest."
Mingbei hurried over to help Wang Xinwen sit on the kang and helped her take off her shoes. Wang Xinwen's face was full of happiness. She took Mingbei's hand and pulled her up: "You come up and sit too." Mingbei responded and sat behind Wang Xinwen, carefully supporting her waist, fearing that she would get tired.
Wang Xinwen is two grades younger than Mingbei. He was an educated youth who was later assigned to the 12th Youth Center and is also the child of a worker in the hydrolysis plant.
At that time, Mingbei had been in the youth center for three years, and his annual work points ranked first among the twelve youth centers. Some practical tools and methods he developed himself also helped the educated youth save a lot of effort in their work. Therefore, when the hydrolysis plant sent another group of educated youth to the youth center, the factory let Mingbei be the team leader and lead this group of new educated youth to work.
Wang Xinwen's ancestral home is Suzhou. When the hydrolysis plant was built, her father was recruited to work there. He brought his family from the south of the Yangtze River to this bitter cold place. Wang Xinwen has a typical south-eastern appearance, with picturesque eyebrows and eyes, and speaks softly, which makes people want to protect her as soon as they see her.
When Mingbei first met Wang Xinwen, his first impression was that this girl couldn't do heavy work, so he directly assigned her to cook in the kitchen. Although this girl looked like delicate porcelain, she had a spirit of not admitting defeat in her bones. She found Mingbei and looked up at him, with a look of dissatisfaction on her delicate face: "Why did you assign me to cook in the kitchen? Do you think I can't do the work?"
Hearing the soft and sticky voice, Li Mingbei was suddenly overwhelmed: "Comrade Wang Xinwen, planting trees and reclaiming land in the mountains is really hard. Some grown men can't stand it, let alone you..." Mingbei thought about the words for a long time, and finally shoved out a sentence: "... let alone a little girl like you."
Wang Xinwen's face turned red with anger. In the eyes of northerners, her height and figure were indeed a little petite. From childhood to adulthood, her classmates and teachers always liked to say that she was small. She was particularly unconvinced because of this. What's wrong with being short? A short person can still study well and can still work. She had to do everything the best and not let others look down on her.
Wang Xinwen turned around, took four bricks and stacked them together, stepped on them, looked straight at Li Mingbei and said word by word: "You are discriminating against sex. I want to work with other comrades."
Mingbei saw that the bricks she was standing on were wobbling, and fearing that she would fall, he nodded quickly and said, "Okay, okay, you come up the mountain with me right now, and come down quickly. If you sprain your ankle, it will be no joke."
Wang Xinwen jumped down from the brick lightly and smiled triumphantly at Mingbei. Mingbei breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had only one thought in his mind: This little girl is too difficult to serve.
From then on, Wang Xinwen, like everyone else, carried red pine seedlings to the mountains to plant trees in the spring and worked together to reclaim land and cultivate the land. Because Mingbei was really worried that she could not do such work, he paid special attention to her, fearing that she would get injured and it would be difficult to explain.
Fortunately, Wang Xinwen was not a brainless and arrogant person. Others carried four or five saplings, she carried one; others dug three acres of land, she dug one acre. Although she did less work, she was extra serious. The soil she dug was always the finest. Mingbei was the team leader. Sometimes after finishing his own work, he would help her. After a few times, the two of them had more contact, and Wang Xinwen fell in love with Li Mingbei.
Unlike Mingbei's previous long-term crush, this gentle-looking southern girl had a more straightforward personality than northern girls. She went straight to Mingbei, grabbed his collar and pulled him down: "Li Mingbei, I like you, I want to date you." Mingbei swore that if he had drunk water at that time, he would have sprayed it in the girl's face.
Wang Xinwen looked at Mingbei's shocked expression and smiled sweetly: "If you agree, we can get along with each other. If you don't agree, I will pursue you until you agree."
Mingbei looked at the girl who was only as tall as his shoulders, feeling somewhat at a loss. He had not thought of the word "like" for a long time since he married Yu Wanqiu. Do you like her? He looked down at the girl in front of him. He seemed to always pay attention to her unconsciously. He was always the last one to go down the mountain every day, just because he was afraid that this silly girl would not finish her work and fall down the mountain. At night, Mingbei could not help but think of the little things he had done with her during the day, and then laughed out loud.
Scratching his head, Mingbei looked at Wang Xinwen at a loss: "I'm a little stupid, a little clumsy, and not likable..."
"Who said that?" Wang Xinwen puffed up her cheeks and looked at Mingbei with a focused and serious look: "I think you are very good. I like the way you treat people sincerely. You are also very honest."
Mingbei giggled a few times, looking at Wang Xinwen, not knowing what to say. Wang Xinwen smiled so hard that her eyes curved, and her face, which never got tanned, turned a little red: "So you're my partner from now on?"
Mingbei felt numb inside when he heard this. With a silly smile on his face, he nodded vigorously at Wang Xinwen: "Okay, I'll be your partner from now on."
Originally, according to the factory's arrangement, Mingbei could return to the factory after one year of training new educated youth, but in order to accompany Wang Xinwen, he served as the team leader at the youth center for another three years, and the two returned to the factory to work together. At that time, Mingbei was already 24 years old, which was considered an older youth, but Mingbei had already brought Wang Xinwen home to see her. Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen liked such pretty girls, and they were very satisfied when they saw that Wang Xinwen only talked about Mingbei.
After both of them had settled down in work, the two families sat down to discuss marriage seriously. Mingbei's house had been built long ago, right next to Mingnan's house, and it was also a three-room brick house with a large front and back yard, so it was no problem to grow corn and cabbage. Because their home was far from the hydrolysis plant, the 28-bar bicycle in the family was given to Mingnan and his wife to ride to and from get off work, and Mrs. Li decided to buy one for Mingbei as well. It was impossible to favor one over the other.
Mingbei got married late, and Mingnan had sons all over the place when he was his age. Therefore, Wang Sufen was extremely anxious and wished that she could get pregnant in the second month after their marriage. But it was Old Lady Li who suppressed her: "It's only been two or three months since we got married, and it's the time when passion is high. It's not good to get pregnant too early. Let nature take its course, let nature take its course."
Wang Sufen always listened to Old Lady Li, so she could only pretend that nothing had happened and didn't even mention it. It wasn't until last month that Wang Xinwen yawned all day and was so sleepy that she was crying. Wang Sufen thought that her daughter-in-law was probably pregnant. In order not to be happy in vain, Wang Sufen waited patiently for a month. Seeing that Wang Xinwen's reaction was more and more like pregnancy, she finally couldn't help reminding her to go to the hospital for a check-up. Wang Xinwen then realized that her period was more than a month late.
The three people were talking on the kang when Wang Sufen came in from outside. When she heard Wang Xinwen's voice, she quickly leaned over and asked, "How's the investigation going?"
"The doctor said I'm pregnant." Wang Xinwen covered her belly which had not yet bulged, unable to hide the joy on her face.
"This is a great event." Wang Sufen laughed and said, "What do you want to eat? Mom will make it for you. Can you eat fish? Will it make you sick?"
Wang Xinwen shook her head: "I don't feel sick, I just want to eat everything."
"You want to eat everything well. Don't cook for yourselves for a while. Come back to eat in the evening. Wenwen, don't hesitate to tell me what you want to eat. I'll make it for you. You're pregnant, don't let me feel wronged." Wang Sufen rolled up her sleeves and glanced at Mingbei: "You just sit there stupidly. Hurry up and pour your wife a glass of water."
Mingbei quickly got off the kang to pour water. Old Lady Li called Wang Sufen, "Go and see if Zhenzhen has gone to that room to do homework again? This child never gets enough of reading."
Mingbei handed the water jar to Wang Xinwen and looked at Zhenzhen who was carried over by Wang Sufen and laughed: "It's not the college entrance examination now, why are you always doing homework? It would be better to go out and play with that time."
Zhenzhen sat on the kang and asked Mingbei and Wang Xinwen: "Fourth brother, fourth sister-in-law, do you two want to go to college?"
Wang Xinwen held the jar and thought for a while: "Actually, I still want to go to college. I feel like if I continue like this, my life will be over and I won't have any passion at all."
Mingbei leaned against the cabinet and smiled: "There's nothing much I want to think about. I can't go to college anyway."
"What if I can take the exam?" Zhenzhen stared at his expression closely.
"If I can get into college..." Mingbei thought for a moment, his eyes fell on Wang Xinwen, his face full of a warm smile: "That depends on your sister-in-law. Anyway, wherever she goes, I go there."
After hearing this, Zhenzhen turned around and went back to her room. After a while, she brought back a few books and said, "Then you can read more books while you have nothing to do. Who knows when the college entrance examination will be resumed."
"That can't be possible." Mingbei scratched his head: "It's been ten years since I took the college entrance examination."
"You know what happened in the past ten years. The country is in need of talents right now. Maybe we can catch up with this good time." Zhenzhen looked at Mingbei very seriously: "Opportunities always come to those who are prepared. Let's review in advance. If we can take the exam, we will catch this wave of opportunities."
"What if we don't take the exam?" Mingbei asked subconsciously.
"If you don't take the test, then you've just reviewed for nothing." Zhen Zhen glanced at him and said, "It won't hurt to read more books. Maybe you'll become smarter."
Everyone in the room laughed. Mingbei pulled Zhenzhen's pigtail and said, "Little girl, you feel uncomfortable if you don't say something to your brother, right?"
Zhenzhen smiled and snatched her braid away, then turned to look at him: "Do you want to learn it?"
Mingbei pushed Zhenzhen aside and moved closer to Wang Xinwen: "Wife, do you think we should learn it?"
"Learn, why not?" Wang Xinwen nodded decisively: "Just like what my sister said, what if we catch up with the good time."
"Then what about our child?" Mingbei touched Wang Xinwen's belly which was not yet visible and felt a little worried. She looked as if she could give birth today and go to college tomorrow.
"What's there to be afraid of? If I really pass the exam, we can take my child to college. Then my child will be a college student since he was young. I don't want to stay in this mountain and have no experience for the rest of my life. I must pass the exam." Wang Xinwen said happily, and casually took the exercise book given by Zhenzhen and opened it one by one: "Zhenzhen, are these the questions you copied by hand? You really put in a lot of effort."
Zhen Zhen smiled and said, "I also copied a set for Third Brother and the others. I wonder if they have the same idea?"
Mingnan and Meng Xiaoxi now have two sons. The eldest son Shaobing goes out with his parents every day to go to kindergarten at the hydrolysis plant. The younger son Jiaozi is left at home, and Wang Sufen helps take care of him.
As they were talking, Mingnan came over to take Jiaozi home. Zhenzhen handed him the set of books and repeated what she had said to Mingbei.
Mingnan pondered for a moment, then shook his head with a little regret: "I'm almost 30 now, I have children and a wife at home, who will take care of them if I go out to school." He moved his eyes away from the exercise book, and there was no expression on his face: "We are fine now, mom and grandma need someone to take care of them, so we will serve them at home. If there is really a day when you can take the college entrance examination, as long as we are at home, you will have no worries even if you pass the exam."
Watching Mingnan's back as he hurriedly left with his son, Zhenzhen's eyelids felt a little sore, but fortunately, there is more than one way to success except the college entrance examination. In the future, with the support of each other, the brothers and sisters will surely have a good life.
In the blink of an eye, it was the twelfth lunar month. Li Mingdong and Guihua came back from Anbei with meat buns, bean buns, and sugar buns. Old Mrs. Li was holding her little great-granddaughter, Sugar Bun, and she couldn't get enough of it. Li Muwen's family, Li Mulin's family, Mingxi, and Xie Yanan also came home. This was the first time that the whole Li family had gathered together in all these years. Old Mrs. Li was happy every morning before going to bed.
Li Muwen's family has been transferred to the imperial capital. Li Muwen serves as the chief of staff of the imperial capital military region. He lives in a separate two-story building in the military region compound. Li Muwen's two sons and their wives are also in the army.
Among the children of his three younger brothers, Li Muwen's favorite is Zhenzhen. One reason is that she is the only girl of this generation and Grandma Li dotes on her the most. Another reason is that Zhenzhen is the smartest child he has met in these years.
Li Muwen's wife Xue Wenhua has often heard Li Muwen mention this niece over the years, saying that she is smart and cute. Xue Wenhua looked at Zhenzhen carefully. You can only know whether she is smart or not by getting to know her. She looks like a very smart girl.
Xue Wenhua took out a light blue wool coat from the suitcase and handed it to Zhenzhen: "I went to the Wenhua Road Mall in the capital a while ago and fell in love with this wool coat at first sight. I bought it for you because you are the only girl in your family."
Zhenzhen smiled and said, "Thank you, Auntie. This dress is so beautiful!"
Xue Wenhua stood up and helped Zhenzhen put it on: "I don't know how fat or thin you are, or whether it's suitable for you."
Zhenzhen is tall, fair-skinned and pretty. She looks like a clothes rack when she stands there. She looks good even in her homemade cotton jacket with large flowers, not to mention this stylish wool coat. Zhenzhen buttoned up her clothes and turned around in front of the family. Mrs. Li immediately praised her, "Our Zhenzhen is so pretty. She looks so stylish in this dress."
Zhenzhen smiled and held the braid behind her back: "Auntie has good taste and picked beautiful clothes. I just took advantage of the clothes."
Xue Wenhua looked at Zhenzhen with a smile, and said with some fondness on his face: "As long as you like it, when we have time to visit the capital, I will take you to buy some more clothes."
Speaking of the capital, Mrs. Li thought of what Zhenzhen said about the college entrance examination. She quickly took something out of the box and hid it in her arms. Then she found an excuse to drag her eldest son to the yard and quietly asked him about it: "Is it true that the college entrance examination will be resumed? Zhenzhen said that we should prepare early and let Mingbei and his wife review with us. You have contact with many people in the capital. Do you think this is true? If it's not true, I won't let her go through that. Zhenzhen has such beautiful eyes. If she reads books every day and wears glasses like Mingdong, her big eyes will be wasted."
Li Muwen pondered for a moment before saying, "Someone has mentioned this before, but it's still under debate and the outcome is hard to predict. Zhenzhen is very sensitive and very willing, so just let her study. Even if there's no news this year, it will be on the agenda next year. Recommending her to go to college is not a long-term solution and will be abolished sooner or later."
When Mrs. Li heard what Li Muwen said, she immediately had an idea. She looked around and secretly took out a large yellow croaker from her bosom and handed it to Li Muwen: "Zhenzhen said she wanted to buy a courtyard house in the imperial capital. See if you can help."
Li Muwen's eyelids jumped when he saw the yellow croaker that Old Lady Li took out: "Mom, how many yellow croakers do you have?"
"One isn't enough?" Mrs. Li put her hands back into her sleeves and took out another one: "Are two enough?"
"That's enough." Li Muwen quickly stuffed one back into her pocket, looked around cautiously, and took Mrs. Li a few steps toward the wall. "It's not as tight as before, but it's still eye-catching when you take out the yellow croaker." Li Muwen stuffed the yellow croaker into his clothes to make sure it wouldn't fall out, then whispered, "If you need money, tell me. Don't go and exchange the yellow croaker privately again. It's not good if someone catches you."
"I know. I'm counting on you. I know you're the most capable person in our family. If you can't do something, just give up the idea." Old Lady Li stuffed the gold bricks back to Li Muwen and said, "Muwen, if you have a way, help me exchange this yellow croaker. If there are any dangers or difficulties, just tell me directly. Don't make it difficult for me."
Li Muwen smiled slightly and said, "Mom, if your son can't even do this, then he doesn't need to live in the two-story building in the Imperial Capital Military District. He can just build a house next to our house."
Mrs. Li heaved a sigh of relief: "That's good. Then I'll tell you straight. This yellow croaker was dug from the mountain by Zhenzhen. After you exchange the money, do as she said and buy a better courtyard house. Zhenzhen said not to be stingy with the money and buy a good one. I guess you won't be able to buy it in the future even if you want to."
Li Muwen looked at Old Lady Li in surprise: "Zhenzhen is so lucky. Our Red Pine Mountain is quite large. How did she find the gold?"
Old Lady Li thought for a moment and said, "You said it was dug for ginseng. Even though you guys have been going up the mountain since you were young, none of you know Hongsong Mountain as well as Zhenzhen. The ginseng and ganoderma I sent to you over the years were all dug by Zhenzhen. Don't eat other people's food for free. If you have any problems in the future, you must help our Zhenzhen sincerely."
"I know." Li Muwen said, "Even if there is no ginseng and Ganoderma lucidum, will I not take care of her? There are four of us brothers, and she is the only girl. Everyone should treat her as a treasure."
Old Lady Li loved hearing this, and nodded quickly: "It's best if you think so. Just be kind to Zhenzhen. This child is not the kind of ungrateful person."
"That's right. We don't have anyone like that in our family." Li Muwen thought of what Zhenzhen said about the resumption of the college entrance examination, and couldn't help but praise Zhenzhen to Old Lady Li: "Although my eldest niece was born in our small place, she is smart enough. I think she is not much worse than the children in the Imperial Capital Military District."
"That's not great." Old Lady Li nodded vigorously. "I'm not bragging to you, there are really not many people who can compare to our Zhenzhen. Mingxi once took a hunting rifle to the mountains to hunt, and Zhenzhen defeated him with a slingshot. How dare she brag about being a sharpshooter." Old Lady Li couldn't help laughing when she thought of this. "Now that our hunting rifle has been handed in, Mingxi doesn't even dare to mention the competition."
Li Muwen rubbed his hands and pushed Old Lady Li into the house: "If the college entrance examination can really be restored, you can let Zhenzhen go to the capital to take the exam. Mingxi and I will be there and can take care of her."
"I guess she thinks so too, otherwise she wouldn't be able to buy a house in the capital." As Mrs. Li saw the door, she added in a low voice: "If there is any money left after buying the house, don't send it back. Just give it to Zhenzhen when she gets there."
Li Muwen was very concerned about what Old Lady Li had told him. After returning to the imperial capital, he handed the matter over to his trusted confidant. Only half a month later, the trusted confidant came back and said, "Chief of Staff, the money has been exchanged, and we have also looked at several courtyard houses. There are several near the Lama Temple, but they were converted into large courtyards in the past. Although they have been taken back now, they are somewhat damaged and need to be renovated before they can be lived in.
Li Muwen frowned slightly. He felt that his niece was such a smart person and wanted to buy a courtyard house not just for living in. Old Mrs. Li had emphasized at the beginning that they had to choose a good one.
"What about other places?" Li Muwen asked.
"There are many well-preserved courtyard houses behind Houyang. Several of the right size and price have been bought by Commander Li, Major General Zhang, and General Li. There are seven or eight smaller ones. If we talk about the best ones, there is a mansion with four entrances and four exits, which is the most exquisite, but it costs a lot of money, so it is still there and no one is interested in it.
Li Muwen's eyes fell on the suitcase full of money brought by his confidant: "Is this money enough?"
The confidant immediately replied: "It's enough, but Chief of Staff, please think carefully, this is too expensive."
Li Muwen took a deep breath and stood up from his chair: "Let me go and see what this yard is like first."
The confidant immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He really didn't dare to take this responsibility. After all, the money exchanged for thirty-two taels of gold was not a small amount. The chief of staff didn't even take a look at it. He really had no idea.
The two of them took a car to Houyang and stopped at the gate of a courtyard house. This was once the residence of a prince in the Qing Dynasty. It had a total of four courtyards. The doorpost at the entrance was still well preserved and had not been damaged.
Two guards went up and pushed open the gate. Then they walked around the screen wall and passed through the hanging flower gate. Li Muwen entered the second courtyard. This was the main house of the Prince's Mansion. Pushing open the faded door, Li Muwen went in and took a look around. The antique display cabinet and the large carved bed were still there, but they were covered with thick dust. It had been unknown how long no one had lived there.
After a quick tour of the house, I found that except for the carved beams and painted buildings which had lost their original color after years of wear and tear, the overall structure of the house was well preserved.
Li Muwen thought, if this one doesn't suit him, then he really can't find a better courtyard house than this one. He blew the dust off his gloves and took out a piece of paper from his pocket: "You go and handle the formalities. The owner of the house writes this name."
The confidant took the paper and looked at the three large characters written in a flamboyant style at the top and couldn't help but read them out: "Li Mingzhen!"
The author has something to say: Good night, dear ones