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Chapter 14: Shanhai Town

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Mi Yang was quite happy during the few days he stayed in Shanhai Town.

His second aunt Cheng Chun was engaged, and the house was bustling with people coming and going. The future second uncle-in-law came to visit him attentively every day, either bringing gift boxes or fruits or something, and he couldn't wait to ride his bike to report to the Cheng family as soon as he got off work.

Cheng Ru, the third daughter of the Cheng family, was the most aggressive. She often joked at the door, "Hey, we just delivered crucian carp at noon, why is the engineer here again in the evening?"

My newly engaged future second brother-in-law is an engineer who just graduated from college and was assigned to work at Oil Construction. At this moment, his face was flushed and he was standing at the door adjusting his glasses on his nose. He didn't know whether to stay or leave.

Mi Yang was carried over by Cheng Chun, who stuffed him into Cheng Ru's arms while poking the nose of the third child and said, "You are the worst in the family. Go quickly. The figs in the backyard are ripe. Mom asked you to take Yang Yang over to pick some to eat."

As soon as she opened her mouth, she reminded the young man at the door, and quickly handed over the bag of snacks in her hand, saying, "I heard from Cheng Chun that the eldest sister is back, so I bought some calcium milk biscuits for the children."

This flattery was well-placed, Cheng Ru accepted it with a smile and stopped embarrassing him: "Thank you, brother-in-law!"

Hearing that the address had changed, the man at the door also grinned.

Mi Yang leaned on his third aunt's shoulder and looked back. There was a young man and woman standing at the door, one inside and one outside. They were both blushing and their eyes were bright. They were shy but wanted to see each other. Mi Yang remembered that his second uncle's family helped Cheng Chun find a job. After his uncle was promoted to chief engineer, he was given two large houses. After retirement, the old couple took photos every day, taking pictures of flowers and birds, and their life was pretty good.

Cheng Ru carried him to pick figs, washed them, put them on a plate and fed him, and then opened a bag of biscuits for him.

Mi Yang took a look at the packaging. It was Qingyuan Calcium Milk Biscuits. This brand was very familiar. When he was a child, he was often sick and his grandmother couldn't find anything good to give him to eat, so she always bought some of these biscuits and soaked them in milk powder to coax him to eat more.

Mi Yang took a small piece and nibbled it, squinting his eyes to savor the taste from more than 20 years ago, as if it had never changed in his memory.

Seeing that he loved to eat, Cheng Ru happily packed all the snacks in a small cloth bag and gave it to him. When she sent Mi Yang back, the small cloth bag was already filled with a lot of snacks, including hawthorn fruit bark, figs, almond candy and calcium milk biscuits.

Mi Yang lives with his grandmother here. The old house in their town is a bit like a courtyard house, with a patio in the middle and side rooms built around it. The middle one is where the elderly live, and it is also the most spacious and bright room. When Mi Yang went back, his mother was talking to the elderly. When she saw him come in, the old lady immediately waved and smiled, "Our Yangyang is here, come quickly, let grandma see him!"

Mi Yang took off his shoes, ran over in his socks and hugged the old lady. He rubbed his little face against her and shouted, "Grandma!"

Old Mrs. Cheng liked him very much. She loved him from the beginning. Mi Yang's little mouth was sweet and lovable. He became the happy pill of the whole family in just two days. The old lady wanted to give him all the good things. Seeing the small snack bag he was carrying, Old Mrs. Cheng generously stuffed a handful of dried red dates and lotus seeds into it, and said with a smile: "It just so happened that I went out to a wedding banquet a few days ago, and they gave me some dried fruits. Yangyang took them to eat."

Cheng Qing said hurriedly: "Mom, he can't bite these."

Old Madam Cheng said, "Then let him play with it."

Mi Yang hugged the bag immediately like a money-grubber, squinting his eyes and smiling: "Thank you, grandma!"

Old Mrs. Cheng liked his naughty and cute look. She touched his little face and was very happy.

Lotus seed rice is mainly for good luck, as it is hard to chew if it is not cooked. So Mi Yang took out a few and played the lotus seed throwing game with the old lady for a while.

Mrs. Cheng suddenly said, "Oh, look at my memory, I almost forgot." She turned over and took out a red envelope from the drawer of the bedside cabinet next to her, muttering, "This is for our Yangyang. I was so happy to see you guys back yesterday that I forgot about it."

Cheng Qing hurriedly stopped him and said, "Mom, don't, it's not a festival, why give him money?"

Old Mrs. Cheng said, "Oh, this is for our Yangyang. He didn't come home last year, so grandma gave it to him. I guess you guys are busy with work this year, and it's cold in winter, so you can't come home. I gave it to you in advance so you don't have to worry about it all the time, haha!"

Cheng Qing couldn't stop her and could only accept it. Cheng Ru, who was standing next to her, saw this and took out a stack of red envelopes. They were much thinner than the old lady's, but better in quantity. She stuffed them all into her eldest sister's arms and said with a smile, "Sister, you take ours, but you can't push ours away! This is a gift from me, my second sister and my youngest sister. It's not much. We're giving it to Yangyang as a New Year's gift!"

Cheng Qing couldn't refuse and had to accept it. Mi Yang held the eight big red envelopes and tilted his little head and said, "Thank you grandma, thank you second aunt, third aunt, and little aunt!" His little voice was crisp and the adults who heard it all laughed.

When it was time to go to bed at night, Cheng Qing took away all the red envelopes from Mi Yang, and the reason he gave was the same as it had been for ten thousand years.

Cheng Qing: "Yangyang, you are still young, your mother will save your New Year's money for you and help you find a wife in the future."

Mi Yang: “…”

The warm red envelope was taken away, and in return he got a small ball. Mi Yang thought it was okay, at least he still had a toy as a consolation prize.

When he was getting ready to go to bed, Old Lady Cheng brought him a new quilt in a high-end vacuum bag. As she opened it, she said, "This was sent by one of your father's students a few years ago. They said it was a silk quilt, very thin. I think it's just right for Yangyang to use as a summer quilt, so that he doesn't get a cold stomach when kicking off the quilt at night." The old lady covered Mi Yang with the quilt while muttering. The quilt was not big, but the workmanship was very delicate. She pinched the corner of the quilt for Mi Yang, and then left with peace of mind.

But in the middle of the night, Mi Yang was sent to the hospital.

It was the new quilt that caused the trouble. No one knew what ingredients were in it, but Mi Yang had an allergic reaction and had small red bumps all over his body. The doctor examined him and prescribed some ointment for allergies, and warned him, "Watch it carefully, don't let the child scratch it. The silk quilts on the market now are called silk, but they are mixed with a lot of chemical fiber products, such as acrylic. These are fine for adults, but children's skin is too delicate, so it is easy to cause allergies."

Old Mrs. Cheng asked, "Doctor, is this serious?"

The doctor smiled and said, "It's okay. It will be fine in a few days."

The Cheng family then came back with the child. Old Mrs. Cheng felt even more guilty and stayed with Mi Yang all night without closing her eyes. She fanned him with a palm-leaf fan and wiped him with clean water, for fear that Mi Yang would scratch himself in his sleep and leave a scar.

No matter how Cheng Qing tried to persuade her, it was useless. When he woke up in the middle of the night, he saw the old lady making milk powder.

She went over to ask and found out that it was Mi Yang who said he was hungry. Cheng Qing was angry and anxious: "Mom, you are too pampering him. It's just an allergy. The doctor said it's okay..."

Old Mrs. Cheng didn't listen, waved her hand and told her not to worry about it, and made a bottle of milk powder for her grandson. After watching Mi Yang drink it, she asked again: "Yangyang, are you still feeling uncomfortable?"

Mi Yang opened his eyes wide, as if he felt it, and said, "Grandma, it doesn't itch anymore. It will be fine after drinking it."

He looks like a little fox who eats and drinks for free.

Mi Yang finished drinking, and reached out to pull the old lady: "Grandma, I'm sleepy, I want you to pat me to sleep, you can sleep here too."

Old Mrs. Cheng smiled and said, "Okay, okay, grandma will sleep too."

Cheng Qing tried to persuade the little scoundrel for the whole night, but nothing he said worked and he was left wondering whether to laugh or cry while watching from the side.

Mi Yang was sick and he wasn't taken out to play much these days - his legs had basically become decorations. When he returned to Shanhai Town, several aunts all scrambled to hold him, so he rarely got down to walk on his own.

When Mi Yang was almost recovered, it was time for him to return to the army.

On the last day, when Cheng Qing was packing her luggage, Cheng Chun came over. Mi Yang liked this second aunt with a soft voice very much, so he rushed over and gave her a hug.

Cheng Chun brought a bag and opened it to reveal two new clothes. The cashmere windbreaker on the outside was fashionable and thick, and it was obviously expensive. Cheng Chun pushed the clothes to her elder sister, saying that she would take them to the army. Cheng Qing refused and said, "Nonsense, these are your engagement clothes, they were sent to you, what will it look like if you give them to me..."

The second daughter of the Cheng family was gentle but very persistent. She smiled and said, "Sister, just take them. You are going to work over there. It is useless for me to wear them at home. When you go to work, dress decently and don't let those city people look down on you."

At that time, the gap between agricultural and non-agricultural household registration was quite large. Everyone wanted to escape from the farming life and go out to work. It was a very respectable thing to say. Cheng Chun sincerely wanted her elder sister to have a better life outside. As a sister, she was willing to help and give whatever she could.

Cheng Qing's eyes turned red after hearing this. Before leaving, the two sisters had endless things to say to each other.

Mi Yang was listening on the side, but what he was concerned about was the household registration issue.

At that time, no one wanted an agricultural household registration, partly because they did not want to work in the fields, and partly because of the agricultural tax. Later, the agricultural tax was abolished, and there were no restrictions on household registration. People could find jobs anywhere, and non-agricultural household registration was no longer so rare. Later, with the development of land, rural areas became more popular, especially in places like Shanhai Town, which is close to the old city. After the expansion plan, the land price soared, and the price increased several times in just two or three years.

At that time, it seemed that only my third aunt, who had not left Shanhai Town, had made a comeback and was given two villas.

It's really hard to say about this kind of thing.