As autumn approaches, the flowers become more red.
Tian Mi and a group of military dependents walked out from the crimson mountains, chatting and laughing.
Everyone had a bamboo basket hanging on their arm, and the baskets were packed with things, obviously it was another day of great harvest.
After entering the family quarters, everyone gradually left the main group and returned home.
Tian Mi and Tang Dahai's wife Aihong lived at the very edge of the place, so they were naturally left behind.
Seeing that there were only two people left, Sister Aihong picked out a few bunches of wild fruits from the basket and handed over two small peaches with red tips: "These are for your elder sister-in-law. She is pregnant now, so it's good for her to eat more fruits."
Glancing at the extra wild fruits in the bamboo basket, Tian Mi thought, Zhou Jianshe wants to spoil Sister Nan to the sky. There is nothing missing at home, so how could there be a shortage of fruits that are good for the body
But Sister Aihong also had good intentions, so she did not delay and just smiled and thanked him.
The two chatted and laughed for a while, and soon arrived at the door of Tang's house.
After saying goodbye, Tian Mi was the only one left.
However, the two houses were close, so she only had to walk a few more steps to reach her home.
There was no one at home, so Aunt Gu returned to Beijing when the children were about 6 months old. It has been more than a year since she left.
Tian Mi took out a bunch of keys from her pocket, opened the door, and went to the kitchen carrying the heavy basket.
He poured a glass of water to quench his thirst, then took out the two bunches of fruit that Sister Aihong had given him.
At the same time, he put all the mushrooms and wild fruits he had picked on the table.
At the end of August, the autumn wheat season is once again coming to an end. The wild vegetables on the mountain are becoming less and less, but there are still some mushrooms left.
Tian Mi was lucky. It happened that there was an autumn rain two days ago, so he went up the mountain today and had a good harvest.
She hummed a little tune and slowly divided it into three parts with her hands.
Then he scooped water and put the mushrooms he had kept into a vegetable basin to soak them, then he picked up the rest and strolled out the door.
Tian Mi went directly to her eldest sister's house.
But before I entered the house, I could hear the giggling of children in the distance.
She curled her red lips and quickened her pace. When she entered the house, she asked with a smile before she saw anyone, "What are you so happy about?"
The three little ones who were running and chasing around the square table suddenly turned around, revealing three cute little faces with chubby cheeks.
Then two of the little kids screamed, and then they ran towards the door with their short legs, laughing, and shouted happily, "Mom! Mom!"
Tian Mi put the bamboo basket on the ground, bent down with a smile, and easily picked up the children, one in each hand.
"Mom is not here right now, are you guys making trouble for aunt again?" As she said this, she kissed each of their delicate, white and soft little faces.
Pearl, who just turned two years old, is simply a mini version of Tian Mi.
If Tian Mi gives people the impression of a sweet and soft beauty, then little Pearl, who is only three heads tall, is extremely sweet.
Not only does her family love her so much, but all the men and women in the entire compound, from young to old, love to hold her in their arms.
Even the old lady who favors boys over girls generously gave her a piece of candy when she saw this, which shows how popular little Pearl is.
It’s not that Beibei and Chengcheng don’t look good. In fact, both children have rare good looks. Beibei looks seven or eight times like her husband Huihui, and Chengcheng is also a chubby New Year picture doll. Either of them will attract people's attention wherever they go.
But the little girl is so sweet, especially when she smiles at people with her big black eyes, her smile can melt people's hearts.
There was also an officer who loved to joke, who always ignored Lou Luhui's dark face and shouted that he wanted to snatch the little baby Pearl back home.
At this moment, the little girl, Pearl, hugged her mother's neck with her lotus-like arms, kissed her sweet mother in return, and then said softly, "Be good, Pearl, I won't make a fuss."
My younger brother Beibei also nodded and said in a baby voice: "Be good!"
Tian Mi didn't believe them. She knew her children well. The two kids were very well behaved when they were young, but they have been restless since they could crawl.
The younger brother is better and has a quiet personality, but no matter how quiet he is, he is still a little kid. He is surrounded by older brothers and sisters who are almost the same age, so he still does a lot of naughty things.
Especially the girl Zhenzhu, who not only looks like her, but also has a similar personality. She has the appearance of a soft girl, but the heart of a wild girl, and is quite noisy.
Whenever I'm with Cheng Cheng, who's equally naughty, I can blow the roof off.
Sure enough, Tian Mi guessed correctly.
As soon as the little ones finished speaking, Tian Yu had a headache on his face: "Oh my god, my head is so big, I will throw them all to the nursery next year."
Two years have passed, and Tian Mi hasn't changed much. Of course, she is only 23 years old, so she hasn't changed much and still looks like a little girl.
This is not an exaggeration. In later times, she had just graduated from college and was just a little girl.
But Tian Yu has changed a lot.
Because she suffered a great loss when Cheng Cheng was born, Tian Mi, her third sister Tian Xin, and her eldest brother-in-law have been keeping a close eye on her in the past two years, forcing her to stay with Old Cheng for recuperation.
Traditional Chinese medicine is the best at regulating people, especially a master like Mr. Cheng.
Look, after two years, Tian Mi seemed to have lost a lot of weight, but his complexion was even better than before, his skin was white and rosy, and you could tell at a glance that he was in good health and lived a comfortable life.
Although she was complaining at the moment, her eyes were full of smiles.
"Then we can be liberated." Tian Mi agreed to send the children to the nursery. Children are cute, but it is really tiring to take care of them all the time.
Suddenly, the little guy laughed excitedly like a little duck, and shouted excitedly: "Fei Fei! Fei Fei!"
Tian Yu didn't understand where her sister got so much strength from. Seeing this, she pressed her throbbing forehead, quickly stood up, picked up the bamboo basket she brought, and ran to the kitchen.
Help! It's too noisy!
The quarrel lasted about ten minutes.
After letting the three children fly high in the sky in turn, Tian Mi wiped the sweat from her forehead and went to the kitchen: "No, I'm old, and the three little piglets are getting fatter and fatter. Let Huihui throw them in the future."
Hearing this, Tian Yu, who was picking mushrooms, rolled his eyes at his sister and said, "Come on, forget it. I've heard this so many times. Besides, you're only 23 years old. What do you mean old? What about me when I'm 35? Bury me in the ground?"
Tian Mi chuckled and wisely changed the subject, "Sister, you take care of the little ones first. I have to go to Sister Nan's house again to give her a copy."
Last New Year's Eve, Zhou Jianshe, who had been pursuing Sister Nan for more than a year, finally got her heart after 14 years of unrequited love.
At that time, both of them were already quite old, one was 31 and the other was 33, so they got married not long after confirming their relationship.
"Is Xiaonan taking a rest today?" In the first half of this year, the commander of the Second Regiment was transferred to another unit, and Zhou Jianshe was naturally promoted to a full regiment commander. Now the couple's house is only two doors away from Tian Yu's.
Tian Mi nodded and picked out half of the wild fruits: "Nothing major has happened at the health station recently."
"It wasn't easy for her to be pregnant this time, so it would be best if she could rest. Tell her not to cook anymore and just come to our house for dinner." Thinking of the fact that Lou Yanan had been vomiting for more than three months since she became pregnant, she was still frightened. She and her sister had never suffered such a suffering.
"I've said it so many times, but Sister Nan is too thin-skinned. I'll go talk to her later. If it doesn't work, let Hui go back and talk to Zhou Jianshe. He's thick-skinned."
"Pfft, you're so mean. Lao Zhou is now your and your brother-in-law's real brother-in-law, why are you still talking about him so inappropriately? Oh, right, speaking of this, I remembered that Xiaonan doesn't vomit as much now, and the fetus is stable. Are you and your brother-in-law going back to Beijing?"
Originally, Tian Mi and her husband planned to bring their children back to Beijing to celebrate the Chinese New Year last year. After all, her parents-in-law had only seen a few photos of the children up to that point.
But Zhou Jianshe happened to be getting married to Nan Jie at that time, so they had to postpone their plans.
However, due to this delay, Lou Luhui and Zhou Jianshe were about to go out on a mission.
Then it was spring ploughing time, and then Sister Nan got pregnant, but her pregnancy wasn’t looking good, so they naturally didn’t feel comfortable leaving.
After repeated delays, it was the end of August 1974 and the children were able to run around happily.
Tian Mi put the fruits into the basket, picked it up and said with a smile: "It will be soon, probably in the next few days. Once the wheat is stored in the granary, we should have time to go back."
Well, my husband hasn't had a long vacation in more than two years. This time he comes back to Beijing, excluding the time on the way there and back, he can stay for at least twenty days.
"It's time to go back and take a look. Although your parents-in-law haven't come over in the past two years, they have sent a lot of things. The children will be able to go to nursery next year. They are spoiled by their grandparents. The grandparents must be worried." At this point, Tian Yu couldn't help but smile again, feeling that she and her sisters were lucky to have met good in-laws and good men, and they were living a much more comfortable life than when they were at her parents' home.
Now my third sister is already 19 years old, and will be 20 in a few months. It’s time to find a partner.
However, speaking of her mother's home, Tian Yu turned around and wanted to talk about her 16-year-old fourth sister, but she saw her second sister was already carrying a basket and preparing to leave, so she swallowed the words that were about to come back and said, "Don't forget to tell Xiaonan to come to our house for dinner tonight."
Tian Miren had already arrived in the living room and was touching the heads of the monkeys one by one. Hearing this, he said without turning his head: "I know."
Lou Yannan is six months pregnant. Her belly is already noticeable and she is a little thin, but her complexion is still okay.
She had just finished catching up on some sleep. When she opened the door to let her sister-in-law in, she looked at the fruit in the basket and smiled helplessly: "Please don't send food home. How can I finish it all?"
Tian Mi took the wild fruits directly to the kitchen, and sure enough, she saw several kinds of fruits in the cupboard, some of which were wilted.
She picked out the ones that were not fresh, and then put the ones she brought back inside. She closed the cupboard door, then turned around and looked at her elder sister-in-law who was leaning against the door: "These are what Sister-in-law Aihong asked me to bring to you. It's a token of her love. Besides, if you can't finish them, ask your brother-in-law to grind them into juice for you, or have him eat with you. It's all fine."
Of course, calling Zhou Jianshe "brother-in-law" means Tian Mi is calling him brother-in-law, but her husband still stubbornly calls him Lao Zhou every time.
Lou Yannan also entered the kitchen, took a clean cup from the cupboard, and made a cup of milk powder for each of them. Then he smiled and said, "He hasn't gotten enough sleep because of the autumn harvest recently. If I want to drink it, I can make it myself."
"Tsk tsk tsk, I feel so sorry for you, sister. What do you think? Am I right? It's better to be your brother." Tian Mi teased her but her hands were not slow either. She held the cup in one hand and pulled her to sit on the sofa outside with the other.
Ever since Zhou Jianshe revealed his love for her, Lou Yannan has been basically living in a honeypot for nearly two years.
Now that she was teased by her sister-in-law, although she felt embarrassed, she still showed a bright smile on her face. She was no longer as cold and distant as when they first met, and she even joked in return: "You really like your brother. I will tell Huihui later."
Tian Mi
Very good, the elder sister-in-law is becoming more and more difficult to amuse. She tried to tease her but ended up being controlled by her. Thinking of the jealous person at home, Tian Mi had to change the subject tactfully and told her that her elder sister asked her to come over for dinner in the evening.
Seeing that my elder sister-in-law agreed straightforwardly, I started talking about my plan to return to Beijing and asked her if she had anything to take with her.
Lou Yannan knew about this: "Jianshe told me a few days ago, when will you return? Have you decided? Just send me two letters, one for our parents and one for Jianshe's parents."
As for the sweaters prepared for the elderly on both sides, they can be sent back later to avoid adding burden to Tiantian and her husband on the journey.
Lou Yanan didn’t know how to knit sweaters before, so she came here and learned from Sister Xiaoyu.
As for why it is easy to learn, every time my younger brother gets clothes made by Tiantian, he will show them off, and he especially likes to show off in front of Jianshe.
Although Jianshe never said anything, people are kind-hearted. At that time, the two were in love and were preparing to get married. Lou Yannan also secretly learned to knit sweaters.
Even though more than half a year had passed, she still remembered how he happily hugged her and spun around when she took time out of her busy schedule to give him the sweater she had knitted for two months.
Later, she thought knitting sweaters was fun, so she learned a few more patterns and decided to prepare them for the elders in her family.
She worked very fast, but she didn't have much time, and she suffered from morning sickness, so it took her half a year to finish the four pieces of clothing, which she only completed a few days ago.
"I don't know the exact time, but it will be in these few days. Just two letters? Nothing else to bring?"
"No, you have two children with you. It's inconvenient to carry too many things on the train." At this point, Lou Yannan said, "Don't bring any spare clothes when you go back. One set per person is enough. When we get to Beijing, let mom take you to buy some. The styles there are good and mom has money."
"Yeah, our mom is rich." Tian Mi was immediately amused by her sister-in-law. She felt that she was really like Hui people in some aspects, such as taking advantage of the family.
(End of this chapter)