Early the next morning, Li's mother and Li Le were busy in the kitchen. They were going to the county town to take pictures today, Cheng Qiao was going to hold her son, and Li Huan was going to drive the ox cart, so the two of them had to prepare a lot of things.
Going out now is not like before. Now that we have a baby at home, we have to prepare a lot of things when we go out, such as diapers, bottles, warm water, etc. Also, Cheng Qiao cannot go hungry, otherwise what if she runs out of milk
Cheng Qiao smiled as she watched Li's mother walking around excitedly. Only then did she realize that there were too few things for babies in the space. Apart from milk powder and talcum powder, there was basically nothing else, not to mention disposable diapers.
Fortunately, Li's mother was well prepared. She used sorghum flour to exchange the torn bed sheets, and then cut them into pieces of diapers. She washed them several times and scalded them with boiling water before using them for the child.
The milk bottles were prepared by Qiu Min. Whenever the supply and marketing cooperative delivered milk bottles and milk powder, she would find a way to save some for them. Before she knew it, little Cheng Li had seven or eight milk bottles.
When Uncle Niu learned that Li Huan wanted to borrow the ox cart to go to the photo studio to take pictures, he felt itchy in his heart. He had never taken a picture in his life and he really wanted to take one.
"Uncle Niu, come on, I'll ask you to take a picture with me, but I won't pay for the ox cart."
"Okay, I'll feed the old cow first. You go back and prepare. I'll be here soon."
Uncle Niu put a handful of green grass in the trough. The grass was cut by Zhao Xiaobao's parents early every morning. The old cow loved to eat it.
Then he went back to the house, took out all the clothes in the closet, picked and chose, and finally found a yellowed white shirt and a pair of khaki pants with patches on the knees.
The Li family waited for the ox cart to arrive and quickly locked the door. It was the first time for little Cheng Li to ride in an ox cart in two lifetimes. His eyes were shining with excitement, which made Li Le very happy. He kept saying that his nephew was the smartest child in the world.
Xu Laidie was sitting at the gate of her yard holding her child. Now that Chen Dazhu was dead, Chen Tiezhu and the others didn't dare to bully her, so she had secretly dug out the jar buried under the old tree at the entrance of the village.
In the jar was a gold ring that she had cheated from Cheng Qiao before. Cheng Qiao was such a fool that he had so many good things that he probably had forgotten the existence of this ring.
There was also the money she had secretly earned from selling things over the years, the money she had saved, and the money Chen Dazhu told her to hide in the kang hole before he died. All in all, there was more than a hundred yuan.
With this money, Xu Laidie undoubtedly had the confidence to raise her children. However, when she saw Cheng Qiao and her family sitting on a ox cart heading to the county town, the sense of satisfaction she had just felt disappeared instantly.
Cheng Qiao saw Xu Laidi looking at her and the child in her arms with vicious eyes, and glared at her in return. Li Huan also felt the change in his wife's face and looked in the direction of Xu Laidi's house.
Xu Laidi's heart trembled. She always felt that Cheng Qiao seemed to have become a different person, but she couldn't figure out why. Seeing Li Huan turning his head to look at her, she hurriedly picked up the child and went into the house.
The photo studio was deserted. Everyone wanted to take a photo for a souvenir, but the money in their pockets did not allow it. When Li's mother found out that a one-inch photo cost fifty cents, she was so scared that she turned around and wanted to leave.
Li Huan quickly grabbed Li's mother. He asked Cheng Qiao to sit in the middle with the child in her arms, asked Li's mother and Li Le to sit on Cheng Qiao's left, and he sat on her right.
When the photographer saw that there were business coming, he happily adjusted the camera quickly. With a "click", the family of five was captured in a photo.
Seeing the photographer was about to issue a bill, Li Huan quickly said, "Master, please take a separate photo of my wife and child, then a separate photo of my child, and then a separate photo of our family of three."
The photographer's eyes lit up. There was a white carpet in the photo studio specially used for photographing infants and young children. All you had to do was put the child on it, lying down or lying on your stomach.
Cheng Qiao carefully put little Cheng Li on it: "Baby, smile at the camera. We will send the photos to your grandfather later."
Little Cheng Li really tried hard to raise his head, staring at the toy in the photographer's hand with wide eyes without even blinking, and was so happy that the photographer promised to enlarge the photo for the boy for free.
Li Le really wanted to take a photo alone, but when he thought of the fifty cents, he kept his mouth shut. No wonder the squad leader was so proud, it turned out that taking photos was so expensive.
"Master, come, take a separate photo of my sister and my mother as well."
Li's mother was so angry that she swung her fist to hit Li Huan, but the force she hit Li Huan was not enough to kill even a mosquito. Li Huan smiled and pushed Li's mother onto the chair. The photo had already been taken, so why bother about a few cents.
Finally, when Li Huan went to pay, Li Le saw that his second brother gave him twelve yuan. He was so scared that his heart almost stopped beating. After a few "clicks", more than ten yuan was gone.
"When can I get it?"
"One week at the earliest. Come pick up the photos next weekend."
The chef was so happy that he showed his teeth. It was really like, either don’t open the shop or you have to make a living for three months. With only twelve yuan, he had already completed the three-month target.
Uncle Niu proudly sat on the ox cart. He also took a photo, and the photo studio master also lent him a green military cap, which looked very impressive in his head.
"Huanzi, where are you going now? Go home or take a walk around the county town."
"Uncle Niu, please take my mother and sister home. My wife and I have some things to do."
Li Huan took the bicycle off the ox cart. He had put it there specially. He had to come to the county town without doing some personal business.
Mother Li looked at her son deeply and reached out to take the child back. However, Cheng Qiao still shook her head. Xu Laidi's eyes just now were too vicious and she was really worried.
Mother Li was also a mother herself. The child was only one month old, and Cheng Qiao was definitely reluctant to hand the child over to anyone else. She handed the diaper in her hand to Cheng Qiao and told her to change it in time if the child got wet.
Watching the ox cart leave, Cheng Qiao looked around to see if there was anyone around. The diaper in her hand disappeared in an instant, and then she carried little Cheng Li to the supply and marketing cooperative:
"Cheng Qiao, quickly give me little Cheng Li. He looks so cute after not seeing him for a week. I love him so much."
When Qiu Min saw Cheng Qiao walk into the supply and marketing cooperative and the child in her arms, she ignored the customers and came out from the counter, reaching out to hug little Cheng Li.
Li Huan carefully handed the child to Qiu Min. Qiu Min looked at little Cheng Li's big round eyes and loved him so much that she swore in her heart that she would give birth to a child as beautiful as little Cheng Li.
Cheng Qiao saw that Qiu Min's face was a little swollen, and calmly put his fingers on Qiu Min's wrist. Not long after, Cheng Qiao's face looked a little ugly.