"Loach, how is your brother now?"
"My parents said that he wasn't my brother, but my mother promised to give me a little brother in the future."
Gousheng still didn't understand what was going on, but Xuhui had already nodded. Dad Li always wanted Mom Cheng to give birth to another sister. It seemed that Niqiu's mother also wanted to have a baby.
"I really want to eat popsicles."
Loach looked at the soda bottle and suddenly said, Xuhui didn't say anything, he knew that what Loach wanted to eat was not the popsicle, but the soda. But there was only one bottle of soda, half for him and half for the dog, so there was no room for Loach.
"Sister Lele, is the soda delicious?"
Seeing that Xuhui ignored him, Niuqiu rolled his eyes and looked at the half bottle of soda in Li Le's hand. Li Le glared at him and said, "You are of different generations. You have to call me aunt."
Loach: “…” I didn’t get to drink the soda, and I became a generation shorter for no reason.
Looking at Niu Qiu's dejected look, Xuhui couldn't help but take out some firecrackers from his pocket and handed them to him. These were bought by Li's father from the supply and marketing cooperative for them to play with.
When Loach saw the firecrackers, he ran to the kitchen stove and pulled out a small wooden stick with flames on the top. Several children lit firecrackers one after another and laughed happily.
After eating the pig-slaughtering meal, it was New Year's Eve in a few days. On the evening of New Year's Eve, the Li family moved the dining table to Grandma Xuhui's house, and the whole family gathered around the table to eat the New Year's Eve dinner.
Grandma Xuhui can now sit up half-leaning on a pillow, but she cannot eat by herself yet, so Mother Li sits on the kang, holding the bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other to feed the old lady.
Xuhui looked at the braised pork, boiled chicken, stewed goose, steamed carp, and dumplings on the table. The New Year's Eve dinner was so sumptuous that his nose felt sore. He only saved little Cheng Li once, but Cheng's mother treated him as her own son.
Not only can he have enough food to eat, wear new clothes and go to school, but even his grandmother who is lying unable to move has enjoyed the care and love from a son and daughter-in-law who is not his own, but better than that from a son and daughter-in-law.
He was very unfortunate as he lost his parents when he was young, but he was also very lucky as he had a grandmother who loved him, a new father and mother who were willing to raise him, and a Grandpa Ye who taught him to read.
Just after midnight, Li Huan set off firecrackers. The crackling sound of the firecrackers startled the villagers. This was the first time in more than 20 years that Li Huan felt confident in setting off firecrackers.
When the villagers who were staying up to see the New Year heard the sound of firecrackers from the village chief's house, they followed suit and started setting off firecrackers. For a moment, the whole Xiangyang Village was filled with sparks and the sound of firecrackers.
Cheng Qiao held the awakened little Cheng Li and sat by the door of the living room, looking up at the starry sky. The stars were shining brightly, and a crescent moon had climbed up the hill, shining coldly on the earth.
Time flies so fast, and it is already the first day of the year 1972. It has been two years since her rebirth. These two years have been very difficult, and she has been thinking about revenge every day.
Now her enemies are either dead, gone, or in jail. She has taken Ye Jun as her master, accepted Xuhui as her godson, and her own man has become the village chief. Her rebirth has caused many things to go wrong.
It was these deviations that not only failed to calm Cheng Qiao's heart, but made her more alert and on guard every day. As long as she did not leave Xiangyang Village, she dared not relax.
But leaving Xiangyang Village is not something that can be done easily nowadays. In this era when letters of introduction are required everywhere, it is almost a dream to leave with your children.
Especially since Ye Jun's identity is even more sensitive, he can hardly leave Xiangyang Village, and Li Huan is the village chief, so it is impossible for him to leave.
"Qiao, do you miss your father? After the New Year, we will take our son to see your father."
After setting off the firecrackers, Li Huan saw Cheng Qiao looking listless and thought she was missing Cheng Liguo, so he quickly promised.
Cheng Qiao's heart moved. Yes, it is still the winter season and there is generally nothing big happening in the village. It would be better to follow Li Huan to the Hexi Corridor to see how his father is doing.
"Second brother, second sister-in-law, I want to go too."
Li Le, who was wearing new clothes and two red flowers on his head, interrupted happily. Li Huan waved his hand unhappily and said, "Go away. You have to follow me in everything. You have no manners."
Li Le was unhappy, so Xuhui quickly took out a colorful fruit-flavored candy ball from his pocket and stuffed it into Li Le's mouth, sweetening his mouth and sweetening his heart.
Mother Li smiled and took out several large plates that had been prepared long ago. Inside were some White Rabbit milk candies, sorghum malt candies with a thin layer of skin, fried meatballs and fried dough fruits.
There are also frozen red fruits as red as agate, orange-red frozen persimmons and hard black frozen pears. These three kinds of frozen fruits are placed in a large bowl, melted with cold water, and they are icy and refreshing when you take a bite.
Peanuts, melon seeds, pine nuts and hazelnuts are picked by the children on the mountain. These dried fruits are not uncommon in Xiangyang Village, and every household has a lot of them.
"Le Le, stop staring at your second brother and his wife, come and help mom make dumplings."
"All right."
Li Le went to wash his hands in a depressed mood and helped to make dumplings. Cheng Qiao smiled and left little Cheng Li to Li Huan, and went to Grandma Chen's room to give her acupuncture.
"Grandma Chen, do you feel your legs now?"
"Yes, it hurt a lot at night. Fortunately, Goudan, no, Xuhui is well-behaved and sensible. He helped me apply a hot towel, and it's much better now."
Cheng Qiao nodded, went back to her room, took out a hot water bottle, filled it with hot water and handed it to Grandma Chen: "Grandma Chen, if it hurts at night, just change to hot water. You don't need a hot towel. It's troublesome to go back and forth."
"Qiao, thank you."
"Grandma Chen, you can't say that. If it weren't for Xuhui, little Cheng Li would have died."
Grandma Chen nodded, then shook her head. Everything is fate. She was always worried about what would happen to her grandson after she died. Now she is relieved. With Cheng Qiao and Li Huan around, her grandson will not have a hard time.
"Coincidentally, this is the money I saved for Xuhui. Xuhui gets a subsidy from his father, ten yuan a month. In addition to our daily expenses, we also save this."
When Cheng Qiao saw the stack of money in Grandma Chen's hand, she couldn't help feeling sad. She always felt that something was wrong. Xuhui had the subsidy from his father, but what about his mother's
"Grandma Chen, didn't Xuhui's parents die?"
"Hey, they say family disgrace should not be made public, but since my grandson and I live with you, I'll tell you the truth. Xuhui's mother is not dead."
"What? He's not dead. Didn't the villagers say..."
"Yes, Xuhui's mother asked for a divorce not long after giving birth to Xuhui, so his father asked to go to the battlefield... Anyway, I think she is dead, so don't tell Xuhui."
Cheng Qiao nodded, but pushed the money back and told her grandmother to give all the money to Xuhui, as it was what he deserved. As for herself, it was her duty to raise Xuhui.
Xuhui leaned against the door, listening to the voices of the two people inside, tears falling down his face. It turned out that his biological mother was not dead, but had become someone else's wife.