Zhan Aiping and Shen Liqing made an appointment to attend the wedding banquet of Shen's cousin Zeng Jiang. After calculating the date, they found that Wang Youli and Gu Sheng could spare a day to accompany them, so the two families decided to bring the children along as well, so that they could go on a trip as a family.
Zhan Aiping asked Zhan Mingzhao if he wanted to go, and Zhan Mingzhao said, "No, it's their wedding, and it has nothing to do with me."
"Xiangyi and I will stay at home to look after your child. Little Mianhua still needs someone to take care of her."
Zhan Aiping smiled and said, "Then I'll go and take a look. I'm not going to visit Zhan Mingkang. I don't consider him my brother. You're my only brother... I'll just go and see what's going on."
Zhan Mingzhao said helplessly: "You, sister, you are still like this."
Zhan Aiping is now much more mature and stable than when she was a child. When she was a child, she loved to join in the fun and was afraid that the world would not be in chaos. Whenever there was a quarrel in someone's family, she would go to take a look.
Whenever a family is going to beat their child, she will go and fan the flames.
—Arrogant wild girl.
Recalling the past, Zhan Mingzhao said disdainfully: "It's hard for my brother-in-law to marry you. When his father scolded him when he was a child, you often got involved."
"Where there's excitement, go there."
Zhan Aiping: "… Everyone is curious. Don't you want to know how Zhan Mingkang is doing after he went to the countryside?"
Zhan Mingzhao said: "It's understandable. He talks about his family background so casually. He has two brothers-in-law who are the leaders of the regiment... You are just a piece of rotten meat that attracts flies. Be careful not to be caught and become the son-in-law of the leader of the group."
Zhan Aiping frowned: "You think too highly of him."
Zhan Mingzhao: "Sister, just wait and see."
Zhan Aiping looked at him with amusement: "If we talk about cleverness, you are still the cleverest. You know, I was worried that you would be captured by someone and become their son-in-law."
Zhan Mingzhao said casually, "I'm very good at keeping things balanced."
Zhan Aiping: “…”
As Gu Xiangyi's sister-in-law, she suddenly didn't want to marry her younger sister to the man in front of her.
Zhan Mingzhao sighed: "Sister, you gave birth to two daughters for your brother-in-law, but neither of them looks like you."
His sister's daughters were all so delicate and sweet, they didn't look like they were born to her, Zhan Dapingping.
Zhan Aiping said: "Don't talk nonsense, my daughters all look like me!"
Zhan Mingzhao said: "You have been fooled by your daughter."
Zhan Aiping: “…”
She was happy to be coaxed by her daughter.
"It's better for my daughter to make others confused than for her to be confused by others."
Zhan Mingzhao: "Okay, I feel relieved now. This Gu family all dotes on you."
Zhan Aiping said: "You are already grown up, don't talk about those things like spoiling or not."
Zhan Mingzhao smiled and shook his head. He felt that his sister was getting older as she grew older. When she was a teenager, she was very mature, giving instructions like an old cadre, and she liked to wear black clothes. But now... Zhan Mingzhao had never seen his sister wear black dresses.
"Study your English well, it will be of great use in the future." Zhan Mingzhao went to work in a tea factory, which was also an export company. The country needed foreign exchange, and engaging in tea trade overseas was an important channel to earn foreign exchange.
Zhan Mingzhao had a good image and temperament. After only a few days in the factory, he was chosen to receive foreign guests.
At that time, there were many foreign guests in the country. In 1973, there were five open tourist cities in the country to receive inbound tourists.
Even in schools in rural towns, students are required to learn foreign languages. Of course, most children from rural families are not interested in foreign languages, as they believe that they will be dealing with fields all their lives and have no need for these things.
Zhan Mingzhao's academic performance was not very good, but he unexpectedly had some talent for languages. After communicating with several foreign guests, he could actually utter a few colloquial words quite well and could even answer a few sentences with the foreign guests. Not only the foreign guests were surprised, but even the leaders were surprised.
They were even more shocked when they found out that Zhan Mingzhao could only speak but not write.
What a talent!
After Zhan Aiping knew about this, she was very excited. It turned out that her poor student brother had other talents! It is said that an elder sister is like a mother, and her mentality is the same. She just hopes that her child will have a bright future.
Zhan Aiping urged him to learn English and even asked her second sister-in-law from Northeast China to get several foreign books.
"I will study hard." Zhan Mingzhao was not opposed to learning a foreign language. After learning a foreign language well, he was responsible for introducing and communicating with foreign guests. In Zhan Mingzhao's view, such a job was very simple. It was just chatting, and he could also eat and drink with them at public expense, which was exactly what he wanted.
There is not much difference between foreign uncles and aunts and local uncles and aunts. He can chat with them all.
Since the younger daughter Cotton Candy was too young, Zhan Aiping asked Zhan Mingzhao to help take care of her. She and Gu Sheng took the sweet and sour pork siblings to meet Wang Youli and his wife.
It was already autumn at this time, with little rain, sunny weather, and neither cold nor hot. It was the most comfortable time. No matter what the purpose of the trip was, the sweet and sour pork brother and sister were particularly excited to know that they could go out with their parents.
When the two children got together, they made as much noise as a group of ducks. When they met the two fish from Shen Liqing's house, it was even more terrible. It was like two groups of ducks meeting each other, quacking here and there.
Zhan Aiping said to Gu Sheng: "I'll leave the children to you. Xiao Shen and I will take the car at the back."
Shen Liqing also said to her husband, "Old Wang, you and Gu Tuan take the children to the car."
Gu Sheng: “?!” He finally got to go out with his wife and kids, why should he sit with Lao Wang
Originally, we prepared two cars, one for each family.
Wang Youli: "Are you two the only ones sitting here?"
Shen Liqing said, "There's not enough space in one car. It's just right for you two grown men and four children to sit in it."
Gu Sheng asked, "Can't we sit one by one?"
Zhan Aiping said, "It's more fun when there are more people. We can't separate the four children and let them play together in the car. Dads should pay attention to them."
After that, Zhan Aiping and Shen Liqing walked arm in arm and got into the car behind them. The last thing Comrade Gu and Comrade Wang saw was the closed car door.
Gu Sheng: “…”
Wang Youli: “…”
Gu Sheng and Wang Youli looked at each other and both felt that it was a bit unlucky, but they didn't say anything and got into the car with their four children.
On weekdays, I am surrounded by a bunch of male comrades and male comrades. When I finally get to go out with my wife, I have to ride in the same car with male comrades. How unlucky it is!
It’s a pity that the four kids didn’t understand their dad’s inner curses, and they were quite happy.
Guo Bao Rou said: "I want to sit in the front!"
He insisted on sitting on the front passenger seat, but no one competed with him for it, so Guo Bao Rou climbed onto the front passenger seat by himself. He leaned over the window and looked around.
Gu Sheng and Wang Youli each held a daughter in their arms. Because there were not enough seats, the daughters sat on their fathers' laps.
Comrade Wang Xiaoyu sat between the two fathers, separating Gu Sheng and Wang Youli.
Compared to sitting on seats, the two little sisters Yuanyuan and Yuyu both said that human cushions are more comfortable, especially Yuyu, who is full of energy. She took off her shoes and jumped around on her father's lap. Even in the narrow carriage, it did not stop her from doing this and that and trying to make a big leap forward.
Wang Youli was overwhelmed: "Don't move when the car starts moving."
His wife Shen Liqing is really not a good person. She threw her difficult daughter to him.
Little Tangyuan watched Yuyu jumping around. She was very well-behaved. She sat on her father's lap, talking to herself, calling "Dad" a few times, and grinning foolishly.
The sweet and sour pork was very quiet and didn't make a sound. Wang Xiaoyu sat in the middle and yawned frequently. He wanted to sleep.
Wang Youli said: "Your little girl is very obedient and doesn't make any noise."
Little Tangyuan answered quickly: "Because my mother told me to be a good boy and coax my father."
Wang Youli: "…your father still needs someone to coax him."
Little Tangyuan pretended to be mature and sighed: "My father is very difficult to appease."
They started cooking carrots at home because their mother loved to eat carrots, but no one in their family with the surname Gu liked to eat carrots... Life was not easy, as her father always put carrots in dumplings!
Gu Sheng took his little girl to the side.
Wang Youli: “…”
Yuyu said: "I'm hard to appease too!"
Wang Youli: “…” His wife told him to coax their daughter well before leaving.
Oh my god, same person but different fate.
He stared at Gu Sheng's profile for a few seconds, recalling the day of his wedding. Wang Youli's face turned pale, and he thought to himself, I really believed your lies.
They got married one after the other and had a pair of twin children. Now in other people's homes, the daughter comforts the father, while in his home, it is the father who comforts the daughter.
Shen Liqing and Zhan Aiping sat in the car behind them and closed the door. Shen Liqing felt guilty, "I feel a little guilty for leaving the child with him."
Zhan Aiping said: "There's nothing wrong in letting dad take care of the children more often."
Shen Liqing waved her hand: "You don't know how much of a headache my children are. I won't talk about Yuyu, you know, he's full of energy... As for Xiaoyu, he'll cause you some big trouble if you're not careful."
"Our Xiaoyu doesn't say anything when he does things. If he does, it will be a big deal."
For example, he silently dug a big hole in his yard. Shen Liqing was very ashamed because the hole could bury a one or two-year-old child, but Shen Liqing never discovered it.
Wang Xiaoyu dug for several days in a row and even knew to cover the hole with a lid after he was done. He did a great job on the project and didn't get any dirt on his body. He also did a great job keeping it secret.
It wasn’t until one day when his father stepped into a pit that Wang Xiaoyu said, “I want to dig a hole for the rabbit.”
Shen Liqing and his wife: "..."
It's more than just digging a hole, he can even dig out a cellar.
The car drove up the mountain road. Zhan Aiping and Shen Liqing chatted for a while, then took a nap in the car, and finally arrived at Zhongzhuang where Zeng Jiang went to the countryside. Because of a wedding, Zhongzhuang was particularly lively today. Tables, chairs and benches were placed in the village, and it was obvious that a grand celebration was going to be held.
There are cigarettes and alcohol. It is not easy to smoke a good cigarette in the countryside. You can't afford to buy one yourself. The only time you can smoke a few cigarettes is when someone gets married. These are not the dry cigarettes you usually smoke, but the ones with holders.
There were many men smoking, and when you entered the village, you could smell a lot of smoke. Zhan Aiping and her husband took their children away from those smokers, and went to meet Zeng Jiang and his future wife, Xue Xiaomei, with Shen Liqing and her husband.
When Xue Xiaomei saw Zhan Aiping, she was particularly shy, but she also had a lot of questions to ask Zhan Aiping, "Doctor Zhan, I heard that you are a college student. What do you think is the use of studying?"
Recently, Xue Xiaomei has learned a lot of characters from Zeng Jiang and read several books. She also likes reading, but her parents and brother at home say that she is not serious and that girls should not study. After getting married, they should concentrate on taking care of the family, having children and raising them, and reproducing offspring.
Zhan Aiping asked her: "Do you want to learn to read and write?"
Xue Xiaomei smiled softly: "I want to study a little, but I think it's useless. What's the point of studying for us country women?"
Zhan Aiping smiled and said, "Since you want to study, then study more. It doesn't matter whether it is useful or not. Just be happy. You may have a chance to go to university in the future."
Xue Xiaomei was stunned. "I can still take the college entrance examination?"
University... those are what people in the city call university. For people like them, it’s already good enough to be able to study in a medical school in the county.
Zhan Aiping said: "Universities will definitely expand their enrollment in the future and will recruit many, many college students."
There is a serious generational gap in technical talent in China now. The R&D personnel are all in their forties or fifties. There are no young people, and the enthusiasm of factory workers is not high either. This is because workers in state-owned factories have iron rice bowls, which can be inherited by future generations. A workstation can be sold and passed on to the next generation.
This is also what Xue Xiaomei is worried about. If Zeng Jiang has the opportunity to become a worker-peasant-soldier college student in the future, will he abandon her
Her family members said that they would create obstacles for Zeng Jiang to fail to be elected, and that he would have to live in the countryside for the rest of his life and never be able to return to the city.
Xue Xiaomei was very conflicted about getting married. She had feelings for Zeng Jiang and was afraid that marrying him would harm him and make him unable to return to the city for the rest of his life. Even though Zeng Jiang had told her that he had planned to settle down here and not return to Shanghai...
But what if he regrets it in the future
Xue Xiaomei asked: "Can I also be a college student?"
Zhan Aiping said: "You can, but it depends on whether you can do it."
"Take advantage of the opportunity to learn more now, and don't miss the chance to go to college in the future."
Xue Xiaomei nodded.
She thought Zhan Aiping was beautiful and a college student, which made her particularly convincing. She said that there would be an opportunity to go to college, and maybe there really would be an opportunity to go to college.
She is a country woman. If she starts preparing for the college entrance examination from now on, maybe after waiting for five or ten years, she will really have a chance of getting into college.
Xue Xiaomei also wanted to go to the big cities that the educated youth talked about to see the world.
*
After meeting Zeng Jiang and the newlyweds, Zhan Aiping finally met Zhan Mingkang. Zhan Mingkang had grown a lot taller than when they met before. He was not thinner, but stronger, darker and stronger.
When Zhan Mingkang saw Zhan Aiping, he snorted coldly: "Zhan Bo asked you to come visit me?"
Zhan Aiping said: "I guess so."
"Zhanbo asked you to bring me something."
Zhan Aiping said: "He told me not to take care of you, so that you can learn to endure hardships in the countryside."
Zhan Mingkang: “…”
"You're just here to watch me have fun, fake compassion."
Zhan Aiping said: "I'm not being charitable, I just came here to see you having fun."
"The more miserable you are, the happier I am."
Zhan Mingkang was choked by her honest words. He touched his nose and cursed in a low voice: "None of you are good."
Zhan Mingkang didn't dare to speak too loudly. He was in the countryside now and he had to pull the banner of Zhan Aiping and his wife, especially today, his brother-in-law Gu Sheng was also here.
After meeting Gu Sheng, his good sister Zhou Yanyan would definitely believe that he had two brother-in-laws who were group leaders.
(End of this chapter)