◎First update◎

I got the competition certificate that Yang Yan brought back, a hanging sign, and a small plastic-sealed sign tied with a black rope, which read "Municipal Youth Table Tennis Competition" registered player - Xu Shengwei.

"There will be a preliminary exam next month. I've heard that one third of the candidates will be eliminated, and only the remaining ones will be able to participate in the actual competition."

Liang Baozhen understood that she had to screen the young talents and leave only those with the potential to compete for a place.

"Thank you, Comrade Yang Yan, you really helped us a lot." Liang Baozhen made her a cake, a fragrant walnut cake, "We made this ourselves, you must keep it."

"These are just small favors. No need to send anything special."

"It's mainly because of Xiaowei's kindness. He now thinks you are a great benefactor. He paid for all the ingredients for the walnut cakes from his New Year's gift money."

"Hahaha, you're so willing to give it to me?" Yang Yan liked this family very much, so she didn't hesitate to say, "Then I'll take it. I'll taste it when I get home."

Xu Shengwei, who had successfully registered, was extremely excited as he touched his small playing cards. He was determined to play table tennis. However, he practiced and played every day without a systematic training method. Soon, he cried out in pain in his arm when his sister touched him.

Xu Shengjie pulled up his sleeves, pinched the medicinal wine on his brother's bare arm, and rubbed it on him to warm it up. "Does it hurt?"

"It hurts, ugh~ Ouch~" Xu Shengjie felt sore all over his arms. After playing basketball for a long time, his right hand was really suffering. "Brother, please be gentler. Ouch, ouch, I can't take it anymore. Sister-in-law, help me! My brother rubbed me so hard that it hurts more than before!"

Xu Shengjie was not as gentle to his brother as he was to his wife. His wife had delicate skin and tender flesh, while Xu Shengwei had rough skin and thick flesh. "If you don't rub hard, it won't work."

He held his brother's thin arm and rubbed it vigorously, knowing where to put the force to correct him. Besides, how could a man howl like this? Xu Shengjie suspected that Xu Shengwei was making a fuss, "Does it hurt so much? You are so grown up but still act like a child."

"Xiao Wei, be patient. Your brother is right. This medicinal wine needs to be warmed up by rubbing it." Zhou Yun looked at his grandson and comforted him.

"Xiao Wei, is your brother very strong?" Xu Shengjie was very strong when he was rubbing her legs, although he said that he only used 50% of his strength. Now looking at Xu Shengwei with tears in his eyes, Liang Baozhen felt that she had finally found a soulmate!

"Yes, yes, sister-in-law! My brother was too heavy-handed. Ouch, ouch." When Xu Shengwei saw someone speaking for him, he wished he could burn his head into a wooden fish and have it fall down.

But it was useless to say anything. Xu Shengjie rubbed medicinal wine on him for a long time, and then pulled his arm to "massage" him for a while. Only when Xu Shengwei was howling like a ghost did he show mercy and let him go.

When sleeping at night, Xu Shengwei was still complaining, what a brother, he really doesn't care about his life or death!

However, after being "tortured" by his elder brother, Xu Shengwei actually felt much better the next morning. He raised his hand and waved his arm without feeling much pain. He decided to forgive his elder brother generously.

We are all family, how can there be any grudges left over overnight?

——

At the end of the month, after Liang Baozhen finished work, Xu Shengjie sent her home first, as he had to rush back to work the night shift.

"You should eat more. It's cold and hungry at night." After finishing her meal, Liang Baozhen put two wild vegetable cakes in an oil-paper bag for him. If he wanted to eat in the middle of the night, he could take a few bites and drink hot water to fill his stomach.

"I'm leaving first. I'll be late soon." Xu Shengjie took the oil paper bag and strode back to the factory.

Liang Baozhen watched the man leave and walked around in the yard. She was not good at housework at home, so washing dishes was the job of Xu Shengwei and Xu Shengya. The two of them cooperated well, one rinsed the dishes the first time and the other rinsed the dishes the second time.

Xu Shengya was a worried person at a young age. She would look at her sister-in-law from time to time and said, "Sister-in-law, please walk slower. Be careful of the slippery road."

"I know." Liang Baozhen turned sideways to look over, and it was similar to her older brother.

"Xu Shengya, are you okay?" The two daughters of the widow Chen Yulian came to play with Xu Shengya.

"Right away, right away." Xu Shengya shook her hands, and water droplets splashed everywhere, just splashing onto Xu Shengwei's face.

"Xu Shengya, how did you shake your hands?"

"Hehe." Xu Shengya smiled and was not polite to her second brother at all. "Second brother, there are only a few bowls left. You can wash them together. Song Xinhe and the others are waiting for me!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Xu Shengwei roared helplessly at his sister's departing back. In the end, he could only resign himself to his fate and lower his head to continue washing the dishes.

Four girls in the yard gathered together to play cat-snaps on the stone steps of the back house. Each girl took a turn. Liang Baozhen was walking slowly beside them. Seeing how happy they were playing, she couldn't help but go over to give them some pointers.

"Xiaoya, turn over here!"

Xu Shengya was originally thinking seriously, but hadn't found a way to turn the rope. After her sister-in-law pointed it out, she immediately understood it.

"Oh, I can't tell you." Qin Xiaoyue said to Liang Baozhen, "Aunt Baozhen, people who don't play games can't remind me."

"That's right." Song Xinmiao nodded vigorously.

"Okay, I'll shut up." Liang Baozhen hadn't played cat-and-mouse for a long time. She felt itchy and sat down to watch.

Seeing this, Song Xinmiao simply invited her to join, "Aunt Baozhen, are you coming?"

"Come on!" Liang Baozhen rolled up her sleeves and joined in without caring that she was older than them.

When Cheng Caili came out with the baby in her arms, she saw the four children playing happily. Chuchu was already eight months old and gradually became pretty. "Let's go and see what they are playing."

"Baozhen, you are in a good mood, playing with a group of children."

"Sister Caili, come and sit." Liang Baozhen had just finished turning over once and it was her turn to rest. She stood up and went to check on the baby. Chuchu inherited the good looks of her parents. Even as a baby, she was a very pretty baby, fair, tender and chubby, sucking her fingers with her fists clenched.

"Let me look at Chuchu. She's so pretty, just like you!"

Cheng Caili loved hearing this. The daughter she had given birth to with great difficulty must look like her. Even Lu Yuan had to stand aside. "She looks like me. My mother said it. She looks exactly like me when I was a child."

"Then our Chuchu will be as pretty as mom when he grows up~" Liang Baozhen gently touched the child's face, which was as tender as an egg, and she softened her movements unconsciously.

Cheng Caili's parents-in-law came over tonight. Liang Baozhen saw them earlier, but they seemed to have left now.

"Lu Yuan's parents left?"

"Yeah." Cheng Caili was already upset about this matter. "I brought some things over and had dinner here."

"What's wrong with you? You don't look happy?" Liang Baozhen knew that her mother-in-law favored boys over girls, so the two of them had not seen each other for many years after Chuchu was born. Today, Cheng Caili was particularly angry when she mentioned her mother-in-law.

"Do you know what bad idea she came up with?"

"What?"

"She wants to change our Chuchu's name!"

Cheng Caili and Lu Yuan's daughter, whose full name was Lu Yichu and nickname was Chuchu, was registered when she was three months old. But this time when Cheng Caili's parents-in-law came, before leaving, her mother-in-law urged Cheng Caili to give birth to a son as soon as possible, and even asked her to change the child's nickname to "Zhao Di", so that she could have a son.

"It really makes me angry. Our Chuchu's name is so nice, but they insisted on changing it to something like 'Zhao Di'. They also wanted me to give her a grandson. As soon as I get home, they talk about this. It makes my ears almost curl."

"Call her 'Zhao Di'? That's too ugly." There are several families in Damian Village whose daughters are called this name, Hu Zhao Di, Hu Pan Di, Liu Zhao Di, Liu Pan Di, just with different surnames, but the given names are the same. Sometimes when someone shouts Zhao Di on the ridge of a field, several girls will turn around and respond, and they must use both the given name and the surname to distinguish them.

"I don't agree. Why should my daughter be called that? It makes me uncomfortable. I think she is here to make things difficult for me." Cheng Caili raised her head and vented her anger. "Anyway, I have told Lu Yuan that I will talk to his mother about it. There is no way she can change her name. She won't have children. One is enough. If she has another, I feel like I will lose half my life."

"This matter really needs to be handled by Brother Lu. It will be easier for him to talk to his own mother." They all call each other mom, but mom is different from mother-in-law. One can only act coquettishly and sometimes have a little temper in front of his own dad and mom, then relatives will tolerate you.

"That's right. Anyway, don't go back to the house if Lu Yuan can't solve it." Cheng Caili hugged her daughter and said harshly.

Liang Baozhen looked at her and recalled what Xu Shengjie had said before: that she had locked the drunk Lu Yuan outside the house. Cheng Caili did have plenty of experience in not letting people into the house.

"Hey, Xiao Liang and Xiao Cheng, have you eaten?" Luo Hongmei came into the yard from outside, holding a letter with a smile on her face, and shouted loudly for them, the intellectuals, to read the words.

"I can't recognize a few words. Can you help me read what's written on it?" He said he was looking for someone to help, but he couldn't hide the smile in his eyes.

Liang Baozhen took the letter and read it. It was from Luo Hongmei, the daughter of the girl, who was admitted to the university. In the letter, Yao Haoyun said that she had been accepted by a university in the southwest and would start school in the spring.

"Auntie Luo, your Haoyun is really good. He got admitted to university."

At that time, Luo Hongmei's family wanted to arrange for one of their children to go to the countryside. She was reluctant to let her son suffer, so she let her daughter go. After many years, Yao Haoyun finally passed the exam and returned to the city by herself. Although she could not return to Beijing, it was also a big city in the southwest.

"Hahahaha, no, that's not the case. I'm just saying, our Yunyun is a capable girl, she has a promising future, she even got into college." This was the first time Luo Hongmei praised her daughter outside, she was very proud of her daughter getting into college. "It's because I took good care of our Yunyun's studies since she was young. This child takes after me, she has been smart since she was young."

When other people in the courtyard heard her loud voice, they congratulated her, then turned around and muttered, "It's all Yao Haoyun's own fault."

"Luo Hongmei abandoned me in the countryside for so many years. Her admission into university now has nothing to do with her. She is still trying to flatter herself." Wu Changlong couldn't stand her the most. He couldn't help but make a bad comment about her even when he was changing the beehive coal in the house.

"Xiao Liang and Xiao Cheng, you have studied for many years, right? It's time for you to take the college entrance examination. Of course, not everyone can pass the college entrance examination, so the important thing is to participate."

Liang Baozhen and Cheng Caili looked at each other helplessly. If you didn't know, you would think that Luo Hongmei had been admitted to university on her own.

"By the way, has Nianhua come back?"

"Inside the house, Sister Hua is busy."

Luo Hongmei slapped her thigh, "Oh my! Really, I told you, a family cannot do without a man, just wait, there will be good things happening in our courtyard again!"

"What good news?"

Cheng Caili was a little curious, she had never heard of it.

"I found a date for Nianhua."