Fang Qiao smiled and nodded: "Yes, they moved. These two little guys are welcoming you."

"Oh my, so sensible!" Wang Yun quickly greeted the two little ones in her belly, "Hello, I'm your Aunt Yun."

In response, she experienced an even stronger fetal movement, as if the fetus could understand her words.

Wang Yun was amused and said to Fang Qiao, "These two little guys are incredibly clever even in the womb. They're sure to be people who can do great things in the future!"

Fang Qiao held her belly, feeling the baby's movements inside, which seemed to be playing wildly. She said helplessly to Wang Yun, "Stop praising me, stop praising me. If you keep praising me, the baby will turn over in my belly."

Wang Yun exclaimed in surprise: "You can really understand it?"

"I don't know, but after you praised them, they were definitely more boisterous than before." Fang Qiao's attitude was ambiguous.

"Alright, alright, then I won't praise you anymore." Wang Yun gently patted Fang Qiao's stomach and warned, "You two behave yourselves and don't bother your mother!"

She originally just wanted to try it out, but she didn't expect it to actually quiet down inside.

Fang Qiao quickly changed the subject to avoid upsetting the two little ones inside.

She pulled Wang Yun to sit down on a chair next to her: "Let's not talk about this anymore, let's talk about something else."

At this moment, Xiao Jing poured hot water and handed it to Wang Yun. Wang Yun took it, thanked her, and said, "Xiao Jing, there's a gray bundle in the woven bag you carried in earlier. Auntie asked me to bring it to you. Take it out. The rest is for your brother and sister-in-law, and for Tian Tian and An An."

Xiao Jing nodded: "Okay."

She quickly untied the woven bag and took out the contents one by one.

The contents were a variety of odds and ends, including handmade cloth shoes. The adult shoes had black uppers and weren't very pretty, but they were all made with a thousand layers of soles stitched together, making them very durable and easy to wear. They could be worn after the New Year and into the spring.

The shoes for the two little girls had red velvet uppers. Since children don't have heels and flat shoes can't stay on their feet, two matching shoelaces were sewn onto the instep of their feet. These shoelaces could be tied into pretty bows.

Sweetie took off her cotton shoes and tried them on right away; they were a little big. But kids' feet grow quickly, so shoes that are a little big will last longer.

An'an's shoes were also slightly too big. Fang Qiao held them up to An'an's feet to show how they would fit her in a while.

My third aunt, being someone who has been making shoe soles for years, had the measurements just right.

Besides the newly made shoes, there were also three or four pounds of walnuts, about ten pounds of flour, and a piece of cured meat inside.

The walnuts were from our own tree, which was quite common. But the flour and cured meat were rare items, especially the cured meat, which you couldn't buy even if you had money outside. It was probably made by my third aunt herself, who marinated, dried, and smoked fresh pork.

Fang Qiao picked it up and estimated it to be at least three jin (1.5 kg), probably the entire ration of meat her family would receive in the village this year.

This gift is significant, and so is the sentiment behind it.

“In Xiaocheng Village, meat is distributed during the New Year. Each family gets at most two or three catties. This piece of cured meat weighs at least three catties, which is probably all that Third Aunt’s family got this year.” Fang Qiao felt heavy-hearted. She asked Wang Yun, “Third Aunt made the meat into cured meat and asked you to bring it all over. What will they eat for the New Year?”

"Don't worry, they'll have enough to eat for the New Year." Wang Yun explained, "She didn't touch a single penny of the money you and Cheng Bodong sent to the old lady. The meat for making cured meat was bought separately with her own money; it wasn't part of Third Aunt's New Year's allowance."

"That's good." Fang Qiao was relieved to hear Wang Yun say that.

Wang Yun: "Actually, she felt really bad about letting Xiao Jing live with you guys here, but there was really no other way last year given the situation. So, if she wants to give you New Year's gifts, she'll accept them; if she doesn't, she'll feel bad."

“I know.” Fang Qiao watched Xiao Jing tidying up things in the storage room and said, “But Xiao Jing has been a great help to me this year. Bai Dong is busy with work, Tian Tian is only four years old, An An still needs to be held all day, and then there are these two in my belly. After the New Year, Xiao Jing will inevitably have to help me take care of them. Without her, I really couldn’t manage on my own.”

Wang Yun: "So, human feelings are reciprocal. You helped her escape her suffering, and she wants to repay you in return."

After chatting for a while, it was noon. Xiaojing went to the kitchen to cook. There were already New Year's goods in the kitchen, so she could cook with the meat she already had and didn't need to go out to buy any more.

Fang Qiao took Wang Yun to the inner room to check on An An, who was sleeping. The two sat down on the edge of the bed together, and Fang Qiao asked her, "Xiao Yun, how long of a leave of absence did the village approve for you this time?"

"It's been more than half a month, and they said they just need to be able to go back before the Lantern Festival."

"Half a month is quite a long time. Why don't you find a job in the city during this period and see if you can return to the city through work?" Fang Qiao suggested.

Wang Yun was tempted, but still had reservations.

She said with some worry, "But I'm a sent-down youth, will they hire me?"

“They should recruit them,” Fang Qiao said. “I saw in the newspaper a while ago that Sichuan Province proposed that ‘those urban educated youth who have performed well in rural labor training for more than two years’ can be recruited as workers in factories and mines through recommendations. And they’ve already started pilot programs, and many educated youth who went to the countryside have successfully returned to the city. Maybe it will work in Beijing too.”

Since returning to the city, Fang Qiao had been keeping a close eye on relevant news. Cheng Baidong knew what she was thinking, and he brought home every newspaper article he saw or published about it for Fang Qiao to read. Fang Qiao kept all of these newspapers, so she had a general understanding of the policy direction from above.

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