"Cooperate."

He really dared to disobey, but after being beaten twice, he cooperated.

Cheng Baidong said, "Once the household registration transfer certificate is processed, we can directly register the household registration in Beijing. We'll ask her opinion later and see if she'd like to change her surname to her mother's."

“Okay, it would be best if she was willing to change.” Fang Qiao agreed, “Su Chen never raised her. With a father like that, and her taking his surname, Tian Tian might feel uncomfortable when she grows up.”

Cheng Baidong nodded and said "Mm".

His older sister was hardworking, capable, and intelligent. Cheng Baidong felt it was a waste that she died in childbirth because of a fickle man like Su Chen.

It's likely that she wouldn't want the child she risked her life to give birth to to carry the surname of the man who betrayed her.

Cheng Baidong said, "I also made him sign a statement voluntarily severing ties. I cut off all ties directly to prevent him from pestering Tian Tian for support when he gets old."

Fang Qiao agreed wholeheartedly: "You've thought it through. It's good to sever ties. It's a permanent solution and will prevent him from popping up again to annoy people."

As they were talking, the noodles were cooked. Fang Qiao said to Cheng Baidong, "Okay, the noodles are cooked. You don't need to cook them anymore. Just put out the fire."

Cheng Baidong nodded, pulled out the large firewood from the stove, and pressed it into the ashes under the stove to extinguish the fire.

Fang Qiao first served An An a small half bowl of noodles, then used a bamboo strainer to scoop the noodles into a large basin of cold water, rinsed them in the cold water, and then served the cold noodles into separate bowls.

Finally, grate some cucumber strips on top and pour over the prepared garlic sauce. The simple and appetizing garlic-flavored cold noodles are ready.

"The cold noodles are ready. Whoever wants some can serve them."

Fang Qiao poked her head out of the kitchen and called out to the outside.

People in the main room came out one after another to take their bowls. Fang Qiao said, "There is chili oil on the cutting board. Those who can handle spicy food can add some."

With so many people, there weren't enough seats at the square table, so Auntie San and Xiaoqiang found a burlap sack to sit on the ground and started eating.

In rural areas, there's no custom of not talking while eating or sleeping; people chat while eating, creating a very pleasant atmosphere.

Sweetie and An'an can eat by themselves now, without needing adults to help them.

Although An'an is small, she's very steady at shoveling rice into her mouth with her chopsticks. She eats slowly but carefully, and hardly makes any mess.

When Auntie saw An'an, she kept praising him for being so capable, while also taking a dig at someone else's child, saying that he was already several years old and his grandmother still had to chase after him to feed him. She added that it was lucky that he only had one child, otherwise the good-for-nothing would have starved to death.

After the meal, Wang Qiuju insisted on washing the dishes, refusing to let Fang Qiao do it anymore.

Cheng Baidong then opened the package that had been transported home from the city under the guise of being mailed.

They brought back many gifts: a wool sweater for the old lady, a woolen jacket for Auntie San, women's leather shoes for Wang Qiuju, and leather gloves for Xiaoqiang.

The gifts were all presentable and practical, and the prices were reasonable. Only the pair of women's leather shoes were a little expensive, but Xiaojing also contributed some money. She tailors clothes for people in the family compound and is quite skilled, so she gets a lot of work. Although she only earns small amounts of money, she has saved up more than 20 yuan a year, which she has given out.

The family gathered around to look at the gifts. As soon as the gifts were taken out, they immediately tried them on, and they fit perfectly.

My aunt laughed and said, "If it weren't so hot, I wouldn't have taken it off. I would have gone out to show it off."

After the laughter and chatter subsided, they rested for a while, took a nap, and around three o'clock, when the sun wasn't so scorching, the family went back to the fields.

The children got up too, not wanting to stay cooped up at home any longer, and started clamoring to go out and play.

Fang Qiao and Cheng Baidong also felt that the children shouldn't always stay cooped up indoors, so they decided to take them to the hill behind the village to play.

The terrain there is high, there are many trees and it's cool, and there's a river flowing behind it, the scenery is particularly beautiful.

The main reason is that the river channel is narrow and the water is shallow, so there is no danger. If you are lucky, you can catch some small fish and shrimp. Therefore, when he went out, Cheng Bodong specially brought a bamboo basket with a narrow mouth and a big belly. He would put it in a place with a lot of water plants, put some bread crumbs in it, wait a little while, and then scoop it up. The water would drain away, leaving only small fish and shrimp.

During the busy farming season, the village primary school is closed. There are many children on the high hill, watched over by elderly people who are too old to work. The oldest is three or four years old, and the youngest is only two years old.

There are no more older children, because five or six-year-olds are already old enough to understand things and have to go out and help their parents with chores.

Sweetie grew up in Chengzhuang Village, which is her "base camp" where she plays with many children.

As soon as she arrived, children invited her to play together.

Of course, when she went out to play, she didn't forget to take An'an with her. The two of them ran forward hand in hand. Fang Qiao, carrying the child, couldn't keep up and could only shout after them, "Don't run too far! Don't go into the river! And don't take your sister to climb high places, do you hear me?"

"I heard you!" Sweetie waved at her as she ran.

Fang Qiao couldn't rest easy, so she gestured to Cheng Baidong to take the child with him and go check on them.

Cheng Baidong said, "Don't worry, she won't go far. She's been wandering around the village since she was little, and she knows what she's doing. She won't go to dangerous places."

"I still need to keep an eye on them from a distance. I can't let them run away from under my nose." Fang Qiao is a typical doting mother. Free-range parenting is good, but she's not at ease with it. She'd rather take the extra care herself than let her children get into danger.

Fortunately, Tian Tian was sensible and didn't take An An too far.

Fang Qiao and Cheng Baidong carried the child and chased after them for a short distance. After turning a corner, they saw them playing "Eagle Catches Chicks" with a group of children of similar age.

An'an was the shortest in the group, clinging to her sister's clothes and trailing at the very back of the line. She stumbled and fell along with the flock of hens, being tossed about from side to side until she could barely stand. She bared her big teeth and giggled foolishly.

Fang Qiao felt relieved and put the two younger children down to play on the ground.

Cheng Baidong picked up a broken brick while carrying the child and let Fang Qiao sit on it, so that it would save some of her strength.

The high hill offered a wide view, stretching as far as the eye could see to the endless cotton fields. The white cotton bolls and black stalks created a rather unsightly mix of black and white. In the distance, one could also see the brick kiln of Songzhuang, with a huge mound of earth where people were moving about; from a distance, they looked like black ants.

Further out, you can still see the houses in the town, but they are too far away and blurry to see clearly.

At that moment, Fang Qiao saw a bird flying in from afar in the sky, swooping straight down towards her from high above.