Winter 1974

Yin Xiaoman put the freshly steamed buns into the food box and the seafood dumpling soup into the ceramic pot and left the kitchen.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she glanced at the watch on her wrist.

It is already eleven fifteen. Dabao and Erniu will be out of school soon. Then they will deliver the meals to the expert group together and she won't have to worry about anything.

Ever since Dami left Zhongshan Island to join the army three years ago, Dabao took over his brother's job voluntarily and was responsible for delivering meals to the expert group every day.

In the beginning, you will need some help from adults.

Later, when Yin Xiaoman's second son Shen Zhihua was three years old, she became pregnant again and vomited violently again.

So Erniu, just like Dami did in the beginning, took over her job as the chef, and together with her brother, followed Cui Yan to take care of all the chores in the kitchen.

Now the youngest son, Shen Shiyan, is already two years old.

The two boys, one five years old and the other two, are both at an age that even dogs would hate. Yin Xiaoman, who makes a lot of noise every day, gets a headache just thinking about them.

Things in the kitchen rely more on the two children, Dabao and Erniu.

I took a look at the yard. It was empty and there was no sign of those two little devils. Yin Xiaoman rubbed his chest, turned around and went back to the house.

For some reason, her heart always felt inexplicably anxious during this period, and sometimes it would suddenly start beating wildly.

For this reason, the man personally "escorted" her to the health center, and asked Liu Chang and Dr. Xiao Wang who came later to examine her several times.

But every time I get a checkup, the result shows I'm healthy and there's nothing wrong.

But she still felt palpitations every now and then.

Liu Chang said that heart problems are the most difficult to diagnose.

Unless you get checked right away when an attack occurs, you won't be able to find out anything afterwards.

There was no other way, he could only prescribe some quick-acting heart-saving pills for Yin Xiaoman and told her to keep them in reserve, and to remember to take a few pills immediately when she felt really uncomfortable.

Yin Xiaoman felt very uncomfortable at this moment. His heart was beating so wildly that even the root of his tongue was numb.

She didn't bother to look for the two bald boys. She went back to the bedroom, took out the medicine bottle, poured out a few pills and put them under her tongue.

The bitter and astringent smell of the medicine came up, making her frown.

At this moment, the little girl's angry voice suddenly came from outside: "Mom! Mom! Come and have a look. Xiaohua took Xiaoyan to the stream again, and look at them covered in mud!"

What followed was the screaming of the second son.

Without asking, Yin Xiaoman knew that he was being punished by his elder brother again.

The second son, Shen Zhihua, is a fish, as his father said. I have never been afraid of water since I was a child. When I was a little kid, I would jump into the water as soon as I saw it.

Once, Erniu wanted to take a bath, so she used her own large wooden bucket to collect half a bucket of stream water and placed it in the yard under the sun to dry.

The sun on the island is so strong that people usually don't even need to boil water for a bath. After the water is exposed to the sun for half a day, the temperature will be just right.

At that time, Shen Zhihua was just two years old and had only just started to walk steadily.

As a result, when Erniu went back to the house to put down the basin, the kid somehow jumped into the bucket, head down and feet up...

It happened that Shen Qingyun went home for lunch at noon. As soon as he opened the gate, he saw his little son soaking upside down in the bathtub, with only his two feet splashing on the water.

He was so scared that he ran over quickly, picked up the two calves with one hand and pulled them up.

After coming up, the kid rolled his eyes and spit out several mouthfuls of water.

The whole family was almost scared to death at the time, and no one dared to think about it again.

No one could imagine how terrible it would have been if Shen Qingyun hadn’t come back at that time!

From then on, the whole family was on high alert. Erniu was so scared that she started boiling water for bathing and never dared to put the bucket outside again.

But even so, there was no way to control the kid. He would sneak away and run to the creek by himself when he was out of sight.

The Shen family members were often frightened and screamed, looking for their child all over the world.

For a long time, this became an interesting story that almost everyone on Zhongshan Island talked about.

Later, when Shen Zhihua was just three years old and not even as tall as an adult's legs, Shen Qingyun could no longer tolerate him.

He personally took the kid to the beach and spent three days teaching him how to swim.

In Shen Qingyun's words, "Now that you have learned it, you can at least hold your breath a little longer when you fall into the bucket again, giving adults a chance to fish you out. You won't start spitting bubbles as soon as you enter the water."

But who would have thought that this little bastard would be even more out of control once he learned how to swim.

He is like a water rat every day, wishing he could live in the water every day.

Now, his younger brother Shen Shiyan is just two years old, the same age as when he first fell into the bucket. He has already begun to imitate his father's posture, quietly taking his younger brother to the stream, claiming that he wants to teach him how to swim.

It’s a pity that the youngest son, Shen Shiyan, doesn’t look like his second brother at all.

Not to mention the second brother, he has nothing in common with his older brothers, including Da Mi.

He is a particularly well-behaved and sensible child.

I don’t like to play crazy or run around.

My favorite thing to do every day is to snuggle up to my mother, listening to her stories or watching her read books and memorize words. It is always so quiet.

Not annoying at all, very obedient.

Cui Yan lamented every day that the child was born in the wrong womb and should be a girl.

Including today, this is the second time Shen Zhihua has taken his brother to swim in the stream. But it was obvious that Xiao Shiyan still didn't want to play with him.

"Mom, you don't know how bad Xiaohua is! When Xiaoyan couldn't get on with it, he threw water and mud on him to scare him.

And dragged him into the creek.

Look at all the mud!

No, Xiaohua has to wash all their clothes today. I absolutely won’t help him! ”

Seeing Yin Xiaoman coming out of the house, Erniu angrily pointed at Shen Zhihua who was standing in the corner of the yard as punishment under Dabao's surveillance.

Yin Xiaoman glanced at the two boys standing in the corner, the one who was punished to stand and the other who volunteered to stand.

Zhihua was fine. Although he was soaked, it was obvious that he jumped into the water on his own. At least his whole body was clean.

But the younger son said, then we can’t watch it anymore.

His clothes were covered in mud, and his pants, especially his buttocks, were all covered in mud, as if he had fallen into a mud puddle.

It was obvious that his brother pulled him into the water, but the little guy refused and sat on the ground, then was dragged down, so his butt was covered with dirt.

Seeing this, Yin Xiaoman became so angry that her heart beat even faster.

She didn't care about the clothes, but what would she do if something happened to those two little bastards, one five years old and the other two years old, in the water? !

She waved her hand at her daughter with a gloomy face: "Go, bring me the broom!"

But after saying this, he couldn't help but cover his chest with his other hand again.

"Mom, what's wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable again?"

Dabao, who had been silent before and standing by the wall with a sullen face to calm down his brother, was the first to notice that something was wrong with her.

At this moment, he didn't bother to scare his two younger brothers, and hurriedly ran over to support Yin Xiaoman.

Erniu also noticed that her mother's face looked strange and she was frightened. She quickly ran into the house and brought out the rattan chair she often sat on.

"Mom, please sit down for a while and calm down. Don't be angry. We can't be angry."

As she spoke, she used her hand to slowly stroke Yin Xiaoman's chest.

Yin Xiaoman didn't say anything. He closed his eyes and slowly exhaled from his mouth.

He didn't open his eyes again until his heart beat slower.

As soon as I opened my eyes, the first thing that caught my eye was my second son's calico cat-like face, still covered in mud.

Although those little eyes were full of worry, she still felt very angry when she saw it.

"Where is the broom handle I asked you to get?" She turned to look at her daughter.

"Stop hitting me. It'll make you even angrier if you do." Without waiting for Erniu to speak, Dabao spoke up to stop her.

After hearing what his son said, Yin Xiaoman struggled for a moment, then took a deep breath, leaned back in his chair and said nothing more.

She knew that her son was on her side.

Otherwise, if I really hit that little bastard with a few broomsticks, he will definitely scream and howl like a ghost again, and then I will be the one who is angry.

I saw my mother turning her face away, closing her eyes and not saying a word, but she still looked very angry.

Shen Zhihua was a little scared.

He was not afraid of his mother beating him. After all, it would only be a few hits and it wouldn't hurt much. But he was afraid of making his mother angry.

My mother suffers from heart palpitations and cannot get angry. Don't mention him about this, even my younger brother knows about it.

No matter how naughty he is, he would never do anything to upset his mother.

He reached out and tugged at Yin Xiaoman's sleeve, then leaned over and begged her softly.

"Mom, if you don't have the energy, just let my sister beat me up. I promise not to run away or howl, and I won't make you feel bad if you hear me.

Don't be angry, I know I was wrong, and I won't drag Xiaoyan into the water again.

I didn't throw mud on him either, I just talked to him nicely. As long as he learns to swim, he will let me help him with anything. ”

When he said the first sentence, Yin Xiaoman still felt that her son was okay, at least he knew how to love his mother.

But before she could finish being happy, she heard the following words and almost got choked with anger again.

She opened her eyes and slapped her second son on the head with her backhand.

"You're still competing with Xiaoyan, aren't you? How old is he? When you were two years old, you were still drinking bath water from a bucket! You're forcing him to swim now?"

Upon hearing what his mother said, Shen Zhihua also quit.

Drinking his sister's bath water was a lifelong black history of his. When he understood things a little better, he never let anyone tell anyone about it again.

Now mom brings it up again!

He rubbed his head that was hurt by being hit, stood up straight, and retorted confidently: "It is because I almost drowned that Xiaoyan cannot be the same as me? No, he must learn to swim. Go learn it this afternoon!"

Seeing that the little rabbit dared to refute, Yin Xiaoman started to think about her broom again!

She was so angry that she rubbed her chest hard and couldn't utter a word for a long time.

She glared at her second son, then pointed at Dabao and then pointed towards the kitchen. Everyone in the family knew what that meant, and that this was a request to get the "family discipline" of the broom.

Seeing her like this, Shen Zhihua raised his head and acted as if he was ready to die.

But her hands still subconsciously covered her buttocks on both sides.

Dabao glanced at him, snorted coldly, then looked at Yin Xiaoman and said, "Mom, don't worry about it. I'll take care of him."

After saying that, he narrowed his eyes and looked at his second brother, then stood up from the rattan chair.