Chapter 101

On Yueyue's first birthday party, although the family only planned to invite two families of friends for dinner, there were actually more than a dozen people in total, so preparing the food was still a lot of work.

It was also a coincidence that this day was a holiday and everyone was at home, so we were not too busy.

Lin Manman also came to help, but their clinic does not close on normal holidays. The clinic cannot be left without someone, so they have to be on duty even on holidays.

It happened to be Lin Manman's turn to be on duty today, but she discussed with Hu Xiaofeng and decided to switch with her. Hu Xiaofeng would take her place today, and she would nominate Hu Xiaofeng to be on duty tomorrow.

When Lin Manman came this morning, Lin Tao was still talking about her. She was busy at home and was just waiting to come for dinner in the evening, so why did she change shifts?

Lin Manman smiled as she selected dishes and said, "That won't do. It's Yueyue's birthday, and as her aunt, I can't just wait around for dinner."

As she spoke, she took out a red envelope from her pocket - it was called a red envelope, but it was actually just a red envelope rolled up in red paper, and stuffed it into Yueyue's pocket, saying, "Yueyue, this is the red envelope that your aunt prepared for you, keep it."

Yueyue was wearing a new set of clothes today. Lin Tao had made it a month ago, but she had never worn it before. Today was her birthday, so she was given the clothes.

Moreover, this dress was designed based on the picture drawn by Xu Yuting. It must be said that Xu Yuting has an excellent vision. Although she is usually busy and rarely has time to design, the clothes designed by her hand-drawn pictures are all very beautiful.

Yueyue sat on a small chair, not making any noise, and watched everyone busying themselves obediently.

At this time, my aunt stuffed a red envelope into my hand. I was a little confused and didn't know what it was, but I thought the red paper was pretty.

When Lin Tao saw this, she took the red envelope and tried to give it to Lin Manman: "Manman, what are you doing? It's just a child's birthday, why give him a red envelope? Take it back now."

When she invited everyone to dinner, she said it was all about having a meal together and having fun, and she didn't ask them to prepare anything.

The same thing happened during the last Qingming Festival.

Lin Manman refused to take it back and continued to choose vegetables, saying, "Sister, there's not much money in it, it's just for the sake of luck, just give it to Yueyue."

She was afraid of being criticized by Lin Tao, so she wrapped a small red envelope with only eight or eighty yuan in it, just for good luck. Although Lin Tao said not to give anything, she was Yueyue's aunt after all, so she couldn't give nothing. She went to the supply and marketing cooperative two days ago to see if there was anything she could buy to give to the child.

But there was really nothing good to buy in the supply and marketing cooperatives on the island.

Yesterday, one of her friends was leaving the island, so Lin Manman asked her to bring some gifts for her children. However, that friend was going home to visit relatives and would not be back for at least a week.

Lin Tao had no choice but to accept it and went to the vegetable garden to pick some water spinach and prepare to wash the vegetables. Lin Manman went into the kitchen to help watch the fire.

Today's dishes are mainly seafood, boiled fish fillets, and a seafood pot is also planned, that is, prepare a soup base, and then put scallops, mussels, clams, octopus and the like into it. Lin Changhai bought a few pounds of mantis shrimp, and Lin Tao also fried some mantis shrimp.

Another duck was killed at home. This duck belonged to Zhong Jing. It had been raised to be very big and fat. Lin Tao fried half of it and stewed the other half into duck soup. She put some dried bamboo shoots sent from Shanghai in it, and it tasted very delicious.

It takes a long time to make duck soup. It has to be simmered over low heat for several hours until the duck meat is tender and crispy. Otherwise, the meat is too tough to chew.

With more than a dozen people, one table at home certainly could not accommodate them, so Li Chengxi went to the house next door, Zheng Youde, to borrow a table and placed it in the living room. In that case, there was just one table for the men and one table for the women and children.

At this moment, there was a noise at the gate. Someone knocked on the door, and then Lin Tao heard a familiar voice: "Brother, sister-in-law, it's me. I'm here to see you."

Lin Tao was quite surprised when she heard Li Mingcheng's voice. After all, Li Mingcheng was in Hainan, which was quite far away from them.

She walked to the gate of the courtyard and opened it. She saw that the person standing at the gate was indeed Li Mingcheng.

Li Mingcheng stood straight at the gate in a navy uniform, looking a little tanned and tougher than last year. He was carrying a bag of luggage, and when he saw Lin Tao, he immediately smiled, making his teeth look especially white.

Although Lin Tao was almost certain it was Li Mingcheng when she heard the voice, when she saw Li Mingcheng in person, she couldn't hide her surprise: "Mingcheng?"

Li Mingcheng really came? Even from such a long distance.

"Sister-in-law!" After not seeing each other for almost a year, Li Mingcheng was very cordial when he saw Lin Tao again.

But he was more concerned about Yueyue, so he looked into the yard and asked, "Sister-in-law, where is Yueyue?"

Seeing him like this, Lin Tao couldn't help but smile, and immediately moved aside to let him into the yard: "Yueyue is here, Yueyue, look who's here, it's Yueyue's uncle."

Lin Tao picked up Yueyue from the chair.

"Yueyue has grown up so much and is so beautiful, sister-in-law. I think Yueyue looks a bit like you now." Li Mingcheng said.

When Yueyue was younger, she really looked like Li Chengxi. Now that she is a little older and her eyes and eyebrows have grown more mature, she gradually looks like Lin Tao. Xu Yuting has also talked about this with Lin Tao, but Chen Shuifen has always felt that Yueyue looks like Li Chengxi.

The last time Li Mingcheng saw Yueyue, she was still very young, only about two or three months old. At that time, the little boy had very little hair. Later, when Lin Tao took Yueyue to take pictures, she also had very little hair on her head. Now, she has grown a lot of hair and has a small watermelon head. She looks even cuter than before.

Li Mingcheng kept the photos he received close to his body. Whenever he missed Yueyue, he would take them out and look at them.

When he was sitting on the train to Shancheng, he couldn't help but keep thinking about how big Yueyue had grown. When he saw his beloved niece, he immediately wanted to hold her in his arms.

But Yueyue couldn't help but come to Li Mingcheng. Well, she was too young at that time and had no memory of it at all.

Although Yueyue is not shy, you still need to play with her for a while. Only after you get familiar with her will she be willing to be held. Otherwise, she will not be happy.

Li Mingcheng took out a small doll from his luggage and used it to coax Yueyue: "Yueyue, this is what your uncle bought for you. Do you like it?"

For so long, the little girl's toy was the little doll that Lin Tao made for her. From birth to now, she has always loved it. Now a new doll has appeared, which looks much more delicate than the one Lin Tao made by herself.

The little guy immediately got tired of the old and fell in love with the new one.

She hugged the doll and did not resist when Li Mingcheng held her in his arms. It was obvious that she had already regarded Li Mingcheng as her own.

"Your brother went to fetch water and will be here soon." Lin Tao said, "Why are you here at this time? Don't tell me that you applied for a home visit leave specifically for Yueyue's first birthday. Is it so easy to apply for a home visit leave in your army?"

Li Mingcheng only joined the military unit at the beginning of this year, so he will have to wait until next year at least before he can apply for family leave.

Li Mingcheng held Yueyue in his arms and said, "Dad has not been in good health recently. I happened to go out with our leader to do some work and took half a month of sick leave. Dad was just discharged from the hospital a few days ago. I thought Yueyue was going to have her birthday, so I came to see her."

Li Mingcheng also graduated from a military academy. After joining the army, the starting point of military academy students is not too low, because their military age is also counted while they are studying in the military academy.

Li Mingcheng took a different path from Li Chengxi. He focused on politics. After completing the recruit training, Li Mingcheng was assigned to do political work.

Although he looked careless, he was quite capable in political work. Not long after he arrived at the army, he won the favor of the army's political commissar by speaking at the party's founding ceremony.

After hearing what Li Mingcheng said, Lin Tao felt a little embarrassed, but still asked, "Is the old man okay?"

She still didn't have a good impression of Li Guodong. If Li Guodong came, she would probably still curse him. But since Li Mingcheng mentioned this matter, she had to ask him anyway.

Li Mingcheng said: "The doctor said it's not serious. It's just that I'm old, and my body was damaged by fighting in the war when I was young. I have a lot of problems, big and small."

"Well, I'm glad you're okay." Lin Tao nodded.

Li Mingcheng also knew that Lin Tao didn't want to linger on this topic any longer, so he quickly changed the subject: "Sister-in-law, are you and big brother doing well recently?"

"Everything is fine. By the way, how are the dishes I sent you last time? Are they edible? I didn't know if they would go bad after being sent, so I didn't dare to send too much." Lin Tao said.

"Sister-in-law, your cooking skills are really great. I didn't eat much of the dishes you sent me, as they were all divided up by my comrades. When I came back this time, they asked me to bring some back." Li Mingcheng said.

Lin Tao smiled after hearing this: "It's nothing. We have some pickled vegetables and pickles at home. Just take some with you when you leave the island."

"That's great. Those guys will have a treat again." Li Mingcheng said.

That being said, he is actually the one who enjoys the most delicious food.

Li Mingcheng was teasing Yueyue while chatting with Lin Tao. With the rag doll as bait, Yueyue easily fell in love with uncle Li Mingcheng, and occasionally she would utter a few words in an attempt to chat with her uncle.

Of course, Yueyue can't speak much now, and the two of them couldn't quite get along when they talked. Lin Tao couldn't help laughing when she heard it.

At this moment, Lin Manman, who was watching the fire in the kitchen, came out and said, "Sister, I just took a look and it seems that the duck is almost done. Do you want to come over and take a look?"

As soon as she reached the door, Lin Manman saw Li Mingcheng sitting there with Yueyue in his arms.

The two looked different from when they met a year ago. Li Mingcheng was a little tanned and looked tougher than before. Lin Manman was also wearing a white navy uniform. She had changed a lot compared to the little girl who was traveling for the first time and couldn't find the way, with nervous and vigilant eyes.

Now she is much braver and more cheerful.

Her long, smooth black hair was braided into two braids, hanging down on both sides of her chest. Like Lin Tao, she was not very tanned, so her face was still white and clean.

The soup was bubbling in the kitchen, and Lin Manman really didn't hear anything happening in the yard. When she walked out, she saw that there was another person in the yard, and that person looked so familiar...

When Li Mingcheng heard the voice, he looked over and saw Lin Manman standing in front of the nephew flower, wearing a navy uniform similar to his own. The image of the little girl at the train station a year ago flooded into his memory.

Both of them showed surprise in their eyes, and then said at the same time:

Lin Manman: "Is it you?"

Li Mingcheng: "It's you? Are you my sister-in-law's younger sister?"

Lin Tao was a little confused by what they said. Lin Manman smiled and explained, "Sister, do you remember? When Yueyue was not yet born, didn't my mother and I come to the island together? We got separated from the comrade sent by my brother-in-law to pick us up. He didn't pick us up. We thought the people sent by my brother-in-law were waiting for us at the pier, so we wanted to take a bus to the pier by ourselves, but we couldn't find where to take the bus. At that time, there was an enthusiastic comrade Lei Feng who took us to the bus station. He was him."

"There's more." Lin Tao also laughed after hearing this and said, "I didn't expect that family members would help each other. Then you guys sit down and chat for a while. I'll go inside to see how the duck is cooked."

Lin Tao walked in, and only Lin Manman, Li Mingcheng, and the little Yueyue who was still very young and knew nothing were left.

It was fine when Lin Tao was here just now. Lin Manman didn't think it was a big deal and acted quite generously. But now that Lin Tao went to the kitchen, she felt embarrassed instead.

When Li Mingcheng looked over, her cheeks turned red and she didn't dare to look him in the eye.

Li Mingcheng smiled. The little girl was still the same little girl as before. "I didn't expect to meet you here."

He felt a little regretful when he recalled the hasty farewell at the train station, thinking that maybe he should have said a few more words to her or asked for her contact information. But he knew that the girl was shy, so he didn't dare to say so.

"I didn't expect that you are my brother-in-law's younger brother." Lin Manman pursed her lips and said in a low voice.

She glanced at Li Mingcheng stealthily, and Li Mingcheng happened to be looking at her as well. When their eyes met, they couldn't help but smile at each other.

"Hey, Yueyue, you can't eat this." Seeing Yueyue was about to open her mouth to bite the doll, Lin Manman quickly stopped her.

"Yueyue still loves to eat as much as she did when she was a child." Li Mingcheng said.

"It's fine now. Yueyue can walk now and doesn't drink milk anymore. She's a lot thinner than before." Lin Manman said.

The two of them talked a lot about Yueyue's topic. Lin Manman was no longer shy as she was at the beginning, and she couldn't help laughing when she talked about something funny.

Lin Tao entered the kitchen and tried the duck. It was indeed stewed to a soft and crispy texture. If she continued to stew it, it would not only be unpalatable, but if she stewed it for too long, the duck meat would have melted.

She took out the duck pot and prepared to start cooking.

Lin Manman and Li Mingcheng chatted for a while before Li Chengxi came back.

Seeing Li Mingcheng there, even though there were many grudges between the elders, the two brothers hadn't seen each other for more than a year, so they still caught up for a while.

Li Chengxi mostly asked about Li Mingcheng's work in the army. He was pleased to learn that the boy performed well and patted him on the shoulder: "Okay, you performed well. It's also good to take the political route."

Li Mingcheng smiled, with a look of joy that comes from being affirmed by his brother, and said, "That's right, I can't embarrass you, brother."

In the kitchen.

Lin Manman went in to help Lin Tao not long after Li Chengxi arrived, leaving the two brothers some time to reminisce.

"Sister, your brother-in-law has a younger brother? Why do I seem to have never heard you mention him before?" Lin Manman asked.

Lin Tao said, "Mingcheng was born to your brother-in-law's stepmother. He has the same father as your brother-in-law but different mothers. I didn't tell you and Aunt Fang about this."

When Lin Tao and Li Chengxi first started dating, Lin Tao told Aunt Fang and the others about Li Chengxi's family situation. Aunt Fang and Lin Manman also knew that Li Chengxi had a stepmother, but they didn't know the details very well. At that time, Aunt Fang also considered whether it would be a bad thing to have a stepmother.

But thinking that Lin Tao would go to join the army with Li Chengxi, and she wouldn't have to face her step-mother-in-law, it didn't matter.

Lin Manman was stunned for a moment, nodded and said nothing.

When the meal was almost ready, Xu Yuting, Wang Yuanliang's family, and Chen Shuifen's family arrived.

Li Mingcheng and the others had met last time, and when they saw each other this time, they all greeted her with a smile, saying that Yueyue was so lucky to have such a good uncle who came from far away to celebrate her first birthday.

Yueyue didn't quite understand, but after playing with Li Mingcheng for an afternoon, she had already begun to like this uncle and refused to get out of his arms.

Chen Shuifen walked to the kitchen, still muttering: "Teacher Lin, I said I would help you, but you refused. Can you handle it by yourself?"

Lin Tao was busy in the kitchen as she responded, "We only need two more dishes before we can eat. You guys just wait for the meal. Besides, we have Manman to help us today, so it's not too busy."

Today's appetizers were prepared by Lin Manman, including fried edamame, cold seaweed salad, and salted peanuts, all quite simple.

Her cooking skills are average, but she is not bad at it, and this kind of side dish is no problem for her.

"Okay, then Teacher Xu and I will wait for the meal." Chen Shuifen said with a smile.

Xu Yuting said, "Yueyue's uncle is here, Tao, let me be fair, your uncle is a really nice guy."

Lin Tao also agreed with this statement. Li Mingcheng was a very good person. If it weren't for the things that happened in the previous generation, their family would have been happier. It was a pity that there was still such a gap between the two brothers.

Speaking of Li Mingcheng, Chen Shuifen became interested. Her eyes lit up as she said, "Hey, I remember Captain Li's brother. He's about the same age as you, Teacher Lin, right? So he must be twenty-three this year, right? How old is Manman? Nineteen or twenty? Isn't it time for him to find a partner?"

Although the words were not completely said, the implication was that Li Mingcheng and Lin Manman were a good match.

Lin Manman had a thin skin and her face turned red instantly.

Lin Tao glanced at Lin Manman and said, "Sister, Manman is shy, you can't make such a joke in front of her."

Chen Shuifen smiled and said, "Okay, then I won't say anything. I've seen Manman grow up to this age, right? In our countryside, people as old as Manman are already married. And didn't you, Teacher Lin, also meet Captain Li when you were this age?"

This is the truth. Nowadays, people of Lin Manman's age should be arranging blind dates.

However, Lin Tao thought that Lin Manman had just arrived on the island not long ago, and maybe she would meet someone she liked by then, so she didn't worry too much about it.

"We can't say for sure about the matter of love. It depends on Manman herself." Lin Tao said.

The few of them stopped talking about this topic. Lin Tao happened to have cooked the last seafood pot. Chen Shuifen and Xu Yuting helped to serve the dishes. They said to the men who were chatting outside, "Okay, the dishes are ready. You can come and eat."

At this time, Lin Changhai, who had disappeared for most of the day, came back with a small wooden horse in his hand.

Zheng Youde was the first to ask, "Lao Lin, what are you holding in your hand?"

"It's a little wooden horse. I made it for my granddaughter." Lin Changhai raised the little wooden horse, put it on the ground, took Yueyue from Li Mingcheng's arms, and let Yueyue sit on it.

The little wooden horse kept rocking, which was very interesting.

It was Yueyue’s first time to sit on this, but she wasn’t scared at all and even smiled happily.

"Dad, you have been busy doing this these days, right?" Li Chengxi asked.

Lin Changhai nodded: "Yes, I went to find a carpenter in the fishing village and learned it from him. I also changed it a little bit here and added a footrest."

Everyone says that Lin Changhai really loves Yueyue, and Yueyue is so lucky to have so many people loving her.

Yueyue played for a while and then was taken over by Lintao for dinner. Lintao made some minced meat and vegetable puree for Yueyue and Xiao Qingming. The two little guys were very happy eating. However, Xiao Qingming did not finish his bowl, but Yueyue ate hers cleanly.

"Look, you don't eat as much as your sister." Xu Yuting said to Xiao Qingming.

Zheng Hongxing looked at the remaining minced meat in the bowl of Xiao Qingming, swallowed his saliva, rolled his eyes, and said, "Teacher Xu, our teacher has just taught us a new poem called "Ploughing the Wheat, Plowing the Wheat" or something like that..."

Zheng Xiangyang corrected him, "It's 'Farmers'. What's the point of hoeing the wheat? I can tell you didn't pay attention in class."

"..." Zheng Hongxing, who was interrupted by his brother, snorted and ignored him, continuing, "Anyway, the meaning is that waste is shameful."

Everyone thought what Zheng Hongxing said made sense. Xu Yuting even planned to say that what Xiao Qingming couldn't finish, she would eat later so it wouldn't be wasted.

Then I heard Zheng Hongxing say, "Teacher Xu, it's not good for my brother to waste food during Qingming Festival. Let me help him finish the leftovers. We should be frugal and avoid waste!"

Chen Shuifen rolled her eyes. This brat talked nicely but he just wanted the food.

But as children, it was okay for them to eat each other's leftovers, so she didn't say anything. But Xu Yuting felt embarrassed. She couldn't let Zheng Hongxing eat the leftovers from the Qingming Festival. Chen Shuifen said it was okay and let him eat it. They were just children and it wasn't dirty.

So Zheng Hongxing got to eat the minced meat and pureed vegetables that he had been craving for for a long time, and he was very satisfied.

Lin Tao was amused and said, "If you like it, I'll make some for you next time I prepare it for my sister."

"Teacher Lin, don't bother with him. He's just greedy and wants to try everything new." Chen Shuifen simply couldn't bear to look at her little son.

On the other side, the men were drinking and chatting. Li Mingcheng, who was from the Hainan Garrison Division, naturally became the main subject of their discussion. They asked how Hainan was, whether their Shengshan Island was better or Hainan was better...

At the same time, when everyone was eating, they did not forget to wish Yueyue a happy birthday.

Xiao Qingming is already one and a half years old and can speak quite a lot. Xu Yuting must have taught him when he was at home, so now he can speak clearly: "Wish my sister, you are lovely and beautiful!"

Zheng Hongxing was not to be outdone. As soon as he swallowed the duck meat in his mouth, he quickly said, "I also wish my sister a happy birthday. I hope my sister grows up quickly, grows so tall, and becomes especially good at fighting!"

After she finished speaking, she was slapped on the back of her head by Chen Shuifen: "All you do is fight! I'm not as fond of fighting as you are."

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Xiaoxiao finished the meal in a noisy manner. After Chen Shuifen's family and Xu Yuting's family left, Lin Changhai took out some things that the family had prepared before, saying that they were for Yueyue to hold the "Zhuazhou" ceremony.

Lin Tao and Li Chengxi actually didn't believe any of this, but since Lin Changhai brought it up, they thought it was okay for their family to join in the fun behind closed doors.

There were books, pens, abacus and other things on the ground. Lin Tao stood there and led Yueyue over.

Unexpectedly, Yueyue was not interested in any of these. Instead, she turned around and walked towards the dining table, grabbed the chicken leg that Lin Tao had not allowed her to eat before, and stuffed the chicken leg into her mouth while the adults were not paying attention.

This made everyone laugh.

Lin Tao picked up Yueyue and took the chicken leg away. The little girl looked very aggrieved. At the dinner table, she saw her brother Qingming drooling while eating the chicken leg, so she wanted to eat the chicken leg, but her mother wouldn't let her...

The kid was still young and didn’t know anything else but to eat. He finally got it, but his mom took it away again…

Lin Tao was helpless. She tore off a small piece of meat from the chicken leg and stuffed it into Yueyue's mouth: "Yueyue is still young, you can't eat too much."

Fortunately, Yueyue was satisfied after tasting the food and stopped making a fuss.

After a tiring day today, Yueyue felt sleepy after taking a bath in the evening and fell asleep in Lin Tao's arms.

Li Mingcheng helped wash the dishes and finished cleaning them. He looked at Yueyue who was sleeping and said, "Brother, sister-in-law, I'm going back to the guesthouse first."

Li Chengxi nodded: "Well, how many days do you plan to stay on the island this time?"

"I bought a boat ticket for the day after tomorrow, so I have to leave then," said Li Mingcheng.

There were still two days left. Li Chengxi nodded and said, "Well, come to my house for dinner tomorrow. By the way, Manman has to go back to the dormitory. It's late at night. As a gay man, please send Manman off."

"Okay, brother, I got it. I promise to complete the task." Li Mingcheng saluted Li Chengxi and said to Lin Manman who picked up the bag, "I'll take you back."

Lin Manman nodded and said to Lin Tao, "Sister, brother-in-law, Uncle Lin, I'll be leaving first."

"Well, be careful on the road." Lin Tao instructed.

It was already past seven o'clock. October was already late autumn. It was fine during the day, but it was quite chilly at night when the sea breeze blew.

Li Mingcheng and Lin Manman walked side by side, without saying a word to each other for a while.

Li Mingcheng tilted his head and glanced at Lin Manman. Li Mingcheng was tall and had long legs, about the same height as Li Chengxi, and Lin Manman just reached his shoulders.

From his angle, he could only see Lin Manman's pointed chin. Even though the girl was a soldier, she still looked a little thin. During meals, Li Mingcheng noticed that Lin Manman didn't eat much.

Li Mingcheng asked, "Are you cold?"

It would have been fine if he hadn't said it. Once he started talking, Lin Manman felt that she was quite cold. When she came during the day, the sun was still out and she was wearing a summer military uniform without a coat. Now the sea breeze was blowing and it was chilly.

Lin Manman shivered and was about to say she wasn't cold, but Li Mingcheng had already taken off his coat and put it on her: "Are you cold? Put it on."