Chapter 104

It takes dozens of hours to travel from the mountain city to Shanghai by train.

At first, Yueyue was quite excited. She sat in a window seat, looking at the different scenery outside. She found it very novel and even walked back and forth in the aisle. But after sitting for a while, she began to find it boring.

But she didn't make a fuss. Li Chengxi was afraid that Lin Tao would get tired holding Yueyue, so when they got on the train, he took Yueyue over. Yueyue held her doll in her arms and food in her other hand, eating happily.

When people on the train saw Yueyue, they all thought she was really well-behaved. They couldn't help asking, "How old is this child? Why is she so well-behaved? She's not noisy at all."

Lin Tao smiled and said, "I'm a little over a year old, and this is my first time riding a train."

"This kid is really easy to take care of. Unlike my kid, he's very noisy. If I took him on the train, he would probably overturn the train."

There happened to be a few soldiers in this carriage who had applied for leave to visit their families and were also going back. They were all in their teens and were very enthusiastic at the time, but after the train had been running for a few hours, everyone felt a little bored and started to liven up the atmosphere.

"How about we put on a show for everyone?"

One of the men brought an organ. The man played the organ while the women sang, and the atmosphere immediately became lively.

Lin Tao also hummed along and whispered to Li Chengxi, "This young comrade sings really beautifully."

Li Chengxi whispered back, "You sing better."

Lin Tao glared at Li Chengxi, but couldn't help but smile.

There are four people in their family. Yueyue is still young, so they don't need to buy a ticket for her. There are very few berths on this train. In addition, it is the end of the year and many people want to go back, so tickets are hard to buy. This time they bought hard seat tickets.

Thanks to the efforts of several young comrades, the atmosphere in the carriage became much more lively. However, after a few hours, everyone began to feel sleepy. Lin Tao was also a little sleepy, so Li Chengxi let her lean on his shoulder to sleep.

So, Yueyue slept on her father's left shoulder, while Lin Tao slept on his right shoulder.

Lin Changhai looked at the happy family of three. Half asleep and half awake, he took out a thin quilt and put it on Yueyue and Lin Tao. It was a bit cold on the train, so they must not catch a cold.

For the next twenty hours, Yueyue went to sleep when she was tired of playing, ate when she woke up, played for a while after eating, and then went to sleep again.

After repeating this several times, we arrived at Shanghai Railway Station.

Before they set off, they called their grandmother in Shanghai and told her the time when the train would arrive. When the train arrived, Lin Tao looked at the time on her watch. They were really lucky this time, as the train was not delayed.

Finally, we can get off the train. Yueyue is so happy. This train was so boring for her.

Li Chengxi and Lin Changhai took the luggage. Li Chengxi took the two heavy bags and Lin Changhai took the lighter ones. The father-in-law and son-in-law argued about the luggage. Lin Changhai felt sorry for Li Chengxi because he didn't have a good rest on the train. He had to carry so many things after getting off the train, so he wanted to take some of it himself.

But Li Chengxi picked up his luggage and left, and Lin Changhai could do nothing about him.

Lin Tao carried Yueyue off the train. Yueyue wanted to walk by herself, so when they got out of the station and there were fewer people, Lin Tao held Yueyue's hand and let her walk for a while.

Outside the train station, my uncle was already waiting in the company car. My grandmother asked, "Xiang Dong, what time is it? Is it time yet? Why haven't Cheng Xi and the others come out yet?"

Lu Xiangdong said helplessly: "Mom, it's 4:55. When Cheng Xi called, he said we would arrive around 5 o'clock. It's not time yet. If you feel uncomfortable after sitting for too long, I'll take you out of the car and walk around."

The old lady was old and could not sit for a long time. It was so cold, and Lu Xiangdong asked her to wait at home, but she insisted on going with them to pick them up, saying that she could not wait any longer and wanted to see their baby Yueyue.

Lu Xiangdong had no choice but to bring the old lady along. Half an hour later, the old lady asked three or four times why they hadn't arrived yet.

"I'm in good health and not feeling unwell. I just want to see Yueyue as soon as possible." Grandma said, still looking at the photo of Yueyue in her hand.

Ever since Lin Tao sent her the photos, she has to look at them several times every day, and sometimes she even dreams of Yueyue.

At this moment, she glanced out of the car window and asked, "Xiang Dong, look, isn't that Cheng Xi and A Tao? The one in A Tao's arms is our Yue Yue, right?"

Lu Xiangdong looked over and found that it was indeed Li Chengxi's family. He nodded and said, "Yes, Mom, it's Chengxi and his family."

Lu Xiangdong opened the car door and got out. He found that the old lady, who usually moved slowly, was opening the car door faster than he did. He was afraid that the old lady might bump into something, so he quickly stepped forward to help her. The grandmother said, "It's okay. Go pick up your in-laws."

"Are you in-laws? Hello, I'm Cheng Xi's uncle." Lu Xiangdong walked over and took the luggage from Lin Changhai. Lin Changhai waved his hands and said, "I'm fine. I can carry it. How about you help Cheng Xi carry some? Cheng Xi has more things."

Lu Xiangdong smiled and said, "It's okay. He is still young and needs to exercise more."

"Uncle." Lin Tao called out to Lu Xiangdong, and then said to Yueyue, "Yueyue, call me uncle quickly."

When they were on the island, Lin Tao began to teach Yueyue how to call people. At this moment, Yueyue looked at Lu Xiangdong and called him sweetly, "Uncle Dong!"

Girls learn to speak early. Since Yueyue turned one year old, it seems like her Ren and Du meridians have been opened. She learns to speak very quickly. But the child is still young, so some of the pronunciations are not accurate.

Lu Xiangdong: "Hey, Yueyue is so well behaved."

As soon as Lu Xiangdong heard Yueyue's voice, he was very happy. If he hadn't been holding the luggage in his hands, he would have hugged Yueyue. The little guy had fair skin, chubby face, big eyes, and a cute smile. He was very pleasing to look at.

Grandma came over at that moment and first consoled Lin Changhai and Lin Tao: "My dear relatives, Tao, you must be tired after coming so far. Get in the car quickly."

Then he teased Yueyue: "Yueyue, my wife's sweetheart."

Lin Tao called her grandma and asked Yueyue to call someone. Before she told her what to call, the little girl called her grandma, "Madam!"

This made the old lady very happy, and she took Yueyue from Lin Tao's arms. Lin Tao was afraid that her grandmother was too old to hold Yueyue, but her grandmother waved her hands and said it was okay, and held Yueyue and shook her: "Yueyue is really well raised by you."

The family got in the car, Lin Changhai sat in the passenger seat, and grandma, Li Chengxi, Lin Tao and Yueyue sat in the back.

Yueyue had always ridden in military vehicles on the island, and this was her first time riding in a car like this. She sat obediently in her grandmother's arms, looking around.

"Are you hungry? Your aunt and aunt should have prepared dinner by now. We can take the bus back and have dinner." Grandma held Lin Tao's hand and said affectionately.

Lin Tao smiled and said, "Grandma, we are fine. We have eaten on the train. There is no need to worry."

Yueyue said: "Eat, eat, eat."

Lin Tao said helplessly: "You little guy, you just want to eat."

Grandma said, "It's good that children like to eat. Unlike when Chengxi was little, eating was a headache. OK, let's ask Uncle to drive quickly and go home to eat."

It is said that people are closer between generations, and there are two generations between grandma and Yueyue, which makes them even closer. Grandma loves Yueyue so much that she is reluctant to let her go after holding her in her arms, calling her her darling all the time.

When they got home, their aunt and uncle had already cooked the food. Seeing them coming, they hurriedly greeted them: "You're finally here. The food is ready. If you don't come soon, you'll have to wait for it."

Aunt: "Oh, this must be our Yueyue, come here and let aunt hug you. You are so cute, why do I feel like you look more like Tao now?"

"It looks like both Chengxi and A Tao." said my aunt.

My uncle-in-law asked, "What does that mean?"

My aunt glared at him and said, "Just say what you want to say. I hate it when you keep me in suspense."

The uncle-in-law was wearing a Zhongshan suit and was also an educator, working in the Education Bureau. Lin Tao thought he looked quite impressive and a leader, but under the gaze of his aunt, the uncle-in-law didn't even dare to breathe, and quickly said, "It shows that Cheng Xi and Ah Tao have been together for a long time, and they look more and more like a couple."

This made everyone laugh. Lin Tao couldn't help but look at Li Chengxi, wondering in her heart, am I becoming more and more like Li Chengxi?

My aunt brought out the dishes and asked everyone to sit down: "You've been on the train for so long, you must be hungry, right? Come on, father-in-law, sit here."

There are ten people in the family, including my uncle, my aunt, my aunt and her husband, and my uncle and aunt's eldest son, Lu Wenbo. Lu Wenbo happened to be assigned a job before the movement began, and now he is working as a technician in the city chemical plant.

The small table couldn't accommodate so many people, so my uncle and my sister-in-law brought out the eight-immortals table, which could seat just ten people.

Yueyue was being held by Lin Tao while eating. Her aunt said, "Tao, how about I hold Yueyue and you eat first?"

"It's okay, aunt, you go eat. I'll feed Yueyue while I eat. It's okay. She's very well behaved while eating." Lin Tao said.

Today's dish is naturally the result of my aunt and aunt working hard for a whole morning. They got up early to buy vegetables, and started preparing dinner when they came back.

On the table were some dishes that Lin Tao had never eaten before, and of course some that she had eaten before - pickled fresh basil. Her aunt had always remembered that Lin Tao loved this dish, so when Lin Tao and her family came this time, the first thing they did was to buy winter bamboo shoots. They had salted meat at home, so they just grilled it.

This time, in addition to the pickled fresh food, there are also garlic pork, fried gluten stuffed with meat, pork liver soup, stir-fried amaranth, stir-fried yam with black fungus, and fried spring rolls.

Garlic pork should be eaten with soy sauce. At first, Lin Tao and Lin Changhai, both from Xiangcheng, were used to eating Xiangcheng's stir-fried meat. Looking at the bland appearance of garlic pork, they didn't think it would be delicious. Unexpectedly, after dipping it in soy sauce, they found that it tasted quite good, a different feeling.

Stir-fried pork is made with chili peppers. People in Xiangcheng cannot eat without chili peppers, but occasionally when you eat authentic Shanghai cuisine, you will find that the cuisine of each place has its own merits.

The garlic pork has a strong meaty flavor. One bite into it and you will be filled with the meaty flavor, which is very satisfying.

Lin Tao had never eaten fried gluten stuffed with meat before, so Li Chengxi picked one up for her. It looked like a ball from the outside, and when Lin Tao took a bite, she found meatballs inside.

The pig liver soup was thick and delicious because starch was added to it. However, the pig liver had a fishy smell when cooked this way, and Lin Tao didn't like the taste very much. Yue Yue liked it very much, and she ate half a bowl of rice and some fried gluten stuffed with meat. During the meal, Lin Tao forced her to eat some yam and black fungus.

I thought the kid was full, but after seeing the spring rolls, he started eating them again.

There are two kinds of fillings in the spring rolls, one is shredded radish and the other is water spinach. Yueyue ate the shredded radish. The spring rolls were fried, and the skin tasted crispy and fragrant. This was Yueyue's first time eating this kind of thing, and it was delicious.

Yueyue is now sixteen months old. She had teeth early, and after she was able to eat complementary foods, Lin Tao often let her eat fish and shrimp, so she doesn't have calcium deficiency or anything. Now only the last two deciduous teeth have not come out, and the rest have already grown in.

In addition, Lin Tao would give her dried sweet potatoes from time to time to help her grind her teeth, so her little teeth were very strong and eating spring rolls was not difficult at all.

When the adults were eating, they couldn't help but look at Yueyue. She was eating so happily and was so adorable.

This was Lin Changhai's first time in Shanghai, so the Lu family naturally treated their relatives to delicious food and wine. However, they thought that they had been on the train for such a long time, and it would not be good for them to drink too much right after getting off the train, so everyone just had a small glass of wine each, and that was enough to show the meaning.

He drank Wuliangye. My uncle said, "We had saved a bottle of Maotai at home, and it was just right to drink it today. But I didn't know that Kangwen took it away. You can't blame this kid for taking it away without telling me."

"Kang Wen went to the Corps. Is he okay?" Li Chengxi said.

My uncle had two sons. The eldest son, Lu Bowen, was already working, but the younger son, Lu Kangwen, started to move before he graduated. Instead of staying idle at home, it would be better to go to the countryside to work. So he signed up to go to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, where at least he could exercise and do some practical work.

My uncle said, "It's fine. He wrote to us a while ago, saying it's just a little cold there, but everything else is fine."

After dinner, Lin Tao and Li Chengxi took out all the stuff from their luggage. When their grandmother and the others saw so many things, they said, "Why did you bring so many things here? It's so far away, it's so inconvenient. It would be great if you could just get here."

When she first saw so many luggages, she thought they were all clothes. After all, there were three adults and one child, and it was winter, so the clothes alone would take up a lot of luggage. She didn't expect Lin Tao to have prepared so many things.

There were rabbit meat, chicken, duck meat, and dried sea cucumbers, and she also made a pair of shoes for each of the adults.

"Grandma, these rabbits, chickens and ducks are all raised by us, and they taste delicious." Lin Tao said with a smile.

Uncle, aunt, aunt and uncle-in-law looked at the shoes made by Lin Tao and said that she was very thoughtful. They all liked Lin Tao very much and thought it was great for a girl like her to marry into their family.

The Lu family was actually quite well off. Their ancestors were officials. In this generation, Lu Xiangdong worked in the government, Lu Xiangxia worked in the All-China Women's Federation, and Lu Xiangchun was posthumously named a martyr.

Li Chengxi has a bright future at such a young age. If it were another family, the elders might not agree to this marriage.

But the Lu family respected Li Chengxi's choice because they believed in Li Chengxi's vision and believed that a girl he liked must be a very good one.

Lin Tao is a good girl in their eyes. They love her as if she were their own child.

The family sat together and talked for a while, mostly about their concern for Lin Tao and Li Chengxi, asking them how things were going on the island and whether Lin Tao had gotten used to it.

Lin Tao said it was a nice place.

My uncle and my sister-in-law talked to Lin Changhai. The men were able to chat together. Lin Changhai talked about his work in a transport factory after he retired from the army. He came to Shanghai ten years ago, but Shanghai was not as good as it is now. In the past few years, Shanghai has developed better.

During this time, Yueyue felt a little sleepy, yawned, and tears came out.

Lin Tao held her in her arms and coaxed her to sleep. The child was about to fall asleep, and the adults who were originally chatting fell silent, fearing to disturb Yueyue, so they spoke in low voices.

"It's getting late. Let's go back today and come back tomorrow." said my aunt. She and her husband don't live here, and it will take them several minutes to go back.

Unexpectedly, not long after my aunt left, Yueyue, who was about to go to sleep, dozed off for a while and woke up again. The reason was that she was still thinking about the new toy that her aunt bought for her - building blocks.

Shanghai is a big city, a trendsetting place. Lin Tao had never seen such "building block" toys. What did they play with at that time? They just ran into the mountains, herded cattle, cut grass, and went to the river to catch snails.

My uncle and aunt's unit also allocated a house, but the house they were allocated was small and could not accommodate too many people, so they have been living in the old house. The old house has two floors and is quite spacious.

The houses here are all two-story Western-style buildings, but after the movement started in the past few years, several families were affected and were sent down one after another. The rest either have military officers in the army or, like Li Chengxi's family, have martyrs.

Whenever my grandmother talked about this, she couldn't help but cry. Poor Xiangchun from their family, he became a martyr. He protected the motherland and Li Guodong during his lifetime, and protected their Lu family after his death.

But today is a day worth being happy about. Grandma won’t mention these things. She is too busy to see Yueyue happy.

It was Yueyue’s first time playing with building blocks. She didn’t know how to play at first, and neither did her grandmother. The old and the young just stared at each other. Finally, the grandmother quickly called Lu Xiangdong, who was helping to clean up the dishes, over and assigned him a task: to teach her and Yueyue how to play with building blocks!

Grandma said to Li Chengxi, "Chengxi, your father and A Tao are tired. Take them upstairs to take a bath and rest early."

My aunt tidied up the rooms. Lin Tao and Li Chengxi still lived in Li Chengxi's previous room, while Lin Changhai cleaned up the guest room. The two rooms were not adjacent to each other.

Because Li Chengxi liked quietness since he was a child, he lived in a separate room with a study next to it, and usually no one came there.

This was Lin Tao's first time visiting Li Chengxi's room. The room was just like him, clean and tidy. There were not many things placed in it, but there was a large bookcase, a desk, and a display stand with many warship models on it.

"So beautiful, it feels similar to the ones on the island." Lin Tao exclaimed as she looked at one of the warship models.

Li Chengxi said: "I made this myself when I was twelve years old."

"You made it yourself? That's amazing." Lin Tao noticed that there was indeed a date written under the model, 1952. The model was very finely made, and Lin Tao felt that it was simply a miniature version of the island warship.

However, she was just an outsider watching the excitement. When she heard Li Chengxi say that this thing still had many shortcomings and was just an empty model, she didn't quite understand what he said. She thought that it was already very amazing that Li Chengxi, who was only twelve years old, could make such a thing.

After viewing the warship model, Lin Tao opened the drawer of her desk and saw a notebook.

She turned her head and looked at Li Chengxi, and asked, "Can I see this? Does it contain some unspeakable secrets?"

For example, when Li Chengxi was young, he fell in love with a female classmate, but he was afraid of affecting his studies or he didn't have enough courage, so he didn't say it out loud and kept it in his heart. When he wanted to say it, the girl had already married someone else.

Lin Tao had read some foreign novels before. Before the movement, these books could be borrowed from the library. But now it is no longer possible because they have become feudal, capitalist, and revisionist.

Li Chengxi found Lin Tao's words funny and said naturally, "Sure, you can look at them as you like."

He didn't know there were any "female classmates" when he was in school. Until graduation, he didn't even know how many female classmates there were in his class, let alone their names. It was even more so after college, because he went to a military school and all his classmates were male.

Lin Tao opened the notebook, and found that it was all about combat techniques and warships, all very professional knowledge. Lin Tao couldn't understand it, and didn't want to read it. She flipped through a few pages and found that it was all about these things. The female classmate didn't exist at all.

Lin Tao must be happy with such a result. Who doesn't want her husband to only like her from beginning to end?

"How is it? Did you see my old favorite 'classmate'?" Li Chengxi's tone was teasing, and the 'classmate' he was referring to was the warship.

Lin Tao knew he was making fun of her, so she smiled and closed the notebook, saying deliberately, "I saw it, the whole notebook is filled with 'it', and I can feel how deeply you love me."

Just when Lin Tao was about to put the notebook back into the drawer, a photo suddenly fell out of the notebook. At this moment, Li Chengxi frowned and said in his heart, "Oh no! I was careless and forgot that I put this photo in the notebook!"

Lin Tao picked up the photo and took a look at it. The photo was a few years old and looked a little blurry, but Lin Tao could still tell at a glance that the 'little girl' in the skirt in the photo was Li Chengxi!

Lin Tao reacted immediately. It turned out that the photo that her aunt said was missing was not really missing, but was hidden by Li Chengxi.

Lin Tao looked at the photo, then at Li Chengxi, and couldn't help but smile until her eyes curved into crescents. She said, "Chengxi, you looked so pretty in a skirt when you were little, like a little girl. Do you think our daughter will look like this when she grows up?"

Li Chengxi turned his face away and didn't look at the photo.

As soon as he saw the photos, he regretted why he listened to his aunt when he was young and was tricked into taking such photos.

Lin Tao sat next to him and deliberately showed him the photo: "Take a quick look, she really looks a bit like Yueyue... um..."

But as soon as Lin Tao got close to Li Chengxi, he hugged her, pressed her against him, and kissed her lips as she spoke. Their lips touched, and Lin Tao's lips were soft and warm, and because she had just eaten some plums, they still had the sour and sweet taste of plums.

Li Chengxi's slender arms wrapped around Lin Tao's slender waist.

Lin Tao's fair cheeks flushed. She pushed Li Chengxi and whispered, "Stop making trouble. Grandma and the others are still outside taking care of Yueyue. You have been sitting on the train for such a long time without taking a shower. You stink."

Li Chengxi: “It doesn’t stink.”

Lin Tao snorted. In the eyes of this man, she was really a hot commodity. She herself felt that she smelled bad, but he said it didn't stink.

"Okay, it's almost nine o'clock. Let's give Yueyue a bath and coax her to sleep. Grandma is old and needs to go to bed early." After Lin Tao struggled out of Li Chengxi's arms, she straightened her messed-up clothes in front of the mirror and tidied her hair.

Urged Li Chengxi: "Hurry up and tidy up, don't let grandma and the others see it."

That's so embarrassing.

The couple went downstairs together. Yueyue was still playing with building blocks. The little girl was as energetic as a chicken. She didn't sleep much on the train during the day. Normally, she would have fallen asleep by now, but she was still playing.

Grandma is old and can't stand such torture from her.

Lin Tao came over, hugged Yueyue, and said, "It's too late today, you can't play anymore, Mom and Dad will take you to take a bath. Grandma, you should also go to bed early."

Grandma didn't sleep, and her uncle and aunt were also there. When they heard Lin Tao say this, they also agreed, "Yes, Mom, Ah Tao is right. You have to go to bed."

"The child is happy, there's nothing wrong with playing with her." Grandma loves Yueyue so much that she wants to play with her for a while longer.

Li Chengxi said: "Grandma, Yueyue is still young. Sleeping too late is not good for her development."

As soon as these words came out, grandma quickly said, "Yes, yes, yes, then you guys should go and give Yueyue a bath, and you guys should go to bed early too."

My uncle and aunt looked at each other. After so many years, Cheng Xi was still the most capable. He could make grandma behave herself with just one sentence.

My uncle and aunt have to go to work tomorrow and go to bed early. They all work in the company and have to wait until the 29th day of the lunar year to have a holiday. Today is the 28th day of the lunar year, and tomorrow is the last day of work. The lunar year will be celebrated on the 30th day of the lunar year.

When my aunt was sleeping, she called out to Lin Tao: "Tao, if you have anything, come and call me."

"Aunt, you should go to bed soon. Chengxi is here." Lin Tao said with a smile.

"Well, I'll go then." Auntie patted Lin Tao's hand, her face full of love, "By the way, towels and other things, we have already prepared them for you. They are all in the bathroom, all new. There is a blue basin inside, which is also newly bought, for bathing Yueyue."

My aunt and uncle had two sons and had always wanted a daughter, but they were busy with work and felt that two children were enough, so they did not have a third one.

But the older she got, the more she saw other people have daughters, and the more she regretted not having a daughter. After meeting Lin Tao, she liked her very much. This girl was beautiful and sensible, and she was the ideal daughter in her mind.

Although she is not Li Chengxi's mother, Li Chengxi would live here when he was a child during school holidays. She has always taken good care of Li Chengxi and loved him as her own child. Naturally, she now treats Lin Tao as her daughter-in-law.

As soon as my uncle and aunt left, Lin Tao said, "My uncle and aunt are so thoughtful."

"Well, they are all very good people." said Li Chengxi.

Lin Tao had brought towels and other things, but Yueyue's towel happened to be worn out, so she just replaced it with a new one. After preparing Yueyue's clothes, Lin Tao carried Yueyue and Li Chengxi to the bathroom.

The bathroom in the Lu family is different from the one they use on the island. When Lin Tao was on the island, she would wash in a basin, pouring water from a kettle and then adding cold water.

But the Lu family used a showerhead, which could be turned on and water would spray out. Lin Tao had never used it before, so Li Chengxi taught her how to use it.

Lin Tao and Yue Yue were so surprised by it that they couldn't help but say, "This thing is really great. I wish we could install this on the island someday."

Li Chengxi met all of his wife's requests and agreed immediately: "Well, let's go buy it this time, and install it in the new house when we get back to the island."