Chapter 69
On New Year’s Eve, the weather was clear, with no wind or snow.
Li Xiu'e cooked a pot of rice porridge before dawn in the morning, and pasted the couplets that Yang Qiujin had just bought on the door. Chen Tianyou helped her. Yang Qiujin was still sleeping in the room, and Chen Shengqing was sitting in the room, looking at the door anxiously.
Not long after, a figure appeared at the door, holding a package in his hand. He stood at the door and shouted, "Deputy Head Chen, I got your photo back for you."
Chen Shengqing stood up, and slowly walked to the man with his cane. He took the oil-paper-wrapped photo from his hand and said, "Mingchen, thank you for coming all the way here for me. Come in and sit down."
"I won't sit down anymore." Ji Mingchen, who had taken off his white coat and was wearing a military coat, handed the two packages in his hands to Chen Shengqing: "This is the New Year gift I bought for Tianyou and Auntie. Please help me give it to them. I wish you and your family a happy New Year's Eve."
Chen Shengqing took the package and said silently: "Mingchen, where can you celebrate the New Year alone? Why don't you spend it at our house?"
"Chen Shengqing, let's be frank. Do you really want me to spend the New Year at your house?" Ji Mingchen wiped the moisture off his glasses with his sleeve and said, "You came to me on purpose and asked if I had time to go to the county and get you the photos. Wasn't it just so that I could see the happy photos of your family and let me give up on Qiu Jin?"
"I do have this idea." Chen Shengqing did not deny it.
He was honest, and Ji Mingchen was also honest, "Yes, I can't forget Qiu Jin, and I want to renew our relationship with her, but her heart is with you. During the time you disappeared, even if you asked me to take care of her, she still rejected me resolutely. I knew at that time that I could never replace you, and I could never enter her heart. She only has you in her heart. So you can rest assured, no matter what happened between Qiu Jin and me, no matter how close I am to her, she will not have anything to do with me. But..."
He smiled when he said this, "If you treat Qiu Jin badly, bully her, and bully her, no matter whether Qiu Jin likes me or not, I will try every means to win her back."
After he finished speaking, he turned and left without even looking at Chen Shengqing's expression.
"Who's here?" Yang Qiujin got up at some point and stood at the door of the main room, stretching her body and asking.
"Ji Mingchen, he went to the county to do some work, and I asked him to bring back the photos we took before." Chen Shengqing did not hide it from her.
"Have the photos been retrieved? Hey, let me see them quickly." Li Xiu'e jumped down from the stool and didn't even bother to put up the couplets.
"I want to see it too." Chen Tianyou walked over.
Chen Shengqing took out the photos from the photo bag, and Li Xiu'e took them and looked at them one by one. "Oh, they are really beautiful, especially the photo of our Tianyou, he looks so energetic."
"That's right, grandma, don't you see who I am?" Chen Tianyou was praised and proudly puffed out his chest. He stood in the yard, opened his arms, and made the same movements as in the photo.
"Good, good, our Tianyou takes the best photos." Li Xiu'e smiled and kept praising Chen Tianyou.
Yang Qiujin also went to look at the photos. The photos were in black and white, so the color of the clothes could not be seen clearly, but the photographer's skills were very good and he captured the smiles of the whole family.
Especially the photo that Chen Shengqing took when he was holding her. Even the blushing and embarrassed expression on her face was captured, which made her feel embarrassed.
The solo photo of Chen Shengqing is quite interesting. His hands and feet are obviously injured, but the professional technique of the photographer highlights his handsome features and ignores his injuries.
Because of his previous escape in the Soviet Union, Chen Shengqing's facial features have become much thinner and more sturdy. He was standing for the photo, and his injured hands and feet did not affect his standing straight. When he looked into the camera, his narrow eyes were as deep as a pool, his gaze was deep and sharp. Although the corners of his mouth were slightly raised and he looked like he was smiling, in fact, his expression made it clear at a glance that he was a decisive soldier.
After looking at the photos, Yang Qiujin glanced at Chen Shengqing and muttered in her heart, this man is handsome and his photos are good-looking, but he always has a stern face in front of outsiders. People who don't know the situation would think he is very unhappy.
Chen Shengqing was holding a photo of Yang Qiujin. In the photo, she was wearing a light blue cotton coat and cotton pants of the same color. She had short hair and was standing in front of a red wall in the studio. She was holding a bouquet of artificial flowers in her hands and smiling at the camera.
She is pregnant now, and her face is much rounder than when she was taking care of Chen Shengqing. She has returned to her original appearance with delicate features, a slightly round face, and a gentle look of a mother between her eyebrows. Even in black and white photos, even if she is wearing a thick cotton coat, it is still difficult to conceal her beauty and slim and pretty figure.
Chen Shengqing reached out and gently touched the photo, then carefully put her photo into his left breast pocket, and then stuffed his own photo into Yang Qiujin's hand, "Take this photo, and carry it with you wherever you go."
Yang Qiujin was stunned for a moment, then suddenly understood what he meant and burst out laughing. "I say, man, do you have to be so possessive? It's ok that you asked Ji Mingchen to go get the photo early in the morning, but you also asked me to carry your photo with me. What's the matter? Are you afraid that I will forget that I have you as my husband, or do you think that others are so bold that they dare to seduce military wives and are not afraid of going to jail?"
Chen Shengqing heard her coquettish tone and smiled slightly, "Whatever you say, I hope you carry my photos with you every day. Similarly, I will carry your photos with me every day."
"I won't carry it. Look at which woman who carries her husband's photo every day. You are not ashamed, but I am afraid that people will say that I am gossiping." Yang Qiujin said this, but she carefully placed Chen Shengqing's photo on the bedside, reached out and touched his face, and said with a smile: "He is so handsome. I hope the baby in my belly can inherit his father's good qualities."
Breakfast is still just a simple meal, but lunch and dinner are the highlights.
Yang Qiujin liked to prepare the day's meals at noon, so after breakfast, they started to get busy.
Li Xiu'e makes dumplings and starts chopping the fillings after dinner. Chen Shengqing brings Chen Tianyou, the father and son, together to knead the dough and roll it out.
Yang Qiujin cooked. She first scraped the skin of the pickled meat she bought from the market before the holiday, then washed and dried two sausages, and specially lit the fire on the earthen stove at home, put the washed bacon and sausage, a chicken that had been thawed and killed outside the yard, and some soaked dried pineapple strips and dried black fungus in the pot to stew them together.
Then, I burned the skin of a large pig head that I had bought from a military grocery store, scraped it clean with a knife, cut off the pig ears, washed them all, and put them in a large pot. I added cinnamon, star anise, grass fruit and other spices, two pieces of beef shank, some boiled and peeled eggs, and half a pound of washed and soaked dried peanuts into the pot and brined them all together.
Soon, the air was filled with the aroma of bacon and halite, making Chen Tianyou stare at the pot, "Mom, when will the meat be cooked?"
"It will take at least an hour." Yang Qiujin added a handful of firewood to the stove. Seeing that his face was gray, she knew that he wanted to go out and play. She reached out and wiped the flour off his nose. "Go and play, but be careful not to burn your hands."
"knew."
The family bought a bunch of fireworks and firecrackers. The kids outside were setting off firecrackers with a bang, and Chen Tianyou had long wanted to go out and play.
He ran back to his little house like a gust of wind, picked up a bunch of "ertikui" firecrackers and a stick of red incense, and asked Yang Qiujin to light them for him. Then he took the incense and firecrackers and went to find Wang Songyang and Li Dadan next door to set off firecrackers together.
Wang Songyang was so happy when he saw Chen Tianyou, "Brother Tianyou, what delicious food did my Aunt Yang make today? Can I join you for lunch?"
Today is a major festival and every household is preparing delicious food except theirs. His mom can't cook. His dad does, but the food isn't that great. He smells all kinds of aromas coming from the Chen family next door and his mouth is watering.
Chen Tianyou lit a firecracker and quickly threw it into the pile of snowmen on the road in the family yard. Amid the flying confetti, he said without looking back, "It's up to you. My mom made a lot of delicious food today anyway, so one more bowl won't hurt."
"Really? Thank you, Brother Tianyou. You are indeed my brother. I love you the most." Wang Songyang, who hadn't eaten at Chen's house for a long time, got Chen Tianyou's approval and stuffed all the firecrackers in his hand into his hand, "Brother, you can play with all the firecrackers."
Next to him was Chen Tianyou, who was almost fourteen years old, tall, dark and thin. Li Dadan said, "Wang Songyang, you gave all the cannons to Chen Tianyou, and you didn't fire any cannons yourself. Are you still afraid of firing cannons like before?"
When Wang Songyang was four years old, he saw Chen Tianyou and Li Dadan and other older boys having fun setting off firecrackers. He tried to follow their example and begged Chen Tianyou to give him a double-kick firecracker to set off. However, he was too timid and threw the fire away without even lighting it.
After being madly laughed at by Li Dadan, he lit another firecracker, but this time he threw it too late. The firecracker exploded right in front of him, almost hitting his hand, which scared him a lot.
Since then, he didn't dare to set off firecrackers for two years. He was so scared that he walked away from them when he heard others setting off firecrackers. But this year he actually bought so many firecrackers.
Wang Songyang is already eight years old, an age when he has a strong temper and cannot be provoked.
He puffed out his chest and said, "Who is afraid?"
He took the string of firecrackers from Chen Tianyou and tried to light them, but his hands were shaking badly.
Chen Tianyou saw his shaking hands and knew that he was actually very scared. He walked over, held his hand and said, "Don't be afraid, Songyang. I will teach you how to set it off. Hold the firecracker in your left hand and the incense in your right hand. Light the incense and count to two seconds in your mind before throwing it out. Like this—"
He lit the cannon in Wang Songyang's hand and counted: "One, two, throw!"
Wang Songyang threw it out reflexively. Hearing a bang, his heart was pounding with fear, but he was also very excited. "Brother Tianyou, come again."
Chen Tianyou patiently took out some incense and gave it to him to light the firecrackers. He threw it out and Chen Tianyou lit it again.
After repeating this several times, Wang Songyang gained confidence. When he saw that all the firecrackers in his hand were used up, he ran home and found Wang Jianjun and his wife who were busy making dumplings in the kitchen. "Dad, give me some money. I want to go to the service center to buy firecrackers."
The military service center also has staff on duty during the Chinese New Year to make it convenient for family members to buy firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, etc.
"Aren't you afraid of firecrackers? You've used up all the ones that Dad bought for you?" Wang Jianjun asked him while clumsily pinching a dumpling.
"After setting off firecrackers, Brother Tianyou taught me how to set off firecrackers step by step. I am not afraid anymore." Wang Songyang looked at the ugly dumplings made by his father and then at the even more horrible dumplings made by his mother. He added, "Dad, I won't have lunch at our house. I'll eat at Aunt Yang's house. Brother Tianyou said Aunt Yang cooked some delicious dishes."
Wang Jianjun paused, "You kid, it's fine for you to eat at your uncle Chen's house on normal days, but during the New Year, the whole family is having a reunion party, why are you, an outsider, interfering?"
Liang Xueqing also said: "Songyang, don't go to your aunt Yang's house today. Your uncle Chen finally came back, and your aunt Yang is pregnant. They are having a reunion dinner and chatting about family matters. If you go, it will be inconvenient for them."
"Why is it inconvenient?" Wang Songyang was unhappy. "Brother Tianyou has agreed to let me go, so I just go to eat without saying anything and eavesdropping on their adults' conversations. Is that not okay?"
Wang Songyue, who was helping her parents make dumplings and making them very pretty, said: "You can go, but you can't go empty-handed. It's New Year's Day, and if you go to someone's house to eat for free, even the most good-tempered people will think you are ill-mannered. Wait for us to make the dumplings, then bring a plate of dumplings over, eat a few bites of food and come back. Don't really stay in someone's house, it's annoying."
"Songyue is right. If you really want to go, you can't go empty-handed." Wang Jianjun stood up and said, "Dad will put the dumplings in the pot right away. When they are ready, you can take a bowl to the next door."
Half an hour later, Wang Songyang appeared in front of Yang Qiujin with a large bowl of ugly dumplings, looking nervous. "Aunt Yang, these are the dumplings my parents asked me to bring to you. Can I have lunch at your house?"
"Of course you can. Why not? Just come. Why bring the dumplings?" Yang Qiujin looked at the ugly dumplings in the bowl and knew that the couple next door couldn't cook. This year on New Year's Eve, the couple might only be able to eat this.
She thought about it, and discussed with Li Xiu'e and Chen Shengqing: "I cooked a lot of food today, why don't we invite Wang Jianjun and his family next door to come over for dinner? They only eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year, which is really pitiful."
Chen Shengqing had no objection, "You decide."
Li Xiu'e was a little unhappy, "Who wants to eat with other people during the New Year's Day?"
"Mom, this dinner won't be in vain." Yang Qiujin whispered in her ear, "Haven't you noticed that your eldest grandson has been looking for the eldest daughter of the Wang family to play with recently?"
It would have been better if Yang Qiujin hadn't said anything. As soon as she did, Li Xiu'e also remembered that there was such a thing, and immediately smiled knowingly, "Song Yue is a good girl."
At noon, the Wang family, unable to refuse the hospitality, sat down at the Chen family's dinner table. Yang Qiuyue, who was also invited by Yang Qiujin to have the New Year's Eve dinner, arrived late.
When Yang Qiujin heard that she had been nearly killed by gas poisoning a few days ago and that it was Fan Sui who brought her to the army for dinner, she quickly grabbed her, looked her up and down, and said, "Are you okay? Do you feel unwell? Fan Sui came all the way here to bring you here, why didn't you stay at home for dinner before leaving?"
Yang Qiuyue took off her thick coat and said, "I was poisoned for a short time. Apart from feeling a little dizzy and weak in my limbs, I'm fine. I'll be fine after two days of rest. Fan Su has a weird temper. He doesn't like to get close to people and doesn't want to bother others. So after sending me to the unit, he left immediately."
"I'm glad you're okay. Don't be so careless when cooking next time." Yang Qiujin put the New Year gift she brought into the house and asked her, as if she remembered something, "For no reason, why did Fan Sui suddenly come back to the field to take night duty and even sent you all the way to the unit."
Yang Qiuyue was also startled by her question, "I don't know, I'll ask him when I have time?"
Yang Qiujin observed her expression and said after a while, "This Fan Sui is an honest man. He is the hardest worker in our farm. He doesn't talk much and does whatever he is told to do. I like such employees."
Yang Qiuyue nodded and agreed: "I think so too."
Seeing that her expression did not change, Yang Qiujin wondered in her heart, could it be that she guessed wrong, and these two people just had a pure comradeship and nothing else?
At noon, the two families sat together to eat. Liang Xueqing said embarrassedly, "Sister Yang, I'm sorry to bother you again."
"What's the big deal? We are neighbors. You often help me make clothes. Eating a meal at my house is nothing." Yang Qiujin said while setting up the dishes.
Liang Xueqin said, "I haven't congratulated you yet. You're going to be a mother again. Have you made the clothes for the child? If not, I still have a few clothes that Songyang and Songyue used to wear at home. If you don't mind, I'll bring them to you after dinner."
Fabric is in short supply these days, so many families deliberately make clothes bigger so that when older children can't wear them, they can be passed on to younger children, who can then pass them on to even younger children, one child at a time, thus saving money on fabric.
A young lady like Liang Xueqin, who came from a capitalist family, had more clothes than she could wear before her class classification. After marrying Wang Jianjun, except for those satin clothes that had a petty-bourgeois character, she threw away all the other normal fabric clothes, filling up three large boxes.
At that time, she brought three boxes of clothes and two other boxes of daily necessities to the border to follow the army, and was criticized by many military wives for being gossipy.
Later it was proved that her insistence on taking the three boxes of clothes was correct. At least her two children had no worries about clothes, as they all wore clothes modified from her clothes.
Some of the clothes were too small, and she didn't want to take them apart to make other clothes. She also didn't want to have another child, so she couldn't bear to throw them away. So, as Yang Qiujin happened to be pregnant again, she decided to give them to her.
"That's great! We were just worried about having no fabric to make clothes for our second baby." Li Xiu'e said happily.
Cloth was in short supply those days, and it was a great blessing for someone to give her clothes that had been worn by other people's children. Li Xiu'e's dissatisfaction with Liang Xueqing's family disappeared immediately.
"Stop talking, stop talking, I'm starving, let's eat." Liang Xueqin wanted to say something, but Wang Songyang, who was reincarnated as a starving ghost, kept yelling.
She couldn't help but glare at Wang Songyang and said, "You have no manners at all. What did your mother teach you?"
Wang Songyang shrank his neck and dared not say a word.
Li Xiu'e's favorable impression of Liang Xueqin's family increased because Liang Xueqin wanted to give her daughter-in-law the rare cloth for her child. Upon hearing this, she quickly said, "Don't talk about it. Let's talk after dinner. Let's eat first."
"good."
Everyone started eating, and Wang Songyang was the first to use his chopsticks to pick up the sliced halved pork head in the middle plate.
The halved pork head meat was rich in sauce and had an attractive color. It was soft and sticky, and the aroma of the halved sauce completely permeated the flavor. Wang Songyang's eyes widened as he ate it. "It's delicious. Aunt Yang's cooking is indeed better than my dad's."
Wang Jianjun glared at him, "If you think my cooking is not tasty, then you should learn to cook it yourself. Look at Tianyou, he can cook all kinds of dishes and he usually helps your aunt Yang with housework. You are different. When you are asked to do something, you don't know how to do it right or you just slack off."
Wang Songyang was inexplicably scolded by him. He curled his lips, not daring to talk back, and kept picking up other dishes with his hands.
Chen Tianyou was praised for no reason, and there was no expression of pride on his face. He silently picked up a piece of brined beef and put it into the bowl of Wang Songyue, who was sitting next to him, and signaled her with his eyes to don't be polite.
Wang Songyue was not used to him suddenly picking food for her, and he was so taciturn, so she said to him in a low voice: "Thank you, I can pick up the food myself, you eat yours."
"Yeah." Chen Tianyou responded and picked up a piece of her favorite chicken wing and put it in her bowl.
Wang Songyue: ...
Naturally, the two children's actions did not escape Li Xiu'e's sharp eyes.
While Chen Shengqing was talking to Wang Jianjun's family, Li Xiu'e nudged Yang Qiujin's hand under the table and motioned her to look at Chen Tianyou and Wang Songyue.
When Yang Qiujin looked over, she happened to see Chen Tianyou passing a plate of stir-fried potatoes with pickled cabbage to Wang Songyue, which was farther away from her. She turned around to look at Li Xiu'e, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law smiled at the same time.
After dinner, two men washed the dishes. One reason was that his wife did not know how to do housework, and it was not good to eat for free when visiting someone's home, so he took the initiative to help his wife with housework.
One is that he feels that his wife has been busy all day, so he has to do housework such as washing dishes and pots himself.
The two men were washing pots and dishes in the kitchen, the women were chatting in the living room, and the children were taking fireworks and firecrackers and setting them off in the alley of the family compound.
As night falls, most families have finished their meals, and the children are setting off fireworks and firecrackers. The sound of firecrackers popping can be heard everywhere, and the dark night is lit up by colorful fireworks. Everywhere there is a festive and lively scene of bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new.
The children didn't feel tired as long as they had something to play with, but Yang Qiujin was extremely tired.
She had been cooking for the whole day and was pregnant, so she was extremely tired. She started yawning after sitting for a while.
Seeing that she was tired, Chen Shengqing limped to the kitchen without saying a word, boiled some hot water for her, and brought it to her for washing her feet.
Yang Qiujin was shocked, "What are you doing? Mom and my sister are still watching outside."
"What can they say? You are my wife, can't I bring you water to wash your feet?" Chen Shengqing put the water in front of her. "I said I will make up for what I owed you before. If you are not used to it, I will bring you water every day in the future."
What kind of perverse logic is this? If you are not used to it, you should do it every day until you get used to it?
Yang Qiujin was amused and helpless. She took off her shoes and soaked her feet in the hot water. The temperature was just right. She sighed comfortably and said, "The water temperature is just right. If you are not afraid of being laughed at by others, you can bring me water in the future."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
