This was the first time Cheng Yunping had heard such a statement. He lost his father when he was very young, and the father he remembered was different from the man in the storybooks. He also remembered that when he was a child, the neighborhood kids would laugh at his father, saying things like he was a freeloader. Although he didn't understand what that meant, he knew it wasn't a good description.
Therefore, he always believed that only by being like the heroes in the stories, tall and mighty, helping the weak and punishing the strong, could one be considered a real man and avoid being laughed at.
Seeing Yunping deep in thought, Ruyi felt a pang of guilt.
Fifteen or sixteen-year-old teenagers are at their most sensitive and rebellious stage, especially children from single-parent families. However, as a mother, she has never had a proper heart-to-heart talk with him, nor has she taught her children some correct values and worldviews. It seems that she needs to spend more time with her children in the future.
"Huh? Come to think of it, Yunping seems to have grown quite a bit taller. He wasn't even as tall as Xiaoman before, but now he looks like he's even a little bit taller than her!"
"What! Mother, is it true? I'm taller than Xiaoman?" Cheng Yunping, who had been pondering how to become a real man, was instantly distracted. He turned around and pulled his wife, who was sitting next to him, up. "If we stand up, we can see it more clearly. Everyone, please help me see if I'm really taller than Xiaoman."
Wow, it seems that men are always very concerned about their height, no matter the era.
After measuring Cheng Yunping and Lin Xiaoman's height, everyone also measured Yun An and Yun Le's height and found that everyone had grown taller, with Yunping growing the most.
This made Yunping extremely happy, and he jumped around the room with joy.
It's estimated that the noise he made was too loud, which woke up Cheng Mande, who was sleeping in the room. Immediately, the baby's loud cries echoed throughout the yard, startling the young couple so they immediately went into the room to comfort the child.
Ruyi watched as Xiaoman carefully picked up the baby and gently rocked her, while Yunping frantically tried to help but only made things worse. She found it both funny and heartwarming.
If you do the math, Cheng Mande is already over five months old. His sleep time is gradually decreasing, and he's much more energetic when he's awake. His chubby arms and legs are quite strong, and he could easily have an accident if you're not careful. So he needs to be accompanied by adults all the time. We can't leave him alone in the room like this anymore.
But holding him all the time isn't a solution. What can we do that would put adults at ease and free their hands?
Ruyi recalled her few experiences with babies in her previous life. She vaguely remembered that babies could start crawling around six months old, and at this time they would usually need some assistive devices, such as baby seats, cradles, and strollers.
I don't recall ever seeing these things in the county town. Maybe they can use them as a unique selling point for Cheng's Furniture Shop and make some money?
However, there was no intellectual property rights in ancient times, and baby seats were not difficult to make. At worst, you could just buy one, take it apart, and figure it out. It seems that we can only focus on quality or creativity.
Thinking too much won't help; let's just do it!
After returning to her room, Cheng Ruyi spent the entire afternoon drawing blueprints from memory. This was because she had hardly ever seen these things before, and as a single woman, she wouldn't bother researching them even if she was bored.
Cheng Yan, being a veteran craftsman with decades of experience, understood Ruyi's drawing even though he didn't quite understand it. After hearing her explanation, he immediately grasped the meaning.
He immediately showed great interest, took the blueprints, and ran to the warehouse to select materials.
Of these three items, the baby seat is the simplest, almost just a small, tall chair. It just takes some time to adjust the size and proportions. Of course, since it's for babies, the materials need to be of higher quality, and the workmanship needs to be more meticulous and careful.
Three days later, the first baby seat was completed. Ruyi happily took her chubby grandson to test the fit of the baby seat. She found that there were still many things that needed to be improved, such as the curvature of the chair and backrest, and the need to add a safety belt, guardrail and footrest, or the guardrail could be made into a small table.
Unexpectedly, even a small baby seat is not simple. After careful consideration, Cheng Ruyi found that there was still a lot of room for improvement. Of course, she could temporarily put it aside and improve it slowly in the future, just as a backup plan.
After several more days of adjustments, a simplified version of the ancient baby seat was finally made.
The whole family found it very novel, including little Cheng Mande, who laughed happily as soon as he sat down, waving his chubby little hands vigorously and babbling his opinions from time to time.
"Oh my gosh~~~ Look how happy Mande is! The little guy seems to really like this chair; he's even dancing with joy, isn't he?"
"Ah! Ya ya ya! Ah ah!" Cheng Mande seemed to really understand and "answered" Xu Cui's question, which immediately made everyone burst into laughter.
"Mommy, you're so amazing! This chair is so much fun. Can I have one too?" Cheng Yunle was very envious when she saw that her little nephew had his own chair, so she tugged at her mother and begged for help.
When Ruyi saw her adorable daughter acting cute towards her, her heart softened instantly. She stroked her daughter's head and gently coaxed her, "Of course you can! Our little Yunle is still a baby!"
Upon hearing this, Cheng Yunle smiled as brightly as a flower, happily enjoying her mother's affectionate caress.
At this moment, Cheng Yun'an turned to look at his younger sister, feigning surprise, "Huh? Yunle, didn't you just tell me yesterday that you've grown up and are a big girl now, and that you shouldn't treat me like a child all the time? How come you've suddenly turned back into a baby?"
"Sister, you're so mean!" Cheng Yunle was ruthlessly exposed by her sister and could only shyly burrow into her mother's arms.
Cheng Mande must have gotten tired of sitting. He pouted, furrowed his brows, and started fidgeting.
As expected, the baby, who was not even six months old, could not sit for long. Seeing this, Lin Xiaoman took her son back to the room for a snack.
It seems that although this baby seat is the simplest to make, it is not the most suitable for a six-month-old baby at present. So Cheng Ruyi turned around and pulled Cheng Yan to continue studying the baby cradle and stroller.
These two items are much more complicated than baby seats, so by the time they were both finished, it was past the summer solstice and almost the minor heat.
The main problem was the stroller wheels, and Cheng Yan had never learned similar techniques before. He spent a lot of time studying the structural principles behind them, and even disassembled the family's handcart to analyze them.
Moreover, the solid wood cart was too heavy and very difficult to push, so it was modified several times. In the end, only the important support parts used sturdy wood, while the other parts used lightweight materials such as rattan or bamboo.
After finishing just one stroller, Cheng Yan was exhausted. He hadn't expected that this seemingly ordinary piece of furniture would actually be more complicated and require more effort to make than he had imagined.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com