The New Year's greetings activities consisted of eating and drinking every day, and the adults spent their days going from house to house playing cards.
Work resumes on the eighth day of the first lunar month.
Today we're going to the county town to apply for border inspection permits. Everyone got up very early to catch the early bus to the county town and get the permits as soon as possible. There are many people going out to work now, and Shenzhen is a popular destination.
At five o'clock in the winter, it was still pitch black. Apart from Xia Minmin's family, there was no one else on the road. Xia Jianguo walked ahead with a flashlight, as they were going to walk to the town first.
Several adults took turns holding Xia Minmin, worried that she was too young to see strange things.
By the time they reached the town, the adults were covered in sweat. After asking about the departure time of the first bus, they sat down at a breakfast shop near the station for a quick breakfast.
A neatly dressed young man patted Xia Jianguo on the shoulder. "Comrade, are you also going to the county town to apply for border inspection permits?"
Xia Jianguo turned to look at him, "Yeah! You too?"
"Yes, hello, I'm Tang Cheng."
"Hello, I am Xia Jianguo, this is my wife, this is my sister, and this is my daughter."
Tang Cheng was very outgoing and friendly. "Your whole family is going to Shenzhen? That's great!"
"Yes, I have that idea. What about you?"
“I also wanted my wife and son to go with me, but my wife didn’t want to go. She felt it was shameful to go out to work. So I took a leave of absence to go out and see what it’s like.”
Xia Jianguo was surprised, "Leave without pay is indeed a good solution!"
Tang Cheng waved his hand, "The textile factory's performance has been getting worse and worse in recent years. We've stopped providing benefits, and in the second half of last year, we were almost unable to pay wages."
"Are textile factories doing so poorly these days?" Li Chunmei asked.
"The fabrics from Yangshi and Shenzhen have had a huge impact on small textile factories like ours. I have a friend who also worked in a textile factory and left last year. He's doing quite well, so I'm planning to go and join him."
As dawn broke, the early morning bus arrived, and a steady stream of people began waiting at the station.
Li Chunmei and Xia Xiaomei sat in a row. Xia Jianguo asked Xia Xiaomei to keep an eye on Li Chunmei because she gets very carsick.
He sat with Xia Minmin and Tang Cheng, both wanting to talk about Shenzhen on the way.
The conversation between Xia Jianguo and Tang Cheng attracted the attention of many migrant workers who were also there to get their documents processed, and everyone shared what they knew about Shenzhen.
Most people choose to take sleeper buses to Shenzhen because they are cheap, but the buses are often overloaded, and it is easier to get robbed on sleeper buses.
During their conversation, they learned that they were distant relatives, which instantly created a sense of kinship.
Tang Cheng and Xia Jianguo's family also took the train to Shenzhen. He bought his train ticket for the 14th day of the first lunar month and gave Xia Jianguo his friend's phone number so they could contact each other later.
After getting off the bus in the county town, someone who had been there before led everyone there, saving us the time of asking for directions and making the process much faster.
After completing the certificate process, Xia Jianguo and his family said goodbye to Tangcheng. They were going to visit Aunt Xia in the county town to pay New Year's respects.
...
thump thump thump…
"They're here!" a voice came from inside the house.
"It's Jianguo, Chunmei, and Xiaomei! Oh, this must be Xiaomin! Come in quickly!"
Xia Jianguo handed the New Year's gift to Aunt Xia, which was a gift he had just bought at the store downstairs.
"Happy New Year, Auntie!"
"Happy New Year, Auntie!"
"Happy New Year, Auntie!"
Li Chunmei pointed at Aunt Xia and said, "Xiaomin, this is Aunt Xia!"
"Grandma, Happy New Year!"
Aunt Xia took Xia Minmin into her arms and said, "Jianguo, why did you come today? Didn't you always come after the tenth of the month? Why didn't Jianshe and his family come?"
“Today we’re going to get our border inspection permits so we can go to Shenzhen. My older brother hasn’t come back since he accompanied my sister-in-law to her parents’ home on the second day of the Lunar New Year,” Xia Jianguo explained.
Aunt Xia peeled a milk candy for Xia Minmin and fed it to her, "Are you all going? Is little sister going too?"
"Well, my younger sister was originally planning to go out to work, so I thought I'd take her with me so we could look after each other."
Aunt Xia patted Xia Xiaomei's head. "That's right. It's not safe for a girl like Xiaomei to go out and work alone. I feel much more at ease if she stays with you."
...
I stayed at Aunt Xia's house for a while before saying goodbye. Aunt Xia had been living alone since her husband passed away, and it wouldn't be good to disturb her too much since she was so frugal.
I made a point of having lunch in the county town at noon, and all the dishes I ordered were local specialties. It won't be so convenient to eat them again in the future.
After dinner, we strolled around the county town, bought two good quality luggage bags, and picked out a few storybooks with pinyin for Xia Minmin at the bookstore before heading home.
Time flies, and before they knew it, it was the evening of the Lantern Festival. Tomorrow they would set off for Shenzhen. Everyone was filled with trepidation, as there is always fear when facing the unknown.
Two days ago, Xia Jianshe and his family came back. Chen Chunhua's seven or eight siblings, along with their spouses and children, all came to pay their respects for the New Year. The small Xia family home was so crowded that there was hardly any room to step.
As was their usual practice, they would stay at the Xia family home for two days, basically playing mahjong day and night. So Xia Jianguo took Li Chunmei back to her parents' home for two days, since they wouldn't be back for at least a year after this trip to Shenzhen.
Grandma Xia packed a lot of braised eggs and her homemade pickled vegetables for the family to eat on the train.
That night, none of the family members except Xia Minmin could sleep soundly. As soon as the alarm rang, everyone got up to wash up, just like last time, to catch the early bus.
The luggage for three or four people actually consisted of only two duffel bags. They mostly wore their spring and summer clothes and wore a cotton coat over them. The duffel bags were mostly filled with Xia Minmin's things. Adults could tolerate it, but children couldn't.
Other miscellaneous items can be bought in Shenzhen. Having too much luggage is inconvenient when traveling and it's easy to lose things.
The money the family brought was sewn into different places by Xia Jianguo and Li Chunmei and kept close to their bodies; on the surface, there were only some loose change.
Hearing the noise, Xia Jianshe opened the door and said, "Little sister, here's 200 yuan. Hide it well. I was sorry for what happened before, but things will be much better if you follow your second brother from now on."
Xia Xiaomei's tears fell instantly.
Xia Jianshe stuffed the money into Xia Xiaomei's hand.
“Jianguo, I’m sorry for being a coward as your older brother. Be careful in Shenzhen. Call me if anything happens.”
Xia Jianguo listened to Xia Jianshe's instructions without saying a word. Although time can heal wounds, the marks will remain, and many things can never be returned to the carefree days of his youth.
After Li Chunmei helped Xia Xiaomei hide the money, they set off. Xia Jianshe stood at the door watching their departing figures, unable to let go of his feelings for a long time!
"Little sister, don't cry, your eyes are all swollen from crying," Li Chunmei comforted her.
Xia Minmin chimed in, "That's right, that's right! You don't look good with swollen eyes from crying!"
Today, Xia Minmin could only walk by herself; everyone was carrying things and couldn't carry her.
By the time they reached the station, Xia Minmin's clothes were soaked with sweat; children tend to sweat easily due to their hot constitution.
She could only hide in a corner of the breakfast shop to quickly change her clothes. Fortunately, Xia Xiaomei used a small blanket to cover Xia Minmin, otherwise Xia Minmin would have been really embarrassed.
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