166 Horses that have gone viral
My aunt's family only stayed for two days before rushing back to their hometown, saying they needed to finalize the house construction as soon as possible and hire a contractor in advance.
"Once the house is built, you can go back and stay there for a few days."
Aunt squeezed Lin Ting's little hand and said lovingly, "When Lin Ting is a little older, we can come back to our hometown to play during winter and summer vacations."
Guan Yuehe thought to herself, "That would take at least a few years."
Since Lin Ting can't go back to his hometown for the time being, Gu Yu and Juan Juan will have plenty of fun to play with.
One was thinking about going back to his hometown to catch fish and shrimp, while the other wanted to stay in the city and watch color TV.
The day her aunt and uncle returned home, Gu Yu and Juan Juan were crying at the entrance of the alley. Lin Ting didn't understand anything, but that didn't stop her from crying loudly at home as well.
"Here you are, here you are, you really can't wait even a second." As soon as you open your eyes, if you don't get your milk right away, you'll start howling at the top of your lungs.
Jiang Guiying and Aunt Fang took turns coming over to her house to help out; one of them would come to help while the other would manage the shop.
As soon as Lin Yiku finished work, he would take over the shift from them. On Sundays, it was Grandpa Lin who would carry her most of the time.
The whole family revolved around the little one, just like the production line shifts in a factory.
"The skin on the back of my left hand peeled off today, and my eyes look a little bigger. By the way, Lin Ting made remarkable progress in her studies today; she followed along with the recording for a full half hour without crying!"
Lin Ting cried out without hearing a sound. In Guan Yuehe's view, this proved that Lin Ting was interested in foreign languages and was a good learning partner for her.
Lin Yi tried it out, read two sentences in Japanese, and received a sobbing Lin Ting.
"It seems Lin Ting isn't interested in Japanese," Guan Yuehe said with a straight face, spouting nonsense.
Lin Yiku's lips twitched, looking utterly helpless. Lin Ting's crying had absolutely nothing to do with Japanese; she simply had wet herself and was feeling uncomfortable.
After the diaper was changed, Lin Ting's eyes darted around, staring at Lin Yiku for a while before yawning and falling asleep.
The tape recorder in the room was also turned off, and the sound stopped.
Guan Yuehe leaned over and kissed Lin Ting's little face, "Comrade Lin Ting, your study session is over for today. Keep up the good work tomorrow."
—
The neighbors in the backyard of No. 1 Courtyard would always see Guan Yuehe playing foreign language tapes when they passed by the front yard every day, and they would often hear her reciting foreign languages inside the house.
This shocked the neighbors.
"Even during postpartum confinement, you have to do some studying?"
"More than that?! Didn't you hear her reading a foreign language in the room, and even explaining the meaning of that sentence to her daughter?" Aunt Hu, afraid of misunderstanding, deliberately listened outside Guan Yuehe's window for a while longer.
"Tsk tsk tsk! Everyone says Zhang Desheng is obsessed, strictly controlling his child's studies even though the child is only in elementary school. Look at Yuehe, it's even more outrageous. The child is not even a month old and she has already started learning a foreign language."
"No wonder they're capable of being leaders; they're all a group of people who love learning." Guan Yuehe is one, Zhang Desheng who moved out is another, and Xie Zhenhua from Courtyard No. 3 is yet another.
A neighbor joked, "Yuehe can already learn three subjects. If her daughter starts learning at such a young age, she'll probably learn ten or eight."
After getting off work, Lin Sitian went straight to Guan Yuehe's house in Ginkgo Hutong, insisting on seeing their family's Wenquxing (a type of electronic dictionary).
"What Wenquxing?" Guan Yuehe asked, completely unaware of the gossip going on.
"Look, Lin Ting. She's got the nickname 'God of Literature' in Ginkgo Alley now."
Guan Yuehe: "...Who was it that gave you that name?"
After thinking about it carefully, I felt that this nickname was not bad, much better than "mischievous monkey" or "tyrant", so I reluctantly accepted it.
"Didn't you bring Chen Lizhong with you when you came back for dinner today?"
“They’re working overtime these days to overcome the technical difficulties. I saw my dad after get off work, so I asked him to take me home for a couple of days.”
Lin Sitian casually asked, "Are we having a full-month celebration for our Wenquxing (a child star)? I need to arrange my rest time in advance."
"Let's not have a celebration. After I finish my confinement period, we can all go to Uncle Ming's place for a meal to celebrate."
She and Lin Yiku have many close friends/comrades-in-arms; if they invited their friends/comrades-in-arms as well, the number of people would be much larger.
During the Party member meetings, it was repeatedly emphasized that extravagance and waste are not allowed, and leaders should take the lead.
Guan Yuehe didn't hide anything from Lin Sitian and said frankly, "Your brother is at a crucial stage in his career advancement. He can't afford to make any mistakes at this critical moment, so let's keep a low profile."
Anyway, Lin Ting is still young, so she won't remember any of the celebrations for her full moon or first birthday.
As long as she and Lin Yiku strive to improve themselves, Lin Ting's life will naturally become easier in the future.
"My brother is going to drop the 'deputy' part?" Lin Sitian asked in surprise.
"It's not settled yet. Once it's done, I'll have him treat you to a meal."
"Hmm... what's the difference between him paying and you paying?"
Lin Sitian changed the subject, "Ding Xuewen and Xu Chengcai, they both came to me to discuss what gifts they need for Lin Ting's full-moon celebration. What do you need?"
"You're sending me a gift for Lin Ting's full moon celebration?"
"Of course it's for you. If it weren't for our relationship with you, how could Lin Ting receive a gift?" Lin Sitian looked at Lin Ting. "It's not easy to give a gift to such a little one. She doesn't need clothes or toys. It's not too late to give her a gift when she's older."
Moved, Guan Yuehe hugged Lin Sitian's arm and exclaimed, "I knew we were the best friends!"
"Hmph! Need I say more?!" Lin Sitian urged again, "Hurry up, what do you need?"
Guan Yuehe then showed her the furnishings in the room, saying, "I don't need anything here. Just give me whatever you like; the thought is what counts."
They knew she had everything she needed, which is why they were struggling to decide what to give her. It had to be something practical, but not too expensive.
Lin Sitian didn't continue the discussion with her and decided to consult with two other people instead.
—
Guan Yuehe takes care of her child at home every day and practices her foreign language skills. As the days go by, the almanac hanging on the wall is torn down page by page.
The peeling skin on Lin Ting's face and hands completely fell off. Small changes every day gradually accumulated into big changes.
Gu Yu would go back to Ginkgo Hutong for lunch every day and stop by to see Lin Ting. When Lin Ting was a little over twenty days old, Gu Yu suddenly noticed, "My little sister has grown up to be beautiful!"
Her wrinkled face became round, her rosy skin became fair, and her eyes, which were asymmetrical at birth, grew to be symmetrical.
The worried Gu Yu finally believed that her little sister would become more and more beautiful as she grew up.
To express her affection, Gu Yu sent half a backpack full of tin frogs the next day.
When Gu Yu dumped a bunch of tin frogs onto the kang (a heated brick bed), Guan Yuehe couldn't help but grimace in disgust.
A single tin frog looks alright, but when piled up together, they look particularly ugly.
No wonder her sister got angry whenever Gu Yu had a drawer full of tin frogs.
When Lin Yiku came home from get off work, he saw a table full of neatly arranged tin frogs on his desk, like a square formation.
Guan Yuehe laughed and said, "Gu Yu sent Lin Ting to say that today he set up a stall for half an hour, saying that the frogs were lining up to learn to sing."
Frogs lining up is understandable, but singing? Lin Yiku couldn't understand it.
Saying that frogs are standing in formation at attention is more plausible.
"That's right, they're singing."
Zhuoyue Garment Factory is going to hold a cultural performance for May Day this year. In addition to the factory employees having to put on a show, the employees' family members also have to perform. The Yuhong Class has been assigned the task of performing two shows.
Gu Yu's class is putting on a singing performance, so every day a class period is set aside for the students to line up and practice singing.
"Gu Yu was chosen to be the lead singer and stand at the front."
Gu Yu came back at noon today, jumping around excitedly. When asked what good news she had, she wouldn't say, but in front of Gu Yu, she loudly boasted to Lin Ting, who couldn't understand her, "I'm now the best lead singer in Yu Hong class!"
"That little stick really knows how to show off," Guan Yuehe concluded.
Lin Yiku gave her a meaningful look. Could she possibly outdo her in showing off?
These tin frogs were eventually put into the dresser in the small room. When Lin Ting was old enough to play with them, she could play with one every day for a month without repeating the same one.
After tidying up the tin frog, Lin Yiku took out a letter from her bag and gave it to her, "The developed photos."
Guan Yuehe took the photos and flipped through them one by one, nodding with satisfaction. When she saw the photo of Lin Ting on his first day back home, Guan Yuehe looked at the photo and then at Lin Ting now. Although the photo wasn't very clear, she could still tell that Lin Ting had changed quite a bit.
"Are you going to scare your roommates by writing them a letter to share the good news?"
"I'll write it tonight!"
Guan Yuehe had thought about what she wanted to write months in advance. Before she even started writing, she secretly smiled for a while.
—
At the end of February, Guan Yuehe finally ended her days of being confined to the house.
After feeding Lin Ting, she handed the baby over to Jiang Guiying, who had come to help take care of the child. She then found her bath tickets, grabbed a change of clothes, and headed straight to the bathhouse.
She flew out of the alley like a gust of wind, and was seen by several elderly men and women, who couldn't help but mutter, "What a fierce girl, she has endless energy every day."
"Auntie, it's been so long since I've seen you."
"Is your postpartum period over? Come over here, there's a seat available. None of the new bathhouse masseuses are as good as you."
"Hey! If you want me to give you a bath, just say so."
The entire bathhouse echoed with Guan Yuehe's loud laughter, along with the older women's groans, "You've had a good postpartum recovery, haven't you? Your strength has increased again."
Eating meat and drinking soup every day, it would be strange if it didn't nourish the body.
Guan Yuehe felt several pounds lighter and her scalp felt refreshed after leaving the bathhouse. Wrapped in thick clothes, she slowly walked home.
The supply and marketing cooperative on the street must have received some good stuff again, because a long line had formed at the entrance, and some people were even calling their children home to get the money.
Guan Yuehe thought to herself that she wouldn't join in the fun today. She would go to the supply and marketing cooperative another day and make up for the previous month's expenses.
"The supply and marketing cooperative has some canned fish from the food factory in the south. I heard it's especially delicious. Zhuoyue Garment Factory distributed it as welfare before, and the families of their workers are all lining up." Aunt Bai, who was queuing, was explaining to a woman who came to ask what she was queuing for when she turned around and saw Guan Yuehe. She immediately called her to join the queue.
Upon hearing this, Guan Yuehe realized it was canned fish, which was her favorite food!
I thought I would have to wait until my next business trip to Guangzhou to buy it, but I didn't expect that they had already put it on the counters of the supply and marketing cooperatives in Beijing!
"I'll go back and get the money right now!"
Guan Yuehe instantly forgot her previous thoughts, hurried home, grabbed the money, and rushed to join the queue.
He didn't hear what Jiang Guiying behind him said at all.
Jiang Guiying picked up Lin Ting and sighed, "Look at your mother, she's like a horse that's gone too far."
Author's Note: [Newbie]
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