221 Time
From that day on, Xiaoyu and Yaoyao moved to the guest room in the courtyard and followed Lin Ting around every day.
It wasn't until the Spring Festival of 1999 that this happened.
Since 1993, the city has strictly banned fireworks and firecrackers, so there have been no fireworks to watch on New Year's Eve for the past few years.
The Spring Festival Gala, on the other hand, is held every year.
The day before Lunar New Year's Eve, the old neighbors of Yinxing Hutong went to the auditorium of Zhuoyue Garment Factory to watch the Spring Festival performance. Gu Yu, who served as both host and performer on stage, became a name that the old neighbors of Yinxing Hutong often talked about.
"He's really handsome, just like Yuehua when she was young."
"Hey, Guiying, has Guyu found someone yet? Should I introduce her to someone?"
Jiang Guiying spat at him and reached out to pull his hair, saying, "What good thing could you, Matchmaker Liu, possibly introduce? I think you're tired of living, daring to make a move on my Guyu!"
They started arguing again early on New Year's Eve.
The old neighbors, enjoying the spectacle, munched on sunflower seeds, saying, "That matchmaker Liu, she's such a scoundrel, she hasn't learned her lesson all these years, she deserves to be scolded."
"Guiying's fiery temper hasn't changed at all."
The old neighbors burst into laughter.
The gifts given when visiting relatives during the Spring Festival have also changed significantly. In the past, the best gifts were meat and candy, but now they are gift packages of soft drinks and snacks.
Gift-giving is reciprocal; after visiting relatives and friends, there are still quite a few large gift packages left at home.
Visiting neighbors in the morning and staying home to watch TV in the afternoon, Guan Yuehe and her family of three hardly ever stopped talking.
However, Guan Yuehe always felt that the roasted sunflower seeds sold outside tasted so-so, far inferior to the roasted sunflower seeds that Sister Luo roasted herself.
I had just finished thinking about eating Sister Luo's roasted melon seeds when someone came knocking on the gate.
It was Luo Guifang's entire family.
Luo Guifang's family moved out of Yinxing Hutong a few years ago, and the house in the hutong was rented out.
In the past few years, Baoyu, Baoan, and Baoning have gotten married and had children one after another, and the small family of four mother and daughters has now become a large family of ten.
Bao Ning, who stayed in Shanghai to work after graduating from university, also moved back to Beijing with his family last year. I heard that he got a job in a foreign company and became a leader as soon as he joined. The couple's combined salary may be over ten thousand yuan.
I don't know how those old men and women in the alley found out about the private company's salary, but they told me in a very detailed way, and most of them believed it.
Luckily, there were extra plastic stools in the storage room; otherwise, with so many guests coming, there wouldn't be enough room for them to sit.
"Sister Yuehe, stop busying yourself. We need to go back to Courtyard No. 2 later, so let's have a chat."
“Yes, don’t bother. We thought we’d take advantage of everyone’s holiday to come back and visit our old neighbors. As soon as we got off the bus, we came to your place first, since it’s the closest.” Luo Guifang looked even younger than she had a few years ago, with a smile on her face. It was hard to equate her with the Sister Luo that Guan Yuehe had met when she first moved into Courtyard No. 2.
"Oh, right, I brought you some homemade roasted sunflower seeds."
Guan Yuehe was pleasantly surprised and took the bag of roasted melon seeds, saying with a smile, "I was just telling Lin Yiku at home that none of the roasted melon seeds outside are as fragrant as Sister Luo's."
"Then I guess I made the right choice today."
Luo Guifang's family didn't stay long, saying they wanted to go back to the alley to see their other neighbors. But before leaving, the adults were busy giving red envelopes to the children in the other families.
Lin Ting was the happiest, as she received a total of seven red envelopes.
The problem is that these terms are somewhat confusing.
Mom calls Grandma Luo "Big Sister Luo," while Aunt Baoyu and the others call Mom "Sister Yuehe"... each has their own way of addressing her.
Outside, Luo Guifang's family, who had just left Guan Yuehe's house, were talking to their lovers about Guan Yuehe.
"Sister Yuehe is the eldest sister we admire and fear the most in our generation."
小的时候最怕听到家长说让月荷姐来揍一顿，再大一点了，最喜欢去月荷姐家看电视，等到上中学了，开始期盼着变成月荷姐那样的人：有份好工作，分到自己的房子。
As they talked, the whole family arrived at Ginkgo Alley.
"Oh! Guifang!" Aunt Bai called out to her, urging her to come into the yard to talk.
When Wu Erni saw that it was her old friend who had returned, she reached out and pulled her to her own home for a chat.
The No. 2 courtyard suddenly became lively.
—
After the Spring Festival, it was almost March in the blink of an eye, and the renovation of Changhu Street began.
The noise of construction temporarily masked the petty squabbles in the alley.
Amidst the clamor of reform, Gu Yu transitioned from undergraduate to graduate studies, determined to become the second upright and just magistrate in the family.
That's right, Gu Yu also studied law as an undergraduate, following in Guan Yuehua's footsteps.
Guan Yuehe looked at Lin Ting, who was using foreign language tapes as lullabies, and knew that Lin Ting probably wouldn't take the step of learning foreign languages.
Thanks to national policies, university enrollment has expanded this year, with over 500,000 more places available compared to last year. This has greatly increased Lin Ting's chances of getting into university.
Lin Ting lived up to expectations, barely making it into the Five Star Automobile Factory High School in the high school entrance exam. His grades gradually improved, and by the end of his second year of high school, in the summer of the new millennium, he finally managed to get into the top 20% of his grade.
The renovation of old houses in Changhu Street was also completely completed in the summer of 2000.
The interior of Guan Yuehe's courtyard has been renovated.
The exterior decoration cannot be changed arbitrarily; it must be consistent with the surrounding buildings. Otherwise, the street office staff will come and order rectification.
The biggest change in the courtyard was that the large kang (heated brick bed) in the room was demolished and replaced with a two-meter-wide bed.
A large bed is certainly not as spacious as a large kang (heated brick bed), but Guan Yuehe felt that this two-meter-wide bed was more than enough for her. Over the years, she had never fallen off the bed while sleeping.
What does this mean? It means her sleeping posture is acceptable.
She praised herself as she changed the curtains in the bedroom.
Lin Yiku, who was in charge of making the bed behind her, smiled quietly. So, it seems that Lin Ting is the only one in the house who doesn't sleep well.
In another room, Lin Ting changed the curtains in her own room and then started working on hanging a small curtain for Wangwang's new doghouse.
On a hot summer day, a gentle breeze occasionally blows, making the wind chimes hanging on the crabapple tree in the yard tinkle.
—
After the renovation was completed, the old neighbors in Ginkgo Hutong who wanted to move to apartment buildings were completely discouraged, feeling that it would never be their turn to be vacated in Ginkgo Hutong, and could only start making other plans.
As more and more commercial housing is built outside the Third Ring Road, old neighbors go out in groups to inspect each one, and one by one, some people buy new houses and move out of Ginkgo Hutong.
For every house that is sold, there is a house that is bought.
For example, Mr. and Mrs. Ding sold their two bungalows and bought an apartment building instead.
On a weekday, the couple moved out. Then, on a weekend, a young couple moved in.
Many people are wondering why young people are still willing to move into bungalows in large courtyards.
The young couple looked smug, saying, "We're both children of factory workers in the car factory. We weren't good at studying, so we didn't get into vocational school or even the college entrance exam. That's why we thought we'd come here to soak up some of the academic atmosphere, maybe our child will be able to get into a good school someday."
The old neighbors all stared wide-eyed.
This is such an old rumor, how can anyone still believe it now?
The young couple nodded vigorously, "Quite a few people believe it! Luckily, we got the information quickly and bought it first. A lot of people want to buy it."
But unexpectedly, someone in the alley used the gimmick of "a gathering of literary geniuses" to deliberately raise the price when people came to see the house, and ended up being scolded by the people who came to see the house.
The people who came to see the house not only cursed the homeowner, but also went to Jin Junwei's real estate agency to curse him.
This is truly an undeserved disaster.
Jin Junwei was furious, so every weekend he would call on Zhou Hongqi and Yuanbao, who were resting at home, and go to scold the landlord as well.
Lin listened to Jiang Guiying's words while laughing.
Jiang Guiying not only talked about these gossips, but also dug up some old history of the alley and told it.
Lin Ting was surprised to learn that Uncle Jin had been like this since he was young, and would ask Aunt Hongqi for help to settle scores after arguing with his neighbors.
Oh, and now we have Sister Yuanbao as a helper too.
Lin Ting lay in the rocking chair, swaying back and forth, tilting her head back and squinting at the sunlight filtering through the crabapple tree, listening to her grandmother tell the "historical stories" of Ginkgo Alley.
I wish Ginkgo Alley could stay like this forever.
But time marches on, and nothing remains unchanged.
In July 2001, Lin Ting finished her college entrance examination.
In July of the same year, Beijing won the bid to host the Olympics.
In August, Lin Ting's university acceptance letter arrived home. It was the same mail carrier who knocked on the door and called out, "Lin Ting, you have mail!"
This young comrade Lin Ting has helped her mother collect mail for many years, but this is the first time she has received mail from her own mother.
"Is it the admission notice?" The mail carrier was even more excited than Lin Ting. "Are you opening it now? Let me see it too. Oh, I delivered your mother's admission notice back then..."
Several elderly people in the house ran out and surrounded her to look at the envelope.
"Is this Northwestern Polytechnical University? What's your major?" Jiang Guiying rummaged through her pockets for her reading glasses.
Aunt Fang, with her sharp eyesight, had already read it aloud, "Aircraft Propulsion Engineering?"
The messenger exclaimed, "Oh! Does this mean they're going to build airplanes in the future? That's quite something!"
Lin Ting could only grin foolishly.
She hadn't actually thought about what major she wanted to study, but when her mother called Aunt Cheng at the end of last year, Aunt Cheng asked her what she wanted to do in the future.
She said she was thinking about building an airplane.
Aunt Cheng said at the time that building rockets was a good idea, and that she could apply to her school.
But the school that Aunt Cheng attends also has high admission scores.
Since 1999, Beijing has implemented a system where students take exams first, and then apply for universities based on their scores and rankings.
Unexpectedly, she performed exceptionally well in the college entrance examination, scoring well enough to barely get into a major related to rocket construction.
Finally, she received her acceptance letter!
The notice passed through the hands of several elderly people twice before Grandpa Lin noticed that Lin Ting was just grinning foolishly. "Stop grinning like an idiot, quickly call your parents to let them know."
"Let's go now!"
—
Guan Yuehe received the good news from Lin Ting, and the anxiety that had been hanging over her finally subsided.
"Congratulations, Comrade Lin Ting."
"Hehe." Lin Ting was still immersed in the joy of receiving the admission notice, but when she heard her mother say that she had to go to a meeting later, Lin Ting encouraged her mother on the phone: "Comrade Guan Yuehe, you have to do your best too!"
I had just hung up the phone when my grandfather smacked me on the head. "You two, you have no respect for your elders, humph!"
Lin Ting continued to giggle. She knew that her mother often called her grandfather "Comrade Guan Canghai" or "Old Comrade Guan," and every time her grandfather would get so angry that he would blow his beard, saying that her mother was a filial eldest daughter.
She is also the eldest daughter of Comrade Guan Yuehe and Comrade Lin Yiku.
Jiang Guiying was happy to receive the acceptance letter, but then she started to worry again. "Your dad is doing a little better now, he's not so busy anymore. Your mom is busy with work right now, I don't know when she'll have time to throw you a college celebration."
Although Guan Yuehe was busy, she still managed to carve out a Sunday. She booked a banquet at a restaurant and invited close relatives and friends to celebrate.
Touching Lin Ting's admission notice, Guan Yuehe was filled with a myriad of thoughts.
I felt both gratified and somewhat guilty.
She and Lin Yiku were both busy with work and didn't have much time to spend with Lin Ting. It seemed like only yesterday that the ugly little baby had grown up to be over 1.7 meters tall and was about to leave them to study in another city.
Lin Ting initially felt a little envious, but upon hearing the words "ugly," she immediately tried to cover her mother's mouth.
—
It's a pity that Grandpa Ming has completely retired and no longer takes charge of cooking; otherwise, Guan Yuehe would definitely have booked the banquet at Grandpa Ming's small restaurant.
The small restaurant changed its head chef, and business isn't as booming as it used to be. Perhaps it's not entirely because of the change in chef; there are now many restaurants offering a variety of dishes, giving people more choices, unlike in the early 1980s when such small restaurants were rare and naturally had many customers.
Inviting only close relatives and friends has its advantages. Since everyone knows each other so well, there's no need to put in the effort to entertain them; it's like a regular family or friends gathering.
However, it is only on such joyous occasions that everyone can be gathered together in such a neat and orderly manner.
"Sigh, we should go to Old Xu's house for the wedding banquet during the National Day holiday." Lin Sitian counted them off one by one. "After Niu Niu's wedding banquet, the next one should be Feng Chun's college banquet. Soon it will be Xiao Yu and Yao Yao's turn. All the red envelopes from our families will go around in circles, and in the end, we won't lose anything."
"How could it not be less? Old Xu got a huge advantage; he has two."
Xu Chengcai's eyes narrowed into slits with a smug look on his face, as if he had gotten a great deal.
After Guan Yuehe greeted the other tables and returned, she had just sat down when Lin Sitian nudged her arm, gesturing for her to look at the table with the young people.
Who is that young man next to Gu Yu?
Guan Yuehe glanced over and saw Gu Yu chatting happily with a young man. She thought to herself, "How bizarre!"
No wonder she just saw her sister roll her eyes at He Shuangshuang and Mo Zhinan; she thought she must have seen wrong.
That evening, when Lin Ting started counting the red envelopes she had received that day, Guan Yuehe asked if Gu Yu and Mo Mingqi were dating.
Lin Yiku was about to take a shower, but upon hearing this, she immediately turned back.
Lin Ting, who was busy counting money, nodded and then shook her head. "I don't know. My sister didn't tell me they talked about it either."
Guan Yuehe thought the matter was still far from settled, but then she heard Lin Ting continue, "But a few days ago I saw my sister pinning Miaomiao against the wall and kissing him."
Guan Yuehe was so shocked that her eyes widened.
"Really?" the couple asked in unison.
"I'm sure I didn't see wrong, my eyesight is perfect."
After finally processing the news, Guan Yuehe remembered another question, "What do you call Mo Mingqi?"
“Brother Miaomiao, that’s what my sister calls him too.”
Guan Yuehe clicked her tongue.
With this big news, Guan Yuehe forgot to ask Lin Ting how much money he had received in total today.
Anyway, no matter how much money she received, she and Lin Yiku had already agreed that Lin Ting would keep it all.
Guan Yuehe took out another savings book and handed it to Lin Yiku, telling him to keep it and give it back to her after dropping Lin Ting off at school.
She couldn't take a few days off to take Lin Ting to school, so she had to hand over the task of taking Lin Ting to school to Comrade Lin Yiku.
Several older people said they wanted to take advantage of their current mobility and go with them to visit Lin Ting's school.
"Mom, should I bring something for Aunt Cheng?"
Guan Yuehe glanced at the few old books on the bookshelf, thought for a moment, and said, "Bring her some pastries from Beijing. You can buy them at the department store on your way to the train station tomorrow."
As for those old books, we'll wait and return them to their rightful owner the next time we meet.
—
On the day Lin Ting left for school, Guan Yuehe got up early and knocked on Lin Ting's door first.
There were two suitcases standing in the room, and winter quilts were packed and placed on the chairs.
"When Mom has time to take a vacation, she will come to see you at school."
Lin Ting hadn't considered insisting that her family visit her. She had boarded at school for six years during junior high and was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She had even mentioned wanting to go to university on her own, but her grandparents on both sides rejected the idea, saying they were worried about her since she had never left Beijing.
She felt that it was also possible that her grandparents and maternal grandparents were using her as an excuse to go on a trip.
“It’s okay if you don’t go, Mom. You should focus on your work.” Lin Ting knew about her mother’s job and said earnestly, “I also hope that our country can join the WTO as soon as possible.”
After saying that, he resumed his usual playful grin, "I'll be back when I have my winter break."
"Oh dear, Aunt Cheng said she'd pick us up at the train station. I wonder if she'll recognize me. Haha, she probably won't, Aunt Cheng has never seen me before."
The photos don't always look quite the same as the real person.
As she spoke, Lin urged her to hurry up and leave for work, "Little Guan, don't be late!"
"It's none of your business to call me Comrade Xiao Guan." Guan Yuehe rubbed her head, said no more, and went to work.
—
Lin Ting guessed wrong.
When the train arrived at the station, she helped her grandparents and maternal grandparents off the train, and kept looking back to see if her father was following. After walking only a few steps, she noticed an aunt smiling and waving at her as she walked towards her.
"You must be Lin Ting? You look just like your mother."
Over the years, she has heard her mother's friends say: Wow, Yuehe, your daughter looks just like you!
Lin Ting finally met Aunt Cheng, her "pen pal".
—
Guan Yuehe said she would go to the school to see Lin Ting when she had time, but nothing came of it.
She celebrated her fiftieth birthday the day before National Day this year.
On this day, she also received a new watch from Lin Yiku. The old watch she had worn for ten years was taken off her wrist and placed in a box along with several other old watches.
This is her testament to time.
Wearing the new watch, Guan Yuehe raised her hand and looked at it again and again.
Her skin is no longer youthful, but that's okay, it's the start of a new decade.
One day in early November, Lin Yiku came home from get off work and found a ginkgo leaf on her desk.
Lin Ting, that mischievous fellow, called back specifically to ask if he had received any ginkgo leaves this year.
Where is my mom?
"I've gone abroad and won't be back for a while."
—
The first snowfall of the year in Beijing paralyzed the city's traffic.
People at work complained incessantly.
Guan Yuehe had no time to complain; her heart was burning with passion.
A few days after the first snowfall, the Protocol on China's Accession, signed in November, came into effect, and their country officially joined the World Trade Organization.
Lin Ting, who was far away in the Northwest, learned of the news through the radio and happily sang the national anthem with her classmates in the classroom.
In my grandfather's words, she was born in a good era.
Born under the red flag, raised in the spring breeze.
Author's Note: [Heart emoji] I added nearly two thousand words after this.
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