Chapter 178 Mother and Son

Time passed quickly. A few days ago, there were several consecutive rains of varying sizes. The land was finally moistened and the soldiers in the camp had already begun to sow seeds intensively.

Although it is already May, the temperature difference between day and night in the black market is particularly large, especially in the early morning, which is the coldest time of the day.

Early in the morning, Lin Yue lifted the warm quilt, put on a small jacket, and walked out of the house. She picked a few tomatoes from the kang next door and started to make breakfast.

She didn't get up too early, and Zhang Yuandong had already gone to work in the fields.

The location of the field was quite far, so in order to save time, he took Lu Mangang's bicycle to go there.

At this time, the two of them came back on bicycles. Zhang Yuandong sat astride the back seat of the bicycle. He had long legs and feet, and even a 28-inch bicycle could not support his tall stature. He carried a hoe on his shoulders, and his legs were stretched straight out to the sides. He felt a sense of suffocation when sitting on a bicycle.

Occasionally, there would be early risers on the street who would greet the two of them and ask a few questions. Lu Mangang was a talkative person and would always stop his car to chat with them.

Zhang Yuandong could still bear it at first, occasionally agreeing with him, but when he saw Lu Mangang talking about whether the soil humidity was suitable for sowing seeds, and then talking about how his son peed five times last night and still had no intention of leaving, Zhang Yuandong could not wait any longer and was about to get out of the car and walk back when he heard Lu Mangang turn around and ask, "Isn't that right, Zhang Tuan?"

Zhang Yuandong didn't really listen to what the two said. Now that he was asked the question, he could only sit upright and nod in agreement, looking serious as if he was discussing something important. This made the other party feel uneasy and he didn't know how to respond.

Lin Yue calculated the time and felt that Zhang Yuandong should be back, so he went out to check. As expected, as soon as he left the yard, he saw the two people chatting with someone not far away.

When Zhang Yuandong saw his wife, he didn't want to listen to their random chat. He pushed his feet hard on the ground, and the bicycle lurched forward. Lu Mangang was startled and almost lost his grip on the handlebars.

The person chatting didn't notice Zhang Yuandong's little move, and laughed: "Captain Lu, you are anxious to go home to see your son, right? Go quickly, I won't delay you!"

Lu Mangang shook his head and said goodbye to the other party with a smile. He also saw Zhang Tuan's wife standing at the street gate, turned around and gave Zhang Yuandong a knowing smile, pedaled his feet, and rode his bicycle quickly back home.

Zhou Aixiang had heard her husband talking on the street a long time ago, so she came out of the house. She handed a large white porcelain teapot to Lu Mangang and said, "Go get a pot of soy sauce!"

Lu Mangang grumbled in dissatisfaction: "Where is Dongsheng? Why don't you let him go?"

"He's looking after your baby boy. Hurry up and don't delay. I need it urgently!"

Lu Mangang took the teapot and was about to ride his bike to leave, but Zhou Aixiang pulled him back and said unhappily, "Why are you riding a bike just to get some soy sauce? Now get the soy sauce pot and walk!"

Lu Mangang got out of the car reluctantly and turned away.

Zhou Aixiang then turned around and greeted Lin Yue and his wife, wiped her hands on her apron, and pushed her bicycle into the yard.

Lin Yue made tomato dumpling soup and scallion pancakes in the morning. Wang Tingting and a few children had already brought the meal and were waiting for Zhang Yuandong to come back before eating.

Wang Tingting had just finished her confinement, but her body had recovered well. Unlike her neighbor Zhou Aixiang who had to stay in confinement for two months, she could not stay in the house early and went out.

After breakfast, Zhang Yuandong and a group of children went out, and the house suddenly became empty.

Wang Tingting sat under the eaves, holding her child in her arms, basking in the sun. She lazily said to Lin Yue, "I'm going to go back to work in a few days. The head nurse came to see me yesterday and said that the hospital was short of staff and asked me when I would go back."

Liu Ying was arrested, and Wang Tingting did not go to work because of giving birth. The hospital has been a bit overwhelmed recently. The maternity leave at this time is 56 days, but when the workplace is busy, many women will choose to return to work early.

In the era when family planning had not yet been implemented, having a child was an honorable thing, and returning to work early was even more worthy of praise.

"What about the child? Why don't you just leave him at home? Sisi has been sent to a nursery. I'm not busy lately, so I can help you take care of the child."

Wang Tingting shook her head. "No, I'll just take him to work. He still needs to be breastfed, so it's not right for you to always take him to the hospital."

Children at this time basically grew up in their mothers' arms or on their backs. When Lingling and Wanli were young, Lin Yue would tie them to his body and take them to work with him.

The hospital is better, as it has a nursery specifically for children. When you are busy at work, you can leave your child in the nursery and visit when you are free.

This is the way of this era. Women, especially mothers, are wives, mothers, and workers. They play too many roles, but not themselves.

Lin Yue stood up, clapped his hands and said, "Okay, it's close anyway. If you can't take him, you can send him back."

She stewed another pot of mutton soup on the small clay stove and told Wang Tingting to drink it later. Then she put on a straw hat, carried a basket and went to the vegetable garden.

There are very few locals in the family compound, so they basically figured out what to grow on the land by themselves. For example, Lin Yue had always thought that rice could be grown here, but when it was time to sow the seeds, he realized that the geographical conditions here were not suitable for growing rice, so he mainly grew wheat.

In fact, it was not until decades later that rice was grown here, and the main food product changed from wheat and sweet potatoes to corn.

Lin Yue has already planted spring onions, potatoes and pumpkins in the vegetable garden. However, the temperature has changed a lot in the past few days, so not all seeds can germinate, and a lot of replanting is often needed.

After Lin Yue had planted the seeds, the weather was gradually getting warmer. She wiped the sweat off her forehead, took off her small cotton jacket, and walked home carrying the basket.

Everyone is busy with spring planting at this time, so there are not many people in the vegetable garden. Lin Yue has not met anyone. Only Wang Fang is busy working in the vegetable field not far away.

She had not walked far when she ran into Wang Fang's two sons. One was ten years old, the other six years old. Today was not a day off, so they should have been in school. But for some reason, they were not in school, but wandering around the street instead.

When the two children saw Lin Yue, they were quite polite and called out "Auntie" before rushing over without waiting for Lin Yue's response.

Lin Yue looked back curiously, and saw the two children had already run up to Wang Fang and said angrily, "Where's our breakfast? Why didn't you leave any for us? Do you want to starve us to death?"

Lin Yue raised his wrist to check the time and was very sure that it was already past ten o'clock. The two children had just woken up.

Wang Fang's voice was not loud, so Lin Yue could not hear clearly what she said. She was not interested in watching other people educate their children. Just as she was about to leave, she heard the older Kong Jianguo yelling, "Why are you so useless! You don't make money at home, and you almost got my dad fired. You can't even take care of us. My dad should divorce you! You are indeed the descendant of feudalism, capitalism, and revisionism. You are a troublemaker!"

Lin Yue paused, she was somewhat surprised that such words came out of the mouth of a ten-year-old child, and the other party was his mother. Any parent would not be able to stand their child saying such words.

Sure enough, Wang Fang's suppressed angry voice came from behind: "Where did you learn these words? I'm your mother, are these the words you should say?"

"If it weren't for you, my dad wouldn't have been away from home. I don't want you as my mother!"

Wang Fang sneered: "Okay, then why are you still eating the food I cook? I am not worthy of being your mother, so don't come to me when you are thirsty or hungry!"

Kong Jianguo kicked Wang Fang angrily and cursed, "You feudal, capitalist and revisionist idiot! You still want to abuse the children of soldiers? I'll sue you!" After saying that, he spat on the ground angrily, turned around and ran away.

Kong Jianping, who was only six years old, looked at his mother, then at his brother, hesitated for a moment, followed his brother's example and kicked Wang Fang on the calf, then ran after his brother.

After all, Kong Jianguo was ten years old, and his kick was quite powerful. After the two children left, Wang Fang squatted on the ground for a long time without getting up.

Lin Yue didn't want to get involved in this family's affairs, but remembering how Wang Fang held He Aini a few days ago, he finally walked over and asked, "Are you okay? Can you still stand up?"

Wang Fang had already noticed that Lin Yue was nearby. She didn't think it was embarrassing, so after the pain subsided, she stood up with the help of Lin Yue, then shook her head lightly: "Thank you, I'm fine." Her tone was distant, as if nothing had happened.

Lin Yue's caring words got stuck in her throat. She was not deceived by Wang Fang's appearance, because she saw the shadow of Wang Tingting in her eyes.

She was sure that Wang Fang must have a mental problem, and it was probably more serious than Wang Tingting's. After all, Wang Tingting had people around her who loved and cared about her, but Wang Fang had nothing.

The two of them were not very familiar with each other, and Lin Yue didn't know how to comfort her. She always felt that with her temper, she would not be willing to talk too much with her. In the end, she could only say dryly: "The child is still too young, you guide him well, and he will be sensible in the future."

As soon as Lin Yue said this, he felt that it was too hypocritical.

Wang Fang smiled and nodded, agreeing with her: "You are right, I will definitely educate them well."

This was a very unproductive conversation, but Lin Yue inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief. Since she wanted to educate her child well, it at least proved that she had no intention of committing suicide now.

It was the first time for the two of them to walk together. Although they didn't say anything along the way, it was already a very surprising thing to others.

As soon as I entered the house, Zhou Aixiang from next door leaned on the wall and asked in a low voice, "Hey, Xiaolin, how did you get together with Wang Fang?"

She was not very tall, and even though the wall of her family compound was built very low, she still had to work hard to cling to the top of the wall. Lin Yue was watching with a mixture of laughter and tears.

But Wang Fang didn't want to talk about the conflict between her and her child. She just said, "I just went to the vegetable garden to replant and ran into her. We came back together."

Zhou Aixiang obviously didn't believe it and wanted to ask more questions, but suddenly she realized that she was still clinging to someone else's wall. She said anxiously, "Wait, I'll be there soon!" Before she finished speaking, she had already hurriedly climbed down from the wall and ran back to her own house.

Lin Yue laughed. She took off her straw hat and hung it under the eaves. Just after washing her hands, she heard footsteps coming from outside the yard. Sure enough, Zhou Aixiang came in hurriedly, holding her little son.

When she saw Lin Yue, she smiled and urged him, "Come on, go upstairs and check on the baby!"

Without saying anything, he dragged Lin Yue into Wang Tingting's room.

Wang Tingting was breastfeeding and felt embarrassed when she saw someone coming. She stopped the baby from feeding and turned her back to put down her clothes. Fortunately, the baby was quiet. Although he was not full, he did not cry. He just complained for a few times, waved his hands, and played by himself.

While Wang Tingting put the child down, she greeted awkwardly, "Mrs. Zhou is here."

Zhou Aixiang was not the type who didn't care. On the contrary, although she looked careless, she actually knew her limits. She smiled and said, "Hey, look at me. I didn't even say hello when I came in. Don't mind it, girl!"

She apologized generously, and Wang Tingting felt much better and quickly gave her her seat.