Chapter 121

Because the sale of cosmetics has been almost banned in the past decade, Jian Lu has never worn any makeup. She looks like a lotus in pure water. Thanks to her good foundation, she is still dazzling.

But Cheng Zheng had never seen his wife put on makeup before. In the past, he had only seen lesbians with different makeup on stage in cultural troupes, and the general stage makeup was also quite exaggerated. He didn't even think about it in other ways.

When I got home today, I saw the mother and daughter's rosy lips. My first reaction was, what did they eat that made their lips red?

Shuangshuang trotted and jumped to her father's side. She is now about 1.4 meters tall and can reach her father's ribs.

"Dad, Mommy put lipstick on me~" She pouted her little mouth, looking very conceited.

Cheng Zheng was not used to seeing this. "How old are you and you're still doing this?"

It's cute, but not suitable.

Cheng Zheng looked at his wife again, and just as he was about to speak, he was interrupted.

"Shuangshuang and Duoduo were curious, so I let them try it once. Don't worry, they are still young, so I won't let them use these."

Jian Lu is willing to satisfy her child's curiosity, but at this age, she really shouldn't spend her time on this.

"Yes, Mom said she would give it to me when I grow up!"

Cheng Zheng looked at the mother and daughter, who were singing the same tune, and he couldn't find any fault with it.

After Jian Lu returned home, she began to think about the brand planning for the pearl farm and designed a logo. These would come in handy when she goes to J City to contract a pearl breeding base.

Cai Xiujuan was busy on the scene, and she was the strategist behind the scenes. As their business grew, they could get more and more things.

Half a month later, Jian Lu received two packages. One was a letter from Cai Xiujuan and a bag of clothes, all of which were popular in Hong Kong, plus a TV industry voucher, all sent by customers.

The other package was sent by Qiu Cuiping, which was a desktop electric fan with a shaking head.

Qiu Cuiping always remembered that Jian Lu had helped her, so after graduation she went to a fan factory and used her first two months' salary plus a rare internal purchasing quota to buy Jian Lu a new model of electric fan.

The electric fan can shake its head, which is more powerful than the one we bought at home. We both stared at it for a long time and thought it was really fun.

Jian Lu was naturally happy. She returned the gifts to the two of them, then took the TV industrial coupons and took Shuangshuang to the county department store to happily pick up a Red Flag brand 9-inch black-and-white TV and brought it home.

"Wow, Mom, there really is someone in here, and it's moving!"

Both of them found it novel and the TV was really good.

"Let's make three rules. From now on, you can watch TV for half an hour every day, but you have to finish your homework before watching." Jian Lu negotiated the terms with her daughter in advance to prevent the little girl from finding loopholes.

“Can it be one hour?” Shuangshuang tried to bargain with her mother.

"One hour is too much. You are young now, so be careful not to overuse your eyes, otherwise you will become nearsighted at a young age." As Jian Lu spoke, she gently pressed the lady's eyelids with both hands, and then looked at the pair of black gemstone eyes. Such beautiful eyes must be protected.

"Dad..." Shuangshuang tried to find help, and went to her father coquettishly, shaking his arm with both hands.

"Listen to your mother and protect your eyes." Cheng Zheng flipped through the newspaper and ignored the girl's coquettish behavior.

"Grandma~" Shuangshuang ran to her again and whispered in her ear, "Grandma, please talk to mom for me. Mom has to give you face."

"Ah?" Aunt Wang put her hand to her ear, puzzled, "What are you talking about? Grandma is old and hard of hearing, so she can't hear clearly."

With no one to help them, they both pouted their lips.

"Come here quickly!" Seeing that her daughter's request for help was fruitless, Jian Lu smiled helplessly, "Mom won't hurt you."

"I know, it's all for my own good~" Shuangshuang has already memorized this sentence.

"You are so naughty!" Jian Lu touched her forehead, "Pack your schoolbag. You will be in the sixth grade soon. You will be a senior elementary school student in the future."

Shuangshuang will be promoted to the sixth grade soon. Their class has just resumed the 6-3-3 school system, so they have to study for three more years than students in other classes.

People like Dunzi were not yet adults when they took the college entrance examination, which was the influence of the 522 school system.

Jian Lu thinks that 633 is a good idea. It would be good for the child to become more mature mentally and go out into society.

However, Shuangshuang is a child who is very good at taking advantage of others. Thinking of his big event, he prepared to compete with his father for his mother.

"Mom, I'll sleep with you tonight." When they heard the sound of their father flipping through the newspaper on the sofa stop, they glanced over and said, "I'm going to the sixth grade tomorrow, so I may not be able to sleep tonight. Mom, I can sleep if you stay with me."

Cheng Zheng put down the newspaper and said seriously, "Last time you said you wanted your mother to sleep with you on your birthday, the time before that you said you wanted to sleep with you when there was thunder, and the time before that you said you wanted your mother to sleep with you when you had a heavy dinner... Day by day, there are so many reasons."

"Dad, then you don't have any reason at all!" Shuangshuang pouted, righteously, "At least I have a reason."

"Hey, you are so..."

Cheng Zheng was puzzled. Do I need a reason to sleep with my own wife?

Having said that, Cheng Zheng still felt sorry for himself because he thought his child only had one chance to go there, the night before he went to sixth grade.

Jian Lu and her daughter were lying on the bed. The little girl was warm in the summer and loved to sweat. She smelled sweet after sweating. She leaned against her mother and kept mumbling, "Mommy, hug me~"

"Go to sleep sweetly, mom is holding you." Not far away, on Shuangshuang's desk, the electric fan with a shaking head was swinging left and right, blowing air and bringing some summer coolness.

=

The next day, Shuangshuang, who had a good sleep, woke up very early. She got up in high spirits, opened her small closet and started looking for clothes. She had to dress up beautifully today.

"This one, this bra is pretty."

Jian Lu pointed out a pink and white plaid blouse with a doll collar and a fitted waist to her daughter. When they put them on, they looked like peaches.

Carrying their beloved little schoolbags, Shuangshuang was sent to school by their whole family for the first time.

Today, my father is the main person here. He was too busy before and hasn't sent me to school for a long time.

"Shuangshuang, do you want to ride a horse?"

As soon as Cheng Zheng finished speaking, his eyes lit up, but his wife's face turned pale.

"Look at how beautifully the lady is dressed and what kind of horse is she riding?" Jian Lu felt that this man was really stupid.

"Okay, next time."

"Dad, look at my clothes and my schoolbag. Don't they look good?"

Cheng Zheng looked at the girl who had grown to this size in the blink of an eye, and his heart couldn't help but be moved, as if the girl was in the cradle just yesterday, but now he was wearing a shiny black braid, a beautiful blouse, with a clean and playful face, and was waving goodbye to his family with his schoolbag on his back, and was about to become a sixth-grade student.

How time flies by so fast?

"Mom, how come Shuangshuang has grown so big?" Cheng Zheng, who has always been rational, suddenly felt emotional. "By then, in the blink of an eye, I won't be able to hold her anymore."

Aunt Wang narrowed her eyes and smiled, her crow's feet creeping up her temples again. "That's right. You grew up fast back then. You were able to climb mountains and walk in rivers in a short time, and you even joined the army."

Cheng Zheng watched a group of little kids carrying schoolbags swarming into the school like a flock of fluttering young birds, and couldn't help but sigh, "Maybe we are really getting old."

"Deputy Brigade Commander Cheng, are you still sad?" Jian Lu poked his arm. "Let me see if you have any white hairs? Oh, is there one? Do you want me to pull it out for you?"

Cheng Zheng was teased by his wife, and the sadness just now disappeared in an instant, "I want to be a strong soldier even when I am old!"

......

Shuangshuang felt different since entering sixth grade. From now on, he was a formal big kid and had to act like a grown-up.

Several good friends around her were led by her and also started to pay attention.

"Hey, look at them, they are really elementary school students~" Shuangshuang was lying on the railing of the school corridor at this moment, looking at a group of first-grade elementary school students playing in the open space downstairs, and sighed sincerely.

"Shuangshuang, you are also an elementary school student." Xixi thought Shuangshuang's words were strange.

"Xixi, we are different from them." Shuangshuang straightened his chest, "They are elementary school students, and we are college students."

You know, first grade and sixth grade are very different!

Both the older and younger students were going home from school. Carrying their schoolbags, they ran and chased each other with a group of classmates towards the schoolyard. On the way, they met Juanjuan, who was in the same grade but different class.

"Juanjuan, let's play hopscotch later!" Shuangshuang hugged Juanjuan and asked her to go out and play after dinner.

Recently, students are particularly fond of playing hopscotch. They draw grids on the ground with chalk and everyone hops into them.

"Okay! I'll come see you after dinner."

Because they were thinking about playing, Shuangshuang ate dinner very quickly, so quickly that their father became serious for once.

"Why are you eating so fast? What's the hurry?" Cheng Zheng even doubted whether the child chewed the food or swallowed it directly.

"I didn't...cough cough cough." Shuangshuang was about to explain when the food in her mouth stung and she started coughing violently.

"Hey, don't talk while you're eating." Aunt Wang patted her granddaughter's back with concern, to comfort her, and said to her son, "You too, the child is eating, why are you criticizing her?"

Jian Lu poured a cup of warm water and asked the girl to drink it.

"Mom, look at how fast she eats, it's strange that she's not choking." Cheng Zheng probably guessed what she was worried about, "Eat well first, then go out and play."

"Oh." Shuangshuang finally came over and slowed down to eat her meal properly.

"One, two, I'll jump to the second square."

"I'm about to bump into you!"

After dinner, the two of them came out to play and tried hard to shrink their bodies to avoid being caught.

She looked back and asked, "Why hasn't Juanjuan come yet?"

After dinner, several friends came to see her, except Juanjuan, who hadn't arrived yet. She went to see Aunt Hehua at her house, but heard that something happened at home and Juanjuan had to come back later.

At this moment, half an hour had passed.

"Shuangshuang, here I come."

Just as they were thinking about it, they heard Juanjuan's voice.

"Juanjuan, you're here!" Shuangshuang waved at her, inviting her to join.

After playing two more rounds of house jumping, everyone was tired and sweaty, and they shouted that they wanted to go home to take a shower. However, Juanjuan took Shuangshuang away to talk.

"Shuangshuang, I'm leaving."

"Go? Where to?" Shuangshuang blinked her big eyes in confusion.

"My dad is retiring from the army, and we are going back to our hometown."

"Ah?" Shuangshuang's heart suddenly sank and the corners of her mouth turned down.

——

Cheng Hehua and Li Nianhe had lived in the military compound for many years. Li Nianhe's position had not been promoted and he was also at the age of professional retirement, so the two of them decided to take their daughter back to their hometown.

Jian Lu had a good relationship with Cheng Hehua, and she was still sad for a while when she heard about this. It seemed like she was always here, witnessing many people coming and going.

"Lotus, have a safe trip. Come back and visit us when you have time."

Several good friends came to see them off.

"Lulu, I will definitely come to see you if I have the chance. You are in college, and I have also graduated from the blindness class. Now I can recognize a lot of words! See you next time, and you can test me to see if I have made any progress?"

"good."

Jian Lu and Cheng Hehua held hands and reminisced about the past. Cheng Zheng felt a little emotional when looking at his former subordinate Li Nianhe, after all, he was the soldier he had trained.

"Have a safe trip. If you need any help, just let me know." Cheng Zheng patted him on the shoulder and asked about the unit where he would be assigned after retirement. He was relieved to hear that it was a state-owned factory.

"Work hard when you get back. You are an outstanding person in the army, so you will have no problem working in the factory."

Li Nianhe's eyes welled up, and he almost couldn't hold back his anger when he heard the usually strict leader praising him so much.

"Captain!" Li Nianhe stood up straight and saluted Cheng Zheng, "I'll call you captain again. You will always be the best captain in my heart!"

The adults were reluctant to say goodbye, but Shuangshuang was crying sadly beside them.

The little girl was saying goodbye to her good friend for the first time. She heard that she might not see her again for a long time. As she thought about it, she couldn't hold back her tears.

"Juanjuan..." Shuangshuang sniffed, tears dripping down her cheeks, and she spoke in a stuttering voice, "Juanjuan, you have to come back to see us."

"I will come back to see you, Sangsang." Juanjuan also cried. The two of them were only half a year apart in age and grew up together. Their relationship over the past eleven years was very deep.

The two of them called each other by the names they had known since they were little and hugged each other affectionately.

Finally, Juanjuan was carried away by Li Nianhe, and Shuangshuang was held by her father and waved goodbye to her.

Tears fell to the corners of their mouths, and Shuangshuang tasted the salty taste of growing up for the first time.

It turns out that the road to growing up is not only about joy, but also about separation.