Chapter 061 Visiting Sha Yue
Shayue got pregnant in September, and her baby was finally born on Tuesday this week.
That day, Wen Jiajia happened to be taken to a meeting by Director Xue, and they were in meetings for two consecutive days. After the meeting, she was discharged from the hospital and went home. Wen Jiajia has not been able to visit her in the hospital since then.
In that case, let's go on the weekend.
Today is Saturday. Wen Jiajia packed her things and decided to take the bus to the city instead of riding a bike.
There was no way, Shayue's place was too far away, and she was afraid that she would get tired and collapse halfway.
Fortunately, it was Saturday and there were not many people entering the city in the morning, but there were quite a lot of people leaving the city.
Wen Jiajia got on the bus and sat down in a window seat.
After arriving in the city, we changed buses and it took nearly two hours to get to the vicinity of the institute.
Dong Qi was already waiting at the door. When she saw Wen Jiajia get off the bus, she waved at her and then ran towards her.
"I was thinking that Sister Jiajia, you wouldn't come until the afternoon, but Sister Shayue said you would definitely arrive around noon." Dong Qi smiled and reached out to get things for Wen Jiajia.
Wen Jiajia only gave her a bag containing an old hen, which was the chicken that Shayue asked her to help buy.
She said, "Shayue knows what time the bus from my place leaves and what time it will arrive in the city. She can calculate that I should be here by this time."
Wen Jiajia followed Dong Qi, looking around as they walked.
There are also villages next to the institute, but because the competition inside the institute is quite fierce, the employees inside will not buy things privately in nearby villages for fear of being reported.
Don't think it won't happen. In this era of family buildings, your neighbors know best what you eat and drink every day.
Even if you eat an extra half pound of meat in a month, your neighbors will suspect that you bought the meat secretly. Because the amount of meat supplied each month is limited, your neighbors will record how much meat you eat on a regular basis without you noticing.
After walking for about ten minutes, I arrived at the dormitory.
The dormitory building here is also newly built, with six floors, but the occupancy density is much lower than that of the military’s family buildings, which can be seen from the number of doors on each floor.
Dong Qi pointed to the building next to him and said, "That's Building No. 2. My home is in Building No. 2."
Wen Jiajia: "Your building seems to be older."
The outer layer is covered with lush green ivy, while the inner layer of the green ivy is covered with thick, dead ivy, which is the ivy that died in the autumn and winter of the past few years.
Dong Qi: "Yes, my building was built five years ago. Sister Shayue lives in Building No. 6, which was built last year."
Wen Jiajia was really shocked along the way.
She originally thought that this place would be as closed as the military family compound, but who knew that there was a cinema, a barber shop, and even a supply and marketing cooperative here, as well as basketball courts, ping-pong tables and other sports equipment.
It was time for the children to go home for lunch. Wen Jiajia saw children running from one direction, and it was obvious that there was also a school here.
There are also many older children, so there is a high probability that there are middle school students.
Wen Jiajia sighed: "Your place is quite good, almost like a small county town."
Dong Qi whispered, "Sister, your place is better. They are strict but nothing happens."
After saying that, he took Wen Jiajia to the upstairs of Building No. 6. Sha Yue lived on the third floor.
Because Feng Yu had just arrived, the house allocated to the couple was not very big, only 58 bungalows.
But at this time, the area is what it is, and there is no public stall or anything to fool people, so the 58-square-meter house does not look too small. Especially since Shayue has a small family and not many things, everything is tidied up, which makes it look even wider.
Shayue was in the room and it was her mother who opened the door.
"Jia Jia, come in quickly, Xiao Yue has been thinking about you for a long time. I called you all morning, why haven't you come yet?" Sha's mother smiled. She had a very gentle and kind face, and she always smiled when she saw everyone. Even Director Xue remembered that Sha Yue had a mother with a very good temper.
Director Xue is usually more tolerant towards Shayue than towards them, which is probably related to her mother.
"Mom——" Shayue's voice came from the room, as if she was dissatisfied with her mother exposing her secrets.
Wen Jiajia entered the bedroom and was really surprised: "Shayue, your breasts are now twice as big as when you were not pregnant."
Sha Yue: “…”
"My mother said that I am blessed because I am plump and white." She was very proud.
Wen Jiajia's mouth twitched: "Okay. But I think you still need to control your weight a little bit. After all, clothes are useless. If you don't lose weight, you can't wear your old clothes."
Sha Yue's expression was dull, and it took her a few seconds to come back to her senses: "Yes, you are right, this is not a question of luck or not, this is a question of whether my clothes can fit me..."
Why didn't she think of this?
"Wait... I'll start losing weight after I finish my confinement!" Shayue was heartbroken, and she said this with gritted teeth.
Wen Jiajia put the basket in her hand on the table in the room, ran to the living room to wash her hands before going back into the room to check on the children.
The child was sleeping next to her, with wrinkled skin, chubby cheeks, narrow eyelids, and even some unwashed white vernix caseosa on his head. He looked like a little monkey.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" Wen Jiajia asked after looking at it carefully for a long time.
The tenderness in Sha Yue's eyes was about to overflow, and she said softly: "It's a little boy."
Wen Jiajia carefully touched his slender little hand and said, "The slit between his eyes is so long. You and Feng Yu both have double eyelids. He will definitely be a boy with big eyes when he grows up."
Sha Yue smiled and said, "As long as she looks good, that's fine."
Wen Jiajia stood up and opened the bamboo cover on the basket, and said to Shayue: "I only bought one old hen. Many people were unwilling to sell it. But this old hen is heavy, a full three pounds. If it weren't for the high price, no one would be willing to sell it, because it still lays eggs every day. You can see eggs in its belly when you kill it."
Sha Yue leaned on the bed and said, "Then I must taste the egg in the chicken's stomach. Before I got married, I couldn't eat this. My mother insisted..."
She lowered her voice and said, "They insist that girls can't have children if they eat it. I guess it's because the adults want to eat it, so they made up this lie to fool us."
Wen Jiajia burst out laughing: "I haven't heard of such a statement."
She had loved eating lantern soup all her life. Her parents loved it, too, and often took her to eat it.
Sha Yue chuckled, "So this is the only thing we say here? It must be a lie. But I'm not afraid now. If I can't give birth, I won't. Anyway, I already have Xiao Liang... Jia Jia, you don't know, giving birth is really painful. I don't want to suffer this kind of pain a second time in my life."
Wen Jiajia focused on the name: "The child is called Xiaoliang? Feng Xiaoliang? Can you parents give him a slightly more complicated name?"
"What are you thinking! His name is Feng Mingliang. His father spent a long time looking through books and finally came up with the word 'Mingliang'. If I were to choose this name, I would. But it's a pity that his household registration has been registered now, so it's hard to change it even if I want to."
Wen Jiajia comforted her: "Don't they say that the way to success is simple? The word 'bright' is good enough. The future is bright, and life is bright."
Sha Yue smiled, her chubby face seemed to be glowing at this moment: "I was hoping he would be like this."
Wen Jiajia took out the beeswax lip balm she made last winter and said, "Didn't you say your lips would peel? This is purely natural and can be used while breastfeeding."
She made five boxes last year and packed them in iron boxes. Each box was a quarter of the size of a palm and one centimeter deep. She could not use up half a box of lipstick in one winter.
Later, I sent one box to Sister Wei, and two boxes to my hometown, and the last box is now with Shayue.
But she still had some beeswax at home, so she could use it up again. She also wanted to try putting essential oils in lipstick.
Sha Yue took it and applied it immediately: "It's very greasy."
"Of course not. I put a lot of thought into making this." Wen Jiajia took out a small bottle of essential oil. "This is rose essential oil. You can apply it on your face and smell it. Isn't it very fragrant?"
Shayue put down the lipstick and took the essential oil.
As soon as she smelled it, she was shocked. Her eyes widened: "Oh my God, don't you know how much I hate myself now, I smell sour and my mother won't let me take a shower!" This is what she needs, she likes it more than lipstick!
Wen Jiajia: "Then you can use it. If it's not enough, I'll give you more, but you have to keep the bottle for me. I have a lot of essential oils, but not many bottles."
Sha Yue immediately dripped two drops of essential oil onto her hands, spread them and took a deep breath, looking very happy: "Oh my god, it smells so good. If Feng Yu smells it, he will kiss me till my skin is bald."
"…" What kind of lewd words are these?
Wen Jiajia also brought a pound of meat, half a pound of dried mushrooms, and half a pound of brown sugar.
During the Chinese New Year, I ate too much meat and used up all my meat coupons. In the past few months, I have only eaten vegetarian food and eggs to save a few meat coupons, one of which was used here.
The mushrooms are grown at home during the winter. If we can’t finish them, we dry them in a brazier. We can get four pounds of mushrooms and eat them when we make dumplings.
The mother came in and changed the baby's diaper. After changing the diaper, she left again, leaving the two of them alone to talk.
Wen Jiajia asked her, "Did your mother take care of you during your confinement? Or did she say she would leave in a few days?"
Sha Yue: "I'll leave after I'm out of confinement. Anyway, there's enough room at home. Feng Yu often has to work overtime, and sometimes he doesn't get home until midnight. As for my grandfather, although he's still strong, it's not convenient for him to take care of me. He also took a job sweeping the compound, which pays him five yuan and two tickets a month. He's very hard-working. If my mother doesn't come, I'll have to take care of myself."
That's right. Sha Yue's family has three rooms, one for the couple and one for Grandpa Feng Yu, so there is still one room left.
Wen Jiajia left Shayue's house after having lunch. Before leaving, she asked Feng Yu, who had gone home for lunch, to help her borrow two books about various chemical compounds - if there were such books.
After all, if she came across something good, she couldn't just miss it because she didn't know the person.
It was already past five in the evening when I got home. The sky was bright, with no sign of getting dark.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan haven't come back yet. I guess they are still playing basketball outside. Oh no, it might be more appropriate to say "kicking basketball".
Wen Jiajia went to the yard to pick some green beans, cut them into shreds and stir-fried them with eggs. She then picked a few green peppers and stir-fried them into a plate of tiger skin green peppers and that was enough for dinner.
The weather was hot, and Wen Jiajia didn’t care whether the two children were home or not. She was hungry and had to eat first.
The green peppers grown this year are very spicy, and the tiger-skin green peppers are especially delicious when eaten with rice.
Wen Jiajia snorted and wanted to eat braised pork. Tiger skin green peppers should be boiled in braised pork to taste better.
So after dinner, Wen Jiajia went to the room, unlocked it, opened the drawer and took out the iron box inside, which contained her family's belongings.
There were two dozen bills of money. Wen Jiajia counted them last night and there was a total of 2,528 yuan.
Some coins were placed in a bamboo tube on the table. When the tube was full, Wen Jiajia would take it to the bank to exchange for paper money.
There were quite a few tickets, but most of them were industrial tickets.
The most popular thing to be distributed in the army is industrial coupons, and Wen Jiajia’s factory has been distributing them recently.
With the accumulated industrial coupons at home, it was easy to buy a sewing machine. Wen Jiajia was waiting for Wei Dai to come back to buy it, as she couldn't bring it back by herself.
Then there are cloth coupons and cotton thread coupons.
Both types of tickets can be used to buy clothes, but cotton thread tickets are a little more valuable because they can be used to buy not only clothes but also cotton, while cloth tickets cannot be used to buy cotton.
Five cloth coupons and four cotton thread coupons.
Wen Jiajia thought about it and concluded that these five cloth coupons were enough for everyone in the family to make two sets of summer clothes.
You have to buy it because the ticket is about to expire.
However, the cotton thread tickets are still far from expiration and can be used at the end of the year.
Finally, there are grain coupons, meat coupons and some rare coupons, such as soy product coupons, pastry coupons, milk coupons and so on.
Yes, there are also milk tickets, which are also issued by the factory. You can buy milk at the milk station and milk powder at the supply and marketing cooperative.
Among them, the meat coupons that Wen Jiajia wanted the most only had two, which together weighed only one pound and two ounces, which was not enough to eat the pork belly.
You have to eat the pork in a scoop to your heart's content.
She sighed, stacked the tickets, tied them up with a rubber band, and put them back into the iron box.
He closed the drawer with a clang, locked it, and looking at the distant mountains with his chin in his hand, he began to miss Wei Dai again.
If Wei Dai were here, he could buy the meat without a ticket.
——
Another package has arrived from my hometown. Ever since Wen Jiajia sent New Year's goods before the New Year and some leftover bacon and sausage after the New Year, my hometown has always been sending things to me.
How much money can be saved from farm work? Wen Jiajia felt a little sad when she saw the big and small bags of food.
The bulk of the things sent this time were millet. Wei Dai mentioned in the letter that she loved eating millet, so this is all she sent this time.
She weighed herself and found she weighed 12 kilograms.
How could Wen Jiajia not know how much millet a family could get in a year? It was about ten kilograms. In other words, the millet that the old couple and the eldest brother's family had sent was almost untouched.
In addition to millet, there are also longan and red dates.
Longan and red dates are both specialties of my hometown, especially longan. The longan in my hometown has small seeds and thick flesh, and tastes sweet.
This time a big bag was sent, a really big bag, which took up half of the package and was enough for Wen Jiajia to eat for half a year.
After all, you can't eat this thing every day and all the time. Eating two every few days or putting a few in the sweet soup will be enough. Eating too much will cause nosebleeds.
Wen Jiajia put all the things away and started looking for things at home, preparing to send them back when she had time.
Unfortunately, there is really nothing to send home recently, but I can send some industrial tickets, cotton thread tickets, etc. back home.
Wen Jiajia undoubtedly acted quickly, so she wrote a letter and mailed the ticket to her family the next day.
The next day after sending the letter, Wei Dai finally came back after being away for more than two months.
Wen Jiajia almost didn't recognize him because the man in front of her was as dark as charcoal.
Wei Dai was still smiling at her, his smile was extremely brilliant.
Under the strong sunlight, his white teeth are very noticeable and sparkling.
"Jia Jia, I miss you so much."
As he said that, he wanted to rush over and hug Wen Jiajia.
“…”
Wen Jiajia leaned over and hid behind a pillar under the eaves, staring straight at Wei Dai and said, "Go take a shower first!"
There was a threat in his words.
From a distance, she could smell a sour odor.
Wen Jiajia urged: "Hurry up, there is hot water in the pot. The sun is very strong now. You can wash the clothes directly after you finish washing. You can dry them in the evening."
Wei Dai never expected that his wife would behave like this after he hadn't seen her for more than two months. But smell your clothes, they are indeed sour.
With a sad look in his eyes, he went into the bathroom carrying a bucket full of hot water.
Wen Jiajia even yelled at him, "Don't rush to wash. You have to at least rub my whole body three times with a towel. Don't come out before you've washed for 10 minutes!"
"knew--"
He also wants to save face by shouting so loudly.
In the yard, Wen Jiajia looked at the backpack left on the ground by Wei Dai and didn't even want to touch it.
This person must have gone to stay in some deep forest, because she found a spider corpse on the backpack.
What the hell is going on.
However, Wei Daiqi returned safely, and Wen Jiajia finally breathed a sigh of relief.
My heart, hanging in the air, finally landed safely.
More than ten minutes later, Wei Dai pushed the door open. Wen Jiajia sniffed around him, making sure that his body was clean before hugging him.
She rested her chin on Wei Dai's chest. Wei Dai lowered his head, hugged her tightly, and kissed her forehead fiercely.
"Missed me?" he asked.
Wen Jiajia nodded heavily: "Yes!"
"I missed you, too."
Wen Jiajia frowned: "You really took a long time this time. Will there be such a long mission in the future?"
"I don't know about that. It depends on the arrangements." Wei Dai didn't want to let go of his wife for a moment. He bent down, put his hands on Wen Jiajia's thighs, hugged her, and the two returned to the living room.
The weather was getting hot, and Wei Dai had to wear two shirts or even a sweater when he went out. Now there was a palm-leaf fan on the table and he was wearing a thin short-sleeved shirt.
After being held by him for a while, Wen Jiajia couldn't stand it anymore and pushed Wei Dai: "It's hot. It's especially hot at home recently."
Wei Dai let go and picked up the palm-leaf fan to fan her.
"Were you about to go out?" he asked.
Wen Jiajia: "Yes, the cucumbers in our vegetable garden must be ripe. If we don't pick them, they will be picked up by those naughty kids."
She discovered yesterday that four cucumbers were missing from the vegetable garden. She counted them clearly and was able to notice even one was missing.
The cucumber seeds this year are of good quality. They taste crispy and sweet, and not too numbing on the lips. Wen Jiajia eats them as fruit.
Wei Dai: "Then pick all the ripe ones and pickle them."
Wen Jiajia said angrily, "If I wanted to eat pickled cucumbers, I would have picked them a long time ago. I just like to eat fresh cucumbers."
As he spoke, he suddenly stood up and took out half a watermelon from the cupboard as if presenting a treasure: "Look! Our watermelons are ripe too. Our watermelons are the first to ripen, which is worth my frequent fertilization! And they are very sweet, with thin skin and lots of flesh. There are no other problems except for the watermelon seeds."
Even the watermelon seeds-free products like Rock Sugar No. 1 and 8424 Kirin Melon that came out decades later won’t be as fragrant as this one!
Wei Dai had been away from home for so long, and had been eating dry food all day long. Of course he missed the juicy watermelon.
So he ate up half of the watermelon.
Wen Jiajia told him not to throw away the melon rinds because she needed to save them for cooking.
"Who can throw away melon rinds?" Wei Dai said, putting the slightly red melon rinds on the kitchen stove after eating. "When we were kids, we stole melons outside and had to bring the rinds home."
There is a lot of sand in their village, so they plant several acres of watermelons every year.
The watermelons grown in their village are indeed tastier than those grown in the surrounding villages, so people always come to steal them.
The villagers came up with an idea. They let the children watch the melon fields and beat up anyone who stole the melons. After all, it was the children who did the beatings, so even if the thief got his brains beaten to a pulp, he would not be able to come back to the village with the face.
The key point is that these children are all superior to me, they appear in groups, and they carry wooden sticks in their hands. Even a big man with a big body has to weigh it carefully. After all, a random punch can kill the old master.
However, this method can only control melon thieves from other villages, but not the thieves in our own village.
No matter how you look at it, you still have to eat the melon.
The villagers turned a blind eye to it and regarded it as payment for their services, without pursuing any further matter.
When Wei Dai was a child, he thought he had kept it a secret and had not been discovered for stealing melons for so long. When he grew up, he realized that it was just that people didn't tell him.
He also peeled the melon rind, both the edible side and the skin side, until only a thin layer was left.
Looking at the cabinet again, the melon rind in the bowl in the cabinet was even thinner than the one he had peeled.
After Wei Dai came back, Wen Jiajia no longer had the heart to go to the vegetable garden.
For lunch, I had stir-fried melon rind with chili peppers and a bowl of steamed egg custard to make a rough meal.
In the evening, after dinner, when it was still light, Wen Jiajia called Wei Dai to go to the cage.
Recently, the logistics department has allowed families to place ground cages by the lake, so every day some people bring a small stool to fish, and some people bring ground cages to catch fish.
But the fish in the lake are as clever as they can be, and there are many people who go three days without catching a single fish.
Even if we did catch some, they were all small miscellaneous fish that we were reluctant to throw away because of the waste of oil.
Wei Dai exclaimed, "The fish in the lake are very cunning and hard to catch. The last time the lake was opened to us for fishing was three years ago. I spent an entire night and didn't catch a single fish."
"Could it be harder to catch than the fish in the river near your home?"
"Yes, but there are a lot of crabs in the lake. Do you want to eat crabs? If not, I will let them go when I collect the traps."
Wen Jiajia was surprised: "Eat it! Why don't you eat it?"
Although this is not the best time for crabs to eat, it is better than the beginning of spring.
Steam the crab and dip it in ginger, soy sauce and wine. It tastes especially delicious when you dip it directly in the sauce.
Wen Jiajia added, "Oh, if there are any lobsters... the red ones, you have to keep them for me."
Wei Dai: "Fried with garlic, right?"
"Have you eaten it?" Wen Jiajia was quite surprised. Didn't they say that no one eats this thing?
Wei Dai went out with the cage and bait in his hand: "Of course, there are also meaty things, how can I not have eaten them before? Just wait, we may not catch fish, but we will definitely have lobsters and crabs."
"Hey, I'll go too!" Wen Jiajia suddenly had an idea and had to see how many crabs and crayfish there were.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan saw their aunt and uncle walking out the door one after another, even stopping to listen to the radio, and hurried to follow them.
They have figured out the pattern and the radio will play it again.
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