If we were to ask what Chen Chunhua regretted in her previous life, one regret would undoubtedly be Lin Shuying, and another would probably be the size of her children.
Especially the two boys, due to long-term malnutrition during adolescence, both of them are not tall. Lin Shuchao can barely reach 1.7 meters when he grows up, but Lin Shugan is far from even 1.7 meters.
The second brother was a hardworking person, and because of his short stature he was often bullied at school. Fortunately, there was Lin Shuchao who always helped his brother get back on his feet.
It was not appropriate for them as adults to interfere in matters between children. Although they never asked, they knew what was going on, so they never stopped the third child from standing up for his brother.
I didn’t know this before, I just thought they were born that tall. I also thought that she and Lin Guoqing were not that short, so why are these two children not tall!
When I was old, my grandson told me that it was all caused by malnutrition. Why are people in the Northeast so tall? Because they have refined rice to eat and meat and bones to chew on, and what they eat stays there, so they can't move.
Chen Chunhua remembered it all in her heart. Now that Lin Shuying has almost escaped death, shouldn't she hurry up to provide the children with nutrition?
I pulled out a tin box from the cupboard, the pattern of which was no longer visible. When I opened it, there was a jar full of eggs. They were all from the old hens at home.
I used to save money to exchange for money and food coupons, but now... you can always make money, so I'll just eat the eggs first!
He opened another clay pot, scooped out a small spoonful of rapeseed oil and poured it into the pot. When the oil was hot, he began to put the eggs in one by one.
When Lin Guoqing came back, he saw a plate full of fried eggs with oozing oil.
"1, 2, 3... 7, Chen Chunhua, are you crazy? Are we having trouble making ends meet? You fried 7 eggs??? And with so much oil!"
I just promised the kids fried eggs, so there are only four kids, right? But Chen Chunhua fried seven! There are only five hens in the chicken coop in the backyard, and five eggs a day, with the way his wife eats, isn't enough to cover their expenses!
Lin Shuchao was standing by with his little sister, drooling. He corrected her when he heard this.
"Dad, sometimes some clucking chickens can lay two eggs a day. I picked up 7 eggs today." He proudly raised one palm and two fingers. Sorting numbers within 20 was no problem for him.
Lin Guoqing was not comforted by his words, but became even more worried. "You didn't go to pick up eggs yesterday, which means you only got 7 eggs in two days!"
Chen Chunhua washed and chopped the vegetables that Lin Shu had picked, and fried a dish of greens with the remaining oil from frying the eggs. While she was sprinkling salt on them, she rolled her eyes at her stingy husband in annoyance.
"We were away yesterday, and no one fed the chickens. How could eggs be produced if they weren't eaten? If I had just fried four eggs, one of the kids would have had nothing to eat later, believe it or not! Unless your mom doesn't come to the table."
Liang Shengdi would never let herself down, nor did she have any love for children. If there were fried eggs on the table, she would immediately pick one up and put it in her bowl with her chopsticks.
Lin Guoqing's mouth moved twice. This point was indeed impossible to refute, but...
"Then why don't you just fry five? We don't need them..."
"Why don't we both need to eat!" Chen Chunhua quickly put the dishes on a plate and took them out of the pot. She skipped over Lin Shuchao and handed it to Lin Shugan who had just come in. "Take it out. Be careful of the heat."
Then he turned around and gave Lin Guoqing another look.
"Aren't we human beings? Are we inferior and not qualified to eat eggs? What is there in our house that we didn't earn with work points? Even the five chickens at the back were earned by our team last year when they pressed oil. We only got ten kilograms in total, and we gave away half of it in exchange!
We work in the fields day and night, cutting rapeseed until my waist is almost broken! Your hands are almost cracked after your shift at the oil press! Why can't we both have a share of the oil squeezed from rapeseed? The oil is exchanged for eggs laid by the chickens!
Chen Chunhua put her hands on her hips and kept cursing for a long time. Lin Guoqing felt his head buzzing and his ears were filled with the words "dirt oil" and "dirt eggs". He suddenly felt that he was a bad mouth. Why did he make his wife unhappy again?
"You can eat it!" He quickly coaxed her, "I'm just worried about you! We're both really tired, and we didn't sleep well yesterday. It's normal for us to have an egg today!"
"Not today!" Chen Chunhua corrected, "Every day from now on, our family will cook seven eggs. The children need nutrition to grow up, and we also need nutrition to work!"
Lin Guoqing couldn't coax her anymore after hearing this. "No, Chunhua, we have to exchange these eggs for money and food coupons! Otherwise, there won't be enough rice at home..."
There were so many people in the family, and even though there were four children, the food distributed by the village was still not enough to eat. Even if we exchanged eggs for some food coupons in the city, it was only enough to steam sweet potatoes mixed with rice for every meal. When there was a shortage of food, we could only eat sweet potato porridge.
This is because the children are still young and can make do with this. But in a few years, I'm afraid this won't be enough. You little brats, you're going to eat me out of money. I'm not just saying this.
“Money is earned, not saved!”
Chen Chunhua scooped out a few bowls of sweet potato rice from another pot. Lin Guoqing stuffed two bowls in his hand, and Lin Shugan, who came back with the dishes, stuffed two bowls in his hand. Lin Shuchao and Lin Shumei behind him each had a bowl in their hands.
Then he walked out with a bowl of rice and a plate of fried eggs.
"Bring out seven more pairs of chopsticks. I'm telling you, don't worry about the food. Just listen to me. But you still have to put in the effort to make money..."
Lin Guoqing looked up at the sky in silence. He really wanted to make money! Was there even such a chance? Those who actually made money probably had grass as tall as the third brother on their graves by now. Was speculation really that easy?
His wife couldn't have been infected by me. She only cares about eating good food. Doesn't she know how hard it is to earn enough food?!
Of course Chen Chunhua knew this, and she also knew that these hard days would not last long. In two years, reform and opening up would begin. By then, not only would she be able to engage in speculation openly, but her family would also be able to get more than four acres of land, and there would be plenty of opportunities to make money to fill their stomachs.
They didn't have that awareness before, and they just buried their heads in working in the fields. Although their stomachs were filled, their quality of life was still far behind that of the better families in the city.
The two of them had no special abilities, and the three children had no parents to rely on, so they had to work hard on their own in life and suffered a lot.
She has four children by her side throughout her life, and she knows some "inside information" in advance like a fortune teller. Shouldn't she plan carefully for the children and her own happy life?
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