After Feng Ru gave birth to her first son, Lin Hongwen bought her a Seagull camera as a token of his gratitude for her hard work. 66 years ago, whenever Feng Ru and her family went out, she would bring her camera and take photos.
After 1966, the country was in turmoil, and anyone who wasn't careful could be labeled "capitalist." During that time, we cleaned out a lot of things at home. It was also around that time that Feng Ru donated her camera to the army, and she even received a donation certificate.
Although the situation has been better in recent years, Feng Ru has become cautious and no longer wants to buy a camera. There is no shortage of photo studios in Beijing anyway. If she really can't find a solution, she can just borrow a camera to take pictures. This is much more cost-effective than buying one, and it is safer and more secure. Although her father-in-law and husband never take sides, they are still afraid of being framed by people with ulterior motives. Therefore, it is better to be cautious and not buy unnecessary things if possible.
Feng Ru frowned when she heard Han Chen say that he had bought a camera, but then she thought that Han Chen's father was a martyr and Xuemei's family was a poor peasant, so as long as the two of them were careful when using it in the future, there should be no problem.
Feng Ru's brows relaxed as she thought of this. Han Chen and Xue Mei, standing by, watched Feng Ru's frown shift, then return to her usual gentle demeanor. They exchanged glances, and then Han Chen asked, "Sister-in-law, is there something wrong?"
"It's okay. I just want to remind you to be careful about the occasion when using a camera in the future, so as not to arouse other people's jealousy and make people say that you are being petty-bourgeois." Feng Ru explained.
"Don't worry, sister-in-law. Xuemei and I will use it at home in the future. We will only take pictures of our family and not show off outside. We bought this because taking pictures outside is too expensive. We want to record a lot of things in the future, and it is not cost-effective to go to a photo studio!" Han Chen explained.
Han Chen and Xuemei wanted the camera to record the changes in themselves every year, as well as the growth of their children in the future.
Feng Ru nodded and said, "Okay, as long as you know how to be careful. It's snowing outside and bright inside, so we can take pictures inside. If you think the lighting is not good, turn on the lights in the living room. You two can take a picture one by one and try it out!"
Next, under Feng Ru's guidance, Han Chen and Xuemei took a photo of each other. The photos turned out well. Feng Ru also took a photo of Han Chen and Xuemei in the living room of the Lin family.
It was almost five in the afternoon when Lin Songguo and Hu An returned from the army. Xuemei was in the kitchen preparing some sugar-coated glutinous rice cakes. Feng Ru and the others didn't know how to eat glutinous rice cakes, except to roast them over a fire until they were soft.
Xuemei first took three glutinous rice cakes and cut each into four pieces. Then she heated up a pan with plenty of oil.
The second step is to flip the baba. Note that the fire should not be too high during this process, and do not fry the baba too much, otherwise it will easily explode.
When both sides of the baba are light golden brown, pour the prepared syrup into the pan. The syrup and oil will quickly blend and bubble. Stir repeatedly to ensure each baba is evenly coated with the syrup. As the baba softens, becomes colored, and becomes shiny, it's ready to be removed from the pan and plated.
The syrup here is made with brown sugar and boiling water. In addition to sugar, Xuemei also cut some to add oil and salt. The process is the same, but no syrup is added at the end.
Xuemei prepared the two kinds of cakes, and Yu Qing also came back. Neither Lin Jianye nor his son would be back tonight.
As soon as Xuemei put two plates of fried baba on the table, everyone couldn't wait to eat them. The sugar-coated baba was more to the Lin family's taste than the fried salty baba.
Xuemei saw that Lin Songguo had already eaten three pieces and quickly stopped him, saying, "Grandpa, this is made of glutinous rice. Eating too much at night will make it difficult to digest!"
When Juan, who was next to Lin Songguo, heard this, he quickly moved the two plates of rice cakes away from Lin Songguo. Lin Songguo sighed helplessly.
Xuemei looked at it and smiled, saying, "Grandpa, if you like it, I'll make it for you again tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but I'll use less oil and sugar."
"Then I'll remember that. We still have some oil and sugar at home!" Lin Songguo laughed heartily.
"A woman's word is as good as hers. I promise to do what I say!" Xuemei replied playfully.
…
After dinner, Xuemei took out a small bag of wafer chocolate biscuits and shared them with everyone, and gave the sweater to Yu Qing. As everyone chatted and laughed, Xuemei talked about the recipe of her hometown's sweet wine cake, which made everyone in the Lin family very greedy.
The next day, the eighth day of the first lunar month, Han Chen went out after breakfast. Xuemei did not follow him out because it was too cold outside and Xuemei was not used to it.
Besides, Han Chen planned to go to a nearby purchasing station to see if there were any electrical appliances that could be repaired, and then buy some Beijing specialties to take back home.
Han Chen returned at around one o'clock in the afternoon. He found two discarded radios and a broken watch at the recycling station. The three items cost Han Chen three yuan. As long as Han Chen could repair one of them, not only would his money be back, but he would also make a profit.
In addition, Han Chen bought two boxes of crispy candies, two boxes of dragon beard candies, three boxes of twisted dough sticks, and also spent a lot of money to buy two roast ducks. This was the lucky day for Han Chen to buy roast ducks.
Xuemei planned to eat a roast duck at the Lin family and take the other one back home for Liu's father and mother to taste as well. After all, it was winter now and there was no need to worry about it going bad.
On the ninth day of the first lunar month, the long-lost sun appeared in Beijing. Han Chen took Xuemei to climb the Great Wall, visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, and they took photos at each scenic spot.
On the morning of the tenth day, before leaving for work, Yu Qing specially handed Xuemei two pounds of braised pork wrapped in oil paper and asked Xuemei to take it back.
In the morning, Han Chen and Juan were preparing food for Xuemei and Juan in the kitchen for their journey. Xuemei was packing up in the room. She put important things like the camera into a small backpack. When Han Chen wasn't paying attention, Xuemei put it into her own little space. Xuemei felt that her own little space was the safest.
Although Juan said that the people in the sleeper car were more well-mannered, Xuemei and Han Chen still felt it was better to keep a low profile. Therefore, they planned to wear the same clothes they wore when they came back and sew the remaining money inside their cotton-padded jackets.
Xuemei and Han Chen had spent all the gifts from the Lin family during their stay in Beijing, and had also spent some of the money they brought with them, leaving them with a total of 148.6 yuan.
Xuemei planned to give Han Chen ten yuan, sew twenty yuan inside his clothes, and take eight yuan and sixty cents for herself. She would put the rest into the space and pretend to sew them inside her cotton-padded jacket.
As for the tickets, there were only one pound of miscellaneous grain tickets and half a pound of fine grain tickets left. Han Chen and Xuemei planned to use them if they had time on the train, and not hide them inside their cotton-padded clothes.
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