When Wei Shuqing went in, she found her mother sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), hissing and shivering as she put on her clothes. She quickly opened the pocket, took out her cotton-padded coat, and said, "Mom, quickly put this on!"
Wei's mother was startled and said, "You naughty child, what are you going to do with such good fabric? Take it back to your mother-in-law!" She hurriedly waved her hands to indicate that she didn't want it. Cotton and cloth were scarce resources at the time, and it wasn't easy for any family to make a set of clothes.
Wei Shuqing took the cotton-padded coat and put it on Old Mrs. Wei, saying, "This is what my mother-in-law made for you, put it on quickly! Can you still wear that cotton-padded coat? It's not much thicker than a single layer!" Touching Wei's mother's icy hands, her eyes welled up with tears, and she said, "Look at you, you said you didn't want it, but look how frozen you are!"
Grandma Wei chuckled, unable to say anything. Wei Shuqing said, "Then hurry up and put it on. I'll take the cotton-padded coats for my sister-in-law and the two children!"
Wei Shuqing took the large bag to her sister-in-law's room, where she saw her sister-in-law had wrapped Zhao Aiguo in a thick quilt, leaving only his small head sticking out, and then covering him with Zhao Aiguo's military overcoat. Wei Shuqing opened the bag and took it out, saying, "It's almost New Year's, and I don't have much to give you. This is a set of cotton-padded clothes that our factory issued. I specially exchanged them with someone to make a size that you can wear. And for Da Ni and Er Ni, my mother-in-law used cotton from my father-in-law's work clothes from last year and the fabric from her old cotton-padded jacket to make two sets of clothes for them. Please don't mind them."
Sister-in-law Wei's eyes were red, and she felt so sad that she wanted to cry. She knew she shouldn't accept it, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.
Looking at the brand-new work uniforms—a pink cotton-padded jacket and trousers with blue flowers, and a red cotton-padded jacket and trousers with white flowers—she felt deeply touched by this thoughtful gift. Sister-in-law Wei was moved to tears, and Wei Shuqing, startled, exclaimed, "Sister-in-law, what's wrong? Don't cry!"
Sister-in-law Wei said, “Shuqing, thank you so much! I’m so grateful! We really need this cotton-padded coat and the grain. Don’t laugh at me, but we only have two jin of cornmeal left. We don’t know how we’re going to survive! The production team is out of grain! But we don’t need your coat. As long as Mom and the kids are warm, that’s fine. You’re out there working, how can you not have a new work uniform? Otherwise, you can give me your old one, and I’ll wear the old one.”
Wei Shuqing comforted her, saying, "Alright, sister-in-law, I work at the Women's Federation, so I don't usually get to wear work clothes. I exchanged these with the factory workers using my coupons. We're all family, why are you being so formal? You're the one who works the hardest, how could we leave you out? It's just that there's really only so much I can do to help!"
Sister-in-law Wei shook her head, "This is such a huge favor, thank you! Please sit here, I'll go cook!"
Wei Shuqing also stood up and said, "I'll go with you!"
The two of them were in the kitchen, one starting a fire and the other scooping out pickled vegetables. The water in the pot hadn't boiled yet, so Wei Shuqing put a steamer rack on it and heated up 12 full steamed buns! They were just waiting for the water to boil so they could make a paste.
Just as Sister-in-law Wei was about to cut the pickled vegetables into shreds, Zhao Dahu came in. Sister-in-law Wei's tears fell again, and she said, "Dahu, thank you, thank you for being so good to our family."
Zhao Dahu quickly comforted her, "Sister-in-law, what are you saying? Don't cry. I opened a can of meat for the children. You can make some porridge for them to soothe their stomachs, otherwise it will be too cold and their tummy will feel uncomfortable."
Sister-in-law Wei was taken aback and quickly said, "Oh dear, these two brats, how dare they eat canned meat so early in the morning! What a waste of good food!" With that, she hurriedly ran off. Zhao Dahu sighed and said, "Why don't you make some porridge? I'll take care of these pickled vegetables!"
Wei Shuqing said, "I'll do it! How can I let you cook!" In the end, the couple still did the work together.
As soon as Sister Wei entered, she noticed the two children staring intently at the meat in the can, swallowing hard, but unwilling to eat any. Her eyes welled up with tears, and Da Ni called out, "Mom, hurry up, come and eat some of the canned meat! Uncle gave my sister and me a bite each, it was so delicious!"
Sister-in-law Wei nodded and said, "Mom doesn't like this. I'll make some porridge for you and Grandma to eat together! Get up and put on the cotton-padded jackets that your aunt and uncle brought for you."
While dressing the child, Sister-in-law Wei noticed how meticulous Zhao's mother was with her needlework. The inner garments were made of work clothes, and the outer garment was a removable smock made of floral fabric, so only the smock needed to be washed later. Thinking it over, she took off the floral clothes and dressed the child in a cotton-padded jacket, with her own clothes on top, saying, "We'll keep the new ones for the New Year."
The two sisters nodded understandingly. Sister-in-law Wei instructed them to watch over her younger brother, then went to the kitchen and saw that Zhao Dahu and Wei Shuqing had already started making the paste. She said apologetically, "Look at me, as soon as I heard about the canned meat, I was afraid the two children would be too greedy and waste the whole bottle. I'll make it, you two go back and wait to eat."
Wei Shuqing said, "Sister-in-law, I'm almost done with the cooking, so you don't need to lift a finger. Set out the bowls and chopsticks, and we'll eat in a bit."
Sister-in-law Wei exclaimed "Oh!" and quickly set out the bowls and chopsticks. Just as she finished, Zhao Dahu and Wei Shuqing brought out the food. At that moment, Wei Xigun also returned carrying a large bundle of firewood.
Zhao Dahu simply rinsed the pickled vegetables with water, shredded them, and served them. The oil bottle at home was empty, and there was nothing else.
The family sat down, each with a bowl of thick porridge. One sip warmed them up. The two little ones each held a bean curd, eating with great care. Zhao Dahu offered them canned meat, but Wei's mother and sister-in-law covered their bowls and shook their heads like rattles, "No, no, I don't like this. You eat it!"
Zhao Dahu didn't care about anything else. He put a large piece of meat in each of his porridge bowls and gave each of his two nieces a large piece as well, saying, "Nonsense, who doesn't like meat? Eat up, there's more! I brought a whole box!"
"Hey! Eat up, eat up!" Except for Zhao Aiguo, who was still fast asleep, the family ate to their heart's content.
At noon, Sister Wei stewed a large pot of cabbage, tofu, vermicelli, and pork. She wanted to make more, but was stopped. Zhao Aiguo got up and played happily with his two older sisters. In the blink of an eye, it was evening, and Old Sun picked them up. The family of three said goodbye. He carried the already fast asleep Zhao Aiguo into the car and went home.
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