When Lin Yuxi got up, she put on a coat, closed the window, and drew back the curtains. She saw that the windowpane was covered with thick frost flowers. She scratched a crack in it with her fingernail and saw that the ground outside was covered with a thin layer of snow.
"It's snowing?" Lin Yuxi was wearing a scarf, wrapping herself up tightly. Although the room was heated, she put on an extra pair of pants to prevent catching a cold before getting up.
In the courtyard outside, snow had already settled on the tender green leaves. Jiang Shufen had just returned from buying groceries, patted the snow off her clothes, and stomped her feet.
"You're up? It's snowing outside. Remember to wear warm clothes and socks too. The weather changes so fast. Yesterday I was wearing a coat, and today I need a down jacket." Jiang Shufen changed her shoes and went inside. Her hair was covered in snowflakes, which melted after a while. She quickly wiped her head with a towel.
Lin Yuxi sat at the dining table and quickly ate her breakfast.
Before long, He Cuiping finished her chores at home and came running over with a basket of vegetables in her arms.
"I was wondering why it was so cold today. Turns out it's snowing lightly outside. When I came over, there were still frost flowers on my shoulders." He Cuiping patted the snowflakes off her shoulders. "It's good that it's cold. I can buy more meat to store. It's freezing to go out every day."
"I brought you some vegetables, but these vegetables don't freeze easily. I saw that there was snow when I got up this morning, so I pulled them all out immediately."
Whenever it gets cold, the military provides collective heating by burning coal in boilers. All the residents in the family compound rely on this system for heating.
"Thank you, sister-in-law."
"But the weather this year is really strange. It started snowing lightly at the end of October. I wonder how my dad and grandparents are doing." Lin Yuxi was still worried about her family. So much time had passed since the matter in Shanghai, and there was still no reply, which meant that work was difficult to arrange.
Jiang Shufen also had some concerns, but what she couldn't let go of the most was Lin Yuxi.
"It's alright. Your grandparents are in good health. After their reputations were restored, they didn't need to do so much. If they needed anything, they would have sent a letter long ago."
Jiang Shufen spoke lightly, but she was still worried about it.
Because Grandpa Lin and Grandma Lin had always treated her well, when others asked her to have two or three children, she only said that childbirth was like going through the gates of hell for women, and one was enough; there was no need to have so many children.
Since she married Lin Weidong, she has been in charge of managing a portion of the family's finances, while only major items are handled by Mr. Lin.
“I’m also planning to bring my mother-in-law over for a few days during the Spring Festival. My husband said he doesn’t get a holiday for the Spring Festival and can’t go back home. The elderly in the family are worried about her, so we can only bring her over for a few days.” He Cuiping looked at the large number of words circled in the book. She has grown a lot during this period of study and knows many words. She can even spell some of them out with pinyin.
"Mom, how about we invite Grandpa, Grandma, and Dad to come for Chinese New Year, along with Uncle and Aunt? We'll see if they can come, but they live a bit far." As Lin Yuxi spoke, she realized she was indeed facing a dilemma.
It's a train ride of over thirty hours, which isn't close, and couples like Gu Zhixiang and Wang Caixia, who have been frugal their whole lives, might not really want to come.
"It's alright, I'll ask them when they come. If they do come, we can let them stay at the guesthouse. If they don't come, then forget it, we'll just buy some New Year's goods and send them back," Jiang Shufen said.
He Cuiping left after sitting for a short while, carrying an empty basket and a book back home. It seemed that this was her job every now and then.
I come over every day to practice recognizing characters, and sometimes I even take out my child's textbooks to study.
Commissar Wang was stunned into silence.
But he didn't dare say anything, so he bought some things for Gu Chen and asked his wife to help him teach him in private.
Suddenly, there was a noise outside.
Hearing the noise, Lin Yuxi came out from the inner room, holding a hot water bottle in her arms, and immediately saw He Cuiping fall to the ground.
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