The Spring Festival in 1977 was very lively.
Firstly, after the big movement ended, public opinion and customs have been relaxed, and people are not as cautious as in previous years; secondly, the family quarters have been filled with joy in recent days, not to mention those who have been admitted to universities, and several families have also had sons/daughters.
In previous years, most people would keep a low profile whether it was going to school or having children, but as mentioned earlier, this year everyone let loose, so Lin Wei and Zong Shao hosted many banquets during the New Year.
After the Chinese New Year, the sixth day of the first lunar month was Lin Wei’s graduation banquet.
This date was not only decided by Lin Wei and her husband, but also by several military wives who had been admitted to universities and were planning to hold wedding banquets. By staggering the dates, those who received the invitations would not be confused about which house to go to for a drink.
As for the dishes at the banquet, Lin Wei didn't have to take care of them; she asked Zhang Lan to do it.
When Zhao Yanhua was pregnant, she originally wanted to ask Zhang Lan to take care of her, but Zhang Lan was also pregnant at the time, so the plan did not work out.
However, some people in the family quarters still remembered her. Later, when someone else was about to give birth, they would specifically find Lin Wei and ask her how her work was going. So Zhang Lan went back to the family quarters to work as a nanny.
Although public opinion has become more relaxed now, no one in the family quarters dares to hire a nanny for a long time. So in the past year, although Zhang Lan often had work, she could not keep any job for a long time.
Lin Wei thought that on the day of the graduation banquet, she and Zong Shao would have to entertain the guests and would definitely not have much time to cook. It was also not realistic to buy food from the state-owned restaurant. Their big pot meal business was booming and they could not spare so many people to prepare the banquet dishes.
After thinking about it, Lin Wei thought of Zhang Lan.
Zhang Lan is a good cook, and it was she and Lin Wei’s mother who prepared the last full moon banquet together. It just so happened that Lin Wei knew that Zhang Lan had just finished a job last month and had nothing to do recently, so she found someone to talk about this matter.
Although Zhang Lan is now famous and has a lot of experience in taking care of childbirth and confinement, most families are reluctant to hire a nanny to take care of their daughter-in-law during the confinement period. Only the wives of soldiers living in the family quarters, who have a good family background and whose mother-in-law and biological mother are not around, and who control the family's financial power, can afford to hire someone to take care of them during childbirth.
But there are only a few military wives in the family quarters, and how many of them give birth to children in a year? She was lucky to have had a job last year, but that may not be the case this year.
Therefore, Zhang Lan was also worried and wanted to find a long-term job. After this year, she no longer wanted to go back to the days of working hard in the fields. But Zhang Lan knew that this could not be rushed, and what she could do was to seize every job opportunity.
So when Lin Wei finished explaining her purpose, Zhang Lan immediately agreed and asked about the banquet in detail. When Zhang Lan learned that the banquet would have six tables, she asked if she could find two helpers.
She certainly couldn't handle six tables of banquets by herself, and Lin Wei didn't want to trouble the guests, so she said: "You can find two more. The salary will be the same as yours, and you can allocate the specific amount to them. But the people you find must be diligent and hygienic." For things that are eaten, you must find someone who likes cleanliness to cook them.
Zhang Lan agreed immediately, and quickly found two people and brought them to Lin Wei. Lin Wei agreed when she saw that the clothes they wore were washed white and had many patches on them, but looked clean and tidy.
…
On the day of the graduation banquet, Lin Wei and Zong Shao both got up before dawn.
Although they didn't have to cook the dishes, the job of buying groceries was still theirs. When she talked to Zhang Lan about the job content, buying groceries was not included.
But buying vegetables is also easy. They have basically prepared all the vegetarian dishes yesterday. What you need to buy in the morning are mainly meat dishes, such as chicken, duck, fish, etc.
The chicken, duck and pork offal have been arranged with the market manager, and the money and receipts have been paid, so they can just go and get them. Only the seafood needs to be bought early.
After buying groceries and returning home, Zhang Lan also came with her people and was standing in the yard.
Lin Wei greeted them, then opened the kitchen door, took out the borrowed coal stove, and compared the dishes she had bought with Zhang Lan. She said, "If you're missing anything when you're cooking, tell me and I'll go buy it."
Zhang Lan responded and asked the other two to light the coal stove. After it was ready, they divided the work and worked together.
While they were busy, Lin Wei went upstairs to wake up the three children.
Because there were banquets almost every day during the New Year period, the three siblings had a lot of fun during this period. They didn't go to bed until eleven or twelve o'clock last night, and they all slept in and refused to get up in the morning.
After some effort to wake them up, Lin Wei began to assign them tasks, asking them to greet the children who came today.
Mingming and Beibei have similar personalities. They both love to be lively and show off. Thinking of the excitement at noon, Mingming immediately perked up and saluted in a less formal way, saying, "I promise to complete the mission!"
Ruirui stood in the middle and looked at the people on both sides, who were as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood. After a moment of silence, they slowly raised their hands.
…
After breakfast, around half past ten, guests arrived one after another.
Deng Xiangyun was naturally the first to arrive. Her house was next door, so it was convenient for her to come over. Next came Zhao Li, Liu Dan and Yang Yi. Since the families were very familiar with each other, they all came with their families.
According to the assigned tasks, the men were entertained by Zong Shao, the women were taken care of by Lin Wei, and the children were taken care of by the three children.
When Mingming first came to the island with the army, because he was short and young, no one obeyed him and wanted to be the boss, but now Mingming is the undisputed king of the children.
Although Mingming is not yet seven years old, he and Ruirui have inherited everything from their parents, well... mainly their father's height. He grew rapidly last year and now looks like an eight or nine-year-old child.
In addition, Mingming has been the class monitor for more than a year. He is very powerful and has a lot of ideas in his little head. Both the young and slightly older children are willing to play with him.
Compared to his brother, Ruirui is not as popular.
Although Ruirui was not a class leader, he always ranked first in every exam, his essays were published in newspapers, and his name was always on the honor roll on the bulletin board. The most common phrase that parents in the family quarters said when educating their children was: Can you learn from Ruirui?
Under such circumstances, it would be strange for Ruirui to be popular. The reason he is not bullied is because he has his brother protecting him.
Of course, Ruirui himself doesn't care much about these things. As he gets older, he becomes more and more unsociable. Now, apart from his sister and brother, the only person he has a good relationship with is Xiao Shitou.
Worried that Ruirui was becoming more and more withdrawn, Lin Wei asked him the reason, and the answer she got was that he felt that all the kids his age were too stupid.
Lin Wei choked and asked, "Aren't Mingming and Xiao Shitou the same age as you? You can play with them, so why can't you play with others?"
Ruirui said, "If I don't play with my brother and Little Stone, they will be sad."
Lin Wei understood Ruirui's thoughts. Ruirui played with Mingming and Xiao Shitou not because they were much more mature than their peers, but because one of them was his biological brother, they were born and grew up together, and the other was his first friend after arriving on the island, so Ruirui tolerated their childishness.
After realizing this, Lin Wei found it very difficult.
Although Mingming often thinks he is very smart, his situation is different from Ruirui. For example, when Lin Wei doesn’t know something he knows, he will say, “Mom, you are so stupid,” and then proudly tell Lin Wei the answer.
Therefore, when a child says that someone is stupid, he is actually showing off proudly. But in fact, he does not think that others are that stupid, so he can play with anyone.
When Ruirui says that her peers are stupid, she actually thinks they are too childish.
Although Ruirui has no problem communicating with others in class, it does not mean that they get along well, but rather that he is accommodating others. So his classmates all had a good impression of him, but more than a year later, Mingming and Xiao Shitou had made many new friends, but he was still only surrounded by these two children.
Lin Wei knew that in the original novel, Ruirui skipped a grade and was later admitted to the Capital University Junior Class, but she had not originally planned to let him skip a grade so early. He was too young, and even if he was mentally mature, the difference in height and age would make it difficult for him to integrate into collective life.
Therefore, she wanted Ruirui to go to the third grade step by step, and then decide whether to skip a grade based on his personal wishes.
But now Lin Wei feels that it may not be a good thing to let him read step by step.
After talking with Zong Shao, the couple talked to Ruirui about skipping a grade. However, the semester was already halfway through and they didn't know what would happen after the Chinese New Year, so they didn't bother with it and planned to let Ruirui skip a grade in the new semester.
Although Ruirui thinks that children of his age are childish, he is willing to participate in their games as long as he has his older brothers and sisters and Xiao Shitou with him, and the children get along well with each other.
…
The meal started at around 11:30. Because they had to entertain the guests, Lin Wei and Zong Shao sat separately. Mingming Ruirui sat at the same table with the children, but Beibei was forced to sit with her mother because she was young.
The little girl was not very happy, her lips were pouting so much that you could hang an oil bottle on them.
Lin Wei looked at him with both anger and amusement: "Isn't it good for you to sit with your mother?"
Beibei said logically and clearly: "It's not as fun as sitting with Brother Mingming and Brother Ruirui."
Zhao Li chuckled: "Okay, you should let Beibei go to the children's table. Look how aggrieved the little guy is."
When Beibei heard what Zhao Li said, she looked at Lin Wei with sparkling eyes full of anticipation.
Lin Wei: “…”
Finally, under the strong request of Zong Beibei, Lin Wei sent the people to the two sons and told the brothers: "Don't just focus on eating by yourself, remember to help your sister."
Although the two children agreed immediately, Lin Wei could not be completely at ease during the meal and had to glance at the children's table from time to time.
Lin Wei looked, and the others at the table followed her. Seeing that Mingming Ruirui was taking good care of her sister, someone praised, "Your eldest and second child are really sensible."
However, these days it is common for older children to take care of younger children, and although people praise it, it is not considered that strange.
But there are also surprises. Zhao Li said after watching it: "He seems out of tune at ordinary times, but he looks quite capable when taking care of his sister."
Hearing this, the others looked more carefully at the next table, and then echoed,
Of the two children, Mingming and Ruirui, who is more likable is definitely Mingming. Ruirui is a little too quiet.
But if you ask who they would like to have as their own child, most people would choose Ruirui, not only because he has excellent grades, but also because he is steady and reliable.
Among the two brothers, Ruirui takes care of Mingming more. And because of Mingming's childish nature, he seems even more out of place and doesn't seem like someone who can take care of others.
Today's Mingming was really beyond everyone's expectations.
After hearing everyone's praise, Mingming automatically ignored the first half of the sentence, puffed up his chest confidently, and thought:
Of course, he is the boss!
The author has something to say:
Second update
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
