The mother and daughter chatted until the early morning before going to bed, while the father-in-law and son-in-law didn't talk so much. They fell asleep as soon as they hit the bed, and got up earlier than the other the next day.
As soon as Father Lin came downstairs, he saw Zong Shao coming in with two lunch boxes, on top of which were several fried dough sticks wrapped in oil paper. He asked, "Did you go out to buy breakfast?"
"It was bought at a state-owned restaurant. Have Mom and Weiwei picked it up?" Zong Shao asked.
"They must have had a conversation last night, so they won't get up so early today." Father Lin noticed that Zong Shao was not wearing a military jacket, and asked, "Do you have to go to the military camp today?"
"Well, it's almost time."
Father Lin said, "We don't know how long it will take for them to wake up, just go up and knock on the door."
Zong Shao responded, strode upstairs, stopped in front of the master bedroom and knocked on the door.
Soon, Lin's mother's voice came from inside: "Who is it?"
"Mom, it's me, can I come in and find some clothes?"
After a short pause, Lin's mother leaned over, as if she had just woken up: "Come in."
Zong Shao pushed the door open and went in. The curtains in front and back were drawn and the light was a little dim. He didn't look at the bed, but walked straight to the closet and opened it to look for clothes.
"Do you usually go out at this time?" Lin's mother suddenly asked.
Zong Shao said, “Almost.”
"Will you come back for lunch?"
"I usually eat lunch in the camp and get off work at 6pm." Zong Shao put on his military jacket and said as he buttoned it, "Mom, I'm leaving. There's breakfast on the table. Remember to eat it when you get up."
"You also went to buy breakfast?" Lin's mother asked in surprise, "Do you usually buy breakfast?"
Zong Shao said honestly: "Recently."
Mother Lin thought of what her grandson said yesterday, and looked a little embarrassed. She changed the subject and said, "Go to work quickly, and be careful on the road."
Zong Shao thanked him, closed the door, buttoned his clothes and went downstairs.
Listening to the sound of the door closing, Lin's mother fell into deep thought.
Although she did not watch Zong Shao grow up, she and her mother were childhood friends. Even though they had not been in contact that often over the years, their friendship had never changed. So after Zong Shao's mother returned to Shicheng, the two quickly became familiar with each other and often interacted with each other.
Before deciding to go through with the marriage, Lin's mother met Zong Shao several times at her good friend's house. She knew that Zong Shao was a filial son, a soldier, and had a promising future, so she was very satisfied with him.
Therefore, when her mother-in-law mentioned the matter of having two children later, she agreed without thinking too much. Although she thought her daughter was good in every way, their family was limited and if the marriage could be successful, it would be considered that her daughter was marrying above her station.
But after her best friend passed away, she often felt regretful when she saw her daughter having to work and take care of the children alone. She wondered if she could find a local man for her daughter, even if the conditions were not so good, her daughter's life would be easier.
But sometimes, when she looked at the mess happening in other families' housing estates of the cotton mill, she felt that Zong Shao was still the best.
When the news of Zong Shaosheng's promotion to deputy battalion commander reached her, she was very happy for a while, feeling that her daughter's hard work had paid off. But when Lin Wei really came to join the army, she couldn't help feeling worried. She was afraid that the conditions on the island would be harsh and her daughter would have to suffer even more. She was also afraid that the two of them would not be able to be reunited after being separated for so many years.
Although her daughter's letters home were always well written, she would never feel at ease unless she saw them in person.
Therefore, as soon as she received Lin Wei's letter asking them to come to the island to celebrate the New Year, she decided not to spend the year in her hometown.
Her husband was reluctant at first, thinking that the New Year was so important, how could he travel far away on such a lonely day? What about the New Year’s Eve dinner and ancestor worship? Also, he is the brigade secretary. What will happen to the brigade without him?
She was tired of listening to the man's nagging, so she said she would do it herself. But he still refused, saying that she had not been away from home for decades and could not read, so she must not get lost. This made her so angry that she wanted to fight with him.
Not only was he unwilling, but his son and daughter-in-law were also unwilling, especially the eldest daughter-in-law.
The eldest daughter-in-law was unwilling, not because of her father-in-law's concerns, but because she had a problem with her younger sister-in-law. As for why she had a problem with her younger sister-in-law, the source was still Lin Wei's work.
Although a military wife has a job in her hometown and is high enough to be transferred to her husband's work unit, it is not easy to do so because there must be a unit in the local area where the troops are stationed to receive them.
But there are few job opportunities on the island, and there are not enough places for the wives of soldiers who have already joined the army. Which unit would be willing to accept her in such a short period of time? If she really waits for the transfer, I don’t know when she will be able to leave.
This approach may not be as reliable as resigning here and waiting for arrangements elsewhere.
Therefore, as soon as Zong Shao received the letter asking for leave, Lin Wei started preparing to sell her job. Because Zong Shao didn't have many relatives (not counting his father), and Lin Wei had a good relationship with her mother's family, she told her mother about this first and asked her to ask her brother and sister-in-law if they were willing to have the child. So Lin's mother mentioned this to her two sons.
Both sons wanted the job, but they wanted it in different ways and for different purposes.
The second son and his wife planned to buy out Lin Wei's job at market price and have the second daughter-in-law take over. Although she had a job, it was a temporary job with little pay, a lot of work and instability. Besides, the benefits of the state-owned factories in the city were better than those of the units in the commune.
The eldest son and his wife wanted to play the favor card and bought out the eldest daughter-in-law's younger brother's job at one-third of the market price. As for the reason, the eldest son had finally become a team leader and wanted to continue to develop towards the brigade headquarters, but his daughter-in-law said that the city was too far from home and it was inconvenient to travel back and forth.
Lin's mother had no objection to her eldest son and his wife wanting the job, but she was very dissatisfied with their plan. She turned around and discussed with her daughter and asked her to sell the job to her second son and his wife.
So, the daughter-in-law started to resent her daughter. Sometimes she felt that her daughter was blinded by money and didn't care about feelings. Sometimes she felt that her daughter was close to her second sister-in-law but not to her. She suspected that her brother-in-law and his wife didn't give her the market price at all, and that those words were all used to fool her.
In short, more than half a year had passed since the incident, and her eldest daughter-in-law still had a lot of dissatisfaction with her daughter, so her first reaction after receiving the letter was to oppose them traveling far away.
It would have been fine if she didn't object, but once she objected, Lin's father became unhappy and changed his mind, saying that he wanted to go to his daughter's house with his wife to celebrate the New Year.
Anyway, after going around in circles, the couple came together. One came to annoy their son and daughter-in-law and let them know who is the boss of the family, and the other came to see if their daughter is doing well.
…
In the next few days, Lin Wei took her parents for a walk around the family quarters, took her mother to go fishing, and took her father to the reef to fish.
Then, the old couple were quickly caught up in sea-hunting and fishing. One would drag his daughter to sea-hunting at dawn in the morning, and the other would ask his daughter to go fishing with him after lunch.
So in the next few days, Lin Wei never slept in or took a nap, but she never lacked seafood.
There are many people like Lin Wei's parents who go fishing every day. One reason is that it is approaching the New Year and the authorities have relaxed the control in this regard. The other reason is that there are more elderly people visiting the family area, so they have to find something to do.
After a few days, the old couple made a lot of friends and no longer dragged Lin Wei to the beach or fishing. Lin Wei was able to sleep until she woke up naturally.
The only problem was that her mother went to the beach early and came back early. When she entered the house, she saw her yawning as she came down from upstairs. She couldn't help asking, "You slept until now and just got up?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Wei knew her mother would nag her, so she explained, "It's a rare day off for me, so of course I have to sleep in."
Mother Lin knew her daughter's habit, but she still complained a few times, and finally pointed at her grandson playing outside and said, "Obviously Ruirui is more diligent than you."
Lin Wei thought, they are diligent because you and dad don’t take turns dragging them to the sea to go fishing.
But she also knew that if she dared to say that, her mother would nag her endlessly, so she said against her will: "I will definitely get up early tomorrow."
Mother Lin was quite satisfied with her daughter's attitude. After her face turned positive, she talked about her catch of the day: "Today, I caught two abalones, these big ones." She went out and showed the abalone she caught to Lin Wei.
It was indeed a little bigger than what she usually bought, so Lin Wei praised it a few times.
Mother Lin said happily, "I'll soak these seafood and you can cook them tonight. Just cook the abalone the same way as last time."
"Didn't you say last time that the taste was just average?" Lin Wei asked.
Lin's mother said seriously: "I bought it last time, and I caught it this time, how can it be the same!"
Lin Wei: “…” Well, it’s still a matter of money.
After brushing their teeth and having breakfast, Lin Wei and her daughter went to the vegetable market together, bought some vegetables, weighed some pork, and saw that there were some pig intestines left, so they bought them too.
When Lin's mother saw it, she asked, "Why did you buy this? It doesn't taste good." Not many people in Shicheng eat pig intestines because they are difficult to handle and have a smell no matter how they are cooked, making them difficult to swallow.
But Lin Wei was very confident: "Don't worry, Mom, what I cook will definitely be delicious."
Mother Lin didn't quite believe it: "Are you sure?"
"Really? After I came to the island, I learned a few tricks from other military wives. Now I know how to handle pig intestines." Lin Wei said, patting her chest.
Seeing her daughter was so confident, Lin's mother couldn't object anymore and just let her do what she wanted.
Half an hour later, Lin's mother regretted it because she saw Lin Wei washing the pig intestines with flour!
Flour!
That's fine grain!
This unlucky child!
Lin's mother was so angry that she kept scolding her daughter for not knowing how to live. Lin Wei hung her head and let her mother scold her. Seeing that she said she was tired, she handed her a cup of tea and said, "Moisten your throat."
Mother Lin: “…”
She was scolded like nothing happened. How could she still have the energy? She rubbed her forehead and asked, "Do you often eat pig intestines like this?"
Lin Wei said, "It's not often. You don't know that pig offal is very popular in our family area. If you go too late, you can't buy it at all. We were just lucky today and found some leftover pig intestines."
In fact, if you don't sleep in on Sunday and get up early, you can still buy it, but Lin Wei didn't dare to say this for fear of being scolded.
Mother Lin recalled that she had indeed not seen any pig offal when she went to the vegetable market a few days ago. She believed her daughter's words, but she couldn't help but grumble, "People here really don't know how to live. Who came up with the idea of using flour to wash the pig farm? Didn't Xiaozong scold you for wasting food like this?"
Lin Wei said: "No, and he was the one who washed the pig intestines before."
Mother Lin understood that these were two people who didn't know how to live together. Maybe her daughter was stronger. She continued to rub her head and said, "You go and do your work. I won't help you." It gave her a headache.
The pig intestines were washed but not cooked immediately because Zong Shao had not yet had his holiday, so their family still had a big meal at night and a simple one at noon.
Lin Wei fried a plate of shredded pork with green peppers, made a leek and egg pancake, and also fried some of the clams and razor clams her mother had picked up... When you count them all, it didn't seem too good.
After eating and drinking, Father Lin went fishing again, while Lin Wei and her daughter sat in the yard chatting and basking in the sun.
As they were chatting, they heard the sound of a bicycle bell outside. Lin Wei looked up outside the courtyard wall and saw a postman on a bicycle coming out of the alley. He braked suddenly and asked, "For letters from the capital, should they be returned directly?"
"Is it still from the previous person?" Lin Wei asked as she walked to the courtyard wall. She took the letter and took a look. It was still the address of the military compound, and the name was the same. She handed it to the postman and said, "Please return it to me."
The postman often delivered letters to the family quarters. He was the one who notified Lin's mother to pick up the package. He was also familiar with Lin Wei. Hearing this, he laughed and said, "You guys are funny. You keep sending letters and then return them without even reading them!"
"Thank you for making this trip." Lin Wei said.
The postman said, "I don't mind. I have to come to your place every now and then anyway. I just feel bad about the money. I think if you really don't want them to send you letters, just write them a letter and tell them not to send them. The round trip postage is not cheap."
Lin Wei smiled but didn't say anything. She changed the subject and asked, "Are you still working today?"
Talking about this topic, the postman became cheerful and said with a smile: "The last day."
"Congratulations." Lin Wei smiled, and after thinking about it, she added, "Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year."
After the postman finished speaking, he turned his bike around and rode away at a very fast speed. Lin Wei shook her head and smiled. As soon as she turned around, she heard her mother ask, "What letter from the capital?"
"Just someone I'm not very familiar with." Lin Wei said.
"Don't lie to me. I heard what the young man said. How could someone you don't know write to you so often? And you just returned the letters without even reading them?" Mother Lin raised her head and asked, "What's going on?"
Lin Wei pursed her lips, returned to her seat and thought for a moment, then looked up and asked, "Mom, do you know why Zong Shao's parents divorced?"
"Why are you asking that?"
Just like every time Lin Wei asked about those things in the past, Lin's mother's first reaction was to ask back, but as soon as she finished speaking, she remembered what the postman had just said.
That letter was sent from the capital.
"The letter was sent by Zong Shao's father?" Lin's mother's face suddenly changed. Without waiting for Lin Wei to answer, she asked again, "He still has the nerve to write to you!"
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