Chapter 157
The next day, Feng Min and Aunt Wang came over to help move things and tidy up the house.
Actually, the homeowner had already cleaned the house very well. All that was needed was to sweep away the dust and lay out the blankets, mats, and other items they had brought from home.
Next, I need to go to the nearby store to buy daily necessities, including pots, pans, bowls, and other kitchen utensils.
The family was bustling about, coming and going, attracting the attention of many neighbors.
These days, people say that a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. The neighbors have a very harmonious relationship. When they learned that the neighbors had moved here, they brought some food from their own home to visit and greet them, and introduced themselves to each other.
When people heard that Gu Xi was a student at Beijing University, they weren't surprised. After all, this place was very close to Beijing University, which, in modern terms, was like a school district. Some people like Gu Xi, who couldn't live in the school dormitory, would rent a house nearby.
An elderly neighbor said, "The third house at the entrance of the alley, one of the family members is a student at Beijing University."
Gu Xi quickly found out who the students from Beijing University were at the third house in the alley.
When she and Shen Mingzheng returned from shopping, they happened to see the door of the third house open, and Wu Meiwen, whom they had met yesterday, came out with two children.
When Wu Meiwen saw Gu Xi passing by, she paused for a moment and blurted out, "Comrade Gu."
Gu Xi also looked surprised, glanced at the address, and asked, "Comrade Wu, do you live here?"
"Yes, yes." Wu Meiwen seemed a little uncomfortable communicating with people, and said nervously in heavily accented Mandarin, "This is the house of one of Rui Ge's cousins. He's a professor at Beijing University..."
Just then, Chen Yunsheng came out of the house and was surprised to see Gu Xi.
Upon learning that Gu Xi rented a place nearby, she smiled and said, "Oh, what a coincidence! So you live around here too." She then warmly invited them in to sit down.
"No, we need to clean the house. Let's talk another time," Gu Xi politely declined.
Chen Yunsheng didn't press the matter, saying he would visit again when he had time.
Gu Xi didn't take the Chen siblings' living situation to heart. She didn't have any deep-seated hatred for the Chen siblings. Although they couldn't be friends, they weren't enemies either.
We're the kind of acquaintances who can greet each other and exchange a few words when we meet.
Since we all live here, we can just treat each other as neighbors.
They never expected that the day after they moved in, Wu Meiwen would bring her two children to visit them and bring them some homemade spring vegetable dumplings.
Gu Xi invited them in and looked at the two children from the Chen family. They looked a lot like Chen Ruian, with fair skin. Only their eyes resembled their mother's, full of spirit and exceptionally cute.
Wu Meiwen's appearance is not outstanding, but her eyes are her most striking feature, giving her a more lively look. If her skin were fairer and she dressed up a bit more, she would definitely be a beautiful and delicate woman.
"Comrade Gu, I'm sorry to bother you," Wu Meiwen said nervously.
Gu Xi smiled at her, and seeing Shen Zhuzhu staring curiously at the two children opposite, she laughed and said, "It's nothing, we're all neighbors, no need to be so polite." Then she patted her son's head and asked, "How old are these two children?"
Chen Yunsheng said, "They were born in the spring and will be four years old soon. The older sister is named Chen Mowen and the younger brother is named Chen Mowu."
Gu Xi smiled and said, "Then they are half a year older than my Zhuzhu, so they are older brothers and sisters."
Today, only Aunt Wang, Gu Xi, and Chen Zhuzhu were at home. When Aunt Wang saw that guests had come, she made tea for the two of them, prepared some easily digestible milk cakes for the children, and heated up the spring vegetable dumplings that the guests had brought, then plated them and brought them over.
Shen Zhuzhu and the twins quickly started playing together. It was clear that the twins were well-mannered; they didn't run around after coming in, but greeted people obediently. They even seemed a little timid, not daring to touch other people's things.
Gu Xi told Wu Meiwen to sit a little longer and let the three children play together.
She hoped that Chen Zhuzhu would have playmates of the same age and have a happy childhood. They had just moved here and would be living here for several more years. They were not yet familiar with the neighbors and did not know what the other children were like. Seeing that the Chen family's twins were nice, she did not stop her own child from playing with them.
Seeing that the younger Shen Zhuzhu was taking the initiative to hand toys to the two children and play with them, Wu Meiwen was very happy and said, "Mowen and Mowu were born prematurely and were not very healthy before. They only got better this year, and they don't have many playmates here..."
Since arriving in Beijing, perhaps because it was an unfamiliar place, the two children have become increasingly timid. They hardly ever go out, have no playmates, and spend most of their time at home.
When they go out, they always stick tightly to their parents and don't play with other children their own age.
Seeing that they were willing to play with Shen Zhuzhu today, Wu Meiwen thought it must be because Shen Zhuzhu was pretty and cute, making other children his age want to be close to him and play with him. Moreover, Shen Zhuzhu seemed to be a well-behaved and quiet child, unlike some naughty kids, which made her feel somewhat relieved.
Gu Xi chatted with Wu Meiwen and learned that the place where Chen Ruian and his wife lived was the house of one of Chen Ruian's cousins. He used to be a professor at Beijing University and had been labeled as one of the "Five Black Categories." He was exonerated last year, and when he returned, the authorities returned the house to him.
He was all alone and now lived in the teachers' dormitory arranged by the school. Not wanting the house to be empty and wasteful, nor wanting it to be rented out and ruined, he gave it to his nephew and his wife. This would also make it convenient for Wu Meiwen to bring her child to accompany her to school, so that the couple wouldn't be separated and the child wouldn't be unable to see his father.
Gu Xi nodded secretly.
It seems that Chen Ruian is quite responsible. After going to the countryside, he got married there. Unlike other educated youth who divorced their wives after returning to the city, he brought his wife and children to Beijing and even took care of them with him.
"Have your sons Mowen and Mowu started kindergarten?" Gu Xi asked again.
“Rui and I discussed it and decided to wait until next month, when the weather is warmer, to send them back to kindergarten,” Wu Meiwen said. “Their health is relatively weak, and in this kind of weather, if they are not taken care of properly, they can easily get sick.”
Then they asked if Chen Zhuzhu was already in kindergarten and which kindergarten she was enrolled in.
"It's right outside the alley, the nearest kindergarten, it's the closest one to here."
"We've also chosen that place," Wu Meiwen said happily. "The environment there is quite nice, and I heard that some of the teachers are spouses of university professors in Beijing. They're very patient with children and know how to teach them well..."
She talked a lot about this, clearly having done her homework beforehand, having gathered a lot of information from her uncle, a professor at a university in Beijing.
Gu Xi was surprised to receive this information, and felt more at ease about the kindergarten Shen Zhuzhu was going to attend.
The two chatted casually for a while. Gu Xi asked Wu Meiwen if she was used to being away from her hometown and coming to Beijing. Although the two were not familiar with each other, Gu Xi felt a little sorry for Wu Meiwen, who was thousands of miles away from home and had come to a strange big city.
"I'm really not used to it," Wu Meiwen said honestly, a hint of embarrassment showing on her slightly dark face. "But it's alright, with Rui Ge and Yun Sheng around, and the two kids by my side, it's not bad." Thinking of something, her eyes lit up slightly. "After Mo Wen and Mo Wu go to school, I plan to find a job."
"Huh? What kind of job are you looking for?" Gu Xi asked, somewhat surprised.
"It's not certain yet." Wu Meiwen shook her head slightly. "Rui Ge and Yun Sheng are very supportive of me. I'll look around the neighborhood first, hoping to be able to take care of my family as well. I still have two children to take care of."
Gu Xi said, "That's true. The national policies are different now, so it should be quite easy to find a job, unlike before."
“Yes, yes, I think so too.” Wu Meiwen nodded happily, feeling that she and Gu Xi had a lot in common. “I even asked someone to look into the area around our alley. I think there are several jobs I could do…”
-
When it was almost time, Wu Meiwen finally left with her two children.
When I got home, I found that Chen Ruian and his sister had already returned.
Chen Yunsheng hugged her two nephews and nieces and asked, "Sister-in-law, where did you go just now?"
"Let's go see Comrade Gu and bring her some spring vegetable dumplings." Wu Meiwen told her siblings about her visit to Gu Xi that day, and said happily, "Comrade Gu is indeed a very kind person. She not only treated us with great hospitality, but also chatted with me for a long time without minding my accent..."
Her Mandarin was not standard and had a strong hometown accent. After arriving in Beijing, she encountered many people who looked at her strangely.
But when I chatted with Gu Xi earlier, she didn't seem to mind at all and always had a smile on her face.
Wu Meiwen finally understood why her husband and sister-in-law had such expressions when they met Gu Xi; they must really like her.
Chen Ruian and his sister were not surprised. They were both happy for her as she told them about her visit to Gu Xi that day in a lighthearted tone.
This was the first time Wu Meiwen had taken her child to visit her neighbors since arriving in Beijing.
She's actually quite brave, but she's a little reserved in unfamiliar places.
Putting everything else aside, Gu Xi's son is about the same age as their two children. If they can play together, the two children will have companions, and they support that.
When the two children saw their father and aunt, they were very happy and told them that they wanted to go to kindergarten with Shen Zhuzhu.
"Zhuzhu can recite many poems, recognize many characters, do arithmetic, draw, play checkers, and make kites..."
"He can even do the horse stance!" Chen Mowu exclaimed. "It was Zhuzhu's father who taught him; his father is a soldier."
The siblings counted on their fingers, taking turns talking, which showed how much Chen Zhuzhu had impressed them today. Even though the siblings were older than Chen Zhuzhu, they acted as if they were her elders.
There's no way around it; the one who knows more than them is the boss.
Chen Yunsheng looked surprised. "Gu Xi's child knows so much? That child really is like Gu Xi, not only in appearance, but also in intelligence."
She naturally supported her nephews and nieces playing with Shen Zhuzhu; children should be happy.
**
With children as a bridge, two families living in the same alley gradually became acquainted.
Gu Xi also learned that Chen Yunsheng's university was quite close to Beijing University, so she lived here with her brother and sister-in-law.
It is also known that Chen Ruian chose to marry Wu Meiwen, the daughter of the brigade leader, in order to take good care of his younger sister. However, he is a responsible man. Since he is married, he will take care of her for the rest of his life. The couple has twins, a boy and a girl, and their relationship is quite good now.
Gu Xi finally learned from Chen Yunsheng the reason for Gu Yuanzheng's facial injury.
Back then, Gu Yuanxiang went to the countryside full of joy to find Chen Ruian, only to find that Chen Ruian was already married, and to a rural girl who was not as good as her.
She refused Gu Yuanyang's arrangement for Chen Ruian's sake and came to this remote and backward mountain village with her second brother. She was really unwilling to accept this and wanted to find Chen Ruian to ask him clearly and also wanted to tell him her feelings.
However, to avoid suspicion and misunderstanding, Chen Ruian refused to meet her alone.
Gu Yuanxiang still refused to give up. Taking advantage of Chen Ruian's trip to the mountains to gather herbs, she secretly followed him. On the way, she encountered Wu Meiwen, who refused to tell her where Chen Ruian was gathering herbs, causing her to get lost in the mountains. There, she encountered some ill-intentioned hooligans from the village and almost...
Gu Yuanzheng was beaten by those thugs while trying to save her, leaving a hideous scar on his face.
Gu Xi was speechless. No wonder the atmosphere between Gu Yuanzheng and the other person was so strange when she saw them at her uncle's house during the Spring Festival.
Gu Yuanxiang must have regretted it, and Gu Yuanzheng also has a knot in his heart, unable to be a close brother and sister with Gu Yuanxiang anymore.
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