If she goes back, you'd better give her a lot of money. She's been helping us take care of the two kids, doing the laundry and cooking; it's not easy for her."
Zhang Shuzhen is kind-hearted and treats everyone well.
When the two girls turned one year old, Zhang Shuzhen took her grandson to Songjianghe for a few days and got along quite well with this Aunt Li.
With the New Year approaching, Zhang Shuzhen was concerned about Granny Li, an old woman all alone with no one to rely on.
Reminded by his mother, Sheng Xiping also remembered, "Yes, if Mom hadn't mentioned it, I would have completely forgotten about it."
"Okay, I'll go back tomorrow and ask Aunt Li what she thinks."
Grandma Li has no children, and all that's left in Lijiawa is a dilapidated house. So, it doesn't matter where she spends the New Year.
Of course, this matter depends on what Aunt Li thinks; no one else can make the decision.
The mother and her children ate and chatted, and by the time they finished eating, it was almost 6:30.
Normally, at this time, Sheng Xinhua and Sheng Xinyu would have already eagerly turned on the radio to listen to the storytelling.
The two boys listened with great interest to Liu Lanfang's retelling of "The Legend of Yue Fei," never missing an episode.
But today, the two kids weren't in a hurry to turn on the radio; instead, they urged their dad to turn on the TV.
"Dad, I want to watch TV. There's a mouse on Grandpa Zheng's TV."
Shunzi talks to us at school every day, saying how fun that mouse is.
Sheng Xinyu held his father's hand, his face full of earnestness.
The Shunzi that Sheng Xinyu mentioned is Zheng Xianyong's grandson, named Zheng Tianshun. He is the same age as Sheng Xinyu, and both of them are in preschool.
A few days ago, Zheng Xianyong's family got a TV. Zheng Tianshun has been showing off the TV programs at home to his friends all day long, which makes the preschool children very envious.
Sheng Xinyu listened to Zheng Tianshun tell a story about a mouse every day, and he also wanted to go to Zheng's house to watch TV.
However, Zheng Xianyong's family was too large, and Sheng Xinhua and Sheng Xinyu were still too young to squeeze in.
Furthermore, it gets dark early in winter; by 6:30, it's already pitch black outside. Zhang Shuzhen was afraid that it would be dangerous for the children to go out, so she wouldn't allow them to go to the Zheng family's house to watch TV.
The two kids were so tempted by that mouse that they couldn't resist. They finally had a TV at home today, so how could they miss it?
"Turning on the TV is fine, but we need to agree beforehand that you can only watch it for half an hour each day."
From 6:30 to 7:00, when the news starts on TV, you can't watch it anymore, understand?
Sheng Xiping glanced at the two brats and laid down three rules for them.
"Okay, okay," the two children nodded repeatedly, saying in unison.
"Okay, I'll go turn on the TV for you guys, and I'll also test if the antenna works."
Sheng Xiping smiled, reached out and turned on the TV on the cabinet, then rotated the tuning knob to change the channel.
Many people came to our house during the day, and everyone pitched in to install the antenna.
There's no signal during the day, so the exact effect is unknown. Therefore, Sheng Xiping still needs to test the antenna's reception performance.
Most channels are just static; when you finally manage to find one that isn't, it just shows some ripples on the screen.
Sheng Xiping immediately realized that the antenna was not facing the right direction, resulting in poor signal reception.
"Watch the TV. If you see any figures on TV, call me right away. I'm going out to adjust the antenna pole."
With that, Sheng Xiping put on his hat and gloves and went out of the house.
The antenna pole was tied to the base of the round stick with No. 8 wire. During the day, the signal reception was uncertain, so it was simply tied twice, not securely.
Sheng Xiping loosened the No. 8 cable with his hands, then turned the antenna pole to adjust its direction.
"Someone's out! Brother, someone's out of the TV station!" Sheng Yunfei shouted excitedly before Sheng Xinhua could even run out.
"Take a look inside and see if it's clear. If it's clear, then let's stick with this direction." Sheng Xiping called to his sister to double-check.
In those days, there were no antennas that could automatically turn, so you had to find the right angle.
Sheng Yunfei went inside to check again and came out saying it was quite clear. Only then did Sheng Xiping use the No. 8 cable to re-tie the antenna pole to the base.
This time, he tightened it a few more times with the pliers to make sure it was secure before going inside.
Upon entering the room, one could see Sheng Xinhua and Sheng Xinyu sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), craning their necks and intently watching television.
On the television screen, the story of the mole was playing. "I thought it was some kind of mouse, but isn't this the mole?"
Sheng Xiping laughed as soon as he saw it. When his son told him earlier, he thought it was Mickey Mouse, but it turned out to be a mole.
The two children didn't respond; instead, they stared intently at the television, at the chubby, adorable mole on screen.
Sheng Xiping didn't mind, sat down on the kang (a heated brick bed), and chatted with his mother.
As they were talking, the dog outside started barking, followed by someone calling out, "Xiping, are you home?"
Sheng Xiping hurriedly went out and saw that they were all people from the forest farm. Needless to say, they had all come to the Sheng family to see the big color TV.
"Xiping, we heard you have a 17-inch color TV at home, so we all came to take a look." Everyone said with smiles when they saw Sheng Xiping.
There are only four or five televisions in the entire forest farm, all belonging to the forest farm cadres in their homes.
There are about 300 households in the entire Qianchuan Forest Farm, and they can't all crowd into just a few.
Upon hearing that Sheng Xiping had brought back a larger color TV, many people rushed to the Sheng family home to join in the excitement.
"Yes, yes, come and see, come and see." The others echoed.
"Come in, come in and sit down." Guests are welcome; there's no reason to turn them away.
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