"Now that you're out of shoes, let's see where you can run now!" Zhang Shuzhen was furious and really wanted to give her youngest son a good beating.
When Zhang Shuzhen said that, Sheng Xitai cried even harder.
Sheng Xiping, standing nearby, thought, "This won't do. What if the wailing and howling in the middle of the night scares the child?"
Besides, the shoes are already like this; even if you beat Sheng Xitai up, it won't fix them.
Sheng Xitai lost a new pair of shoes; that's enough of a lesson, there's no need to scold him further.
"Mom, don't be angry. Sixth brother didn't do it on purpose. He just wanted to dry his shoes quickly."
There was still a strange smell of burning rubber in the room, but the mother and her children were not dressed warmly enough and couldn't afford to get cold, so Sheng Xiping closed the outer door and patiently comforted his mother.
"This incident will teach Lao Liu a lesson; he'll definitely be more careful about getting his shoes wet in the future."
"Come on, let's go inside and sleep. If he cries like this so late at night, people will think something's wrong with our family."
Zhang Shuzhen was clearly still angry. "He'll learn his lesson? When will he ever learn his lesson?"
Anyway, I don't have the money to buy him new shoes. If he's so capable, let him run around barefoot tomorrow.
In an era of scarcity, a pair of shoes cost several yuan, so it's no wonder Zhang Shuzhen was so angry; she was distressed by the cost of the items.
Sheng Xiping naturally understood, but could only gently persuade Zhang Shuzhen to go back to her room and sleep.
They quickly pulled Sheng Xitai back into the house. The kid was only wearing a shirt and trousers. The outer room had been open for half a day and it was quite cold. What if he got frostbite?
"Brother, I have no shoes left. Mom definitely won't buy me any. How am I going to get through the winter?"
Sheng Xitai sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), still sobbing.
"What can we do? Just look through your fourth and fifth sisters' old shoes and find a suitable pair to wear."
"You deserve to learn your lesson. You're always running around playing without a care in the world. You deserve it." Sheng Xiping snorted and said coldly.
Sheng Xiping could afford a pair of shoes, but he couldn't say that right now.
Zhang Shuzhen was still angry, and he said he wanted to buy shoes for Sheng Xitai. Wasn't that putting his mother in the bag?
In this matter, Sheng Xiping must unite with Zhang Shuzhen to teach Sheng Xitai a lesson.
Upon hearing this, Sheng Xitai pouted, wanting to cry but not daring to.
In the end, she could only humiliatedly crawl into bed and hide under the covers to cry.
Sheng Xiping sighed, turned around and came out of the east room, closed the door, and went back to the west room to sleep.
The next morning, Sheng Xitai got up barefoot and rummaged through the closet, finding several pairs of old shoes.
Some of the shoes were too small for Sheng Xikang a few years ago, while others were old shoes worn by Sheng Yunfang and Sheng Yunfei a couple of years ago.
Zhang Shuzhen is a clean person. In the warm summer, she washes and dries all the old shoes in her house and puts them away.
A comparison reveals that girls are more careful with their belongings; Sheng Yunfang and Sheng Yunfei's shoes from last year had almost no damage.
Sheng Xikang's shoes were already worn out.
As the youngest child in the family, it was common for me to wear my older siblings' clothes and shoes; every family goes through that.
So Sheng Xitai wasn't embarrassed at all. He picked out a pair that fit properly, put them on, and was jumping around again.
"Go easy on me, or you'll ruin these shoes and you'll have to wear mine."
When Sheng Xikang saw this, he deliberately hurt his younger brother's feelings.
Sure enough, Sheng Xitai's face twitched again upon hearing this.
"Okay, I won't pick up your shoes. They look like they've been chewed by mice."
We're all boys, how many of us don't act up? Don't laugh at me, big brother, we're all pretty much the same.
Sheng Xikang rolled his eyes at Sheng Xitai in anger after his younger brother retorted.
"Hmph, don't be so smug. If you get your shoes on fire again, you'll still have to wear them even if they're chewed up by mice."
Sheng Xitai snorted and turned to wash his face, ignoring his brother.
Sheng Xitai ruined a pair of shoes with the fire, which taught him a lesson, and he became more careful when going out to play next time.
Try not to get snow inside your shoes, and when drying your shoes at night, try to keep them a distance from the stove.
Before we knew it, winter had passed, and little Xinhua was already one year old.
In the past, a child's first birthday was a big deal. They would have to hold a banquet and have a traditional "grasping ceremony" for the child.
Nowadays, people aren't allowed to be particular about these things, so the Sheng family didn't make any arrangements. Zhang Shuzhen just said that she would cook a few good dishes so that the family could have some fun.
In winter, the days are short and the nights are long. If you eat three meals a day, you won't be able to do anything else but cook.
Therefore, in most families, once the children are on winter vacation, there are only two meals.
The Sheng family used to do this too, but now that Sheng Xiping is at work, he has to come back for lunch, so the Sheng family still eats three meals a day.
January 19th, the first day of the twelfth lunar month.
After breakfast, Zhang Shuzhen started getting busy, bringing back frozen meat and fish from outside to thaw, preparing to cook something delicious in the afternoon.
Around ten o'clock, the whistle of the little train sounded outside, but the Sheng family didn't pay much attention, since no one in their family was going out anyway.
A little while later, they heard footsteps outside, followed by the dogs barking.
"Aunt Sheng, you have guests!" someone called from outside the gate.
Zhang Shuzhen and Zhou Qinglan were busy in the kitchen preparing lunch when they heard the noise and were both taken aback.
"Who's here? The couple from your in-laws? No way, didn't you just come back from Songjiang River?" Zhang Shuzhen muttered casually.
Zhou Qinglan couldn't guess who it was, so she simply pushed the door open and went out, asking, "Who is it?"
"Oh, we're from the provincial capital, looking for Sheng Xiping and Chen Feng."
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