Chapter 36 "A Good Match"
Lin Zhao locked the cupboard and went to the kitchen to cook noodles.
After the noodles are cooked, rinse them with cold water, then cut some cucumber and carrot shreds, cut the boiled eggs in half, add seasoning and meat sauce and mix them. It tastes good.
The two cubs ate without even raising their heads.
"Mom, the cold noodles are delicious, and the eggs are delicious too. Can we eat them again tomorrow?" Erzai buried his face in the bowl and ate it vigorously, with sauce all over his cheeks.
The eldest boy looked at his younger brother's dirty face and felt uncomfortable all over. He sighed in a condescending manner and wiped his younger brother's face with disgust, "Second boy, eat slowly!"
The five-year-old brother was very worried, his little brows were furrowed.
The second child raised his chin and cooperated with his brother's actions. He responded with his mouth, but forgot about it as soon as he turned his head and continued to eat voraciously.
Seeing the older cub wiping the younger cub’s face, the twins, a boy and a girl, imitated Er Guoguo and put their little faces in front of the older cub, looking expectant.
The eldest child: “…”
The eldest cub sighed heavily, but he also wiped the wipe for the third and fourth cubs.
"Thank you, Big Pot." The twins, a boy and a girl, thanked him in their baby voices with rosy cheeks.
The orange sunset shines on the yard, casting a warm aftertaste.
Lin Zhao smiled. After finishing her meal, she drew this scene and planned to send it to Gu Chenghuai in a few days.
"Baby." she suddenly shouted.
"Hey!" The eldest and second cubs responded at the same time.
"......Hey!" The twins, a boy and a girl, also made an "eh" sound after realizing it belatedly. They put down their small bowls, walked over and bumped into their mother's arms, giggling.
"Mom, you have four cubs, which one do you want to name?" The second cub came over and laughed.
"I'm calling you and your brother." Lin Zhao patted his prickly little bald head. "I want to write a letter to your father. Do you two have anything to say?"
Erzai shook his head without thinking, "No, I'm not familiar with my father, so I have nothing to say."
Lin Zhao took a breath and glared at him. "Why not? Everything you eat and use is earned by your father. Your father works hard outside. You can't say that, let alone think that. We have to love our father."
To be fair, Gu Chenghuai is a very good husband and father, better than many people, especially the men in the village.
Calm, patient, hardworking, lively, capable of supporting a family and caring for the family.
When he is at home, she doesn't have to do anything and doesn't have to worry about anything.
Even though the villagers secretly talked about her, she knew that they envied her.
Erzai closed his mouth with his hands, "I was wrong." He admitted his mistake immediately.
"It's good that you know you're wrong." Lin Zhao's expression eased as she talked about Gu Chenghuai. "Your father is a soldier. What is a soldier's duty? To defend the country. The burden and mission on his shoulders are heavy. He has to train every day, which is very hard.
Sometimes when we are on a mission we have to catch bad guys, which involves bleeding and sweating. It is harder than any of us. You can blame me, but don’t blame your father. Comrade Gu is a very good person. "
The eldest child listened carefully, knowing that his father would bleed, and his face was full of worry, "Mom, can I eat two bowls of rice in the future?"
Lin Zhao was puzzled, "Why, baby?"
When she said "baby", the older boy almost became confused. His fair and tender face instantly turned red. He could no longer remember what he wanted to ask.
"Baby?" Lin Zhao called softly.
The eldest cub calmed down, his ears were red, his eyes were wet, and he endured the shyness of being called baby by his mother and said, "I want to grow up quickly and help my father catch the bad guys."
"I also want to help dad catch the bad guys!" Erzai also said.
"I...I." The twins uttered the word "I" in unison, interpreting the importance of participation vividly.
"Then you have to study hard. Your father and I are both high school students, so you should at least be college students, right?" Lin Zhao encouraged the kids again.
The eldest son was cleaning up the dishes. He looked up at his mother and said, "Mom, I studied hard. I remember all the ancient poems and characters you taught me."
He paused, a little embarrassed, "I just can't write yet."
The pen is very flexible in his mother's hand, but it is completely disobedient in his hand and he cannot write well.
"I remember the poems and characters my mother taught me, but my handwriting is ugly. Brother Bangbang said that my handwriting looks like scribbles." Erzai said loudly.
"Your brother Bangbang's handwriting was also ugly when he was a child. You have to practice writing. How can you write beautifully without practice?" Lin Zhao practiced her handwriting. She could even write with a brush.
Erzai doesn’t like writing. When he heard that he had to practice, his smile disappeared instantly. He lowered his head, and his face was full of worry.
The eldest son asked Lin Zhao, "Did mom practice it too?"
"I have practiced before. Doesn't my handwriting look good?" Lin Zhao said proudly.
This is just a small and insignificant strength among her numerous merits and is not worth mentioning.
"It looks good!" the eldest boy nodded.
"Your grandfather taught me. Let me tell you, your grandfather's handwriting is beautiful." Lin Zhao thought of the time when her father taught her calligraphy, her eyes filled with smiles.
"Every Chinese New Year, many people would bring gifts to our house to ask for couplets and blessing characters, so I was the most popular girl when I was little. Everyone would give me delicious treats. At that time, I loved the Chinese New Year the most."
"I like the Chinese New Year, too." Erzai held his face in anticipation, his eyes bright, "The Chinese New Year is lively, and there are lots of delicious food."
He counted on his fingers, listing them one by one, "You can eat dumplings, meat and candy, put up couplets on the door, and set off firecrackers. It's really lively with the crackling sound."
"Mom, you never gave me and my brother New Year's money before. Will you give us any this year?" Erzai smiled and came close to Lin Zhao, blinking his eyes with an expectant look.
"Yes," Lin Zhao replied with a smile, "I will also give you all the things I forgot in the past few years."
"When the house is built, I will ask the carpenter to make you a piggy bank. You can save your New Year's money and spend it however you want."
What does this mean for little kids?
It means financial freedom!
The eldest and second cubs were happier than if they had picked up ten huge sums of money.
After accepting the cake drawn by his mother, the eldest son went to wash the dishes with a smile on his face, and the second son also went to help.
Lin Zhao bathed the twins, put them to bed, and changed them into clean clothes.
The third and fourth cubs are young and don’t get much sun, so their skin is as white as rice dumplings. They have been eating well in the past few days, so they have gained some weight and their faces are chubby. Even their arms and legs have tender circles of flesh. Their eyes are clear and bright, and they look smart and cute.
"Be good, mom will go get some water."
As she spoke, she walked outside.
The little brother and sister on the bed groaned anxiously, moving their arms and legs, trying to slide off the bed.
Lin Zhao heard the noise, turned around, walked to the bed in three or two steps, picked up the two cubs, and put them back on the bed.
Before she could say anything, the twins hugged her neck tightly.
Lin Zhao felt like she couldn't breathe, and she didn't know where a one-year-old child got the strength from.
"mother."
"mother."
Two childish voices rang in my ears.
"Mom won't leave." Lin Zhao coaxed softly.
The twins blinked, and slowly loosened their chubby arms, but their hands were still clutching Lin Zhao's clothes, and they looked at her: "Not...leaving?"
The baby voice ended with hesitation.
"Yes, I won't leave." I'll leave tomorrow morning.
The third and fourth cubs were relieved and grinned, revealing a few little baby teeth.
After the eldest and second sons finished washing the dishes, they saw that their younger brother and sister's bath water had not been poured out, so they poured it out, washed their hands and faces, and then returned to the house.
Ever since that night when they slept with their mother in their hands holding the little pillow, Lin Zhao never asked them to go back to their own room. The two brothers just thought that their mother agreed that they could sleep with her, and they didn't even open the door of their own room in the past few days.
The eldest child stood on tiptoe to get the baby cream from the cupboard, applied it on his own face and the second child's face, then climbed onto the bed and started playing with his younger siblings.
The sun had already set completely, but the sky was still bright. The house was fumigated with mugwort to repel mosquitoes, and there were no lights on, so it was a little dim but warm.
"Oh." Erzai lay on the bed and suddenly sighed.
Lin Zhao felt amused and looked at him, "Why are you sighing?"
Erzai put his arms in front of him, resting his head on his arms, with a little fat on his right cheek. "It would be nice if we could get electricity someday."
"Yes." Lin Zhao also hoped that electricity would be available soon. It would be so convenient to have electricity.
He pulled the fourth child who wanted to sit on her brother's head and patted her butt gently, "Don't mess with your second brother."
The fourth cub was a stingy person. He pouted his pink little mouth and went to find the big pot angrily.
Lin Zhao shook her head helplessly and said to Erzai, "Why don't you buy a flashlight? It will be more convenient to go out at night with a flashlight."
Erzai sat up and asked in a raised tone, "What's a flashlight?"
There is nothing new that he is not curious about.
"This big, cylindrical." Lin Zhao gestured with her hand to show the size of the flashlight. "There is a switch on the flashlight. When you push the switch, it lights up instantly and can provide illumination."
Erzai's eyes lit up, "Buy!"
Just as he finished speaking, he frowned again, "Mom, is the money Dad sent enough to buy a flashlight?"
"What if it's not enough?" Lin Zhao was curious about how Erzai would answer.
"Not enough?" Erzai's face wrinkled, but suddenly an idea came to his mind. He clung to her arm, looking expectant, "Mom, take me and my brother to the county again, and we'll call Dad and I'll go ask for money!!"
Lin Zhao: “…”
"You are really your father's good second son."
The second cub thought he was being praised, so he puffed out his chest and raised his head, his bright big eyes curved up, and he moved closer to his mother, his mouth looking as if it was filled with honey.
"Yes, yes, I am the good second son of my mother and father."
"Mom, when will Dad come back?" The usually heartless Erzai actually started to care about his dad. "If Dad doesn't come back, I won't recognize him when I see him on the street."
The older cub played with the twins, also listening with his ears perked up.
"I don't know. Your father misses us too. He will come back to see us if he has time." Lin Zhao replied, hugging Erzai's little shoulders.
She misses her father too.
"Mom, I want to see a picture of Dad." Erzai pulled on Lin Zhao's clothes, softened his clear voice, and acted coquettishly towards his mother.
"Wait." Lin Zhao stood up and took out her and Gu Chenghuai's marriage certificate.
It’s called a marriage certificate, but it’s actually just a piece of paper. To prevent it from going bad over time, Gu Chenghuai found a piece of transparent plastic from somewhere to seal it, so it’s looked like new over the past few years.
Erzai rubbed his hands on his trouser legs, and after making sure there was no sweat, he carefully took the paper.
The photo shows a young couple.
The young man was wearing a military uniform, with deep brow bones, sharp and bright eyes, and extremely short hair that made his facial features look even more superior and three-dimensional. His nose was straight, and his lips were just the right thickness. He exuded the courage and perseverance of a soldier. In one word, he was - handsome.
The girl was actually Lin Zhao. She had a nice nose, nice eyes, fair skin, and crescent-shaped eyes. Anyone who saw her would know she was a beautiful girl.
"Mom is so beautiful!" Erzai looked up at Lin Zhao, then lowered his head to look at the photo. He repeated this several times, nodding as he spoke.
Lin Zhao reached out and held his face, moving his head to the side. "Look at your father."
"Oh." Erzai then looked at his father and stared at him for a long time. No one knew what he was thinking and he didn't say a word for a long time.
After a while, he suddenly asked, "Mom, did you marry my dad because he is handsome?"
The eldest son also came over to look at his parents' wedding photo.
Hearing his brother's question, he looked at his mother.
"Yes." Lin Zhao's smile was sweet, and she said confidently, "Who doesn't like handsome guys?"
Her slender white fingers tapped the photo on the marriage certificate. "Your father is handsome, and I'm not bad looking either. We are a perfect match."
"If you didn't have Junjun's father and a beautiful mother like me, would you be so good-looking?"
Everyone in the Lin family is good-looking, so Lin Zhao's standards for a partner were greatly raised. Appearance and ability were basically equal, and neither was indispensable.
The eldest boy thought what his mother said made sense, and nodded seriously, whispering something his grandmother always said, "My grandmother said that when she first saw mother, she thought mother and father were a perfect match."
Lin Zhao looked at him and smiled, "Is there another sentence?"
The eldest boy smiled and said nothing.
The fast-talking second child imitated Gu's mother's tone and said, "...It's a pity that he is a spoiled child who doesn't even care about his own children. Alas."
Lin Zhao hugged Erzai's neck and pulled him into her arms. She pretended to pinch his mouth and teased him with a smile, "I'll let you talk too fast. I'll let you say it again."
Erzai covered his mouth in panic, with a smile on his face as bright as the sun, "No more, no more."
"Brother, help me!"
The eldest cub was not hurt and was also hugged by Lin Zhao.
"Hahahaha..." The cheerful laughter of two children came from the room.
When the twins saw their mother and brothers playing, they came over too, looking at this and that, giggling.
After playing with the kids for a while, we fell asleep while they kicked each other in the face and bit each other's butts.
According to the plan, Lin Zhao taught the eldest and second sons to recite poems, practice calligraphy, and learn mathematics, and then took them to write a letter to Gu Chenghuai.
The two little brothers put their heads together and whispered something, then asked for the scribbles they had written to be put in an envelope and sent over.
Lin Zhao readily agreed, "Your father will be very happy if he sees this."
The two boys were very happy. After seeing the photo, they felt less unfamiliar with their father.
Lin Zhao put the letter and the paper the two boys had written on into an envelope, took out two pagoda candies from the cupboard and handed them to the two little brothers.
"One per person, eat it."
Erzai stuffed it into his mouth without hesitation. It tasted sweet. "Mom, this candy is delicious. I have never seen it before. Do you have more?"
"There's no more. Each person can only eat one to kill the bugs," said Lin Zhao.
Erzai's expression froze, "What bug?"
"...roundworms in the stomach." It is common for children in the countryside to drink cold water and get roundworms in their stomachs. The two children grind their teeth at night and have stomachaches and diarrhea, so they have to be dewormed.
insect?
They have worms in their stomachs! ?
The eldest cub looked terrified, lowered his head to look at his belly, and cried in a small voice, "Mom, are the second cub and I dying?"
Erzai, who was usually fearless, also turned pale.
He suddenly hugged Lin Zhao and cried miserably.
"Mom, I don't want to die. If I die, I won't be able to see you anymore, and I won't be able to eat the dumplings, pickled fish, and cold noodles you made. I haven't even been admitted to college yet, and I haven't helped my dad catch the bad guys yet. I can't bear to die..."
The more he talked about it, the more aggrieved he felt. "Whose child is only five and a half years old and is going to die? Why am I so miserable?"
(End of this chapter)
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