The quilt had been aired out by Shu Aiguo when he got home in advance, and the sheets had also been washed, so they could be laid out directly. The kitchen, where he kept quails, required special cleaning, but other areas didn't need it. Shu Aiguo rode his bike home every day to raise the quails, so he could easily do any chores. The house didn't look like it had been uninhabited for a long time; many places were dust-free.
It was already past eight o'clock when everything was finished. The soft quilt made her feel relaxed, and Chu Yu slept for a full 12 hours. When she got up the next day, Deng Fangping and Shu Hui had already steamed red bean buns, meat buns, steamed cakes, etc. The chicken and fish were braised, and the pork and pork bones were cooked.
The mutton that Dai Donglin had asked someone to buy from Inner Mongolia was also cooked. Chu Yu was thinking of making a mutton hot pot, adding whatever vegetables she wanted to eat, so that she could have a warm New Year's Eve. Otherwise, by the time the later dishes were served, the earlier dishes would be cold.
Shu Hui never gets to eat hot food in Zhoujia Village. Chu Yu feels sorry for her mother and doesn't want her and Deng Fangping to suffer too much.
When I was young, I always thought it was a woman's duty to cook, and I never saw women bustling around the stove during festivals. Only when I grew up did I realize that cooking is not easy. Cooking a table full of dishes to entertain all sorts of guests, I was so tired that my back could hardly straighten up, and I couldn't even get a hot meal myself. How wronged I must feel.
Deng Fangping smiled contentedly after hearing Chu Yu's words:
“My daughter is different. She knows how to care for people. My Shulan is heartless. It’s almost Chinese New Year and she doesn’t even know to send a message home.”
Deng Fangping and Shu Aiguo are typical rural people. Rural people want to have sons, and they can't say they didn't have this idea. That's just how the environment is. If you don't have a son, you'll be pointed at and scolded for having no descendants. They had Xiao Jiang in order to have a lineage.
But to say that Deng Fangping favored sons over daughters is truly an injustice.
Even if the family doesn't own a house, and they have a meager amount of money, shouldn't they spend at least a third of it on Xiao Jiang?
The truth is, Xiao Jiang has spent the least amount of money throughout his life.
Deng Fangping was willing to buy Shulan nice clothes and Yunyun new sandals, but when it came to Xiao Jiang, she would just make do with whatever he wanted. Xiao Jiang often said that he was adopted.
When asked where he found Deng Fangping by the haystack, he said he wanted to find his biological parents.
Shulan was Deng Fangping and Shu Aiguo's first child, which made her exceptionally special, and the two of them doted on this daughter.
When Shu Aiguo made money, the first place he thought of was Shulan.
Yunyun and Xiaojiang are still young and in no hurry to buy a house. Shulan will be 21 years old this year, and 22 in the traditional Chinese way. She works as an apprentice in a clothing factory in the city. She is not a permanent employee and does not have a city household registration. Her future in-laws look down on her. Shu Aiguo can't swallow this and wants to buy his daughter a house so that she can hold her head high in her husband's family.
Shu Aiguo and Deng Fangping agreed to buy two houses at the beginning of the year.
The prices of those storefronts have gone up again.
It seems to be just a matter of perception. Overnight, everyone knows that individual businesses can make money, while storefronts can save money. Landlords are all acting high and mighty, unwilling to sell even for five or six thousand, but only willing to sell for seven or eight thousand.
Buying two apartments would cost around 15,000 yuan. Shu Aiguo received 50,000 yuan from Xibao, so what's a little apartment for his daughter?
But Shulan hasn't been home for almost half a year.
Shu Aiguo was angry that his daughter was so immature. For the past six months, she hadn't thought about him, her father. No matter how good a man is, can he be better than a father? That man clearly looked down on her, so why did she have to go after him? A woman becomes worthless when she goes after him. Her in-laws won't respect her just because she's married and has children. A woman without respect in her in-laws' family will never have a good life.
He really wronged Shulan.
Shulan had returned to Shanguan Village half a month ago. The Shu family's gate was tightly closed. Shulan thought her father wouldn't open the door for her to come in. It was Aunt Tong who told her that her parents had gone to Deyang to sell roujiamo (Chinese hamburger).
Shulan knew about Deng Fangping selling roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) and guessed that her parents weren't very capable and that running a small business wouldn't work. She figured that if she took her aunt and Chuyu along, the family would definitely go hungry.
Shulan saved up about a hundred yuan from her work and wanted to give it to her family in an emergency, but when she got home she couldn't find Deng Fangping. She went to Deyang Municipal Hospital but couldn't find Deng Fangping's roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) stall either, so she returned to Rongtai County.
On New Year's Eve, Chu Yu had just finished reading a book and was about to go to the kitchen to help Shu Hui and Deng Fangping when Deng Fangping chased him out.
“There aren’t many dishes, your mother and I can manage. Look, Yunyun is cooking for me too.”
Deng Fangping was reluctant to use Chu Yu. Chu Yu always ranked first in her grade and was a sure thing to become a college student. Her hands were delicate and fair, and her nails were pink and glossy. How could Deng Fangping have the nerve to ask her to do rough work? Besides, there were quails in the kitchen, and with several quail cages there, it was really hard to move around.
Deng Fangping kept Yunyun to cook, and sent Chuyu out to wander around.
"You'll be taking the college entrance exam during the Chinese New Year. High school seniors don't even have time to sleep. Take advantage of the holiday to go out and travel around."
Chu Yu didn't say anything; she wasn't good at cooking and was afraid of giving herself away.
As soon as I reached the door, I saw a girl wearing a red plaid wool coat walking inside, followed by a man in a military coat.
The man was of medium height, with slicked-back hair, a high nose, single eyelids, and a tendency to raise his eyebrows when looking at people; he seemed rather unreliable.
"Chu Yu?" Red-checked girl grabbed Chu Yu's arm.
Chu Yu was stunned for a moment, "Sister Shulan?"
Chu Yu was surprised because Shu Lan was wearing a plaid coat that Chu Yu had never seen before. It was thicker than ordinary coats, as if it had a layer of cotton inside. Decades later, it was true that some plaid coats were lined with fleece and cotton, but this was in the early 1980s, when it was rare to see even a red coat on the market. Shu Lan was actually wearing a thick red woolen coat.
Shulan was even more surprised than she was.
In my memory, Chu Yu was still that girl wearing a tattered shirt and cloth shoes. After not seeing her for several months, Chu Yu was wearing a white hooded down jacket, black fleece-lined skinny jeans, black ankle boots, and a black beanie with a turned-up brim.
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