Chapter 166: We are all gathered today
Yun Tangyin blew away the hot steam in the soup spoon, and the bitter taste of shepherd's purse mixed with the sweetness of tofu spread out, warming the tip of her tongue and making it numb.
"It's fresher than what's in the cafeteria," she pushed some food into Fu Yucheng's bowl, "You should drink more too. You're tired from digging vegetables."
Fu Yucheng was about to start cooking when Mrs. Li's loud voice came from outside the yard: "Is Yinyin home?"
Before he finished speaking, someone came in through the curtains, holding a blue cloth bag in his arms. "I just bought this colorful thread from the supply and marketing cooperative. Do you think the color is bright?"
Yun Tangyin nodded and stuffed a bowl of soup into her hand: "Freshly stewed shepherd's purse soup, it will help you feel less greasy."
She picked up a piece of pink thread and said, "This color is perfect. It's perfect for embroidering a bellyband for Director Wang's grandson."
As Mrs. Li sipped her soup, she looked out into the yard and saw a rabbit in a bamboo cage clinging to the bars, peering out. She suddenly laughed out loud, "This rabbit has become quite clever. It even knows how to see the scenery."
She stuffed a piece of cloth into Yun Tangyin's hand and said, "My husband got it from the regiment headquarters. He said it was for making swaddling clothes for the baby. I'll leave a soft piece for you."
As she was talking, Yuxia came in with a porcelain bowl: "Yinyin, look at the locust flower cake I made. I put brown sugar in it. Oh, Sister Li is here too."
The pastries in the bowl were golden yellow and still steaming, and the sweet fragrance of locust flowers mixed with the aroma of soup filled the yard.
She stuffed a pair of insoles into Fu Yucheng's hand and said, "Just made. Try them. They're thicker than the ones from the Quartermaster Department."
Fu Yucheng had just taken the insole when Zhou Desheng's wife came in holding a string of dried chilies. "My mother sent these to you. I'm hanging them up for you. Yeah, we're all together today."
The red peppers swayed in her hands like a string of small lanterns. She glanced at the stove and said, "Where's the shepherd's purse soup? My family has pickled some sauerkraut. I'll send you some later to fry with rice."
Yun Tangyin stuffed a piece of locust flower cake into her hand and said, "By the way, how's the bathhouse foundation leveling? Fu Yucheng said we can start building the walls in the spring."
"It's all ready," Zhou Desheng's wife said as she put some cakes in her pocket. "My husband said he wanted to plant some creepers in the corner of the wall to provide some shade next summer."
She suddenly lowered her voice, "I heard that the regiment headquarters will issue tickets to military families, three feet each."
After seeing everyone off, Fu Yucheng added a piece of coal to the stove: "I'll go chop firewood this afternoon, you rest at home."
He stuffed a stuffed doll into Yun Tangyin's hand and said, "Xiao Lan just gave it to me. She said it's for the child to play with."
The doll is a rabbit with a tilted head and eyes sewn with black beans, which makes it look a bit silly.
Yun Tangyin pinched the puppet's long ears and laughed, "The black bean's eyes are so cleverly sewn together, just like the rabbit in my backyard."
She stuffed a spool of thread into Fu Yucheng's hand and said, "Help me wind this ball of pink thread. I want to embroider a longevity lock for Director Wang's grandson this afternoon."
Fu Yucheng had just finished winding the line when he saw the rabbit in the bamboo cage suddenly prick up its ears and its three-lobed mouth tremble constantly.
From outside the courtyard came Old Zhang's voice: "Attention, all military families, the regiment has delivered New Year pictures. Go to the reception room to collect them!"
Yun Tangyin stuffed a cloth bag into Fu Yucheng's hand and said, "Go get two. The ones with chubby babies."
She added a handful of greens to the basket and said, "By the way, I'd like to ask when the cloth coupons will be distributed."
Fu Yucheng had just left with the cloth bag when Mrs. Li returned with the child in her arms: "I forgot to mention that my husband brought back a bag of rouge from town. Do you want to try it?"
She opened a red paper package, revealing a light peach-pink rouge inside. "They say it's from Shanghai, and it makes you look more youthful when you put it on."
Yun Tangyin stuffed a piece of locust flower cake into the child's hand and said, "You keep it. I'm pregnant. By the way, what kind of New Year pictures do you want? I'll ask Fu Yucheng to bring you one."
"I want to help the carp leap over the dragon gate," Mrs. Li stuffed a piece of cake into the child's mouth, "for good luck. I'm going back first. The man is waiting for me to mend his socks."
The flames in the stove licked the bottom of the pot, making the orchids on the windowsill flicker.
Yun Tangyin picked up the embroidery frame, and the pink thread moved on the red cloth, gradually outlining the shape of the lock.
Suddenly, there was a clang sound from the bamboo cage. The rabbit was clinging to the railing with its front paws, staring at the gate of the yard.
When Fu Yucheng came in holding two New Year pictures, the tip of his nose was red from the cold.
"I got a picture of a fat baby holding a carp," he said, pasting a New Year picture on the wall, the paste leaving a faint mark on the paper. "The cloth coupons will be distributed the day after tomorrow, and the group leader said each family can get two feet of blue cloth, enough to make a pair of pants."
Yun Tangyin stuffed a hot water bottle into his hand: "Cover yourself up quickly, you look so cold."
She pointed at the New Year picture and laughed, "The red bellyband on this doll is the same as the one I embroidered, but the stitches are not as even as mine."
The afternoon sun slanted down on the embroidery frame, and pink thread coiled a lotus flower on the red cloth.
Fu Yucheng was chopping wood in the yard. The dull thud of the axe falling mixed with the crisp sound of the firewood cracking startled the sparrows under the eaves and made them fly up.
Yun Tangyin looked up from time to time and saw beads of sweat on his forehead running down his jawline.
"Take a break," she said, carrying a bowl of brown sugar water. "We've chopped enough to burn for five days."
Fu Yucheng took the bowl and drank it all in one gulp. The arc of his Adam's apple was gilded by the sunlight.
"Chop two more bundles," he spat into his palm. "It's going to get colder tomorrow, so it's always a good idea to have more firewood."
When the axe fell, wood shards splashed onto his army green cotton jacket.
When the sun reached the west window, Xiaolan ran in holding a cloth bag: "Look, sister-in-law! I made the soles for shoes!"
The stitches on the soles of the shoes in the cloth bag were crooked but densely packed, and the edges were locked with red thread.
"My mother said it was better than the first time she made it," the little girl smiled, her red hairband rubbing against her ear. "You taught me this, and I couldn't wait to give it to you when I finished it."
Fu Yucheng put down the axe and smiled: "Not bad."
He stuffed a roasted sweet potato into Xiaolan's hand and said, "Eat some. Consider it a reward from your sister-in-law."
Xiaolan ran to the kitchen with the sweet potatoes in her arms, then suddenly turned back and stuffed a wild hawthorn into Yun Tangyin's pocket: "I picked it in the back mountain. It's sour and helps relieve the greasiness."
There are still dead leaves on the hawthorn trees, mixed with the fresh air of the mountains.
I stewed a pot of cabbage and vermicelli for dinner, and the oil gathered into small golden circles on the surface of the soup.
Yun Tangyin put a piece of sweet potato into Fu Yucheng's bowl: "I steamed it this afternoon. It's sweeter than the ones in the cafeteria."
She suddenly remembered something and said, "It's going to get colder tomorrow. Wear a sweater when you train so you don't get cold."
Fu Yucheng added a spoonful of vermicelli to her bowl: "Got it, I'll put on the wool vest you knitted for me."
He looked out the window. The sunset glow in the sky was as red as fire. "Look at those clouds. It will definitely be sunny tomorrow."
The wind blew at night, howling against the window frames.
Yun Tangyin added a piece of coal to the stove, and the flames suddenly jumped up.
Yun Tangyin clutched the hot water bottle and listened to the steady breathing of the people around her. She suddenly felt that these ordinary days were like the fire in the stove, not strong, but able to warm the whole winter.
In the distance came the sound of patrolmen changing shifts, mixed with the rustling of the wind through the firewood piles, like a peaceful lullaby, gently soothing the homely atmosphere that filled the yard.
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