"Are you drying things? Why are you taking out so many things?" Mrs. Bei came with her two children. Compared with Xiaogouzi's liveliness, Li Wanda leaned against his mother and looked into the yard cautiously.

Lin Yiyi felt sad seeing Li Wanda like this. Li Wanda, who used to be as outgoing as his brother, was now timid and afraid that others would scold him. And all this was just because of an accident.

When Li Wanda saw Lin Wujun, a hint of joy flashed in his eyes.

Lin Wujun naturally saw him as well: "Wanda, you're here? Wanda, we're going back to our hometown the day after tomorrow, just across the sea."

Li Wanda walked quickly to Lin Wujun's side and asked, "Why are you going back home?"

Lin Wujun: "I'm going home for the New Year. My eldest sister-in-law is about to give birth, and my sister said she wants to go back to see her. Also, my fourth brother will be 17 after the New Year, and my sister said he will also be looking for a wife, so I will have a fourth sister-in-law soon. Oh... I don't know what my fourth sister-in-law will be like, I hope she's as good as my eldest sister-in-law."

Li Wanda listened to him and felt a little envious. He was the eldest son, unlike Wujun, who had so many brothers and sisters. Some children are like this. When they don’t have a brother, they want a brother, and when they have a brother, they want younger brothers and sisters.

Lin Wujun looked at his sad face and said mysteriously, "Are you going to my house to celebrate the New Year? We can also go fishing in the pond."

Li Wanda's eyes lit up: "Is it possible?" Then he shouted again, he also knew it was impossible.

Lin Wujun: "Sure, you can sleep in my room, I have my own room." Whether it's his sister's house or his three brothers' house, he has a room. Lin Wujun looked at Mrs. Bei again, "Auntie, can Wanda come to my house for the New Year?"

Mr. Bei: “This…”

Lin Yiyi had not expected that Lin Wujun would have this idea, but she asked Li Wanda softly, "Wanda, do you want to go? It's fun there, and there are many friends to play with."

Li Wanda nodded. Actually, he didn't want to be here. He felt uncomfortable in the army. It seemed that many people would look at him strangely and scold him for knocking away Teacher Lin Le's child. He told his mother that he didn't want to be in the army, but his mother didn't agree.

When Mrs. Bei heard her son say this, she felt relieved: "Will it be too troublesome?"

When Li Wanda heard his mother say this, he felt disappointed again, and the expression on his face became more obvious.

Lin Yiyi and Bei naturally noticed his mood. Lin Yiyi said, "No, children are lively and active, and Wanda is so well-behaved. I like her so much that I can't wait to have her. How can there be any trouble?"

Mr. Bei: "Then... I'll leave his New Year's Day care to you."

Lin Yiyi: “Okay.”

In 1965, because Xiaoyi was still young, Lin Yiyi didn't want to bother him by boat, so the family didn't go home for the New Year. This year, Lin Yiyi is going home for the New Year, and she brought Li Wanda with her. However, Xiao Yu doesn't have that much vacation time, only three days at most, so Lin Yiyi took the child home first, and he will come back on New Year's Eve.

Mrs. Bei prepared the luggage for Li Wanda. When going to someone else's house for the New Year, one cannot be as casual as at home. Clothes must be clean, so Mrs. Bei prepared his latest clothes for Li Wanda and also gave him five yuan to hide. Five yuan was a great thing for a child. If the child went to a relative's house normally, Mrs. Bei would give five cents or ten cents at most. But this time was different. Her son was "sick" and needed more care.

On the day of departure, Mrs. Bei's eyes were red. She knew her son didn't want to live in the army, but where else could he go if he didn't live in the army? Her husband and youngest son were here. So it was good to let her son live with Lin Meizi outside for more than half a month, so that her son could relax. Lin Meizi's home was close to the army, so if something happened, she could take care of her quickly. Moreover, she was more confident in Lin Meizi, who had a plan in mind and was very stable.

Lin Yiyi, holding Xiaoyi and carrying a backpack, followed by Lin Wujun and Li Wanda, boarded the boat. Lin Yiyi liked the backpack of this era very much, which was similar to the backpack of the future and was very convenient to carry.

Xiao Shiyi had been on the boat several times before, and once on board, he ran around like a regular, but Lin Yiyi held him tightly and didn't dare to let go. Fortunately, when the boat was about to sail, he calmed down. When the boat sailed, Lin Yiyi gave each of the three children a plum and asked them to chew it every day. With the plum in their mouths, they became quiet.

By the time they got off the boat, it was already daybreak. In winter, the sun rises late, and they boarded the boat at five o'clock, when it was still dark. If it weren't for the lights on the boat, it would have been pitch black.

The three children, including Lin and Yiyi, all had hand warmers, but after two hours, the temperature of the hand warmers dropped a lot. It is already very good that a bottle of glucose can be kept warm for two or three hours.

Lin Yiyi rented a ox cart as familiarly as she could and went home. It was already half past eight when she got home.

Li Wanda came to the countryside for the first time. He was in the army when he was born. Since he could remember, except for the time when he saw a psychiatrist, he had never left the army. When he left the army that time, his condition was not very good. He did not pay attention to the surrounding environment. This time, because Lin Wujun was with him and chattered with him, his condition was much better.

Lin Yiyi: "Wujun, take Wanda out to play while I go to the Xiao family's old house."

Lin Wujun: “Hey.”

Lin Yiyi took Xiao Shiyi to the Xiao family's old house. She went to the third room first. Liang gave birth to two daughters in December. Lin Yiyi's school was not on vacation at that time, so she did not come.

At this moment, Liang is still in the confinement period. Because Liang gave birth to twins, this is a double confinement period.

Jixiang: "Second Auntie... Mom, Second Auntie is here." Jixiang's voice was extremely happy, especially when he saw Little Eleven, "Eleven, you're back." His mother gave birth to two sisters, and he didn't like them very much. It would be better if they were brothers, so that he could play with them. Sisters are too coquettish, and they cry a lot, which he doesn't like. Little Jixiang was worried, and he was happy only when he saw Little Eleven coming.

Liang was in the room and heard auspicious voice calling from inside: "Second sister-in-law is here."

Lin Yiyi entered the house and saw that Liang looked very good. It seemed that she had a good confinement. Xiao Bin took good care of her. But then again, when Liang gave birth to Jixiang, it was at the end of 1961. How bad were the conditions at that time? Now Xiao Bin works in a pig farm, so there is no shortage of oil and water at home. Every month, he is reluctant to buy meat, but he is willing to buy bones. Bone soup is the most nutritious thing.

Looking at Liang, she was originally thin, but now she has gained a lot of weight. To Lin Yiyi, she looks much more plump. However, if Lin Yiyi were to choose, she would not want such plumpness. She would rather be thin.

Lin Yiyi took out two cans of milk powder and a bag of eggs: "You look energetic."

Liang said, "It's just that I don't have enough milk. I ate a lot of pig's trotters during this period to get milk, so I got fat." But she was reluctant to feed the child milk powder every month like she did with Jixiang. So, she would rather get fatter herself and feed the child milk. The main reason was that milk powder was too expensive. Jixiang was in poor health at the time, so there was no way. Weak children are always more expensive to raise.

Lin Yiyi: "After a few months, the baby will be better after eating rice noodles."

Liang: "The rice noodles are ready. You can give them to him when the milk powder is gone. There are two cans of milk powder at home. With the one you brought, there will be four cans. I won't be polite."

Lin Yiyi: "Why are you being polite? Do you have a way to buy milk powder?"

Liang said mysteriously, "My sister-in-law sent me two cans of milk powder when I gave birth to twins, and my mother-in-law also sent me two cans." The elders are rich now, and the elders of the Xiao family are open-minded and easy to get along with, so they are willing to send milk powder. "Second sister-in-law, the girl next door also gave birth to a daughter, and her mother-in-law and sister-in-law also sent milk powder, one can each. Then the girl next door said behind her back that everyone looked down on her, and kept complaining about her for a long time."

Lin Yiyi didn't think so. The neighbor gave birth to one baby and sent one can of milk powder. Liang gave birth to two babies and sent two cans of milk powder. Isn't this normal? However, for Qi Spinach, she had such thoughts, and Lin Yiyi was not surprised.

Jixiang: "Mother, Second Aunt, Xiaoyi and I are going out to play."

Lin Yiyi: "Go ahead, but be careful, don't play in the water, and don't go with strangers."

Jixiang: “Got it.”

Xiao Eleven: “I understand.”

Jixiang held Little Eleven by his arm and said, "Eleven, I'm going to play hide-and-seek with you. Do you know how to play hide-and-seek?"

Xiao Shiyi shook his head: "No, what is hide-and-seek?"

Jixiang: "Hide and seek is to hide yourself and not let others find you."

Xiao Shiyi: "I will definitely hide myself."

Children like to play hide-and-seek in rice fields or empty houses. Jixiang and Xiaoyi met Lin Wujun and Li Wanda on the road, and then called a few friends to play hide-and-seek. When playing, they played rock-paper-scissors. The loser squatted with his eyes closed and waited for him to count from one to fifty. As soon as the time was up, no matter whether the others were hidden or not, he would start looking for them.

Lin Wujun took Li Wanda to hide together because he had to take care of his sick friend, so Jixiang took Xiao Shiyi to hide together.

Jixiang brought Xiaoyi to a pile of straw and said, "Have a good squat. I will cover you with straw. If no one finds you, don't come out. Do you understand?"

Xiao Eleven: "I understand."

Jixiang: "Brother will hide beside you, don't be afraid. If someone finds you, they must have found Brother, so you don't have to come out. Do you understand?"

Xiao Eleven: "I understand."

Jixiang: "Then squat down."

Xiao Shiyi squatted down obediently, waiting for Jixiang to cover him with straw. He then pried himself out of the straw and looked around with his big eyes. He saw Jixiang squatting beside him and also covered himself with straw. He thought it was fun. However, he didn't learn his lesson. After a while, he started walking with the straw on his head.

Jixiang didn't know that Xiao Shiyi was walking around, so he hid himself. Xiao Shiyi thought that if he was holding the straw, no one could see him, so he walked around happily, and he was the first one to be discovered.

"Well, you've been found, you can take off the straw now." The boy counted to fifty and came looking for someone. He first grabbed Xiao Shiyi, then took off the straw from Xiao Shiyi's body, and then met Xiao Shiyi's innocent eyes, "Ah, if you're hiding, don't move. If you move, you'll expose yourself."

Xiao Shiyi blinked innocently. When the other party went to find the next person, Xiao Shiyi covered himself with straw again, then found a place to squat obediently and didn't move. Hide and don't move, Xiao Shiyi said to himself.

After about two minutes, all the children were found.

Jixiang: "And my brother, he hasn't been found." However, the haystack beside him was gone. Where was his brother?

Boy: "Nonsense, he was the first one to be found, he was walking with the haystack on his head."

Jixiang: "What about the others?"

Boy: "How should I know? After I found him, I went to find someone else."

Jixiang: "Eleven... Eleven, where are you?"

Little Eleven, who was hiding in the haystack, didn't make a sound. He remembered his brother had told him not to come out even if he was called.

Jixiang: "Eleven...Eleven, you can come out now. Where are you?" Jixiang was very worried. What should he do if he couldn't find his brother?

Little Eleven's ears moved, feeling a little itchy. He scratched with his hands, and there was movement in the haystack. Jixiang went to see, and then saw Little Eleven inside. Jixiang: "...Little Eleven, why are you here?" Jixiang would never have thought that Little Eleven was here. After all, he hid his brother next to him, so who would have thought that his brother had changed the haystack? But Jixiang didn't know that Little Eleven was not returning the haystack at all, but was carrying it over.

Xiao Shiyi: “I walked here.”

Jixiang: "Don't wander around next time. Your brother will be worried if he can't find you."

Xiao Eleven: "Okay."

Some people played for another hour, then they felt bored and dispersed. After they dispersed, Xiao Shiyi held the big haystack and wanted to take it away.

Jixiang: "Eleven, what are you doing holding this?"

Xiao Shiyi: "Take it home."

Lin Wujun: "What are you going to do with it when you take it home?"

Xiao Shiyi: "Play, hide."

Lin Wujun, Jixiang: "..."

Xiao Shiyi didn't care whether Lin Wujun and Jixiang would help him or not, he just wanted to take it home. Seeing him struggling to drag the big pile of hay, Lin Wujun and Jixiang had no choice but to help him carry it.

After bringing the haystack home, Xiao Shiyi squatted in the yard and said, "Brother, cover it." He pointed to the top of his head.

Jixiang: "Do you still want to play hide and seek?"

Xiaoyi: "Hide it well and let Yiyi find it."

Jixiang: “…Okay.” He felt very powerless.

After Jixiang built the haystack, he went back to the Xiao family's old house to find Lin Yiyi. Lin Yiyi was still in Liang's house, listening to Liang talking about village gossip. In an age without entertainment, listening to gossip was also an entertainment activity.

Jixiang: "Second Aunt, Eleven asked you to go home and play hide-and-seek, but he's already hidden."

Lin Yiyi: "..." She never played hide-and-seek when she was a child. There were countless parks and amusement parks in their time. Who would still play hide-and-seek? But children of this generation like to play. Lin Yiyi stood up and said goodbye to Liang, "I'll go take a look."

Liang: "Hey, second sister-in-law, come to our house for dinner tonight."

Lin Yiyi: "I won't come over at night. Wait until you're out of confinement." Liang was still in confinement. If she came over at night, Xiao Bin would have to entertain her, which was unnecessary.

Liang: "Okay, when I'm done with the confinement, I'll cook a nice meal for my second sister-in-law."

Lin Yiyi didn't believe what Liang said, because Liang's cooking skills were not that good, not even as good as hers. This was also because when Liang was a girl, her family was poor and she only did housework. She had no chance to be a chef, so after she got married, she had no cooking skills at all. It was only after the family split up that she had the opportunity to be a chef.

Lin Yiyi: "Then I'll wait."

Lin Yiyi came out of Liang's house and went to the next door. Qi Bocai was in confinement next door, so Lin Yiyi naturally wouldn't go in. She saw Xiao Wu drying something and called out, "Brother."

Xiao Wu: "Hey, are you guys going home for the New Year?"

Lin Yiyi said, "Yes, I'll be back first, and Brother Yu will be back in two days since his vacation is short." Then she handed Xiao Wu a can of milk powder and a bag of eggs that she had prepared in advance, "Brother, this is for the child, a little gift from your heart." Although the two rooms had already quarreled, it was only limited to them and Qi Bocai, not to Xiao Wu. With Xiao Wu's personality, he was not the kind of scheming person, so Xiao Yu would not break off relations with this elder brother. Therefore, if she only gave gifts to one side after both sides had children, it would not look good.

Xiao Wu: "No, no, there's food at home, save it for Eleven."

Lin Yiyi: "Yes, I'll leave first, brother. The house needs cleaning."

Xiao Wu: "Oh." Seeing Lin Yiyi leaving, Xiao Wu looked at the things Lin Yiyi put down and sighed.

Lin Yiyi came out of Xiao Wu's house and went to greet the elders, but Qin Xiangju and Grandma Xiao were not there, and even Grandpa Xiao didn't know where he went, so Lin Yiyi went home first.

Jixiang followed her around like a little tail, which made Lin Yiyi feel interesting: "Jixiang, why don't you go play?"

Jixiang: "My younger brother wants to play hide-and-seek, let my second aunt go find him."

Lin Yiyi: "Jixiang is such a good brother."

Jixiang smiled shyly.

Lin Yiyi returned home and saw Lin Wujun and Li Wanda in the yard, but not Eleven: "Where's Eleven?"

Lin Wujun: "He's hiding. I want you to find him."

Lin Yiyi: "Okay, I'll go find him. I'm hiding at home, right?"

Lin Wujun: "At home."

Lin Yiyi went into the house and searched all the rooms, including under the bed and in the closet, but she still couldn't find her son. Then she opened the back door, but couldn't find him in the grape growing area. Finally, she went to the yard and searched the toilet, pigsty, and other places, but still couldn't find anyone.

Lin Wujun looked at his sister and smiled arrogantly: "Can't find it?"

Lin Yiyi said, "I really can't find it. Eleven, Mommy gives up. Come out soon."

As she finished speaking, the haystack beside her moved, and her son crawled out from inside.

Lin Yiyi: "..." Who would have thought that Xiao Shiyi would hide under her nose? Besides, she hadn't been home for a few months, so she wouldn't care about the haystack in the yard. She thought it was put there by Xiao Yu or Qin Xiangju to start a fire.

Xiao Shiyi laughed and puffed out his chest: "I can't find it one by one."

Lin Yiyi: "Yeah, you're so good at hiding that mom can't find you."

Upon hearing this, Xiaoyi laughed even more happily. However, he scratched his ear and said, "Yiyi, my ear is itchy."

Lin Yiyi looked sharp: "What's wrong with your ears?"

Xiao Shiyi turned sideways and said, "Itchy."

I saw that the back of the ear had been scratched by him and was red and swollen, as if it was an allergy. Lin Yiyi didn't think it was a bug bite, there were no bugs in winter, so it was probably because the child's skin was tender and was pricked by the grass. However, "Don't hide in the haystack in the future, there are bugs in the haystack, and the bugs will bite your ears and buttocks."

Xiao Shiyi heard this and quickly covered his butt.

Lin Yiyi helped him wash his face, and then washed his ears with cool water. Then she took out toothpaste, squeezed a dollop and applied it on his ears. Toothpaste has anti-inflammatory and calming effects, and is not irritating. After applying it, Lin Yiyi blew on Xiao Shiyi's ears: "How is it, is it still itchy?"

Xiao Shiyi shook his head: "It's not itchy anymore."

Lin Yiyi: "If it still itches, tell mom and she will take you to see a doctor."

Xiao Eleven: "Okay."

Lin Yiyi made egg fried rice at noon. They went out early in the morning and had breakfast even earlier, so they had to eat lunch earlier, otherwise the children would get hungry quickly. Just as the meal was ready, Qin Xiangju came: "Yiyi..."

Lin Yiyi: "Hey, Mom, I just went to the old house, and there was no one at home."

Qin Xiangju came in carrying a basket of vegetables: "Your grandmother and I went to wash the sheets and quilts. When we got home, we heard that the eldest brother had come back, so we picked some vegetables for you."

Lin Yiyi: "Thank you, mother."

Qin Xiangju put down the basket and said, "Little Eleven, do you still remember grandma?"

Xiao Shiyi: “I remember.” Actually, he didn’t remember much, but his mother didn’t say anything, so he knew to call grandma, “Grandma.”

Qin Xiangju: "Oh, my good grandson..." As she said that, she went to kiss Xiao Shiyi's face, but she saw toothpaste on his ear and was startled. "What's wrong with his ear?"

Lin Yiyi told him about the game of hide-and-seek: "It should be fine if you apply some toothpaste. If it still itches, take him to see a doctor."

Qin Xiangju: "That's okay, the baby's skin is tender, it will be fine after a while." This is not a problem in the countryside.

Lin Yiyi: "Mom, we are ready to eat. We have egg fried rice and seaweed soup. Come and have some."

Qin Xiangju: "No, I'll go back and eat. Xiaoyi, grandma is gone."

Lin Yiyi: "Eleven, go see grandma off."

Xiao Shiyi: "I'll take grandma there."

Qin Xiangju smiled crookedly: "Okay, okay."

Xiao Shiyi sent Qin Xiangju to the gate of the yard, and then ran inside. He was anxious to eat fried rice with eggs. Qin Xiangju looked at her grandson's hurried figure and found him adorable.

After lunch, Lin Yiyi said to Lin Wujun, "Xiaowu, I'm going to the county to buy a football. You stay at home and take care of everyone."

Lin Wujun heard this and said, "Don't worry, sister. I will take good care of everyone. You have to come back soon." He got first place in the final exam, and his sister finally wanted to reward him with football. He was so happy. He had watched football in the army and he liked it very much.