Lin Dajun was also happy to see Lin Zhen. He walked forward quickly, leaving Lin Sanjun and Lin Sijun behind him: "Lin Zhen." Most of the people in Shanglin Production Brigade had the surname Lin, but they were not from the same clan, so there was no rule of not marrying people with the same surname.

Lin Zhen looked at Lin Dajun with a smile. When they got engaged at the beginning of this year, Lin Dajun was not as tall as her, but now he is taller than her. It must be said that boys grow up quite fast. Lin Dajun is now about 155cm tall, much taller than the less than 150cm he was before the New Year. And he is only 14 years old, while boys can grow to be 10 years old.

Lin Zhen: "You guys are back for the New Year? Why so early this year?"

Lin Dajun said, "My sister-in-law's third sister-in-law gave birth to a baby, and it's been a month, so my sister came back early. By the way, this is for you." Lin Dajun took out the fruit candies hidden in his pocket. There were five of them. He saved them during the winter vacation. When he was in the county, his sister would occasionally give them fruit candies. He wanted to eat them, but his sister said that Lin Zhen had given him shoes, so he also wanted to give a girl a gift. A boy can't just receive without giving anything, but he didn't have anything to give, so he hid the fruit candies.

Lin Zhen was happy to see the candy. Even though her father was the team leader, she seldom ate candy. After all, candy required candy tickets, and tickets were the hardest to come by these days.

However, Lin Zhen did not take more, but took three, and the remaining two were still placed in Lin Dajun's palm. Lin Zhen said: "This must be what you saved, right? You can eat it too, you don't have to give it all to me."

Lin Dajun grinned. He was never polite. "Okay." He happily peeled a candy and put it in his mouth. It was delicious. The fruit candies his sister bought were delicious, although he had never eaten fruit candies given by others.

Lin Zhen: "I'll ask my mother to cook an extra dish for you at noon."

Lin Dajun thought for a moment and said, "Then don't eat at home at noon. Come to my house and eat steamed buns."

Lin Zhen's eyes lit up when she heard that, and then she asked, "You still have brothers, do you have enough to eat?" White steamed buns, it had been a few months since she last ate them. That was when Dajun's sister came home to visit Dajun and his brothers, and brought them to them. Dajun hid one for her. Thinking of this, Lin Zhen felt very sweet. Her mother was right. There were many advantages to marrying Dajun. Dajun's family had a backer, and there was no mother-in-law to pressure her. Even if the sister was a powerful person, she was also a reasonable person.

Lin Dajun: "That's enough. My sister prepared several for us." There seemed to be more than ten, and they made them together when they came back.

Lin Zhen said, "That's good. We can have a good harvest of radishes now. I'll ask my mom to roast radishes with soy sauce and eat them with steamed buns. It will definitely taste good." White radishes are also grown on the stove. It takes a long time to grow, not as fast as Chinese cabbage. Therefore, our family doesn't dare to grow too many and just eat them for a bit.

Lin Dajun: “That’s great.”

Lin Zhen looked at him and smiled secretly.

Feeling Lin Zhen looking at him, Lin Dajun also turned his head to look at her. The boy, who once did not know what shyness was, slowly blushed.

The two walked side by side. Lin Dajun, who was not a gentleman, did not know how to help a girl carry things, but Lin Zhen felt very happy. Lin Sanjun and Lin Sijun followed behind, their steps were a little slower.

Lin Sijun glared at Lin Dajun and complained to Lin Sanjun next to him: "Third brother, when big brother gets married, you will also have to choose a partner. What kind of partner do you want to find?"

Lin Sanjun: "..." means he has no interest in dating or getting married. Lin Sanjun just wants to exercise and then join the army, the People's Liberation Army, or the police.

Lin Sijun: "It would be nice to find someone like Sister Lin Zhen, who is nice to us and can help us clean up."

Lin Sanjun remained silent.

Lin Sijun: "I want to find someone who can do the job, someone who is very capable."

Lin Sanjun: “…” He didn’t want to say these boring words to his younger brother.

At this moment, Lin Yiyi didn't know that Lin Sijun was already planning his own wife.

Lin Yiyi arrived at Xiao's house. Because Xiao Yu was still at work these days, she did not send Lin Wudi back to Lin's house. As soon as Lin Yiyi and Lin Wudi arrived at Xiao's house, they first heard Qi Bocai's voice: "Sister-in-law is back, Xiaorui, Uncle Xiaowu is back, go and take your brother Xiaowu to play together."

Qi Bocai has one good point, that is, no matter what conflicts the adults have, she will not interfere with the children. Since the beginning of this year, when Xiao Daqiang started working and the Xiao family had no shortage of food, she has been very enthusiastic about herself. No matter what her purpose is, Lin Yiyi doesn't care, it has nothing to do with her anyway.

However, since Qi Bocai was enthusiastic, Lin Yiyi certainly would not have a stern face.

Lin Yiyi: "Sister-in-law, you are all here." Then she took Lin Wudi off the bicycle. Women's bicycles don't have crossbars, so Lin Wudi's small stool was installed at the back.

Xiao Rui was a shy little boy, with a personality similar to Xiao Wu, and he didn't talk much. Every time she came back to the countryside, he would call her softly, "Auntie," and then nothing more would happen.

Lin Yiyi didn't know that it took Qi Bocai a long time to teach her how to call him that. Since Qi Bocai started to adopt a soft policy, she has changed her previous image. Anyway, she is not quarreling with Lin Yiyi now. Her goal is Xiao Daqiang's salary. Of course, Qin Xiangju holds Xiao Daqiang's salary tightly and will not let them take advantage of it now. But Qi Bocai doesn't look at the present, she looks at the future. After all, Xiao Rui is the eldest son and grandson of the Xiao family. In the future, this money will always be given to Xiao Rui, right? So for the sake of her son, she will not target Lin Yiyi.

Lin Yiyi took out three White Rabbit candies and gave them to Lin Wudi: "Xiaowu, give one to Xiaorui and Xiaozhu. You are their uncle, so you can't quarrel with them. Just play with them. Do you understand?"

Fifth Brother Lin: "Sister, I know." Fifth Brother Lin, who will be four years old during the Chinese New Year, has spent half a semester in the nursery and is now very lively. He took three candies and gave them to Xiao Rui and Xiao Zhu, and kept one for himself. "Xiao Rui, uncle will tell you a story."

As a younger elder, Lin Wudi imitated the adults and did a good job of it.

Xiao Rui turned five after the Chinese New Year, one year older than Lin Wudi. When he heard Lin Wudi wanted to tell a story, he was very curious: "Can uncle tell stories?" He had never heard any stories before, not even his parents at home could.

Fifth brother Lin: "I can tell stories. I have heard them from my sister and the nursery aunt."

Xiao Rui: "Thank you, Brother Xiaowu, what story do you want to tell?"

Brother Lin Wu thought for a moment and said, "The story of picking up money and handing it over to the police..."

Lin Yiyi smiled and shook her head: "At home, he always pesters me and tells me stories every day, but here he acts like an uncle to me." As she spoke, she took the bags down from the car.

Qi Bocai came over quickly and said, "Second brother and sister-in-law, you are weak, let me help you." Then she pushed Lin Yiyi aside and lifted it down. As a result, the bag was not light at all.

Lin Yiyi: “…” What does Qi Bocai want to do?

Qi Spinach didn't intend to do anything, he just wanted to weigh the bag to guess what it was. However, the bag was light.

Lin Yiyi: "Thank you, sister-in-law."

Qi Spinach: "You're welcome, you're welcome. What did my second brother and sister-in-law bring?"

Lin Yiyi did not hide it: "It's milk powder for Jixiang." Xiao Bin's son is called Xiao Ji, nicknamed Jixiang. Because the child is weak, he was given this name.

Qi Spinach: "Oh, milk powder, this is a good thing. When our little Rui was born..."

Qin Xiangju: "When Xiaorui was born, the second child sent milk powder from the army, and it all went into your stomach."

Qi Bocai: "...Mom, this is not for me to replenish my body so that Xiaorui can produce milk."

Qin Xiangju ignored her and said to Lin Yiyi, "Is milk powder hard to come by now? The third brother said that Wang Ge's place in the county is out of milk powder. Also, because all the villages in the county are now growing vegetables, he doesn't buy vegetables anymore. Even if he does, the price of vegetables is only a few cents. The price is dropping really fast."

Lin Yiyi said, "It's not easy to get milk powder. This was brought in from outside by a relative of a vocational college sister who is a driver. It's good that the price of vegetables has dropped, which means the famine problem will soon be solved and our country is getting better and better. During the famine in the past two years, many families spent all their life savings. If it continues like this, who wouldn't worry? I'm afraid they won't be able to make ends meet."

Qin Xiangju said, "That's true. Think about it, 58 years ago, this vegetable was only 4 or 5 cents a pound and no one wanted it. Now it's 2 yuan a pound. Not only are we ordinary people scared, but even a worker's monthly salary is not enough to eat it."

Lin Yiyi: "Food is in short supply, so we have to eat vegetables as meals. There is nothing we can do."

Liang had already finished her confinement. When she heard Lin Yiyi coming, she came out of the room and said, "Second sister-in-law is back."

Lin Yiyi took out the milk powder and gave it to her. There were two bags in total, each weighing 450 grams. "This is for Jixiang. How are you? Are you recovering well?"

Liang took the milk powder gratefully: "I'm fine. It's mom who has been taking care of me these few days. She feeds me eggs every day. Jixiang looks better than when he was just born. It's all my fault that I don't have enough milk. The milk powder that the head of the household bought from Brother Wang is almost gone." Those were two cans of milk powder, and they were gone in just one month. It cost thirty yuan. Liang felt sad just thinking about it, but she felt even more distressed for her son. His son was weak, and she herself was not doing well either, with little milk.

Lin Yiyi didn't know what to say, so she could only say, "It will be better in the future." When she was working in the company before, she was an unmarried woman and had no time to talk to a group of mothers. Just like now, Liang liked to talk about children, but she didn't have any children, so naturally she was not interested in the topic of children.

It was Lin Wudi who shouted, "Sister... the kid picked up the money and gave it to the police officer. What did the police officer say?"

Lin Yiyi gave him a thumbs up: "The police officer said, you are awesome, kid."

Lin Wudi grinned and laughed, then gave Xiao Rui a thumbs up: "That's it, the police uncle said, you are awesome, I am awesome, we are all awesome."

Xiao Rui: "When I get money in the future, I will give it to the police."

Lin Wudi: "Let the police officer give us a little red flower."

Xiao Rui: "What is a little red flower?"

Lin Wudi: "It's the little red flower..." Then he looked at Lin Yiyi, "Sister, where is my little red flower?"

Lin Yiyi took out a small cloth bag from her Jiefang bag: "Here."

Lin Wudi ran over and took the small bag from Lin Yiyi. Then he opened the bag and took out a small red flower from it: "This is a small red flower given to me by the nursery teacher as a reward."

Xiao Rui's eyes widened: "Wow..."

In the minds of children, being rewarded by elders is a very honorable and amazing thing: "Uncle Xiaowu, can I touch it?"

Lin Wudi gave him the little red flower and said, "You can touch it, but don't damage it."

Xiao Rui hurriedly shook his head: "No, no, I'll just touch it." He really touched it gently, carefully, and with envy. After touching it, he said, "Uncle Xiaowu, you are really amazing."

Xiao Zhu was a background figure, she was a quiet kid, she just watched everyone talk silently. Usually, there were only two children, she and Xiao Rui, and she would follow her brother wherever he went. Her mother said that she must protect her brother, and that he would be her support in the future, so she would give him all the good things.

Qi Bocai is a very contradictory person. She treats her daughter well. In other families, girls are either beaten or scolded, but Qi Bocai is not like that. She gives her daughter everything she eats. In this era when girls are valuable, she is considered to be the type who treats her daughter well. However, she teaches her daughter to give all the good things to her younger brother, and even when she gets married in the future, her younger brother is the most important.

Therefore, Qi Bocai’s idea is very “alternative.” Other people teach their daughters to support their younger brothers, but the premise is that it is not good for their daughters. She teaches her daughter to support her younger brother, but she is not harsh on her daughter.

night

Qi Bocai kicked Xiao Wu and said, "I want to tell you something." Qi Bocai's room has two beds, one is the big bed for her and Xiao Wu, and the other is the small bed for Xiao Rui and Xiao Zhu. At this moment, Xiao Rui and Xiao Zhu have fallen asleep. Today, Lin Wudi played with them for a long time. After dinner, Lin Yiyi took them for a walk to digest their food while telling them stories. The two children were very happy to listen to them. They talked for a long time before falling asleep.

Xiao Wu: "What?" Xiao Wu was scared when he heard Qi Bocai say something. It was a habit. He thought Qi Bocai was going to say something bad. He was most afraid that Qi Bocai would tell him about his second brother and sister-in-law. However, this year Qi Bocai did not complain to him about his second brother and sister-in-law. What he mentioned most this year was who would get his father's salary in the future.

Qi Spinach: "What do you think about sending our children to a nursery next year?"

Xiao Wu was confused after hearing this: "It's still early. The older one will only be six next year, and the younger one will only be five next year."

Qi Bocai: "What do you know? You just need to go to school earlier. Look at my second brother's wife's child, Xiaowu, who is only three years old this year and will be four after the Chinese New Year. How fluent is he now? When my second brother's wife first married into our family, Xiaowu couldn't even speak a complete sentence."

Xiao Wu: "At that time, he was only 2 years old. Now he is 4 years old after the Chinese New Year. Other people's 4-year-old children can speak complete sentences."

Qi Spinach: "What do you know? Look at him telling a story today and taking out a little red flower. How clever he is. We should also be as clever as Xiaorui."

Xiao Wu: "... forget it, we don't have a nursery here..." Wait, Xiao Wu got an idea and was shocked, "You are not planning to go to the county town, are you? You are not planning to send the child to the second brother's house and let them help us send the child to a nursery, are you?"

Qi Spinach: "Let's give money."

Xiao Wu: "Don't even think about it. Even if the second son agrees, his wife won't agree. And the second son won't agree either. Who's family is willing to raise two children at home?"

Qi Bocai: "Isn't Xiaowu being raised by him?"

Xiao Wu: "He is my second sister-in-law's biological brother. The money that my second sister-in-law earns is enough for him to spend."

Qi Bocai: "I know my second sister-in-law makes money. Seeing that she gave her job to Dad, how could I not know that my second sister-in-law makes money? Dad works as a gatekeeper in the commune, and he gets 18 yuan a month. If my second sister-in-law's royalties are not more than 18 yuan, will she give it to Dad? No, no, no, it must be more than 25 yuan. I have inquired about it. A salesperson in the supply and marketing cooperative gets 25 yuan a month. My second sister-in-law must get more than 25 yuan a month, otherwise she would not give up her salesperson job."

The Xiao family knew about this. Not only the Xiao family knew about this, but also the people in the team who knew that Lin Yiyi wrote articles to earn royalties knew about this. Some people who had nothing to do had even secretly calculated it. If the royalties were not higher than the salary of a salesperson, Lin Yiyi would definitely not give up her job as a salesperson.

At that time, everyone envied the Xiao family for marrying a golden egg. Not only did their royalties exceed the salary of a stable job, but the commune also rewarded their work. In the entire Shangtang Production Brigade, who didn't envy the Xiao family?

Xiao Wu: "Yeah." He didn't care about these things. "That's it. There's no reason to let the second wife take care of our child in the nursery."

Qi Bocai: "I didn't say let the second wife raise the child, I meant let your mother pay for it."

Xiao Wu: "Go talk to your mother yourself." He was afraid that his mother would scold him.

Qi Bocai: "If it's other things, my mother will scold me, but she won't scold me for teaching my child to study."

Xiao Wu: "If you want to send the child to a nursery in the county, your mother will definitely scold you. The second wife won't take care of your child either, so you'd better give up."

Qi Bocai: "I'm just saying, do you really think I will send the children to the nursery in the county? I mean to send them to the primary school in Shanglin Production Brigade. Our Xiaozhu will be 6 years old in a year, and Xiaorui will be 5 years old in a year. It's just right for the siblings to go to school together. Besides, isn't my second brother's wife's home there? When Xiaozhu and Xiaorui go to school, my second brother's wife's brother can help look after them."

Xiao Wu: "Go talk to mom yourself."

Qi Bocai: "Didn't you see how smart Lin Xiaowu was today? He gave the money to the police officer as soon as he saw it. He studied so hard and became smart. You also want our children to be smart, right?"

Xiao Wu: "Smartness and stupidity are both innate. My second and third children and I went to school together, but we didn't like studying. We were not smart when we were young. So intelligence has nothing to do with studying early or late. It's innate."

Qi Bocai was disappointed that his son could not make a good match: "You studied hard early but didn't become smart. Our son is different."

Xiao Wu: "No matter how different they are, they are all my kind."

Qi Bocai was unhappy: "You are not smart yourself, but you insist on saying that my son is not smart, right?"

Xiao Wu: “…No.” He clearly didn’t mean that.

Qi Bocai said, "I don't care. After the Chinese New Year, in September, I will definitely send my children to school."

Xiao Wu: "It will take another nine months."

Qi Bocai wanted to yell at her: "I want you to be more careful. You should remind your mother-in-law from time to time. You are sending her grandchildren to school for the good of your Xiao family. Look at the second son's family. They only went to primary school, but now they are making money with a pen, which is very prestigious. They also have a stove and a kang to grow vegetables. These are things that only educated people can think of. If our sons and daughters go to school, they will definitely be smart in the future."

After hearing what Qi Bocai said, Xiao Wu really had no confidence at all. He didn't want his sons and daughters to make money with pens, nor did he want them to think about growing vegetables. He thought it was good enough for his sons and daughters to be temporary workers in a factory. But Xiao Wu didn't say it, because if he did, Qi Bocai would scold him to death. However, since Qi Bocai said it, he just hoped for it. Although he knew it was impossible and people should be self-aware, it was okay to think about it.

Xiao Wu: "Okay, I get it. I'll mention it."

Qi Bocai was so angry that he kicked him.

The next day, before dawn, Lin Yiyi was still asleep when she heard Lu Xiaochun calling out, "Sister-in-law... Is sister-in-law okay? Let's go buy some piglets."

Qin Xiangju: "Okay, okay, I'm coming."

Piglet?

When Lin Yiyi heard the word piglets, she remembered the stories about piglets she had read in many novels. She jumped out of bed without even having time to put on her shoes: "Mom, are you going to buy some piglets?"

Qin Xiangju was startled by her daughter-in-law. She said, "Yes, the commune will receive a batch of piglets today. Each family can buy a piglet for 20 yuan. When the piglets grow up, they will be handed over to the commune and the 20 yuan can be refunded. The weight of each pig is stipulated to be 160 kilograms. If the weight exceeds 160 kilograms, the extra weight can be owned by the individual. If it does not exceed 160 kilograms, the commune will give a kilogram of meat ticket as a subsidy." This is equivalent to a mission pig, but it is not a mandatory mission.

Lu Xiaochun: "There is no pig farm in our commune. These piglets were transported from other places. I don't think there will be many. We have to go early."

Lin Yiyi said, "I'll go too. I'll get a piglet and let the army raise it. They'll be fine anyway." She also had other ideas. "Mom, can each family only raise one?"

Qin Xiangju: "My dear, how many more do you want to raise? None of them can be fattened."

Lin Yiyi: "..." Okay, she was overthinking it. "Mom, you and auntie wait for me, I'll be there soon."

Qin Xiangju: "Okay."

Lin Yiyi got up, washed her face with warm water, applied some cream, drank a glass of warm water, and went out with Qin Xiangju and Lu Xiaochun. No one had eaten yet. But she rode a bicycle. As for Lin Wudi, she asked Grandma Xiao to take a look at him.