At four o'clock in the morning of the next day, He Dongchuan went out with the sleepy He Yan in his arms, and Su Ting saw them off to the door.

Normally, Su Ting would not have gotten up so early, but she was thinking about this matter last night and did not sleep very soundly. When He Dongchuan moved in the morning, she woke up. Although she was very sleepy, she still struggled to get up.

Because it was too early, Su Ting could hardly open her eyes when she went downstairs. But when the cold wind blew outside, her vision became clear. She opened the car door and watched He Dongchuan carry the child to the back seat and lie down.

After closing the car door, Su Ting said, "Be careful on the way back, drive slowly, don't rush."

"Know."

He Dongchuan responded and walked over to hug Su Ting. She did not get out of his arms, but just reminded him softly: "We are outside."

"Everyone is asleep at this hour, there's no one outside, and I'm holding my own wife." He Dongchuan hugged Su Ting and whispered, "You have to be careful living here, call me if anything happens, and don't go out at night..."

Thinking of Su Ting's evening self-study, he thought for a moment and said, "If you must go out, don't come back too late, and try to go out with others. You should have told Comrade Duan who lives upstairs yesterday and asked her to wait for you when she comes back in the evening..."

"It's not easy to wait. Neither of us is a professional."

"Don't you all have to go to evening self-study? They get off early, so let them wait for you. You get off early, so wait for them." He Dongchuan said, then changed his tone, "I'll come over in a few days, on Sunday, and treat them to a meal then."

In fact, he had this idea yesterday, but Duan Xiaolan and his wife came from other places. They registered the day before yesterday, came to see the house yesterday, rented it, and then moved furniture, cleaned the house, and attended a class meeting in the evening. They didn't stop all day.

He wanted to treat someone to a meal, but the other person didn't have time to eat, so he had to wait until Sunday.

Su Ting was also thinking about inviting them to dinner. It wasn't that she wanted to rush them, but since the two families lived in the same building, it would be best if they could take care of each other.

A couple lives on the third floor. Duan Xiaolan didn't say anything. Lu Zheng looks young and strong, but most of the time, she lives here alone with her children. They say that they take care of each other, but in fact, they expect Duan Xiaolan and her husband to take care of them.

This is considered as them asking for help, so naturally they have to treat the person to a meal.

However, Su Ting didn't think as well as He Dongchuan did. She felt embarrassed that the couple didn't mind that they were being used as third wheel every day.

She thought that if she had something to do and might be back late, she could tell them and ask them to keep an eye out for what was going on outside at night.

Su Ting was not afraid. First, the evening study session in college was not like that in high school. It would not end too late. When she came back, the streets would probably be bustling.

Secondly, the school is not far from here, and there are houses on both sides of the road, all of which are occupied. People in this era are not as cold and indifferent as those in later generations. If you see a bad guy, you can call a lot of people to it by shouting.

In addition, when she bought a flashlight today, she could also buy a dagger and put it in her bag every day. If there are really bad guys, she can slash them when they are not prepared. She can also prepare some pepper spray, so she can always get away.

Fearing that He Dongchuan might worry, Su Ting briefly told him her plan. He Dongchuan thought about it and said, "That's fine. I'll teach you two more self-defense moves on Sunday."

Su Ting nodded and said, "Okay, just drive carefully on the road and don't worry about me, okay?"

He Dongchuan thought this might be a bit difficult, but seeing Su Ting's nervous look, he didn't say it out loud. He just lowered his head and kissed her on the mouth.

This is quite a bold move.

Su Ting was startled and reminded again: "This is outside!"

"I know." He Dongchuan chuckled, let go of Su Ting and said, "Go back. I'll watch you go back to the house."

Su Ting was feeling down, but she knew that He Dongchuan had to go to the military camp in the morning and didn't have much time to waste, so she went back to the yard and said, "Be careful on the road, see you on Sunday."

"Well, go into the house and turn on the light and go upstairs. Turn off the light tomorrow during the day. We will pay the electricity bill for the corridor this month." He Dongchuan instructed.

"good."

Su Ting responded and went back to the room. When she closed the door, she couldn't help but raise her hand and waved to He Dongchuan. He also raised his hand, but it was a gesture of "go back", and walked around to the other side of the car and opened the driver's door.

Before sitting down, he spoke again: "Close the door and go back to sleep."

Su Ting obediently closed the door, turned around and strode upstairs. After entering her home, she ran a few steps and stood on the balcony to watch him start the car and drive out of the alley.

Su Ting didn't return to the room and lie down until the military jeep disappeared from sight.

It's strange that she was so sleepy just now that she couldn't open her eyes, but now that she was lying on the bed, she didn't feel sleepy at all and kept her eyes open until dawn.

…

Although He Dongchuan watched the brother and sister fall asleep, after their father returned to the room, the two children huddled together and whispered for most of the night.

So she slept soundly in the morning. Su Ting went to call her once at 6:30, but she didn't wake up. She went to call her again at 7 o'clock after buying breakfast, but she still cried and didn't want to get up, so Su Ting simply let her sleep.

I slept until noon. When I woke up slowly, my stomach was still growling and my hands and feet were a little weak from hunger.

She got up from bed, put on her slippers and went out, calling softly, "Mom, Mom, where are you?"

Su Ting, who was painting in the room, heard the noise and came out to ask, "What's wrong?"

"I'm so hungry." He touched his stomach slowly, looked up and said pitifully.

"There's breakfast on the table. Go brush your teeth first." After saying that, she slowly turned around and went to the bathroom. She quickly called her back and said, "Wait, put on your clothes first."

She slowly lowered her head and saw the autumn clothes and pants on her body, and suddenly said, "That's right!" She jumped up and rubbed her arms, saying why she felt cold.

Su Ting held her forehead, she thought the girl was not afraid of the cold, it turned out that the girl didn't even notice that she was not wearing enough.

After entering the house and helping the young lady to get dressed, Su Ting asked her to go to the bathroom to wash up, while she went out to make a cup of maltose and had it with fried dough sticks for breakfast.

Actually, she bought some soy milk, but it had already cooled down. The temperature in March was a bit chilly, and she was afraid that drinking it slowly would give her diarrhea, so she solved it herself while she was painting just now.

After breakfast, I called Manman to the balcony and used a comb and rubber band to braid her hair.

After eating and drinking, I slowly had the energy to think about my father and brother. I raised my head slightly and asked, "Mom, where are Dad and brother?"

"They went home. Didn't we tell you that yesterday? Did you forget?" Su Ting said as she slowly lowered her head. Holding her head too high would affect her performance.

Then he said slowly, "I remember that. When will they come?"

"Sunday."

"What time is Sunday? How many days are left?"

"Including today, four days."

He slowly lowered his head, counted on his fingers, and said in a melancholy tone, "That will take a long time."

Su Ting reached out and pinched her chin, asked her to lift her head, and braided the other side of her hair. She said, "It seems very slow, but in reality, time passed in the blink of an eye."

"Yeah." Nodded slowly.

Su Ting couldn't help it, and held her head and said, "Be quiet, don't move your head, or I can't braid your hair."

Man Man quickly said, "Oh, if I don't move, then do we have to live separately forever?"

“That’s how it is during this period.”

"When is it not like this?"

"Wait until summer vacation?"

"How long is the summer vacation?"

"About four months."

He slowly widened his eyes, took a breath, looked back after a moment and asked, "Four months is longer, or four days is longer?"

Su Ting asked jokingly: "You don't know who has been longer, why did you inhale just now?"

"I..." He slowly tilted his head and turned it around, using his brain to ask, "Four months is longer?"

"right."

"How long is four months?"

"One hundred and twenty days."

She inhaled slowly again: "A lot!" She couldn't even count to a hundred until now!

"But Dad and brother will come to see us in four days," said Su Ting.

"Yes."

Just now she felt that four days was very long, but compared with one hundred and twenty days, she felt that the time was very short.

After tying her hair into a braid, Su Ting picked up her bag and slowly walked out.

Shanghai is a big city with many department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives everywhere.

Less than ten minutes' walk from the alley where she rented a shop, there was a supply and marketing cooperative. And because it was near a university, the supply and marketing cooperative was quite large, with three floors and seven or eight counters on each floor.

You know, the scale of department stores in the county below is about this big.

After entering the supply and marketing cooperative, Su Ting went directly to the salesperson to ask for a flashlight. The salesperson's attitude was not very enthusiastic, but he still pointed her to the counter.

Su Ting walked slowly over and bought a flashlight and some spare batteries, then asked the salesperson if they had any knives for sale. Although knives have special sales outlets, they are sometimes sold in supply and marketing cooperatives, but not in large quantities, so whether you can buy one depends on luck.

Apparently she was lucky, because the salesperson pointed her to a counter and said, "It's there."

Su Ting went to a new counter and asked the new salesperson if he had any knives. The salesperson was sewing shoe soles and asked without even looking up, "What kind of knives do you want?"

"Do you have a fruit knife?"

The other party looked up and glanced at Su Ting: "Why did you buy a fruit knife?"

Su Ting smiled and said, "Look at what you said, what else can a fruit knife be used for?"

"Can't a kitchen knife cut it, too?"

Su Ting explained: "In my family, we are used to keeping the knives for cutting vegetables and fruits separate."

Although it was a bit pedantic, it was reasonable. The salesperson put down his work, took a few knives of different sizes from under the counter and put them on the counter, and asked: "Where do you live? Why haven't I seen you before?"

At that time, you needed a ticket to buy things, and those who could enter the supply and marketing cooperatives to buy things had to have a town household registration. There was a supply and marketing cooperative in at least two or three streets, if not every street. Most people would choose the nearest one to buy things, and would not go far to other places to buy.

"I'm a student at Fudan University. Because I have a child with me, I don't live on campus. I rent a house in Sanyang Lane." Su Ting knew that knife control was strict at that time, so she took out her student ID and showed it to the other party.

"A college student." The salesperson raised his eyebrows slightly, took the student ID and began to look through it.

It is not easy to get into university these days, and university graduates are very prestigious. After seeing the student ID, the salesperson looked at Su Ting with a much gentler expression and said, "You are quite good."

"Thank you." Su Ting smiled without any hesitation, picked up a medium-sized knife and asked, "How much is this?"

The salesperson quoted a number. To be honest, the price was not cheap, but compared with personal safety, it was not expensive. Su Ting paid for it happily.

After paying, Su Ting bought a box of biscuits, half a bag of candy, and picked two kilograms of apples, which were the only fruits available at this time of year.

After buying the things, Su Ting stuffed a candy into Man Man's mouth as they walked out.

The little girl peeled off the candy wrapper and put the candy into her mouth. The sweet orange flavor spread in her mouth and she jumped happily holding her mother's hand.

As soon as they entered the box, they ran into Duan Xiaolan and his wife. Su Ting took out two apples from the bag and handed them over: "I just bought them at the supply and marketing cooperative. You can try them and see how they taste."

Duan Xiaolan knew that fruits were not cheap at this time, so she waved her hand and said, "No, you can just eat them yourself."

"Dongchuan and Xiaoyan have gone back and will come back in a few days. Manman and I are the only ones at home. We can't eat so many apples." Su Ting forcefully stuffed the apples into their mouths. "We are neighbors and schoolmates. Don't be so polite to me."

"Well...thank you." Duan Xiaolan handed an apple to Lu Zheng and held one in her own hand. She took out her key, opened the door and asked, "Did you also buy the flashlight at the supply and marketing cooperative?"

Su Ting replied: "Yes, I was afraid that I would have to go to self-study in the evening and sometimes I would come back late, so I bought a flashlight and a fruit knife."

"For cutting fruit?"

"That's part of the reason, and the other part is for self-defense," Su Ting explained when she saw Duan Xiaolan was stunned, "Don't freshmen have evening self-study classes? I was afraid that I would come back late and there would be no one on the road, so I was prepared for self-defense."

Duan Xiaolan thought that she had to be careful living here with her child, so she paused and said, "If you have something to do at night, you can tell us in advance and we can wait for you."

Su Ting didn't bother to be polite with her, and said with a smile: "I was thinking about this, but I didn't know how to bring it up with you."

Duan Xiaolan laughed along, "Why shouldn't I bring this up? You just said that we are neighbors and schoolmates, so don't be polite to us."

"Okay, if I have something to do someday in the future, I will definitely trouble you, but don't worry, I will come back by myself normally and promise not to disturb your world of two." Su Ting raised her hand and said.

Being teased unexpectedly, Duan Xiaolan blushed and said angrily, "How can you be like that?"

Man Man was young and didn't understand what Duan Xiaolan meant. He looked up and asked innocently, "What's it like?"

It would have been fine if she didn't ask. As soon as she asked, Duan Xiaolan's face turned even redder and she said, "I don't want to chat with you guys anymore." Then she climbed up the stairs with thumps.

Duan Xiaolan was embarrassed, but Lu Zheng was very calm. He only raised the corners of his lips slightly and said, "We will go back first."

"Well," Su Ting responded, and said to Man Man, "Hurry up and say goodbye to uncle and aunt."

She waved her hands slowly and said sweetly, "Goodbye, uncle and aunt!"

Duan Xiaolan had already fled to the third floor. Only Lu Zheng was downstairs. He waved his hand seriously and replied to her: "See you later."

…

After returning home and putting down her things, Su Ting took Manman out again.

This time they went to a nursery on the street. She had to go to school later, and it was not convenient to take care of Manman all the time, so she planned to send the child to the nursery.

In fact, the nursery cannot take care of the child all day long. Usually, the children are sent there at seven or eight in the morning and picked up at six or seven in the afternoon. Su Ting has to take care of the child herself at night. When there is evening self-study, Su Ting still has to take Man Man to school.

But there may not be a teacher for evening self-study, and the supervision is not that strict, so it’s okay to just take your time.

The nursery was organized and run by the street office, and the location was chosen next to the street office. The place is not big, with only two classrooms in total, and there are seventy or eighty children.

In total, there are thirty-four children in one class.

There are two teachers and a life teacher who is in charge of the children's lunch.

Compared with kindergartens in later generations, the conditions of street nurseries were of course average. In slightly better kindergartens in later generations, each class would have one teacher and one life teacher, and the number of children would not be too many, about 20 to 30.

But kindergarten tuition is also high in later generations. The tuition per semester may start from three to five thousand or six thousand at the cheapest, and even reach tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands.

In short, in a few decades, the cost of children's education will only get higher, there is no maximum.

The street nursery charges a monthly fee of four yuan a month, and can be sent to the nursery during winter and summer vacations. However, if the semester is four months, it is only sixteen yuan. At that time, the salary of a regular worker in a state-owned factory was basically more than twenty yuan, which was less than one month's salary.

Of course, it is not true. After all, not every household has two working people. Four yuan a month is not a small amount for a single-working family. But on the other hand, if one adult in the family is unemployed, they will not send their children to daycare.

Moreover, many large state-owned factories have nurseries where employees can send their children and the fee is only two yuan per month.

Families that send their children to street nurseries basically meet two conditions: first, they are both working couples and there are no elderly people to help them, and second, the unit is not large.

Therefore, this amount of money is not high for them, but it is necessary.

When Su Ting followed Professor Zhou to the street office to register her residence a few years ago, she asked about the procedures required to send her child to a nursery. This time, she just had to take the documents and go through the process.

Manman is the youngest among the ten children in the building. She envied her older brothers and sisters who went to and from school every day. So when she learned that she would also go to school before coming to the city, the little girl was full of expectations.

But after registering, Su Ting asked her to follow the teacher into the classroom. She was a little scared again. She grabbed her mother's hand and refused to let go, saying with tears in her eyes: "I don't want to be separated from my mother."

Su Ting bent down, raised her hand to wipe away the tears from her eyes and said, "Mom won't leave. Mom will watch you outside."

"Really?"

"Really." Su Ting nodded and asked, "Can you go in with the teacher?"

Manman didn't say anything, but lowered her head and held Su Ting's clothes without moving. It was obvious that she was very uneasy.

Su Ting said softly, "Weren't you looking forward to going to school before? There are many classmates in the class, all of whom are about your age. Don't you want to make new friends?"

Although Manman follows her brother around and has a lot of fun every day, she actually doesn’t have many friends. Firstly, there are few children of her age in the compound.

Secondly, children in their teens don’t like to play with other children. They are willing to pay attention to Manman only for He Yan’s sake. Therefore, among this group of children, no one plays particularly well with Manman. At most, they treat her as a younger sister.

Gradually, I always followed my brother around and had no time to play with the three or four-year-old kids in the compound, so I could only say that I knew them but was not very familiar with them.

Now that she was in a new place, she didn't even know any kids. Seeing the kids playing games together in the classroom, she couldn't help but feel a little envious. She nodded and said, "I want to."

Su Ting continued to ask: "Then you follow the teacher in and join the classmates' games, okay?"

He bit his lip slowly without saying anything, but his hand slowly loosened the hem of Su Ting's clothes.

Seeing what Manman meant, the teacher stretched out her hand and said, "He Miao, can I take you in?"

Although her full name was He Miao, few people around her called her that. She took a moment to react and placed her soft little hand in the teacher's palm.

The teacher held her hand and said to Su Ting, "Did I take her into the classroom?"

"Yeah." Su Ting nodded, and slowly followed the teacher, looking back every few steps as she walked into the classroom.

The children in the classroom were playing the game of throwing handkerchiefs. More than 30 children formed a big circle and sang loudly: "Throw, throw, throw the handkerchiefs, gently..."

The rules of the hand-string throwing game are very simple. A group of children sit in a circle, and one child runs behind them with a hand-string and randomly drops the hand-string behind another child. As long as the child returns to his seat before the other child is caught, he wins. The children who fail to catch anyone have to perform a show in the middle.

The rules were simple and the game went on very quickly. In less than a minute, a child wanted to perform. When he finished, the teacher clapped and said, "Pause for a moment. We have a new kid in our class today."

As he spoke, he walked slowly into the crowd holding her hand.

She instantly attracted everyone's attention. She was a little scared, but she didn't show any fear. The teacher asked her to introduce herself, and she did, but her voice was a little low.

After she finished her introduction, the teacher applauded and said, "Everyone, please applaud and welcome He Miao."

The children clapped obediently.

After the applause died down, the teacher found a stool and let the children make room for their seats. After they slowly sat down, he said, "Now you can continue playing the game."

A student raised his hand and asked, "Teacher, who will throw the handkerchief next?"

"The handkerchief just fell into the hands of Li Juanjuan. Now it's your turn to throw it away. Is that okay?" the teacher asked Li Fangfang.

Li Fangfang stood up and said, "Okay."

The teacher stepped out of the circle and watched the children play games, but she was still most concerned about He Miao. After all, she was a new classmate, so she couldn't help but worry that she wouldn't be able to fit in.

Unlike the teacher who focused on Man Man, Su Ting's eyes were always focused on Man Man. She saw her sitting among the children a little stiffly, clapping and singing along a beat late, and then gradually becoming proficient.

During the fourth lap, a child put his handkerchief behind Manman, but she quickly spotted the child and stood up to catch up.

Although in Su Ting's eyes, Man Man is still a tiny kid, but compared with people of the same age, she is really not short, and has long arms and legs. It is obvious at a glance that her body proportions will not be bad when she grows up.

She was in a small class, where students were between three and five years old. Some of her classmates were taller than her, but some were not as tall as her. For example, the child who threw the handkerchief behind her back was a little shorter than her and could not run as fast as her. He was caught after running half a lap.

When he was first caught, the child couldn't help but screaming. The children sitting around him were all amused and started laughing. Gradually, the timidity he had at the beginning disappeared from his face. He smiled so hard that his teeth were showing, and he looked a little proud.

She caught him right away!

But her luck gradually ran out. After a few rounds, someone threw a handkerchief behind her again. This time it was a boy, and he was quite tall. He ran away very fast after throwing the handkerchief.

Gradually, I couldn't catch up with him and had to go on stage to perform.

Although I was a little scared at the beginning, I gradually got into the fun and was not afraid to perform on stage. I sang a song for everyone confidently.

Su Ting was watching outside and decided to proceed to the next step. After Manman threw the handkerchief out and returned to his seat smoothly, she went to the door and called out the teacher, asking her to call Manman out.

I was having a great time and lingered for a while when I came out. When I saw my classmates finished their performance, I ran out and asked, "Mom, what did you ask me to do?"

Su Ting said: "Mom has something urgent to do and can't stay here with you."

"Ah?" He started to panic visibly, "Then, then what should I do?"

The teacher then said, "You can play with the other kids here and wait for your mom to pick you up in the afternoon."

She pursed her lips slowly, hesitated for a moment and asked, "Can't I go with Mom?"

Su Ting said with an embarrassed look, "It may not be convenient. Mom will go to do something first. After finishing the work, I will pick you up for dinner at 6 pm at the latest. Okay?"

When she was at home, she often went out to play with He Yan, and they would play all day, only going home for lunch and dinner. So she could accept what Su Ting said, but she was a little hesitant: "What about my lunch?"

She is a big eater and will feel hungry if she doesn't eat at noon.

Su Ting said: "The school provides lunch at noon, you can eat with your classmates."

She slowly turned her head to look at the teacher. Although she didn't say anything, the teacher understood what she meant and nodded affirmatively, saying, "Yes, all of us students will eat together at noon."

That must be lively!

His eyes gradually lit up, and he turned to Su Ting and said, "Mom, you must come pick me up in the evening."

"Yes." Su Ting answered affirmatively, smiled and touched Manman's head and said, "Go back to the classroom and continue playing. Mom is leaving."

He waved slowly: "Goodbye, Mom." But he didn't move his feet.

Su Ting smiled and waved: "Go back, Mom will see you enter the classroom before you leave."

After slowly saying "oh", she turned around and ran back to the classroom, sat down on her own stool, and re-participated in the game. However, Su Ting did not leave, but returned to the window and looked inside.

The teacher knew that she was worried about the child, so she came over and comforted him, saying, "He Miao is very sensible."

"Um?"

"Many children who go to school on their first day will cry non-stop after their parents leave, but she didn't cry just now, and she is very brave and fits in well," the teacher said after praising her. "So Comrade Su, don't worry, she should be able to adapt to school life quickly."

There is no parent who doesn't like to hear nice words, and Su Ting is no exception. She smiled and said, "Thank you."

…

Although Su Ting said she would pick up Man Man at six o'clock, she actually left home at half past five and arrived at the nursery just after five forty.

The nursery closes at six o'clock, but the time is actually very flexible. Parents can come and pick up their children half an hour earlier or half an hour later.

However, Su Ting saw that Man Man was having a great time, so she didn't take her away and let her play with her classmates until six o'clock.

At this time, there were many parents gathered outside the nursery to pick up their children. Seeing that Su Ting was a stranger, they all chatted with her enthusiastically.

Su Ting also wants to get to know more people. As the saying goes, a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. Usually, only she and Man Man live here, so it is not a bad thing to know more people.

In just ten minutes, Su Ting got to know several parents, one of whom was the mother of a new kid. At first, they didn't know which child the other had, until the two kids came out holding hands. After they greeted them, they realized who they were, and then smiled at each other.

Because the two children had a good relationship, they walked out together and separated at the fork in the road. The other took the child home, while Su Ting took Manman to the school cafeteria for dinner.

On the first day of school, Manman was very excited to meet many friends. She was jumping all the way. Su Ting looked at her jumping figure stretched by the setting sun, and the corners of her lips curled up slightly: "Do you like going to school?"

Then she said in a clear voice: "I like it. I have to go to school tomorrow."

"good."

Su Ting believed Manman's words and finally felt relieved after a day's worry. She was afraid that Manman would find daycare boring and unwilling to go after a day in it. It would be a tough battle to get up early every day to send Manman to daycare in the future.

As it turned out, Su Ting was too happy too early.

How can a child like going to school? If she says she likes it, it must be because she doesn’t know she has to get up early to go to school.

The next morning, seeing Manman crying and saying he didn't want to go to school because he wanted to sleep in, Su Ting realized the truth belatedly.