In the 1970s, there was no concept of sun protection in China, and there were no effective sun protection products on the market, so Su Ting used physical sun protection in the summer - she wrapped herself up very tightly.

Although many people wear long pants in summer because of conservative dressing, people usually choose short-sleeved tops and sandals as shoes.

Su Ting is usually fine when she is at home and she dresses normally. She goes out for a walk in the morning and evening anyway and rarely goes out during the day, so naturally she dresses as coolly as possible.

Because she was going out today, she wore a long-sleeved shirt and long pants, paired with sneakers, a hat on her head, and an umbrella in her hand.

When we went downstairs, we met Meng Xiuzhen. She looked back and forth between the umbrella in Su Ting's hand and the rising sun in confusion, until Su Ting explained, "I'm afraid the sun will be too strong at noon and it will burn me."

"I thought so!" Meng Xiuzhen suddenly realized. She almost forgot that Su Ting was most afraid of the sun in summer. She looked at the two children again, "Aren't Xiaoyan and Manman afraid of the sun?"

The brother and sister smiled and said, "We are not afraid!"

Although they were wearing hats, they were still wearing short-sleeved shirts and shorts, and sandals on their feet. Before leaving, Su Ting asked them if they wanted to change, and they were very determined. Mom was not afraid of the heat, but they were!

Anyway, they won’t get tanned, so they have nothing to fear!

Looking at the eight white teeth of the two children, Meng Xiuzhen smiled and said, "What fun!"

"Okay, goodbye Aunt Meng!" The two children waved and ran to the back seat of the jeep, opened the door and sat down.

Other families in the building who heard the noise ran to the balcony to watch the excitement. As early as the day Su Ting told the brother and sister that she would take them to Xijiao Park on Sunday, the two children had already told everyone about it.

When they saw them going out at this time, the adults were fine, but the children all looked envious.

They want to see the animals, too!

Before the jeep started, He Yan saw Sun Lin standing on their balcony, rolled down the window and waved goodbye to him.

Sun Lin was envious. As soon as the jeep drove out, he ran home and said, "Mom, I want to go to Xijiao Park, too!"

However, his mother, who had been very obedient to him during this period, only raised her eyebrows and asked, "Want to go to Xijiao Park?"

"Um!"

"Okay, when you get first place in the class, I'll take you there."

Only after He Yan got the first place in the county did his family take him to Xijiao Park for fun. She did not even ask Sun Lin to get the first place in the school, she only asked him to get the first place in the class.

He Cuixia thought she was really easy to talk to.

After hearing this, Sun Lin felt that his mother was too realistic. She called him her precious son, but in fact she refused to even take him to the Western Suburbs Park to play.

How could he possibly get the first place in the class?

…

While Sun Lin was crying at home, He Yan was in a very happy mood. Not only could he go out and play today, but he could also train for one day less. He was so happy.

But we can't make this too public, otherwise we'll be doomed if my parents remember it.

The brother and sister in the back seat were secretly happy. When their mother saw them and asked them about it, He Yan just replied, "We are happy to think that we will see many animals soon."

Man Man agreed: "Yeah, I want to see the big cat!"

"It's a giant panda." He Yanzhen said.

Although I gradually felt that giant panda and big cat sounded similar, I still listened to my brother and corrected him, saying, "Okay, it's giant panda."

The distance from the Navy Yard to the Western Suburbs Park is not very far. We set out at 7:00 and arrived at around 8:30.

It is summer vacation now and it is Sunday. Many people come to Xijiao Park with their families to play, and many of them come very early. There is already a long line at the queue window.

They queued until after nine o'clock before they were able to buy three tickets. As they grew shorter, they no longer had to buy tickets.

Holding the tickets, the four of them lined up to enter the park.

Because he had been here once, He Yan knew the general distribution of the animals, so he acted as a little tour guide as soon as he entered the park, talking non-stop.

Although Man Man remembered that she had been there, she only knew of the giant pandas and had no impression of the other animals. When He Yan talked about it, she was very supportive and kept asking "Really?" and "Is that so?". When they reached a fork in the road, she would ask her brother which way to get there.

Although He Yan knew the general distribution of animals, he really couldn't remember which road led to where. Fortunately, there were road signs at the forks in the road, so he just had to read them.

Anyway, the image has not collapsed.

The zoo is very large. They visited from around nine o'clock to eleven o'clock, and they only saw primates, that is, monkeys, including golden monkeys with golden hair on their backs, orange-red red monkeys, and black leaf monkeys with black bodies.

The more I watched, the more confused I became: "Aren't they all monkeys? Why do they look so different?"

"Different subspecies are, of course, different," Su Ting said after thinking for a while, "Just like we are yellow people, but besides us, there are white people and black people."

He Yan asked curiously: "Is the skin of black people black?"

"right."

"Can they see themselves in the mirror at night?" Man Man became more curious.

Su Ting was very upset and asked back: "If you don't turn on the light at night, can you see yourself in the mirror?"

After thinking for a while, he shook his head and said, "I have never looked in the mirror without turning on the light."

"Then why do you think black people don't turn on the light to look in the mirror?" Su Ting asked again.

Slowly reacted: "Yes."

After seeing the monkeys, they finally saw other animals - gorillas, well, also primates.

The gorillas were much bigger than the monkeys, but perhaps because the sun was too hot, they stayed by the den and refused to come out or move. So after a quick look, they continued walking forward.

Afterwards they went to see elephants, kangaroos and giraffes, and walked around until after midnight before finding a place to eat.

They brought their own food. When they went to the cafeteria to buy breakfast, Su Ting specially bought a few more fried dough sticks and fried cakes. It was not because she wanted to eat such a greasy food, but because these could be eaten even if they were cold.

She also went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought a box of cakes and brought back half a box of peach cakes left at home. In addition to food, she also cut half a watermelon and put it in a lunch box and brought it back.

So this lunch can be considered rich. At least the two children liked it very much. They each had a pancake, two pieces of peach cakes and pastries, and some watermelon.

After eating and drinking, they rested for half an hour and continued shopping at 1:30.

In fact, after walking around for a whole morning, she was gradually tired and didn't ask to go back, all because she was thinking about the giant panda. But she couldn't walk anymore, so she climbed onto her dad's back after eating.

Su Ting was also a little tired, mainly because of sore feet, but she was an adult after all and could rely on willpower to hold on, so she didn't show it, but her mood was not too high.

Compared with the listless Su Ting and Man Man, He Yan's current state can be regarded as full of energy. After all, the three hours of training every day are not in vain.

If their family is ranked according to physical strength, the best would definitely be He Dongchuan, followed by He Yan, then Su Ting, and Man Man is the worst in terms of physical strength.

There were four people in the group, He Yan was the first to rush to the front, He Dongchuan was holding Su Ting and walked slowly forward side by side. Whenever He Yan saw something interesting, he would shout to them to come over, or run back to tell them and urge them to hurry up.

After a few times, Su Ting couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you tired?"

"Not tired." He Yan shook his head and imitated Su Ting to take small steps. He started to speed up while walking, and finally started to run.

Su Ting: “…”

There were only two words she wanted to say: admiration.

…

We walked to the panda house, slowly got off my dad's back, and ran over with my brother to see the pandas.

It was past 3:00, past nap time, and the sun wasn't that hot, so the pandas started to move around. But their movements were limited, at most they would move around a bit, and most of the time they would sit on the ground to enjoy the breeze, occasionally chewing on bamboo, looking quite cool.

But gradually, he was so cute that he started crying.

Not only Manman was screaming with cuteness, but also many children.

He Yan didn't understand why everyone thought giant pandas were cute. Compared to giant pandas, he preferred the majestic lion and the king of the forest, the tiger.

Unfortunately, his sister was too timid. When the tiger and lion roared, she was so scared that she trembled and dared not go over to take a closer look. So they didn't stay at the tiger and lion for too long. They finished the tour in about half an hour.

When I got to the giant panda, I was so engrossed in watching it that I couldn't move my feet. I watched it for half an hour and wanted to watch it for another half an hour.

Finally, Su Ting thought that there were other animals left to see, and they had to go back, so she asked He Dongchuan to take her away directly, and only then did they leave the giant panda's territory.

When she was first picked up, she was a little dazed. When she was far away and could no longer see the panda, she finally came to her senses and started to cry loudly, saying angrily: "Daddy is bad! I will never talk to you again!"

He Dongchuan coaxed her helplessly for a long time until he said he would take her to see the giant panda another day. Then she slowly stopped crying and asked with a sob, "When is that another day?"

He Dongchuan was not sure: "Next year?"

"Wow!" He slowly raised his voice.

He Dongchuan's head hurt from the crying, so he changed his words helplessly: "This year, this winter, before the Chinese New Year, how about my mother and I bring you here again?"

He slowly closed his mouth, with tears in his eyes, and asked, "Really?"

"Really? If you don't believe me, ask your mother." He Dongchuan said, trying to wink at his daughter-in-law.

Although Su Ting felt that she couldn't let her child act like a spoiled brat when he couldn't get what he wanted, seeing that He Dongchuan's eyes were about to cramp, she reluctantly said, "If you and your brother perform well, I'll bring you here."

"What is good performance?" he continued to ask slowly.

Su Ting thought for a moment and said, "Xiao Yan ranked first in the grade in the final exam. You will get a red flower every month."

The little red flower is a reward given by the nursery to children with good performance that month. She didn’t get one in the first month after entering the nursery, but she gradually got it in the following months, so she felt it was okay and looked down at her brother.

He Yan felt a little stressed.

As early as before the start of the second semester of the fifth grade, Su Ting discussed with He Yan the criteria for choosing a junior high school.

Although the No. 1 Middle School in the county is not as good as many key junior high schools in the city, it is worse than non-key ones. She thinks that if He Yan goes to study in the city, the school he attends must not be worse than the No. 1 Middle School in the county, otherwise it is better for him to study in the county.

That's why He Yan studied so hard in the last semester.

The test results came out and he did really well. The schools he had originally chosen were basically settled, it just depended on which one he wanted to go to.

Although He Yan ranked first in the county, he was not sure about his ranking in the city. After entering junior high school, it was still unknown whether he could maintain his first place in the grade among so many top students.

However, meeting his sister's expectant eyes, He Yan gritted his teeth and nodded, saying, "Okay!"

Man Man also vowed: "I will definitely get a red flower every month."

Her confidence is not blind, but based on reality.

Last semester, she recognized less than 50 words in total, but she still got a red flower for every word she learned. Since the summer vacation, she has recognized more than 50 words. When the new semester starts, she will definitely continue to be the smartest student in the class who recognizes the most words.

She is sure to get the red flower every month!

Both children are full of enthusiasm, so as parents, they will not discourage them. Su Ting smiled and said, "Okay, I'll wait and see."

…

After returning from Xijiao Park, He Yanhe showed off for several days.

Although the residence is not far from the city, not many of the children in the compound have ever been to the city to play.

Although it doesn't take long to drive from the Navy Compound to Xijiao Park, if you take a shuttle bus and then a bus, it will take at least two hours to get there, which means four hours round trip.

Therefore, the number of children in the compound who have been to Xijiao Park can be counted on one hand, and the vast majority of them have never seen a tiger, lion, or panda.

Therefore, in the past two days, no matter where He Yan and Man Man went, they could attract a large group of children to surround them, and no matter what they said, there was a large group of children who responded enthusiastically.

With everyone's enthusiastic response, the brother and sister became more and more excited as they talked about everything from tigers, lions, and pandas to parrots, goldfish, and swans.

The latter animals were not originally going to speak because they were smaller and not fashionable enough, but who could make the audience want to listen?

So it lasted for a whole week.

The brother and sister's desire to show off was satisfied, but the curiosity of other children in the compound was completely aroused. When they returned home, they cried and shouted that they wanted to go to the West Suburb Park to play.

The parents were very annoyed and had a lot of complaints about Su Ting and He Dongchuan.

If your children do well in the exam, you take them to the park to play as a reward. Fine, no problem! But when you come back, you ask your children to keep a low profile at home!

It’s just like a storyteller. Your children say they are happy, but my child keeps crying. How can we live like this?

No matter how much some people have opinions, they just complain in their hearts, but some people will come to you to seek advice.

Su Ting was stunned after hearing this and asked, "How do you want to solve this? Do you want me to change my major and study time machines, go back to the past and make the kids shut up?"

The person who was asking for advice choked up and managed to utter a half-answered question: "Can you figure it out?"

Su Ting was silent for a moment and said, "It's unlikely in this life. You wait for me to continue working hard in the next life."

Even the dumbest person would know she was joking when hearing this, and would frown and say, "Comrade Su, I'm talking to you about something serious, what's wrong with your attitude?"

"I'm sorry, this is not a serious matter for me, so it's hard for me to talk to you about it in a serious manner." Su Ting asked, "You are not satisfied with the plan I just proposed, right? OK, I will pay for your transportation, and you can take your children to Xijiao Park for a day. Are you satisfied with this solution?"

"That's more like it!" The other party snorted, glanced at Su Ting, waited for a while and saw that she didn't move, then asked, "And then?"

"What then?"

Seeing Su Ting playing dumb, the other party frowned: "Didn't you just say you would pay for our car fare? Where's the money?"

Su Ting smiled: "I was wondering why you came to me so early in the morning to talk about this. It turns out you are trying to blackmail me. I dare to give you the money, but do you dare to take it?"

If Su Ting hadn't said that, the other party would definitely have accepted it, but now she was a little panicked: "What do you mean by blackmail? It was you who said you would pay for our car fare."

"Okay," Su Ting nodded, took out two yuan from her pocket and handed it over, "You take the money, I'll go to the Women's Federation to file a complaint, tell the whole story, whether your behavior is extortion, whether I should pay for the fare, let the director of the Women's Federation decide for us, what do you think?"

The other party had already extended his hand, but after hearing this, he began to hesitate, fearing that Su Ting would really do such a thing, and was afraid to take the money.

Even though she was justified when she was finding fault, she also felt that Su Ting should pay for the car fare. But she knew clearly whether it was reasonable or not.

If Su Ting takes this money and really reports it to the Women's Federation, the label of extortion will be welded to her head and she won't be able to take it off.

If she lived in the countryside and her family didn't have a proper job, she might not care. It was just two dollars. Could she be arrested for this? But her husband was a soldier. If he had such a reputation, it might affect his job.

While she was hesitating, Su Ting spoke: "Do you want this money? I'll count to three. If you don't dare to take it, I'll take it back. One, two..."

Before Su Ting finished counting, the other party forced a smile and said, "I'm joking with you! We are neighbors, how can I ask you to pay for the car fare? I just think that you really need to take care of your children. It's fine if you have fun by yourself, but why do you come back to show off? You have aroused our children's curiosity and made a fuss at home! They don't even think about what our family is like and what your family is like. How can they be compared?"

Although Su Ting did not publicize it everywhere, the fact that she was the author of the Three Fires series had spread throughout the compound as early as when "The Adventures of Three Fires" was serialized.

At first everyone was just excited because the Sanhuo series was so popular and Su Ting, as the author, was also a celebrity. They lived in the same compound with the celebrities!

But as time went on, people's curiosity began to shift to her income.

Some people even found out about the payment standards for articles in "Lianhuan Pictorial". The payment for new authors was based on the length of the article, ranging from 20 to 30 yuan for a short article to 40 to 50 yuan for a long one.

Since using the pen name Su Ting, she has only drawn the Three Fires series. Each story is a long one, serialized for about four months, with thirty to forty pictures in each issue. Based on the minimum manuscript fee of 40 yuan, the minimum manuscript fee for one story is 320 yuan.

The fourth story of the Three Fires series is currently being serialized. If this story is also serialized for four months, Su Ting will be able to receive at least 1,280 yuan in royalties for this series.

"Sanhuo Working Diary" has been serialized since the beginning of 1976. It has been less than two and a half years now. On average, Su Ting earns at least 500 yuan a year in royalties.

A regular worker in a state-owned factory may not even earn 500 yuan a year.

What is even more eye-catching is that this income is calculated based on the lowest level of manuscript fees for "Lianhuan Pictorial".

Even though Su Ting's royalties were low when "Sanhuo Working Diary" first began to be serialized, her royalties would surely double as the series continues today. Add to that the income from publishing, and she might be able to make several thousand a year.

In the past, the He family ate three meals a day in the cafeteria, bought fruit snacks every now and then, and had two children who had new clothes every season. The military wives in the compound often complained that Su Ting did not know how to live.

But ever since she was exposed, these voices have disappeared after everyone estimated her income. People can spend money, but she can also make money.

Who knows, the other person's expenses this month may not be as much as the fraction of the royalties she earns. When she thinks about it this way, it doesn't seem right for people to live lavishly.

Some people were jealous and grumbled that the He family was just being petty bourgeoisie, but Su Ting had already reported her source of income.

The fact that Su Ting was the author of the Three Fires series was confirmed bit by bit by the military wives in the compound through clues in "The Adventures of Three Fires", but the army leaders knew about it a long time ago.

Because when she first came to Shanghai with the army, she reported her two pen names.

You have to report it!

The publishing house would remit money to her every now and then, and the amount was not small. They would also forward her readers' letters every now and then, and each time they would send her several sacks of letters, which was very suspicious.

In order to avoid being taken away for questioning as a spy, Su Ting reported to the higher authorities according to the procedures when she started using the pseudonym "A Durian".

After He Dongchuan was transferred to Shanghai, her information was also transferred there, but because of the special circumstances, she had to report it again.

In fact, the army would arrange for someone to review her comic strips before they were mailed out. It was only because she was relatively low-key and the people in charge of related matters were very tight-lipped that she was not exposed early.

In short, Su Ting's income is very transparent, there is no problem with the source, and she did not encounter any trouble during the campaign.

By the time Su Ting was exposed in the compound, the movement had already ended and all those who had been sent down had their hats removed one after another. Her income came from a legitimate source, so naturally no one cared how she spent it.

Therefore, even if those jealous people talked until their lips were worn out, Su Ting's life would not change at all. Until now, they could only express sourness in their words, just like the person in front of him.

Su Ting didn't buy it, and said in a cold tone: "Whose child has a new toy, eats delicious food, goes to a new place, and doesn't go out to show off? Other people's children can show off, why can't my child? Don't talk about family conditions. We all live in the compound, who doesn't know who? Don't pretend to be poor in front of me."

There were many poor people in this era, but those living in the Navy compound were not included.

For the wives of soldiers who can join the army, the men’s lowest rank is deputy battalion commander, and their salary is just over 100 yuan, which is comparable to the income of an ordinary family in the city.

If life is difficult, there are basically only two reasons: one is that you have too many children, and the other is that there are vampires in your hometown. The person in front of you is the latter.

Her name is Yang Erhua. She is a well-known brother-supporting woman in the compound. Every month, her husband has to send at least half of his salary to her parents' home.

Even though she was reluctant to spend two dollars to take her children to Xijiao Park for a day, she didn't feel bad at all about spending money on her brother from her mother's side. She paid for all the expenses of her brother, from studying to finding a job to marrying you and having children.

Her husband had quarreled with her many times about this. Last year, several couples in the compound were seeking divorce, and her husband threatened her with this matter every now and then. However, half a year had passed and the two had not yet divorced.

However, Yang Erhua has become a little more restrained when it comes to supporting her parents' family.

Yang Erhua said angrily, "What's wrong with you? I tried to persuade you with all my heart, why did you lose your temper with me?"

Su Ting was very confused. She didn't know what gave Yang Erhua the courage to act reasonable. She sneered and said, "Then I'll also advise you. Instead of trying to persuade me, you might as well go back and clear your head."

"Su Ting!"

Yang Erhua was so angry that she was shaking all over. Just as she was about to speak, Meng Xiuzhen, who had just returned from outside, heard the noise upstairs and ran up to ask, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"A person with a confused mind has come." Su Ting leaned against the door frame and said, "This person, Comrade Yang Erhua, just suddenly ran to my house and said that because my child was showing off to everyone about going to Xijiao Park, her son cried at home and wanted to go to Xijiao Park, so she came to me to ask for an explanation."

Meng Xiuzhen was stunned: "An explanation? What explanation do you want?"

"I was wondering too, so I asked her..." Su Ting repeated what happened just now, "I was just joking, but she took it seriously and asked me for the fare. Don't you think it's funny?"

Yang Erhua's face turned pale and blue: "How do I know you are joking? Besides, I didn't take your money!"

"That's because I said if you took the money, I would go to the Women's Federation and sue you for blackmail. You were afraid and didn't dare to take the money. But what if I didn't say that? Did you just take the money?"

"I……"

Yang Erhua wanted to explain, but she was interrupted by Meng Xiuzhen as soon as she opened her mouth: "It's not like she has to take the money to go to the Women's Federation to complain. Her behavior of coming here to cause trouble today is very problematic. You wait here, I'll go to the Women's Federation to call someone..." Then she went downstairs.

Seeing that things were about to get out of hand, Yang Erhua no longer dared to argue with Su Ting, and hurriedly chased after her, trying to pull Meng Xiuzhen aside and tell her not to go to the Women's Federation to call for help.

But Meng Xiuzhen was determined. Not only did she want to go to the Women's Federation herself, she also asked Yang Erhua to go with her.

Yang Erhua was so anxious that she stretched out her hand and pushed Meng Xiuzhen, causing her to stagger backwards and fall on her butt. However, she did not care about anything else and got up, turned around and ran, disappearing around the corner of Building 9 in a short while.

"Are you okay?" Su Ting came out and asked.

Meng Xiuzhen waved her hand and smiled, "I just loosened my grip on purpose. This is the only way to deal with such a shameless person. Just wait and see. She will definitely stay at home for the next two days and not dare to go out, for fear that Director Zhao will talk to her."

Su Ting thought about the scene and couldn't help laughing: "That's probably the case."

"I don't know how this person can be so shameless. He can even rely on you when his child is clamoring to go to the park!"

If Meng Xiuzhen had not seen it with her own eyes, but heard it from others, she would not have believed that such a thing could happen in the world. It was too bizarre!

The more Meng Xiuzhen thought about it, the more she felt that the matter could not be let go like this, and she said, "No, I have to go out and promote her. I must make her famous where she is stationed." She went out in a hurry again.

Meng Xiuzhen was indeed the gossip expert in the compound. The news that Yang Erhua was picking a fight with Su Ting spread throughout the compound that night.

Just after the He family finished their meal in the evening, two directors from the Military Family Resettlement Office and the Women's Federation came together to find Su Ting to verify the matter.

After she finished explaining the whole story, everyone present, from the two directors to the two children and He Dongchuan, fell silent.

Was this porcelain touched too harshly?

It's very confusing.