Summer, 1988.

"What kind of ice cream do you want to eat?"

After hearing Ji Yi's words, he slowly stretched out a finger and put it to his lips, and said with a sigh, "Be gentle." Then he pointed back at the person standing behind the counter.

The place where they were was a small shop outside the military primary school. There were three owners, all of whom were wives of soldiers in the compound.

Around 1984 or 1985, as the policy became clearer, the wives of soldiers in the compound became more active and started small businesses one after another.

Because the stationed location is relatively remote and there are not many jobs around, the employment issue for military wives has always been a difficult problem, so the army strongly supports military wives to start small businesses.

It was also at that time that the army funded the construction of two rows of storefronts outside the naval compound for rent, which not only provided an additional source of income, but also helped the wives of military personnel solve their problems.

So now it is very lively outside the Navy compound, with convenience stores, breakfast shops, and various restaurants opening up half the street. The supply and marketing cooperatives in the compound have no business now, and they can only survive because of the support of the state. The cafeteria is a little better, after all, the food is cheap.

When Ji Yi heard Man Man's words, she turned her head to look, then nodded and pointed at the ice cream in the freezer and looked at her.

Ice cubes, two ways to eat, mung bean popsicles...

I slowly looked at their packaging, and finally took out two and put them in my friend's hand, along with the money for the ice cream. She whispered, "I'm going out first?"

"Okay, let's go out and reunite."

Manman wanted to quietly leave the canteen, but before she even reached the door, she was spotted by the busy military wife behind the counter. She smiled and asked, "Manman, aren't you going to buy anything?"

The guilty man stopped walking immediately, straightened his chest and raised his head, "Huh?" and said, "I won't buy it. I'm going home. Goodbye, Auntie."

"See you later."

Seeing that she had successfully left the canteen, Ji Yi breathed a sigh of relief, picked up a box of ice cubes and went to a less crowded counter to pay.

The military wife who had just been talking to Manman saw her and asked in surprise, "Yiyi, aren't you with Manman today? She just left."

"Well, she had something to do, so she went back first." Ji Yi said as she put the ice cream on the glass counter and handed over fifty cents.

Living in the same compound, the military wife standing behind the counter also knew Ji Yi. She asked as she was giving Ji Yi some change: "Are you buying two ice creams for yourself? Are they for your brother at home?"

Ji Yi hummed twice and nodded vaguely.

The military wife had no doubts, smiled and praised, "Good girl," and handed the change to her.

After receiving the money, Ji Yi said thank you and walked out of the store with the ice cream. Because she didn't know where Manman was, she didn't leave immediately after she went out, but instead looked around.

Soon, she heard a slow voice: "Here."

Ji Yi turned her head and saw Man Man standing in the aisle between two shops. She quickly ran over, stuffed the ice cream into her hand, and rummaged through her trouser pockets, taking out her own money to give it to her.

Without even looking at it, he stuffed the money into his schoolbag and asked in a low voice, "They didn't notice, did they?"

Ji Yi knew what Man Man was asking, and shook her head and said, "No, I said you had something to do and went back, and they thought I was bringing ice cream for my brother. Where are we going now?"

He slowly looked around, pointed behind him and said, "Let's go to the grove."

As soon as the words fell, the two little girls held hands and ran across the aisle to the other side of the grove.

The grove behind the storefront is really small. It is shaped like a triangle with a dozen trees planted irregularly. There is a slope through it, and at the bottom of the slope there is an aisle, and beyond that is a farmland.

When the weather is good, the children in the compound often come here to slide on the grass, but because it is easy to wear out their clothes, this activity has been stopped by their parents recently.

After walking through the woods, Man Man and Ji Yi found a big rock on the slope and sat down. They opened the popsicles in their hands and started eating them while watching the sunset.

As the name suggests, there are two ways to eat it. It has a cone made of smoothie on the outside and soft ice cream on the inside. You can lick it or scoop it with a spoon.

They didn't have a spoon, so they had to lift it up and lick it.

As the cool and sweet ice cream went down his throat, he slowly narrowed his eyes in joy. He turned around and saw Ji Yi also eating with gusto, so he asked, "Is it delicious?"

"It's delicious." Ji Yi put the ice cube in front of Man Man and asked, "Do you want to eat it?"

Slowly shook his head: "I can buy it tomorrow."

"Will I buy it for you tomorrow?" Ji Yi asked while eating ice cream. "Will you have a stomachache if we eat ice cream every day?"

They were so secretive when buying ice cream because Man Man had a stomachache last month after eating too much ice cream and her mother had banned her from eating ice cream.

Her mother said that if she ate ice cream secretly again and got a stomachache and was discovered, she would take away her pocket money. So during this period of time, she became very well behaved and didn't even dare to drink too much cold water.

But after entering June, the temperature is getting higher and higher, and my appetite is getting higher and higher.

Until this afternoon, she finally made up her mind to do something big - buy ice cream!

Although she thought that eating ice cream occasionally would not cause a stomachache and be discovered by her mother, she considered that the store owner knew her mother and might tell her mother if he saw her buying ice cream, and then she would be exposed.

So she slowly worked out a special plan for this, asking Ji Yi to buy her ice cream and then eating it secretly somewhere before going back, this way no one would notice!

So far, the actions have been very successful, but the ice cream is so delicious that after eating one, she wants to have a second one, but she is afraid that eating too much will give her stomachache.

The temperature is high in the summer and ice cream melts very quickly. Soon, the speed at which she ate could not keep up with the melting speed of the ice cream, so she put the problem out of her mind halfway through thinking about it.

Ji Yi did the same. The two of them stopped talking and just started eating with big mouthfuls.

Ten minutes later, after finishing the ice cream, he slowly took out a handkerchief from his schoolbag, carefully wiped the corners of his mouth, wiped off the melted ice cream on his hands, and then licked his lips.

Although her mouth was wiped clean, the sweet taste still lingered on her lips. She licked it with her tongue, and thinking of Ji Yi's question just now, she whispered, "Is it okay to have a stomachache if I eat an ice cream cone a day?"

Ji Yi didn't have much pocket money, so she could only buy an ice cream occasionally to satisfy her craving. So she wasn't sure, and after thinking for a while she asked, "Xu Zilong seems to buy ice cream every day?"

Xu Zilong is also a child from their compound, and he is also the richest child in their class.

This may not be quite accurate, because gradually they became very rich. Their daily pocket money started at 50 cents, and sometimes they could get one dollar.

But gradually he became less fond of snacks and was able to save more than half of his daily pocket money. Xu Zilong would go to the canteen to buy food after class. One day, he missed three classes in a row and was caught eating snacks.

Because one of the classes was taught by the head teacher, she was very angry and punished Xu Zilong by making him stand outside the classroom for two classes and asking him to ask his parents to come to school in the afternoon.

When Xu Zilong's mother found out about this, she was very angry and did not give Xu Zilong any pocket money for half a month. From then on, he dared not eat in class.

But he still buys a lot of food every day. After class or after school, you can always see him eating.

Several times when Ji Yi came home from school, she saw Xu Zilong going to the grocery store to buy ice cream.

Not only Ji Yi saw it, Man Man also saw it, and asked in retrospect, "It seems that he didn't have a stomachache?"

"No, he comes to class every day." Thinking of the last time Man Man had a stomachache at night and did not miss class, Ji Yi added, "And he buys food every day, including ice cream."

If Xu Zilong had a stomachache, his parents would definitely not let him buy so much food the next day. He would just take it slow and didn't eat any snacks for several days afterwards.

"Then..." He slowly exchanged glances with his good friend, "Shall we come back to buy ice cream tomorrow?"

"Uh-huh!"

…

After the two girls had discussed it, they left the grove hand in hand and returned to the compound.

In the past few years, the He family has changed houses twice, once from a two-bedroom house to a three-bedroom house in mid-1982. In fact, when He Dongchuan was promoted to the Youth League, he was eligible to move to a three-bedroom house, but there were no vacancies for three-bedroom houses at that time, so the family had to squeeze into the two-bedroom house for another two years.

In fact, it was not even a year. After all, Su Ting and her brother and sister were all studying in the city at that time. They lived in the city during the school term and only came back on Saturdays and Sundays or during winter and summer vacations. In addition, it was only two or three months in a year.

The second time he changed houses was in 1985. He Dongchuan was promoted again, and the house he lived in was changed from three bedrooms to four bedrooms.

There are two types of four-bedroom houses to choose from, one is still a building, and the other is a detached house. The two types of houses are about the same size, but the detached house has front and back yards, and other conditions are similar.

When the army distributes housing, it will give priority to assigning single-family houses to officers of higher ranks, and officers like He Dongchuan who have just been promoted will basically not get one. But he is lucky, and when he was promoted, there happened to be a vacant room in both the four-bedroom unit and the single-family house, so he and Su Ting had a lot of entanglements for a while.

Meng Xiuzhen was quite puzzled at the time. There was no difference between the two types of houses. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that a single-family house was better than a building, because it had a front and back yard.

After asking, I found out that it was the front and back yards that they were hesitating about.

It is the nature of Chinese people to grow some vegetables wherever they go. The land is strictly managed and people dare not go outside to reclaim wasteland, but they do satisfy their desire for planting inside the compound.

Those who are more restrained will use discarded enamel pots at home to fill with soil and plant onions and garlic on the balcony. Those who feel that the balcony is not fully utilized will go to the flower garden downstairs and plant some Chinese cabbage.

Because the flower beds in these buildings are public areas, they did not dare to use fertilizer after planting. Otherwise, they would be caught by people from the two departments. At the very least, they would have to write a self-criticism, and at the worst, they would have to pull out the vegetables.

Compared with people living in apartments, it is easier to satisfy the desire for planting in a detached house. After all, the yard is your own, and it is up to the owner to decide whether to plant flowers or vegetables in the flower garden.

The same goes for fertilization.

In this way, whether living in a private courtyard is comfortable or not depends entirely on whether the neighbors are aware of it.

Neighbors who are conscious of their own behavior will not apply manure in their yards. If you encounter someone difficult to get along with, life may be ok in the winter, but life will be difficult in the summer, and you can't even expect to have a good meal three times a day.

However, those who can live in a single-family house are mostly military officers of higher ranks. Those who can be promoted to this position are not only smart, but their IQ and EQ must be fine, so most of them are more self-aware.

However, there are always exceptions. For example, the occupant on the left of the vacant house was not very obedient. In addition, the husband was of a high rank and most people could not afford to offend him.

After careful consideration, Su Ting and He Dongchuan decided that it would be better to choose an apartment.

Anyway, the size of the houses and the accommodation environment are similar, and the four-bedroom apartment in the building is also on the second floor, which makes it very convenient to go up and down. Of course, more importantly, the air in the building is good.

So over the years, their family moved from building 10 to building 6, and then from building 6 to building 1.

It is located behind the office building of the Military Dependents Placement Office. Standing downstairs facing the Military Dependents Placement Office, there is a road on the right and a basketball court across the road.

Ji Yi's house was at the back, so as soon as they entered the courtyard, the two girls separated.

She skipped up the stairs slowly, turned the corner, looked up and saw the door was open. She shouted loudly, "Mom! Mom!" and ran home.

But it was not until she reached the doorstep that she heard Su Ting's response: "What?"

Slowly jumped into the house and shouted: "Mom, I'm back!"

"I heard it." Su Ting stood up and walked to the door, took the schoolbag from Manman's back and asked, "Why did you come back so late?"

Slowly replied, "Yiyi and I played outside for a while."

Su Ting did not suspect anything, opened her schoolbag and walked inside, and asked, "Do you have homework today?"

He slowly replied, "There is one test paper for mathematics and one composition for Chinese."

"Then why don't you go to the study and do your homework first?" Su Ting asked.

There are only two children in their family, so three sleeping rooms are enough. So after moving in, Su Ting and He Dongchuan put the desk in the smallest second bedroom. Now that room serves as both a guest room and a study.

But since most of the time there are no guests staying at their house, the room is often used as a study.

Slowly shook his head and said, "I don't want to go to the study. Mom, can I do my homework in the living room?"

"Do we need to turn on the TV?" Su Ting asked with a smile.

Slowly, with anticipation, he asked, "Is it okay?"

"Of course not!" Su Ting's expression changed in an instant. "You are about to take a midterm exam, and you are still thinking about watching TV? He Miaomiao, I tell you, if you can't get into a key junior high school this time, don't even think about watching TV during the summer vacation! Hurry up and go to the study to do your homework!"

My wish was dashed, and I walked into the study room with my schoolbag in disappointment.

Su Ting, who was standing in the living room, took a deep breath. A few years ago, she never thought that she would be anxious and angry about her child's grades.

He Yan was so easy to take care of when he was little. He didn't need his parents to push him. He knew how to work hard on his own. He always ranked first in the grade, and even if he slacked off occasionally, he would never fall out of the top three.

Gradually, my grades fluctuated greatly. When I did well, I could be in the top ten in the grade, but when I did badly, I would drop to the 40th or 50th place in the grade.

Although the teaching level of the military district primary school has been ranked first in the county in recent years and is not bad compared with many primary schools in the city, the grades have become too unstable. Su Ting is now worried that she will fail in the exams and will not be able to enter a key junior high school.

In the past, she always worried that He Yan would fail, but now looking back, even if he failed, his grades were much better than Man Man's, and he performed well in the college entrance examination and was admitted to Capital University.

She didn't expect to be admitted to the two universities in the capital, she just wanted to be admitted to her alma mater.

…

After slowly entering the house, Su Ting also went into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

The past decade since reform and opening up has been a time of rapid change. If we focus on households, the most obvious thing is the increase in the number of electrical appliances.

Ten years ago, apart from electric lights, other things with the word "electricity" were not very common. When they moved here, they even bought two electric fans, and the military wives even said in a roundabout way that they did not know how to save money.

After we moved into No. 67, a neighbor came to visit and saw that they had a hot shower, and his tone was full of envy.

But now, not just every household in the compound, but most of the households have gas stoves and shower heads.

In addition to these, most families have one or two of the following: telephones, rice cookers, televisions, refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines.

Su Ting's family has both. In recent years, public opinion has become more and more relaxed. She is no longer afraid to spend money as she did before. She just lives her life as she pleases.

Because these large items were purchased gradually, few people in the compound paid attention to them.

I can't keep up.

In the early years, military wives gossiped because there were few job opportunities and many of them were idle at home. Although they had a lot of housework to do, doing this did not prevent them from gossiping, so naturally they would like to talk about even the smallest things.

In recent years, there are many households with assets of over 10,000 yuan. Many officers in the army are eager to change their careers and start business, not to mention the unemployed wives of soldiers, who are also becoming more interested.

Those who were quick to act took action as soon as the policy became clear and quickly rented storefronts outside the compound, while those who were slow to act also started small businesses.

It can be said that these military wives in the compound are now focused on making money, and few of them really have the energy to pay attention to what other people have bought.

Even if they wanted to pay attention, other people's battles were much bigger than theirs.

The 1980s was a boom period. As the saying goes, if you started a business in that era, even a pig could fly.

This statement is exaggerated, but also very realistic.

Not all of these military wives who do business in the compound can make money, but as long as they do business steadily and don't mess around, they can basically have a stable income.

There are also those whose careers have taken off, like Meng Xiuzhen, who wanted to start a business in the early 1980s but never took action because she was concerned about her husband's job.

But she read a lot of related books during those years, and when she had nothing to do, she would go to the county and the city to look around and see what those who were doing prosperous business were selling.

After looking around, Meng Xiuzhen felt that making food was the safest option. As for what kind of food to make, she also considered it for a long time.

After the policy became clear, she quickly set up a stall and sold fried skewers at the gate of the military primary school every day after school. Later, when the storefront was built, she became one of the first people to rent a storefront to do business. Now she not only sells fried skewers outside the compound, but also has branches at the gates of junior and senior high schools in the county.

After making money, Meng Xiuzhen was more willing to spend money than before, because she had to go to the county store every two days to check it out, and sometimes it was inconvenient to go back and forth after work, so she bought a suite in the county. She also replaced the house in the compound with new furniture, and moved the refrigerator, color TV, and washing machine back one after another.

Meng Xiuzhen was considered restrained. There was another military wife living in the compound. When her business just started, she bought all the home appliances at once. There were so many things that the department store staff specially arranged for staff to drive a truck to deliver the goods.

When the truck entered the compound, the wives of the soldiers were all excited. Slowly, a truckload of home appliances came in!

That’s how much money he made!

Compared with this fight, Su Ting and Meng Xiuzhen's behavior of moving furniture in like ants moving house did not cause any splash in the courtyard at all.

Even when I later entered their house and found that they had all the necessary home appliances, I was only surprised for a moment and that was over. After all, there were so many families in the compound who had all the necessary home appliances that you could fit on one hand.

With an electric rice cooker, cooking is much easier than before.

In the past, when steaming rice, one had to cook the rice first, drain the rice, and then steam it in a double boiler. Of course, one could also steam it directly, but the rice would either be undercooked or easily get burnt, and it was difficult to get the right amount.

Using an electric rice cooker to steam rice can save you the trouble of draining the rice. You can just add water and cook it directly without watching the fire. The cooker will automatically trip when it's cooked.

After cooking the rice, Su Ting began to prepare ingredients for dinner.

Over the years, not only has her knife skills become extremely proficient, but she has also become quite adept at cutting vegetables. Ingredients that used to take her half an hour or even longer to prepare can now be cut in just ten minutes.

After completing the preparations, Su Ting went out to check the alarm clock and saw that it was almost six o'clock, so she put the green peppers into the pot and fried them with the eggs.

In the past two years, she has rekindled her interest in cooking. From time to time, she would cook a dish. If the response was good, she would make it twice more. If the response was not good, she would stop for a few days and wait for her next inspiration.

After cooking more, her cooking skills have improved a lot compared to when she was young.

Scrambled eggs with green peppers are easy to make and were ready in less than ten minutes. She brought the dish out and cleaned the iron pot. Almost as soon as she put down the rag, she heard a sound coming from the door.

She walked out and asked, "Are you back?"

He Dongchuan responded, took off his military cap, unbuttoned his collar and walked to the restaurant: "Scrambled eggs with green peppers?"

"Well, I cooked one dish, and you can cook the remaining two dishes."

"Okay, I'll put the things back first." He Dongchuan said, picked up his military cap and bag and went back to the master bedroom. After that, he went to the bathroom to wash his hands. During this time, he saw Man Man sitting in the study doing homework, so he stood at the door and looked inside.

Man Man had heard the conversation between his parents, but because he was afraid of his mother, he did not dare to go out. When he saw his father appear, he shouted happily.

He Dongchuan originally wanted to take a peek inside, but when he heard Manman's voice, he changed his mind and walked into the study and asked, "Are you doing your homework?"

My mood suddenly became depressed: "Well, the math teacher assigned a test paper, and the Chinese teacher assigned an essay."

"How much?"

He Dongchuan looked at the test paper. There were four pages in total, and she had only finished the first page.

The military primary school ends at around five o'clock, and he gets home at around 6:10. Even though the girl in front of him is his young lady, he can't say it's fast.

Although He Dongchuan said nothing, he gradually became sensitive to adults' emotions. He covered the test paper with his hands and explained, "After school, Yiyi and I played outside for a long time. We haven't been back for long. I can finish the test paper soon!"

"Dad believes in you." He Dongchuan said flatteringly, "Then you continue to do the test paper, and Dad will go to cook?"

Feeling embarrassed, he quickly waved his hand: "Go, go!"

In order to prove that he was not that slow in doing the questions, He Dongchuan stopped being distracted while cooking and finished one and a half pages of questions in a flash.

But gradually I felt it was not enough, so I folded the test paper before eating and put it back into my schoolbag, planning to show off to my parents after I finished it.

I just finished my meal when I heard my mother ask, "Have you finished your homework?"

He said slowly, "A little bit more."

Su Ting nodded: "If it can be finished before eight o'clock, you can watch TV for half an hour."

I slowly looked up at the alarm clock and saw it was almost seven o'clock. I quickly asked, "What if I don't finish by eight?"

"Then after you finish your homework, go back to your room and sleep."

Although the family bought a TV, she had few opportunities to watch it. Her teacher assigned a lot of homework every day, and it was considered early if she could finish it by seven or eight o'clock. Sometimes, even if she finished, she still had to do the painting homework assigned by her mother.

Basically, we can only watch TV on Saturdays and Sundays. We are not as good as many children in the compound who don’t have TV at home. They can go to other people’s homes to watch TV.

Because I don't watch much, TV is very tempting to me. Although the 8 o'clock cartoon has ended long ago, the TV series are also very interesting.

When "Shanghai Beach" was broadcast, she was also fascinated by Xu Wenqiang, but soon his position in her heart was replaced by Monkey King. Now her male god is Sun Wukong.

Thinking about watching TV, I gradually gained the motivation to do my homework. I quickly put down my bowl and chopsticks and went back to the study to continue doing my homework.

I hurried and hurried, and finally finished the test paper and composition before eight o'clock and gave them to my mother for checking.

Su Ting first glanced over the test paper and composition, and seeing that they were filled with content, she turned on the TV and then watched it slowly while she checked the test paper.

The test paper was done well. There were some mistakes, but not many. If it were graded, it would be around 90. After she finished reading it, she handed the test paper to Manman and pointed out the mistakes so that she could correct them.

Man Man was watching the TV with great interest. Hearing this, he discussed with Su Ting without turning his head: "Mom, can I correct the questions tomorrow?"

Su Ting asked back: "Can we watch TV tomorrow?"

Slowly: "...Okay." He walked into the study with his eyes glued to the TV, took out a pen, squatted in front of the tea table, looked at the TV for a while, wrote a word, looked at the TV for a while, and wrote another word.

After Su Ting checked her composition, she saw that she was still writing the first wrong question. She reached out and knocked on the coffee table: "He Miao! Raise your head again, I turned off the TV!"

"I won't look at it anymore." Manman said quickly, lowering his head to quickly correct the errors.

After the error was completely corrected, Su Ting checked and found nothing wrong, then nodded and said, "You can still watch TV for ten minutes."

"So fast?" He slowly raised his head to check the clock. Sure enough, it was already 8:20. "I haven't even looked at it for long!"

Seeing that Man Man was trying to cheat, Su Ting said, "We agreed on half an hour."

"Okay." He slowly raised his head and continued to stare at the TV.

Ten minutes passed in a flash. The plot was reaching its climax, and she was slowly screaming with excitement. At this moment, Su Ting walked in front of the TV and screamed even louder: "Mom, don't!"

"Half an hour has passed."

Slowly, he kept begging, "I'll watch for another five minutes, no, three minutes... two minutes is fine, Mom... I'll watch two minutes less tomorrow, no, I'll finish my homework earlier, by 7:30, okay?"

Su Ting finally gave in: "We have to ensure the accuracy."

"good!"

"I'll give you two more minutes."

Let out a slow breath.

But within two minutes, the ending theme song started playing on TV, and the plot was still stuck at the climax. She slowly fell backwards on the sofa in anger. However, Su Ting did not sympathize with her and smiled and said, "It's not that I don't let you watch it."

He slowly moved his body while lying on the sofa, with big eyes, looking up at Su Ting and shouting, "Mom~"

Su Ting turned off the TV: "Hmm?"

"I'll finish my homework early tomorrow. Can I still watch TV?"

"Sure, and as long as you can rank in the top five in your grade at the end of the semester, you can watch four hours of TV every day during the summer vacation." As long as you can rank in the top five in your grade, you'll definitely get into a key junior high school.

She began to show hesitation. After the fourth grade, her best result was sixth in the grade. She didn't want to mention her worst result because she felt it was very difficult to get into the top five.

But I watch TV four hours a day!

Looking forward to it.

Seeing the gradual entanglement, Su Ting smiled without saying anything, not worrying at all that the lady would refuse -

She is a professional at fishing for children!