In order to prevent He Yan from thinking that she was an idle mother, Su Ting decided to pick up the comic strip she had stopped writing for more than half a month after she became pregnant at the beginning of the new semester.

During this period, she reorganized the finished manuscripts, selected the manuscripts for the first three serial issues, put them in an envelope, affixed a stamp, and mailed them out.

As luck would have it, right after she sent out her new story, she received a contract from the publishing house, along with the down payment for the publication of "Leaving Taohua Village," a total of one hundred and ninety-five.

Su Ting was quite surprised when she received the withdrawal slip.

She had been published before, and the contract was signed very quickly, but the publishing house was not very enthusiastic about paying her. They only gave her 30% after the final manuscript, and the remaining 70% half a year after the book was on the market. It took her one or two years to get the money.

I didn't expect that the publishing house would pay me so readily at this time. Half of the royalties were paid right after the contract was signed, and I didn't have to wait that long for the balance, which would be paid as soon as the comic book was released.

As for the comic book's release date, it is tentatively scheduled to be three months from now, which is mid-November.

This speed is fast enough!

Su Ting was very satisfied. After all, the comic book would be released quickly and the publishing house would make money faster.

Because they needed to collect their royalties, they went to the city again on Sunday. After getting the money from the post office, they went to the department store to do some shopping.

Although Su Ting's figure has not changed much since she became pregnant, she knows in her heart that she has gained some weight and her belly feels rounder than before.

She was afraid that her old pants would no longer fit her after a while, so she bought some loose-waisted pants instead of those for pregnant women. Firstly, she was not sure if they would fit her, and secondly, if the comic book was available in November, she would definitely have to go to the market again, so there was no need to buy anything so early.

Hmm...

It was indeed not so believable when Su Ting said this, because while she was saying that there was no need to buy pants so early, she couldn't help but buy two jumpsuits when passing by the counter selling baby clothes.

Su Ting felt that it was not her fault, it was all because her clothes were too cute!

She also bought a tiger-head hat and tiger-head shoes. Both the hat and the shoes were made of red cloth and gold thread. They looked very festive, especially the shoes, which were only the size of a palm, mini and cute. She really couldn't resist the temptation.

But after sitting down on the boat, Su Ting took out the things she bought for the baby and found the problem after just a few glances.

The goose yellow and light green jumpsuit and the red tiger-head hat and shoes don’t match, right?

In response to this, He Dongchuan showed his manly nature and said nonchalantly: "It doesn't matter if children's clothes match or not, as long as the size is right."

Su Ting: “…”

…

Su Ting thought that the next time she would go to the city would be when "Leaving Taohua Village" was released, but in fact, before the end of September, she received a letter from the publisher.

There are basically no problems with the manuscript submission of her new story.

But because it was a long novel, the publisher had some concerns, so in the letter she sent this time, they asked in detail about some details that were not clearly stated in her previous letters.

After reading the letter, Su Ting felt that it was not difficult to explain the publisher's concerns, but it was too troublesome to write a letter back and forth, so she decided to call them in the city.

So, taking advantage of He Dongchuan's rest on Saturday, the couple went to the city post office.

These days, people only have one day off a week, and publishing houses also have to work on Saturdays. The call was quickly connected after I dialed, but the person who answered the phone at first was a young man. After hearing that she was a durian and wanted to talk to the editor about a new story, the voice on the other end of the phone quickly changed to a woman's.

The woman was Wang Jingfang, Su Ting's editor-in-chief. She was also responsible for serializing the new story submitted by Su Ting.

Wang Jingfang was a little surprised when she heard the young female voice on the other end of the phone. Although she already knew Su Ting's personality, she didn't expect her to be so young.

But the surprise did not affect Wang Jingfang's professional attitude. Knowing that the phone call was expensive, she quickly got into the work rhythm after a simple greeting and threw questions one after another regarding her concerns.

Su Ting tried to answer the questions in the simplest language possible, and by the time the two reached a consensus and hung up the phone, less than ten minutes had passed.

Less than half a month after the phone call, Su Ting received the royalties from the publishing house.

Because she had some works and had left the rookie stage, the serialized manuscript fee for the new story had increased, now 75 yuan per issue. The publisher still paid Su Ting based on three issues, and this time she received 225 yuan.

Although the money she received this time was more than she had ever received before, Su Ting had received royalties twice before and was no longer as excited as she was the first time.

This time she was only slightly upset for a moment.

Also, when she took out her royalties to spend at the department store, she couldn't control herself and bought two onesies, a pair of shoes, and a cuddles for her unborn child.

However, she was more rational this time when shopping than last time. At least she paid attention to the matching when choosing clothes. She specially picked a red jumpsuit to match it with the tiger-head shoes and tiger-head hat.

In addition to buying clothes for the unborn baby, Su Ting also did not forget He Yan. It was already mid-October and the temperature on Pingchuan Island was gradually getting colder. Taking advantage of the fact that she had enough industrial coupons, she bought a coat, a pair of trousers, and a pair of Huili sports shoes for He Yan.

At that time, white Huili sports shoes were the best-selling ones. Any child who had a pair could go out and show off for a long time.

Even in the Navy compound, most children wore cloth shoes. Only a handful of children wore sneakers, and He Yan was one of them.

However, after wearing that pair of sneakers for more than half a year, they became a little tight because of his growth, and the toe of the sneakers was also worn out by him. So Su Ting bought him another pair of sneakers during this trip to the city.

He Yan has a tendency to get bored with old things when it comes to dressing.

She treasured her sneakers so much that she wore them every day even though the toes were cracked. But when she got to the department store, after trying on the new shoes, she didn't even look at her old ones. She held on to the new shoes and was determined to wear them back.

Su Ting said that the new shoes might rub his feet, and he refused to wear them again when she asked him to go back. She emphasized, "I think the new shoes are very comfortable to wear. They don't rub my feet at all!" After saying that, she jumped twice on the spot.

Su Ting and He Dongchuan couldn't persuade him, so they had to go along with him.

As a result, that night, he got two big blisters on his heels. When I told him that they were caused by the new shoes, he refused to admit it and insisted on wearing new shoes the next day.

Su Ting: “…”

Now she knows what it means to be stubborn and recalcitrant.

…

But He Yan was only stubborn for one night, because his heel was still hurting the next day after the blister was popped, so he didn't wear new shoes in the morning and put on the old shoes that squeezed his feet.

When Su Ting saw this, she deliberately showed a strange expression: "Why are you wearing your old shoes again?"

"My new shoes rub my feet." He Yan said pitifully, having already forgotten about his stubborn attitude last night.

"What about your new shoes?"

He Yan scratched his head, feeling a little torn. If he was allowed to wear new shoes, he would not be able to bear the pain. If he was not allowed to wear them, he would not be willing to do so. He was in a dilemma. After thinking about it for a long time, he could not come up with a solution. He looked at Su Ting pitifully: "Mom..."

Thinking of the pain he had suffered yesterday, Su Ting did not make things difficult for him. It happened that in her previous life, she also often encountered the problem of new shoes rubbing her feet. In order to solve the problem, she searched for relevant tips and still remembered them. She nodded and said, "Then I will think of a way."

The boy's eyes lit up immediately, and he kissed Su Ting on the face: "Thank you, Mom!"

Su Ting smiled, but pretended to be disgusted and said, "If you have something to ask of me, come and kiss me. If you have nothing to do, just...tsk tsk."

"No way, would I be willing to kiss my mother even if there was nothing wrong?" He Yan explained and kissed Su Ting again.

Su Ting wiped the non-existent saliva on her face and said, "Okay, hurry up and brush your teeth and wash your face. You've smeared my face with saliva. If everything goes well, you can wear new shoes tomorrow."

"oh!"

He Yan turned around happily and skipped to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

After breakfast, He Yan went out for school. After Su Ting cleaned up the dishes, she went to buy vegetables. When she came back, she soaked the pig intestines and went into the second bedroom to take out He Yan's new shoes.

Why do new shoes rub your feet? There are only two reasons: the size is not right, or the new shoes are made of a harder material, causing frequent friction between the shoes and feet.

When buying this pair of shoes, He Yan tried on the size, and Su Ting even pressed his toes with her hands to confirm that the size of the shoes was suitable. The only remaining issue was the hard material.

There are many ways to make new shoes soft. You can cover the places where your feet are rubbing with a wet cloth and then hit them repeatedly with a hammer. You can also polish them with soap and candles, or soak them in alcohol. In short, just make the material of the new shoes soft as soon as possible.

Su Ting chose the first method. She went into the bathroom and found the towel that He Yan used to wipe his feet. She wet it and covered the heel of her new shoes with it. Then she took out a hammer from the closet and repeatedly hit the heel.

After beating it for dozens of times, Su Ting stopped, took off the towel and looked at the shoe, then reached out and pinched it. When she felt it was almost done, she changed to the other one.

After all the operations, it took less than half an hour.

Although this method was quite effective based on her previous experience, Su Ting was not sure if it would work this time, so after He Yan came back at noon, she asked him to change his shoes and try again.

He Yan was very surprised: "Don't you have to wear it tomorrow? Mom, you finished it so quickly?"

Su Ting said, "It should be fine now, right? Try it on and tell me if it still doesn't feel comfortable."

In fact, Su Ting didn't need to say much, He Yan had already taken off his old shoes, put on new shoes and walked around the room. He jumped every two steps, and the more he jumped, the more excited he looked: "It seems to be really healed!"

Su Ting was afraid that he was blinded by the desire to wear new shoes, so she asked, "Are you sure? Don't wear them for a while or you'll get big blisters."

"Sure! I'm really fine now. Not only can I walk, I can even run!"

He Yan started running as he spoke, which made Su Ting dizzy. She raised her hand to stop him and said, "Stop running. You're making me dizzy."

"Oh." He Yan responded, stopped in front of Su Ting, twisted his body and asked, "Mom, can I wear my new shoes to school this afternoon?"

Su Ting didn't really trust He Yan's judgment, so she asked, "Aren't the blisters on your feet still healed? Why don't you wait a couple of days until they're fully healed before wearing new shoes?"

"The blisters are almost healed, and it doesn't hurt anymore!" To prove what he said, He Yan stepped hard on the floor twice, "Look, mom, it doesn't hurt at all! And mom, didn't you help me make my new shoes stop rubbing my feet?"

Since new shoes won’t rub your feet anymore, what does it matter if you wear new shoes or old shoes?

His logic is very clear.

Su Ting thought to herself, isn't she just worried that the new shoes won't be handled properly, and He Yan won't feel it clearly, so he hurriedly wears the new shoes to go out, and comes back in the evening with blisters on his feet and cries loudly?

But seeing his face full of desire, Su Ting swallowed her refusal and said, "Then you should wear an extra pair of socks."

As long as he could wear new shoes, He Yan had no objection to wearing an extra pair of socks, let alone a dozen. He agreed immediately, and without Su Ting's urging, he went to the room to find the socks and slippers and put them on.

But this time He Yan didn't pretend to be stubborn. The new shoes really didn't rub his feet. No matter how he jumped and danced the whole afternoon, he didn't get a second blister on his heel.

And thanks to his new sneakers, he finally became the coolest guy in the crowd.

Everyone envied him for having new sneakers.

He Yan was so happy that he walked with a breeze on the way home from school.

After arriving home and calling "Mom", he did not jump to the kitchen door as usual, but came out feet first, then a not-so-long bamboo leg, and finally the upper body.

Because of his strange posture, Su Ting stopped cutting vegetables and asked uncertainly: "You... don't have a fever, right?"

He Yan finally stood under the door frame and shook his head: "No."

"and you……"

Before Su Ting could finish her question, He Yan immediately answered, "I don't have any blisters on my feet!"

Hearing his desire to show off from his boastful words, Su Ting did not ask him why he acted like that just now. It was normal for her, an adult, not to understand the world of arrogant elementary school students.

…

After showing off her photos and shoes, He Yan went back to her room to do her homework, while Su Ting continued to cut vegetables. She was busy until half past five, then she washed her hands, poured herself a glass of water and sat at the door.

He Yan heard the noise in the room, ran out with a thump, stood at the door for a while, and ran back with a thump. When he came out again, he was holding a homework book in his hand. He refused to sit at the desk and insisted on lying on the stool to do his homework.

Because the stool under his buttocks was too low, He Yan had to stretch his legs forward after sitting down.

This movement tests flexibility a bit. Su Ting felt tired for He Yan, but he seemed to feel fine. He worked while sitting and swinging his feet.

Su Ting suspected that he came out to do his homework just to show off his shoes.

Sure enough, when He Dongchuan came back, he noticed the shoes on He Yan's feet and the first thing he asked was: "Are your shoes still rubbing your feet today?"

"No more grinding," He Yan quickly got up from the stool, jumped twice and said, "Mom is so great, she helped me fix my shoes, and they are fine now. I can run as much as I want this afternoon without any problems."

He Dongchuan looked at Su Ting: "Really?"

Su Ting said: "I treated him in the morning and he said it was fine to wear it in the afternoon."

"That's good."

He Dongchuan took off his military cap and military jacket and put them in the master bedroom. When he came out, he was only wearing a shirt. He unbuttoned his cuffs and walked into the kitchen. He first looked at the ingredients prepared by Su Ting on the table. He knew what to cook in the evening without asking.

But Su Ting followed him in anyway, leaning on the counter to explain the dishes she had bought today: "Originally, I wanted to buy some lean meat to stir-fry with green peppers, but when I got to the meat station, I saw that the fatty intestines were not sold out, so I bought some."

Don’t think that only people decades later would eat pig offal. The Chinese people’s menu was just as rich in the 1970s. Pig offal, which is greasy and free of charge, was very popular among the common people.

Su Ting has been here for so long, but when she goes to the butcher's station to buy meat, she rarely comes across any leftover offal.

However, it is really difficult to wash the fat intestines. Su Ting has obviously passed the morning sickness stage, but she felt like vomiting several times while washing the fat intestines. She just held it back in the end. She said: "You must make the fat intestines taste better today, otherwise it will be unfair to me for the hard work of holding back the vomiting and washing it."

He Dongchuan: “…Okay.”

Under pressure from his daughter-in-law, He Dongchuan had to be very focused when frying the pork intestines.

But He Yan was unwilling to be lonely. He entered the kitchen at some point, put his hands behind his back, and paced around the couple. When He Dongchuan was getting the seasoning, he didn't pay attention and was almost tripped by him.

When he looked down and saw his son suddenly appear, he asked in confusion, "What are you doing in the kitchen?"

"I came to watch you cook, Dad." He Yan stretched his neck and looked at the pot.

He Dongchuan: "Get out quickly, you are affecting my performance here."

"Why?" He Yan looked up and asked in confusion.

He Dongchuan put it more bluntly: "You blocked me."

"...Okay." He Yan sighed, turned around and walked out, stomping on his new shoes.

He Dongchuan turned his head and looked at the voice, muttering, "What's wrong?"

"Didn't you see it?" Su Ting, who was standing next to her, asked while trying not to laugh.

"Um?"

"Xiao Yan went into the kitchen to show off his new shoes."

He Dongchuan asked: "Is there any?"

"Of course, didn't you see that he was standing like this when he was talking to you?" Su Ting said as she turned sideways to face He Dongchuan, with her head tilted back, her left leg propped up behind, and her right leg stretched forward.

He Dongchuan: “…”

…

If you show off too much, it is easy to fail, and that is what happened to He Yan today.

Because he didn't want to take off his new shoes, He Dongchuan urged him three times that night. He still made excuses and didn't want to take a shower. He even bargained and asked if he could skip a shower today.

The question made He Dongchuan's face darken, and he pointed at the bathroom door and gave him an ultimatum: "I'll give you three seconds to take a shower."

If you ask Su Ting and He Dongchuan who He Yan is more afraid of, his answer will definitely be his father. The reason is simple: his father looks more ferocious and scarier when he is angry.

But if you were to rate He Yan's fear of He Dongchuan, it would definitely not be 100. 80 would definitely be a stretch, because although He Dongchuan was fierce, he had never actually fought with him.

So when He Yan saw He Dongchuan's gloomy face, he was a little scared, but he didn't take any action immediately. He just stood there with his lips pursed.

Three seconds later, He Dongchuan began to roll up his sleeves: "Do you want to find a place to lie down and get beaten, or do you want me to hold you down and beat you up?"

He Yan took a step back, swallowed his saliva and asked: "Can I, can I not choose either?"

He Dongchuan thought that he might be too gentle at home, so He Yan was still bargaining with him at this time. He didn't answer his question, but pointed in front of him: "Come here."

He Yan was not stupid, so of course he wouldn't just go over there and turned around and ran away.

But he had short arms and legs, so there was no way he could outrun the tall and strong He Dongchuan. After a while, his father grabbed his clothes and lifted him up. Then he felt dizzy and when he opened his eyes after crying, he was forced to lie on his father's lap.

Then he felt a chill on his butt.

“Bang!”

He Yan screamed, "Mom! Mom! Dad hit someone!"

Su Ting, who had just finished taking a shower and was applying perfume in the room, had already heard the noise outside. However, not only did He Yan not take He Dongchuan's threat seriously, she also thought that He Dongchuan would not really do anything, so she did not come out.

But she didn't expect that He Dongchuan, who had always been all talk and no action, would be so cruel today. So she didn't react when she heard the first slap. It was not until the second slap that she hurriedly got up and walked out of the master bedroom.

This time the slaps were continuous. While Su Ting was walking out, He Dongchuan slapped He Yan's butt three times in a row, making him go from screaming to crying at the top of his lungs.

As soon as she came out of the master bedroom, Su Ting looked down and saw He Yan, who was kneeling on his father's legs with his pants stripped off, with his two red buttocks exposed to the air.

Seeing that He Yan was about to continue beating him, Su Ting quickly stepped forward and slapped his hand away, pulled He Yan out of his arms and said, "Alright, it's not a big deal, is it necessary to beat the child like this?"

After saying that, he bent down and touched He Yan's buttocks, and asked, "Does it hurt?"

It would have been fine if she didn't ask. Once she did, He Yan felt so wronged that she pouted and cried, "It hurts! It hurts so much!"

Seeing his son's arrogance, He Dongchuan couldn't help but twitch his lips and said in defense: "I didn't use any force."

Although he wanted to teach the child a lesson, he did not want to harm him, so he intentionally held back on the force. However, the skin on He Yan's butt was too tender, and it turned red as soon as he slapped it. In addition, his skin was fair, so the red was very noticeable, and his excuse seemed pale.

Sure enough, Su Ting didn't believe him. She pointed at He Yan's butt and asked unhappily, "How could his butt be so red without any force?"

With his mother's support, He Yan started to show off again, nodding like a chicken pecking at rice, "That's right!"

But just as he finished speaking, he saw Su Ting glanced at him coldly: "Does your butt hurt anymore?"

He Yan whimpered, covered his buttocks and crawled into Su Ting's arms, saying coquettishly: "No, my buttocks still hurt..."

Originally Su Ting believed that he had a sore butt, but his acting was so crude that she couldn't help but see it.

But considering that He Yan had just been beaten, he didn't scold him. He pulled up his pants and said, "Alright, you were wrong in the first place. It's normal to wear sneakers when you go out during the day, but why are you wearing sneakers when you go to bed at night? Do you want to sleep in my arms?"

In his heart, He Yan was of course willing to sleep with his sneakers in his arms, but he had just been beaten up, so he behaved himself much better and did not dare to follow Su Ting's assumption and ask "Is it okay?"

Seeing what He Yan was thinking, Su Ting said, "If you really want to sleep with your worn shoes in your arms, your dad and I won't dare buy you shoes in the future."

"If I don't sleep with my shoes in my arms, will you and dad still buy me new shoes?"

"Yes, but only if you behave well. It's best not to happen again like today when you didn't even want to take a shower in order not to take off your shoes."

He Yan hesitated for a while between the new shoes on his feet and the other new shoes in the future, and asked: "After I take a shower, can I still wear the new shoes tomorrow?"

"Can."

He Yan made a quick decision: "Then I'll go take a shower." After that, he squatted on the ground, quickly took off his sneakers, and ran into the bathroom barefoot.

As soon as the child left, Su Ting looked at He Dongchuan and asked, "What's wrong with you today? Why are you so angry?"

"Nothing," He Dongchuan rubbed his brows and said to Su Ting, "Usually you always say that I am all talk and no action, so why did you come out to stop me when I beat him up today?"

Su Ting thought, if your battle was not so big and scary, why would I rush out to stop you? She smiled and said, "You want to be a strict father, and I don't plan to be a strict mother."

As the couple was talking, He Yan's voice suddenly came from the bathroom: "Mom! The water in my shower is cold!"

Su Ting turned her head and said "I know", then turned her head back to He Dongchuan and smiled, raising her chin: "Father Yan, go get some hot water for your son."

He Dongchuan: “…”

To be honest, he didn't really want to care about the little kid in the bathroom who only knew how to exaggerate his power, tell his mother about his misfortunes, and frame his father.

Seeing that he didn't move, Su Ting patted his arm and said, "Hurry up, or Xiaoyan will catch a cold."

He Dongchuan sighed, resigned himself to his fate, got up and went to the bathroom to pick up the kettle on the coal stove. After entering the bathroom, he first let his rebellious son get out of the bathtub, added hot water, and then reached his hand into the bathtub to mix the hot water and cold water evenly.

He Yan was already familiar with this process. When he saw his father withdraw his hand, he knew it was over. He walked into the bathtub and sat down. Because the movement was too large, a circle of water splashed out of the bathtub and just fell on He Dongchuan's feet.

Looking at his wet trousers and slippers, and then at the little guy sitting in the bathtub playing with water happily, He Dongchuan took a deep breath.

This is his own child.