Although He Dongchuan didn't feel anything at the time, when he went out in the fresh air the next day, he knew the benefits of applying vanishing cream without Su Ting's emphasis.

That night, Su Ting applied the vanishing cream to him again. He did not refuse and let her do it, rubbing it from his face to his hands.

His attitude softened so obviously that Su Ting could hardly fail to notice it. She raised her eyebrows and asked, "Why aren't you hiding today? Have you thought it through and decided to put on the vanishing cream obediently?"

He Dongchuan refused to admit it and just said, "I was afraid you would fall."

Su Ting glanced at him, looked at him for a moment, turned around, picked up the lipstick on the dressing table, twisted it and said, "Since you have given up resisting, then put on the lipstick too."

He Dongchuan frowned again. Although he accepted the lip cream reluctantly, he still felt that it was inappropriate for a man to wear lipstick.

Seeing Su Ting approaching closer with her lipstick in hand, He Dongchuan had no choice but to reach out, hold her wrist and say, "Stop making trouble."

"When did I make trouble? This is for your own good. Touch yourself and see how dry your lips are." Su Ting reached out and touched He Dongchuan's lips and said.

He Dongchuan said with a stiff face: "You don't need lipstick then."

"You can't even use lipstick when your skin is bleeding?"

"A little blood, nothing."

"I think you're just trying to save face and suffer in the end!" Su Ting sneered, turned the lipstick over and rubbed it on her lips.

Su Ting was not as stubborn as He Dongchuan. Even when she was pregnant, she never stopped applying lipstick after winter. So her lips were already moist, and a little application of lipstick made them look alluringly shiny.

He Dongchuan watched her movements intently and really wanted to lean over and bite her lips. However, the result of leaning over and biting her lips at this time was obvious. Apart from a lip balm, all he would get was probably her embarrassment.

He Dongchuan was just thinking about it when Su Ting moved, leaned over and put her lips on his.

Again and again.

She didn't pull away until his lips also had a luster, and reminded him: "Pull your lips together."

He Dongchuan pursed his lips and came to his senses: "Are you applying lipstick on me?"

"Yeah, I spent a whole day thinking about this method. Isn't it very useful?" Su Ting smiled slyly. When she saw him raise his hand to wipe his lips, she said with a fierce expression, "Don't wipe it! If you wipe it, you can go and sleep with Xiao Yan!"

He Dongchuan frowned and said, "It's sticky."

Su Ting responded with disdain: "Your lips are still dry, kissing them will hurt."

He Dongchuan stopped talking and just looked at her quietly.

Su Ting lay on her side on the bed, looking back.

After a long while, He Dongchuan bent down and kissed Su Ting on the lips: "Are you not going to kill anyone now?"

“Hmm.” It still tastes like orange.

After that night, He Dongchuan completely gave up resistance and let Su Ting do whatever she wanted every night.

However, he was very good at seeking benefits for himself. He requested that lipstick not be applied directly to the lips, but that Su Ting apply it on him first, like she did that night, and then kiss it on his lips.

Su Ting: ...sultry!

…

The vanishing cream and lipstick were very useful. After using them for a while, He Dongchuan's facial skin felt much smoother and his lips were no longer dry, which made Shi Cheng very envious.

On the way home one day, Shi Cheng glanced at He Dongchuan's face and asked in confusion, "We go in and out of camp at about the same time every day, and the wind blows the same way. How come my lips are so dry that they bleed? Are you okay?"

He Dongchuan certainly couldn't tell Shi Cheng that it was because he was wearing cream and lipstick, so he said calmly, "It's natural. There's no point in being jealous."

Shi Cheng choked, but believed it to be true. He glanced at He Dongchuan's face with envy and thought, they were all born by their father and raised by their mother, so why is this person different from others?

The two rode their bicycles and soon arrived at the street in front of the family compound.

Today is the winter solstice, and the cafeteria is serving pork and cabbage dumplings. There are a lot more people eating in the cafeteria than usual, and the line stretches from the window all the way to the cafeteria door.

He Dongchuan saw the car stop, took off his gloves and touched his pockets.

Shi Cheng, who had followed him, saw him stop his car, so he also stopped and asked, "What's wrong? Is your wife inside?"

"They're selling dumplings inside." He Dongchuan said, and took out two banknotes from his pocket. There was no bill, so he had to put his gloves back on.

Shi Cheng understood what he meant and asked, "Do you want to go in and buy some dumplings?"

He Dongchuan didn't answer, but just said, "I'll go back first and talk about it later." Then he rode his bicycle back to his family compound.

He entered the gate of the family compound, rode straight along the middle road, turned at a fork in the road, and soon He Dongchuan rode his bike into Building 66.

It gets dark early during the winter solstice, and the sun goes out after five o'clock. It is windy and strong living by the sea, so everyone retreats into their houses early, leaving the yard empty.

He Dongchuan parked his bike and walked into the house to see Su Ting sitting at the dining table, writing and drawing with a pen and a notebook.

He Dongchuan was puzzled. He took off his gloves and walked in to ask, "What are you writing?"

Su Ting was writing so attentively that she looked up when she heard his voice and realized that he had returned. She smiled and asked, "Are you back? Is it cold riding a bike today?"

"I'm wearing gloves, it's okay." He Dongchuan hugged his wife and bent down to kiss her lips.

Su Ting tilted her head back uncomfortably and said softly, "Xiao Yan is at home."

"He was doing his homework in the room, so I didn't notice." He Dongchuan picked up the notebook on the table and asked, "What are you writing? An account book?"

"I have nothing to do, so I'll just sort out the account book." Su Ting nodded, turned and walked towards the kitchen and said, "By the way, you don't have to cook today, I made a lot of dumplings."

He Dongchuan asked without thinking: "Can you make dumplings?"

Su Ting stopped at the kitchen door, turned around and asked with a half-smile: "Why? I don't look like someone who can make dumplings?"

"Of course it is." He Dongchuan quickly put down his account book, walked towards Su Ting and said, "I'm just a little surprised. Dumplings are not easy to make."

"Making dumplings is easy, but rolling out the dough and chopping the fillings is more troublesome," Su Ting said without flattering herself, "I asked Sister Yu about all these."

As they were talking, they walked into the kitchen.

The inside was in a mess as if it had been swept. The table was divided into two halves, one half was piled with pots, bowls, and utensils, and the other half was covered with a white cloth, on which were many plump white dumplings.

He Dongchuan ignored the mess in the kitchen and focused on the dumplings. He raised his eyebrows and said, "They look good."

"It tastes better." Su Ting was very confident because Yu Xiaofang helped prepare the filling.

"Yeah." He Dongchuan responded and simply counted the dumplings. There were probably about a hundred of them, not to mention the extra ones.

He Dongchuan put his arm around Su Ting's shoulders and asked softly, "Are you tired of making so many dumplings?"

"I didn't wrap it the whole time. When I got tired of sitting, I went out for a walk. When I wasn't tired anymore, I came back and continued wrapping. I think it was okay, but it was quite time-consuming. I wrapped it for almost the whole afternoon."

He Dongchuan nodded, patted her shoulder and said, "I'll cook the dumplings, you go out and take a rest. By the way, how many dumplings do you want to eat?"

"Twenty."

"Just this much?" He Dongchuan went out with Su Ting, walked to the door of the second bedroom and knocked, asking He Yan how many dumplings he wanted to eat.

Although He Yan was doing his homework in the room, his mind had already flown away. He just didn't dare to go out because he didn't finish his homework. Hearing his father's question, he immediately jumped off the stool and asked in a loud voice: "Are you going to cook dumplings? Will dad cook them? Can I eat as many as I want?"

He Dongchuan answered in turn: "Yes, yes, as long as you can finish them, you can eat as many as you want."

He Yan boasted: "Then I want to eat a hundred!"

“… Got it. I’ll cook ten for you.”

Thinking his father had misheard, He Yan followed him out and emphasized, "It's one hundred! Not ten!"

He Dongchuan asked unhappily, "Can you finish a hundred of them?"

"I can finish it. I have a big appetite!" He Yan blinked his eyes, very confident in himself.

He Dongchuan thought to himself, "I think you are very generous." He pointed at the dumplings on the table and said, "If you can't finish one of the 100 dumplings and leave one, I will slap you in the face. Is that okay?"

He Yan was shocked: "Why did you hit me?"

"If you waste food, you will be beaten," He Dongchuan asked repeatedly, "Think carefully, how many dumplings do you want to eat?"

He Yan didn't want to be beaten, so his expression was tangled. After a while, he asked, "How many dumplings does Mommy eat?"

"Twenty."

"Then I'll eat twenty too." He Yan said, stole a glance at the expression on his father's face, and added, "I will try my best to finish them and try not to get beaten."

He Dongchuan was satisfied and started to boil water and cook the dumplings.

…

He Dongchuan was talking about boiled dumplings, but when they are served on the table, there are not only water dumplings, but also dumplings with a golden fried surface. There are two kinds of water dumplings, those with soup, and those without soup and eaten with dipping sauce or chili powder.

So even though this meal only has dumplings, it looks quite rich.

The dumplings taste good too. The filling is made of lean meat with chopped cabbage. It tastes very refreshing and not greasy at all. The dumpling skin is also rolled out very firmly and has the right thickness.

The dipping sauce is made with soy sauce, vinegar and salt, and it has a sour taste. The chili powder is quite spicy, but the taste of the dumplings neutralizes the spiciness. Su Ting likes it very much. At the end of the meal, she discarded the dipping sauce and started to focus on the chili powder.

The fried dumplings tasted good too, with a crunchy sound and a crispy and delicious aroma. He Yan finished most of the dumplings by himself.

Most of the dumplings with soup went into He Dongchuan's stomach. He had a big appetite and was always the last one to finish the meal.

After eating and drinking, He Yan went back to his room to do his homework, while Su Ting continued to do the accounts. The task of washing dishes naturally fell on He Dongchuan.

He washed the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, covered the remaining twenty dumplings with a lid, and went out to say to Su Ting: "There are more than twenty dumplings left. Remember to eat them tomorrow morning."

"Okay." Su Ting responded, closed the account book and prepared to return to her room.

But just as she stood up, He Dongchuan hugged her waist. He put his ear to her belly and asked softly, "Did the baby move today?"

"It moved for a while during the day, but soon stopped."

He Dongchuan hummed and listened carefully for a while, but heard nothing. He comforted himself and said, "Maybe the baby is tired from playing during the day and is sleeping now. I will come back and listen tomorrow."

Su Ting smiled and pursed her lips when she heard that.

…

Not long after New Year’s Day, it was He Dongchuan’s birthday.

This day was not much different from any other day. He Dongchuan went to the camp as usual during the day, and He Yan also went to school. If you had to ask what was special, it was definitely that Su Ting planned to give He Dongchuan a surprise and prepared to cook for him herself in the evening.

However, Su Ting was very aware of her cooking skills. She didn't think about preparing a full banquet, or even cooking rice. Instead, she planned to cook a pot of noodles.

Anyway, we have to eat longevity noodles on our birthdays, so cooking noodles is also appropriate for the occasion.

In order to make the noodles look more substantial and for Su Ting herself to be able to eat them, she now occasionally eats noodles, but she doesn't like noodles that are too watery. She has to add more random foods to neutralize the taste of the noodles.

So after breakfast in the morning, Su Ting went to the seafood supply station and bought some clams, scallops, prawns, and any seafood with shells that the supply station had and that she could eat, and prepared to process them and cook them with the noodles.

Therefore, when He Dongchuan returned home in the evening, what was served in front of him was a bowl of seafood noodle stew.

Although the stew didn't look like longevity noodles, it looked surprisingly good. He Dongchuan raised his head and met Su Ting's expectant gaze: "Eat it."

"Um."

He Dongchuan responded and lowered his head to taste the noodles first.

The noodles were hand-rolled noodles that Su Ting bought at the grain station. They were not as chewy as the noodles in the north, but the taste was not bad either.

The seafood has its own flavor, the meat is fresh and slightly sweet. The soup is full of the freshness of the seafood, one sip is not enough, you have to drink more.

The bowl for noodles was not big. He Dongchuan finished a bowl of noodles in two or three minutes and even drank the soup cleanly.

After watching him finish drinking, Su Ting and He Yan clapped and shouted, "Happy birthday!"

He Dongchuan smiled and said, "Thank you."

"Wait for me." Su Ting stood up and walked into the master bedroom. She took out a box of leather shoes from the closet and handed it to He Dongchuan. "Dang dang dang! Birthday present!"

He Dongchuan was surprised: "Birthday present? Isn't it a New Year's present?"

"You still want a New Year's gift? You wish!" Su Ting said angrily, tapping the table to urge, "Although you already know what it is, you should at least cooperate and open the gift to take a look."

He Dongchuan readily opened the shoe box, took out the shoes inside, and acted surprised with his not-so-great acting skills: "Are they leather shoes? I have wanted a pair of leather shoes like this for a long time. Thank you for the gift, I like them very much."

After saying that, he took off his shoes, put on leather shoes, walked back and forth in the living room for a few laps, and continued to ask in surprise: "It fits perfectly. How did you choose the size? It fits perfectly."

Su Ting was amused by his exaggerated acting and said, "Who knows? Maybe someone with feet about the same size as yours helped me try it out for size?"

"Really? Who is that person?"

He Yan listened to the conversation between his father and mother, and the more he listened, the more confused he felt.

Isn’t the person trying on shoes dad himself?

Could it be that these shoes are not those shoes?

Or is his memory faulty?

He Yan was struggling with his thoughts when he heard Su Ting say, "Xiao Yan, don't you have a gift for dad too?"

"Yes." He Yan stood up quickly. He almost forgot about this.

She ran to the second bedroom and came out with a rolled-up paper tube in her hand. She handed it to He Dongchuan and said, "Dad, this is a gift from me. It's a picture of our family."

"Thank you."

He Dongchuan smiled and opened the paper tube with both hands. After a moment of silence, he said, "Not bad. I'll ask your mother to teach you how to draw in the future."

"What did you draw?" Su Ting asked, coming over to look at He Yan's painting.

The boy was being very mysterious. During this time, she only knew that he had prepared a gift, but she didn't know what it was.

After seeing this, Su Ting also fell silent.

There is a family photo on the white paper.

A father in military uniform and a pregnant mother are holding their son who is carrying a schoolbag. There is grass under their feet, houses behind them, and the sun and white clouds.

The idea is good and the drawing is okay, except that both the father and son have only three hairs on their heads.

Su Ting couldn't help laughing, picked up the painting and said, "It's a very good painting. The one in the military uniform is obviously the dad, and the one with the big belly is obviously me, and the child is Xiaoyan. It's so lifelike!"

He Yan was so embarrassed by the compliment that he blinked and asked, "Does Dad like it?"

"……like."

Su Ting continued, "Since Dad likes it, let's put it on the wall so he can see it every day when he comes in and out."

He Dongchuan asked: "...I don't think it's necessary."

"Why not? This is the first birthday gift Xiaoyan has given you since he grew up. It is very memorable." Su Ting turned to ask He Yan for his opinion, "Xiaoyan, what do you think?"

He Yan blushed and said, "I'll listen to my mother."

"That's settled then."

Seeing that Su Ting was about to get up to find glue, He Dongchuan quickly said, "Eat first and finish painting later." This was a compromise.

Thinking of the noodles in the pot, Su Ting said, "Okay, remember to remind me later."

"Yeah." He Dongchuan responded, thinking it would be best if she forgot.

But it was obvious that Su Ting was not so forgetful. After dinner, she rummaged through the drawers to find glue and pasted He Yan's painting in the most conspicuous place above the fighting cabinet.

He Dongchuan came out of the kitchen after washing the dishes. When he looked up, he saw the extra paintings on the wall.

Su Ting even whispered to him, "Sanmao."

He Dongchuan gritted his teeth: "How about you count how many hairs I have on my head?"

"I won't count. Xiaoyan only drew three for you." Su Ting said with a smile. There was nothing wrong with her eyes, so she knew that He Dongchuan had more than three hairs on his head.

He Dongchuan heard this and glanced coldly at the painting on the wall: "Sooner or later I will change this painting."

Su Ting said casually: "You change it."

Su Ting said this because she thought it was just a joke, and He Dongchuan shouldn't be so childish as to really change the painting. As a result, the next morning, she was awakened by He Yan's crying.

Su Ting thought something had happened, so she hurriedly put on her coat, slipped on her slippers and went out to ask, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"My painting, my painting was painted!" He Yan pointed at the wall and burst into tears again.

Su Ting looked up at the painting on the wall and saw that He Dongchuan, who had only three hairs last night, now had a layer of short black hair on his head.

Su Ting: "..." Childish!

…

Not long after He Dongchuan's birthday, the military district primary school welcomed the final exams. The atmosphere in the family compound quietly became tense, and the parents gathered together to talk about their children's studies.

Su Ting basically didn't say a word at this time. He Yan's grades were very stable in the new semester. He scored 100 points in both subjects in the midterm exam and ranked first in the grade.

In this case, whatever she says may seem like Versailles and easily arouse public outrage.

Some people also took the initiative to ask Su Ting about the secret of He Yan's rapid improvement in grades last semester. Su Ting did not hide it and openly told him that she and He Dongchuan took turns to tutor He Yan.

But many people backed off when they heard this. They might not know as many words as the children, so they gave their children tutoring, but they didn't want to lead them astray. They asked Su Ting if there was any other solution.

The answer is of course no.

Finally, I was at my wit's end and came up with an answer: "Every time on the day of an exam, I would buy him a bowl of noodles and add two poached eggs, which meant he would get a perfect score on the exam."

So during this final exam, many children in the compound had noodles with two poached eggs for breakfast.

Then, on the two days after the results were released, the family yard was filled with the crying of children, and more than half of the children playing in the playground were gone. When we asked the reason, we found out that they had not done well in the exam and were asked to stay home to do homework.

Zhang Xiaokai was also beaten, and his mother didn't let him go out to play for a week.

He Yan lost his good friend, so he had to focus on his homework at home.

It is also cause for celebration.

By the time He Yan had almost finished his homework, the New Year was approaching and the children in the compound had updated their toys. The most popular one now was the Temukan.

The popular ones are of course not real wooden boxes, but toy ones. The simpler ones are made of paper, while the more advanced ones are match wooden boxes made of iron bars.

The match wooden warehouse is basically divided into three parts: the buttstock is made of iron bars, the barrel is made of bicycle chains, and then covered with the skin of a bicycle inner tube. It looks simple, but it is so cool when the matches used as bullets are shot out under the collision and compression.

But there was only one foreigner like him in the whole compound, and the other children were about to cry.

He Yan was also one of the children who were cried.

He pestered He Dongchuan for two days and wanted his father to make him a match wood warehouse.

Of course He Dongchuan couldn't do it for him. Even if he was willing to do it, Su Ting wouldn't be happy.

Matches are so dangerous. Matches are thin and long, and they shoot out with great force. If you don't aim carefully and shoot them at someone, she doesn't dare to think about what will happen.

So Su Ting secretly gave He Dongchuan an order, firmly not to agree to make a match wood warehouse for the child.

So after being pestered by his son for two days, He Dongchuan analyzed the composition of the matchwood warehouse for He Yan, and then told him: "We don't have an old bicycle at home, so if you want to make it, you can only dismantle the current bicycle. Do you still want to make it?"

He Yan only knew that foreign bicycles were cool, but he didn't know what it took to make one. After hearing what He Dongchuan said, he hesitated: "Can I still ride a bicycle after disassembling it?"

"Of course not. Besides, after dismantling this bike, our family won't have the money or tickets to buy a second one in a short time. Dad will have to walk to the camp in the future." After selling the bad bike, He Dongchuan retreated and said, "Of course, if you really want the match wood warehouse, Dad is willing to make up for it and walk more in the future."

He Yan was so young that he couldn't get around He Dongchuan, an adult. After listening to his father, he said without hesitation: "I don't want the matchbox anymore. Dad, you can continue riding your bike."

"This..." He Dongchuan pretended to be embarrassed, "If other people have match wood warehouses in the future..."

"Then I don't want it either. I have a paper glove that's enough." He Yan said, raising the paper glove in his hand.

He Dongchuan was satisfied, touched his son's head and said, "Good boy."

In order to commend He Yan for being so well behaved, He Dongchuan took the time to make him a wooden hand-made wooden box. Although it is not as cool as the match wooden box, it is more durable than the one made of paper.

As soon as the wooden hand Mucang was taken out, it quickly became popular among the children in the compound.

There were many parents in the compound who were as worried as Su Ting about the dangers of the matches and wood warehouse, and what He Dongchuan said was a very realistic problem. No one really had any evidence.

So until the Chinese New Year, there were no extra match boxes in the compound, but there were a lot more wooden match boxes. So fighting became the children's favorite game during the Chinese New Year.

Amid the noisy shouts of "rush" and "kill" from the children, Su Ting welcomed the year 1975.