Chapter 66 Getting along.
After returning with the roast duck, Cheng's mother went into the kitchen to prepare lunch.
It was He Susu's first time to go to her husband's house, so she naturally couldn't just sit outside. Fortunately, she was usually responsible for preparing food in the army, so she said, "Mom, let me come into the kitchen and help you."
Mother Cheng did not refuse, and said with a smile: "Okay, come in, it will be easier for me to have your help."
He Susu entered the kitchen and found it very clean, with all kinds of food neatly laid out and the stove also a coal stove. Overall, it was similar to a military home.
Mother Cheng took out a piece of pork, half a chicken, a fish, and pickled spicy cabbage. "The pork was bought fresh this morning, the fish was bought yesterday and pre-processed and refrigerated, and the chicken was bought the other day. We'll have these for lunch. Susu, can you help cut the pork into slices? We'll stir-fry the black fungus later."
He Susu agreed, rinsed the kitchen knife, and started cutting the pork on the chopping board.
Cheng's mother prepared half of the chicken. She asked with a smile, "Cheng Shi is usually busy with training, so you cook all the meals at home, right?"
He Susu said honestly: "I am not very good at cooking. I usually prepare meat and vegetables in advance, and when Cheng Shi comes back, I just stir-fry them and eat them."
There's no point in keeping this secret, so it's better to just speak out.
Cheng's mother smiled with satisfaction: "It should be like this. He is busy with training and you have to write articles at home. We all have to work, so how can we let you do all the cooking? Cheng Shi's father and I are also busy with work. Usually, whenever his father is at home, he cooks. I don't really like to cook."
"Cheng Shi has been learning to cook since he was a child, from his father. Now that you are married, it's good to let him cook. Besides, the most troublesome part of cooking is preparing the food. You have done the most troublesome part, so it's easy for him to cook some dishes."
He Susu didn't expect her mother-in-law to say this. She smiled and nodded, "Cheng Shi's cooking is indeed delicious. If we each do some work, we won't be so tired."
"That's how it should be." Mother Cheng smiled and said, "Are your parents in good health?"
He Susu: "They are in good health and still insist on going to work. My father even wants to get full work points. I told him and my mother not to work too hard. Old age is not the same as when we were young."
Cheng's mother agreed: "That's right. I'm old and my back aches after working on the street for a while. But there are so many things to do on the street, and I have to handle the people's service well. There's nothing I can do about it."
He Susu: "Mom, you've worked hard too. Street affairs are trivial and related to people's livelihood. You are able to handle these matters and become the director. You are our role model."
Mother Cheng smiled and said, "It's not as exaggerated as you say. I have worked in the streets for decades, and I just want to do the job at hand well."
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law chatted while working. He Susu cut the pork into slices and put them on a plate for later use, and then cut the processed fish into fish pieces.
Cheng's mother prepared half of the chicken, turned on the coal stove and started to stir-fry the chicken, then braised the fish, cooked some mushrooms and pork slices, and finally stir-fried some pickled spicy cabbage. The roast duck was already cut when it was bought from the state-owned restaurant, so it was directly put on the plate.
Cheng Shi helped to carry the dishes to the table and then went to get bowls for rice.
Then Cheng's father came back. He also had a tall and straight figure, eyebrows and eyes similar to Cheng Shi, and some gray hair. Perhaps as the deputy director of the food factory, he was in charge of the workers all year round and was responsible for external business negotiations. His face was a little serious, but his smile was inexplicably friendly.
He looked at his son who had returned with a satisfied smile, then looked at He Susu and said with a smile: "This is Susu, right? Nice to meet you. I'm sorry I couldn't welcome you home today because of something at the factory."
He Susu greeted with a smile: "Hello, Dad, we understand that work is important."
Cheng's mother came out from the kitchen: "You are finally back, the whole family is waiting for you to eat. Thanks to Susu's help, I was able to prepare this table of food at noon."
Father Cheng looked at the delicious meat dishes on the table and said, "Susu, you've worked hard. Yuhua, you've worked hard too."
He Susu smiled and said, "Dad, I just help out. It's mom who does the main work. It's mom who has worked hard."
Father Cheng smiled and said, "You have all worked hard. Come sit down and eat."
The family of four sat at the dinner table, and Father Cheng took the initiative to say, "The happiest thing today is that it's your first time to come to our home, Susu. From now on, this will be your home, so don't be restrained. I hope you will be happy living here."
Mother Cheng nodded and said, "Yes, Susu, you can live your life here as usual. If you need anything, just tell us. You're welcome."
He Susu smiled with her eyebrows curved: "Okay, thank you, Mom and Dad."
Cheng Shi sat aside, smiling silently, not caring at all that he was being ignored.
The family started to eat.
He Susu picked up a piece of braised fish and ate it, and found that although her mother-in-law seldom cooked, she was a good cook.
The fish pieces are braised and tasty, and they are especially delicious when eaten with rice. The black fungus is smooth and crispy, and the fried meat slices are also delicious. The fried chicken with green onions is also very fragrant, and the chicken meat is firm, tender and fragrant with green onions.
The roast duck produced by the state-owned restaurant is undoubtedly the most delicious. The duck skin is crispy, the duck meat is tender, and each piece is salty and delicious.
Father Cheng obviously doesn't talk much in normal times. Except for the few words he said at the beginning, it is mostly Mother Cheng who does the talking, and he is responsible for nodding and shaking his head.
After Cheng's mother cared about her daughter-in-law, she also cared about her son. Naturally, Cheng's father also cared about his son. He didn't know much about them through letters, but when they met, he listened quietly to his son talking about his daily life in the army.
After the meal, Cheng's mother was tired of her son and asked Cheng Shi to take the bowls and plates to the kitchen to wash them.
She also pulled He Susu aside and whispered, "Men need to be made to work more, and they will get used to it as time goes by. If you don't let him work, he will do nothing over time. Cheng Shi's father only has to work and rest in the afternoon, and he has to wash the dishes after dinner in the evening."
Cheng's mother couldn't help but complain, "He's been busy with work recently, and I've been cooking for him. It's exhausting. When he's free, I'll have him do twice as much work."
He Susu thought her mother-in-law was inexplicably cute, and said with a smile, "Cheng Shi and I will be at home these days, so you can relax a little bit when it comes to cooking."
Mother Cheng nodded: "That's right, I feel much more relaxed with your help at noon. You must be tired from the car ride, go back to your room and take a nap."
He Susu smiled and agreed, then took the enamel cup that Cheng's mother bought for her, filled it with water and brought it back to the room. After drinking a few sips of water, she put the enamel cup on the desk for the time being and walked to the bedside to sit down.
After a while, Cheng Shi came in: "Are you still asleep?"
He Susu nodded: "I'll wait for you to come back and sleep together. Are you tired of washing the dishes?"
Cheng Shi smiled and said, "What's so tiring about washing a few dishes? At your place, my parents-in-law don't let me work, but I feel embarrassed to have nothing to do."
During the days I was at my mother-in-law's house, it was basically my mother-in-law and her three sisters-in-law who did the work. When Cheng asked if he wanted to help with something like washing dishes, his mother-in-law stopped him, saying that it was not necessary for a son-in-law to work for him, and that he should just sit back and drink tea and chat.
He Susu smiled and said, "My parents are embarrassed, but it is indeed my mother and my sisters-in-law who are doing the work at home, while my father and eldest brother are busy with the things in the fields."
In comparison, she also felt that the Cheng family's education was good. Men should do some housework, and not leave everything to women. Her family was just a rural area that did the same thing, so they followed suit.
She didn't think about it anymore and said, "Come up and sleep."
Cheng Shi got on the bed and looked at the pillow Susu was lying on. It was the same pillow he had slept on for many years. Even the pillowcase was the same, but it was very new.
He said, "I lived alone originally, and I only had one pillow here, and I only had one pillowcase made back then. I guess yours was remade by my mother, and it's rare that she even got a piece of cloth of the same color to make the pillowcase. The whole set looks so comfortable, and we look like a pair."
He Susu couldn't help laughing after hearing this: "Okay, okay, you look like a couple, go to sleep."
It's no wonder that I didn't feel sleepy before I lay down on the bed, but I felt sleepy as soon as I lay down on the bed. Cheng Shi and He Susu didn't sleep well on the train last night, so they fell asleep quickly after closing their eyes.
When they woke up from their nap, Cheng's father had already gone to work at the factory, and Cheng's mother was sitting in the living room making tea. Seeing her son and daughter-in-law wake up, she called them over: "I just made some tea for you, come and drink some to wake you up."
"Thank you, mother."
He Susu sat on a chair and drank a few cups of tea. Suddenly, she remembered something: "Cheng Shi, I forgot about it when I was busy this morning. We agreed to send a telegram to my parents to let them know that we were safe after we arrived in Shanghai."
Cheng Shi had forgotten about it, and nodded quickly: "Okay, there's a telegraph booth over here in the family compound, I'll go send a telegram back first."
He Susu thought that she had nothing to do at home, so she simply asked, "How about I go with you?"
Mother Cheng waved her hand and said, "Cheng Shi, take Susu with you. Let's go around the family compound first."
"Okay, then we'll go out first."
Cheng Shi and Su Su packed up, changed their shoes and went out. They naturally greeted people they met on the road. Cheng Shi smiled and introduced Su Su as his wife. His light smile and the smile in his eyes made the ladies in the family compound laugh and say that Cheng Shi looked much more cheerful after getting married.
Whenever He Susu thought of this sentence, she tried hard not to laugh.
Walking to the telephone booth, Cheng Shi introduced: "People in the family compound often send telegrams or make phone calls to relatives outside. A few years ago, we simply set up a telegram booth here to save people from having to travel a long way outside to send telegrams."
Of course, it was also because the First Food Factory was a large factory with tens of thousands of employees, and there were many people living in the family compound, so there was a great demand for sending telegrams, so we took the lead in setting up a telegraph booth here.
He Susu greeted the staff inside and only wrote, "I have arrived safely at my in-laws' home in Shanghai, don't worry, parents."
In those days, telegrams were charged according to the number of words, so they were tried to be as concise as possible. Cheng Shi paid the money promptly.
Then the couple strolled slowly in the family compound.
When passing by an old tube-shaped building with mottled exterior walls, a girl suddenly rushed out, her eyes fell on Cheng Shi, and she called out in a delicate voice: "Brother Cheng Shi, you are finally back."
He Susu looked at the girl, who was wearing a light blue plaid skirt, with pigtails on both sides, and her eyes were as big as a clear spring. She looked at Cheng Shi with affection.
She couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. From what the ladies said when she entered the family compound in the morning, she knew that Cheng Shi, who was good-looking and handsome, was very popular, and there must be girls who liked him.
Even in the army, Cheng Shi was a popular guy. It was said that many of the female soldiers in the art troupe and the nurses in the military hospital were interested in him, but they stopped pursuing him after they found out he was married.
When He Susu looked at Cheng Shi, she saw that he looked confused and knew that the girl's efforts were in vain.
Cheng Shi really didn't know the person in front of him, so he just asked calmly: "Who are you..."
The girl was obviously shocked by Cheng Shi's appearance. Her eyes were filled with tears and she looked aggrieved: "Brother Cheng Shi, don't you remember me? I'm Zheng Yuan. My mother also works in the street. We played together when we were young."
Cheng Shi said calmly: "I'm sorry, I don't remember. This is my wife He Susu. If there's nothing else, we'll leave first."
As he said this, he took He Susu's hand and continued walking forward, completely ignoring Zheng Yuan.
Cheng Shi has always been like this. He is not stupid and can tell at a glance that the other party is interested in him. Before he met Su Su, he kept his distance from these people. After meeting Su Su, when he met these people again, his attitude was as ruthless as the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves, leaving no room for any factors that could hurt the relationship between himself and Su Su.
He Susu smiled, and was obviously very satisfied with Cheng Shi's actions. She let him hold her hand and continued to walk around the family compound.
Zheng Yuan was left with only sad tears, and she murmured as she looked at the backs of the two men who were leaving, "Why are you so heartless that you don't even remember me..."
The next second, an old lady with high cheekbones and a mean face rushed out of the tube building. When she saw Zheng Yuan, she scolded her, "Why are you here instead of working at home? You are still crying. Do you want the family compound to misunderstand how I treat you harshly? Go home now."
Zheng Yuan immediately begged for mercy: "Grandma, please don't pinch me, I'll go back now..."
He Susu had no idea what happened next, and she didn't take Zheng Yuan to heart. She followed Cheng Shi to the cross corner of the family compound and found that there was a small shop here.
Cheng Shi explained: "The family compound is quite large. There is a supply and marketing cooperative in the east, and a small shop in the west. It sells candies, biscuits, soda, oil, salt, soy sauce, etc. for residents to buy. However, most things can only be bought at the supply and marketing cooperative. Children occasionally come here to buy food with their change. The shop is publicly owned, and Mr. Zhang, who works there, lives on his monthly salary."
He Susu nodded to show that she understood: "That's good. I don't have to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some simple things. I can buy them directly here."
Cheng's family lived in the east, and they usually went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy things. When Cheng Shi was a child, he had some change in his hand, and he basically contributed all of it to this small store.
He Susu was quite interested in the store. She went in to see what was for sale. There were hard candies, soft candies, some common biscuits, and soda.
She picked out two bottles of Beibingyang soda and bought them, then shared one with Cheng Shi. "This soda tastes really good. In the past, you could only buy it in the county town if you were lucky."
Cheng Shi took it with a smile, opened the bottle cap and took a sip. It had the familiar taste, and the steam flowed from the tip of his tongue into his stomach, making his whole body feel relaxed.
"I also loved drinking this soda, but later when I joined the army I couldn't drink it at all, so I gave it up over time."
The two of them walked and drank, talked and chatted, and walked around the family compound before going home.
After opening the door and calling out, no one answered, and then he realized that Cheng's mother was not at home. Cheng Shi realized, "I guess the street office has something urgent to do, so they called her over to handle it."
He Susu walked to the balcony and took a look. She found that the building had a good view. From the third floor, she could see the surrounding scenery, dense trees, hard concrete roads, playing children, and occasionally women carrying net bags home.
She returned to the living room and sat down with Cheng Shi to drink tea. It was getting late after the meeting, so she asked, "How about we cook first? Dad should be back from get off work soon."
Cheng Shi nodded: "Okay, I'll go see what to eat for dinner."
The couple entered the kitchen. Cheng Shi was quite familiar with the family. He looked through the food his parents usually had and decided, "Let's heat up the leftover chicken and duck from lunch, and make some stir-fried bacon with green peppers and pickled spicy cabbage."
In winter, I basically eat pickled spicy cabbage every day, and occasionally change the taste by eating pickled white radish.
He Susu agreed, took the bacon handed to her by Cheng Shi and started cutting it with a knife, while Cheng Shi turned on the coal stove and started cooking.
Mother Cheng and Father Cheng came back almost at the same time.
Mother Cheng saw the meat and vegetables on the table and said, "You guys have already prepared dinner? It's good to have you here. Street affairs are annoying. I asked for leave today, but Lao Wang still came to my house to take care of things, and I'm only now finishing my work."
Father Cheng said with relief: "It's more lively when there are more people at home. When you come back, you can have a bowl of hot food to eat. You have worked hard."
He Susu smiled and said, "Dad and Mom, you guys have worked hard. I just cut some bacon, and the rest was made by Cheng Shi."
Cheng Shi just said: "Hurry up and sit down to eat."
This dinner made Cheng's father and mother feel very happy. This was a dinner prepared by their son and daughter-in-law. At their age, they could enjoy a peaceful meal. After the meal, Cheng's father collected the dishes and went to the kitchen to wash them without his wife saying anything.
Cheng's mother and her son and daughter-in-law sat on chairs in the living room and asked them about their afternoon walk.
He Susu picked out some interesting things to tell her, which made Cheng's mother laugh and say, "Why didn't I realize there are so many good places in our family compound before? After hearing what you said, I want to go and see it tomorrow."
"Maybe you've lived here for a long time and are used to it. When I first came here, everything was new to me and that's why I found those places interesting." He Susu said with a smile.
In addition to the convenience store, they also went to the red house where children often played, the stone table under the shade of trees where old men played chess, and the open space where bicycles were parked in a row, where there was an old man guarding there every day to prevent people from stealing bicycles.
She suddenly remembered that she had not taken out the sweater she knitted for her mother-in-law, so she hurried into the room and took it out from the closet: "Mom, this is the sweater I knitted for you, take a look and see if it fits you."
Mother Cheng's eyes lit up when she heard this: "Susu, you are so kind that you even knitted a sweater for me?"
She reached out to take the sweater and was surprised to see that it was her favorite purple color. The sweater was tightly knitted and felt comfortable to the touch. After trying it on herself, it was obviously enough.
Mother Cheng couldn't help but take off the sweater she was wearing and put on the sweater given by her daughter-in-law, saying: "It fits well. This sweater fits well and is very comfortable to wear."
Cheng's mother thanked her sincerely: "Susu, thank you so much for knitting a sweater for me. I like this purple color, and this sweater is my favorite sweater."
"You're welcome, Mom. I just remembered that you gave me a piece of clothing last time. I didn't know what to give you when we first met, so I thought about it and decided to knit you a sweater. I hope you like it." He Susu said.
Cheng Shi added at the right time: "Susu didn't know how to knit a sweater before, but she learned to knit her first sweater for me as a birthday present. In order to knit this sweater for you, her fingers were red, swollen and itchy, so she took a day off. She even knitted the sweater on the train and finished it before getting off the train this morning."
Mother Cheng was very happy to hear that Susu learned to knit a sweater in order to give it to her son as a birthday present. But when she heard that Susu's fingers were red, swollen and itchy and she was knitting this sweater for herself even on the train, she was left with only heartache.
"Susu, are your fingers feeling better? Oh, you are such an honest child. If your fingers are uncomfortable, just rest more. Knitting a sweater is not a big deal. You are still knitting even when you are so tired on the train. I am embarrassed to wear this sweater."
He Susu praised Cheng Shi's words in her heart, but smiled and said, "Mom, my finger is much better now. You can see that it is basically back to normal now. The ointment prescribed by the hospital is quite effective. I was thinking that I would give you the sweater when we met. It's a good opportunity to kill time on the train. Otherwise, it would be boring to be on the train for more than 20 hours."
Mother Cheng heaved a sigh of relief when she saw her daughter-in-law's outstretched fingers were slender and long, with almost no redness or swelling. "It's good that your hand is almost healed. I really like the sweater you gave me. I'll wash it later and wear it tomorrow when it's dry."
When Cheng's father came out after washing the dishes, before he had time to sit down and drink some tea, his wife started showing off the sweater that his daughter-in-law had knitted for him.
It would be a lie if Cheng's father didn't say he envied her. Who wouldn't want to receive a sweater knitted by their loved ones? He became more and more satisfied with his daughter-in-law and said to Cheng's mother, "You are the happiest person in the family. You can even receive a sweater knitted by Susu herself. When Mr. Wang and Mr. Liu praise their daughter-in-law in the future, you will have something to say."
Then he said to He Susu, "Susu, you are also thoughtful."
After Cheng's mother's excitement of receiving the sweater knitted by her daughter-in-law had passed, she talked about tomorrow: "Your father and I both have to go to work tomorrow, Cheng Shi, you can take Susu around. You can go and have a look at the time-honored shops on the pedestrian street. There is a new western restaurant on Huaiyang Road, you can also take Susu to try it. There are also many old buildings in Yu Garden, which are quite interesting. You can go there more often."
"Anyway, you might know where the fun places are better than I do. Take Susu out for a walk these few days."
Cheng Shi smiled and agreed: "Then we will go out for a walk tomorrow and not come back for lunch."
Mother Cheng nodded and said it was no problem.
Father Cheng also said: "Then I will walk to work tomorrow and leave the bicycle to you."
This bicycle was bought for Cheng Shi to ride to school. After all, the food factory was not far from the staff quarters and he could walk to work. Later, when Cheng Shi went to military school and then to the army, he changed to riding a bicycle to go to work.
Father Cheng remembered something and went into the room and took them out: "Here are several remittance vouchers. A while ago, the factory's sausages were sold overseas and earned a lot of foreign exchange. A friend of mine gave them to me. Take them and look at them. Go to the Overseas Chinese Store and see if there is anything you want to buy and buy it."
Overseas remittance vouchers are good things, and they are usually hard to get. Cheng Shi took them without hesitation: "Thank you, Dad."
The family of four sat and chatted for a while, then took turns taking a shower and then went back to their room to sleep.
He Susu was thinking about going shopping with Cheng Shi tomorrow, so she lay on the bed, closed her eyes, and fell asleep soon after.
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