◎Third update◎
After one month of work, midsummer has quietly arrived. Along with the chirping of cicadas and birds, the highly anticipated college entrance examination has also arrived. This year's college entrance examination is scheduled for July 20th to July 22nd.
On the morning of the first day of the college entrance examination, Zhou Yun cooked two eggs for his grandson's wife, and Xu Shengjie went out to buy some fried dough sticks. It was rare for the family to have such a sumptuous breakfast.
Soy milk, fried dough sticks, steamed buns and egg.
"Sister-in-law, a fried dough stick and two eggs, if you don't get 100 points, who will?" Xu Shengwei said funny words that he heard from somewhere.
"Okay, then I'll take it seriously." Liang Baozhen had a full stomach after breakfast today. Before leaving, she went to see her daughter who was still sleeping, and then she left with peace of mind.
Xu Shengjie bought a bag of milk powder from the milk factory through his connections. It was five yuan a bag, 500 grams, not cheap. It was said to be a new product of the city's milk factory. Liang Baozhen's milk supply was not very sufficient, so it was a bit difficult to feed Shanshan. In addition, she had to go out for an exam, so this milk powder could help.
Xu Shengjie had to go to work today, but he asked for an hour's leave from the workshop manager and prepared to personally send Liang Baozhen to the exam, even though Liang Baozhen told him last night not to take leave to send her, as she was a grown-up and could do it without any problem.
But Xu Shengya secretly pulled her elder brother's sleeve and asked him to go and send his sister-in-law off. After all, it was an important exam and everyone in the family had to send and pick up the children.
Xu Shengya felt that since everyone else had someone to send them off, her sister-in-law also needed someone to send her off!
Xu Shengjie rode his bicycle to drop people off at the gate of a certain university. Liang Baozhen had registered some time ago and came in advance to confirm the examination venue, so she was familiar with the place by now.
"Good luck on the exam, don't be nervous." Xu Shengjie sat on the bicycle seat and encouraged his wife.
There was a huge crowd of people around me, all of whom were here to send their family members to take the college entrance examination.
"I know, I know. You should go back soon." Liang Baozhen walked into the examination room with a pen in hand.
All candidates cherished the hard-earned opportunity of taking the college entrance examination. Liang Baozhen prepared for a long time in advance and started to do the questions quickly after the test papers were handed out.
The examination room was unusually quiet, with only the sounds of pens writing on paper and test papers being turned.
The invigilator patrols the exam room, watching the examinees' movements to detect any cheating.
After three days of exams, hundreds of people crowded at the school gate. The candidates breathed a sigh of relief after finishing the exams. After all, they were finally relieved.
Liang Baozhen sat on the back seat of Xu Shengjie's bicycle again. The first thing Xu Shengjie said when they met was not to ask her how she did in the exam.
"What do you want to eat?"
"Dumplings!" Liang Baozhen didn't have a good appetite during the three days before the college entrance examination. After all, she was concentrating on the test. Her appetite improved after the test. Now, it seemed that delicious dishes flashed before her eyes, all of which were her favorites!
Unfortunately, I couldn’t eat it all, after all, the grain and meat coupons didn’t allow it.
They bought a pound of pork and took it home. Liang Baozhen had not been back to Damian Village since she became pregnant. Now that the college entrance examination was over, she could finally spare some time.
In July, Damei Village was scorched by the scorching sun. It was the busy farming season and the villagers were working on the fields. Their faces were wrinkled and dark and red from the sun.
Liang Zhigao and Song Chunhua were delighted to see their daughter and son-in-law coming back, but they were a little disappointed that their granddaughter was too young to bring back with her. The smell in the bus was too bad and the child was uncomfortable.
"Why did you buy meat again?" Song Chunhua looked at the piece of meat in her son-in-law's hand and scolded her daughter, "I told you to take less food from your mother's house."
"I know, I know. Grandma let me." Liang Baozhen resolutely distanced herself from the matter and pushed her mother back to the house. "Originally, grandma said she wanted to cut two kilograms, but in the end I cut one kilogram."
We don’t have many meat coupons at home, so we really have to save as much as possible. After all, we still have Xiao Wei and Xiao Ya to feed.
Both of them had a day off today, so they could leave later. The main reason was that Liang Baozhen hadn't been home for a long time and missed home so much that even the chickens in the yard and the cucumbers in the private plot seemed to be dear to her.
Liang Baozhen picked a cucumber and rinsed it with water. There were still crystal clear water droplets on the green cucumber, each one was translucent and round, shining in the sunlight.
The cucumber was broken into two pieces, and Liang Baozhen handed one piece to Xu Shengjie.
“The cucumbers my mom grows are delicious!” After saying that, he took a bite. It was crispy and had a familiar taste.
Liang Zhigao watched his daughter eat cucumbers as soon as she got home. She finished one in a few bites, then ran to the kitchen with her braided hair swinging. She didn't look like a mother at all. Even an unmarried girl would believe her.
"Sheng Jie, how is Shan Shan these days?" Liang Zhigao is not good at speaking, and every time he sees his son-in-law he always asks two questions.
How is work?
Is everyone at home okay?
Now it’s okay, I can ask one more question, how is Shanshan?
"Shanshan is a girl who loves to eat and sleep." Xu Shengjie's eyes were rarely gentle when he mentioned his daughter. The two of them could actually stay for one night before leaving this time. After all, they were using a deposited shift today. As long as they left early tomorrow morning, they could take two more hours for tomorrow morning's shift.
However, both of them could not let go of their daughter. Ever since Shanshan was born, she has never left her parents to sleep, and the three of them always sleep in the same bed.
For this reason, Xu Shengjie is already tired of working the night shift and wishes he could work the day shift every day.
Liang Baozhen heard what her father and her husband said outside and couldn't help but add, "She also loves to cry."
After saying that, he turned to Song Chunhua who was cutting vegetables and started talking about his daughter-in-law, "Mom, let me do the cutting."
Song Chunhua was chopping the filling for pork and cabbage dumplings, wielding the kitchen knife skillfully. Now she handed the knife to her daughter and went to cook wild vegetable soup herself.
"Our Shanshan cries so much. She cries even more than Sister Caili's Chuchu. Her voice is so loud that when she cries, it seems the whole compound can hear it."
"You still say you are a girl, but weren't you the same when you were a child!" Song Chunhua smiled as she looked at the boiling water. She poured the washed wild vegetables into the water, stirred them with chopsticks, and pressed them down.
"How could I?" Liang Baozhen seldom cried since she could remember. It could even be said that she had no memory of crying. She didn't like to cry even when she grew up, so she must have liked to cry even less when she was a child, right?
"You were only a few months old at that time, you definitely can't remember it." Song Chunhua pointed outside, "If you don't believe me, ask your dad. Your dad remembers it very clearly, but he doesn't know how to comfort a baby. Every time you cried, he didn't know what to do, so he asked your sister to comfort you. But your sister was amazing, she comforted you in no time."
"Really?" Liang Baozhen still didn't quite believe it.
"What's true?" Xu Shengjie went into the kitchen to get a sack and heard his wife talking.
"Nothing." Liang Baozhen shook her head like a rattle. "Mom just said that I didn't cry much when I was a child, so Shanshan's love of crying must have been inherited from you when you were a child."
As she spoke, she made faces at Song Chunhua, making her old mother laugh so hard that she couldn't stop.
Xu Shengjie dropped a pot from the sky, right? How could he remember whether he loved to cry when he was a child!
Let him cry. It’s okay for children to cry.
At noon, the Liang family made a hundred dumplings. There was not enough meat, so they added more vegetables and cooked them all in the pot. When they scooped them out with a colander, they found they were all big, plump, white dumplings!
Liang Baojun had not yet returned from town, but Liang Baoling rushed back as fast as she could after class, but Liang Baoying was not at home at the moment.
"Mom, where's my eldest sister?"
"He said he had a phone call and went to the commune to answer it."
Song Chunhua took a bowl and left a bowl of dumplings for Baoying and Baojun respectively, and also placed two wowotou separately on the side.
"Let's eat first and don't wait any longer."
Pork and cabbage dumplings. The pork this time was a piece of fat meat that was specially reserved by Sun Zhiqiang from the big compound. Fatty meat is hard to buy. You either have to be the first one in line or have connections to buy it.
The more oil and water there is, the more you can smell the meat aroma when you put it in your mouth, which is perfectly balanced by the fresh fragrance of cabbage.
When Liang Baozhen took a bite, she could feel a little bit of the flavor of soup mixed with gravy, dipped in aged vinegar, the flavor of meat and vegetables mixed with a slight sour taste, several flavors intertwined together and burst in her mouth.
Adults had sixteen or seventeen dumplings each, and children had eight, and they also had some cold cucumber, wild vegetable soup and steamed buns. Everyone was satisfied with the meal.
"Baoling, have you been studying well recently?" After eating and drinking her fill, Liang Baozhen simply moved a rattan chair over and lay down on it. The rattan chair was made by Liang Zhigao before. It was so comfortable to lie on it, rocking and basking in the sun.
"Yes!" Liang Baoling praised herself to her third sister as if she were presenting a treasure, telling her how she worked hard on her homework and how she practiced calligraphy. Song Chunhua blushed when she heard it.
This girl's ability to make up lies is really extraordinary.
Liang Baozhen knew her sister well, and poked her head, "Study hard, no, I have to make a study plan for you, and how are your test scores? You have to improve on the next test."
Liang Baoling was originally very happy that her sister came home. She hadn't seen her for a long time. She didn't even get to see her sister when she gave birth to a child.
Thinking of her little niece, she immediately changed the subject, "Sister, why didn't you bring Shanshan back? I really want to see her."
"She is still young. It is not possible to bring her back from such a long distance. We should wait until she is older." Liang Baozhen also thought so, but the child was really too young.
I wonder if Shanshan has drunk the milk powder, is crying, or is she making a fuss?
Liang Zhigao finally finished his meal and swept the dishes clean. Song Chunhua asked her little daughter to help clean up the dishes.
Just as Liang Baozhen was about to move forward, her mother stopped her and told her not to do anything.
"It's a rare visit for you guys, why are you washing dishes?"
"What's wrong, Mom? Do you still treat us as outsiders?" Liang Baozhen rolled up her sleeves, revealing her fair and tender arms, and helped her mother wash the dishes.
Working in the city means she no longer has to dig for food in the fields, and now she has an office job. Liang Baozhen has become much whiter over the past year or so, almost blinding her old mother.
"Look, it's different in the city." In the hot summer, he was exposed to the sun. His appearance couldn't deceive anyone.
For example, there was a girl in the village who was the same age as Liang Baozhen but looked a few years older than her. There was nothing she could do about it; working in the fields was exhausting.
"It was right to let you marry Xiao Xu. After more than a year, you look different. You look fair and tender." Song Chunhua handed the dishes she had washed for the first time to the lady and asked her to wash them a second time.
"Mom." Liang Baozhen looked at her mother. She had been working in the fields for many years and had indeed aged a lot. Her skin was wrinkled. "Let's move to the city in the future. You don't have to dig for food in the fields anymore."
"Nonsense!" Song Chunhua thought that the daughter wanted to take her family to Xu's house to beg for money, and immediately widened her eyes to dispel her idea, "Don't worry about us, live your own life, your father and I are used to working in the fields, and in the future, as long as you can live a better life, that's enough.
Baojun has settled down now and is not as carefree as before. As for Baoying and Jianguo, well, it would be good if they could really go to the city. Baoying has never enjoyed happiness... Baoling, this girl, will have to wait and see what luck she has in the future. As for you, you are doing well enough now. Xiao Xu is a good person, and your in-laws are also good. Don't make trouble for yourself. Even if people are good to you, you can't go too far. Our family is our family. How can we go to the city to beg for money?"
Liang Baozhen naturally heard that her mother had misunderstood, but she couldn't say anything. She just hoped that the policy would be relaxed so that she could go to the city more smoothly and see how to transfer her household registration to the city.
"Baozhen is back?" The voice of eldest sister Liang Baoying came from the yard.
"Sister!" Liang Baozhen poked her head out and waved her hands that were soaked with dishwater. "Hurry up and eat. I left some dumplings for you!"
Liang Baoying was wearing a straw hat, having just returned from the commune. The sun was shining brightly outside, and she hurried home, sweating all over her forehead. Her slightly round face was also red, and she didn't know if it was because of the heat or excitement. She rushed to the kitchen door in two or three steps, and couldn't wait to share the good news with her mother and third sister.
"Mom, Jianguo just called me. He said the housing allocation for the soda factory should be settled, and he can pick me and Mengmeng up to go to the city!"
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