◎Third update◎
"What's going on?" Liu Nianhua was carrying a net bag of things when he came back from get off work and saw several people gathered in the yard. He went over to eavesdrop.
"What about Luo Hongmei's family?"
"Oh oh." Liu Nianhua's home is close to theirs, and he can indeed see the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law quarreling these days. What surprises Liu Nianhua the most is that most of the time it is Luo Hongmei who suffers.
"Nianhua, why did you buy so many things today?" Aunt Li saw Liu Nianhua put the things on the stove and prepared to cook.
She got off work late today, so she had to prepare breakfast for tomorrow in advance. She kneaded the dough and steamed a layer of steamed buns. "I have an early shift tomorrow, so I'll make the steamed buns first."
"The steamed buns made by Nianhua are very fragrant, and the smell can be smelled from far away."
"That's right. I've been working for decades but still can't match her skills."
"Aunt Zhang, Aunt Li, please stop joking with me. I don't have any cooking skills. I'm just trying to make do with this."
"That's impossible. I have to learn from you."
"Mom." Zhou Qingdang came out of the house. He had just returned from his sister's house. He saw several people in the yard at a glance, especially Liu Nianhua who was busy kneading dough in front of the stove.
But this person didn't even glance at me.
"The Qing Party is back."
"What are you talking about? I think it's quite lively." Zhou Qingdang seemed to glance at the crowd casually, his eyes stayed on Liu Nianhua for a moment, then turned to look at his mother.
"It is said that Nianhua is good at kneading dough, and your mother Li and I want to learn from her. Didn't you eat the steamed buns that Nianhua sent to our home before? Didn't they taste good?"
Zhou Qingdang smiled and said, "Yes, it tastes better than the steamed buns sold outside."
Liu Nianhua paused as he kneaded the dough, then poured some water into the basin. However, his hands shook and he poured too much.
"Stop praising me. I can't stand it anymore."
A week before school started, Liang Baozhen and Zhou Yun were at home taking care of the children. They took advantage of the hot weather at noon to feed Shanshan and waited for her to play for a while before preparing to give her a bath.
Shanshan inherited her mother's fair skin with a pink tint. The little girl was not at all averse to taking a bath. She was held by her grandmother and half-lying in the wide wooden tub, feeling the warm water pouring on her body and smiling brightly.
"Ya! Ya!" Shanshan lifted her chubby legs and slapped them in the bathtub, splashing water. Liang Baozhen washed the girl's body gently.
"Shanshan also likes taking a bath, she's better than Chuchu!" Zhou Yun had seen Cheng Caili's daughter Chuchu taking a bath. She didn't like staying in the bathtub and would make a fuss when she touched the water, which made Cheng Caili and her husband very upset.
"Shanshan likes it, doesn't she?" Liang Baozhen hugged her daughter. Shanshan's body was smooth and tender after washing. She was wrapped in the towel brought by her grandmother, wiped dry, and then sent to the quilt.
After taking a shower, Shanshan felt sleepy again and fell asleep with her eyes closed as soon as she lay on the bed.
Liang Baozhen took advantage of the girl's sleep to go out. She was going to prepare things for the start of school. Her stationery was all prepared for the college entrance examination, and now her paper and pens were almost used up. Oh, Xu Shengjie gave her a fountain pen, so she only needed to buy another bottle of ink.
Liang Baozhen went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought a notebook and a bottle of black ink. When she came out, she met a group of steel factory workers who were going out. They were all sweating and had dry mouths.
But no one brought a water bottle, so we had to bear it.
Liang Baozhen was walking home, she was also feeling upset, because even though she had money she couldn't buy water. The soda sellers were all set up by the soda factory, and it was rare to come across one, not to mention the ones selling popsicles.
Looking up at the scorching sun, Liang Baozhen sighed and waited for the day when she could buy and sell freely.
In mid-September, Kyoto University finally opened.
Liang Baozhen got up early and packed her things. Today she specially picked a white short-sleeved jacket and a pair of black trousers, which made her look capable and energetic.
Zhou Yun went to buy breakfast early in the morning, including soy milk, fried dough sticks, and a pot of steamed buns. It was a rare occasion for the family to buy breakfast from outside, so Xu Shengwei and Xu Shengya were very happy.
"Sister-in-law, come and eat. Don't be late for your first day of school."
“Coming!”
Xu Shengwei is about to take part in an internal audition of the Children's Palace. He has been training very hard these days and his appetite has gradually increased, which scares Zhou Yun.
In the Xu family, the one who eats the biggest is naturally Xu Shengjie. Soldiers train a lot every day, so they naturally have to eat more to make up for the loss. Xu Shengwei used to eat quite a lot, but that was compared to children of the same age, but now his appetite is almost as much as that of an adult man.
"Brother, you eat so much now. Are you not full yet?" Xu Shengya looked at her second brother in surprise, worried that he would have an upset stomach.
There was an incident when they were young. They were hungry for a long time and could only eat corn porridge every day. Their stomachs often made rumbling sounds. One rare day, one of them ate several sweet potatoes and two steamed buns, but he vomited after eating. They ate too much at once, and their bodies, which had been hungry for a long time, could not bear it.
"You don't know how tiring our training is!" Xu Shengwei didn't think he ate too much, and only when he was full would he have the strength to train. "Our coach said that the top two players in this selection will have the opportunity to join the city team! They can participate in more competitions in the future."
"Then you have to fight hard." Upon hearing this, Zhou Yun gave Xiao Wei another steamed bun.
"I think Xiaowei has grown stronger." Xu Shengjie looked at his younger brother. After so much training, Xu Shengwei already had muscles on his arms and his calves were much stronger. He was indeed much stronger than before.
He was very satisfied with his brother's appearance.
"Fight hard, and I'll give you a reward if you score."
"good!"
Liang Baozhen had to go to Peking University the farthest away, so she ate breakfast quickly. In fact, everyone got up early today just to have breakfast with her.
"I'm leaving first, bye!" Liang Baozhen picked up her bag, quickly got on her bicycle, turned around and waved to her family.
"Go slowly on the road."
"knew."
I rode my bike to Peking University. It was only seven o'clock. The weather was neither too cold nor too hot. The breeze was very comfortable. Liang Baozhen had her two braids behind her and her hair was flying in front of her forehead.
It was the first day of school at Kyoto University and it was very lively. Everyone sat down in the classroom and started chatting with each other.
There are four classes in the Chinese Department. Liang Baozhen's Class 2 has a total of 36 students, 11 boys and 25 girls. Looking around, Liang Baozhen found that the age gap between the classmates was quite large. There were three students who were obviously in their thirties, and several of them looked mature. After everyone talked to each other, they found that nine of the classmates were already married and had children.
Liang Baozhen is one of them.
Some people, like her, applied for commuting to school so that they could take care of their family members. However, no matter how difficult the conditions were, they were not afraid as long as they could go to school.
Various local dialects are intertwined in the classroom, and students from all over the world gather here to form the first and second classes of the Chinese Department.
Liang Baozhen looked at the classroom and felt as if she had returned to high school, with a sense of both familiarity and strangeness.
"Hello, Liang Baozhen." Someone sat down next to Liang Baozhen. It was a female classmate. She wore glasses on her nose and looked polite. "Are you a local?"
"yes."
"Can I ask you where is the fun place?" Mo Ru was from another province and had just arrived in Beijing. She was very curious. In addition, she was very outgoing, so she just looked at Liang Baozhen, the most beautiful girl in the class, and came over.
Nothing else, she just loves to deal with good-looking people since she was little, it makes her feel good to look at them.
Liang Baozhen shared with her enthusiastically, and the two chatted and laughed. As both were young people, they naturally became familiar with each other quickly. Together with a few classmates sitting nearby, they had already made an appointment to go to the cafeteria to have lunch together at noon.
"Students, please take roll call. The teacher will be here soon. Let's take a headcount first." On the registration day, the teacher had already contacted a local student to help organize the admission of new students, and now she is also in charge of the arrangements.
As the students' names were called one by one, they stood up and showed themselves to everyone until everyone in the classroom had been called except for one.
"Xu Shuping."
"Xu Shuping?"
"Is Xu Shuping not here yet?"
Liang Baozhen's eyes widened when she heard the name. Xu Shuping? Isn't that Xu Zhiqing, the one my second brother likes?
Or does it mean the same name?
Before Liang Baozhen could think about it carefully, she saw Xu Shuping running into the classroom, panting.
It’s still the Xu Zhiqing in my memory.
The two of them saw each other at first sight in the unfamiliar classroom. This was probably the excitement and emotion of meeting an acquaintance in a strange place.
"Baozhen!"
Xu Shuping sat in the empty seat next to Liang Baozhen and looked at her in surprise. She never thought that she and Liang Baozhen were classmates!
——
Liang Baozhen and Xu Shuping had met in Damian Village, but Liang Baozhen was still attending high school in the town most of the time, and Xu Shuping went to the countryside as an educated youth and worked on the farm all day to earn work points, so the two did not have much contact.
The next time Liang Baozhen was impressed by this female educated youth was when she accidentally learned that her second brother Liang Baojun liked Xu Shuping.
It was unexpected that the two met in the classroom this time.
"Shu Ping, you also applied for the Chinese department?"
Anyway, it's always good to have someone you know as a classmate in school.
"Yeah, I didn't expect to meet you here." Xu Shuping was wearing a plaid shirt and had two shoulder-length braids, looking pretty and charming.
On the day she received the admission letter from Peking University, she almost wanted to jump out of the town post office, but there were people everywhere, so she held back. Her family had been rehabilitated, and she had been admitted to Peking University and could return to the city.
The few years she spent as an educated youth in Damian Village brought her a lot of pain and tears. She used to be from an educated city family with good family conditions and had never suffered from hardship since she was a child. But who would have known that the movement would sweep across the country overnight, and her family would suddenly encounter misfortune. Her family members were sent to the cowshed for reform, and she was also arranged to be an educated youth in Damian Village.
Although most of the villagers were kind, life as an educated youth was much harder than before, and she grew up with tears in her eyes time and time again.
Now that she has finally returned to the city, thinking back to the time in Damian Village, it seems that the suffering is not so glaring anymore. There is only one tall and straight figure that she is unwilling to face.
As a result, now, that person's sister has become my classmate!
"Baozhen, I heard that you gave birth to a child?"
"Yes, she gave birth to a daughter named Shanshan."
"Congratulations."
Liang Baozhen looked at Xu Shuping and opened her red lips. She wanted to ask what was happening to Xu Shuping and her second brother, but she couldn't bring herself to ask.
Xu Shuping hadn't seen Liang Baojun for a long time. Even on the day she left Damian Village, he didn't show up. She still remembered what Liang Baojun said on the day the college entrance examination ended.
"You will definitely have no problem with the college entrance examination. You didn't do well last time because you were sick with a fever. This time, get into a good university. Wait for me to come find you!"
Liang Baojun raised his eyebrows under the scorching sun and spoke firmly.
Thinking of Liang Baojun, her face flushed slightly. She glanced at Liang Baozhen beside her. The two siblings looked about four or five percent similar, especially in their eyebrows and eyes.
She wanted to ask about Liang Baojun's current situation, but she and he had not reached a definite conclusion. Besides, she and Liang Baozhen were not very familiar with each other, so it was not easy to ask and she could only swallow her words.
On the first day of class, Liang Baozhen got to know all her classmates, met her dignified teacher, and tasted the Peking University's long-renowned cafeteria.
After the last class in the afternoon, I rode my bike to go home.
"Goodbye, baby."
"Goodbye!" Liang Baozhen got on her bike, thinking of her second brother who hadn't found a wife, and was ready to help him. "Shu Ping, if you have time, you can come to my house for dinner. Also, on Sundays we can go shopping at Xinhua Bookstore or the department store together."
If you want someone to be your sister-in-law, you have to become friends with her first!
Xu Shuping had the same idea. She wanted to ask about Liang Baojun's situation but couldn't open her mouth for fear of being laughed at by her sister. Now Liang Baozhen took the initiative to invite her. "Okay, I just returned to the city not long ago, and I just want to look around. Let's go together this Sunday."
"Okay! I'll go home first then."
If you want to be someone’s sister-in-law, you must first become her friend!
The author has something to say:
Two talented women from the Chinese Department said:
Liang Baozhen: If you want someone to become your sister-in-law, you must first become friends with her.
Xu Shuping: If you want to become someone’s sister-in-law, you must first become her friend.
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