◎Two in One◎
Shanshan's conversation with her parents was quiet, and no one else noticed it, except Ji Lan. She smiled unconsciously as she listened to Shanshan's babyish words, and she understood more and more why Wu Er wanted to have a daughter.
But there was already a naughty boy at home, a fat two-year-old boy, so she still had to think about it.
"What do you think? Isn't this little girl cute?" Wu Er had always been struck by the cuteness of the clever and eccentric Shanshan. In addition, his own son was a naughty boy, so in comparison, he was more looking forward to having a young lady.
"We're implementing family planning now, and you still want to have a second child?" Ji Lan was not sure whether she wanted to have a second child. She envied other girls, but giving birth was tiring.
"What's the problem? If it doesn't work, we can go to the opposite side to fight, or we can pay the fine."
Ji Lan wanted to roll her eyes when she heard this. What a joke!
The waiters brought the dishes one by one, grilled pork claws, premium roast duck, grilled lamb... Every time a dish was served, Shanshan would look up to see if her favorite fried meatballs were there. Unfortunately, they were not there.
"I asked my dad and ordered some fried meatballs for you." Liang Baozhen felt relieved.
"good!"
"Brother Wu, sister-in-law, try this, the signature dish here, roasted painted claws." Qin Huai introduced it to the two guests.
Hong Saner hurriedly added, "This is good stuff. It is said that Empress Dowager Cixi had eaten it before and liked it very much."
Anything mixed with some mysterious colors of past characters will be attractive. Wu Er picked up a piece of meat with chopsticks and tasted a salty and fresh taste. "It tastes good. What kind of meat is this?"
"Pig's trotter."
"I can't taste it." Wu Eryou picked up a piece of food with chopsticks and tasted it slowly. He seemed to have tasted it. He turned his head and looked at his wife, "Is it delicious?"
“It’s delicious.”
The meal consisted of ten dishes, all of which were delicious and all were eaten up. Shanshan specialized in the fried meatballs and enjoyed the meal very much.
When my stomach felt full, the meal was over.
Before leaving the private room, Wu Er mysteriously shared a fun thing with his younger brothers.
Everyone watched him take out a square black machine and was confused for a moment.
"Is this a radio?" Qin Huai thought that radios were not so small.
Hong Saner guessed something else, "It can't be something that plays music, right?"
Xu Shengjie had naturally never seen such a device before. "Such a small device? What is it used for?"
Among those present, apart from Wu Er and his wife, only Liang Baozhen recognized what it was, but she didn't say anything. This was the pager that became popular all over the country for more than ten years.
"This thing is called a pager!" Wu Er was in the mood to show off his treasure. "It's not easy to get one. I spent a lot of effort to get one."
He enthusiastically introduced it to everyone, "If someone calls you, it can receive the call."
Hong Saner thought it was impossible. He had seen a telephone before. Did it look like this? It didn't look like this!
The rocker phone is so big and it even comes with a cord.
"Brother Wu, please don't make fun of your brothers."
"How could I make fun of you!" Wu Er had just heard about this thing. It was so convenient, but he was not very proficient in using it yet. "This year, the first paging station opened in Shanghai. It can really make calls. It works like this. You call me, and the paging station can answer it and notify me of the matter. My pager will light up, you know! Then I will find a place to call back."
Wu Er became more and more excited as he spoke, as if it was not the pager that was lighting up, but himself.
Everyone was confused when they heard this. They just thought it was magical. How could this phone be carried around with you? And it didn't even need to be plugged in?
Especially when I heard that this pager cost 5,000 yuan, I found it outrageous!
After the excitement, everyone dispersed and went home.
"Brother Wu, sister-in-law, you should go to the guesthouse to rest tonight. I will show you around tomorrow."
Xu Shengjie and Liang Baozhen took Shanshan home. After having a good meal and a few drinks, the family walked home slowly in the cool breeze, feeling very comfortable.
Liang Baozhen talked about her experience working at the TV station today and asked about Wu Er's daughter-in-law.
She heard from Xu Shengjie two years ago that Second Brother Wu got married, and today was the first time she met his wife.
"I heard about it, too. It's quite interesting that they knew each other."
Wu Er's wife Ji Lan is a salesperson in a department store, and her acquaintance with Wu Er is quite interesting. Before, no matter how much money Wu Er made, he always dressed very simply. At first glance, he could not be seen as a wealthy millionaire. It was not until he got in touch with a Hong Kong businessman that he had to dress up and prepare to go to the department store to buy some different clothes.
Don't ask him why he doesn't buy clothes at his own clothing wholesale market. He doesn't have the shopping experience! It's not rare!
The sales clerks in the department store were all arrogant and ignored Wu Er because he looked shabby. It was only that day when Ji Lan was angry with her colleagues and went up to introduce the products to Wu Er enthusiastically.
Wu Er thought this person had a good heart and was different from other salespeople.
Ji Lan didn't expect that such an unattractive-looking man could spend so many high-end clothes at once. Her first reaction was whether this man had made money.
In this way, the two of them fell in love with each other after seeing each other for a while. Of course, the main reason was that Wu Er ignored his own clothing wholesale market and unilaterally came to the department store to spend money. He bought a lot of clothes and took them home. The people under him were scared and thought that this was a hint that their own clothes were not as good as those in the department store. There was really no way to complain.
Ji Lan thought that this man was a fool. Who would buy clothes like this every day? She deeply doubted her own judgment and wondered if she had chosen the wrong person!
"Later, Brother Wu won over Ji Lan and took her to his clothing wholesale market, which gave Ji Lan a big shock."
Wu Er thought his girlfriend was going to brag about how romantic she was and how much money she was willing to spend on the person she was pursuing. However, Ji Lan blurted out that he was sick. He had so many clothes at home, but he still went to a department store to spend money. What a waste!
Liang Baozhen was stunned. "I can't believe it. Brother Wu is quite..." How should I describe him? "A different kind of romance, with a bit of naivety."
"Really? Who could have seen that before?" Xu Shengjie didn't believe it either. "So, when people fall in love, they are different."
"Then I'm really at a loss. I married you even though you never pursued me." Liang Baozhen's words were full of regret. "Look at how Brother Wu pursued Ji Lan!"
Xu Shengjie firmly objected, "Nonsense, I clearly pursued you, and I even said some sweet words to you."
After being married for a few years, Xu Shengjie has become much more thick-skinned and can even say words like love frankly.
Liang Baozhen frowned slightly and tried to recall, "When did you say sweet words?"
Not at all!
Xu Shengjie reminded her, "We ended our blind date at the state-owned hotel. When you were about to go home, I called you."
Now I remember, Liang Baozhen remembered this person saying: "My salary is enough to support five people."
“Is this a love story?”
"Why not?"
Liang Baozhen "..."
Liang Baozhen was defeated by him. It was such a simple and natural love talk!
But if you think about it carefully, it still seems a bit sweet.
As soon as Shanshan got home, she played with her music box. This exquisite little gadget could also play music. It was amazing.
There are two transparent white swans in the glass cover, and there is a platform underneath with a knob switch on the platform. When Shanshan turns the knob, the swans will rotate and emit beautiful music.
"Okay, do you want to go to sleep?" Liang Baozhen saw that her daughter had been playing with the music box for more than half an hour. "Let's play tomorrow."
“One last time!” Shanshan wanted to hear it again. The swan can still spin! Oh!!! So beautiful!
Xu Shengjie has heard his daughter say it four times tonight and this was the last time. What an untrustworthy grown-up child she is.
This music box became Shanshan's favorite for the next month, and she couldn't wait to sleep with it in her arms.
Xu Shengjie and Qin Huaihong Saner did their best to be the hosts and took Wu Er and his wife on a good trip to many places.
However, Ji Lan disliked traveling with a few big bosses, especially since these people only loved to talk about business. She found it boring and decided to go out alone.
Liang Baozhen felt that Ji Lan was a person with ideas and was quite free-spirited.
On the day when Wu Er and his wife left, Liang Baozhen went to see them off. After listening to Xu Shengjie and Qin Huaihong Saner talking about opening a store, the three of them prepared to open another store.
I'm even planning to buy a truck to transport the goods.
However, the travel permit is a problem, and the three of them still need to figure it out.
At the end of the month, Xu Shuping gave birth to a big fat boy. Liang Baozhen and her family of three went to the hospital to see him. Today, Liang Zhigao and Song Chunhua also came into the city to help take care of the baby.
Shanshan was very excited because she now had a cousin!
She thought that her cousin Mengmeng and herself were all very beautiful, so her cousin must be good-looking too.
But she was disappointed when she arrived at the hospital.
After returning home, I quietly told my mother, "Mom, my brother is so ugly."
Shanshan was very sad. Her brother was an ugly baby when he was born. How sad he must be when he grows up.
The red and wrinkled cousin just now looked like a monkey. No, Shanshan thought he was not as cute as the monkeys in the zoo.
"All babies are like this when they are born." Liang Baozhen explained to her daughter. Seeing Shanshan's disbelieving look, she added, "When you were born, you were almost the same as your brother."
Shanshan:!!!
No way, I can't be so ugly!
Mom lied to me!
But later, Shanshan found that her mother did not seem to lie to her. In July, she followed her mother to visit her cousin twice and was surprised to find that her brother did not seem so ugly.
It was no longer wrinkled and seemed to have grown a little bit. Shanshan was happy again. She thought that her cousin would not be so sad when he grew up.
The sun was shining brightly in July, the hottest time of the year. Shanshan was eating popsicles in the yard, silently memorizing the numbers her mother had taught her.
She can now count to one hundred.
However, the little girl was not very focused. From time to time, she looked up at the gate of the courtyard, eagerly waiting for her mother to come back.
Mom didn't wait for him, but she did wait for Dad to come back.
"Dad!" Shanshan ran towards her dad with a popsicle in her hand. She didn't expect her dad to come home so early today. Her dad has been very busy recently and often comes home after dark.
"Eating popsicles." Xu Shengjie picked up the girl and carried her into the house. "Is your mother not back yet?"
"no."
Today Liang Baozhen went to the station to pick up Liang Baoling. Liang Baoling had been staying in the village helping her parents feed pigs and chickens and doing farm work, which was not a big deal, so the two sisters decided to go into the city to take a look.
I asked the captain for a letter of introduction for visiting relatives and planned to stay there for a week.
Of course, Liang Baozhen is still looking for other courtyard houses to see if anyone wants to sell them. After all, there is a "small yellow croaker" buried in the ground of the Liang family's house.
This was Liang Baoling's first time living in the city for a long time. Song Chunhua packed a big bag for her little daughter, which included a lot of clothes, toothbrushes, and even toothpaste. She wanted to give her some, but Liang Zhigao said that Baozhen must have all these at home, so she stopped.
After taking the bus to the outskirts of the city, Liang Baoling saw her third sister Liang Baozhen at a glance.
"You must be feeling hot!" Liang Baozhen handed her a bottle of Beibingyang soda to her sister. "This is from my brother-in-law's factory. He brought a box over to our house. Come drink some to cool off."
"Third sister, it's delicious!"
"My eldest sister is watching the store and can't leave right now. I'm the only one free today." Liang Baozhen took Liang Baoling on the bus back to Chunri Hutong.
As soon as they arrived in the yard, Shanshan rushed over, hugged her mother's thighs and looked at her aunt.
"Mom, Dad is back." Shanshan first reported important information to her mother.
"Dad, you're home so early today?"
"But Dad is out again."
Liang Baozhen nodded. This made sense. Xu Shengjie was indeed busy recently.
"Call aunt quickly." Liang Baozhen collected her thoughts and asked her daughter to call someone.
"Auntie!"
Liang Baoling particularly liked Shanshan, and brought her some goodies. "Shanshan, I brought you a dragonfly!"
A dragonfly made of bamboo.
"Okay!" Shanshan also likes her aunt, who always gives her a lot of strange things.
Liang Baozhen first put her younger sister's luggage in the west wing. There were two rooms in the west wing, both very spacious. One was where Xu Shengya lived, as she was still in school at the moment. The other was an empty guest room, just right for Liang Baoling.
"It's great that you live next to Xiaoya!"
Liang Baoling and Xu Shengya used to give each other gifts when they were young, and later they exchanged letters from time to time. However, they have lost contact in the past two years as one is busy with studies and the other is busy with work.
"I haven't seen Xiaoya for a long time."
"You two were very close when you were little." Liang Baozhen made the bed for her sister. "When you meet, you can talk and become familiar with each other again."
"Baozhen, is Baoling here?"
Zhou Yun came out of his next-door neighbor's house and heard some talking in the west wing of his yard, so he guessed what had happened.
"Yes, grandma, Baoling just arrived." Liang Baozhen welcomed Zhou Yun in.
"Hello, grandma." Liang Baoling followed her sister and called out. She was very well-behaved in front of her elders at this moment, and there was no trace of her naughty childhood at all.
"Okay!" Zhou Yun liked the hustle and bustle, and seeing the young man's face full of kindness, "Look around the house and see if there's anything you need. If you need anything, tell your sister, and just treat this place as your own home."
"Nothing is missing, grandma. It's good enough."
"Grandma, look at this. Xiaoya specially prepared a floral quilt for Baoling." Liang Baozhen told her younger sister the origin of the bed sheet and quilt cover. "Xiaoya passed the college entrance examination that year, so the family used the cloth coupons to buy cotton cloth for her to make new bed sheets and quilt covers. She loved them very much, but she seldom used them in the past two years. When she heard that Baoling was coming, she took out the bed sheets and quilt covers that were almost as good as new."
"Xiao Ya is looking forward to your coming. You two can have a good chat when she comes back. I remember how loving you two were when you were little."
Although Zhou Yun is older now, he still has a vivid impression of the incident when he recalls it.
Liang Baoling smiled and agreed, "Okay."
——
Xu Shengya rode her bicycle home. The weather was hot. She was wearing a beige ruffled shirt and black dacron trousers, and pedaled the bicycle hard.
Today, her childhood friend Liang Baoling is coming. There is a bag hanging on the handlebars of Xu Shengya's bicycle, which contains pancakes bought at the back door of the school.
I just don’t know if it will still be warm when I get home. She plans to share it with Comrade Baoling.
But we haven't seen each other for a long time, I wonder if she has changed?
"Tsk, tsk, tsk~"
Xu Shengya, who was lost in thought, suddenly heard a whistle with a frivolous tone.
"Hey, where's your little sister going?"
Xu Shengya was riding her bicycle and was about to take a shortcut through the alley to return to Chunri Hutong, but she happened to run into a few scoundrels leaning against the corner of the wall at the entrance of the alley.
Several of them had messy hair flying around like a chicken's nest, and were wearing olive green military uniforms that they had picked up from somewhere. However, the buttons were not buttoned properly, and only the middle two were buttoned. It didn't look like they were wearing military uniforms.
Xu Shengya had seen her elder brother wearing a green military uniform, looking handsome and tall. These second-rate guys looked second-rate even in their military uniforms, and their words were frivolous. She stopped her bike, feeling something was wrong.
"You're a pretty girl, huh? Let's be friends."
"Hey, she's still a college student!" Someone was sharp-eyed and saw the words "Peking University" on Xu Shengya's bag, and became even more excited. This college student is so precious, and she is such a beautiful college student, you can't find her even with a lantern!
Xu Shengya recalled what was said in the school safety education propaganda some time ago. Recently, many places have had public security problems. Some places are in chaos. Many young people cannot find jobs and have nothing to do all day long. They start to steal, rob, or tease people.
Didn't expect to encounter it now? The entrance of this alley is a bit remote, and there are not many people around. She immediately became alert and turned around to leave with the handlebars of her bicycle. She would rather ride for a while longer and take the main road!
"Hey, hey, hey, where are you going?" The leading ruffian looked at the delicate skin of the girl and had evil thoughts in his mind. He wanted to touch her and hurriedly grabbed her.
He was strong and quick, and he pressed down the back seat of Xu Shengya's bicycle, making it impossible for Xu Shengya to pedal...
"Wei Hongjun, what the hell are you doing? You're about to do something big!"
A young man spoke from the shadows at the entrance of the alley. Wei Hongjun, in a hurry, had no choice but to let go and watch the fat meat slip away.
Xu Shengya listened to the discussions of the group of scoundrels behind her and broke out in a cold sweat. She pedaled her bike madly towards the crowded place and secretly warned herself not to take a shortcut next time.
Due to the incident, Xu Shengya returned home a little later than usual. Xu Shengwei was buying halved pig offal at the entrance of the alley. He looked outside from time to time and finally saw a figure.
"Why so late tonight?" He had already bought some pigs to feed the pigs, but he hadn't left yet.
Xu Shengya slowly came over, and when she saw her second brother, she stopped her bike and walked home with him.
"Ah, I went to buy some pancakes at the back door of the school." Xu Shengya didn't mention the incident just now, so as not to worry her family. Besides, there were six or seven scoundrels in that group, and they looked like they were not easy to mess with.
"Oh, you know how to respect your brother!" Xu Shengwei stretched out his hand to grab him, but was stopped by Xu Shengya.
"Bah, stop being so conceited. I bought it because Baoling was coming." Xu Shengya said this, but she still took out a piece of the pancake from the cloth paper bag and tore it off for her second brother.
My second brother trains very hard every day, and recently he won seventh place in the city table tennis competition, which made her very happy. It would be okay to give him a proper reward.
"Brother, please eat a little first. It's delicious."
Xu Shengwei put the torn off piece of pancake into his mouth and chewed it. It was indeed delicious. Then he reached into the bag of halved pig offal and took out two pieces. "You like this halved pig liver the most. Take a piece. Quickly, don't let Shanshan see."
When Shanshan saw this, she wanted to eat too.
Xu Shengya was amused by her second brother's behavior, as if he was really trying to prevent Shanshan from stealing food. In fact, her second brother usually loved to feed the little gluttonous cat.
She ate a piece of halved pork liver he handed her. It was her favorite flavor, especially fragrant.
The brother and sister were just like they were when they were children. You found food for me and I found food for you, and then we went home together.
Today's dinner at home was sumptuous, with fried hairtail, braised pork, stir-fried pork with scallions, cold cucumber, tomato and egg drop soup, and halved offal.
Xu Shengjie hadn't returned home yet, so the others started.
"Sister, brother-in-law isn't coming back for dinner?" Xu Shengya was a little curious.
"He's been busy lately and is eating out. We won't wait for him."
"oh."
"Baoling, eat more and treat this place as your own home." Zhou Yun was so enthusiastic that he urged her to eat more and called his granddaughter, "Xiaoya, after dinner, take Baoling for a walk. You two are about the same age and can play together."
"Okay." Xu Shengya nodded in agreement.
Xu Shengwei also teased the two, "Grandma, don't worry, they were very close when they were little, and they didn't want to take me with them when I wanted to play with them."
Xu Shengya glared at her second brother and said, "Why are you, a man, interfering with the affairs of us little girls? You're only making yourself disliked."
"Well, let's see!" Xu Shengwei sighed in a pretentious manner, "You're starting to dislike me again~"
Liang Baoling listened to the quarrel between Xu Shengwei and Xu Shengya, brother and sister, without saying a word, but she also curled the corners of her mouth.
However, Xu Shengya did not expect that when she met Liang Baoling this time, both of them were a little shy and reserved, just like they had lost contact with friends they often contacted when they were children and suddenly didn't know what to say.
When she got home just now, she greeted Liang Baoling, and then the two of them didn't say a word to each other and sat at the table to eat.
The others were busy and didn't notice their awkwardness.
After dinner, Liang Baozhen collected the dishes and prepared to wash them. Liang Baoling was a little uncomfortable coming to her third sister's house. Xu Shengya always helped her sister-in-law with work, so the two of them said in unison:
"Sister, I'll go wash the dishes with you."
"Sister-in-law, I'll go wash the dishes with you."
Shanshan got anxious when she heard this. She also raised her hand and said, "Mom, I want to wash the dishes with you too."
After saying that, the two looked at each other with smiles in their eyes. Liang Baozhen's eyebrows were even more smiling. "How many people are needed to wash a few dishes?"
Then he looked down at his daughter and said, "What's your business? When you grow up, come and help your mother wash."
"Sister-in-law, it's Baoling's first day here, how can I let her wash the dishes? Let me do it."
"I grew up working at home, it's nothing."
Liang Baozhen saw that the two of them were really fighting, so she simply gave them the territory, "Okay, then you two should cooperate, one of you will wash the first time, and the other will wash the second time."
So, Xu Shengya and Liang Baoling stood by the sink and washed the dishes with the faucet running.
Xu Shengya washed the bowl and handed it to Liang Baoling, who then rinsed it again. After a while, the two finished washing the bowl and stood together, talking about something else. As they stood there, they shook their hands simultaneously, looked at each other, and laughed together. Memories of their childhood flooded into their minds, as if nothing had changed. Xu Shengya held Liang Baoling's hand and said enthusiastically, "I have collected a lot of candy wrappers again. Do you want to go and have a look?"
Liang Baoling nodded, "Okay!"
The author has something to say:
See you tomorrow night at 21:00~
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2023-05-06 00:51:54~2023-05-07 11:36:01~
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: 10 bottles of Baofu Little Lemon; 1 bottle of Qianmo Hongchen;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!
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