Chapter 32

Xu Wen refused without even thinking: "No! You got married and then you brought your brother and sister-in-law to live with you. Do you still want your reputation? How will the Lu family think of you? The neighbors will also make up stories about you."

Grandma and Xu Qiushi also disagreed with this.

The reason is similar to Xu Wen's.

Xu Wen had no choice but to propose again: "Then grandma will live with me?"

"Silly girl, it's good that you are filial. But no one in the family can live with you. I have a son and a grandson. If I live with my granddaughter, how can your father and brother face it? It's not okay to let your parents live with them. They have elderly parents and children to take care of, and they can't leave."

Zhu Meizhen also disagreed: "Ask, you just got married, people are still new to it and won't say anything. This kind of life can't last long. When people get used to Xiao Zheng not being at home, even if you live alone with the child, they might say something."

As the saying goes, "A widow's door is full of troubles." Although Xu Wen is not a widow, she is not in a good situation either.

What’s more, Xu Wen is not her biological mother but her stepmother.

It was a good thing that Lu Yuanzheng was safe and sound. If anything happened to him, the Xu family living in the courtyard would be flooded with spit from the members of Lu Yuanzheng's production team.

Uncles and aunts who are on a long expedition have to come to the door.

Xu Wen knew that even though the Xu family treated her better than most families in the commune treated their daughters, they were still feudal and felt that it was embarrassing for her to live in her own house as she was a daughter who married out.

Whenever I live alone I always feel like I'm living under someone else's roof, and I just don't feel comfortable inside.

So I could only persuade them to accept the money.

If you want your family to accept the money, you have to solve the foundation problem first.

Xu Wen thought for a moment and said, "Actually, there is a piece of land that can be used as a homestead, but it's a bit troublesome."

Sang Xiaoqing's eyes lit up and she asked, "Where?"

Xu Wen pointed outside the house with chopsticks, "It's south of the front neighborhood."

Sang Xiaoqing was immediately discouraged. "The palm-sized area south of the front neighbor can't even build a room."

The area of ​​a single wheel is enough to build two rooms, but no one builds a house close to the homestead, so a few dozen centimeters of spare space must be left around it.

Xu Wen also shook his head, "Even if we can close it, it won't work. Once we push the door, it will fall into the bay."

"Wan" is the local name of the commune, referring to the river.

"I've seen it. The water in that bay is not deep. It's already been abandoned and the water inside is stagnant and smelly. It's not really a bay, just a big puddle. There's no point in keeping it. If you really want to build a house, you can talk to the production team and spend some effort to fill it up with soil to make a plot of land for a house."

The Xu family was silent.

Xu Wen was a little tempted. "That's a solution. But the bay is not shallow. I swam there when I was a kid. It's at least one meter deep. Filling it with soil is a big project."

"It's not that deep if you fill it in from the edge." Xu Qiushi knew a little more. "How long will it take to fill such a large area by yourself? If you ask for help, it will be after autumn. And if you ask for help, you have to buy food and wine, which will probably cost more."

Most of the people in Taoyuan Production Brigade are simple and kind.

If anyone in the family needs work, everyone will go together to help.

For example, building a house or holding weddings and funerals.

Especially for something like building a house, many members not only provide labor but also provide household chores, using whatever tools they can find.

People provide the labor and tools, so the host should at least provide the food, right?

Those who are better off are provided with two meals at noon and in the evening, while those who are not so well off are provided with only one meal.

Most of them are stews.

Add some meat to the cabbage and tofu soup or winter melon soup.

There must be enough food, tobacco and alcohol.

Filling the river is obviously a huge project. Hiring people to help will take at least ten days or half a month. Just feeding so many people will be a considerable expense.

"The problem is that we have to wait until after the autumn harvest to hire people to help." Xu Wen pointed out the core of the problem, "After the autumn harvest, we still have to repair the river. By the time everyone is done with their work and has time to help us, it will be almost frozen."

It's frozen and we can't work.

Sang Xiaoqing glanced at Xu Wen and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

After being married for a year, Xu Wen understood what Sang Xiaoqing meant, and said with gritted teeth: "How about we do it ourselves? In the morning before work, and in the evening after work, we can do some pushing and paving. Even if we work slowly, we can still finish it in one or two months."

"Okay! I'll go with you." Xu Qiushi also expressed his opinion, "No matter what we say, we can finish the work before the autumn harvest."

Zhu Meizhen felt sorry for her husband and son, "What if you two get tired again?"

Grandma didn't think so: "Strength is something that can be used to give birth. How can it be good if you don't have money and don't want to use some strength? Qiushi, when you go to work this afternoon, go talk to the team leader and see if you can grant us this piece of land in front as a homestead."

Xu Qiushi agreed.

If we really want to build a house, the two hundred yuan in our family will not be enough, and we still need Xu Wen's money.

The Xu family are all honest people and would not do anything to take advantage of their son-in-law, but they certainly cannot build a house without this money.

After some discussion, they finally decided to borrow money from Xu Wen after buying the bricks.

In the evening, after Xu Wen gave Dongsheng a bath, he returned to his bedroom reluctantly, looking back every few steps.

In fact, there is only a wall between him and Xu Wen.

Xu Wen could see that he was unwilling to separate from her, but she also felt that it was unacceptable for a grown-up child to avoid his mother, especially since she was not his biological mother.

Dongsheng is a boy and he should be more independent.

But Xu Wen felt distressed by Dongsheng's look of trying hard to suppress his unhappiness.

After taking a shower, she couldn't help but want to see Dongsheng. Just as she was about to open the door, she heard soft sobbing coming from inside.

Xu Wen froze.

She closed her eyes and called the magic mirror: "Magic mirror, magic mirror, at what age is it appropriate for a little boy to sleep in a separate room?"

"The Magic Mirror thinks that boys can sleep in separate beds at the age of three, and it is more appropriate to sleep in separate rooms at the age of six. The specific situation depends on the child's condition."

Xu Wen rolled his eyes, and it was as if he had said nothing.

But when she went to the gym decades later, there was a sign in each of the men's and women's bathrooms.

It says that boys four years old and older cannot enter the girls' bathroom, and girls four years old and older cannot enter the boys' bathroom.

So it's still possible to sleep in the same room for another half a year, right?!

Xu Wen raised his hand and knocked on Dongsheng's bedroom door.

"Dongsheng, can I come in?"

Dongsheng sobbed, "Mom, I fell asleep."

Xu Wen laughed and opened the door.

The curtains of Dongsheng's house were not drawn, and the moonlight and starlight shining through the window allowed one to barely see inside the house.

Dongsheng seemed to particularly like the ostrich sleeping position. He still lay on the bed with his little butt sticking up and his face buried in the pillow.

Xu Wen sat down beside the bed and asked him, "Dongsheng, do you miss your dad? Or do you just want to sleep with me?"

Dongsheng arched his butt, as if he wanted to raise his head but was unwilling to do so.

"Are you really asleep?" Xu Wen tried to hold back his laughter, pretending not to notice his little action, "Well, fine! I wanted Dongsheng to live with me, but since Dongsheng is asleep, I'd better leave!"

"I'm not asleep," Dongsheng climbed up and grabbed the corner of Xu Wen's clothes. There were still traces of tears on his face, and his eyes were as red as a rabbit's eyes.

Xu Wen held Dongsheng in his arms and wiped his tears with his fingertips, "Don't cry! Do you miss your dad or do you want to sleep with me?"

"I want to sleep with you."

"Then why did you always say you wanted to sleep alone?"

Before taking a bath, Xu Wen asked Guo Dongsheng if he could sleep alone.

Dongsheng answered firmly that he could, and said that he slept alone even when he was with Lu Yuanzheng.

Dongsheng sobbed and looked at Xu Wen.

"Just tell the truth, I won't be angry."

"Dad said that he couldn't sleep with you. He said that you like to sleep alone. He also said that if I acted naughty, you would not like me not to call me mom." Dongsheng pouted aggrievedly, "He also said that if I didn't listen to him, he would beat me when he got back."

Xu asked: "..."

This is a really crude way of education.

"Dad is right. I really want to sleep by myself, and I also hope you can be more independent. But how do you usually sleep? Do you sleep with dad or by yourself?"

"Sleep together."

Xu asked: "..."

She thought about it and changed the question, "Do you sleep in the same bed with your dad or do you sleep in the same room with your own bed?"

"One bed per person. I'd be scared to sleep alone."

Xu Wen's heart softened, and he patted his back gently: "Then let's take it slowly. First, we sleep in the same room as before, but each of us has our own bed. When you are older, you can sleep in your own room, okay?"

"Is it really possible?" Dongsheng was excited, "Then will you dislike me?

"No." Xu Wen put Dongsheng on the ground, "Now help me, let's move your crib to the next room, okay?"

"good."

Dongsheng's bed was a bit like a military bed, with a wooden board placed on an iron frame.

The structure is very simple and easy to move.

After struggling for a while, Xu Wen finally successfully placed Dongsheng's bed next to the wall.

Dongsheng didn't cry this time. He jumped on the bed for a while before lying down with a silly smile on his face.

"Winter."

"arrive."

Xu asked: "..."

Now I know who brought you up.

"Tomorrow, I have to go to school. Do you want to go to the eldest grandfather's house or the youngest grandfather's house?"

Dongsheng said: "I want to be with Mama."

"But I have to go to school and can't take you with me. Can I come back to accompany you on the weekends? This is what we agreed on before, right?"

Dongsheng nodded reluctantly and made a choice: "Young Master's house."

The next morning, Xu Wenxian took Dongsheng to transfer his household registration to Lujia Production Team.

Because Lu Yuanzheng did not have a permanent residence, and Dongsheng's residence could not be left alone, Xu Wen had to open a household registration booklet and register Dongsheng under his own name.

Her relocation of her household registration helped ease some of the burden on the Xu family.

Because Xu Wen didn't earn many work points and only got rations, once her household registration was changed, the Xu family could get less rations and more money.

Her family had enough food, but not enough money.

Lu Yuanzheng's uncle was the leader of the Lu family production team and was relatively easy to talk to.

Furthermore, since Xu Wen and his son did not work and did not earn work points, sharing the rations was equivalent to buying them with money, which would not interfere with the interests of others, and the other members had no objection.

Although the two production teams are close to each other, it is still a bit troublesome to handle the relocation. It is definitely not completed in one day. At most, you just need to submit the documents.

She didn't have to worry about the rest as Xu Wen and Uncle Lu Yuanzheng would take care of it for her.

After waking up in the afternoon, Xu Wen sent Dongsheng to Lu Yuanzheng's uncle's house and gave his aunt five yuan as Dongsheng's food expenses.

Five yuan is enough to feed the baby for a month. But Dongsheng is asking others to take care of the baby, and it might delay others from earning work points, so he should be compensated.

As soon as school was over on Saturday afternoon, Xu Wen rode his bike back home.

She was worried about Dongsheng.

Although Dongsheng was used to being separated from Lu Yuanzheng, from what he said, he had lived in the compound since he was born, so at least he didn't need to change his environment.

Moreover, the compound is under military management, and the people I meet are comrades who have traveled long distances or their families, and we eat in the compound canteen.

Dongsheng's treatment was actually not much different from that of other children in the family building.

Now Lu Yuanzheng has left and she is not at home either.

Dongsheng is truly a dependent.

She was afraid that he wouldn't be able to adapt.

Xu Wen saw Dongsheng standing at the intersection from a distance.

Xu Wen pedaled quickly and arrived in front of Dongsheng.

It had only been a week since they last met, and she almost didn't recognize Dongsheng.

When Lu Yuanzheng took Dongsheng with him before, although he often took him to the wilderness, he also gave Dongsheng a bath in time and kept him clean most of the time.

Now the clothes Dongsheng wears cannot be recognized their original color. His face is covered with white and black spots, and his neck, arms, legs and feet are all dirty and unsightly.

When she took care of Dongsheng, she would give him a bath once or twice a day.

I have never seen Dongsheng so dirty.

Not only is it dirty, but it also seems a little thinner.

Xu Wen parked her bicycle, looked around, and didn't see her uncle or aunt. She bent down and opened her arms to Dongsheng who was waiting for her to hug him.

Dongsheng threw himself into her arms, "Mom! Woohoo, I miss you."

"I miss you as well."

"Dongsheng." Xu Wen straightened Dongsheng and asked him, "When did you come? Did the grandfather and grandmother know?"

Dongsheng shook his head.