When a few people went out to play, Ye's mother did not object, but only asked them to dress well and come back early.
The four of them went to a frozen stream behind the village.
The fun for rural children is just that: going up the mountain to pick bamboo shoots and flowers in spring, eating wild fruits and cicadas in summer, catching grasshoppers in autumn when they have some time off from the busy farming season, and playing on the frozen river in winter.
Every year, adults remind us to wait until the river is completely frozen before we can play there.
There are clear regulations on when you can go and when you are not allowed to go.
There is less water in winter and the stream is not deep, so parents are still very relieved.
It's a good time to play in this season, but when spring comes and the ice starts to melt, children won't be allowed to visit this stream.
Anyone who dares to play will be treated to a meal of stir-fried bamboo shoots and meat.
This kind of child is not beaten at home. Instead, he will be dragged outside and his crying will be used to scare away other children who are trying to play.
Parents have warned children about safety issues, and children are not stupid, so no one dares to step into the minefield.
When Ye Jiaying and his companions arrived, there were already a few children playing on the river.
I had seen them a few mornings ago, and when I saw them coming, I played with them.
Playing on the ice means sliding on your own, or squatting on the ice with two people pulling your arms on the left and right and running forward.
Another way is to take a wooden board, have people sit on it, and push it forward from behind to see who can push it farthest.
Ye Jiawei took Chen Miao to play all of them.
When Chen Miao first stepped onto the ice, he was a little nervous and didn't dare to take big steps.
Later, I had a lot of fun and competed with the kids to see who could skate farther on the ice.
Everyone wears thick clothes in winter, so even if you fall occasionally, you won’t get hurt.
Everyone played for more than an hour before Ye's mother asked someone to call them back.
It was the first time the woman came to visit, and it would not be good for her to go back too late. Ye's mother looked at the time and asked the kid next door to call her back.
The four of them had red faces from the cold wind, but they all had happy smiles on their faces.
"I'm back. It's fun. Come to my house next time and let Xiaowei and Xiaolan take you out to play."
Seeing that they were happy, Ye's mother smiled and said.
“It’s fun.”
Chen Miao nodded happily.
And he said he would come back to play during the holidays.
Ye's mother took them into the house and let them drink hot brown sugar ginger soup to dispel the cold.
After talking for a while, he asked Ye Jiawei to take Chen Miao home.
When they went back, Ye's mother packed two big bags for them.
One was taken back to Chen Miao's home, and the other was for his son.
It is already the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. The factory will start work in one day. Ye Jiawei will send people home and will not come back.
Chen Miao politely refused, but couldn't resist Ye's mother, so he accepted it.
Ye's mother accompanied the two of them all the way to the village entrance.
I watched the two of them go away before going home.
When seeing someone off, she met some aunties from the same village. They all teased Ye's mother with a smile, saying that her daughter-in-law was pretty and Xiaowei had a partner, so she should just prepare to have a grandson.
There were also some rude people who asked why Brother Ye didn't come back.
Ye's mother smiled sincerely at the former, and said with a smile that Jiawei was lucky to have met such an excellent daughter-in-law. She was not so sincere about the latter, and just said that they were too far away and it was a waste of money to go back and forth.
When she got home, she put away the smile on her face.
The eldest brother is indeed a source of worry for her.
He had been gone for over a year, and never forgot to send home any news. They wanted to find out more, but they had no idea where to turn.
After Ye Mingde left, his family also moved away last year.
She couldn't find out.
How could she not worry about her own child?
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