The Bai family was still working in the fields, and they took Chang Le with them.
Seeing that it was still early, Bai Wen'an went to help in the fields.
Bai Xiaoyue finally had the time and energy to properly organize her belongings. First, she took out a small wooden box, which contained quite a lot of things.
After sorting through the loose change, I found I had eighty-six yuan and sixty cents.
Wow, that's enough to buy several hundred kilograms of grain! That's great!
Inside was Bai Xiaoyue and Ye Jianhua's marriage certificate, which was just a piece of paper, like a small certificate of merit.
The document contains the identity information of two people, and the characters are written vertically, which is quite unusual.
There was a silver bracelet with a very antique design, which must have been passed down from an older generation.
This must be kept safe; it will be given to Chang Le as part of her dowry later.
Then there was a stack of coupons: three sugar coupons, each weighing two ounces, and three cloth coupons, each weighing five feet.
Looking at these tickets, Bai Xiaoyue felt a mix of emotions. You have to pay by weight to buy candy!
She then looked at Chang Le's subsidy book and carefully read the instructions.
Each month, Chang Le can receive 30 jin of grain, 10 jin of refined grain and 20 jin of coarse grain, plus 10 yuan, until he turns 18.
Put away the long-term meal ticket, then look at her and Chang Le's clothes.
Aside from that bright red floral jacket that looked a bit like something you'd wear to a folk opera performance, which was a bit of an eyesore.
The rest are all solid colors, which suit my aesthetic and also suit this era. Being low-key is the key to longevity.
The clothes, pants, headscarf, shoes, and bedding were all neatly arranged.
There were very few patched clothes, which shows that Ye Jianhua was really good to the original owner.
Bai Xiaoyue thought to herself, perhaps the original owner really didn't want to live anymore and went to follow her husband.
Looking around at my room, I saw a small earthen bed, a cabinet, a small table, chests, and other necessities. The room was neat and clean.
It seems the original owner was also very pampered at home; she was truly a lucky girl. It's just that she arrived a little too early, which allowed her to benefit from the situation.
Could it be that God saw she had no parents and specially sent her here?
As dusk fell, Mr. and Mrs. Bai and Wen'an returned from the fields.
After Xiao Chang Le and Bai's mother washed her little hands clean, they hugged Bai Xiao Yue's legs and chattered incessantly.
Bai Xiaoyue picked up her daughter and went to the cabinet to get some peach shortbread to coax her. Now she can skillfully carry Chang Le around.
Let Chang Le also send peach cakes to Bai's parents.
Mother Bai smiled and said, "Chang Le will eat it herself; Grandma doesn't like it." Then she went to prepare dinner.
The kitchen and the kang (a heated brick bed) were separated by only one wall, so Bai Xiaoyue quickly took her daughter to learn how to cook.
Bai Xiaoyue can cook, but cooking is a bit difficult in this era.
She's from the South, and her parents work in the food industry, so she's been exposed to cooking, stir-frying, and steaming dishes all by herself.
However, that was only when there was gas available. Using a wood-fired stove was a different story, because she didn't know how to start a fire.
Bai Wen'an sat in front of the stove tending the fire, while his mother skillfully washed and chopped vegetables and made cornbread. Bai Xiaoyue found everything fascinating.
She thought that she had some basic cooking skills, so she decided to learn how to start a fire first, as this was an area she had never ventured into before.
While asking about her brother's studies, she carefully observed how he started the fire.
Hmm, it looks easy, it shouldn't be hard to learn.
But she was quickly proven wrong. She had burned her hair several times, but still hadn't learned it. She deeply realized that what looks easy is useless when you try to do it.
Dinner consisted of cabbage with cornbread, the cornbread having a subtle corn aroma.
Although the flour was a bit coarse and not very fine, seeing that Chang Le was eating it with relish, she could only chew slowly and carefully. It seems that she still needs a long time to get used to it.
After tidying up in the evening, when Chang Le and her daughter lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), Bai Xiaoyue hugged Chang Le's soft body.
She then guided Chang Le, saying, "Xiao Le, from now on you can call me Mom!"
"Mother, why?" Chang Le stared at her curiously.
"I see all the kids on the street calling their mothers."
"You are my mother, not my mom."
"But I think 'Mom' sounds so nice, I like it when you call me 'Mom'."
“But you are my mother.” Chang Le’s little brows furrowed.
"Call me 'Mom,' not 'Mother,' and I'll give you candy."
"Alright then!" Chang Le agreed reluctantly.
The mother and daughter's two-night conversation came to an end.
The next day, Bai Wen'an went to school, and Bai Xiaoyue began her new life of healing her injuries while leveling up.
After burning his hair multiple times and getting several blisters on his hands from cooking over a fire every day, he can now basically do it independently.
Water had to be fetched from the well at the village entrance, and usually it was Bai's father who carried it.
Without electricity, they could only use kerosene lamps, and usually finished everything before dark.
Going to bed early saves on lamp oil, and she's getting used to this healthy lifestyle.
We washed our clothes by the river using soapberry, and we also saw others using 'ash water,' which is filtered wood ash water.
She is gradually adapting to these things, but there are also things that are difficult for her to overcome.
Going to the toilet was the biggest problem; the makeshift dry toilet in the corner of the yard was drafty from all sides.
Moreover, there were only two wooden planks on top, and her legs trembled every time she squatted on them.
Most importantly, after using the toilet, people used bamboo strips or corn husks; there was no toilet paper.
Ah... there was really no other way, so I had to choose the tenderest corn leaves, boil them in water, and then let them dry.
What should I do when my period comes...?
At this moment, Bai Xiaoyue fully understood that her grandmother back home used to tear a sheet of tissue paper in half and use it twice.
Now she could tear them up to save money, but she didn't have a single one left.
I've read articles about this before; it seems the earliest toilet paper was produced in 1958.
But the manufacturer is in Beijing, and I don't know when it will be available in this small place!
Life here has only two inconveniences: this is inconvenient, that is inconvenient.
Bai Xiaoyue felt that the only thing that made her feel good was that the sky was blue, the water was clear, the grass was green, and even the air smelled sweet.
At night, she could see the stars shining brightly. Every night, she would sit in the courtyard, look up at the night sky, and pray to God to let her go back.
Perhaps her heart wasn't sincere enough, but she's still here.
Time slipped by quietly, and then little Chang Le would unconsciously call for her mother.
Bai Xiaoyue's head injury has finally healed. The doctor examined her and said there were no problems.
She also asked the gentle doctor to prepare some commonly used medicines for her daughter, including fever reducers, antidiarrheal medicine, and Yunnan Baiyao.
I also asked for two IV bottles to warm Chang Le's hands when it gets cold.
After spring planting, Mr. and Mrs. Bai no longer need to work in the fields.
Bai's mother was a restless person, so she took on all the housework and didn't let her daughter do any work.
Bai Xiaoyue would take her daughter and wander around the village aimlessly all day.
Get to know the people in the village, gather some information, and incidentally, be a bystander.
Her favorite spot was under the big locust tree at the entrance of the village, which was right next to the threshing ground, with several large stones under it.
Often, middle-aged women would sit under the tree and chat, talking about this family and that family.
The children ran around on the drying ground, making it very lively.
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