Luo Xiaowei sighed:
"Sister-in-law, you don't know, Li Xinru dresses her child better than the children in the city, she's very generous."
Every time I take the kids to the city, we come back with bags full of food, clothes, and other necessities.
I don't know where she gets so much money that she can't possibly spend it all.
Bai Xiaoyue was also puzzled.
She told Yan Ci about Li Xinru's unusual behavior.
Yan Ci asked, "Wife, if you're worried, I'll go check it out."
Bai Xiaoyue thought for a moment and said:
"Aci, let's forget it. It's not worth wasting our energy on pointless people."
The fact that Li Xinru was taking care of the child didn't attract much attention from Bai Xiaoyue.
Because, not long after, the child disappeared. According to Luo Xiaowei, it seemed that Li Xinru had sent her family to pick him up.
Cui Yu's arm injury has healed, and he's become very hardworking, eager to do everything, except cooking; he wants to take care of all the housework.
Bai Xiaoyue felt a pang of sympathy seeing Cui Yu's actions, especially since they resembled Ruyi's when she first arrived.
She felt this was wrong, so she called all four children together.
She first said to Cui Yu:
“Cui Yu, you don’t need to rush to do everything. Just share the burden with the other three.”
Then he said to Chang Le, Ru Yi, and Xiao Bai, "You four should divide up the housework and do it together, understand?"
All four nodded in unison.
When Cui Yu saw Yan Ci leading Chang Le and Xiao Bai in their training, he wanted to join them.
The number of people exercising in the Yan family each day increased from three to four.
Time flew by and it was April 1974. Chang Le's 18th birthday was fast approaching.
Bai Xiaoyue was a little worried. In this era, no one dared to wear jewelry, but Chang Le already had a watch.
What kind of adult gift should I prepare for my daughter?
She racked her brains but couldn't think of anything good to give as a gift.
After discussing it with Yan Ci, the couple exchanged their tickets and went to the county town to buy Chang Le a pair of heeled leather shoes.
On Chang Le's birthday, Bai Xiaoyue spent half a day at home tinkering with eggs, sugar, and flour to steam a pot of egg cakes.
Without lemon juice, I used white vinegar instead, and my hand almost gave out while whipping the egg whites with chopsticks.
Without an oven or a rice cooker, the only option is to steam it over water.
After steaming, it is soft and fluffy without collapsing, and its light yellow color is quite appetizing.
There was no cream, nor any food ingredients that could be used for writing, but she didn't make things difficult for herself and served it as is.
The children were very curious.
Little Bai couldn't help but ask, "Mommy, what's this? Is it a big steamed bun?"
Bai Xiaoyue said with a smile, "This is a cake to celebrate my sister's 18th birthday."
Chang Le's eyes crinkled into crescent moons with laughter.
Bai Xiaoyue said to her daughter:
"Changle, today is your 18th birthday. I made this cake especially for you. You can cut it and share it with everyone."
People here don't celebrate birthdays; usually, only people who are sixty years old will celebrate their birthdays.
So they only invited Mr. and Mrs. Bai to the dinner, making a total of eight people.
Chang Le first cut the pieces for Bai's father and mother, Bai Xiaoyue, Yan Ci, then Cui Yu, Ruyi, Xiao Bai, and finally herself.
Little Bai took a bite, opened her eyes wide and said, "Mom, this is delicious, even better than the sponge cake we buy."
Bai's mother also said, "Daughter, this is soft and delicious."
Chang Le was very happy: "Thank you, Mom, I really like this cake."
Bai Xiaoyue: "We can only do this because of limited resources right now. We'll be able to make it even better when we can buy an oven and cream in the future."
Cui Yu said, "Auntie, this tastes great, just as good as a store-bought birthday cake."
Bai Xiaoyue: "Cui Yu, don't say that. I can't compare to the master baker at the cake shop."
Chang Le immediately said, "I also think this is the best cake in the world. No one else can make it as good as this."
Then the remaining cake was shared among everyone.
After dinner, Bai's parents went home. Bai Xiaoyue called Chang Le to her room and gave her the high heels.
Chang Le liked it very much, immediately changed into her shoes, and walked around the room.
She gave Bai Xiaoyue a hug: "Mom, thank you, I'm so happy."
Chang Le is now a little taller than her mother when she wears high heels.
Bai Xiaoyue patted her daughter's back: "My happiness is to be happy every day."
In the blink of an eye, my Changle has grown up and is now taller than her mother—she's an adult.
Chang Le proudly said, "Mom, I've grown up now. You don't have to work so hard anymore. I can earn money to support you."
Bai Xiaoyue: "Changle, Mom is very happy that you have such filial piety."
However, your mother is still young and doesn't need you to support her. You should focus more on your studies right now.
I'm looking forward to going to a big city with you someday.
Chang Le said confidently:
“No problem. If I can take the college entrance exam, I will definitely go to a big city and take you all with me.”
Bai Xiaoyue nodded: "Okay, I'll wait."
Chang Le rested her head on her mother's shoulder and said:
"Mom, it's so good to have you as my mom!"
Bai Xiaoyue rubbed her daughter's head and said, "Changle, your father also has a gift for you."
Chang Le suddenly looked up: "Mom, my dad has been gone for a long time, why would he give me a gift?"
Bai Xiaoyue got up, took out the silver bracelet left by Ye Jianhua, and handed it to her daughter:
"This is what your father left you; consider it his coming-of-age gift to you."
Chang Le refused: "Mom, what my dad left behind is definitely for you."
Bai Xiaoyue: "Chang Le, keep it safe. You're your father's only child. If he doesn't give it to you, who will?"
It's a pity he left so early, otherwise he would have prepared an even better gift for you.
Chang Le carefully put away the bracelet: "Mom, this is the best gift."
Bai Xiaoyue hugs her daughter:
"Since your father is absent, I'll hug you in his place and congratulate our Chang Le on growing up!"
The mother and daughter chatted idly, losing track of time. After Chang Le left, Yan Ci entered the room with a dark expression, and Bai Xiaoyue carefully apologized and coaxed him for half the night.
Life was peaceful and the Yan family lived a regular life. During the busy farming season, everyone worked in the fields, and during the off-season, they worked in the factory.
Every morning, Chang Le, Xiao Bai, and Cui Yu would go out for exercise with Yan Ci, while Bai Xiaoyue would prepare breakfast with Ru Yi.
Bai Wenyi also diligently developed orders around the county town, making work clothes and embroidered pillowcases for workers.
I've taken on some orders; they don't make a lot of money, but they're enough to pay the workers' wages.
Bai Xiaoyue doesn't go to the factory; she spends her free time at home writing.
Sometimes I also study high school textbooks, hoping to help my daughter.
When her mind got tired, she would embroider insoles for a while. She wanted to embroider a pair for Yan Ci to make him happy, and she embroidered them behind his back.
It took two months of intermittent embroidery to finish. Unlike later insoles, which had patterns and blank spaces and could be embroidered directly after being taken home, the insoles of that time did not have patterns.
Nowadays, she makes her own insoles by gluing the fabric layer by layer, cutting out the patterns, and drawing the designs. She embroidered the four characters "永结同心" (meaning "forever united in heart").
The embroidery wasn't particularly beautiful, but she felt that the sentiment was enough.
When Bai Xiaoyue handed the insoles to Yan Ci, Yan Ci stroked the four characters "永结同心" (May you be forever united in heart) on them, his eyes almost overflowing with joy.
He immediately embraced his wife and gave her an extremely passionate kiss.
...
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