Accidentally Born in the ‘60s - Chapter 4

The three brothers put the turtle in the bucket and went home dejected. Mrs. Li was smoking a tobacco pouch in the kitchen. Seeing the appearance of her grandson slipping in, she couldn’t help grinning, revealing a mouthful of teeth: “Is this something? Catch a fish.”

Li Mingnan and Li Mingbei nodded aggrievedly and put the bucket into the kitchen: “I only caught a turtle, and I don’t know if it’s alive or dead.” Mrs. Li stood up and glanced at the bucket, and she was immediately happy. : “Okay, it’s fine if you catch it. I’ll make dumplings for you tomorrow. Let’s have a good New Year.”

The frustration on Li Mingnan and Li Mingbei was immediately swept away, and they threw their big padded jackets on the cabinet at the door of the cabinet, and rushed to the east room to tell Wang Sufen the good news. How old is Li Mingxi? The more he thinks about it, the more he feels that something is wrong. After returning to the house, he approached Li Mingdong, who was studying, and couldn’t help but ask, “Brother, why are you talking so well today?”

Li Mingdong looked down from the book, and glanced at Li Mingxi: “I haven’t cut so much meat for more than three months, and tomorrow is the New Year’s Eve, you will still make dumplings when you come back with a bucket of water and milk today. eat.”

Li Mingxi regretted it after hearing it: “I was fooled by milk again. You don’t know that I’m almost frozen on the ice in the afternoon.”

Mrs. Li came in with a cane and heard this, she couldn’t help but beat Li Mingxi’s butt with the cane: “Whoever fooled you, arrange me if you can’t see it.”

Li Mingxi covered his butt and jumped two meters away, then ran out with a smirk: “Well, let’s see my sister.”

Seeing this, Mrs. Li couldn’t help laughing twice, and when she saw Mingxi was out, she sat next to Li Mingdong: “Mingdong, last month, your fourth uncle wrote to say that you will be home someday, is it a small year? That day?”

Li Mingdong pulled open the drawer, took out a letter from the inside, opened it and glanced at it, and then said, “I will go out after the new year, and I won’t arrive until the 28th of the twelfth lunar month.”

“I didn’t bring my daughter-in-law back when I got married, and I didn’t bring it back to see if I had a child. After so many years, I managed to come back so late.” Mrs. Li was a little indignant: “I see, he doesn’t see me like that in his eyes. Madam.”

Seeing a sad look on Mrs. Li’s face, Li Mingdong quickly persuaded him, “Isn’t this too far away? Besides, the fourth uncle is also busy over there, and it is not easy to buy train tickets.”

“It’s alright, alright…” Thinking of her youngest son, whom she hadn’t seen in nearly ten years, Mrs. Li softened her expression and waved her hand weakly: “It’s good to be back, and you can go and clean the kang in the back room tomorrow. Burn it again, they have never experienced such cold in the ice market.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll burn it early tomorrow morning.” Li Mingdong agreed.

Knowing that her eldest grandson was reliable, Mrs. Li was relieved, leaning on crutches and exhorting two more words before she went out.

On the morning of Xiaonian, Mrs. Li, who was the first to get up, hadn’t gotten up yet. Li Mingbei, who was thinking about the dumplings that didn’t sleep well all night, jumped up from the kang first: “Mother, it’s dawn!”

The old lady was in a daze, and she was so frightened by his voice that she almost had a heart attack. She covered her chest with one hand and touched the crutches from the ground with two sticks and beat Li Mingbei down: “Why are you screaming in the morning? Get out and start the fire!”

Taking advantage of the light outside, Li Mingbei put on a jacket and trousers, and then ran to the kitchen to pick up the firewood. He first added enough firewood under each kang, and then went to the kitchen to make a fire.

There are five months of the year in Beicha, which is almost winter, so when the weather is cold in the Li family, the firewood in the stove is continuous 24 hours a day. When cooking, the large pot is connected to the kang. Li Mingbei worked rough, and after a while, the whole family was in trouble.

Zhen Zhen was also woken up by the sound of Li Mingbei coming in, one of them urinated out of nowhere, and she was so ashamed that she wanted to slap the kang twice: Urinary incontinence is such a shame! She was crying pitifully, Zhen Zhen couldn’t stand the dampness under her buttocks, so she hummed twice, when Wang Sufen heard her daughter woke up, she immediately got up and changed Zhen Zhen a clean diaper.

Zhen Zhen was very helpless about her current situation, Xiao Zui couldn’t help sighing, and muttered in her heart: Life is always so difficult.

Wang Sufen couldn’t help laughing when she heard her daughter’s sigh, and poked Zhen Zhen’s face with her hand: “Little confinement child knows how to sigh, the whole family is the happiest for you, eat with your eyes open and sleep with your eyes closed.” Said She lifted up her clothes and fed Zhen Zhen.

Zhen Zhen has become accustomed to breastfeeding so naturally, she gudonggudong ate until she was full, hiccupped her eyes and couldn’t open her eyes, before falling asleep, Zhen Zhen still pondered: Mom is right, I want to eat The days when I just eat and sleep are so happy, I think I can sleep a little longer…

After almost a moment, Zhen Zhen fell asleep, Wang Sufen put her in the trolley with the beam hanging down from the roof, and when she got dressed, she went out to help prepare things for the New Year.

When Mrs. Li saw Wang Sufen came out and washed her hands, she was about to make a face, and she hit her outstretched hand back with her eyes wide: “You won’t turn around when you leave home, right? Xiulan will come after a while, with her and her. Osmanthus is busy, you don’t need to worry about it.”

Wang Sufen said hurriedly: “It’s not tiring to sit on the kang and help make dry food. Just lying on the kang makes me feel more tiring than working.”

“Blessings will not be enjoyed.” Mrs. Li shook her head in disgust: “If you have a hard time, just walk around the house with Zhen Zhen in your arms, you can’t be tired now, if my granddaughter loses weight after returning to milk, then How to fix it.”

Liu Xiulan heard this as soon as she entered the door, and couldn’t help laughing: “It can be seen that my mother likes girls. You were not so nervous when we gave birth to these boys, that is, I have a good temper.

When Mrs. Li heard it, she laughed, took a puff of her cigarette, and said, “I can’t do anything if I don’t like it. I just like my granddaughter. Who will keep you from giving birth to a girl.”

Osmanthus heard the movement outside, stood up and wiped her hands from her apron, and came out of the kitchen to say hello: “Aunt San is here, have you eaten yet? I’ll get you a pillow for your stomach?”

“Don’t be busy, I’ve eaten here.” Liu Xiulan handed Osmanthus a basket on her arm, which contained ten eggs and a piece of meat: “The eggs are for the second sister-in-law, and the meat is for the mother.” Osmanthus took it over, gave Mrs. Li a look, and put the things away.

Liu Xiulan looked at Osmanthus’ quick hands and feet, and couldn’t help but said enviously, “Our family Osmanthus is really diligent, and she works very quickly. Mother, you have such a good eye. Look at finding such a good wife for Dongzi.”

Madam Li narrowed her eyes when she heard the words: “I’m thinking that when Ming Dong is admitted to university, I’ll do the wedding for the two of them.”

“That’s a good relationship.” Liu Xiulan looked at Osmanthus, who was blushing, and couldn’t help laughing and teasing her: “Osmanthus will give Mingdong a fat girl after getting married, keep your milk and treat you like a Buddha. .”

Osmanthus bit her lip and showed a shy smile, she threw her long braid around her neck, turned around and went back to the kitchen. While adding firewood to the stove, she pricked up her ears and listened to the voices of the two people outside.

Liu Xiulan glanced at the kitchen, lowered her voice and asked, “Mother, did you and Dongzi talk about getting married?”

“Not yet.” Mrs. Li smoked her cigarette bag: “I think I will do it when I have time next winter.”

Liu Xiulan’s voice was even lower: “Mother, it’s better to tell Dongzi in advance. He is happy that we are in Zhangluo. Dongzi has read so many books, don’t have any thoughts.”

“I know, you don’t need to worry about this. Next year, you remember to help me find a good carpenter to build a large wardrobe and two wooden boxes for Dongzi.” Mrs. Li frowned slightly, and slammed again. Two puffs of cigarettes: “I hope next year will be better. Dongzi is the eldest grandson of our family, so getting married can’t be too shabby.”

“Mother said yes.” Liu Xiulan nodded in agreement: “Fortunately, there are red pine trees in the mountains and plains, so it’s easy to make furniture. I heard from my family Mingrong that if you want to get these furniture in Beijing, you need a big wardrobe. Tickets and big wooden box tickets can only be bought, and they are very tight.”

“Perhaps other people’s styles are rare. In fact, there is nothing to look at in this thing, as long as you can put things in it.” Mrs. Li snorted a few words on the cigarette, and habitually raised the sole of her shoe and knocked the cigarette bag pot on it. .

Osmanthus listened in the kitchen for a long time and didn’t quite understand what the third aunt said, but she heard all the furniture that grandma said to get her married. The thought of marrying Brother Dongzi in another year made her joy and sweetness unstoppable.

Liu Xiulan accompanied Mrs. Li to talk, and went to the kitchen to wash hands and make noodles. With Liu Xiulan to help, the work at home would be done much faster, and soon the two curtains were full of sticky bean bags and put them outside. Freeze it, and put a pot of sweet potato noodles in a pot to cool outside after steaming.

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, it was the day when Li Mulin returned home. Li Muwu and Li Musen went to the train station early in the morning to wait. It was not until noon that they waited for the train from Bingcheng.

Brothers have been apart for ten years, and when they meet again, they are a little dazed. Li Mulin wore a washed-white tunic suit with a large padded jacket over it, oilcloth spiked shoes on his feet, and two large burdens on his shoulders. As soon as he got out of the car, he saw the two older brothers in home-made clothes. Say hello from a distance.

Only then did Li Muwu react, and he hurriedly took things with Mu Sen, laughing he didn’t know what to say. Li Mulin knew that the two older brothers had neither studied nor cultured, so he called his daughter-in-law and children first: “This is my lover Zhang Chunhua, these are my two sons, the older one is Mingshu and the younger one is called Mingshu. Mingxin.”

“I know, I know, the letter you sent before, Dongzi and Mingxi, have been read to us, and my mother is talking about two children. I can stay at home for a few more days before going back.”

When Zhang Chunhua heard this, he couldn’t help but stretched out his hand and tugged at the back of Li Mulin’s clothes. Li Mulin smiled and reached out to knock Zhang Chunhua’s hand off and let the two children call out, “This is your second uncle, third uncle, hurry up and call someone. .”

Although Ming Shu and Ming Xin also wore patches on their clothes, their faces were very white when they looked at them.

Seeing that Li Mulin was a little uncomfortable, Mu Wu and Mu Sen hurriedly made a round of the game: “The child is afraid of life, it’s okay, let’s go home quickly, and we’ll know when we get familiar with it.”

Li Mulin reluctantly turned his head to look at his silent wife and son. He was afraid that the two older brothers would have an idea, so he hurriedly asked about the mother’s body and the current situation at home.

The family walked out of the train station while talking. Zhang Chunhua used to look up for the trolleybus stop sign, but when he looked left and right, it didn’t look like there was a tram. When he turned around and wanted to ask a question, he saw that Li Muwu had brought his own. Two large burdens were placed on a tattered ox cart.

Immediately, Zhang Chunhua’s face turned green.