Chapter 60
“Oh, Sister-in-law is here.”
Regimental Commander Zhao was in charge of brushing the main room. He saw Qiao Wei first, hurried out, wiped his hands on his pants, and took the bowl: “What’s this? It smells so good.”
“It’s chicken stewed at home. Yan Lei asked me to bring a bowl over for you to taste.” Qiao Wei looked around and saw everyone was working: “What is this? Are you not cooking lunch today?”
Regimental Commander Zhao leaned in to smell the chicken soup and said: “It’s all because of your Sister-in-law. She has a quick temper. I told her we could just brush the rooms one by one, but she insisted that since we have so many people, we should finish it all in one day.”
“A flourishing family is just like that, isn’t it?” Qiao Wei said with a smile.
Regimental Commander Zhao was very pleased.
Sister Yang came out: “What are you doing? Badmouthing me behind my back, are you?”
Regimental Commander Zhao quickly said: “I was praising you.”
Qiao Wei asked: “Can you finish it all today?”
Sister Yang said: “Just about.”
She took the bowl of chicken: “You hurry back to work.”
Regimental Commander Zhao went back to work.
Sister Yang said to Qiao Wei: “You wait here.”
She went into the kitchen, poured the chicken and soup into their own bowl. She scooped a ladle of water to rinse Qiao Wei’s bowl clean.
She rolled up a few pancakes, folded them, wrapped them in a dry lotus leaf, and returned them to Qiao Wei along with the empty bowl: “These were just made this morning, Lin Xixi made them. You take them back.”
Lin Xixi’s pancakes were already somewhat famous. Everyone knew her pancakes were delicious.
Qiao Wei only knew how to steam rice, or at most make a batter cake; she had tried making pancakes, but they didn’t turn out well.
She happily accepted them: “I’ll have to learn from you guys one of these days, how to make them so fragrant.”
Holding the empty bowl and the pancakes, she went back.
Sister Yang wiped her hands on her apron and shouted into the room: “Gangzi, Huazi, go to the Residential Compound and buy some dishes back. We’re not cooking lunch today. You all need to be quick, we’re finishing the brushing today.”
She and Regimental Commander Zhao brushed the main room together.
Regimental Commander Zhao sighed and said: “I used to think Qiao Wei wasn’t very good at speaking. I misjudged her.”
Once was at Division Commander Pan’s place, where she was neither servile nor overbearing, and spoke clearly.
Just now, she was even sweeter and more likable.
It was very different from his impression.
Sister Yang: “Indeed.”
For some reason, even though it’s the same process of using heat to cook food, meat stewed in an iron pot over firewood is especially fragrant.
Yan Lei was just about to make pancakes, but Qiao Wei brought back the large pancakes from Regimental Commander Zhao’s place.
Yan Lei was happy: “Perfect!”
Lin Xixi’s pancakes were truly excellent.
The family of three ate them with the chicken and the soft-cooked vegetables in the chicken soup, praising them endlessly.
Yan Lei told Yan Xiang: “Don’t wake up too late from your nap, I’ll take you to the river to play later.”
Yan Xiang’s cheeks were puffed up, and his eyes lit up: “Can I go into the river?”
Yan Xiang was super obedient; every time he went to the river with his mother, if his mother said he couldn’t go in, he would obediently just pick up stones on the shallow beach.
Yan Lei said: “Go in! I’ll take you swimming.”
Qiao Wei tore off a piece of pancake and glanced at him.
Yan Lei said: “Don’t worry.”
He added: “There are rivers and ponds where we live, so it’s safer if the child learns to swim early.”
Qiao Wei said: “He’s too young.”
“I’ll be with him. Don’t worry,” Yan Lei said, “He can’t be too pampered. We can’t really let him be a little young master.”
In this era, children were raised freely. Take Jun Jun for example—don’t look at how he’s only a year and a half older than Yan Xiang, there’s no one watching him, he just runs out to play wildly on his own. When he’s hungry, he goes home to find food.
Everyone thought it was normal.
Yan Xiang was raised much more delicately, and looked a bit out of place among the crowd of mud-monkey-like children.
“I’m going too,” Qiao Wei said.
She was still worried and had to go keep an eye on things.
Yan Lei shook his head with a smile.
After lunch, Yan Xiang went back to the room to sleep. Yan Lei coaxed him to sleep, and when he came out, he saw Qiao Wei squatting in front of the low cabinet in the living room.
“What are you doing?” He walked over, bent down, and stretched his neck to look.
Qiao Wei lifted the empty glass jar in her hand and shook it.
They had bought a lot of dried fruit to eat as snacks when they went to the market, and there was still some left. Qiao Wei had put them into a lunch box: “Aren’t we going to the river this afternoon? I’m bringing some snacks. Ah—”
Before she could finish, her body was scooped up by the waist and lifted into the air.
Qiao Wei struggled a bit.
“Shh,” Yan Lei covered her mouth and lowered his voice, “The child just fell asleep.”
Qiao Wei bit his neck.
Yan Lei tossed her up, caught her, and turned it into a horizontal carry.
“Don’t bite anymore,” he chuckled, “Several people have already asked me what happened to my neck. If you bite a tooth mark into it, I really won’t be able to make up an excuse.”
Qiao Wei almost laughed out loud.
Yan Lei carried her into the west room and kicked the door shut with his foot…
Children can grow up faster if they sleep well; that’s what Mom says.
Yan Xiang earnestly took his nap every day, and when he woke up, he felt a bit hot.
He slid off the bed, stepped on the stool to get to the ground, and went to the courtyard. His parents had already woken up from their nap.
They looked like they had slept very well, and his mother’s face looked especially good.
Yan Xiang really liked the atmosphere at home right now.
He remembered that some time ago, the atmosphere at home wasn’t this relaxed; there was always a feeling that made him not want to talk, especially when both his parents were home.
He hoped the family would always be like this in the future.
No matter what his father was doing, he often looked at his mother. His mother also often looked at his father.
Then the two of them would laugh together.
Although Yan Xiang didn’t know what his parents were laughing at, he was also very happy to laugh along with them.
“Dad, let’s go,” Yan Xiang said, full of energy.
Yan Lei stood up: “I was just waiting for you to get up. Let’s go!”
Qiao Wei wore her comfortable homespun clothes and trousers, and slipped on a pair of cloth shoes with multi-layered soles. She wasn’t wearing socks, and her snow-white heels were stepping on the back of the shoes, looking relaxed and casual.
She also carried the woven basket she usually took to the market, put on her straw hat, and reminded the father and son: “Carry the water bottles.”
There were three military water bottles at home, and they were all filled.
Yan Xiang went over and touched them, pleasantly surprised: “So cool.”
They had been filled with boiled water in advance and soaked in a water bucket for the duration of the nap, chilled by the groundwater.
Qiao Wei also asked Yan Lei: “Don’t you want to take an umbrella?”
The sun was still very strong.
Yan Lei was speechless: “Why would a grown man carry an umbrella?”
Alright then.
Yan Lei went over, picked up the small bamboo chair at home, and swung it onto his shoulder.
Yan Xiang was curious: “Dad, what are you taking that for?”
“For Mom to sit on.”
Qiao Wei had originally said she would bring a small stool.
Yan Lei felt that sitting on that for a long time would make her back tired. She had already worked hard at noon, so he couldn’t let her work hard again.
A small bamboo chair was no burden at all for him.
“Cross-country training loads are much heavier than this,” he said indifferently.
The family of three set off just like that.
When they arrived at the river, Qiao Wei was quite surprised; the riverbank was actually full of people.
Indeed, getting closer to the river, one could feel that the air temperature had dropped by several degrees. The people in town liked to cool off here.
However, there weren’t usually this many people. Today was Sunday, there was no school, and the boys had all run to the river to play wildly. Some sections of the river were like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
Under the scattered shade of trees, there were also some old ladies gathered together, fanning themselves with cattail-leaf fans, chatting, and doing needlework.
“Let’s find a place with fewer people,” Qiao Wei instructed Yan Lei, “Stay away from those half-grown kids.”
To a little one like Yan Xiang, those half-grown boys were like ticking time bombs of danger.
Yan Lei said: “I’m here, don’t worry.”
They found a spot a bit further away.
Yan Lei set up the small bamboo chair under the shade of a tree by the river: “You just watch us from here.”
He started taking off his clothes right there—he had already put on his swimming trunks at home.
Wearing swimming trunks was considered good, because he was from the Military Unit, he knew that one should wear swimming trunks when going into the river, and he had the means to buy them from the military service center.
In reality, the men in town went into the river completely naked.
The reason Yan Lei found a slightly more distant spot was because in the places with many people, there were youths mixed in among the children, and they were all naked.
Although those few boys might only be fifteen or sixteen years old, at that age in the countryside, they could already take a wife and have sons.
He certainly didn’t want his wife to see other people’s “goods.”
Yan Lei took off his clothes and pants, folding them neatly on top of his shoes.
Looking up, Qiao Wei was watching him, her gaze scanning his waist and abdomen.
Yan Lei curved his lips, revealing a smile that they both understood.
Qiao Wei smiled.
Under the sunlight, it was really clear. Every muscle was full and firm.
She recalled the humid afternoon, the way he looked, drenched in sweat.
In the blink of an eye, Yan Lei’s hands were fast, and in a few quick moves, he stripped Yan Xiang bare.
Qiao Wei covered her face: “Leave him a pair of underpants.”
Yan Lei said: “It’s fine. Look at whose kid wears underpants when they go into the river.”
He picked up Yan Xiang and went into the water.
Qiao Wei watched for a while. Yan Lei was still very sensible; he didn’t go to the deep places, just took Yan Xiang to play in the shallower areas.
He taught him how to hold his breath and how to swim.
Qiao Wei was relieved.
She took a mosquito coil out of the woven basket and lit it next to the small bamboo chair.
She took out her water bottle, unscrewed it, and took a sip. It was cool and felt really comfortable to drink.
She put down the water bottle, took out a lunch box, opened the lid, placed it on her lap, and took out a piece of dried apple to bite into.
The sky was very blue; the sun had probably scorched the clouds dry, as not a single cloud could be seen in the vast sky.
Yet, by the river, there was a small breeze, carrying a sense of water.
Qiao Wei sat in the shade with her legs crossed, fanning herself with a cattail-leaf fan, chewing on dried fruit, her feet in her shoes swaying back and forth.
It was cozy.
Watching the father and son splashing happily in the river, suddenly an old lady in a blue cloth jacket moved a stool and sat down next to her.
Qiao Wei: “…”
She felt that people these days… really had no sense of boundaries.
The old lady didn’t realize at all that she was too close to others. She had noticed Qiao Wei lighting the mosquito coil, so she had come over to take advantage of it.
She even started chatting with Qiao Wei: “Girl, whose family are you from? You look like a stranger to me.”
Her accent was clearly from the town.
Qiao Wei smiled: “I’m a military family member.”
When Qiao Wei spoke, her accent was different. The old lady looked at her, a bit surprised: “You’re a city person?”
She saw Qiao Wei wearing homespun clothes, but coincidentally, she was also wearing an indigo homespun top and natural-colored homespun trousers today. She had thought Qiao Wei was a local just now.
Young military family members liked to wear Dou-dou cloth.
“Yes, I’m from Lin City.”
“No wonder, you’re so fair and pretty.”
One doesn’t hit a smiling face; since someone was complimenting her beauty, Qiao Wei grabbed a handful of dried fruit and handed it over: “Auntie, have some of this.”
The old lady smiled, put down her needlework, and took it: “How embarrassing.”
This military family member was beautiful and had no airs; she was really likable.
Qiao Wei looked at the needlework on the old lady’s knee: “Auntie, do you know how to make shoes?”
“Who doesn’t know how?”
“Hehehe, I don’t.”
“Back in our day, if you didn’t know how to make shoes or do needlework, you couldn’t get married; you had to learn. Now it’s fine; young people all go to the factory to be workers. Shoes now are all pressed by machines, so it doesn’t matter if you know how to make them or not.”
The old lady was also a sharp and eloquent person.
Qiao Wei picked up the half-finished shoe on her lap to examine it closely; the craftsmanship was really good, the stitches were very even.
“Auntie, have you ever seen the sandals others wear?”
“I have, the plastic kind, right? Military family members love to wear them. Those need industrial coupons. Like in my family, only my son works in the factory; he’s an apprentice, his salary is only 14 yuan, so we don’t have industrial coupons.”
Industrial coupons were allocated based on salary, one coupon for every 20 yuan of salary.
“It’s a good thing the factory gives out some things,” the old lady said while eating, “These days, you must be a worker; being a worker is good. Once you become a regular employee, the salary goes up.”
“Auntie,” Qiao Wei steered the topic back to the shoes, “Can you cut a shoe upper and make a cloth shoe in the style of those sandals?”
“Why wouldn’t I be able to? It’s just a half-shoe; that’s even less work than sewing a full one.”
If she could do it, that was fine; Qiao Wei just needed someone who could.
“I have the soles myself; I’ve already bought them. I just need someone to sew the uppers and straps for me.” Although the people under the trees elsewhere were quite a distance away, Qiao Wei still lowered her voice sneakily, “Auntie, what do you need? What can I exchange for you to sew a shoe upper for me?”
The old lady also became sneaky, stretched her neck to look around, and lowered her voice: “Just sew a half-upper and straps?”
Qiao Wei used her half-finished shoe to gesture: “Just like this, like this, the side is like this, like this. Can you do it?”
“I can, I can. In our alley, if my needlework is second, no one dares to claim first. You found the right person.”
“Then what do you want?” Qiao Wei asked.
The old lady tried to hold up three fingers, hesitated, pulled one back, and finally held up two fingers to make a V.
Qiao Wei: “?”
“White flour,” the old lady said, “I want two catties of white flour.”
One yuan could buy six catties of flour. But white flour was a fine grain; under a planned economy, both coarse and fine grains were rationed.
But for a cadre’s family, this was not an issue.
Qiao Wei agreed immediately: “Okay!”
