When I ca back, I had eaten so much in the store that Lin Wan wasn’t hungry at all. She added so coal to the stove, sat in the room knitting a sweater, and listened to the radio.
Lin Wan is pregnant now, she gets sleepy, and can’t stay up as late as she used to.
She went to bed at around eight or nine o’clock.
The next day, Lin Wan simply made two poached eggs.
She boiled a pot of hot water and washed the sheets and quilt covers that were changed yesterday.
They were hung out in the yard, and in no ti at all, they had frozen into icy sheets. Oh, I don’t know when they’ll be dry.
Lin Wan was worrying about drying the clothes when she heard a knock on the door outside.
Lin Wan peeked through the crack of the door and saw it was Shi Lan. She quickly opened the door for her.
"Why are you here?" Lin Wan stepped aside to let her in and quickly closed the door.
"There’s nothing much to do at ho, so I ca over to chat with you. Why do you lock the door during the day?"
"I’m afraid of Wang Guihua and her daughter, so I locked the door."
"I understand, I’ve co to know that mother and daughter quite well recently. It’s just like that."
Lin Wan led her to the room and up on the heated bed. "You’ve made the bed really warm."
"I’m afraid of the cold, so I hardly want to go out in winter."
" too, but I don’t know how to manage the heat bed. It’s either not hot enough or too hot, haha."
"Try a few more tis, and you’ll gain experience," Lin Wan said as she poured Shi Lan a mug of hot water with a few red dates in it.
Shi Lan laughed out loud, "The two of us really have quite the taste, quite in sync."
Lin Wan laughed along with her.
When Shi Lan ca, she was holding two frozen pears. "I bought them in the city yesterday for you to try."
"I’ve been here for over two years, and I still can’t get used to these frozen pears. You like them?" Lin Wan said, but she still picked one up and took a bite.
"I hadn’t tried them before, bought so yesterday, and tried one at ho last night. It’s alright, quite sweet."
There are few fruits in the winter, and although Lin Wan doesn’t like them, she couldn’t let them go to waste. She finished it too.
Shi Lan was holding the uppers of cotton shoes in her hands, lined with a layer of rabbit fur inside.
Seeing her making cotton shoes, Lin Wan wanted to learn, "Shi Lan, can you teach how to make cotton shoes? I want to make so for Han Yi."
"Sure, do you have any scrap fabric or old clothes at ho?"
"I have. Why do you need that?"
"To make insoles!"
Lin Wan didn’t understand, but whatever Shi Lan asked for, she fetched. Since they hadn’t made porridge in the morning, Shi Lan brought over the leftover porridge from their house in the morning to teach her how to make insoles.
It’s actually using scraps of cloth, boiled into paste with cornal and flour, then layered and dried.
The two of them worked in the room for half an hour and finished.
"Just leave them in the room, or they’ll freeze outside."
"Oh, alright."
After finishing all this, Lin Wan saw it was only a little after ten.
The two saw that it was still early, so they sat on the heated bed chatting. Lin Wan knitted her scarf while Shi Lan worked on her shoes.
They talked a lot about things from their hotown.
Their families live by the mountains, with lots of mountain products. After the reform, their family started a dry goods store in the county.
The family is now quite well off.
She and Ning Jiang were matched by their families, and at first, she didn’t agree. But later, when Ning Jiang returned ho for a visit, they t by chance. Slowly, they started to like each other and got married.
Actually, they’ve been married for two years, but Ning Jiang has been over here, hardly ever able to go ho twice a year.
That’s why her family let her co and join the military family here.
"Actually, I’ve been married for over a year too. Just after the new year, he went on a mission for more than half a year. He only just got back less than two months ago."
"That’s how it is for us military wives."
"Yeah."
"Alright, enough about this. How about you stay and have lunch with today? Let’s have hotpot for lunch. I specially brought hotpot base this ti."
"Great!"
After speaking, Lin Wan went to the kitchen with Shi Lan to get busy.
They didn’t make too much since there was still so dried venison from last ti. With a few more dishes, they were quite happy to eat. After finishing their al, the two of them lay on Lin Wan’s kang and rested for a while. Shi Lan was thinking of going back to have a look.
Then Sister-in-law Jiang and Sister-in-law Zhang ca over and asked if they wanted to go mushroom picking in the mountain.
Both agreed imdiately.
Everyone took a basket from ho and dressed warmly before heading out. There was quite a crowd going up the mountain this ti, Lin Wan roughly counted, there were about twenty or thirty people.
It had snowed recently and the mountain paths were still quite slippery, so Sister-in-law Jiang and Sister-in-law Zhang were worried she’d slip accidentally. They kept close to her on both sides, walking carefully.
Lin Wan had so experience from her last visit, and Shi Lan, who often walked in the mountains, was even more familiar with the mountain environnt.
Although the four of them were lagging behind, they still picked quite a few mushrooms and wood ear fungi.
Last ti, Han Yi and I went into the mountain and picked mushrooms and wood ear fungi; there’s still plenty left. Enough for Han Yi and to eat throughout the winter.
There’s no harm in stocking up.
Ning Jiang has taken Shi Lan into the mountain once or twice; she doesn’t follow the large crowd, instead leading the three of them cleverly to find nearly half a basket. Seeing as they’ve gathered enough, none of them were greedy to go further up. They sat at the entrance of the path waiting for the others to co down the mountain.
But it’s too cold. Sitting there is worse than standing up to get so exercise.
Luckily, the people above returned in no ti.
At night, Lin Wan was left alone. For lunch, she and Shi Lan added so mushrooms and greens to the leftover pot base, and simply ate so more. After dinner, Lin Wan knocked on the back wall of Shi Lan’s house, then took a flashlight and a bowl over to her place.
It’s her first ti at Shi Lan’s house; it was quite similar to theirs, with floral curtains, and the room was decorated with a sense of style. There were two glass bottles, found from who-knows-where, containing a few dried flowers.
"Your house is really beautiful."
"Likewise," Shi Lan chuckled.
"Is your husband not ho?"
"He said they’re on a drill. Your Captain Han is there too, has been gone for several days; no idea when he’ll be back." Lin Wan frowned upon hearing this, she thought Han Yi would be back in two or three days. With this news, she might not get to see Han Yi this ti.
"If you can’t sleep at night, co sit at our place for a while and chat with ," Shi Lan smiled and pulled her towards the kang.
"I can’t, there’s a fire burning at my place. Didn’t you say earlier you have so yeast? I ca to borrow a bit."
"I do, wait here, I’ll grab so for you," Shi Lan said, going to the kitchen to scoop so yeast from the dough bowl into her bowl.
"Thanks, I’ll co play at your place tomorrow."
"Alright, take it slow on your way back."
On her way back from Shi Lan’s house, Lin Wan passed by Wang Guihua’s house, hoping to walk by quickly. Unfortunately, she was a step too late and Miao Miao caught sight of her.
"Aunt Lin, why didn’t you co out to open the door for us yesterday when we called?"
"Yesterday? I wasn’t aware," Lin Wan gave the child an innocent look. Though she didn’t like her, she didn’t want to be too harsh as the child is innocent. "Oh, you didn’t hear? What about now? Can I co to your house?"
"You want to go to Auntie’s house... But Auntie’s sick, I’m afraid it’ll be contagious. Maybe wait until Auntie’s better in a few days?" Lin Wan said, fake-coughing a few tis.
"I’m not scared..."
"Miao Miao, it’s dark outside, co back to sleep,"
Just as Miao Miao was about to continue, Wang Guihua called her back from inside the house,
"Lin, I heard you ca over yesterday; we wanted to knock and say hello but didn’t realize you were ill. Hurry and get inside, the night’s chill is severe," Wang Guihua said, quickly pulling Miao Miao away, worried she might catch sothing. Illness is expensive these days; and although families aren’t charged for dical treatnt, being sick is uncomfortable.
Their daughter, whenever she got sick, would be very difficult for about a week and, during her illness, only want to eat delicious food. If she wasn’t given what she wanted, she’d cry endlessly, quite a handful to deal with.
Seeing Wang Guihua like this, Lin Wan felt secretly pleased; she’d finally found a way to keep so distance from this mother-daughter pair.
Lin Wan replied, feigned a hoarse throat and coughed twice, then swiftly returned ho.
Back in the kitchen, Lin Wan imdiately kneaded a whole bowl of dough. She placed the dough bowl in the freshly heated pot.
With nothing else to do, Lin Wan listened to the radio while continuing to knit a scarf. She didn’t find it dull at all.
The chilly morning made Lin Wan reluctant to get up, but the discomfort in her stomach forced her to rise unwillingly.
Before going out to the toilet, Lin Wan took out the dough from last night to check it; it hadn’t risen yet.
She had to set it aside, added water to the pot, and put in so rice to start making porridge. Using coal for the fire assured Lin Wan her peace of mind. She wandered outside for a bit, and upon returning, was shivering from the cold.
Living in a single-story house has this downside — going to the toilet is freezing.
Who knows when they could live in a house with heating?
Had a bowl of porridge and stir-fried so shredded potatoes.
She’s a Southerner, actually doesn’t need to steam buns, but after living with Grandma for a year, she got used to it. Plus, after she moved last year, Mom started buying buns every morning.
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