That night, he barely slept, feeding and changing diapers, initially forgetting to buy a basin, wipes, and diaper cream until the child had a bowel movent, reminding him to rush to purchase them. Fortunately, he still had tens of dollars left, and the items were not expensive.
The next day, he hurriedly spent the money on a baby crib, a small mattress, and small clothes, with just the crib costing over three hundred yuan. The rest of the money went to buy washing supplies for the little one, including mattresses, quilt wraps, clothes, a large basin for laundry, a clothes rack, and more.
In short, he treated the space as his temporary ho. Thankfully, the space was always a constant 26 degrees Celsius, neither cold nor hot, otherwise the clothes probably wouldn’t have dried.
Babies in their first month mostly sleep throughout, feeding on formula every four hours could satisfy them, and as long as they didn’t feel the urge to urinate or defecate, they would sleep peacefully. However, if they suffered from colic, they would suddenly wake up and burst into tears.
Fortunately, there was a ti difference between the space and the outside world. There was always ti for him to use the toilet, eat, and rest, so after arranging everything for the child, he quickly left the space, took a vehicle back to the military unit, and started work.
When others asked him where he had arranged for the child, he said that the child was with a nanny, giving ten yuan per month for care, and that he had to manage the formula and other necessities himself.
It was the sumr of 1979. He had been with the troop for a year and, due to his military service, his allowance had increased to eighteen yuan a month. Since he had recently been promoted to company commander, he received an additional five yuan as a positional allowance each month, plus various subsidies in the form of food stamps, at tickets, industrial vouchers, and cloth tickets, amounting to about thirty yuan in total. If there were special missions, he would receive extra allowances. Over the years, he had managed to save up about one thousand yuan.
Although it wasn’t much, it was sufficient to raise this child. After all, besides raising this younger child, he also had the older one to support, so managing to save one thousand yuan was already far better than many others.
The child was born on May 22, 1979, just catching the last of the post-70s births.
During the night he was away, news of his adoption of a baby girl had spread throughout the compound. Every sister-in-law who ca across him looked at him with incomprehension, saying it was ti he found a wife to manage his affairs, otherwise his earnings would be spent on others, and he would regret it sooner or later.
Even a comrade joked with him that, being so wealthy, why not help a fellow soldier from a struggling family by supporting their child?
In response, Zheng Long chose to smile and not take it to heart. From his perspective, the majority in the military held proper values, but there were also a few who seed honest but harbored ulterior motives. So, the best approach before discerning their true intentions was to remain detached—neither too close nor offensive.
Although he was just a company commander, at least he had an official rank. He had education and skills, and was not afraid of being phased out, especially compared to those who had skills but no education, or had education but no capability, who were full of worries. His future seed sowhat brighter.
On a day in mid-June,
"Dad, I’ve finished the college entrance exam, but I won’t be coming over for now since the school still has many procedures to handle. I’ll co to you after I’ve applied for my college choices and settled everything, okay?"
When Zheng Kai called, Zheng Long was very happy, "No worries, take good care of yourself over there. Whether you did well or not, doesn’t matter, it’s already over. If it cos to it, we can try again next year."
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