"Great! That’s wonderful, Jiabao, you’ll follow your sister and learn how to identify herbs."
Seo Xiulan’s eyes lit up, and she kept praising.
That’s right, have the eldest son learn from Tiantian. It would be even better if he could learn to treat illnesses.
"When that ti cos, after your sister has been admitted to university, you’ll take over the shifts at the health clinic!"
Seo Xiulan thought it over and it sounded lovelier by the minute!
Being a barefoot doctor is much better than working in the fields.
Seo Xiulan had no education and didn’t understand too many profound truths, but she rembered an old saying: "A craftsman will not starve even in a famine year!"
"What health clinic?"
He Dazhuang had been squatting in the corner smoking for half the day, completely unaware that the village chief had even visited. He asked quizzically.
"Oh, it’s like this..." Seo Xiulan hastily recounted what had transpired, and proudly added, "How great would it be to work at the health clinic? You won’t be exposed to the wind or rain. If Jiabao could hold a position there, it would also sound impressive when looking for a wife!"
"Mom, I, I’m just afraid that I’m too stupid, and won’t be able, to learn!"
Had there been a better choice, He Jiabao wouldn’t have wanted to toil in the fields all day.
But he knew himself well, and was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to learn.
"It’s okay, I’ll teach you slowly! And if really necessary, if you can’t manage the work at the clinic, I’ll think of another way!" He Tiantian said with a gentle smile.
"Ah!" He Jiabao grinned like an idiot.
He Jiayu couldn’t stand to see his real brother acting so foolishly; he wanted to remind him not to just grin stupidly.
Even as legitimate siblings, politeness and gratitude should not be neglected at the appropriate tis!
He Jiayu quietly kicked his brother in the leg.
He Jiabao looked at his brother with a puzzled expression and asked with his eyes: Brother, why did you kick ?
He Jiayu almost cried out of frustration, gritted his teeth, and gestured with his mouth in the direction of He Tiantian.
Luckily, there was so sort of tacit understanding between the twins.
He Jiabao caught on to what He Jiayu ant and hurriedly thanked He Tiantian, "Sis, thank you!"
"You’re my real brother, of course I have to look out for you!" He Tiantian didn’t miss the interaction between the twins. The charm of He Jiabao’s innocence and He Jiayu’s cleverness was incredibly vivid.
He Tiantian felt the kinship she had never experienced before.
"Right, exactly! Tiantian is right, as legitimate siblings, you must help and support each other!" Seo Xiulan was simply too pleased.
She thought to herself with even more pride: Worthy of being my real daughter, Tiantian is so much more conscientious than that indifferent Zhou Zixuan.
"...Your mom is right!" He Dazhuang had been sitting, sulking and brooding for quite a while before he finally squeezed out this comnt.
Seo Xiulan rolled her eyes and turned away, but still personally handed her husband a coarse grain flatbread.
A mix of cornal and soybean flour, with a little bit of wheat flour, kneaded into dough, then stuck to the side of the large iron pot, the crust golden brown, the bread soft and sweetly fragrant.
Though it was a bit rough on the palate, it was far superior to the mixed-grain breads they had to eat in the earlier years.
He Dazhuang held the hot bread, bit into it, and felt the sweetness reach his heart.
He knew that his wife was tough on the outside but soft on the inside.
Though she seed as fierce as a Mother Worm, she was actually the most tender and caring wife one could hope for.
He Dazhuang, being the third child at ho, neither the eldest nor the youngest, was neither particularly clever nor sweet-tongued, and was the one most overlooked by his parents.
It was only after he got married that He Dazhuang felt he finally had soone to cherish him.
Not to ntion, his wife bore him two robust boys in one go, a first in He Family Village.
Usually seen as a pushover, He Dazhuang finally had his mont of pride and was envied wherever he went.
Thus, no matter what Seo Xiulan did, and no matter how many people called He Dazhuang "henpecked," he had never shown his wife a cold shoulder.
He Dazhuang stuffed the flatbread into his mouth and chuckled with a silly grin.
Seo Xiulan glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, her lips curved slightly, and without a word, she raised her hand to pick up another flatbread for He Tiantian.
He Tiantian silently took in everything that happened, and when it was ti to handle the pancakes, she didn’t forget to ntally give Seo Xiulan a big thumbs up.
Indeed, the won who could have n wrapped around their fingers were certainly more than just simple shrews.
"Tiantian, do you like the taste?" He Dazhuang, enjoying his own al, looked up and saw He Tiantian nibbling on her pancakes and suddenly thought of sothing.
He asked cautiously.
Previously, he had heard from his wife that the Zhou Family had good living conditions and ate white flour stead buns and big at-filled buns for every al.
These rough mixed-grain pancakes were probably a rarity for Tiantian.
"How could I not like them? They’re really fragrant, and my mom’s cooking is so good!" He Tiantian indeed wasn’t quite used to them.
The coarse grains of this era were not the sa concept as the coarse grains of future generations.
The coarse grains of this ti were truly "coarse," with a significant granularity when chewed and a slight scratchy feeling in the throat when swallowed.
However, she had to be thankful that it was already the late 1970s, and Seo Xiulan was a savvy and capable woman.
Although the He Family appeared to be poor, their ho life wasn’t actually too bad.
After all, the hardest tis had passed, and the three children had grown up. Both He Dazhuang and He Jiabao were strong laborers, so the He Family did not lack food.
Seo Xiulan had thick skin and would often run to the Provincial City to seek favors from Feng Mingjie.
Ahem, that is to say, the white flour in the mixed-grain dough was "borrowed" from the Zhou Family.
Otherwise, the He Family’s als would have been worse. During the 1960s, they had eaten nothing but sweet potatoes and carrots al after al, to the point of making people sick.
"That goes without saying, our mom’s hands are the most skilled!" He Jiayu also chid in with praise.
Seo Xiulan laughed and scolded with "smooth talker," yet she still broke off another piece of pancake for her youngest son.
As the family chatted and laughed, the worries He Dazhuang and his sons had about potential barriers and awkwardness never surfaced.
The family of five, as if they had always lived together without any separation.
"Oh, Laosan, sister-in-law, are you eating?"
Just then, the voice of a middle-aged woman ca from the courtyard.
Seo Xiulan’s smile imdiately retracted.
He Tiantian raised one eyebrow, oh ho, an ill-intentioned visitor indeed.
"Oh my, this must be Tiantian, look at this little girl, she’s so pretty. You don’t know ; I’m your fourth aunt!"
As she spoke, the middle-aged woman entered the main room.
She was not tall, dark and thin, with high cheekbones and thin lips—one could tell she was not a kind and generous person at first glance.
She scrutinized He Tiantian from head to toe, smiling, yet her words were unpleasant, "Oh, you’re eating? Well, our rural conditions can’t compare with the city’s. Tiantian, are you used to this kind of food?"
Asking whether "you’re used to eating this" was different when coming from He Dazhuang, it was concern mixed with a bit of trepidation, but from this fourth aunt, it was filled with schadenfreude.
She even pretended to wipe away tears in an overly sympathetic gesture, "Ah, now that Tiantian has co back to our village, she must feel aggrieved! Child, there’s nothing we can do; who told us the He Family is so poor."
Seo Xiulan was gritting her teeth so hard that her cheeks almost deford.
He Tiantian, however, smiled sweetly, "How could I feel aggrieved? I am my parents’ daughter. Coming back to He Family Village, to my parents’ side, all I feel is happiness!"
Seo Xiulan’s dark complexion softened considerably, and her heart again admired how her daughter truly made her proud.
And He Tiantian demonstrated with her actions that she could make her real mother prouder—
"Oh, that’s right, I almost forgot if my fourth aunt hadn’t ntioned it!"
As if suddenly reminded by the fourth aunt, He Tiantian pretended to smack her forehead, then pulled a savings book out of her pants pocket: "Mom, here’s so pocket money and New Year’s money I’ve saved over the years, a total of fifty-seven yuan, to help out with ho expenses!"
Seo Xiulan looked at the savings book, then glanced at her sister-in-law Ma Cuifen’s stiff face, wishing she could let out three loud laughs to the sky—
Ha! Ha! Ha!
Ma Cuifen, you ca to gloat at my misfortune, but there’s no door!
My daughter isn’t the type of ungrateful person who doesn’t recognize her own mother. She won’t look down on the He Family for being poor, and she certainly won’t let others laugh at us...
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