The door of the courtyard house has been welded dead

"You silly child, you didn't even tell your family you were pregnant!"

"You traveled all the way from Chengdu by train, while you were pregnant. No one took care of you the whole way. It must have been so hard for you!"

The next morning, Liu Yin, the mother, bought a hen from the market early in the morning. When she got back, she busied herself killing the hen, boiling water, and plucking feathers at the door.

Every family loves their daughter. Thinking of my own daughter, who has been pregnant for almost half a year and is in the army with no one to take care of her, plus being away from home for more than ten years, the feeling of guilt is heartbreaking.

"Oh dear, I'm perfectly healthy, I don't need anyone to take care of me. The group even bought me sleeper tickets when I got back. I just eat and sleep, and the train attendants are very considerate of me."

With a boiled egg in her mouth and wrapped in a thick cotton-padded coat, Li Nan still quite enjoyed the feeling of being valued. Outside, she was a female soldier squad leader, but at home, she was still that little daughter.

Liu Yin lowered her head and remained silent, haphazardly stuffing the chicken feathers into the bag, still harboring some resentment in her heart.

Although Li Nan is old, in her mother's eyes, he is still a child, and her son-in-law Liu Feng is in another unit and cannot take care of him.

After the child was born, Li Nan hadn't retired from the army yet and couldn't take care of the baby. Liu Feng's family was from the countryside, and as the grandmother, she couldn't bear to let her grandson go to the countryside to suffer.

After tossing and turning all night, I thought it would be more appropriate for her to take care of the baby. It was inconvenient for my daughter to talk about her in-laws' affairs, but returning to Beijing to give birth would represent Li Nan's attitude.

If we're talking about the greatest hardship this child has ever endured from childhood to adulthood, it was probably during the time she was learning dance. Now that I'm a mother, how could I let my child go to the countryside to suffer?

“Mom, there are too many people in Liu Feng’s family. His father fell while building a house last year and was helping to put up the main beam. His mother has never been in good health. I was thinking it would be better if you could help take care of him.”

Perhaps sensing that her mother was in a bad mood, Li Nan shook Liu Yin's arm, as if she had returned to her pre-military days, gently coaxing her mother.

“It’s okay if I take care of her, but children are closer to whoever raises them. Back then, even though your brother was busy with work, he didn’t forget to take care of Li Hui. Whenever he had time to come home at night, he would coax Huihui to sleep!”

“If you continue serving in the army, and your child grows up to be able to call you ‘Dad’ and ‘Mom’, and you two aren’t by your side, and you come back to have a child with both of you, you’ll still feel bad.”

Liu Yin has experience from being there. These things aren't just talk. She, as the grandmother, can take care of the child, but Liu Feng, as the father, can't retire from the military. However, it's best for the mother to stay by the child's side.

Yes, she did want Li Nan to come back. The child was in Beijing, and the child's mother was in Chengdu. How could a mother not miss her own flesh and blood?

"I had the same idea, Mom. Liu Feng also discussed it with me. He also planned to have his mother come over temporarily to help take care of the child. But once his mother arrives, he'll probably want to bring his second brother's child over too!"

Li Nan didn't want so many people living in the new house. It was her own little nest, and her brother had bought it for her. Even when it was empty before, her family wouldn't live there, as there were elderly people and children.

"That's your house. We're in-laws, but I can't say what will happen to it later. Forget it, I'll take care of it!"

Hearing this, Liu Yin also had that concern. She had never met her future in-laws and didn't know anything about their character. It would be fine if one person came, but if the whole family came, it would be better for her to take care of them herself.

At least, she wouldn't covet her daughter's house. Both she and her husband were in the military and rarely home. She understood the saying that it's easy to invite a god but hard to send him away.

Thinking of this, Liu Yin also felt a little regretful. Her daughter hadn't gotten married yet, and she was thinking about getting married soon. But after marriage, there were all sorts of problems. It would have been better to find a relative in the capital in the first place.

"I knew it, Mom, you're the best. This year, next year... I'm thinking of retiring next year, then I'll be assigned a better job."

"Next year, 1979?"

Liu Yin hadn't quite come to her senses yet, calculating based on the year 7 or 8, when Li Nan reminded her that she had calculated the time correctly; it was 1980.

Because today is January 1st, 1979.

"Zzzzt! Our country and America have formally established diplomatic relations, marking a new historical stage in the development of bilateral relations. This communiqué is a further development of the relations between the two countries since 1972..."

"...not only in line with...the interests of the people of both countries, but also conducive to...world peace and development,...the exchange of ambassadors will begin in March,...we belong to the same country." At eight o'clock, Old Yan's family across the street turned on their radio on time, and the volume was turned up really loud, with the clear broadcast voice spreading throughout the front yard of the courtyard.

Even Liu Yin, who was gutting and cleaning the intestines of an old hen, couldn't help but pause her work upon hearing the news. Even if she didn't care about politics, in the eyes of her generation, Da Piao Liang still represented the United States.

Those who were older in the front yard couldn't help but gather around Old Yan's house when they heard the announcer's impassioned voice on the radio. The men, in particular, all looked a bit worried and puzzled.

The tabby cat on the roof seemed to be shocked by the sound. After climbing up from the eaves, it stretched and looked away from the basin where it was washing chicken intestines. Its vertical pupils were all looking towards Old Yan's house.

The first person to come out of the house was Grandpa Zhao, whom I met at the alley entrance yesterday afternoon. His army green cotton-padded jacket was buttoned crookedly, and there were still mud spots on his trouser legs.

"Old Yan, is your radio free of broken stations?"

He yanked open the quilt curtain at the door of Old Yan's house and stared wide-eyed at Grandpa Yan, who was wiping his glasses.

"What are you doing, switching channels? Didn't you hear? Didn't you read the newspaper last month? The joint communiqué was already out. I was just wondering if it was going to happen sooner or later."

Old Yan wasn't that excited. For him, there was no conflict of interest with the United States, which was far away on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, so whether or not they shook hands was nothing to be surprised about.

As a math teacher who knew how to use an abacus, he understood that only when interests were aligned could such a strange change occur, which was quite remarkable to him.

"The wall at the alley entrance was painted with that imperialist slogan, and they keep saying they're determined to destroy us. How come they're suddenly shaking hands?"

Before the words were even finished, Aunt Zhou from next door to the Zhao family rushed into Old Yan's house, her blue headscarf wrapped around her neck. The rolling pin in her hand was still covered in flour. For people like her with limited education, this was truly baffling.

"Oh dear, I'm steaming buns right now, and my hands are trembling just listening to this. The factory's bulletin board used to have posters saying that imperialism is a paper tiger. How could it have changed so quickly?"

The courtyard was soon crowded with neighbors, their figures huddled together in the cold wind, wearing padded jackets and trousers. Not only in the front yard, but even in the back yard, Liu Haizhong had his sleeves tucked in, as it was too cold to stay indoors.

"My cousin went to fight there and hasn't come back yet. What, what happened?"

Zhou's younger sister-in-law's voice trembled slightly as she rushed into Old Yan's house, gripping the radio antenna tightly as if trying to extract an explanation from the radio waves.

Yan Bugui leisurely carried a stack of newspapers he had brought back from school, flipped through them, pulled out a newspaper that was already starting to yellow, one corner of which was curled up, and threw it directly onto the table.

"Can't you tell? They've made up. Didn't a president come a few years ago? Quite a grand affair, back in '72!"

"From today onwards, let's forget about the past. What is radio? It's a propaganda platform. Now that we've publicized it so extensively, since the United States has backed down and shaken hands with us, it's no longer an opponent!"

With his hands tucked in, Liu Zhong, who has been unusually low-key lately, made a rare high-profile appearance by following Old Yan into his house. After all, Old Yan is the boss now!

"Will they still be paper tigers after this?"

Liu Yin wiped her hands on her apron; the change in wind direction had caught her completely off guard.

Li Nan goes without saying. She had visited the southern border to offer condolences and witnessed bombers dropping bombs. Even her former squad leader, Xiao Suizi, wrote many reports about the great beauty across the Pacific, all of which were about major villains and masterminds.

For a moment, no one could answer Liu Yin's question; the changes outside were dazzling.

"Haven't you all gotten used to this twist yet? The handshake is for the Four Modernizations. Whichever way the wind blows, that's where we'll go, hey!"

The wheels of time keep turning, and many people will remember this day… (End of Chapter)