Five years of marriage, always separated [1970s]

Liao Miaomiao was very sure that she wanted to learn from Dabao: "Don't you want to teach me?"

Dabao shook his head: "But, I'm an elementary school student." The implication was that Liao Miaomiao was a junior high school student, and how could an elementary school student teach a junior high school student.

Ye Fan heard the voice coming out of the house: "Dabao, there must be a teacher among three people. It's normal that Miaomiao can't do what you know and you can't do what Miaomiao can do."

Dabao agreed immediately: "Okay."

Dabao was young and his mind worked quickly. Ye Fan was worried that he would not be able to teach her in a short time, so she said impatiently: "Dabao, I have never learned this before. You can teach me slowly. Don't be impatient."

Dabao was very excited to be a teacher to middle school students for the first time. He said, "Don't worry. Erbao, just watch. If you still can't learn, I'll beat you!"

Erbao murmured something. Dabao didn't understand: "What did you say?"

"If you don't learn it again, I'll beat you!" Erbao said loudly.

Dabao understood, and his sister said in Russian: "I suspect you scolded your brother. Wait, when dad comes back, I will learn it for him and ask him what it means."

Erbao is not afraid, his brother can't learn: "Ask."

Liao Miaomiao also recognized the Russian language that Erbao was speaking. Her father tried to teach her, but before she could figure it out, he couldn't stand it and thought she was stupid. He made it seem like she wasn't his biological child. She didn't say anything about giving birth to such a stupid child, and her father had the nerve to blame her.

The older brother and younger sister came out to play, and they found their older sister’s gestures very interesting, so they came over and asked Dabao to teach them.

Dabao accepted three apprentices in the morning. His little face was red from exhaustion, but he was still very patient.

Ye Fan prepared dinner and called him to eat, but Dabao was still not satisfied.

"Do you like being a teacher so much?" Ye Fan asked while wiping his sweat.

Dabao shook his head: "It's fun."

Ye Fan: "You can't go out and show off. If people don't pick you, you'll be hated. You're small now and can't beat them. When you grow as tall as Miaomiao, you can show off as much as you want." He added in his mind that he would not want to show off when he got used to keeping a low profile.

Dabao knows that it is right to listen to his mother in many cases: "Mom, don't show off."

Ye Fan: "What if your classmates say you are bragging? Just say, bragging is fine. You are not my parents, nor my good friend, I don't want to show off to you. It's like playing with a monkey."

Dabao had never seen a monkey show before: "What is a monkey show?"

Ye Fan thought for a moment and said, "It's like teasing a dog with a bone."

Dabao doesn't want to be a dog, and his attitude is very firm: "Don't even think about it!"

Ye Fan pulled him into the house and saw Erbao grabbing food: "Geng Erbao, no chopsticks?"

The chopsticks were not working well, Erbao was going to be beaten, so he grabbed a steamed bun and stuffed it into his mother's hand: "Mom, eat."

Ye Fan grabbed her ear with his other hand. Erbao couldn't believe it, how could it touch his body.

Dabao laughed.

If Erbao doesn't dare to hit his mother, he won't dare to hit his brother. He slapped Dabao on the arm, knocking Dabao's chopsticks away. Ye Fan put down the steamed bun and frowned. Erbao stood up in fear. Ye Fan didn't want to pick a meal time to scold the child: "Apologize to your brother."

As soon as Erbao said sorry, Dabao forgave her, asked her to sit down, and went to the kitchen to get a pair of chopsticks. When he came back and saw that his mother and sister were silent, he advised his mother not to be angry, and his sister was playing with him.

Ye Fan: "Geng Erbao, don't do it. Geng Dabao, don't laugh at your sister."

Dabao thought to himself that my sister scolded me in Russian when I was cooking. But he didn't want his sister to cry because of being beaten by her mother: "Mom, eat. My sister eats the vegetables."

Erbao is very considerate and learns from his brother to pick up food for his mother.

Ye Fanqi laughed.

Erbao didn't care why his mother laughed, as long as she laughed it meant that she was no longer angry, so he pushed the shrimp in front of his mother.

Considering that Erbao is three years old and doesn't know much about disgust, Ye Fan asked while peeling shrimps: "Dabao, mom often cooks shrimps. Do you feel that it's shrimps again? Dabao is full of them?"

Dabao: "Mom, can you make braised pork?"

Ye Fan asked: "Is it that mom doesn't want to do it?"

Dabao understands and wants meat tickets.

Ye Fan: "Do you want to eat oysters?"

Dabao said hurriedly, "No. It's too fishy, ​​too smelly, and too unpalatable."

Ye Fan wanted to laugh: "But your father likes it."

Dabao rolled his eyes speechlessly: "What does mommy do that daddy doesn't like?"

Ye Fan wanted to laugh: "Then let's eat shrimp?" He handed him a shrimp. Dabao took it and ate it while saying: "Can I not eat it tomorrow? I don't want to eat it every day."

"Of course. Let's buy clams and mud snails tomorrow, and a fish." Ye Fan peeled a shrimp for his son. "Do you want to boil or steam eggs in the morning?"

Dabao likes the taste of egg yolk, but thinks it is choking: "Egg custard. Mom, can you stir-fry rice cake with eggs, vegetables and rice? The rice cake made by my eldest brother's family yesterday was delicious."

Ye Fan nodded: "We're having fried rice cakes tonight?"

Dabao was immediately satisfied.

Ye Fan asked: "Erbao, what about you?"

Erbao wanted to eat braised pork just like his brother. Since there was no braised pork, everything was the same. Erbao looked up and smiled: "Mom is the best."

Dabao knocked her on the forehead: "Flatterer!"

Ye Fan took a sip of porridge and found it was not hot, so he asked the two children to have some. Dabao and Erbao each took a salted duck egg, peeled it, and mashed it with a spoon to make porridge.

To talk about salted duck eggs, we have to start from last year.

Ye Fan talked to Su Yuanhang about raising ducks, and at first Su Yuanhang didn't tell anyone except his father. After the food factory made its first deal, Su Yuanhang thought Ye Fan was reliable, so he told all the teams about her proposal.

Then every household in the brigade that raised ducks had dozens of ducks. When the ducks grew up, some families had small duck pens and needed to deal with the old ones. Su Yuanhang sold them directly to the supply and marketing cooperative in the name of the food factory. Of course, they couldn't sell live ducks. They got up early to kill and clean them up, and sent them to the supply and marketing cooperative in the morning. The duck eggs were made into salted duck eggs, which were made by the food factory itself.

Ye Fan also took the opportunity to learn how to pickle two jars of duck eggs from the locals. During the days when Tao Chunlan and Yu Wentao were here, the Ye family would cook a few salted duck eggs every time they cooked porridge.

This time when Ye Fan went back, he wanted to get them a jar of soup, but neither of them wanted it - they had eaten enough.

Ye Fan was worried that Dabao and Erbao would be bad for their health if they ate too much, so he didn't remind them to eat salted duck eggs. Dabao ate whenever he wanted and didn't feel bored. While drinking the porridge with salted duck eggs, he asked, "Mom, why don't grandma and grandma like salted duck eggs? The egg yolk is delicious."

Ye Fan: "Because I want to eat meat just like you."

Dabao shook his head: "No. You lied to me."

Ye Fan told the truth: "In the past, we didn't have money to buy meat, and we didn't have meat coupons, so your grandma pickled salted duck eggs. One duck egg was shared among me, my uncle, my grandma, and my grandpa. Although each person only had a little -" he gestured to the two children, "but it was enough to eat a little every year."

Dabao was confused: "Grandma and grandma have eaten enough, why are you still cooking?"

Ye Fan: "They've had enough of pickles. If they don't cook salted duck eggs or porridge, they'll have to cook vegetables. But oil needs coupons just like meat. The meat coupons are gone, and the oil is gone. Are we going to steam fish and boil vegetables every day this month?"

Dabao shook his head: "Let's eat salted duck eggs."

Ye Fan smiled and touched his head, thinking that my son is so easy to coax. Suddenly, I thought that Dabao is in the second grade and should understand that life is not easy. Ye Fan pondered for a moment and said, "Dabao, in the future, when you see someone doing something every day, such as eating mixed flour steamed bread for every meal, don't ask them why they don't eat meat or vegetables."

Dabao: “Why don’t you eat?”

"I don't have money to buy it. Look at Miaomiao's family. Her mother doesn't have a job, so she's not as rich as our family, right? There are many people whose parents don't have a salary, and their children can only eat the cheapest mixed noodles. Do you know why their parents don't have a salary?"

Dabao doesn’t know, please ask mom to tell me.

Ye Fan: "They can't read. Their grandparents are very poor and have no money to send their parents to school. Their grandparents also want to make money and work hard, but all the money has been taken away by bullies like Huang Shiren and even worse people and foreigners."

Dabao: "Have they ever robbed grandpa and grandma of their money?"

Ye Fan nodded: "Your grandma fought them with a knife and luckily survived. Many ancestors and brothers and sisters of the fishermen on this island were not as lucky as your grandma. They were beaten to death and the money was not recovered."

Dabao looked down at the porridge in the bowl, as if thinking about something, so Ye Fan stopped talking.

Ye Fan drank two mouthfuls of porridge, and Dabao looked up: "Mom, I won't show off to my classmates what delicious food you made next time."

Ye Fan was very pleased: "I can show off. Show off to the classmates who say bad things about you and bully you."

Dabao nodded: "I didn't say their clothes had patches either."

"No one wants to wear clothes with patches on them, just like no one dislikes eating meat."

Dabao said very seriously: "Mom, I remember it."

"Eat. You're still young, so I don't blame you for not understanding. Mom didn't understand until she was in high school either."

Dabao was surprised: "I'm only five and a half years old!"

"Dabao is amazing."

Dabao shook his head: "My mother is awesome."

Erbao couldn't help but say, "Flatterer!"

Dabao: "Do you know what we said?"

Erbao knows: "Don't bully good classmates."

Ye Fan was very surprised: "Erbao really understands?"

Erbao: "Dabao is stupid, Erbao is smart."

Dabao raised his hand, and Ye Fan quickly grabbed his arm: "Eat. You'll be late if you keep making trouble."

The brother and sister hurriedly looked at their mother's watch and saw that it was almost eight o'clock. They finished their meal and left in a flash. Ye Fan quickly took a towel to wipe their mouths, then closed the door and chased after them.

Zhuang Qiuyue was tidying up the vegetable patch in the yard: "Why are you so anxious?"

Ye Fan suppressed his laughter and said, "I'm almost late."

Zhuang Qiuyue was surprised: "You like going to school so much?"

Ye Fan wanted to explain that they were not tired of studying and that there were still people playing at school. When he looked up, the two children turned a corner. Ye Fan hurriedly chased them, picked up Erbao, and carried Dabao's schoolbag. When they arrived at the school gate, Dabao saw many classmates playing on the campus and breathed a sigh of relief: "Mom, don't talk to me while eating in the future."

Ye Fan handed her the schoolbag: "Mom, remember. I'll take my sister to kindergarten."

Dabao waved his hand while carrying his schoolbag, turning into a steady elementary school student.

The primary school students finish school early, and Dabao gets home in the afternoon before the sun sets. Dabao finishes his homework and goes out with Erbao. Ye Fan is at the food factory watching the workers packing and receiving the goods, so Geng Zhiye sits at the door with a stool to watch the children.

Zhuang Qiuyue was still tidying up her vegetable patch in the yard. When she saw Geng Zhiye, she said that Dabao and Erbao were playing at the door and no one dared to bully them.

Geng Zhiye thought to himself, "Is it because Ye Fan and I watched the children play in front of everyone that we were afraid that Dabao and Erbao would be bullied? We can't let them misunderstand like this." Geng Zhiye closed the door and walked over and said, "I'm afraid that Dabao and Erbao will be curious and go up the mountain or into the sea, or jump into the well."

Zhuang Qiuyue was stunned for a moment.

Geng Zhiye guessed it right, and was suddenly speechless and wanted to laugh.

Zhuang Qiuyue came back to her senses: "Dabao and Erbao don't dare, right?"

"Children are ignorant of the immensity of the world, and they are afraid of anything. They can't help but touch the fire when they see it." Geng Zhiye recalled that when he was a child, the country had not yet been established, and he and his parents occasionally heard gunshots. Not only was he not afraid, he wanted to follow the gunshots to watch the excitement. Thinking of it now, Geng Zhiye can't help but say that he can live to this day thanks to the blessings of his ancestors.

Zhuang Qiuyue probably thought of how her three children used to be naughty, so she nodded in agreement and asked him if his family grew radishes.

Geng Zhiye wanted to ask her if she could finish all the food in the yard since there were only five people in her family.

"I don't know. I'll ask her when Fanfan comes back." Geng Zhiye saw Dabao and Erbao running east, so he slowly followed them.

When Dabao saw that his father did not call him and his sister back, he went to explore the mountain with a group of children.

Someone was collecting firewood on the side of the mountain. When he saw Geng Zhiye, he greeted him and then asked if he was looking for his child to take home.

Geng Zhiye smiled half-seriously and said, "I'm afraid they'll go into the wild boar den."

Ye, a member of the cooperative who was collecting firewood, smiled and said, "These kids are very naughty. They are not afraid of anything at this age. If they were a few years younger, they wouldn't dare to run around. But if they are a few years older and sensible, they will be easy to take care of."

Geng Zhiye nodded: "I'm also afraid of poisonous snakes."

The members nodded as they bundled up the firewood: "Yes, the snakes haven't hibernated yet. By the way, Captain Geng, your firewood should have been burned out, right?"

Geng Zhiye: "Before they left, the two old people picked up a lot of things. The kitchen couldn't even hold them all. Some of them were even placed under the eaves."

The Shanxi Brigade was behind the family quarters. Yu Wentao and Tao Chunlan could be seen when they went out to eat or fetch water. Naturally, they could not avoid the Shanxi Brigade when they went out to collect firewood. When Geng Zhiye said this, the members remembered it and still wanted to ask: "You and Accountant Ye are both from the city. Do people in the city also burn firewood?"

Geng Zhiye shook his head: "My mother-in-law used to live in a cave in the countryside for a few years. She made her own clothes, grew her own food, and chopped her own firewood. My mother is from the countryside outside the city."

The members thought to themselves that it was no wonder that the two of them looked like city people in their attire, but they looked like country people in terms of growing vegetables and collecting firewood. “Will you come again in the future?”

Geng Zhiye: "Come on. They like this place very much."

The members didn't expect that city people liked their deserted island, and they were very happy when they heard it.

Probably because Geng Zhiye was watching them from the roadside, the group of ignorant and fearless children did not dare to go into the woods. After playing at the foot of the mountain for a while, they felt bored and ran to the roadside, holding small sticks or flowers and grass, muttering something as they walked towards the village.

There were wild cats, geese and old cows in the village. Geng Zhiye was afraid that the group of children would hurt the animals, or that they would tease the cats and dogs, so he continued to follow them.

A fisherman's child asked: "Geng Yanyan, why did your father follow us? Is he afraid that we will beat you? We don't fight."

Dabao shook his head: "Dad doesn't want Erbao and I to go up the mountain to play in the water. I told him I didn't want to go, but he didn't believe me." He sighed helplessly, "No matter how old I am, I am still a child in Dad's eyes."

A group of children felt the same way and could not help complaining that their parents were the same. They were told not to run around or fight with others before they even left the house. As soon as they got home, they were scolded for playing all day.

A group of children talked endlessly about their parents and found that everyone's parents were the same. They felt like they were brothers and sisters in the same trench and their relationship became closer.

In the past, when they passed by Dabao's house, the fisherman's children were curious about what Ye Fan's house looked like but didn't dare to go in. Now they knew that Accountant Ye was also a vulgar person. The next afternoon after school, they threw their schoolbags at home and went out to play. When they saw the door of Dabao's main room open, they shouted, "Geng Dabao."

Geng Dabao looked up at his father and asked, "Can I go out?"

Geng Zhiye: "Do your homework after dinner?"

Dabao nodded obediently.

Geng Zhiye stood up and said, "Let's go."

Dabao exclaimed: "Are you going too?"

"I won't go near!" Geng Zhiye put shoes on Erbao, "Erbao, do you want to go?"

Erbao nodded obediently and got down from the bench by himself.

The children waiting outside the door saw the person behind Geng Dabao and rolled their eyes helplessly, looking like "I surrender to Captain Geng."

Geng Zhiye kept his word and watched the children playing at the door.

The kids were not used to it for the first few days. Later, I heard that Dabao's father was on vacation, and the kids couldn't wait for him to leave, so they had to get used to it. It was also the Mid-Autumn Festival during this period, and the capital sent telegrams every few days to request goods.

Ye Fan and Su Yuanhang initially prepared only three cars, one and a half cars for Haidian Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and two cars for Xicheng and Dongcheng. Because there were no middlemen to resell goods, the goods were cheap, and it was a holiday, so even if they didn't eat for themselves, they had to buy some to visit relatives, so they used two cars at a time and made three trips.

At first, Su Yuncheng and Su Duofu were worried that Haidian Supply and Marketing Cooperative would not be able to sell all the goods, so they asked them to bring them back. Later, they saw not only the elderly but also young people, so Su Duofu pretended to be curious and asked them why they all came to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy things and why they didn't go to the department store. The young worker first said that the things here were cheaper, and then said that he didn't know about it last year, and his expression looked like he had missed tens of thousands of yuan.

On August 14, Ye Fan distributed the money and paid wages to the temporary workers. Su Duofu said that they could stock more goods next year.

Ye Fan nodded: "And then smash it in your hand?"

Su Duofu suddenly felt difficulty breathing.

Ye Fan: "Although I have said it before, it seems I have to say it again now. The reason we can make money is not because our products are so good, but because no one dares to do so. Do you know what will happen next year? Secondly, this is not our own business. Don't look at the members who treat us like family now. If we can't sell it, you can expect to be stabbed in the back."

Su Yuncheng couldn't help but say, "Not really. Everyone is mentally prepared."

Ye Fan stood up and said, "How about giving it a try? Just say that the capital doesn't need the goods in the next two months. If he doesn't get angry with you, I'll take your surname!" He picked up his bag and said, "Tomorrow is a holiday, let's all go home. I should also buy groceries and cook."

Su Yuncheng looked at Ye Fan's back and asked Su Duofu: "What do you think?"

Su Duofu sighed, "After a few good days, I forgot how fierce they looked when they asked me to hand in my fishing boat."

Su Yuncheng couldn't help but think of the time when the food factory was first established. Ye Fan wanted to use Su Duofu, and the team leader was the first to object. Many members of the team also complained. Because they were afraid that Ye Fan would quit, no one dared to object openly.

The reason why we are so polite to Su Duofu this year is because we have made some money.

Su Yuncheng couldn't help but say, "They are too realistic."

Su Yuanhang: "We are all ordinary people. Ordinary people cannot do anything without money. It is normal to be poor and have no face. Let's go. It's getting dark. We should go back."

Ye Fan brought home a bag of crabs and a yellow croaker that the market had saved for her. Geng Zhiye was washing vegetables in the yard. Ye Fan squatted beside him and said, "Didn't we agree to wait until I get back before cooking?"

Geng Zhiye looked up, glanced at her, and then lowered his head to pick vegetables.

Ye Fan was surprised: "Is there a bug in this vegetable?"

Geng Zhiye's breathing stopped suddenly, and her eyes fell on the vegetable market.

"No."

The tone was particularly harsh, and Ye Fan was very curious: "Who made you angry?"

"Accountant Ye, do you know what time it is now?"

Ye Fan knew: "Isn't tomorrow the Mid-Autumn Festival?"

The original plan was to distribute the money in the morning of the Mid-Autumn Festival. However, Su Duofu and Su Yuncheng did not stay overnight in the capital this time, and returned that night. The bus was very slow, and the two stayed in the bus for two nights. They arrived in Yongcheng at noon today and arrived on the island at two or three in the afternoon. Ye Fan went to the food factory to settle the accounts and divide the money.

Ye Fan tilted his head and looked at him: "Really no one is irritating you? Your tone is not right."

"How dare I? I'm just a househusband, and I still rely on Accountant Ye to make money to support me."

Ye Fanhao was speechless: "Are you really angry?"

Geng Zhiye threw the vegetables into the bowl and said, "Ye Fan, how many days have you been home since I went on vacation? Today is the last day, and you didn't come back until the sun went down, and you said that my tone was wrong. Wouldn't you be angry if it were you?"

Ye Fan was not angry. When she gave birth to her second child, her due date was a few days earlier, and Geng Zhiye was delayed by a few days because of something. When he came back, Ye Fan no longer looked pregnant. Yu Wentao and Geng Zhiqin were worried that she would be unhappy, so they spoke well of Geng Zhiye. Ye Fan said many times that she was not angry, but they both didn't believe it.

Tao Chunlan asked Ye Fan to tell the truth, and Ye Fan said she could understand. Li Mingyue said Ye Fan was too calm.

Ye Fan also didn't understand. When the baby would be born was not something she and Geng Zhiye could control. Geng Zhiye was a soldier and the army was not a department store. It was normal for him to come and go as he pleased and not be able to come back for a while.

She was mad about something.

Ye Fan: "If I say——"

"Wash the vegetables!" Geng Zhiye stood up.
Ye Fan subconsciously asked: "Where are you going?"

Geng Zhiye: "Find a noodle and hang yourself."

Ye Fan wanted to laugh again, but followed him reluctantly: "I don't have to go to the food factory for the next half month."

Geng Zhiye turned around and sighed: "Tomorrow is August 15th, and I'm going to the army! I'll be on duty for the next week!"

Ye Fan grabbed his hand, Geng Zhiye shook it off and went into the house. Ye Fan hurriedly followed him, a grown man, but he was so pretentious every day.

Little did they know that this scene happened to fall into the eyes of several people who were carrying water from the west alley to the north.

When Ye Fan saw Geng Zhiye going to the kitchen, he immediately stopped and waited for him to come out.

Geng Zhiye turned around and didn't see Ye Fan coming out. He took a deep breath and was surprised to see Ye Fan in the living room. He thought Ye Fan really went to wash the vegetables: "What are you doing here?"

Ye Fan: "Wait for you to get the scissors and brush to clean the crabs and kill the fish."

Geng Zhiye couldn't help but clench his brush and scissors: "You-what if I don't come out?"

Ye Fan went over and hugged his arm: "I'll go in to find you." Weiwei stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the face: "Captain Geng, you've been working hard on the housework these days."

Geng Zhiye felt relieved: "No more?"

Ye Fanxin asked if there was anything else. He looked up and saw Geng Zhiye's expectant face. He wanted to laugh for no reason: "I'll listen to you tonight."

(End of this chapter)