1979: Reopening Wenhao Road from the Village

Chen Weidong saw He Yan and Fu Xiao out the door, and only after entering the house did he take off his coat and pick up Chen Xiaosui.

"Fly, Dad, I want to fly."

Chen Xiaohui immediately revealed her true thoughts.

Chen Weidong immediately started waving his arms from side to side, making Chen Xiaosui laugh non-stop.

"Keep your voice down, play again tomorrow, or you'll wake your little brother up."

Su Man said something to Chen Xiaosui, and the latter's face immediately turned unhappy. However, looking at Su Man's gaze, she could only bury her head in Chen Weidong's chest with a wronged expression and stop talking.

"Why don't you untie that bag first? Mother brought us quite a lot of things this time."

While patting Chen Xiaosui on the back to comfort her, Chen Weidong changed the subject.

Su Man rolled her eyes at him, always trying to be a good person, but she still obediently untied the sack.

Looking at the pork, pork knuckle, white flour... and snacks such as peach shortbread and hard candy, it was filled to the brim with all sorts of things.

"Why did you bring so much stuff? My sister-in-law and the others..."

As Su Man tidied things up, she said worriedly.

Conflicts between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law have existed since ancient times, but the relationship between sisters-in-law is usually not much better.

She had seen many such cases in the village, where the other sons felt it was unfair because their parents had given things to the younger son's family, and they would argue about it every day.

"There's still some at home; my sister-in-law and mother prepared it together."

Chen Weidong understood Su Man's concerns and immediately offered an explanation. Then, pointing to his cotton-padded coat, he said, "There are still things inside. Take them all out too."

"What?"

Su Man opened Chen Weidong's cotton-padded coat and found another pocket on the inside.

"How come you have so much money and food coupons?! We already received a hundred yuan from home before the New Year, why are you taking more money from home?"

Upon seeing a stack of unity ration coupons and grain coupons, Su Man looked at Chen Weidong with some surprise.

"I earned the money myself. As for the food coupons, they were a subsidy from your mother and the others, saying you worked hard. There were also two cloth coupons, which they said were for me to buy you a new set of clothes."

Su Man flipped open the grain coupons, and sure enough, there were cloth coupons and meat coupons underneath, with a total weight of quite a lot.

"I've already bought a whole outfit, so you don't need to buy me anything else. When you go to the county town sometime, use these cloth coupons to exchange for some cloth, and I'll make you a top."

"We'll see."

Chen Weidong mumbled something, saying that there was a shortage of fabric now, with only a few types such as imported cloth and homespun cloth, and that Dacron was already considered a good material.

But in his view, they were all the same; as long as he had something to wear, that was fine.

"One hundred and twenty-eight yuan? How did you earn so much?"

Su Man put down the grain coupons, counted the money, and looked at Chen Weidong with surprise and doubt.

"Have you forgotten what I went to Yanjing for? This is all the royalties I earned from writing."

"Is that the article 'The Horse Herdsman'? Why are they giving so much? Aren't you only paid when an article is published?"

"The editorial department paid me five yuan per thousand words, and that was because it was my first time writing. I'm sure it will increase in the future."

The editor, knowing I lived far away, gave me an advance on the money.

Actually, they made an exception because they saw your husband's talent and wanted to show their appreciation.

Chen Weidong raised his eyebrows smugly. In front of Su Man, he reverted to some of his original nature.

"Okay, okay, you're amazing! When will the article be published?"

Su Man nodded and praised him generously.

"It'll probably only take one or two months."

Chen Weidong wasn't very clear about this either. "October" has not yet obtained a formal issue number and is in the "limited release" stage. It will be published in four issues a year, following a quarterly schedule. The page numbers, price, and publication date are not fixed, and the print run is controlled at about 100,000 copies per issue.

Therefore, he was unsure whether "The Herdsman" would be able to be released in the batch released at the beginning of the year.

"Then why are you carrying so much stuff? How did you get back to the village?"

"I was lucky enough to run into Duan Haiping from the Duanjia Village Brigade's agricultural machinery station, and I rode back on his tractor."

……

The two chatted as they tidied up, and by the time they finished, Chen Xiaohui had fallen asleep in Chen Weidong's arms.

"I've poured hot water into the basin for you. Soak your feet, and you should go to bed early too. You've had a long day."

Su Man poured a basin of hot water for Chen Weidong, scooped two ladles of water into the pot, and covered the fire in the stove with sheep dung.

Chen Weidong nodded. Actually, his eyelids had been drooping for a while. He hadn't slept much these past few days. After all, he had taken so many things, and he was alone. If he fell asleep, the things could easily be stolen.

……

The next day, Chen Weidong was awakened by Chen Xiaoan's crying.

"What time is it?"

"The sun has just risen, it's still early, why don't you sleep a little longer?"

Su Man said this while breastfeeding Chen Xiaoan.

"No, I still have to treat He Yan and the others to dinner today, so I need to prepare early."

He has now developed a biological clock, and Chen Weidong automatically wakes up at the appointed time.

After getting dressed, quickly washing up, emptying the chamber pot, and going back into the room, Chen Xiaosui was already awake.

"Sui Sui, what do you want to eat? Daddy will make it for you."

"Meatballs".

Chen Xiaosui saw the meat yesterday, and the smell made her dizzy all night; she's been wanting to eat it for ages.

"Okay, shall I make you some more noodles and a meat soup?"

"Okay, okay!"

Chen Xiaosui immediately nodded in agreement, her eyes almost squinting into slits with joy.

"Come here and put your clothes on first."

Su Man put Chen Xiaoan on the kang and began to dress Chen Xiaosui.

Chen Weidong then got busy, kneading the dough with cold water to make the noodles firmer and more chewy.

Cut the pork I brought from home into small pieces, add some chopped green onions, soy sauce, and salt... put it in a pot and cook until done, then cook the noodles.

Compared to a while ago, he has become much more skilled at cooking.

It's a pity there were no eggs; it would have been even better with a few poached eggs.

However, eggs are a rare commodity, costing more than a dollar per pound, and requiring meat and egg coupons, making them very expensive.

Some families in Yangjiatun also raise chickens, but they can't bear to eat them and sell them all to buy other things.

Chen Weidong thought he would go out and ask around sometime to buy some for the children to try.

Money is a bastard; you can earn it back after you spend it!

He doesn't have high requirements for clothing; as long as it's clean, tidy, and warm, that's fine.

However, they pay more attention to food.

After all, he has been reborn. If he can't even get enough to eat, then his rebirth was in vain.

"What should we have for lunch? How about we make dumplings?"

Chen Weidong picked up a piece of pickled vegetable and asked Su Man.

"With so many people, how long would it take us to finish kneading? Let's just make a stew, add more meat, and then steam some white buns."

"Yes, add more meat!"

Chen Xiaosui immediately nodded. She had been secretly listening to Chen Weidong and Su Man's conversation the whole time.

Upon hearing that there was food, she immediately looked up and agreed.

"Ah~ Ah~ Ah~"

Chen Xiaoan opened his clear, bright eyes and called out as if he wanted to eat too.

"You're everywhere, eating your food."

Su Man turned her head and glanced at Chen Xiaosui.

hehehe~

Chen Xiaosui immediately put on a smiling face, but when Su Man turned her head, her lips curled up, and she looked somewhat unhappy. She turned back and glared at Chen Xiaoan.

Chen Xiaoan fell silent instantly...

P.S.: Please read on and vote!