readsfreenovel Chapter 62 "Full of Love" - World Widows Raising Children 3
Chapter 62 "Full of Love" - World Widows Raising Children 3
After lunch, Liu Yuxi took her two children to the steel rolling mill. She showed her letter of introduction to the security personnel and then went to the personnel department. The head of the personnel department processed her onboarding, gave her work clothes, an enamel mug, and a lunchbox, and then took her to the first workshop—yes, the workshop where Uncle Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu worked. They assigned her a female mentor, Sister Chen, who was 36 years old and a level 5 fitter—a rare female intermediate-level fitter.
Because of her special circumstances, she was given a few days to rest and arrange things at home before returning to work next Monday. Today is only Tuesday, so excluding today, she has five more days to manage things at home and with her two children. The two children are currently insecure, so Liu Yuxi took them with her all day, no matter what she did. Even though they don't fully understand, Liu Yuxi had them watching over them the whole time, so at least they knew their mother was going to work.
On the way home, Jianguo asked, "Mom, are you going to work? What about me and my brother?" "Yes, Mom has taken over Dad's job and is going to work to earn money. Next spring, Mom will send you and your brother to school. In the two months before the Lunar New Year, when Mom goes to work, you can stay home and play with your brother. Mom will come home every day at noon to bring you lunch. Is that okay?"
Jianguo thought for a moment, then exchanged a glance with Jiandang and said, "Okay, I'll stay home and play with my little brother." "Okay, if you need anything, go find Auntie across the street. Mom will tell Auntie to let you know. Make sure you don't leave the yard." "Okay, I won't leave the yard." Children these days are so sensible, Liu Yuxi wasn't worried. Besides, the neighbors were all old friends, and those old ladies had sharp eyes. If they saw any child outside, they would definitely keep an eye on them or send the child home.
After Liu Yuxi took her child home, she took two eggs to Auntie San's house and told her that she would ask Auntie San to help look after the child after she went back to work in a few days. Auntie San readily agreed. Although she said that neighbors should help each other out, she still left the two eggs behind. However, she would be more attentive to the child after receiving the gift.
After everyone had finished get off work that evening, Liu Yuxi called three old men to one of the older men's houses. "Old men," she said, "when I went to the neighborhood office today to renew my household registration, I overheard two officials talking about issuing grain ration certificates and needing coupons for buying things. I reckon that whatever kind of grain ration certificate they issue will be related to household registration and grain, and since we need coupons for everything, it's best to buy what we're short of first. And shouldn't we also store some grain first?"
The three old men listened to her words and pondered for a while. They had all lived through the war years and were quite sensitive to these things. Then, the eldest old man thought for a moment and said to the second and third old men, "Let's have a meeting tonight and give everyone some pointers. Whether they're true or not, it's good to be prepared in advance." The second and third old men agreed and said they would have their sons go and inform the people in the courtyard.
Seeing that the three old men had made their decisions, Liu Yuxi took his leave and went home. As he was leaving, he saw one of the old men go to the Jia family, presumably to give Jia Dongxu some pointers.
Jia Dongxu only appears in one photo in the TV series, but as the old saying goes, "the face reflects the heart," so the director must have considered Jia Dongxu's character when choosing the photo. No matter how much fanfiction demonizes Yi Zhonghai, for the sake of retirement, he would definitely choose a reliable young man in all aspects. If Jia Dongxu were as cunning, lazy, unambitious, and a mama's boy as depicted in many fanfics, would you want such a person to support you in your old age? Right? These are things you can understand by putting yourself in his shoes. He must have some excellent qualities that made him stand up to Yi Zhonghai.
Furthermore, Liu Yuxi recalled the original owner's life in the courtyard for over a year. Her impression of Jia Dongxu was that he was a filial, good-looking, reliable, and always smiling young man. Moreover, when his mother, Jia Zhangshi, was unreasonable, he was always the one who stepped in to stop her and apologize to the neighbors. He was a person who could distinguish right from wrong. He could still keep his mother in check. After all, he was the head of their family, and in that era, most women still adhered to the traditional values of obeying their fathers at home, their husbands after marriage, and their sons after their husbands' deaths.
Therefore, she felt that if she could give her family a heads-up beforehand, it could change their tragic fate, so why not give it a try? Anyway, she would have a clear conscience if she did it, and if she couldn't change it, then it was fate.
After dinner, everyone gathered at the Intermediate People's Court. The three old men didn't waste any time or say where they heard the news. They just said that there was news that some kind of grain ration book would be issued, and that people might need coupons to buy things in the future. They told everyone to buy whatever they needed as soon as possible, and that those who didn't have much grain at home could buy more and store it at home.
In the entire No. 95 courtyard, only Jia Zhangshi and her son Qin Huairu had rural household registration. Jia Zhangshi, a widow who had struggled to raise her son, was notorious for being difficult, so when her son Jia Dongxu got married, the families of city girls were unwilling to let their daughters marry into the family after just one inquiry. Unable to find a wife in the city, they ended up marrying Qin Huairu from the countryside.
When Jia Zhangshi married Qin Huairu, it coincided with the land redistribution in the countryside. Naturally, she was unwilling to transfer their household registration to the city. With household registration in the countryside, you have land, and your brothers can help you cultivate it, yielding a good harvest every year. Compared to the women in the courtyard who had urban household registration but no job income, Jia Zhangshi felt a sense of superiority. Her family owned land, so she often said that her Jia family was a high-class family. In the past, people believed that owning land meant that a family was of high status.
It's unclear what Yi Zhonghai said to Jia Dongxu, but the next day, Liu Yuxi saw that Jia Dongxu hadn't gone to work. He had taken Qin Huairu and Banggeng out the door, presumably to take Qin Huairu to transfer her household registration. As for Jia Zhangshi, she probably wanted to prepare for both possibilities; if the news was inaccurate, at least she still had her land to grow some food.
Liu Yuxi stopped worrying about these things and took the two brothers, Jianguo and Jianguo, to the grain store to buy fifty catties of rice and fifty catties of wheat flour. When people in the yard asked, he said that the children were young and had thin voices, so the family should keep more fine grains on hand.
He went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought a coal stove, some cotton and cotton cloth, and most importantly, ten catties of oil. He also bought a kitchen knife, two enamel basins, an iron pot, and a thermos. These were all for the neighbors in the courtyard to see, as many families didn't know what to buy to keep at home. So Liu Yuxi bought them himself to give them some ideas.
The next morning, Liu Yuxi went to the market again and bought half a pig and ten catties of pork fat. He had the vendor cut the pork into thin strips. Since it was winter, he planned to cure it into bacon. He would use some of the ribs for soup and cure the rest; cured ribs soup is very fragrant. He would render the pork fat directly into lard. While rendering the lard, all the children in the yard who were not yet of school age gathered at the entrance of Liu Yuxi's kitchen in the front yard. Liu Yuxi filled a bowl halfway with pork cracklings, sprinkled some salt on it, and asked his two brothers, Jianguo and Jian Guo, to distribute it to the children.
That evening, her family made steamed buns with pickled cabbage and pork cracklings. They smelled so good! The two brothers, Jianguo and Jiandang, each ate three. If they weren't so full, they would have wanted to eat more! She sent the two brothers out to the yard to digest their food while she stayed home to clean the kitchen.