Siheyuan: Big City, Small Love

"Children, don't be greedy, after Laba, it's the New Year;

Laba porridge, drink it for a few days, it will be twenty-three;

Twenty-three, sticky melons; twenty-four, sweep the house;

On the twenty-fifth, I'll have frozen tofu; on the twenty-sixth, I'll go buy meat;

On the twenty-seventh, slaughter the rooster; on the twenty-eighth, let the dough rise;

On the twenty-ninth, steam the buns; on the thirty night, stay up all night;

On the first and second days of the Chinese New Year, people walked all over the streets. "

Yu Shui had already learned the rhyme and sang it beautifully. Wu Juan laughed when she heard it.

Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year. Shazhu and his sister and He Lai already have two sets of new clothes, one bought by He Daqing at the supply and marketing cooperative, and one made by Wu Juan.

Everyone is actively preparing New Year's goods, and the factory workers also got off work early today.

"Brother Zhuzi, Brother Zhuzi, are you home?" He Lai ran to the door of Sha Zhu's house.

Sha Zhu came out of the house and said, "Just got back. What's up, Xiao Laizi?"

"Didn't we put out a few straw cages a few days ago? Let's go see if we have any harvest."

"Okay, wait a minute."

Sha Zhu packed up and set off. The two of them wrapped in thick cotton clothes walked towards Shichahai, trying their best to get some food.

When they arrived at the river, they found a layer of ice on the surface. Fortunately, the thickness was not too thick, so Sha Zhu easily broke it open.

"Brother Zhuzi, pull slowly, don't pull the wood apart."

After a while, the grass cage was pulled ashore. The harvest was not small. There were more than 2 kilograms of small river shrimps, 2 crucian carps, 2 yellow eels, and some loaches. The small fish were released.

I put the bait in the river, and then I caught the next one, but there was nothing there, only a pound of shrimp.

One of the five grass cages was stolen by someone, so after collecting all four, we got quite a harvest: 5 jin of small river shrimp, 4 crucian carps, 7 mandarin fish, some eels and loaches.

The two of them went home happily carrying the fish bucket. They could add several more dishes tomorrow.

Each of them took half back to their respective homes to raise. Wu Juan also twisted her mouth when she saw it. Now her sense of existence as a mother is getting lower and lower.

After all, now all the food depends on He Lai, and I am only responsible for going to work. He Lai is popular and often asks Uncle Li and others to bring things for his family when they buy them.

As a result, Wu Juan hasn't bought food for a long time, and her dishes mainly come from He Daqing's lunch box.

So she deliberately ignored He Lai and held Yu Shui in her arms and knitted a scarf. Yu Shui also stayed in Wu Juan's arms obediently, enjoying the feeling of having a mother.

He Lai was also there and wanted to join in but was ruthlessly rejected! He had no choice but to pull over the rocking chair and lie down, and even started rocking on purpose. He also hummed a nursery rhyme.

"Rocking, rocking, the boat finally reached Grandma's Bridge.

Hello grandma, hello grandma, grandma is smiling at me.

Rocking and rocking, the boat finally reached Grandma's Bridge.

Grandma said, good baby, grandma give me a piece of cake.

….."

Xiao Yushui immediately expressed her desire to learn the song after hearing it. "Come on, brother, teach me, I want to sing too."

"Hmph!" Turning her head to show Xiao Yushui her back, Wu Juan immediately used the sweater pole to hit He Lai on the butt. He Lai said that I was wearing thick clothes, so I could hit him as I pleased.

Wu Juan saw that He Lai ignored her, and immediately got angry. She immediately stood up and twisted He Lai's ear.

"It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! Mom, please let me go!" He Lai immediately stood up in pain.

"Teach or not!"

"Teach, teach, teach now, let go!"

"You're still rebelling!" Wu Juan finally let go and went back to knitting. He Lai also started teaching her to sing Grandma Bridge.

Not long after, Xiao Yushui returned to Wu Juan's arms and sang.

He Lai walked out of the house. It was difficult to be a boy, and it was even more difficult to be a boy who was not loved.

Seeing many people walking towards Li Dawa's house, I realized that Sha Zhu had told his neighbors at the door about the fish and shrimp caught in the grass cage, but he didn't care. After all, fish and shrimp are still very abundant now.

I also came to Li Dawa's house and watched them order a draft cage from Li Dawa.

"Big boy, give me ten." Liu Haizhong said generously.

He Lai immediately advised, "Uncle Liu, it's better to buy less of that. It's too big a target and it's easy for people to want to see it. One of mine has already been stolen."

"Ah." Everyone started to back off. There are still people stealing!

They all told Uncle Li that it would be better to buy one or two, after all, it would be a waste if one cost 3000 yuan and was lost.

That was it. After watching for a while, everyone went home. Liu Haizhong also touched He Laitou and went home with his hands behind his back.

Li Dawa had never expected that the straw cage he had made before would be so popular. He received nearly 20 orders at once.

Fortunately, I have brought my parents here, so I won’t go back to my hometown for the New Year.

He also rented the back house next to his house and gave it to his parents to live in. His father was also an old carpenter. He followed Li Dawa to work in the factory to teach young people technology and was treated like a treasure by the factory director.

Li Dawa’s family suddenly went from the bottom to the top!

So Grandpa Li was especially kind to her and basically responded to her every request.

"Little Lai, come here, come to grandpa, grandpa will tell you a story." Grandpa Li also waved to He Lai.

He Lai also likes Grandpa Li very much. When he was young, he made a hard living in this old city with his family. When he got old, he returned to the countryside to farm in order not to burden his son. This is a deep fatherly love.

In Grandpa Li’s arms, I listened to him telling interesting stories he heard when he was young.

He Lai also enjoyed it very much, saying that he no longer had his mother's embrace, but now he had his grandfather's care. He didn't suffer any loss at all.

Time passed, He Lai returned home, and He Daqing took the rain away, after all, the New Year was coming soon.

Everyone fell asleep with a smile on their face, looking forward to New Year's Eve.

As soon as the sun rises, the whole hospital starts to get busy, pasting up couplets and hanging up lanterns to welcome the New Year happily.

He Lai took Xiao Yushui to the yard to play with firecrackers with other friends. All kinds of new and modern ways of playing made the friends laugh continuously.

Sha Zhu helped He Daqing to process the ingredients, and then helped He Lai's family after that. It was really great to have Sha Zhu tied up. There was nothing you could do about it. Sha Zhu was a very honest child. If you were good to him, Sha Zhu would really repay you a hundredfold.

At He Lai's house, Sha Zhu was busy preparing the New Year's Eve dinner, Wu Juan was helping out, and He Lai was in charge of lighting the fire, and it was done quickly.

Sha Zhu said hello and wanted to leave, but Wu Juan stopped him immediately. She went back to the house, took out two scarves, and said to Sha Zhu.

"Zhuzi, I don't have any other skills, so I knitted a scarf for you and Yushui. Take it. Thank you for helping Xiaolaizi all the time. It's the New Year, and I'd like to wish you all the best in advance.

Hey, you've grown up, taller than your aunt. Go ahead and listen to your dad. It's not easy for your dad to raise you two kids alone."

Sha Zhu hugged Wu Juan with red eyes, thanked her and left. Wu Juan stared at the door in a daze, thinking of the scene of her husband leaving, and she didn't come back to her senses for a long time.

He Lai knew that his mother was thinking about his father. He didn't know how the war was going. The third battle should have just ended. Dad, you must be alive.

He could only lie in Wu Juan's arms for comfort.