Back To The 80s-Chapter 195: Xuerong (Additional 100 monthly tickets update)_1

Chapter 195: Chapter 195: Xuerong (Additional 100 monthly tickets update)_1

Qin Li was delighted to see Zhuang Shuxian in high spirits today and comforted her by saying, "Auntie, if you really like Jiujiu, we can go to visit them in the army in a couple of days."

"Alright." Zhuang Shuxian nodded.

When Jin Xueping, Jiujiu’s father, came home in the evening and had just settled down on the sofa, Zhuang Shuxian blurted out, "Today, I saw Jiujiu, the one Li always talks about, she looks so much like Xuerong in both appearance and temperament."

Jin Xueping heard this, his hand, prepared to hold up the teacup, trembled slightly: "Is she that similar?"

"Yes, and just like Xuerong, she has a small dimple on the left corner of her mouth when she smiles." Zhuang Shuxian answered excitedly.

"Xuerong has been gone for quite some years now, those poor children," Jin Xueping sighed.

"Yes, if I didn’t know that Xuerong had died, I could have mistaken Jiujiu for her child," Zhuang Shuxian murmured in regret, and then added, "And I don’t know why, but I really like Jiujiu. I feel an unexplainable affection for her."

Having heard Zhuang Shuxian say so much, Jin Xueping also became interested, "Next time, I should also give Jiujiu a look and see how much she resembles Xuerong that you always think about."

Zhuang Shuxian gave a bitter smile: "Perhaps I think about Xuerong this much because both Jiadong and Jiacheng are gone."

Jin Xueping held his wife’s hand and said, "If you like Jiujiu, you and Lily can visit her more often when you have time, which also allows you to get some fresh air." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Our two sons were fine young men. My only regret now is that if I hadn’t let Xuerong leave years ago, she might not have died," Zhuang Shuxian started crying as she spoke.

"Alright, alright, don’t think about it anymore. It wasn’t only your fault that Xuerong had an accident," Jin Xueping comforted her, patting her hand.

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On the way home, Gu Xiaobei asked Jiujiu, "Jiujiu, do you like Grandma Jin?"

"Yes, Grandma Jin is very nice," Jiujiu nodded.

Gu Xiaobei then said to Lu Zhanguo, who was driving, "Aunt Jin likes Jiujiu a lot, they seem to get along very well."

Lu Zhanguo had also noted Zhuang Shuxian’s reluctance to say goodbye and said, "When you have some free time, you should take Jiujiu to their house more often."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. And, does their family only have the two Jin brothers? No sisters?" Xiaobei asked.

"No."

"That’s strange then; today, Aunt Jin said Jiujiu looked very similar to her. I find it quite puzzling," Xiaobei seemed confused.

Jiujiu, sitting in the backseat, was already starting to doze off, her head bobbing slightly.

Xiaobei asked Zhanguo to pull over, she climbed into the backseat so that Jiujiu could lean against her and sleep without fear of falling over.

As she opened the car door, a sudden gust of cold wind blew in, making Xiaobei shiver.

Once settled in, she said to Zhanguo, "It seems we need to get our stove going tonight."

"Yeah, it will probably be even colder tomorrow if the weather clears up."

"Has winter kicked in then?"

"If the sun comes out, there might be a few more warm days. But we will definitely need to make a fire in the evening, I guess it’s hitting freezing temperatures."

Upon hearing this, Xiaobei silently calculated, "So it seems, we’ve almost reached five months into winter."

The two of them chatted casually on the way home. With no heater in the car, Xiaobei held Jiujiu in her arms, fearing the child might catch a cold.

Once they arrived at the residential compound, Xiaobei woke up Jiujiu, and they returned home first, with Zhanguo going to the barracks to return the car.

Xiaobei, pulling the sleepy-eyed Jiujiu, hurried up the stairs, concerned that sleepiness might make Jiujiu susceptible to the cold wind.

Once they got on the stairs, they noticed a large pot placed right outside Guo Huaqiang’s house, forcing anyone passing by to sidestep it.

Xiaobei found it strange; with such a large pot in the way, it was quite inconvenient. She wondered what it was for?

As Xiaobei entered their apartment, Li Fengmei next door heard them and offered, "It’s so cold; you should fire up your stove. You can get kindling from my place."

"We were just about to. The weather has suddenly turned cold, quite chilly actually."

"Come on then, let Jiujiu play at my place for a while. You can come back once the stove is fired up," Li Fengmei suggested warmly.

Xiaobei agreed since the apartment seemed even colder than when they left in the morning, probably because it was almost dark and the cold was creeping in.

Xiaodong had taken a particular liking to Jiujiu, calling her affectionately as "Sister Jiujiu". Seeing Jiujiu come in, he pulled her to play poker with him.

Having learned how to make a fire in the spring, Xiaobei was quite handy at it now.

She got a piece of kindling from Li Chunmei’s home, lit the fire, and then picked up the almost finished sweater sleeve she was knitting, planning to go to Li Fengmei’s home. As she was locking the door, she noticed an elderly woman, probably in her fifties or sixties, emerge from Guo Huaqiang’s house. The woman was thin, and in her hands, she held a roll of newspaper, fashioned like a cigarette. The woman glanced at Xiaobei indifferently, turned her head, and started smoking.

Xiaobei guessed that this was maybe Xiangmin’s mother-in-law.

Entering Li Fengmei’s home, Li Fengmei pulled her into the sitting room and seated her on the heated bed (kang), "Xiangmin’s mother-in-law arrived early this morning."

"So, the pot was placed there by her?" Xiaobei casually made conversation while knitting the sweater.

"Exactly! Everyone else keeps their water pots inside their houses, but she complained they take up too much space as soon as she got here and moved it outside regardless of whether it inconveniences people," Li Fengmei complained.

Xiaobei could already envision the lively winter that awaited them.

"The mother-daughter-in-law duo are already at each other’s throats at noon. The regimental instructor really invited trouble this time," Li Fengmei shook her head.

"Why doesn’t Xiangmin have her own mother come and help?" Xiaobei inquired curiously.

"The instructor’s family and ours are from the same region. In our custom, mothers from the woman’s side of the family aren’t supposed to help with the postpartum period, the woman can’t give birth at her mother’s home either, lest it brings misfortune to the mother’s family," Li Fengmei explained.

This was news to Xiaobei because, in the 21st century, a common mantra among her colleagues was: Mom gives birth, grandma raises the child, dad surfs the internet when he gets home, grandpa goes to the vegetable market every day, and grandfather and grandmother just come and enjoy!

"When you give birth, your mother-in-law will also be the one taking care of you. How does your mother-in-law treat you?" Li Fengmei asked, fishing for gossip.

"Well, she’s okay. We moved out shortly after getting married, so we haven’t spent much time together," Xiaobei said. The memories from the original body’s past about her mother-in-law were a blur now.

"Well, people are known by their company. When I gave birth to my first-born, my mother-in-law would only give me a bowl of broken corn porridge per meal and even accused me of slacking off when I couldn’t get off the kang for three days. Back then, Zhang Lijun wasn’t at home the whole year, I really had to endure, depend on myself, until we had our second child, and then we separated from the family, and things got better."

Li Fengmei sighed, "Actually, my mother-in-law isn’t a bad person, we were part of a commune back then. When I had to lay around at home, we were short a pair of working hands."

Xiaobei consoled her, "Don’t worry, things are getting better."

"Right? Nowadays, we can have white-flour buns every day, something we didn’t dare dream about previously," Li Fengmei said contentedly.

"In the future, not to talk of white-flour buns, but even having meat in every meal could be possible."

Hearing Xiaobei say this, Li Fengmei laughed even harder, "I don’t dare to think about that. It would be enough for us to have meat only three times a month."

Xiaobei watched Li Fengmei and couldn’t help chuckling too.