Xibao pointed at the old leader’s face in the photo, "Grandfather, Grandfather will, will buy Guoguo for the baby. Mommy, buy Guoguo, buy cake, buy Guoguo, for the baby to eat, not for my little sister to eat," he said.
"The old leader gave this to you?" Feng Qingxue exclaimed, her surprise quickly turning into realization.
She should have thought of this earlier.
The old leader and his wife never took a penny from the people. After Xibao’s comments, Feng Qingxue made clothes and shoes for him, and the old leader returned an ink treasure. But in the old leader’s view, the ink treasure was worthless, so he must have slipped Xibao money, which might include the cost that Father Lu had paid for food and cotton back in his hometown.
So, the old leader did not simply accept without giving anything in return. He had planned this.
Giving Xibao meant giving it to the Lu family, didn’t it?
Feng Qingxue hurriedly explained to Lu Jiang and then asked Xibao, "Baby, tell Mommy when Grandfather gave this to you? What did grandpa say when he gave it to you?"
The old leader had given the money in secret to Xibao. He must have had tremendous faith in Xibao. Wasn’t he afraid Xibao would lose it?
Xibao blinked his large eyes, not understanding Feng Qingxue’s meaning.
Feng Qingxue slowed down and repeated word by word, "Tell Mommy, okay? Mommy really wants to know."
"Grandfather gave it. Buy Guoguo for the baby, Mommy buy Guoguo." Xibao kept repeating his earlier words.
Lu Jiang couldn’t help but say, "Xibao is still very young, and it’s been so long, asking him to repeat what the old leader said seems unfair to him, doesn’t it? It’s enough to know that the old leader gave it, just keep the money."
Feng Qingxue nodded and said to Xibao, "Baby, Mommy will keep the money for you, okay? To buy Guoguo."
"Buy Guoguo?" Xibao asked.
"Yes, buy Guoguo for the baby."
Hearing Feng Qingxue’s promise, Xibao only then gave her the money and kept reminding, "Buy Guoguo!"
"We will buy, buy, buy, buy, buy!"
Feng Qingxue counted, and there were a total of thirty new banknotes.
"Three hundred yuan?" Seeing Feng Qingxue nodding, Lu Jiang sighed, "The old leader is really too polite. The clothes and shoes you made and the specialty products our production team prepared might not be worth this much, right?"
"Definitely!" With the prices of grain and cloth so low nowadays, the only high-priced items were luxury goods. Among them, the fabric of the old leader’s clothes was the most expensive, "I guess this money must be the three hundred yuan that the old leader sent to Dad, and Dad sent it back. The old leader’s life is much more stretched than ours, his salary is basically a hand-to-mouth existence."
Lu Jiang said, "When you have time, make another set of clothes for the old leader and send them over!"
That’s all they could do.
"Yes, I will." Xibao and the old leader had such a good relationship, she would of course continue to deepen the bond, not because she was opportunist, but as someone who had seen the old leader’s remains in the memorial hall decades later, she couldn’t hide her admiration for the old leader. And in this special era, it was crucial to grasp this opportunity to protect her family.
Xibao didn’t care about the conversation between his parents, urging Feng Qingxue, "Mommy, buy Guoguo!"
He pointed at the money that Feng Qingxue hadn’t put away yet, with an attitude of "I gave you the money, so you have to buy Guoguo for me".
Feng Qingxue wanted to put things like bowls, cups, painting scrolls, and jewelry in her suitcase, and said to him, "Let Daddy take you out to buy Guoguo, Mommy will stay at home to look after your little sister."