After seeing Second Sister-in-law and the little nephew, we also attended the full month celebration of Su family’s seventh son. By this time, winter was approaching, and the cold wind began to howl fiercely in Liu village, which hadn’t yet experienced the effects of global warming.
The cold wind whipped up the snow on the ground, and if you got caught off guard, it could blow you right off your feet.
After two heavy snowfalls, the snow drifts on the roadsides were waist-deep. "Freezing water into ice" and "breath into frost" were not mere expressions, they were facts.
In such cold and harsh weather, no one needed to tell Shuzhen to take care of herself and avoid going out. If she wasn’t careful and ended up falling, it would truly be a misfortune!
Every day at home, Shuzhen would teach Little Lian’en, make small clothes and wraps for the two little ones in her belly. She would chat with Lianshan and Second Aunt, and occasionally entertain the little sister-in-law, sisters-in-law, and the brothers who would drop by every few days, making life not too monotonous.
Of course, to prevent the kind of misunderstanding that happened with Second Sister-in-law, Shuzhen made checkered wraps in blue and white or black and white for the children, and the clothes were blue with white dots or small dark red flowers. It might not be cute enough for a girl, but it ensured there would be no eye-sore situation like Second Sister-in-law’s black chubby boy wrapped in a watery red wrap and peach-pink clothes.
Days slipped away one by one, and soon it was the end of the twelfth lunar month, another new year.
Shuzhen looked at the 1971 calendar with a gentle smile; time flew by, and she was about to start her fifth year since her return.
After joining the seed research institute, with a decent salary and benefits, life became much more relaxed. Always valuing the new year, Lianshan wanted to start the year with a sumptuous meal on New Year’s Eve, and became even more enthusiastic about it.
When the production team butchered pigs, he managed to get five pounds and bought another fifteen pounds of meat.
Front pork, hindquarters, ribs, and a little elbow weighing two or three pounds. To ensure a good start for the new year, Lianshan went all out. With the pork ready, two native chickens slaughtered, two carp bought, along with some ribbonfish acquired through other means, and various vegetables from the greenhouse, it was a truly bountiful New Year with meat and vegetables aplenty.
After the twelfth lunar month began, the young man started chopping sauerkraut, leeks, and cabbage, making three types of dumpling fillings and freezing a good batch of them.
He prepared plenty of yellow cornmeal sticky rice cakes with beans and made some sticky rice cakes with beans that Shuzhen quite liked. Then, he steamed several batches of bean paste buns. Shuzhen thought that from now until the end of the first lunar month, they wouldn’t need to worry about cooking too much.
Lianshan laughed, "That’s exactly the effect I wanted! Not only is it sumptuous, but also extremely convenient. When Second Aunt goes home for the New Year tomorrow, I can take care of you and Little Lian’en all by myself."
Second Aunt hesitated, "Maybe I shouldn’t go back? The New Year’s just another day. If they truly care, there’ll be a chance for reunion anytime. I could wait till Shuzhen gives birth and finishes confinement. If those two unfilial sons are sincere, it won’t be too late for me to go back then!"
Perhaps due to Captain Feng’s constant criticism and hard labor assigned, or maybe due to the members’ sarcasm sparking some long-lost sense of shame and filial piety, Qiangzi and Zhuangzi seemed to have a change of heart. A few days ago, both couples showed up, crying and apologizing to Second Aunt, admitting their past mistakes and promising to repent.
Whether a prodigal son can turn over a new leaf and if a dog can stop eating *shit, remains to be seen.
But Second Aunt’s long-frozen heart seemed to thaw slightly, willing to give her unfilial sons another chance, observing their behavior this New Year before deciding.
After all, they’re her sons, and any chance at a loving mother-son relationship is preferable to ending contact like enemies.
Although Shuzhen didn’t expect much from Second Aunt’s New Year visit, some things and people must be experienced and observed personally to understand fully. An observer can’t decide for the person involved, so it’s best not to say much. After cooperating happily for over two years, she can guarantee that as long as Second Aunt is sincere, no matter how many times she’s hurt, they would welcome her home as family. Of course, provided Second Aunt’s original intention remains unchanged, consistently caring for Little Lian’en with utmost attention.
So when Second Aunt offered to stay and help without returning home for the New Year, Shuzhen and Lianshan smiled appreciatively but disagreed with her notion.
Instead, they prepared everything in advance and sent her off for New Year on the twenty-third, agreeing she’d return after the fifth day of the new year.
When Qiang and Zhuang came to pick her up, Shuzhen gifted them with two ounces of high-yield cabbage and radish seeds each, plainly stating she had two dependable brothers and no interest in having two more reckless ones. The seeds were given in Second Aunt’s honor for the good rapport they had developed over the past two to three years.
In other words, if the two of them tried any tricks or melodrama to deceive Second Aunt, this niece-employer wouldn’t stand by.
No man could stand being lectured by a woman several years younger and a head shorter. Qiang and Zhuang were impulsive by nature, and when mad, didn’t even spare their mother, let alone someone from another family like Shuzhen?
But knowing the extraordinary standing Shuzhen and Lianshan held in Liu village and having experienced Liu Shouren’s protective streak, they didn’t dare show it.
Embarrassed, they accepted Shuzhen’s seeds cautiously, then took their mother home for the New Year.
Meanwhile, hearing that Second Aunt returned home, Lianshan and Lian Yue invited them to spend the New Year together with their families. It wasn’t just about the liveliness, but also to ease the burden on their elder brother.
Though they appreciated the goodwill, Lianshan and Shuzhen cherished the warmth and joy of spending the New Year with just the three of them, or rather, the five of them.
Even though they weren’t too familiar with the concept of a couple’s world, Lianshan especially liked staying with Shuzhen and the children, both during New Year and day-to-day life.