Mrs. Zhao began talking about the winters in the Capital City.
"You don’t know, when it snows, once you step out of the house, everything is covered in white. Whether it’s the rooftops, the roads, the trees, or the cars parked outside, all of them...are covered in snow..."
"How do people go out with such heavy snow?"
"People still have to go to work or to school, it’s not a big deal. But when the wind blows, it’s especially cold. You must wear a hat, gloves, earmuffs, and a mask when going out, otherwise, if you get too cold, you’re prone to frostbite."
"What about food then?"
Mrs. Zhao saw that they were all looking at her and said, "Before it starts to snow, we store vegetables like radishes, cabbages, potatoes, winter melons, and pumpkins."
"That’s the same as what we do here."
"Laosan’s Wife bought you new clothes, didn’t she? The sweater you’re wearing is new, isn’t it?" One of the aunties with sharp eyes noticed Mrs. Zhao’s sweater.
They rarely bought ready-made sweaters. They would either buy flawed yarn or unravel cotton gloves to knit their sweaters.
"Yes, it’s a cashmere sweater that Laosan’s Wife bought for me. It’s especially warm. Look, I wear a long johns, then a sweater, and a cotton jacket on top, I don’t feel cold at all."
In the winter, to go out, who doesn’t wear several layers? If you don’t have a sweater, you just layer several long johns under a cotton jacket.
Everyone was envious of Mrs. Zhao.
Even though she didn’t have a daughter, she had a particularly filial daughter-in-law who often bought things, new clothes.
Nowadays in the team, who wouldn’t envy Mrs. Zhao?
It’s easy to just talk about it, but her daughter-in-law really bought those things. Mrs. Zhao didn’t have to work in the fields and could wear the new clothes Yun Xiaoxiao bought for her.
"Let me feel the cashmere sweater..."
"Just the long johns?"
Mrs. Zhao even took out photos to show them, taken in the snow.
"Look, this I took during summer at the square in the Capital City, and this is a photo I took at the square in winter..."
The aunties saw the photos in Mrs. Zhao’s hands, one with a snowy landscape, the other with blue sky and white clouds over the square.
"And the team leader..."
They noticed that several of them were wearing new clothes in the photos.
"These shoes must have been expensive, right?"
"They’re inexpensive. They’re made of leather, especially warm and also snow-proof. Cotton shoes are fine if you don’t go outside, but once you do, they’re not good enough. During winter, sleeping on the kang bed is particularly warm, and there’s a stove in the room. Da Bao and Xiao Bao love to eat roasted sweet potatoes, roasted potatoes, roasted chestnuts."
For them, cattle were a valuable resource.
"Shitou’s mother, your skin looks so good, and you seem a lot younger."
"Did you dye your hair?"
Mrs. Zhao even mentioned that her nephew and niece both found someone from Jingdu.
"Miss Xin even found a guy in Public Security?"
"Yes, she’s with someone from Public Security, and her in-laws are cadres."
The aunties all knew that Zhao Xinxin had gotten divorced. Now she’s moved to Jingdu, and in such a short time, she found a Jingdu person to marry, and it was his first marriage, and on top of that, her in-laws are cadres and the man works in Public Security?
That’s really something.
Mrs. Zhao didn’t hide it; her nephew Xiao He also found a Jingdu girl, a worker.
It seemed like they were going to settle in Jingdu.
"Shitou’s mother, you don’t know, I heard that the Chen Family is getting a new wife, and there’s good news now."
Mrs. Zhao pursed her lips, "He might remarry, but can it be any better than how well my niece married?"