◎ First update ◎ 

Sun Zhiqiang was pestered by everyone in the courtyard and had no choice but to go to the department store early the next morning to buy a set of shirt and black trousers. As the saying goes, ‘people rely on their clothes,’ so he also went to the barber to get a shorter haircut and shave his beard. He looked much more energetic. 

“This… is this going to work? Doesn’t it look too pretentious?” He was still a bit uncomfortable with how well-dressed he looked. 

“Brother Sun, this is simply amazing!” Wei Haiyuan also went to the department store to buy some fruit candies and hurried back to distribute them to everyone to celebrate his promotion to the fourth-level worker. Seeing that Sun Zhiqiang suddenly seemed like a different person, his eyes lit up, “This matchmaking date will definitely be a success. When the time comes, set up two tables in the courtyard so that we can also share in the joy.” 

“Oh.” Sun Zhiqiang smiled shyly, scratched his head in embarrassment. “Thank you for your good wishes.” 

After lunch, each family was busy with their own affairs. Xu Shengjie carried out a few pieces of high-quality yellow wood and placed them against the wall to dry. While Liang Baozhen and Zhou Yun were making tomato sauce. They worked for most of the day and put it into a jar for storage. 

The bright red tomatoes are boiled into a sauce with a sweet and sour taste. It can be stored in a jar for a long time and will be a delicacy in winter when vegetables are scarce. 

Next door, the Fang family was scolding their child, and the noise was quite loud. 

Liang Baozhen was standing in the middle of the courtyard washing her hands when she heard Fang Hongming’s loud voice. 

“Look at how you did in the exam?” Fang Hongming threw his son Fang Zhibin’s test paper on the table, angrily. 

Fang Zhibin stiffened his neck and defended himself, “Isn’t it just like a dragon gives birth to a dragon, a phoenix gives birth to a phoenix, and a mouse’s son will dig holes.” 

Fang Hongming was stunned. He and his wife were not stupid, so why was their son so bad at studying? Wait, that’s not right! 

“You’re still making excuses, aren’t you? You really think you’re being reasonable for getting such a low score.” 

There was a commotion next door, but Liang Baozhen glanced at Xu Shengwei and Xu Shengya, who had come back with their test papers, and felt a bit more at ease. 

One of them was only one point away from getting one hundred in both Chinese and math, so at least they passed both. 

The one with near-perfect scores was quite humble, thinking that she did not perform well and was just one point away. Xu Shengya read one question wrong; otherwise, she would have scored perfect scores. She was so upset that she hardly eats her meal. 

The other one who barely passed all the exams was quite proud and lingered around Xu Shengjie, “Brother, I have made great progress this time. Can you give me a reward?” 

“You’re really shameless!” Xu Shengjie flicked his brother’s head; he didn’t feel any regret that he only got sixty and sixty-one on his test. 

After all, he had done his best! 

After lunch, the family of four got ready and went out. Xu Shengjie and Liang Baozhen had to send the younger ones to the Youth Palace for the swimming lessons first, and then they would go to the movies. After the movie, it was just in time for them to pick them up and take them home. 

Xu Shengwei and Xu Shengya also wanted to watch a movie, but in the end, the idea of going to their swimming class won out. 

“You should study hard and listen to the teacher. If you encounter any difficulties, ask for help. Do you understand?” 

“Got it.” 

This was Xu Shengjie’s first time at the Youth Palace. He saw that the small building was decorated in a very grand manner. Every employee was neatly dressed and had a smile on their face. It was really different from other places. 

The swimming class teacher was a young man who was teaching a group of children of different ages. The class looked very professional. There were two staff members standing by the swimming pool, observing the children entering the water to prevent anyone from drowning so that they could provide timely rescue. 

“This place is indeed quite formal,” Xu Shengjie thought after looking around. 

“Of course, they are professionals.” After all, the tuition for a semester is not cheap, so the services and facilities are naturally good. 

The two crossed the street and went straight to the cinema. There was a revolutionary war movie showing in the afternoon, and it was said to be very popular. They had to ask their neighbor Fang Hongming to help buy the tickets; otherwise, they would not be able to buy them at all. 

Sitting in the cinema seat, Xu Shengjie saw the war scenes on the screen, and his thoughts seemed to go back to the years when he joined the military. He had also participated in several battles, experienced life and death moments with his comrades, fought off the enemy, and tasted hard-earned victories. 

The raging fire seemed to take him back to the past, and his soldier’s blood and passion were ignited…

However, there was some sobbing coming from his side. Xu Shengjie turned his head and saw that his wife Liang Baozhen had tears on her face and her eyes were shining. 

Liang Baozhen was usually not one to cry easily, but every time she sees a movie about patriotism or war, she can’t help but have tears in her eyes. Especially in movies where the hero’s comrades are killed, and he is the only one who returns to the military with serious injuries, she gets even more emotional, and she can’t stop crying. 

In the past, when she watched open-air movies in the commune, she would quietly shed tears in the crowd. This time, she wanted to hold back her tears next to Xu Shengjie, but… 

A hand suddenly reached for her shoulder bag, and a beige floral handkerchief was taken out of the bag and soon pressed against her cheek. 

Xu Shengjie leaned in with his head down and said softly, “Don’t cry, wipe your tears.” 

“Mm~.” Liang Baozhen hurriedly took the handkerchief and put it to her eyes. 

After the heart-stirring movie ended, Liang Baozhen walked out of the cinema with red eyes. She noticed that many others had red eyes as well, so it seemed that everyone had been moved, which reassured her. 

However, when they picked up Xiaowei and Xiaoya from the Youth Palace, the two children noticed their sister-in-law’s tearful appearance and looked puzzled. 

“Brother, why did you make my sister-in-law angry?” Xu Shengwei quietly walked with his brother and criticized Xu Shengjie with a serious face. “I’m going to go back and complain to grandma.” 

“Who told you that I made your sister-in-law angry?” Xu Shengjie ruffled his brother’s hair and felt that the short haircut pricked his hand. 

“Why else would my sister-in-law be crying?” Xu Shengwei was no fool; that was clearly the look she had after crying. “We are men, grown men, we can’t make women cry!” 

Unlike him, he had only made his sister cry when he was three or four years old by grabbing her food, which made Xiaoya cry loudly. After that, he never dared to touch his sister’s food again. 

“You little rascal, you know quite a lot, don’t you?” 

“Of course!” 

Xu Shengya took her sister-in-law’s hand and asked her if she cried after watching the movie. Only then did she feel relieved. “Sister-in-law, everything in the movie was acted out; it’s all fake. Don’t take it to heart.” 

“Yes, your sister-in-law knows.” Liang Baozhen secretly told her, “I just can’t hold back my tears when I see this. It’s like a faucet turned on. I can’t hold it back.” 

The younger sister-in-law was comforting and understanding. 

“I understand, Sister-in-law. It’s like when we need to sneeze and can’t hold it back.” 

Back in the courtyard, Xiaowei and Xiaoya, who had just learned to swim, excitedly shared their experiences with their grandmother. They eagerly told Zhou Yun about how they had learned to hold their breath underwater and mastered the breaststroke. 

“Oh, oh, you’ve really learned well,” Zhou Yun said, smiling at the two lively children and feeling that the money spent was worth it. 

“Unfortunately, we can’t transfer schools,” Xu Shengjie said. He had inquired with the factory workers and found that nearby key schools wouldn’t admit them since they didn’t accept students from outside. It seemed that the wish of his younger siblings to take more classes at the Youth Palace would not be fulfilled. 

After boiling a pot of water, the children needed to take another bath. Liang Baozhen wasn’t sure about the cleanliness of the swimming pool in these times, but since it was a place where many children swam, it was better to make sure they washed thoroughly. 

Xu Shengwei was simple. Like other children in the courtyard, he just stood outside and took off all his clothes and rinsed himself in a bucket of water. Everyone was familiar with his bare backside. 

Xu Shengya on the other hand takes a bath inside the house. Xu Shengjie had made a large wooden barrel for her before, so it was quite convenient for her to sit or squat in the tub and take a bath. After closing the door, she asked her grandmother to help her add some hot water. 

Liang Baozhen stepped out of the house, “I’m heading over to Sister Hua’s for a visit.” Xiaowei had just finished washing up and was on his way out to play, while Xiaoya still needed a bath. With nothing important to do, Liang Baozhen figured she might as well catch up with her neighbor. 

“Alright,” Xu Shengjie thought about rearranging things at home. Xiaowei and Xiaoya were getting older and couldn’t live in the same room, but the house was limited in size, so he had to plan carefully. 

*** 

Liang Baozhen went to the west wing. There was no one in front of Liu Nianhua’s stove. Only honeycomb coal was burning. There was an iron pot on the stove, and the yellow corn porridge in it was bubbling. 

“Sister Hua? Are you home?” She shouted into the house and helped put the iron pot on the stove to cool down. If it continued to cook for a while, it would dry up and the bottom of the pot would be burnt. 

Since the corn porridge was still cooking, Liu Nianhua must be home, right? 

“Baozhen, you’re here?” Liu Nianhua opened the door and then remembered that she had food cooking on the stove. She quickly poured it into the house and let Xiaolong eat first. She complained to Liang Baozhen with an unhappy look on her face. 

It turned out that today she found that there was less money at home. She had originally kept some living expenses at home, a total of more than thirty yuan, for food and supplies in the next few months. She was a meticulous person, and she would count her money every night to have an idea of how much she had used and how much was left. She was determined not to live an ignorant life. 

But now she has to work every day, and she is too busy to count the money. She is in charge of it all by herself anyway, so she didn’t take it seriously and just counted the money from time to time. But when she counted it today, she found something wrong. 

Originally, there should have been twenty three yuan and fifty cents left, but in the end, there was only eighteen yuan and fifty cents, a full five yuan was missing! 

What does five yuan mean? Liu Nianhua’s current salary as a ticket seller at the bus company is twenty-eight yuan and fifty cents a month, so losing five yuan means one-fifth of her salary. Plus, someone had stolen money from the house, which made her break out in a cold sweat! 

She knew her two children wouldn’t be involved in something like this, so she suspected there might be a thief in the courtyard. 

Recently, Yao Haoyu had been caught stealing cabbages, and he was the first person who came to her mind. It made sense that she would suspect him—after all, with his criminal record and questionable reputation, he was the obvious choice. 

Just as she was about to talk to Uncle Wei about the theft in the courtyard, which needed a thorough investigation, her little son Xiaohu jumped out, hugged her legs, and stopped her from going. 

“You mean, Xiaohu stole the money?” Liang Baozhen couldn’t believe it. Xiaohu looked like an honest and cute child, so how could he steal the money? 

Liu Nianhua was so angry that her face turned pale. She called her youngest son over and had already questioned him for a while, but he just kept making excuses. 

“Zhou Hu, let me ask you again, why did you steal the money? Have I ever taught you not to steal? Where did you learn such dirty behavior?” Liu Nianhua’s face was rarely serious. She was really angry. Whether her child would be successful in the future was secondary; she couldn’t accept her son turning into someone with dirty hands like Yao Haoyu. This was a matter of moral conduct! 

Zhou Hu pouted, his cheeks puffed out. He looked around, feeling wronged, “I didn’t steal the money! I really didn’t!” 

“You’re still being stubborn with me, aren’t you?” Liu Nianhua wanted to find the duster at home after listening to her son’s excuses. She has always been gentle and good-tempered, but now that she was raising her sons alone, she had to be strict! 

“Mother, I took the money to give to Father, so that’s not stealing!”