Chapter 96 Returning Home for the New Year

Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan leaned against their mother and soon fell asleep. After falling asleep, they both sighed deeply, and tears were still in the corners of their eyes. If you didn’t know any better, you would think they had suffered some great injustice. Shen Zhiyu’s heart melted. She couldn’t help but reach out and touch her two babies’ chubby little arms.

She didn’t know if they recognized her hand, but when Shen Zhiyu touched their chubby little hands, both of them simultaneously grabbed her fingers. Their tiny hands holding her fingers, Shen Zhiyu’s heart melted. “Mom, look!” Chen Cuijuan smiled. “They’re exactly like you when you were little. They’re so clingy. They can’t bear to be away from me or your dad for a moment.” Mentioning Shen Dahe, Shen Zhiyu also missed her own father.

According to the current military leave regulations, officers of Gu Ye’s rank, if they were married and their parents weren’t living with them, got one home leave every two years. Each home leave was for twenty days. After deducting the time spent traveling and the time spent resting before returning, they could stay at home for ten days.

Gu Ye hadn’t gone back last year. This year was perfect. He could go back with Chen Cuijuan to see them and spend a whole New Year at home. He hadn’t gone back home for New Year’s in years. When it came to going back, Chen Cuijuan was excited. It was still a few months away, but she had already started planning what she needed to pack.

She had clothes at home, so she didn’t need to bring any. She mainly needed to pack things for the two children and things to bring for her family. Gu Ye came back after training in the afternoon. Seeing his mother-in-law packing again, he twitched his eyelids. Shen Zhiyu found it amusing. “Mom has been looking forward to going back to see everyone and brag for months.”

 Hearing this, Gu Ye felt a little guilty. “When Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan are older and can go to daycare, we’ll let Mom go back.” Shen Zhiyu thought the same thing. That night, after Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan fell asleep, the couple finally had a chance to talk. Besides her mother, there was now another person living in the house.

With Chen Cuijuan around, Shen Zhiyu didn’t have any reservations. She would even cling to him and act coquettish. But after Aunt Xia came, Shen Zhiyu became a little restrained. Although Gu Ye didn’t say anything about his wife’s love for being coquettish, he secretly enjoyed it and loved it. Even when he was talking, he would make his wife lie on his chest. He was such a hypocrite. Shen Zhiyu’s face flushed even redder, and the corners of her lips curled up.

“You’re so annoying.” Her voice got quieter and quieter. During the day, there were other people at home, so they acted like an old married couple. They would even be careful when holding hands. But after a while, Aunt Xia gradually noticed something.

 She told Chen Cuijuan, “Xiao Shen and Regiment Commander Gu are really in love.” Regiment Commander Gu, who was so serious, looked at Teacher Shen with eyes that seemed to be coated in honey. Teacher Shen didn’t need to be told. She always spoke softly, and she was even more coquettish when she talked to Regiment Commander Gu.

Even when she was angry and called him “Gu Ye,” it sounded like she was being coquettish! When Chen Cuijuan heard this, her face turned red. Her daughter and son-in-law, oh my, she had lived for half her life, but she had never seen such a sticky, mushy couple.

The children were almost a year old, and they were still so lovey-dovey! “Young people, they’re in love freely. Their relationship is better.” After saying this, Chen Cuijuan spat in her heart. She actually missed her old man! As Chen Cuijuan said, children really changed every day. They grew so fast. Fortunately, Chen Cuijuan was good at making clothes.

When she made clothes for the brothers, she had intentionally made them a little bigger, so they could wear them until they were one year old. Now that Aunt Xia was at their house, they could ask Zhu Fang for help with winter clothes, and Aunt Xia also had her own ways. And Aunt Xia used to work in a textile factory. The clothes she made were as good as those sewn by a machine. Besides altering Gu Ye’s old clothes into a cotton-padded jacket and pants for each of them, Shen Zhiyu also made a new cotton-padded jacket and pants for each of the two little guys.

 Shen Zhiyu had originally wanted to make them red, as it looked festive, but Chen Cuijuan quickly vetoed the idea. The two children could now crawl. They couldn’t stay still for long. Bright-colored clothes would get dirty in a couple of days. In the end, they made black cotton-padded jackets and pants out of black cloth. The cotton shoes were also made by Chen Cuijuan.

They were black, high-top cotton shoes. Even if the children’s pants legs were pulled up while they were playing, their ankles wouldn’t be exposed to the wind. They also wore army green Lei Feng hats on their heads. Their faces were round and white, and they looked adorable. Chen Cuijuan had been packing for months. Now that they were about to go home, she still felt that she hadn’t packed properly.

She checked everything again. Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan’s spare clothes and diapers. Their formula, bottles, towels. The tea leaves for Shen Dahe. It was Aunt Xia who told them that there were actually a lot of tea trees growing on the mountain behind their house. They were planted by the locals and were free! In those days, tea leaves were a luxury.

If a family could serve tea to their guests, it was considered very prestigious! Chen Cuijuan and Aunt Xia went to the mountain behind their house on a day when Shen Zhiyu and Gu Ye were off and collected a lot of tea leaves. Although the owner said they were free, Shen Zhiyu insisted on giving them some dry vermicelli from the school.

The owner of the tea trees was happy and said they could come whenever they wanted. Besides the tea leaves, they also brought some of the vermicelli and some of the white sugar that Fu Chunmei had brought over last time. Fu Chunmei was doing well in the canteen. Now that she was earning her own money, she had more confidence at home. And after she had a falling out with her in-laws, she sent less money back home every month.

 Now, her family was living better and better. Deputy Regiment Commander Ma wasn’t stupid either. Seeing that his family was living better and better, and his three children were now chubby, he pretended not to see the letters his mother sent back. The letters were all about scolding Fu Chunmei. Fu Chunmei didn’t care, so he didn’t care either.

Fu Chunmei always thought that her good fortune was because of Shen Zhiyu, so whenever there were benefits at work, she would think of Shen Zhiyu and her family. She didn’t need to be told about chili peppers and spices.

Shen Zhiyu also brought some of their local pork rib sausage.