Chapter 61: Visiting Sha Yue

Sha Yue became pregnant in September, and the baby was finally born on Tuesday this week.

That day, Wen Jiajia happened to be taken to a meeting by Director Xue, and they were in meetings for two consecutive days. After the meetings, she was discharged from the hospital and went home, and Wen Jiajia hadn’t had a chance to visit her in the hospital.

In that case, she decided to go on the weekend.

Today was Saturday. Wen Jiajia packed her things and decided not to ride a bike but to take the bus into the city.

There was no other choice; Sha Yue’s place was really far away, and she was afraid she might collapse from exhaustion on the way.

Fortunately, it was Saturday, so there weren’t many people entering the city in the morning, but there were quite a few people leaving the city.

Wen Jiajia boarded the bus and sat by the window.

After arriving in the city and changing buses, it took nearly two hours to reach the vicinity of the institute.

Dong Qi was already waiting at the door. When she saw Wen Jiajia getting off the bus, she waved and ran towards her.

“I was thinking you wouldn’t arrive until the afternoon, but Sister Sha Yue said you’d definitely get here around noon.” Dong Qi smiled and reached out to help Wen Jiajia with her things.

Wen Jiajia handed her a bag containing an old hen, which was the chicken that Sha Yue had asked her to help buy.

She said, “Sha Yue knows the time the bus leaves from my place and when it arrives in the city. She could calculate and know that I should arrive around this time.”

Wen Jiajia followed Dong Qi, looking around as they walked.

There are also villages next to the institute, but because of the intense competition within the institute, the employees avoid buying things privately in the nearby villages for fear of being reported.

One might think otherwise. In this era of apartment buildings, your neighbors know best what you eat and drink every day.

Even if you eat an extra half-pound of meat in a month, your neighbors will suspect that you bought the meat privately. The amount of meat supplied each month is limited, and your neighbors will remember how much meat you normally eat without you noticing.

After walking for about ten minutes, they arrived at the dormitory.

The dormitory building here is also newly constructed, six stories high, but the occupancy density is much lower than that of the military’s family buildings, evident from the number of doors on each floor.

Dong Qi pointed to the building next door and said, “That’s Building No. 2. My home is in Building No. 2.”

Wen Jiajia said, “Your building seems older.”

The outer layer was covered with lush green ivy, while the inner layer had thick, dead ivy, which was the ivy that had died in the autumn and winter of previous years.

Dong Qi replied, “Yes, my building was constructed five years ago. Sister Sha Yue lives in Building No. 6, which was completed last year.”

Wen Jiajia was genuinely surprised.

She had initially thought this place would be as closed off as the military family compound, but to her surprise, there was a movie theater, a barber shop, and even a supply and marketing cooperative. There were also basketball courts, ping-pong tables, and other sports facilities.

It was time for the children to return home for lunch. Wen Jiajia saw children running from one direction, indicating that there was a school here as well.

There were also many older children, suggesting that there were likely middle schools too.

Wen Jiajia sighed, “Your place is quite nice, almost like a small county town.”

Dong Qi whispered, “Sister, your place is better. The management is strict and nothing happens.”

After saying that, she took Wen Jiajia to Building No. 6. Sha Yue’s family lived on the third floor.

Because Feng Yu had just arrived, the house allocated to the couple was not very big, only 58 square meters. However, the space was fully utilized, and without any public areas to take up space, the 58-square-meter house did not feel too small. Especially since Sha Yue’s family was small and had few belongings, everything was tidied up, making it look even more spacious.

Sha Yue was in the room, and it was her mother who opened the door.

“Jiajia, come in quickly, Xiao Yue has been missing you for a long time. I called you all morning, why haven’t you come yet?” Sha’s mother smiled. She had a very gentle and kind face and always smiled when she saw people. Even Director Xue remembered that Sha Yue had a mother with a very good temper.

Mr. Xue was usually more tolerant towards Sha Yue than others, probably due to her mother.

“Mom——” Sha Yue’s voice came from the room, as if she was dissatisfied with her mother revealing her secrets.

Wen Jiajia entered the bedroom and was really surprised: “Sha Yue, you’re twice as big as before you were pregnant.”

Sha Yue: “…”

“My mother said that I am blessed because I am fat and white.” She was very proud.

Wen Jiajia’s mouth twitched: “Okay. But I think you still need to control your weight a little bit. After all, clothes are not useless. If you don’t lose weight, you can’t wear your old clothes.”

Sha Yue’s expression was dazed, and it took a few seconds for her to come to her senses: “Yes, you are right, this is not a question of luck or not, this is a question of whether my clothes can fit me…”

Why didn’t she think of this?

“Wait for me… I will start losing weight after I finish the confinement period!” Sha Yue was determined and said this with gritted teeth.

Wen Jiajia put the basket in her hand on the table in the room, ran to the living room to wash her hands, and then returned to the room to check on the child.

The child was sleeping next to her, with wrinkled skin, chubby cheeks, narrow eye slits, and even some unwashed white vernix caseosa on his head. He looked like a little monkey.

“Is it a boy or a girl?” Wen Jiajia asked after looking carefully for a long time.

The tenderness in Sha Yue’s eyes was about to overflow, and she said softly: “It’s a little boy.”

Wen Jiajia carefully touched his slender little hand and said, “His eye slits are so long. You and Feng Yu both have double eyelids. He will definitely have big eyes when he grows up.”

Sha Yue smiled and said, “As long as he looks good, that’s fine.”

Wen Jiajia stood up and lifted the bamboo cover on the basket, and said to Sha Yue, “I only bought one old hen. Many people were unwilling to sell it. But this old hen is heavy, weighing three pounds. If it weren’t for the high price, no one would be willing to sell it because it lays eggs every day. You can see eggs in its belly when you kill it.”

Sha Yue propped herself up on the bed and said, “Then I must taste the eggs in the chicken’s stomach. Before I got married, I couldn’t eat this. My mother insisted…”

She lowered her voice and said, “They insisted that girls couldn’t have children if they ate it. I guess it’s because these adults wanted to eat it, so they made up this lie to fool us.”

Wen Jiajia burst out laughing: “I haven’t heard of this saying.”

She loved eating lantern dumplings in her previous life. Her parents also loved eating them and often took her to eat them.

Sha Yue’s lips pursed. “So this saying only exists here? It must be a lie. But I’m not afraid now. If I can’t give birth, I won’t. Anyway, I already have Xiao Liang… Jiajia, you don’t know, giving birth is really painful. I don’t plan to suffer this kind of pain a second time in my life.”

Wen Jiajia focused on the name: “The child is called Xiao Liang? Feng Xiao Liang? Can you parents give him a slightly more complicated name?”

“What are you thinking! His name is Feng Mingliang. His father spent a lot of time looking through books and finally came up with the name ‘Mingliang.’ If I were to use this name, I could use it. But it’s a pity that his household registration has been changed now, so it’s hard to change it even if I want to.”

Wen Jiajia comforted her: “Don’t they say that the truth is simple? The name ‘Mingliang’ is good enough. The future is bright, and life is bright.”

Sha Yue smiled, her chubby face seemed to be glowing at this moment: “I hope he will be like this.”

Wen Jiajia took out the beeswax lip balm she made last winter and said, “Didn’t you say your lips would peel? This is all natural and can be used while breastfeeding.”

She made five boxes last year and packed them in tin boxes. Each box was a quarter of the size of a palm and one centimeter deep. She could not use up half a box of lipstick in a whole winter.

Later, she sent one box to Sister Wei, two boxes to her hometown, and the last box is now with Sha Yue.

But she still has beeswax at home, so she can make more. She also wants to try putting essential oils into lipstick.

Sha Yue took it and applied it immediately: “It’s so smooth and shiny.”

“Of course, I put a lot of thought into making this.” Wen Jiajia took out a small bottle of essential oil. “This is rose essential oil. You can apply it on your face and smell it. Isn’t it very fragrant?”

Sha Yue put down the lipstick and took the essential oil.

As soon as she smelled it, she was shocked. Her eyes widened: “Oh my God, you don’t know how much I hate myself now, I smell sour, and my mom won’t let me take a shower!” This is what she needs; she likes it more than lipstick!

Wen Jiajia: “Then you can use it. If it’s not enough, I’ll give you more, but you have to keep the bottle for me. I have a lot of essential oils, but not many bottles.”

Sha Yue immediately dripped two drops of essential oil onto her hands, spread them, and took a deep breath, looking very happy: “Oh my god, it smells so good. If Feng Yu smells it, he will kiss me until my skin is bald.”

“…” What kind of vicious words are these?

Wen Jiajia also brought a pound of meat, half a pound of dried mushrooms, and half a pound of brown sugar.

During the Chinese New Year, I ate too much meat and used up all my meat coupons. In the past few months, I have only eaten vegetarian food and eggs to save a few meat coupons, one of which I used here.

The mushrooms were grown at home during the winter. If we couldn’t finish them, we dried them in a brazier and baked four pounds of mushrooms. We eat them when we make buns and dumplings.

Sha’s mother came in and changed the baby’s diaper. After changing, she left, leaving the two of them alone to talk.

Wen Jiajia asked her, “Did your mother take care of you during the confinement period? Or did she say she would leave in a few days?”

Sha Yue replied, “She’ll leave after I’m out of confinement. Anyway, there’s enough room at home. Feng Yu often has to work overtime and sometimes doesn’t get home until midnight. As for my grandfather, although he’s still strong, it’s not convenient for him to take care of me. He also took a job sweeping the yard, which pays him five yuan and two tickets a month. He works very hard. If my mother doesn’t come, I’ll have to take care of myself.”

That’s right. Sha Yue’s family separated into three rooms: one for the couple, one for Grandpa Feng Yu, and one room left.

Wen Jiajia left Sha Yue’s house only after having lunch. Before leaving, she asked Feng Yu, who had gone home for lunch, to help her borrow two books on various chemical compounds—if such books existed.

After all, if she came across something good, she couldn’t just miss it because she didn’t know about it.

It was already past five in the evening when she got home. The sky was bright, with no sign of getting dark.

Wen Chun and Wen Xuan hadn’t come back yet. I guess they are still playing basketball outside. Oh no, it might be more appropriate to say they are playing at basketball.

Wen Jiajia went to the yard to pick some green beans, cut them into shreds, and stir-fried them with eggs. She then picked a few green peppers and stir-fried a plate of tiger skin peppers and then was ready to eat.

The weather was hot, and Wen Jiajia didn’t care whether the two children were home or not. She had to eat first since she was hungry.

The green peppers grown this year are very spicy, and the tiger-skin green peppers are especially delicious with rice.

Wen Jiajia shrugged her nose and felt like eating braised pork. Tiger skin green peppers should be cooked in braised pork to taste better.

So after dinner, Wen Jiajia went to the room, unlocked it, opened the drawer, and took out the iron box inside, which contained her family’s belongings.