Chapter 84: Wen Chun Changing Teeth

Wen Chun and Wen Xuan were wandering around in the newly cleaned utility room.

Wen Chun pulled aside the thatched curtains and leaned on the windowsill, gazing out at the distant green hills and lakes. Wen Xuan, meanwhile, kept pulling and pushing the drawers, finding amusement in the simple action.

“My drawers are all full,” Wen Xuan announced, turning to Wen Jiajia, who was making the bed. Then, smiling at Wei Dai, who had just entered the room with a thin quilt that had been dried in the sun, she asked, “Uncle, can you make me a desk?”

Before Wei Dai could answer, Wen Jiajia interjected, “Even if I gave you ten desks, you’d fill them all up.”

Wen Xuan loved collecting stones and would bring back a basket of pebbles from the river every year.

At first, Wen Jiajia let her indulge in this hobby, but she hadn’t expected it to be a “sustainable” one. Every summer, Wen Xuan brought home three or four baskets of pebbles. That would’ve been manageable, but she occasionally brought back larger stones, which annoyed her mild-tempered sister, Wen Chun, so much that she gave her a good scolding.

Fortunately, Wen Jiajia had recently used most of the pebbles to tidy up the yard, keeping only Wen Xuan’s favorites. This cleared out a lot of the accumulated clutter, and Wen Chun was no longer upset.

Wen Xuan pouted. “No way. I just need one desk to put my books on.”

She paused, then suddenly asked, “Aunt, when do we start school?”

Wen Jiajia spread out a straw mat on the bed and replied, “You’ll start school tomorrow. You won’t need to go to the Yuhong class anymore; you’ll go directly to primary school.”

The children didn’t need their parents to accompany them. The Yuhong class was adjacent to the primary school, and sometimes the primary school teachers helped out in the Yuhong class. They knew all the kids there, so they naturally knew which ones were Wen Chun and Wen Xuan.

In fact, school should have started at the beginning of the month, but continuous heavy rains in late August had caused one of the elementary school classrooms to suddenly crack in half, turning it into a dangerous building. Fortunately, it happened during the holidays, so no one was hurt.

Many people in the army’s logistics department were criticized for this, but the classroom was demolished and rebuilt between late August and late September, and it was completed just two days ago.

Wen Jiajia found it fascinating how flexible the education system could be; who knew that school could be postponed?

In the evening, after the thin quilt had been sun-dried all afternoon, it was brought inside and spread out. The room was tidied up.

With the lights on, the room looked especially cozy.

Wen Jiajia walked around, checking to make sure nothing was missing, before leaving the room and closing the door.

_

The next day was the first day of school for Wen Chun and Wen Xuan.

Wen Jiajia braided their hair into two ponytails, and the two girls headed off to school with their new backpacks and swinging ponytails.

“Do you have anything to do this morning?” Wen Jiajia asked Wei Dai.

Wei Dai shook his head as he got into the car. “Nope, hop in, I’ll take you there.”

A smile spread across Wen Jiajia’s face. She put her bag in the front basket of the bicycle, locked the door, and climbed onto the back seat.

As the months passed, Wei Dai developed a routine of taking her to work whenever he had nothing to do in the morning.

On the way, Wei Dai mentioned, “Li Sunming came to ask me yesterday whether you and his wife are related.”

Wen Jiajia poked him in the back. “What did you say?”

“I told him I didn’t know, and that you didn’t grow up at home, so by the time you returned, everyone in your family had already passed away.”

Wen Jiajia understood. They hadn’t been in contact before, and even if they were related, the connection had become distant after the previous generation passed away.

Wei Dai added, “I don’t think he’s told his wife about it yet. Her mother’s name is very common—there’s someone with that name in almost every commune—so I guess he’s not too sure either.”

“That’s true. It’s hard to be certain with just a name and no photo,” Wen Jiajia agreed, not giving it much thought. She didn’t really care whether they were related or not.

At exactly eight o’clock, Wei Dai dropped her off at the factory.

Wen Jiajia had been quite busy lately. When Lin Yunfei came by to talk, she didn’t have time to chat and instead asked her to help organize some information.

There was no way around it. After Director Gao left, her workload increased significantly, and she had no choice but to push through and get the job done.

Fortunately, she wasn’t completely alone—she had a team to help her with errands that required running around. However, she was still exhausted and often felt dizzy from the workload.

Just as she was feeling relieved that she didn’t have to run around herself, someone knocked on her office door.

“Team Leader, the director just called. He said that batch of goods will arrive around 11 o’clock this afternoon,” the person informed her.

Wen Jiajia covered her forehead with her hand, nearly forgetting about the delivery.

After thinking for a moment, she said, “Go ahead and reserve the car. We’ll head out at 11 o’clock.”

As she glanced at her watch, she realized it was already 10:50.

With a sigh, Wen Jiajia went to the bathroom first, then called on a boy from the factory to accompany her.

They took the factory car to the train station, and in just over ten minutes, the batch of machines was smoothly unloaded. Wen Jiajia carefully inspected each machine, double-checking everything, including all the parts. Afterward, she instructed the driver and the two boys to load the machines onto the truck.

The machines were heavy—so heavy that even three grown men couldn’t lift them alone. They had to call for additional help from the train station staff.

Not only were the machines heavy, but there were also a lot of them. It took the truck three trips back and forth to transport all the equipment back to the factory.

As for the installation, that wasn’t her responsibility.

By the time everything was settled, Wen Jiajia was extremely hungry. She didn’t have time to go to the cafeteria, and there wasn’t much food left there anyway, so she got off the bus and went to a state-owned restaurant.

“Jia Jia, you haven’t been coming to the restaurant much lately,” Lan Lan remarked as she wiped a table. “Oh, you must be starving—your lips are white!”

Wen Jiajia waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t say anything, just get me a bowl of egg soup first.”

“Alright, have a seat.” Lan Lan called out towards the kitchen, “Uncle He, Jia Jia’s here! Make her a bowl of egg soup first.”

“Do you want lean meat in it?” asked Master He from the kitchen.

Wen Jiajia, feeling weak, replied, “Yes, please.”

The egg and lean meat soup was quickly prepared and served in a rice bowl. The portion wasn’t large, but it was just what she needed.

Master He’s egg soup was delicious. The soup was made with rich rice broth, and the beaten eggs were silky smooth after being poured into it. The lean meat, coated in sweet potato starch, added an extra layer of flavor. It was quite tasty.

After drinking half a bowl of the egg soup, Wen Jiajia felt revitalized.

“Are you that hungry?” Lan Lan asked, eyeing her belly curiously. “It seems like it’s easy to get hungry after having a child. Sha Yue was the same way at first.”

Wen Jiajia glanced at the menu on the wall. “Isn’t that the truth? I’m almost catching up to Wei Dai in how much I eat every day. I had breakfast around six this morning and didn’t eat anything until just now. I nearly fainted from hunger.”

Then she pointed at the wall and asked Lan Lan, “Hey, do you have any pig head meat left?”

Lan Lan leaned in and whispered, “If no one else comes, I can secretly give you some. It’s reserved for some directors and bureau chiefs, but I’d rather give it to you than to them.”

Wen Jiajia grinned. “Not too much, just one portion!”

Lan Lan chuckled. “Don’t get greedy, I can’t give you more than that.” She tossed her cleaning rag back into the kitchen.

Master He fired up the stove again, slicing the braised pig head meat and stir-frying it with garlic sprouts and green peppers.

He knew Wen Jiajia’s taste well, so he added some homemade chili sauce and garlic sauce. The aroma was so enticing that people passing by the door couldn’t help but stop and take a deep breath.

The dish was ready and served with a bowl of rice.

Wen Jiajia didn’t order any other dishes. She simply poured the stir-fried vegetables over the rice and treated it as a meal.

The dish was full of garlic flavor and spice—Chef He really knew how to cook.

After finishing her meal, Wen Jiajia didn’t stay to chat with Lan Lan. She had other tasks to attend to at the factory.

When she returned, she handed over the machines to the workshop staff and stayed until they were all installed.

Then, she rushed to a meeting. It was a small one today, but since Director Gao was absent, she had to attend on his behalf. Director Shen was known for being harsh when scolding people, and he had high expectations for the factory. Every Monday, during these small meetings, Director Gao would dread it, often trying to push Wen Jiajia to take his place.

And it wasn’t just Director Gao—other leaders felt the same way. They were listless, their steps heavy as they climbed the stairs, and their faces devoid of any real smiles. Wen Jiajia had already made it to the second floor, but the others were still lingering on the first floor, chatting to delay entering the meeting room, treating Director Shen like a scourge.

Wen Jiajia, however, didn’t share their anxiety. Director Shen would never scold her anyway; she was just a small fry. All she needed to do was take notes during the meeting and hand them over to Director Gao.

Song Jiacheng, the deputy factory director, wasn’t one to linger on the stairs. He jogged up with documents under his arm.

When he saw Wen Jiajia, he greeted her with a smile. “Comrade Wen, your belly is quite big. It looks like you’ll give birth by the end of the year?” Having fathered four children himself, he could easily tell how far along Wen Jiajia was in her pregnancy.

Wen Jiajia nodded. “Yes.”

“Alright, remember to give me a red egg when the time comes^[1]The red egg symbolizes good luck, happiness, and the celebration of a new life.,” Song Jiacheng said with a chuckle.

Wen Jiajia was a bit confused, but she still agreed.

The meeting lasted more than half an hour and was packed with useful information. By the end, Wen Jiajia’s hand was aching from taking notes—she had filled five pages.

After finishing her notes, she organized them, made a copy, and placed them in a drawer, ready to hand over to Director Gao when he returned.

The sky gradually darkened, and through the window, she could see the gradient colors of the sunset.

The city lay under the sunset, with black smoke slowly rising from the chemical plant and dispersing into the sky.

Wen Jiajia often worried that the black smoke might be toxic, but since the city government was nearby, she wasn’t too concerned.

She packed up her things, prepared to go home after work, locked her drawer, and closed the door. Then she went downstairs, got on her bike, and rode home.

As she passed by the grain market, Wen Jiajia bought some food. When she was halfway home and the sky was darkening, she slowed down. Seeing that no one was around, she discreetly reached into her bag and took out a few feet of cloth from her synthesis system.

She had purchased a lot of cotton some time ago and stored a significant amount of cloth in the synthesis system. Wen Jiajia estimated she had about seven or eight bolts of fine cotton fabric.

In an era where clothes were worn for three years, then patched up for another three years, and finally mended for three more, many people had never worn brand-new cotton cloth in their entire lives. The amount of cloth she had stored was truly astonishing.