Chapter 91: Arrival in the Capital

By the beginning of July, Wen Jiajia had completely adapted to returning to work, and Xiaomei had adjusted to her mother being away during the day.

Wei Dai had been idle for a few days before becoming busy again. At the end of the month, he was assigned a mission and didn’t know where he would be going. However, Wen Jiajia felt reassured when she learned that many people in the army had this mission; it was likely some sort of exercise.

With her father away, Xiaomei started crying again. Fortunately, children adapt quickly and, being so young, don’t remember much. In just four or five days, she completely forgot about her father, who used to hold and comfort her every day.

The weather was extremely hot, with no rain in sight.

Zhong Huisheng, looking out the window, was a bit anxious. “It’s okay if it doesn’t rain here. We have a good water system and can carry water to irrigate the crops daily. But I read in the newspaper that it’s not raining in the north either. This is not good. The harvest this year may not be very good.”

It was a busy farming season, and all the crops in the fields were waiting for water. Without rain, the harvest was uncertain.

Wen Jiajia was momentarily stunned but hadn’t paid much attention to the weather. Now that Zhong Huisheng mentioned it, she realized that it hadn’t rained for more than half a month, which was unusual compared to the same time last year. In the northern regions, it had probably been a month since it last rained.

“Should we buy some food to store?” Wen Jiajia suggested, then paused. She had never heard of any famine in the 1970s, so she thought this drought might not have severe consequences.

However, Zhong Huisheng, having experienced the hardships of those three years, felt that Wen Jiajia’s suggestion was very prudent.

“We should stock up! A little bit, not too much,” she said. “We can buy more sweet potatoes to store.”

Wen Jiajia agreed and provided her with a portion of her family’s food coupons.

The middle of the month arrived quickly. Wen Jiajia was a bit worried that her younger sister would struggle without her parents at home, but Wei Dai returned on the 10th.

He had become much darker, with his skin, which had lightened during the winter, returning to its original state. His teeth looked especially white when he smiled.

Not only that, but he also brought back some mangoes.

Some were ripe, but most were still green, with some completely unripe, as if just picked from the tree.

Wen Jiajia was delighted. “I haven’t eaten mangoes in a long time!”

You could get mangoes in her hometown and even in the county town, but they were scarce.

Wei Dai smiled. “I knew you liked them.”

Wen Jiajia loved fruits so much that she used half of her vegetable garden to grow watermelons.

When she was pregnant, she craved mangoes and searched everywhere for dried ones but couldn’t find any.

Wen Jiajia washed her hands, peeled a mango, and ate it. Afterward, she felt a slight itch in her mouth, likely because her body was slightly allergic to mangoes.

But it didn’t matter; despite the risks of consuming mushrooms, people still flocked to eat them. A little allergy was no concern.

Wen Chun and Wen Xuan had never eaten mangoes. Although Wen Jiajia didn’t take her allergy seriously, she was careful with the two of them.

Wen Jiajia instructed, “Don’t bite into it yet. Rub the juice on your lips and see if it itches.”

Wen Xuan couldn’t wait any longer. She peeled the skin, getting juice on her hands, and was about to eat it when she stopped. She was a bit annoyed. “Why?”

“I’m worried you might be allergic,” Wen Jiajia explained, applying some juice to her own lips and then to Wen Chun’s.

The two sisters licked the juice off their lips. Wen Xuan savored it and said with delight, “So sweet.”

Wen Jiajia asked, “Does it itch?”

“No, it doesn’t!” The sisters shook their heads.

Seeing no signs of redness or swelling, Wen Jiajia said, “Then go ahead and eat it.”

The two sisters eagerly dug in, letting the juice flow down their fingers. The orange-yellow flesh was juicy and sweet, and as soon as the mango’s unique flavor touched their taste buds, they devoured it, leaving only a few fibers on the core, which was as clean as if it had been washed in water.

Even the aunt couldn’t resist mangoes. She was so greedy that my Xiaomei lay on the ground, drooling and covering the straw mat with her mouth.

Wei Dai came out of the bath, picked up his daughter, and kissed her affectionately. If he couldn’t kiss her face, he kissed her arm instead.

Even in hot weather, children still have to wear short sleeves, showing their chubby white arms, which are just super cute.

“My Xiaomei wants to eat it too,” Wei Dai said, wiping her saliva and looking at Wen Jiajia. “Can she eat it?”

Wen Jiajia thought for a moment and said, “It seems like she can.”

In her previous life, her cousin’s child had eaten mangoes when he was six or seven months old. Back then, her cousin’s in-laws were taking care of the child. When they took him out to play, they fed him roadside mangoes for several days. When her cousin accidentally found out, she had a big fight with her in-laws and took the child to the hospital.

The doctor had said that mangoes were edible as long as the child wasn’t allergic, but they should avoid feeding green mangoes.

It was a weekend, and her cousin had asked Wen Jiajia for help, so this memory stuck with her.

At this moment, there definitely weren’t any green mangoes, given that there were only a few gasoline trucks on the streets.

Wen Jiajia got up and tried to give her Xiaomei some juice. The little one smacked her lips loudly, kicked her legs continuously, and stared at the mango in Wen Jiajia’s hand without blinking.

Wen Jiajia tapped her cheek and teased, “Is it delicious?”

“Ahhhhh,” she responded, a string of sparkling saliva following.

Since the little girl couldn’t speak yet, Wen Jiajia waited several minutes to make sure her mouth wasn’t red or swollen before continuing to feed her.

Mangoes don’t keep long, so Wen Jiajia gave away quite a few of them. In the end, Wen Xuan held the last basket of mangoes and sat on the living room threshold with tears in her eyes, begging her not to give away any more.

Wen Jiajia sighed internally. Alright, I didn’t want to split them up anymore anyway.

The day before leaving for the capital was a rest day, so Wen Jiajia was at home packing her luggage.

When Wen Chun and Wen Xuan found out, their first reaction wasn’t sadness but to ask her to take photos of Tiananmen!

Wen Jiajia spread her hands and said, “The capital is huge; you can’t just ride a bicycle from east to west. I don’t even know where my workplace is, so how can I take pictures for you?”

Besides, she didn’t have a camera.

By the way, she had really wanted to get a camera and even tried to synthesize one last year.

At that time, she had found a broken camera at a scrap collection station, so she bought it and tried to synthesize it. The result was a [scrapped] camera turned into a [camera with huge defects], which was still unusable. It turns out that synthesis isn’t a magic fix for everything.

She had wanted to continue looking for old cameras but never found another one.

Wen Chun said, “I want to buy a badge.”

That was easy. Wen Jiajia agreed, “Okay, I’ll buy one for you. But we also have badges here; I’ve seen them in the supply and marketing cooperative.”

Wen Chun pouted, “I want one from the capital.”

A classmate in her class had bought a badge from the provincial capital and was very proud of it. She needed one from the capital to upstage him.

Wen Xuan followed her sister’s lead and said, “Then I want a badge too. I’ll take photos in the capital when I grow up. Sigh!”

Wen Jiajia said, “…You’re already sighing? Alright, let’s go. I have to keep packing.”

There wasn’t much to pack, just two sets of clothes. But to be safe, Wen Jiajia brought three.

Next was the money. The factory would reimburse her expenses for the business trip, and she probably wouldn’t need to pay for meals herself. 

But it was better to bring some money, just in case.

Night came.

Xiaomei didn’t seem sad and was still giggling, not realizing her mother wouldn’t be home this time tomorrow.

Nowadays, no one could coax her to sleep at night except her parents, not even the aunt. If her parents weren’t home, she would cry at night. Now that Wei Dai was back, Wen Jiajia felt much more relieved.

Wen Jiajia didn’t often feel a sense of parting and wasn’t afraid of getting sore arms from holding her daughter and making her laugh.

Wei Dai said helplessly, “I teased her before, and you told me not to tease her too much at night, or she wouldn’t be able to sleep.”

Wen Jiajia proudly replied, “My teasing is different from yours. You tease her by picking her up and rocking her, while I tease her verbally. By the way, don’t tease her like this for the next few days, or she might have nightmares and wake up crying at night.”

Wei Dai was surprised, “Children have nightmares?”

Wen Jiajia answered, “Of course. You think she smiles suddenly in her sleep because she’s having a sweet dream.”

As she spoke, she leaned down to tease her daughter again.

The little girl’s eyes were big and bright, like black crystal grapes. When she stared straight at you, it felt like bubbles were popping in your heart.

Wen Jiajia finally couldn’t resist and kissed her daughter on the cheek, making her laugh once more.

The next day.

Wen Jiajia’s train was at 10 a.m., so she didn’t need to get up too early.

Fortunately, there was only one train to the capital each day. It was said that the factory director had personally instructed that tickets be bought as early as possible. If the train had been at 6 or 7 o’clock, Wen Jiajia would have had to get up before dawn.

Wen Jiajia left at 8:30. Before leaving, Wei Dai carried their daughter in his arms and saw her off. “Be careful. The capital is very big. If you get lost, go to the police station.”

“I know!”

“If you don’t have time, you don’t have to buy the cakes and badges. Don’t squeeze in time just to buy them.”

“Yes, yes.”

“And don’t just stand and watch everything. Last time, you watched something exciting and were almost mistaken for an accomplice. If someone hits you, you’re just unlucky.”

“Oh… don’t say that. I definitely won’t do that.”

This had happened not long ago. One day last month, on her way home from work, she saw villagers fighting—a real fight between two villages. The battle was quite large and intense, something she had never seen in either her previous or current life, and it made Wen Jiajia stop to watch.

After watching for a while, I realized that the people from the two villages were fighting over water. The village upstream had blocked the river, causing the downstream village to suffer. In frustration, the downstream villagers banded together and went to demand justice.

After several failed attempts to resolve the issue peacefully, the situation escalated into a full-blown fight.

At that time, Wen Jiajia was nearly hit by a hoe. People tend to make mistakes when they’re angry, and tools don’t discriminate. She was just inches away from being struck!

Luckily, she ran fast enough, or she might have been seriously injured.

When she got home, she was still shaken and told Wei Dai about it. He scolded her for three or four days straight.

Feeling guilty, Wen Jiajia promised to be more careful in the future, and she was very sincere about it.