Mr. and Mrs. Shen from next door came over to greet Xie Yang. Xie Yang stuffed a piece of cake into his mouth immediately and said with emotion: “I have been in the army for so many years and haven’t been home for a long time. I haven’t eaten Daoxiangcun for seven… Oh no, it has been eight years. The taste of the cake seems to have not changed much, but it also seems to have changed a lot.” He didn’t know whether it was the cake that changed or his tongue.

Teacher Shen also said: “There is a Daoxiangcun store near my home. When I had nothing to do, I would sit in front of the store and smell the aroma. At that time, if you gave me any cake and let me smell it, I would know what kind of cake it was.”

Wen Jiajia was surprised: “I thought the only difference was the ingredients of the fillings. How can you tell by smell?”

“Of course not! I really could when I was young. Now, my sense of smell has probably deteriorated.” She shook her head and asked Wen Jiajia, “Did you buy this at Qianmen?”

Wen Jiajia nodded.

Teacher Shen smiled and said, “My home is nearby. Maybe you passed by my home when you were shopping.”

Wen Jiajia was impressed; that area was so close to the square.

Not long after Teacher Shen and his wife left, Sister Bao arrived.

Sister Bao asked: “Jia Jia, when did you come back?”

Wen Jiajia replied, “I went to the factory this morning and came back in the afternoon. It was just after two o’clock then.”

“Oh, it was so hot at that time. Did you go to the capital? Tell me what the capital is like. Did you visit the square? Did you go to the Great Wall?” Sister Bao pulled up a bench and sat in front of her.

Wen Jiajia said seriously: “No, I haven’t even been close to these two places.”

Sister Bao was surprised: “No way! If I go to the capital and don’t visit these two places, won’t it be a waste of my trip?”

Wen Jiajia smiled and said, “I didn’t stay in the capital for long. In the two days, I worked and went out to eat. How could I have had time to visit? Besides, the capital is very big. It’s not like Linhe, where you can ride a bicycle from the east to the west. In the capital, riding a bicycle from the east to the west will make you break your legs. Besides, the Great Wall is at Badaling.”

She remembered that when she went there in her previous life, she had to buy a high-speed rail ticket from the Capital Railway Station and take the high-speed rail.

Sister Bao felt a little regretful: “I also wanted to ask you if these two places are really like what they say on the radio.”

Wen Jiajia said, “You’ll know when you go there. You can stay for a week and visit all the major attractions.”

Bao Jie didn’t find this strange, but Wei Dai, who was holding the baby, did. Jia Jia’s response seemed as if she had been there herself.

However, this feeling of strangeness happened more than once. She used to hide it from him, but now, when it slipped out, she didn’t feel embarrassed or nervous and just pretended nothing happened.

She probably didn’t care. In Wen Jiajia’s words, it was just “giving up”. She didn’t know where all these weird words came from.

_

At night, Xiaomei was so attached that she had to stay in Wen Jiajia’s arms to fall asleep peacefully.

Wen Jiajia’s maternal love overflowed, and she felt a little guilty, so she responded to every request. She waited until the child fell asleep before carrying her to the crib.

Then, the couple spent a particularly passionate night.

In this hot weather, where you could sweat just by turning over, the couple still had the energy to engage in exercises before going to bed. This could be said to be true love.

_

July passed slowly, and August arrived as expected.

In August, there are many mushrooms in the mountains, and many fruits have grown. Some fruits are green, while others are already ripe.

The osmanthus flowers in the yard are in bloom, and their fragrance is becoming stronger. Wen Jiajia is deeply touched.

At the end of last month, Wei Dai brought back a wild beehive from the mountains. The hive was quite large, and the family got more than ten kilograms of wild honey. So, her cousin said she wanted to make some osmanthus honey to eat.

Wen Jiajia was waiting for the end of this month or next month when the osmanthus flowers bloom more, and then she’ll “sharpen her knives and pick the osmanthus flowers”!

_

Sisters Wen Chun and Wen Xuan finally had their holiday.

The two had classes until the end of July, which was so tragic. The middle school even had holidays earlier than them.

Why? They said that primary school students were small but brave, and the weather was extremely hot this year, so they were afraid that they would run into the river or the lake, so they were detained at school.

The two sisters came home crying every day, saying they wanted to go to middle school. Middle school holidays start early!

Wen Jiajia thought the two were naive. Middle school students still had to harvest rice in August. That was really tiring.

However, when the two girls were in middle school, this traditional activity was probably canceled in all schools in the city except those in county and township schools. Anyway, she never heard her mother mention needing to study agriculture when she was a child.

The two sisters let themselves go after the holiday. They stayed at home for several days and listened to the radio.

Then they went down to the river to play and came back with crabs and tadpoles, saying they would bring them back to show their Xiaomei.

“My Xiaomei is so pitiful. She can’t even go out,” Wen Xuan felt sorry for her Xiaomei and thought her aunt was too strict.

Wen Jiajia nodded and said, “Forget it. It’s obviously you who wanted to eat spicy crab.”

Wen Xuan smiled, revealing two rows of teeth with one missing. She followed in her sister’s footsteps and also started growing new teeth. She used to laugh at Wen Chun, but recently, other children have laughed at her for not yet growing her teeth.

Those who laugh at others will always laugh at themselves.

Spicy crabs have become a regular feature on the family table recently. Thanks to the two girls, Wen Jiajia can enjoy two crabs every day to satisfy her cravings. She is still dreaming about hairy crabs.

Fortunately, eating hairy crabs is quite convenient here because there are crab fields in nearby cities a few hours’ drive away, which is much more convenient than her hometown.

Wei Dai brought her good news: “A nearby village is going to build crab farms. They will be centralized, and the government will provide subsidies. It will be much more convenient to get hairy crabs in the future.”

Wen Jiajia replied, “…It will take at least several years for the crab farm to become fully operational.”

“Yes, so you’ll need to wait several years.”

Wen Jiajia was speechless. This felt like a carrot dangled in front of a donkey for years. How could it be considered good news?

Fortunately, Wei Dai was very thoughtful and brought a basket of hairy crabs before the chrysanthemums bloomed. The crabs were relatively cheap at this time, so he bought them by the basket.

The aunt was excited when she saw them: “The last time I had these, I came with my parents.”

The couple felt a little guilty, as if they had reminded her of something painful. But the aunt was very open-minded: “At my age, I’ve come to terms with life and death. It’s okay! Some things are warm to remember, so they are not scars.”

She rolled up her sleeves and started cleaning the hairy crabs. The crabs were tied up with straw ropes, so there was no need to worry about them escaping. She picked them up and brushed them.

Wen Chun and Wen Xuan squatted beside her, watching with great interest, and later joined in to help. Wei Dai went to boil water, while Wen Jiajia sat holding her Xiaomei.

Xiaomei was indeed an alert child. She stared with big eyes, clearly fascinated. She had been fed complementary food for the past two months and had grown quite large. Wen Jiajia was less fond of holding her now and felt the muscles in her arms becoming more noticeable. It was a pity they didn’t have a camera at home; otherwise, she would have taken a picture as proof of her motherly love!

“Ahh——” The child could only make simple “ahhh” sounds.

“It’s a crab——” Wen Jiajia patiently taught her.

Wen Jiajia couldn’t understand why, despite everyone teaching her to say “Mom” and “Dad,” Xiaomei’s first word was “crab.”

Suddenly, Xiaomei leaned forward and said clearly: “Crab!”