Chapter 25: Three Days

Before telling the children the news, Lin Wei first discussed the matter with Deng Xiangyun.

Deng Xiangyun started working at the hospital last Monday. At first, she was a little anxious because she wasn’t from a professional background and feared she might make mistakes with the herbs.

But in reality, the work wasn’t as complicated as she had imagined. She worked in the traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy, where the prescriptions were written in Chinese, and every drawer was labeled with the names of the herbs. If she worked carefully, there were usually no mistakes. Plus, in the pharmacy, no one was in a hurry. She could take her time weighing the herbs, with accuracy being the most important thing.

Her supervisor, Comrade Hu, was very thorough in her training. Every time she picked an herb, he would explain its characteristics in detail, and while she took notes, she also sketched the appearance of the herb. Having studied art for a few years, she wasn’t an expert, but she could at least capture the essential features.

Whenever there was free time, she would go through the drawers one by one. She had some natural talent for it, and after half a month, she could already independently prepare the herbs.

Deng Xiangyun’s work got into a routine, and she seemed much brighter than before.

Due to her background, she had faced much cold treatment. Although things on the island weren’t as harsh as they were outside, the subtle differences were still present. For example, when it came to cleaning the toilets, the military’s resettlement office wouldn’t arrange this job for other military wives. Even if it were arranged, others would often find ways to avoid it with a few words. But she couldn’t do that. Coming from a capitalist background, if she didn’t offer a proper reason, refusing would be seen as unwilling to endure hardship and having improper thoughts.

Her relationships with other military wives had also been strained. During the tough years, no one in the family area wanted to associate with her.

The situation had improved somewhat in the past two years, but not many were willing to interact with her. When you can’t find anyone to talk to, even the most cheerful person would become quiet.

Fortunately, she had her husband and children. Otherwise, she wasn’t sure if she could endure such a life.

Her job at the hospital seemed like a signal of her being accepted. To the other military wives, though she came from a poor background, the fact that she had been given a job by the authorities showed that she had reformed, and the invisible exclusion she had once faced began to fade away.

Having seen so many people in the pharmacy, Deng Xiangyun’s gloom also started to dissipate, and naturally, her smile became more frequent.

Upon learning that Lin Wei planned to teach the children how to read, Deng Xiangyun hesitated a bit: “Won’t this take up too much of your time?”

“What’s the problem? I was just looking for something to do,” Lin Wei smiled and said. “Even if Xiao Shitou doesn’t attend class, I was planning to teach Mingming and Ruirui. They’re always playing together, and if I only teach Mingming and Ruirui, Xiao Shitou might get bored sitting alone, so I wanted to check with you. If you don’t mind, I’ll teach all three of them.”

Of course, Deng Xiangyun was happy to have Xiao Shitou join the lessons.

But she thought about how Lin Wei was already helping her with the children for free, and now she was teaching Xiao Shitou for free as well. She felt like she was taking advantage of her too much, so she suggested paying a tuition fee.

However, Lin Wei refused the money. Her primary intention was to teach Mingming and Ruirui, and Xiao Shitou was just an addition. She didn’t plan to teach them full time. In the cooler mornings, she would let them play outside. In the afternoons, when the sun was intense, she would arrange two lessons, each lasting 40 minutes, with a break in between, at most an hour and a half.

Moreover, Lin Wei had never taught before, and as a beginner, she wasn’t sure if she could do well and continue. If a suitable job came along, she might go back to work. At that point, she might not even be able to teach the children herself and might have to hire someone to help. If she took the money now, she might have to return it later, which would be troublesome.

Lin Wei was firm, and Deng Xiangyun didn’t insist further. But that night, when she spoke to her husband, she still felt uneasy about accepting the free help.

Zhou Jianhai pondered for a moment: “That’s true, but what if they refuse to accept money? What should we do then?”

Deng Xiangyun was also a bit troubled, but then she had an idea. Since Lin Wei wouldn’t accept money, she could give her something instead!

She shared her idea with Zhou Jianhai.

Zhou Jianhai thought it was a good idea, but he wondered if Lin Wei would accept things instead of money. And what kind of gift would be appropriate?

Deng Xiangyun continued to think for a while and then asked, “What do you think about me making her a hat?”

The sun was strong on the island, and all the military wives in the family area had the habit of wearing hats when they went out, but she had never seen Lin Wei wear one. She didn’t know if Lin Wei didn’t like wearing them or simply didn’t need one. But a hat could always come in handy, even if it wasn’t needed right away, and it wouldn’t spoil if left unused.

Besides, making it by hand would show sincerity, and Lin Wei wouldn’t feel embarrassed about accepting it if she thought it was expensive.

Zhou Jianhai thought for a moment and said, “That could work.”

…

Lin Wei was talking to Zong Shao about the progress of the lessons. Overall, the first day went smoothly.

Since it was the first day, she didn’t teach anything too difficult. She started with the basics—she taught only three vowels in Chinese and numbers from 1 to 5 in math.

The content was not difficult, and the children learned it easily. Especially Ruirui, who remembered everything as soon as Lin Wei said it. The only problem was that he didn’t have much strength in his hands, so his writing wasn’t very neat.

But that wasn’t a problem—writing could be improved with practice.

Xiao Shitou took a little longer to remember than Ruirui, but he worked hard, and by the end of the two lessons, he had grasped everything.

The slowest progress was with Mingming. Although he reluctantly sat down for class under Lin Wei’s supervision, his attention span was short. As soon as Lin Wei wasn’t paying attention, he would drift off mentally.

At the end of the two lessons, Lin Wei asked each child to read what she had taught them. The numbers were easy for them because they used them in daily life. Mingming, for example, often went to the supply store to buy snacks with his pocket money in Shicheng, so he was very familiar with numbers. He read them fluently without hesitation.

But when it came to the vowels, Mingming hesitated. He only recognized “a” and “o,” and couldn’t remember the others unless reminded. When he was prompted, he suddenly understood and then boldly said, “I knew this! I just forgot earlier.”

It was both frustrating and funny.

Lin Wei couldn’t help but laugh: “I really don’t know who he takes after!”

Lin Wei had always been the well-behaved child in her family—obedient, sensible, and more mature than her peers. Zong Shao, even more so, was serious and only showed tenderness in front of family.

Ruirui, born ten minutes after Mingming, was quieter and didn’t talk much, but he was more mature than his peers and paid attention to many details. For example, on the boat, Ruirui noticed when Lin Wei wasn’t feeling well, while Mingming only realized it after his brother pointed it out.

One could say that Ruirui’s personality had many similarities to Lin Wei’s and Zong Shao’s.

Mingming, on the other hand, was different. He was cheerful and carefree, careless and playful, and constantly moving. He was good at arguing and could be quite reckless.

At his age, his lively personality was endearing, but as he grew older, Lin Wei couldn’t help but worry. What if he stayed so reckless as an adult?

Of course, these were just Lin Wei’s thoughts at the time.

In the original story, Mingming grew up to be quite responsible. The male lead even mentioned that he was just a younger version of Zong Shao, and as he matured, he would have great potential.

Now that Lin Wei was confident that Mingming would do well in the future, she still felt torn. As a wife, she was content with Zong Shao’s stable and thoughtful nature, but as a mother, she wanted Mingming to keep his sunny disposition.

No matter what, there was always something to worry about.

Zong Shao said without hesitation, “They say nephews resemble their uncles, so maybe his personality comes from your second brother.”

Lin Wei thought about it and realized it was true. Her second brother was also lively and clever but never took studying seriously. He was always inconsistent, but despite that, he always ranked in the top ten of his class in exams. If he had studied more seriously, he could have easily graduated from high school.

“But he was too playful. Before the high school entrance exam, he skipped class with his classmates and went swimming in the river. The school was cracking down hard at that time, sending teachers to the riverbank to catch people, and they happened to get caught.

After everyone else was caught, they apologized or wrote self-reflections as required, but he stubbornly refused to admit his mistake. In the end, it was thanks to Lin Wei’s father using his connections that he wasn’t expelled from school. However, after that, he refused to go back to school. Even when they tried using bamboo sticks to discipline him, it didn’t work.

Eventually, Lin Wei’s father had no choice but to give him a long leave to stay at home and forced him to take the high school entrance exam, earning his middle school diploma.

After Lin Wei’s second brother graduated, he worked on the farm for two years. Due to his intelligence, he proposed many useful ideas. Lin Wei’s father, seeing that he was gradually becoming more likable, started to feel that it would be a shame for someone as smart as him to stay in the countryside forever. So, he found him a job at a state-run factory in the commune.

At first, Lin Wei’s mother was worried, afraid that her son would rebel and not be able to last long in the job. But perhaps it was because he had grown up, Lin Wei’s second brother did very well in the state-run factory. After just two years, he was transferred from the frontline to the factory committee, becoming a cadre, which was a great honor for the family.

Because of this, over the past few years, when people talked about Lin Wei’s second brother, they would always exclaim that he had a promising future, saying that he had matured and become more capable.

Lin Wei didn’t comment on the latter, but as for the former, in her eyes, her second brother had just learned to put on an act, but his fundamental character hadn’t changed much. It still made the family worry about him.

Compared to that, Lin Wei still thought someone like Zong Shao was better, at least less of a worry.

After talking about the children’s studies, Lin Wei began discussing the issue with the teaching equipment. The blackboard could be omitted, but they had to have proper stools for the children to sit on.

Since there were no suitable desks and stools at home, the children had to sit around the coffee table, cross-legged on the floor for their lessons.

While listening to lessons like this wasn’t a problem, writing was. The coffee table was too high for them, so they either had to write with their chin almost touching the table, or squat or kneel to write.

Because of this, Lin Wei didn’t let them write much today. She preferred them not writing at all rather than letting them develop bad writing habits.

Even so, desks and chairs of the right height were still very important. Lin Wei didn’t consider getting them full sets of desks and chairs. One, it was troublesome, and two, it would be a waste. As they grew older, they might no longer need them.

Her plan was to use the existing benches at home as tables and have Zong Shao make a few smaller stools. She gestured and said, ‘The stools for them don’t need to be too high. As long as they can sit up straight while writing, that’s fine.’

Zong Shao thought for a moment and said, ‘Okay, the wood I asked someone to buy is ready, and the carpenter has been found. I’ll go tomorrow to have them make it.’

Originally, Zong Shao planned to bring the wood back and make the tables and cabinets himself, but after thinking it over, he decided against it.

First, he only had one day off a week, and he would be going out to sea in a couple of days. He wouldn’t be back for at least ten days. Having the carpenter work alone on furniture could take months to finish. Also, he would need to gather tools like saws and planes. Even if someone had these tools, lending them out for weeks or months would be unreasonable.

Second, even though he knew how to make furniture, his work wouldn’t be as refined as a professional carpenter’s. The carpenter he hired didn’t charge much, just a fee for labor, so it was a good deal. That’s why Lin Wei, who controlled the finances, easily agreed.

After talking about the children’s education, Zong Shao wrapped his arms around Lin Wei and stopped being so proper.

Zong Shao looked quite abstinent… Oh, ‘abstinent’ was a term Lin Wei learned from the original text, often used to describe the male lead. Lin Wei didn’t know what the male lead looked like, but she felt Zong Shao fit this description quite well.

Of course, this applied to the old Zong Shao.

When they had just gotten married, Lin Wei never thought Zong Shao was very enthusiastic about those things. On their wedding night, they even slept under separate covers. It wasn’t until the third day that they had their first time.

Because it wasn’t smooth, they only had that one time.

Until Zong Shao went back to the army, they only had a few encounters, all of which could be counted on one hand.

Then, when Lin Wei came to join the army with him, they still only had a few times. So, when some familiar colleagues got married and shyly asked her how to reject her husband at night, Lin Wei was caught off guard.

But once she recovered, she couldn’t give any useful advice, because she didn’t have that experience.

But now, she did.

After getting used to the new room, Ruirui woke up less and less at night. Even when he occasionally woke up, it was usually because he needed to pee, during the later hours of the night.

Without being disturbed, they had more chances to be intimate.

Lin Wei didn’t mind it; although the first time after moving to the island was a bit uncomfortable, and Zong Shao was a bit clumsy, he improved quickly, and she gradually understood the pleasure of it.

But even the best things can become monotonous, and since he was full of energy, he often didn’t fall asleep until late into the night, which made Lin Wei yawn every morning.

A couple of days ago, while shopping for groceries, someone asked her why she always seemed so tired.

Lin Wei: “…”

It was very awkward.

But that night, Lin Wei still didn’t argue with Zong Shao, because he said he would be going out to sea in a couple of days and wouldn’t be back for over ten days.

Lin Wei, feeling soft-hearted, let him have his way and did so for three days in a row.

…

The day before Zong Shao went out to sea, the stools were ready. But he didn’t just bring back three small stools; he also brought one for Lin Wei.

The stool for Lin Wei was a little lower than the ones used at home, but higher than the children’s stools. This way, she wouldn’t have to bend over too much, and sitting wouldn’t be tiring.

Because they were rushed, none of the stools had been painted, but the seat surface was very smooth and didn’t feel rough to the touch.

Even though he was quite satisfied with the small stool, he didn’t want to squat by the coffee table to listen to lessons anymore. Also, his mother said the stools had serial numbers, and the one marked number 1 was his. No one else could sit on it.

To show his affection for the small stool, Mingming decided to eat dinner sitting on the small stool.

Since the stool was too low, he couldn’t reach the table, so he asked Lin Wei to serve him a plate of food and specifically said, “Mom, the steamed crab you made is really delicious. I want lots of crab meat!”

Lin Wei had just received this month’s supplies and had originally planned to cook something nice. But other military wives probably had the same idea, and the supply station was twice as crowded as usual.

When Lin Wei arrived, the seafood like sea fish, lobster, and clams were all gone. The former were all meat, and the latter, though shellfish, still had a fair amount of meat. Since they were small, they were a good deal. All that was left were the crabs, which had more shell than meat but were still a decent size.

Lin Wei didn’t mind and bought four crabs, medium-sized, steamed two, and stir-fried two, then wrapped the leftover oysters. There wasn’t much, just two per person.

Mingming hadn’t mentioned the oysters; he only mentioned the crabs because it was harder to pick up food on the small stool.

Realizing her son’s intentions, Lin Wei said with no small amount of irritation, “Spoiling you!”

In the end, she still indulged him. She took a separate plate, served the food according to his request, and placed it on the high stool. “These are your dishes for tonight. Eat slowly. Once you’re done, there won’t be any more.”

Mingming agreed immediately, but didn’t take it seriously. He picked up an oyster as soon as he sat down, ate it in two bites, then licked the edges of the shell.

After finishing the garlic crab, he started eating crab. The first time he ate crab, he pretended not to know how to crack it, asking his dad to do it for him. But after a few tries, he got the hang of it and cracked the shells with his teeth.

Before long, the crabs were finished.

Once all the seafood was eaten, Mingming looked up at the table and saw his parents and younger brother still eating seafood. He licked his lips and said, “Mom, I’m done.”

Lin Wei glanced at him and pretended she didn’t understand, “You’re done? There’s still so much rice left in your bowl. I told you, I made the rice exactly as you wanted. If you don’t finish it, be careful.”

Mingming pouted, lowered his head to look at the rice in his bowl, scooped two spoonfuls of plain rice, and shoved them into his mouth. As he ate, he looked up and saw his little brother picking up another oyster.

The garlic on the oyster was fried and looked golden and tempting.

Mingming swallowed his food and, with a strained voice, said, “Mom, I also want to eat oysters.”

Lin Wei wasn’t fooled by his act and replied, “Didn’t I give you two oysters? Have you eaten them all? Oh, then you don’t have any left.”

“Alright,” Mingming sighed in disappointment, then continued to act coquettishly, “Mom, I don’t want to sit on the little stool anymore. Can I sit at the table to eat?”

Lin Wei, being his mother, knew exactly what he meant. She turned to him with a smile and said, “No, you can’t.”

The little guy almost started crying, “Mom!”

“You want to sit at the dining table, fine,” Lin Wei saw his eyes light up, so she continued, “But you have to finish the food I served you, and the rice I gave you.” Seeing his face drop, she added, “Otherwise, no discussion!”

“But I’ve finished it! What if you finish the crabs?” This was important!

Lin Wei looked at the dishes on the table. They had eaten reasonably evenly, and like the stir-fried vegetables and cold dishes, the seafood was about half-finished. She said, “If we finish before you, I’ll leave you a crab leg. If you finish before we finish the seafood, you can sit at the table and eat with us.”

As soon as Lin Wei finished speaking, Mingming began eating rapidly.

Lin Wei had decided to teach him a little lesson, so she gave a look to Zong Shao, then opened a crab shell and passed the part with the crab roe to Ruirui. The three of them leisurely finished the seafood before Mingming.

Of course, Lin Wei kept her word and saved a crab leg for Mingming.

However, the crab leg was barely thicker than Mingming’s finger, and the little guy, who was burping, nearly cried holding it.

Lin Wei, knowing this, still asked, “Why aren’t you eating? Are you tired of it, don’t like it anymore? If you don’t like it, I can eat it.”

“Eat!” Mingming shouted, biting down hard on the flat crab leg.

When Mingming finished eating the little meat in the crab leg, Lin Wei asked, “Tomorrow, do you want to sit on the high stool or the low stool? If you still want to sit on the low stool, I’ll get a lunch box for you, specifically for your food—”

Before Lin Wei could finish, the little guy shouted loudly, “The dining table! I want to sit at the dining table!”