Chapter 61

“Qiao Wei—” Yan Lei called out to her from afar.

Qiao Wei approached, and Yan Lei handed Yan Xiang to her. “He’s almost done. Exposing him to the sun again might cause his skin to peel.”

Qiao Wei couldn’t accept having such a big child completely naked in public, even though not far away, the river was filled with semi-naked older children. She came over with a towel and quickly dried Yan Xiang’s body, then wrapped the towel around his lower half.

It’s good, the large towel felt like he was wrapped in a bath towel for Yan Xiang.

Yan Lei glanced over at the chairs. “Who’s that?”

He had initially intended to carry Yan Xiang over himself, but there was an older woman next to Qiao Wei. Since he was only wearing swimming trunks, it wasn’t appropriate for him to approach, so he called Qiao Wei over instead.

“An older lady. We’re discussing making shoes,” Qiao Wei said. “I want her to help me make shoes.”

“Don’t pay her,” Yan Lei said. “Offer something instead.”

No one could sell goods or provide services as individuals; everyone had to have a unit or organization. Otherwise, it would be considered profiteering.

“Talk about two catties of flour. Is that expensive?”

“It’s expensive; she’s trying to swindle you.”

“Oh?”

Yan Lei smirked, “You’re used to eating refined grains, so you think it’s normal.”

Qiao Wei felt embarrassed.

“They all know that military families have good benefits. Did you tell her you’re from a military family?”

“Yeah, I just mentioned it.”

“So she’s trying to swindle you.”

Also, Qiao Wei looked delicate with smooth skin, and her accent marked her as a city girl. In the eyes of the old lady, she was the typical young person who couldn’t be taken advantage of. If she didn’t swindle her, who else would she swindle?

Qiao Wei humbly asked, “Then how much should it be?”

“Half a bowl of flour, or one steamed bun,” Yan Lei said. “It can’t be more than that.”

There were also pre-made steamed buns sold in the grocery store. They were made to look big, with strong yeast fermentation.

“Are you okay with that? If not, I’ll go talk to her,” he said, intending to go ashore.

“You swim; I’ll handle it myself.”

Qiao Wei hurried back with Yan Xiang in her arms.

Yan Lei smiled as he watched her go.

Qiao Wei returned to the small bamboo chair and said directly, “Auntie, let’s forget about what just happened.”

The old lady, hearing this, became anxious. “What’s wrong, girl? Didn’t we agree?”

Qiao Wei said, “My husband said two catties of flour is like robbery, and he told me to find someone else.”

The old lady was caught out but didn’t blush; she was shrewd. Without changing her expression, she said, “Let’s talk again then. How about one catty?”

Qiao Wei said, “Half a bowl of flour or one steamed bun. If not, then forget it.”

Knowing there was no advantage to be gained, the old lady smacked her lips and said, “Fine, just one steamed bun.”

Deal made again.

After settling the matter, the old lady looked out at the river and asked, “Is that your man over there?”

Qiao Wei smiled, “Yes, he’s my husband, the child’s father.”

“He’s a handsome young man,” the old lady praised.

Qiao Wei clarified the name and address with the old lady and arranged, “I’ll bring the shoe soles and fabric over tomorrow morning.”

The old lady leisurely remarked as she looked out at the river, “Your husband’s in good health; you’re fortunate.”

In the river, Yan Lei swam towards the deeper end, slicing through the waves like a fish.

The explosive power of his arm muscles was astonishing.

Qiao Wei stifled a laugh.

The leisurely time of the older women who managed household chores with the setting sun came to an end.

The old lady got up and retrieved her small stool, saying, “…Third house in the alley, don’t go the wrong way.”

“Got it,” Qiao Wei replied.

The old ladies and daughters-in-law who had been sitting in the shade under the trees on the bank, sewing and chatting, all got up and left.

Yan Lei enjoyed his swim, only coming ashore when he saw there were no women left on Qiao Wei’s side. He casually dried himself with a towel, put on his pants over his swimming trunks, and went straight into his trousers.

Qiao Wei teased, “Your pants will be wet in a bit.”

“So let’s hurry,” Yan Lei said, scooping up Yan Xiang under his arm and carrying the small bamboo chair over his shoulder. “Let’s go!”

“Wet, wet,” Qiao Wei chuckled, walking alongside them, kicking her feet in her shoes, and teasing Yan Lei along the way.

“Nonsense,” Yan Lei told Yan Xiang, “Mom is lying.”

Yan Xiang stretched his neck to look and earnestly told Qiao Wei, “Mom, don’t lie, it’s not wet.”

Qiao Wei burst into laughter, picking up the shoes and catching up to walk side by side with them, asking Yan Lei, “Can I swim in the river?”

There were only men in the river; she didn’t see any women.

Yan Lei was surprised. “You want to swim? It has to be at night when it’s dark. I’ll accompany you. But by then, the water will be cold, and you might not be able to bear it.”

“Does it have to be at night?”

“…,” Yan Lei paused, “Otherwise?”

Qiao Wei said, “The swimming pool won’t be open at night.”

“I know, that’s in the city,” Yan Lei said, “We can’t compare to that here. If you go into the river during the day, the whole town will come to watch, and they’ll talk about you later.”

That was indeed unavoidable. This is how things were in small communities, governed by local customs and environments.

“Okay,” Qiao Wei could only agree.

“There are swimming pools in the city; I’ve passed by them. Many women swim there,” Yan Lei said cautiously, “Or else, we could find time to go to the city?”

Qiao Wei glanced at him.

Although the time spent together wasn’t long, when people become close to a certain extent, they can naturally perceive each other’s tone of speech and hidden emotions.

Qiao Wei sensed that Yan Lei was being a bit cautious.

It seemed that he was now more worried than before about her disliking the small town by the river.

“No need,” Qiao Wei smiled faintly. “I just mentioned it casually.”

Yan Lei breathed a sigh of relief.

It’s strange how, as intimacy grows and feelings deepen, one becomes even more apprehensive than before.

On Monday, when Qiao Wei went grocery shopping, she brought along a pair of shoe soles.

The soles were neatly stacked layers, bought together with the cloth shoes the last time she went to the market. There were both complete shoes and sole pieces without uppers, which could be used to sew the uppers oneself.

The tailor must know how to do this kind of work, but he refused to take it.

After inquiring, she found out that there were no traditional cobblers left in town. After all, shoes have basically been industrialized now.

There was a cobbler who repaired shoes, located on the same street as the tailor, both in Craftsmen’s Alley. Qiao Wei took a look and felt that the cobbler’s repairs were quite rough. It wasn’t what she wanted.

She had been wanting to find a suitable person to help her make shoes, but recently, she had been immersed in painting walls.

Unexpectedly, she found someone while taking a stroll by the river on Sunday.

After going to the market to grab meat and fruit, she stopped by the old lady’s house on her way back and gave her the shoe soles and fabric.

This old lady’s surname was Lu, and her deceased husband was named Ba, so the neighbors called her “Mrs. Ba’s.”

“Plain ones don’t look good; they’re for older people like us,” Mrs. Lu asked, “Are you sure you don’t want embroidered ones?”

Mrs. Lu thought that embroidering flowers would be a good way to ask for some things from Qiao Wei.

“No, I want plain ones,” Qiao Wei insisted.

It’s not that she didn’t like embroidered ones. She just worried that if she embroidered flowers, it might not be suitable to wear when things got tense later on.

Plain ones were the safest.

She asked how long it would take. Mrs. Lu said, “You can come pick them up when you go shopping tomorrow.”

That was quite fast.

Qiao Wei went back home happily.

After finishing lunch and tidying up, Yan Xiang started yawning, and Qiao Wei was about to take him for a nap when Lin Xixi suddenly appeared at the door. “Auntie, Qiao Wei.”

What a rare guest.

After Lin Xixi figured things out, she completely lost interest in Yan Lei and seemed to have lost some enthusiasm for life around her. Every day, she just buried herself in work. Sometimes, Qiao Wei could almost see the image of a middle-aged woman who worked and served her in-laws all her life through her young figure.

Why did she come?

“My aunt asked me to call you over to play,” Lin Xixi was here to relay the message.

“Huh? Now?” Qiao Wei was surprised.

“Captain Ma, Captain Xue, and Captain Wang’s wives are all coming over for a visit, and my aunt asked me to call you to join us.”

Ah~

Was she being invited to join their women’s social group?

Qiao Wei felt invigorated.

Now she really understood why people in this era were so keen on socializing—because there really wasn’t any other entertainment. Even if there was a television, there was nothing else!

The radio was already the most advanced form of entertainment, with just a few stations playing either revolutionary songs, operas, or central ideological study sessions.

Now, Sister Yang was extending an olive branch, wanting to include her in their women’s social group.

They were all wives of officials; in later generations, they would be the wives’ group.

Qiao Wei pulled Lin Xixi and asked, “I haven’t socialized much; is there anything I should pay attention to?”

This person will become a high-ranking official’s wife in the future.

Lin Xixi had lost all feeling toward Qiao Wei, but she didn’t want to offend her, so she told her, “Auntie, some of the ladies brought melon seeds, and some brought peanuts…”

Qiao Wei understood and said, “Okay, you go back first, I’ll come right away.”

The fruit she had grabbed today was plums. She washed half of them and put them in an enamel basin, then took Yan Xiang’s hand. “Let’s go, let’s visit~”

Just as she stepped out, she retracted, went back inside, and stuffed a few pieces of candy into Yan Xiang’s pocket. “If there are other kids, and you like them, you can share the candy with them. You don’t have to give it to people you don’t like.”

Yan Xiang was delighted unexpectedly to receive extra candy, stopped yawning, and touched his bulging pocket. “Okay!”

Mother and son held hands and arrived at Captain Zhao’s house.

Sure enough, the low tables for summer meals had been set up under the shade of the trees, surrounded by stools and mats. On the table were things like melon seeds, peanuts, and shredded radishes, with cold water readily available.

This was the low-budget version of a tea party in the 1960s.

“Sister-in-law,” Qiao Wei smiled, “Mrs. Ma, Mrs. Xue, Mrs. Wang.”

Everyone greeted her, “Qiao, come over quickly.”

Northern Chinese people tend to swallow parts of words when calling someone, for example, when calling “Xiao Qiao,” they would swallow the “Xiao,” leaving only “Qiao.” So sometimes people are addressed only by their last name.

This was rare in later generations. Qiao Wei had felt somewhat uncomfortable when she heard people calling Yan Lei “Yan” and her “Qiao,” but she had gotten used to it in recent days.

Qiao Wei contributed the plums she had brought and placed them on the small table. Everyone was munching on melon seeds or peanuts.

Sister Yang told Qiao Wei, “We occasionally visit each other to chat and gossip. You’re young and not used to this, so we didn’t call you before.”

“Call me in the future; I’m bored at home,” Qiao Wei said.

It was true; she had finished painting the walls and cleaned every nook and cranny of the house. There was really nothing much to do.

She was so bored that she even read the pig farming manual and urgently needed to find a way to pass the time.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Every era has its own style.

Questioning the aunties, understanding the aunties, and becoming an aunty.

Moreover, these ladies weren’t exactly aunties; considering their ages, they were just older sisters. The wives of Captain Xue and Captain Wang were only four or five years older than her, and they were about the same age as Yan Lei. Their husbands were a few years older than them.

In summary, among the acquaintances, Yan Lei was the youngest among the men, and Qiao Wei was the youngest among the spouses.

Munching on melon seeds and chatting about daily life, gossip flowed from the old district to the big courtyard, from the town’s armed forces department to the town government office, from old Mr. Li at the supply and marketing cooperative to Mr. Wang at the vegetable market, all the gossip came one after another.

Qiao Wei listened with relish.

After all the gossip was finished, they started discussing Sister Yang’s house. “It looks like new.”

“Should I paint my house too?”

“How much white paint do you need?”

“Qiao calculated for me. Qiao, can you calculate for them too?”

The pen was a Chinese pencil, and the paper was torn from some child’s exercise book. Qiao Wei asked about the condition of their houses—here, the size of each room was almost the same, so by knowing the number of rooms, one could roughly estimate the amount needed.

She wrote down the estimates for them, tore the paper into three strips, and when the tea party was over, each person took a strip and put it in their pocket to take home.

Yan Xiang had been playing with the other children, Junzi and Wuni’er, in the house. Qiao Wei helped Sister Yang clean up the remnants, swept the floor, and when she went back inside, she saw the three kids sleeping all over the kang.

Sister Yang said, “Wait a bit longer; let the kids wake up, or they might get startled.”

They returned to chatting in the courtyard.

“They still make fun of me; saying that I’m only painting the walls now that I’ve got a raise.” Sister Yang laughed heartily, covering her mouth. “Why don’t I build a new house?”

Qiao Wei grinned, showing her teeth. “If building a house were that easy, we’d all build one.”

Sister Yang was a bit embarrassed. “I didn’t think much about it before they mentioned it. I only realized how bright the house was after you painted it. After hearing them talk, I felt…”

“Who talks like that?” Qiao Wei scolded, “Even if it’s for celebrating Brother Zhao’s raise, what’s wrong with it? When people are in good spirits for a happy occasion, the more eagerly you pursue it, the more it comes to you.”

“This isn’t feudal superstition; it’s an attitude towards life. The more positive your attitude, the more likely you are to succeed in what you do. When things are done well, it feels like good things are coming to you on their own.”

“The better, the better.”

People really loved hearing that.

Sister Yang slapped her hand. “Exactly.”

When Yan Xiang woke up and they were ready to leave, Qiao Wei said, “Sister-in-law, call me next time.”

Sister Yang said, “Over here in the old district, the men we know are all under Captain Pan. We should move around more often. I’ve been wanting to invite you for a long time, but I was afraid you’d find us bothersome and wouldn’t come.”

So there was this relationship, Qiao Wei thought everyone had the same comrade relationship, how naive.

No wonder Yan Lei always hoped she could get along with the people around her.