Chapter 22: Relocating Household Registrations

The sister-in-law and her sister-in-law chatted while wrapping dumplings. Several boys weren’t in the village and didn’t need to go collect pigweed, so Mi Aiguo and Mi Jianguo came to help wrap dumplings.

Mi Xia: “Aiguo, Jianguo, tomorrow we’ll go to relocate our household registrations. Once your registrations are moved, your mother and I will enroll you in school. Okay?”

“Thank you, Aunt,” the two children said with beaming smiles.

About ten minutes later, Mi Qiu arrived home. The two large and two small bags of dumplings were almost finished. Zhang Hongxia went to the kitchen to boil water, preparing to cook the dumplings.

It must be said that having a gas stove is convenient. Zhang Hongxia boiled the water and then continued wrapping dumplings.

Mi Xia: “Big brother, how’s work? Are you getting used to it? If you don’t like it, ask the manager to transfer you.”

“Little sister, it’s pretty good. My coworkers are very kind to me.”

Mi Qiu reported the good news but not the bad. Everyone else was fine, but one person was targeting him, wanting to buy his job for 350 yuan without giving him any grain. Uncle Zhang was about to agree.

Unexpectedly, Mi Xia, a surprise obstacle, intervened, so the other person targeted him. His little sister had already done so much for their family; he couldn’t trouble her again.

Mi Xia: “That’s good. Take a leave of absence tomorrow afternoon and come back; we’ll go relocate the household registrations together.”

Mi Qiu nodded in response: “Okay.”

The water boiled, and Mi Xia and Zhang Hongxia brought the dumplings to the pot. They cooked two pots before stopping and placed the dumplings on the table one by one.

The younger children also washed their hands and sat obediently around the table.

Zhang Hongxia: “Eat quickly.”

White flour dumplings—one could never eat enough. They were full of meat filling; a bite released juicy broth, so fragrant.

The children ate with gusto, and the adults were no exception, all buried in their food.

That evening, after the little girl fell asleep, Mi Xia took Mo Haoyue into the space. Mi Xia took a bath and portioned out the meat, one jin per portion, for future use.

She hadn’t been to Grandma Song’s place in several days; she’d make time to go tomorrow.

Mo Haoyue felt that showering in the space every day had indescribable benefits, so he wanted to come here every day to shower.

Mo Haoyue: “By the way, wife, my household registration is with the army.”

Mi Xia: “Oh, you didn’t say. I forgot about that. My household registration is still at my parents’ home; it hasn’t been moved to your house yet.”

Mo Haoyue: “Our daughter’s household registration is in Mojia Village. Tomorrow, I’ll secretly bring the household registration book and put our daughter’s registration under your name.”

Mi Xia nodded. That was good; they could do it all at once, saving trouble later.

The two ate some fruit and left the space to go to bed. The little girl slept soundly, a sweet smile on her face.

The next day, Mi Xia got up early to cook, boiling a pot of noodles and frying a bowl of shredded pork; it was delicious eaten together.

Mi Xia said to the children: “I brought back a copy of the Three Character Classic yesterday. Let your uncle teach you to recognize characters, okay? You can go straight to school when it starts.”

The children jumped for joy: “Thank you, Aunt! Thank you, Uncle!”

“When we grow up, we’ll definitely take care of you and Uncle,” Mi Weiguo said like a little adult.

This made everyone laugh.

Mi Xia said with a smile: “Weiguo, you’re a little man now. A man should keep his word. Don’t make promises you can’t keep, okay?”

Mi Weiguo: “Okay, Aunt. I remember. When I grow up, I’ll earn lots and lots of money and make Aunt, Uncle, Mom, and Dad fat and healthy.”

Zhang Hongxia couldn’t help but chuckle.

After the meal, Mo Haoyue took the children to learn characters and write their names. Mi Xia and Zhang Hongxia said goodbye and went back to their room and into the space.

She also needed to study hard. In her past life, she only knew her native language, Korean, and English.

Now she had the ability to remember everything she saw. She had to learn more, at least eight languages, otherwise, it would be a waste of this innate ability.

Mo Haoyue: “Wife, I’ll go back to the village. Sister-in-law is watching the kids.”

Mi Xia: “Okay. Wait a minute; I’ll get you two jin of meat to take back.”

Mo Haoyue: “Wife, get me two peaches too. I’ll ride Zhong’s bike back.”

Mi Xia facepalmed: “Okay. Look at me, I’ve been reading books and gone silly; I forgot we don’t have a car.”

“Here’s a jin of peaches and a jin of apples. Take them to Zhong,” Mi Xia said, handing the things to Mo Haoyue.

Mo Haoyue: “Okay, I understand, wife. I’ll go now.”

After seeing Mo Haoyue to the door, Mi Xia didn’t go to the space to read; she went to check on the children. Mi Aiguo’s writing was the best, probably because he was the oldest, so he learned things the fastest.

At 10:30 a.m., Mi Qiu returned, and Mo Haoyue also came back later.

“Let’s go.” Mo Haoyue led the way outside.

There weren’t many people inside, partly because few people were relocating household registrations, and partly because it wasn’t yet off-work time.

“Hello, comrade, we want to relocate our household registrations,” Mi Xia said politely.

“Hello, please show me your household registration books.”

Mi Xia handed over her household registration book.

Mi Xia hadn’t moved her household registration when she got married, so it was still at her parents’ house. They just needed to move Mi Qiu’s family’s registration and then register Mo Zhixia under Mi Xia’s name.

The clerk took the property certificate Mi Xia gave him and looked at Mi Xia in surprise. He didn’t expect this young girl to own a two-story small western-style house.

His aunt’s family lived in a tube building, only 85 square meters, housing three generations. It was incredibly crowded, with three or four people in one room…

Because she bought a house, it went smoothly. Mi Qiu and Zhang Hongxia were overjoyed. They were city dwellers now and could eat rationed goods.

The children were also very happy because their aunt said that once they relocated their household registrations, she would enroll them in school.

Mi Xia didn’t feel much. Not to mention her past life, in a couple of years, she would also buy a courtyard house in Kyoto. But this was her first house here; it wasn’t untrue to say she was happy.

“Sister-in-law, Mo Haoyue and I will go buy groceries. You and Big Brother take the children to the supply and marketing cooperative to browse and buy some school supplies.” Mi Xia said, handing Zhang Hongxia some large-denomination banknotes.

“Little sister, no, no, I have some. I haven’t touched the 100 yuan you gave me last time. Please take it back; there are too many people around,” Zhang Hongxia said anxiously, turning sideways to block her.

Mi Xia saw that several people were indeed looking this way, so she quickly put the money into the space.

Zhang Hongxia finally relaxed. “You and your husband should go buy groceries quickly. I’ll take the children to the supply and marketing cooperative with your brother.”

“Little sister, thank you,” Zhang Hongxia said, her eyes red.

“Sister-in-law, what are you saying? Big Brother and you are my family. Don’t say these things again,” Mi Xia pretended to be angry.

Zhang Hongxia had seen many family splits where brothers fought over a few yuan, so she was even more grateful to Mi Xia. From now on, if her little sister told her to go east, she would never go west.

Mi Xia: “Sister-in-law, you all can browse for a while. I’ll make lunch, and you can come back for dinner.”

The two groups separated. Mo Haoyue hugged the child and followed Mi Xia to the food store, while her brother’s family went towards the supply and marketing cooperative.