My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 105 Taking Photos
It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the letter; the envelope was sealed very well, and he couldn't see the contents. The key issue was that Chen Ling was a little stunned after seeing the "sender's address and name" in the last column.

It was actually written by my sister-in-law, Wang Zhenzhen.

The father-in-law had a daughter late in life. When he married Wang Susu, his sister-in-law was only eight years old, and now she's barely ten. This little girl is probably only in second or third grade at most. She probably hasn't even learned all the characters yet, and her own handwriting is crooked. I wonder what she could possibly write in a letter.

However, the envelope felt quite thick, and Chen Ling frowned subconsciously. Without suspecting anything, he clutched the letter and headed home. Liu Ni'er and the other children had been running around outside all day on Sunday, and now that they were tired, they skipped and hopped along behind him to his house.

At this moment, Wang Susu was washing clothes in the yard because the afternoon sun was shining. When she saw him return, she casually asked him a question. But when she heard Chen Ling say that a letter had arrived from her family, written by her younger sister, she was immediately stunned.

"Do you really believe?"

"Can Zhenzhen write letters now?"

Wang Susu was slightly dazed for a moment, then quickly ran to Chen Ling. Without even washing her hands, she hurriedly wiped them on her body and took the envelope from Chen Ling's hand and opened it.

In the rush of opening the box, a stack of loose coins slipped out: one-cent, two-cent, five-cent, one-yuan, two-yuan...

Wang Susu carefully picked up the money and held it in her hand, then gently unfolded the letter.

What she saw were lines of crooked, slightly naive, but caring words. Before she could even finish reading a few sentences, Wang Susu's eyes were already blurry with tears. Seeing that the little children were still in the yard, she turned around and quickly ran into the house.

Chen Ling followed silently behind. When he entered the house, he saw Wang Susu hiding behind the door, holding a letter and reading it while crying. Especially when she saw the last sentence, "Sister, I miss you," Wang Susu could no longer hold back and threw herself into Chen Ling's arms, bursting into tears.

"Ah Ling, I want to go home."

"I'll go back tomorrow."

Chen Ling nodded vigorously and hugged Wang Susu tightly.

He also saw the contents of the letter. It was written by Wang Zhenzhen in pencil. She didn't know how to write many of the words, so she used pinyin instead. But she wrote each stroke very carefully. He didn't know how many times that little girl Wang Zhenzhen wrote it before she finished the letter.

The money wasn't even fifty yuan; it was the money the little girl earned from catching and selling scorpions. She had saved it up for over a year, afraid that Wang Susu would suffer mistreatment here and be bullied by her bad brother-in-law, leaving her with no money. So she secretly sent it over.

In those days, sending money was difficult. If the amount was too large, they wouldn't send it unless you went to a post office in a larger city. They would issue a money order, which was similar to sending a telegram. After the post office that sent the money wrote the money order, the post office in the recipient's location would print it out and deliver it to the recipient. The recipient could then collect the money by presenting the money order.

But if the amount is small, it's fine; they'll just put it in an envelope and send it over for a dollar or two for postage.

"I miss my parents, I miss my older brothers, I miss Zhenzhen, I miss my grandma, I miss them so much..."

Wang Susu was still sobbing and muttering to herself. She hadn't thought much of her older brother's visit, but after seeing her younger sister's letter today, her defenses were broken by those innocent words, and the longing she had accumulated for two years was released in this letter.

Chen Ling held her silently, waiting until she calmed down before gently telling her about accompanying her home.

"I'm fine, Ling. Let's go back after we visit Dad's grave next month."

Wang Susu wiped away her tears and sobbed softly.

After she finished crying, she calmed down.

She knew that some things couldn't be done according to her own whims. Even if her parents and older brothers didn't care, her older brothers were married, and her two sisters-in-law were not easy to get along with. Although it's said that a married daughter is like water spilled from a cup, she still had to consider her parents. Her parents spent much more time with their daughters-in-law than she, a daughter who had married out of the family, could. She couldn't make things difficult for her parents in front of their daughters-in-law and cause them trouble.

Every family has its own troubles, and Chen Ling could only sigh twice. This was not something he, as a son-in-law, could interfere with. However, considering Wang Susu's longing for him, an idea suddenly popped into his mind.

“Susu, since Zhenzhen sent you a letter, why don’t you write one back home?”

“I won’t go up the mountain this afternoon. I’ll go find Dujuan and take some pictures of us. We’ll put them in a letter and send them to our parents so they can see what our family looks like now. What do you say?”

Hearing this, Wang Susu's eyes lit up, and she felt less sad. She repeatedly said yes and told Chen Ling not to forget to buy envelopes, letter paper, and ink. Then she happily went out to continue washing the clothes.

As soon as he stepped out of the house, Liu Nier and the others were gone. Chen Ling didn't bother with them. These mischievous monkeys were always running around like crazy. Anyway, after Xiao Sen's lesson, they didn't dare to play around by the water anymore. There weren't many dangerous places around the village, so they could go wherever they wanted to play.

He then went to the primary school and called Du Juan over. Du Juan was already acquainted with Chen Ling's family in Chenwangzhuang. She had also spent the night at Wang Jusheng's house with Wang Susu, so they were quite familiar with each other. When she heard that the young couple wanted to take pictures, she grabbed a camera and went home with Chen Ling without saying a word.

Because Du Juan often wandered around the village, Wang Susu really didn't expect Chen Ling to bring her over so quickly. "Sister Juan, wait a moment, let me tidy up the yard first."

"Haha, it's okay, Susu, no rush. You can take pictures whenever you want. I'm just sitting here with nothing to do."

Du Juan smiled with her eyes narrowed. She had a very good impression of the young couple, Chen Ling and Wang Susu. They lived a fulfilling life, busy yet with leisure time, which made her gradually begin to envy such a life.

Although Du Juan said that, Wang Susu still tidied up the clothes, laundry basin, washboard and other items in the yard. Chen Ling also helped clean up the clutter and put them all in the backyard.

"Come here quickly, Ah Ling, come inside and change into some new clothes." In order to present a good image to her parents and family, Wang Susu had no choice but to ask Du Juan to wait a little longer. Then she pulled Chen Ling into the house, changed her clothes, combed her hair, and dressed her up. She made Chen Ling look two or three years younger before nodding in satisfaction. She then washed her face, combed her hair, and changed into new clothes that she usually couldn't bear to wear.

After finishing their chores, the two, looking neat and tidy, sat side by side on two benches in the yard, beaming with smiles, and took a photo together, just like when they were taking a wedding photo.

Then they called Heiwa and Xiaojin over, and the two of them squatted down on either side of each other to take another picture. Then they took pictures of the grape trellis, the lotus pond, the chicken coop, the duck pen, and almost every place in the yard. There were photos of Chen Ling and Wang Susu together, as well as photos of each other alone.

……

"The rich family is having their picture taken. The rich family is having their picture taken."

Some nosy woman passing by the gate saw this scene and started shouting outside. Soon, everyone who was idle at home nearby came running over.

"Why take photos when it's neither a holiday nor a festival? It's like the couple is getting married."

"That's right, dogs with horns always do foreign things."

"What foreign stuff? You all don't know anything and just talk nonsense. I heard the kids shouting in the village that Su Su's family sent a message. Fu Gui is probably afraid that his brother-in-law will come and beat him again, so he quickly took a couple of pictures to show his family."

These words immediately elicited a burst of laughter.

Chen Ling didn't argue, but went to the backyard and brought over the little white calf. He and Wang Susu each rode on it and took two pictures. Then, they called the chickens, ducks, quails, and rabbits to their side, leaving none out.

"This guy is so lucky, his livestock are thriving and he's going to be rich. Your father-in-law and mother-in-law will be at ease after seeing this, and they won't let your brother-in-law beat you up again."

"But if we're really talking about the six domestic animals, we're missing pigs and sheep."

"Hahaha, how about we bring you a pig and two sheep?"

A group of people gathered around and made a fuss, but Chen Ling kicked them all out.

"Let's go, let's go. After you've seen the excitement, hurry up and leave. Aren't there any jobs to be done in the fields?"

These people weren't annoyed at all; instead, they laughed even harder: "Look at Fugui, he's blushing! Damn it, I never saw him blush when he got married, and now he's about to have a baby and he's getting shy."

Despite the laughter and commotion, someone actually brought Chen Ling a large goose and two sheep.

Chen Ling was both amused and exasperated. Seeing Wang Susu's enthusiasm, he didn't say much. He put the goose and sheep in the yard and managed to take two photos. However, the two kept hiding in the back when taking pictures. After all, they weren't as natural and affectionate as their own pets. The photos would probably look stiff.

But none of that matters. As long as Wang Susu is happy, then there's no problem.

After the photos were taken and everyone had left, Du Juan took out the film and handed it to Chen Ling. They could get the photos developed at any photo studio in the county town, but they wouldn't be able to get them immediately; they would have to wait a few days.

Chen Ling put away the film. Wang Susu had already poured tea for Du Juan, and they chatted together. Since Du Juan had come to help take photos, it was natural to treat her well. However, with Wang Susu by his side, he got up and left the house to buy some envelopes, stationery, and a bottle of ink.

I have a fountain pen at home, but I don't use it often. However, it's of very good quality. It's been stored for many years, and after cleaning out the waste ink, it still works perfectly. Writing two letters is no problem at all.

I tried out the fountain pen, put these things in the drawer, waiting for Wang Susu to use them when she wrote a letter. Then I put the odds and ends that I had moved to the backyard back. While I was busy, I saw Liu Nier and her group of little kids peeking out from outside the gate, whispering to each other.

Seeing him looking over, he chuckled and pushed Xizi forward.

"You bunch of mischievous monkeys, what are you up to now, sneaking around like this?"

Xizi was an introverted girl with a thin skin. When she saw Chen Ling glaring at her, she stammered, "Uncle Fugui, I'm here to see Aunt Susu."

Just as the little girl finished speaking, Wang Susu heard the commotion and came out of the main room. She looked at the children in the yard and saw that they seemed a bit off. Curious, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Aunt Susu, don't cry anymore. Here, take this and buy some delicious food."

Xizi pulled out a jar from behind her back, filled with colorful small bills, and carefully handed it to Wang Susu.

Wang Susu was stunned for a moment, then realized that the little children must have heard her crying in the room. She hadn't expected the little children to have such thoughts, which made her eyes well up with tears again. She squatted down and patted Xizi's little head: "Xizi is such a good girl. But, Auntie is an adult now and doesn't need these. Xizi should keep them to buy yourself something delicious."

"Does Auntie think it's not enough? We have more."

Xizi pursed her lips slightly and said softly.

Then, one by one, Liu Nier and the other little children walked over, each carrying a jar or a wine box, and handed them to Wang Susu.

(End of this chapter)