50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 180 Wearing a patchwork of clothes and receiving a patchwork of blessings

On Friday, July 7th, after 9 noon, Sun Zhiwei and Tong Jiajia had lunch together and then returned to the dormitory in the outer courtyard to rest.

The sun is very strong today, but fortunately there are big trees everywhere in the outer courtyard. Sun Zhiwei and Tong Jiajia’s dormitory is completely shaded by the trees, so the temperature is not too high.

However, there was no fan in the dormitory. Sun Zhiwei was afraid that he would fall asleep in the middle of the day and sweat all over, so he simply took a recliner to the big tree at the door to get some fresh air.

Amidst the cool breeze, the roar of an airplane came from high in the sky. He noticed that a large plane turned and flew south from the distance in the west.

Air routes are not very busy nowadays. Sometimes you may not see a single plane passing by in a whole day.

Today's plane does not look like the common planes in our country. It looks particularly large.

Sun Zhiwei knew that this was Pakistan's Boeing 707, and an important person was sitting on it. History would open a new page today.

He watched the plane disappear into the distant sky and slowly closed his eyes. History had witnessed it, although it was a pity that he could not see it with his own eyes.

As he fell asleep, he was thinking about whether he should write a page in his diary to record all these things. It would be very interesting to read it when he was old, and maybe it would become material for his memoirs.

A week later, the "715 Joint Announcement" was issued simultaneously on both sides of the Pacific, and the news shocked the world.

When his colleagues heard the news and were still amazed, only Sun Zhiwei was not too surprised. This would not happen so quickly. He clearly remembered that the formal establishment of diplomatic relations would not take place until 78, which was still a long time ago.

However, the economic and trade exchanges between the two sides are growing rapidly, and there will be more goods coming from the other side of the ocean in the future.

The hot summer passed quickly. In mid-August, Sun Zhiwei received a letter from Sun Ailai, saying that he was going to be an uncle.

When Sun Zhiwei heard this, he was very happy. Sun Hongying and Sun Aiguo at home were also very excited when they heard that they would soon have a little cousin.

He thought that although there was no shortage of food on the farm, the nutritional supplements were definitely not as good as those here.

He decided to take a trip to the Northeast before something big happened and send some nutritional supplements that could not be mailed to the girl.

After returning home in the evening, the family discussed what to bring for the girl.

Sun Zhiwei thought that there were many high-end foods in the 20 secret warehouses, and he could choose some that both adults and children could eat and take them over.

Tong Jiajia was thinking about what items were hard to find in Northeast China, and she needed to rush to buy them. Many popular items required specific receipts, so she had to ask her colleagues for help.

Only the godmother fell into deep thought after her joy. After a long while, she finally asked Sun Zhiwei, "Zhiwei, when will the baby be born?"

"Sun Ailai said in her letter that it would take several months. But I thought I'd go over and see Ailai first."

"I don't know if this girl is getting enough nutrition. I want to bring some nutritional supplements that Ailai likes to nourish her as she's pregnant."

"Of course you do, but it would be best if you could go there half a month later."

"Mom, what are you preparing that takes so long?"

"Zhiwei, I want to make a patchwork quilt for my child."

When he heard the word "patchwork", he understood what his godmother meant.

As the saying goes, "Wearing a hundred clothes brings a hundred blessings."

Patchwork clothes are a type of clothing worn to pray for a baby's longevity. They are made from scraps of fabric that the child's elders beg from relatives and friends.

In particular, surnames like "Liu," "Chen," and "Cheng" are homophones for "stay" and "success." Elders consider these homophones auspicious and crucial for protecting a child's growth. The size and color of the cloth aren't particularly important, but blue is the most popular color. Because "blue" sounds like "block," meaning "to block," a blue cloth prevents demons and monsters from taking the child.

And when we say one hundred families, it doesn’t actually require 100 families, but the more families the better.

After the cloth is collected, it will be cut into pieces or strips of the same size, and then sewn into waistcoats, long and short jackets, vests or swaddling blankets, etc.

The more elaborate ones would also have flowers, birds, fish, insects or people embroidered on them. The elders believed that if babies wore patchwork embroidery, they would live a long life.

The godmother thought of making patchwork quilts for the child, which shows how much she values ​​this matter.

It is not easy to get cloth for a patchwork of clothes. Most families do not have so many relatives and friends, so they have to mobilize everyone in the family to finally get enough scraps of cloth.

"Mom, how long does it take to make a patchwork quilt?"

"Not counting the time it takes to get the fabric, it takes about three or four days. I'm quite good at needlework, and I have a sewing machine at home."

"Asking for cloth is easy. We have a lot of people in our kindergarten, so it's not a problem for Jiajia's family to ask for a small piece of cloth."

"That's good. I was just thinking about how my former friends and colleagues are having trouble getting around."

"Mom, leave this to Jiajia and me. We can get the fabric in two or three days at most. I'll postpone my departure for a week."

The family had decided on this, and the next day, Tong Jiajia asked all her colleagues for scraps of cloth.

Although people at that time were not rich, they were still happy to help with such small requests, not to mention that this was the director's lover.

On the third day, they collected more than 100 small pieces of cloth from the homes of most faculty and staff.

That night, Jia Jia started helping her godmother sew a patchwork quilt. Although her needlework skills were average, cutting the cloth was not a problem for her.

The two worked together and finished a patchwork quilt in just two days.

With two days left, Tong Jiajia packed a lot of children's supplies into a big package and prepared to ask Sun Zhiwei to take it to her sister.

There are no wet diapers at this time, and families with newborns often worry about diapers.

Some children go to the bathroom seven or eight times a day. The old diapers are not dry yet and the new ones are wet. In the end, they will be in a dilemma of having no diapers available.

There are also baby bottles, which are also precious items. Without some connections, it is really impossible to get them. Lin Weiguo is supposed to be well-off, but there is no such thing as a sure thing. What if they are just not prepared?

Therefore, Tong Jiajia also put the bottles used by Sun Hongying and Sun Aiguo when they were young into the package, just to be prepared.

Sun Zhiwei also took the time to go to Xiangshan and took out a lot of nutritional supplements from the hidden warehouse and put them into the space.

On a Friday night at the end of the month, Sun Zhiwei set off for the train station after dinner.

He took a day off on Saturday and temporarily handed over his work to his aunt.

If he sets out tonight, he will arrive in Harbin early tomorrow morning. Including the weekend, he can stay with Sun Ailai for two more days.

On Saturday morning, Sun Zhiwei arrived in Harbin and first visited Lin Weiguo's parents. He learned from them that Lin Weiguo and Sun Ailai were a loving couple and had a good relationship.

Although he knew that the two of them were definitely exaggerating about his son, he knew from their expressions that the situation wouldn't be too bad, so that was fine.

(End of this chapter)