Reborn in 1966

Chapter 445 Telephone

Mrs. Shen nodded and said softly, "She's asleep. She probably got up early this morning to head this way. It's so far; if she doesn't leave early, she won't make it in time for lunch."

Mr. Shen said, "Take a good rest. There are so many people at home at noon. It must be tiring to just talk to them and serve them food."

The two walked into their grandparents' room. Their grandparents were on the kang (a heated brick bed). Because of the kang, the fire in the stove was usually kept burning in winter, so the room was generally quite comfortable. There was a TV in their room, and the Spring Festival Gala was being replayed. The grandmother was enjoying the skit when she saw her eldest son and daughter-in-law come over. She took her daughter-in-law's hand and said, "How are you? Asleep?"

Shen's mother said, "She's asleep. She's probably tired. This child has always slept a lot. I don't even know what time she woke up this morning."

Grandma said, "Then let the child rest well. Getting married is very different from when she was a girl. Sigh, the child is only in her twenties and she's already married. We should keep her for a few more years. A daughter can only enjoy her life at her parents' home."

Grandpa was lying on the kang with his eyes closed when he heard his wife say this. He said anxiously, "Look at you. You're so anxious about Peiyin not being married. You're afraid you won't see Peiyin get married before you die. And now that Peiyin is married, you're saying to let the children stay a few more years. You're so hard to please."

Grandpa and Grandma are like two little children now, often bickering and arguing. But in the end, Grandpa always apologizes to Grandma first. Over time, this has emboldened Grandma. Grandpa once secretly told Shen's father, "Your mother has always been a very accommodating person since she was young. How come she's become so unaccommodating in her old age? Look at her, every time something happens, I have to give in to her. Oh dear, you can't tolerate a woman and always give in to her. If you keep doing that, she'll start to dominate you." But despite his words, Grandpa still prefers to give in to Grandma.

Pei Yin slept until after four o'clock in the afternoon. When she opened her eyes, she saw a dimly lit room and didn't realize where she was for a moment. After she became a little more awake, she remembered that she was in Shenjia Village and had fallen asleep on her parents' kang (a heated brick bed).

The room was warm. When she opened the bedroom door, she saw Shen's mother sitting in front of the kang (a heated brick bed) in the outer room, putting firewood into it. The dim light from the kang illuminated Shen's mother's somewhat aged face. When Pei Yin saw this, her heart ached for no reason, and tears welled up in her eyes and fell down with a "plop." She quickly rubbed her nose and blinked hard to calm herself down.

When Shen's mother looked up, she saw Pei Yin standing quietly at the door, watching her. She smiled and said, "Oh, you're awake. Have you slept enough? If you haven't, you can't sleep anymore. If you sleep too much, you won't be able to sleep at night."

Peiyin walked over, pulled up a small stool, sat down next to Shen's mother, rested her head on Shen's mother's shoulder, and said, "Mom, it feels so good to be with you!"

Upon hearing this, Shen's mother laughed and said, "Look at you, how can your daughter, who is so grown up, talk such silly things? If she can't stay with her mother, who else can she stay with?"

Pei Yin didn't say anything more, just watched as Shen's mother stuffed the firewood into the stove hole one by one, and then covered the stove hole with an iron plate before saying, "Get up, your father and your eldest brother are busy cooking in the kitchen. See if there's anything else you want to eat, we'll cook it together." The family fried a lot of things for the New Year, fried chicken, fried fish, fried meatballs. This year, because Ma's mother brought Ma Heng's family of three here for the New Year, Shen's father and mother fried even more things, fried tofu, pork belly, and steamed a lot of jujube and bean buns. Shen's mother also made red bean paste herself and made red bean buns. Jenny and Ma Sichun kept praising the red bean buns.

After the news spread that the eldest daughter-in-law of the Shen family, along with her grandson and his family of three, had come to the Shen family home for the Chinese New Year, many people came to see this family, who were said to be foreigners. However, everyone's favorite was Ma Sichun. In just a few days, Ma Sichun had become friends with the children in the village. It is said that Ma Sichun had climbed Nanling Mountain several times, not to mention going ice skating in the Dahewa of Xihe River. Before the New Year, they went to the market in the neighboring Xujia Village. These days, the village's Yangko dance team is rehearsing, and Ma Sichun has been bringing her mother, Jenny, to watch the fun every time.

Pei Yin thought about it. In recent years, the conditions have improved, and she can often eat the things made for the New Year. There is really nothing she really wants to eat. However, when she was at her father-in-law's house, she did not make bean buns. She also heard Ma Sichun tell her how delicious her aunt's bean buns were. Pei Yin swallowed and said to Shen's mother, "Mom, I want to eat the bean buns and red bean paste buns you make."

Upon hearing this, Shen's mother said, "Okay, I'll go and steam it for you right away, and I'll also stew some fried chicken for you. You've loved fried chicken since you were little. Oh, and I'll also get you some of the cabbage that's been cooked. Eat it and then rest well."

Pei Yin clung to Shen's mother's arm, twisted her body, and said to her mother in a coquettish tone, "Oh, Mom, I've been sleeping all afternoon. I'm going to go with Si Chun and the others to watch the Yangko dance rehearsal tonight."

The Yangko dance troupe of Shenjia Village has been rehearsing in the village courtyard every evening after dinner. Yesterday, the first day of the Lunar New Year, they performed around the village to celebrate. Today, the second day of the Lunar New Year, several members of the troupe are newly married, so the village asked everyone to visit relatives today. Starting tomorrow, they will visit other villages and businesses to offer New Year's greetings, which will earn them some income. Those who join the Yangko dance troupe don't work for free; they also receive voluntary labor. The amount of labor is based on the village's economic level. You perform Yangko for the village, and you earn a certain amount of labor each day. Since not many villagers have idle labor power to go out and work, having some income during the off-season is good.

Feeling pleased with herself as Pei Yin shook her, Shen's mother said, "Alright, alright, whatever you want. Now let's go to the kitchen and start steaming the steamed buns."

Dinner was eaten in Grandpa and Grandma's room. Because there were many people in the family, Shen's father specially asked the village carpenter to make a large kang table. Grandpa and Grandma's kang was quite large. With the kang table placed on the head of the kang, more than a dozen people could sit around it and have a meal. So, everyone had a very happy dinner that night.

Peijun and Shen Jinhua brought Coco back for the Chinese New Year. Peijun was going to study at a military academy in the suburbs of Beijing for two years. His aunt helped Shen Jinhua find a spot for a part-time postgraduate program, but the academy didn't provide accommodation and she could only attend classes as a student. Shen Jinhua thought it was fine to attend classes as a student, as she could learn more. As for Coco, his aunt registered Coco's household registration at her home, so Coco could find a school in Beijing to attend. After settling all these matters before the New Year, the family of three returned to Shenjia Village. After the New Year, the two of them had to go to the place in Northeast China where Peijun used to be stationed. They still had a home there, and many things needed to be taken away or disposed of. Peijun estimated that he might not be able to go back after graduating in two years, and in addition, there was a shortage of accommodation for military dependents there. Since he was no longer there, he should quickly vacate the place.

After dinner, Grandma held Pei Yin's hand, and Pei Yin simply slept on Grandma's heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed). Anyway, she had given away her original room to others. The original room didn't have a heated kang, but there was a chimney in the floor. This was Shen's father's idea when the house was built. The winters here are very cold, and it's not safe to keep a stove in the house. So, he installed simple underfloor heating in the main house and side rooms of the newly built backyard. Since the rooms weren't very big, he would put some firewood in the chimney before going to bed at night, and the room would be warm. At this time, Ma Heng's family of three was living in the room that Pei Yin and Pei Zhi used to live in.

Pei Yin felt extremely comfortable during her stay at home. If it weren't for her constant worry about Du Mingjun not sending any news, Pei Yin felt it would have been perfect.

Early on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, before dawn, the Shen family's peace was broken by a phone call. The phone was installed in Shen's father's room last year. After answering the phone, Shen's father's face remained unwell. Shen's mother groggily sat up from the covers, and seeing Shen's father's face, she immediately woke up, grabbed Shen's father's arm, and said, "Dad, what's wrong?"

After thinking for a moment, Mr. Shen said, "It's a call from Mingjun's side, saying that Mingjun is injured."

Upon hearing this, Shen's mother's face changed, and her voice became somewhat shrill as she asked, "You're injured? How did you get injured? How serious is it?"

Mr. Shen said, "He only told Peiyin to go over there quickly on the phone. I want to go with her, Mom."

While getting dressed, Shen's mother said, "Then get up quickly. Go and wake Peiyin up. I'll make some food and we'll go to the train station together. No, let's go to Xijiang instead. Xiaomin came back last night and drank with Peitian until quite late. I guess he didn't go home. Go find Xiaomin up ahead and ask him to take us to the train station. We'll buy the earliest train tickets."

As she spoke, Shen's mother, already dressed, went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast without even bothering to tidy the bed.

After getting up, Mr. Shen went to his grandparents' room. Pei Yin was still asleep. She had talked with her brothers and sisters-in-law until late last night and hadn't had a dream all night. Mr. Shen was thinking about what excuse to take Pei Yin to the train station as he walked toward the main house. It was enough for the three of them to know about this. The elders in the family were getting old, so it was better not to tell them.

After racking his brains, Mr. Shen finally came up with an idea: he went to the main room and woke Pei Yin up. When Grandma saw Mr. Shen waking Pei Yin up, she scolded him, "Why are you waking her up? Let her sleep a little longer."

Mr. Shen said, “Mom, I just got a call from a former colleague. He said he hasn’t seen Peiyin in years and asked me and the child’s mother to take Peiyin to Xijiang. Xiaomin is going back soon, and it’s quite cold outside, so we’d like to hitch a ride with him.”