Raising Babies in the 70s

He Chunfang was kicked out of Chen’s house, and when she got home, she was still cursing.

Her husband Zhong Guodong asked her, “What’s wrong with you?”

He Chunfang snorted, “It’s that sister of the Chen family.
Qin Mian’s younger sister is charming and enchanting.
She was ready to be stepmother before, but now she actually said that the leader introduced her to a young officer with a good family background.
Bah, she’s just bluffing.
I’ll wait a few days to see that officer of hers.”

Her husband persuaded, “Why don’t you get along with the Chen family?”

He Chunfang snorted, and glared at him.
He thought that the sisters of the Qin family were very beautiful.
After her family moved to the farm, her husband secretly looked at Qin Mian several times.

She couldn’t see the sisters living a good life.

*

Qin Rou brought two catties of meat when she came.
Qin Mian worked in the kitchen for a long time.
At night, she cooked pork stewed vermicelli, eggplant stewed potatoes, pumpkin stewed potatoes, and also steamed a fish and a pot of boiled clams.

“Juanjuan, go call your father and grandpa for dinner,” Qin Mian called into the room.

The little girl was so happy.
She turned her head and ran inside, while Qin Rou and her eldest nephew brought a few pots of vegetables to the table.

The whole family came to the table, sitting in front of Qin Rou was her brother-in-law Chen Mian and his father Chen Yubai.
Her brother-in-law was a gentle man with glasses.
He used to be a gentle and elegant man, but he had become taciturn and did not like to talk much.

Chen Yubai, who was sitting next to him, was in a very bad mood.
The old man wore a hat on his head.
From time to time, he would raise his hand and touch the hat on his head, for fear that it was gone.

Qin Rou was sitting alone on the side, Chen Juanjuan and Chen Jinghua were on the opposite side, and Qin Mian was holding her four-year-old son Chen Jingyi on the other side.

Chen Jingyi sat on his mother’s lap and played with the bottle cap in his hand with his head down.
Even though he was four years old, he didn’t speak much all day long.

When Qin Mian told Chen Jingyi to call her Aunt Qin Rou, the little guy lowered his head and ignored her for a long time.

Qin Rou leaned in front of him and took the initiative to say, “Jingyi, aunt is here to see you.”

Her voice was clear and sweet, like the ding-dong of spring water, which was very pleasant, even Chen Jingyi couldn’t help being attracted.
He raised his head and looked at her blankly, but didn’t say a word.
Then he lowered his head and continued to play with the broken bottle cap in his hand.

When Chen Jingyi raised his head, Qin Rou was stunned for a moment.
She found that the child’s eyes were really big, big and black, and the pupils were darker than ordinary children.

Qin Rou looked at her sister Qin Mian with some hesitation.
She actually suspected that the child might have autism.

“Jing Yi is the most obedient child.
He’s very easy to lead.
He isn’t like his brother or sister at all,” Qin Mian pushed the hair from her forehead behind her ear and smiled reluctantly.

Qin Mian clearly knew that her youngest son had some unusual behaviour, which was different from normal children in other families.
She felt bitter in her heart, guessing that it was the impact of the family’s changes in the past few years on the child.

Who could be unaffected by the chaos? The child was too young to be frightened.

Not to mention the child, even the two adults in the family had become abnormal.

“Yeah,” Qin Rou nodded and said nothing else. 

In this situation, it was not suitable to say those things.

The two children, Chen Juanjuan and Chen Jinghua’s eyes were on the pot of stewed noodles with pork in the middle.
The dish was the best one in their mind.

At night, Qin Rou slept in Chen’s house.
Qin Mian asked her husband, Chen Mian, to sleep with her two sons, and her daughter, to sleep in the couple’s bed, while she and Qin Rou slept in her daughter’s bed.
The sisters shared a bed.

With a dim yellow light bulb on top of her head, Qin Mian asked Qin Rou about the young army officer in a soft voice.

It was difficult for her to ask in detail when there were too many people.
So when there were only the two left, Qin Mian could talk about it, “Did she really introduce a young naval officer?”

Qin Rou nodded, “Yes, his name is Lu Yan.”

Qin Rou told Qin Mian all the information she knew.
She also wanted to stop her sister from worrying about her.
At the same time, she didn’t lie.
The leader introduced her to a “good” person.

As for whether it would be successful or not, that was a matter of the future.

Qin Mian finally believed that after she heard of Lu Yan’s name and family situation.

“Then you have to take good care of it.
When you meet him tomorrow, dress up nicely and speak sweetly…” Qin Mian told her earnestly, for fear that she would miss such a good person.

Qin Rou smiled and laid on the side, listening to her explaining things to her, telling her how to have a blind date, how to behave, and what to do if she would get married and become a wife…

It was said that the eldest sister was like a mother, and Qin Mian felt really like her mother.

“Why are you smiling just by looking at me? Did you hear what I said?”

Qin Rou smiled and nodded, “I did.”

She grabbed Qin Mian’s hand and looked at her sister’s gentle face and couldn’t help but murmur, “Sister, you’re acting like my mother.”

Qin Mian was stunned when she heard that, and then gave her an angry look, “Who was the one who held you to sleep when you were a child? When you were just born, I hugged you every day to coax you.
Wherever you went, I held you.
Am I your mother?”

“Do you want me to coax you now?

“Coax me.”

“You think you’re still a three-year-old child? Go to sleep.”