Help others? It's better to help yourself - Chapter 53

After receiving the letter, Xu Jing’an took advantage of the time she was resting at home to wash the clothes and diapers that the three children couldn’t wear anymore. She soaked them in water, boiled them in hot water, and then dried them to store them away.

Watching his daughter-in-law busily going about her tasks, Shen father couldn’t help but click his tongue in admiration. “This washing—it’s cleaner than the towels used for wiping faces. I think they used to wash gauze like this in the hospital, right?”

He had never seen anyone wash diapers this thoroughly. Only his daughter-in-law was so particular.

During the War of Resistance, medical supplies and equipment were extremely scarce. Even gauze and cotton balls were reused by the Eighth Route Army. The shortage of professional surgical instruments, anesthetics, and painkillers was even more severe. During amputations, they had to use a carpenter’s saw or even a kitchen knife.

The conditions were so harsh it was hard to imagine. Many soldiers who were injured developed complications due to bacterial infections.

After washing his hands, Shen He came over to help. “Dad, you’ve got that wrong. Reusing gauze requires the ‘Thirteen Methods’ for disinfection invented by Dr. Bethune.”

While helping with the diapers, Shen He joked with his father. “Used gauze has to go through thirteen steps: washing with clean water, soaking in lime water, sun-drying, boiling in hot water, and so on. Your grandson’s treatment still falls short.”

Shen mother brought out the children’s baby bottles and toys, ready to wash them and boil them again. “Can things still be compared to how they were before? Now that conditions have improved, the children should have better treatment too, right?”

Shen father grinned, “You’re right. After all this effort, it really feels different mentally. I feel a lot more at ease now!”

“Exactly. When it comes to newborns, you can never be too careful!” Xu Jing’an noticed that someone had taken over the task of preparing the diapers and came over to help Shen mother.

“Mom, don’t bother with the bottles anymore, they have cracks in them.”

“Where?”

Xu Jing’an pointed it out to her, and Shen mother looked closely before noticing. “You’re right, it must be from age. We should just buy new ones.”

When the children saw the diapers hanging all over the yard, they excitedly yelled “Oh—!” and ran around underneath them. Thankfully, they were short, or they would have gotten dirty already.

Xu Jing’an shouted, “Hey—don’t touch them with your hands, understood?”

“Got it—” they all yelled in unison, from the oldest to the youngest. Mao Mao followed closely behind, copying the others.

The elderly couple smiled happily as they watched their grandchildren running around the yard.

…

In the evening, after the couple finished their chores, they leaned against each other and exchanged loving words. Now that Zhuang Zhuang was older, he had already moved out to sleep on his own. Mao Mao and Dou Dou were still young, and they slept soundly, one deeper than the other.

Otherwise, the two of them wouldn’t have felt comfortable spending more than half an hour on it.

Xu Jing’an leaned against Shen He’s chest. “Tomorrow, go to your work unit and see if you can exchange some fabric tickets and milk powder tickets. It wouldn’t look good to just give Old Brother and his wife old things.”

“Alright, how many milk powder tickets do you need?”

“Well, the more the better. I’d estimate you’ll need at least two or three!” What does it mean to be the heroine? It means having dragon and phoenix twins, twins, triplets, or even quadruplets. A woman like me, who only has one baby this time, is just an ordinary person!

With more children, milk is sure to be in short supply. In that case, you’ll have to beg for help, run errands, and use connections to get milk for the kids.

Xu Jing’an calculated that she would need to fuss with the milk powder tickets for a few more years.

A month later, the family finally managed to gather three milk powder tickets. In addition to buying the milk powder, Xu Jing’an also bought two baby bottles.

She still remembered when she was pregnant with Zhuang Zhuang and had thought about buying two bottles for the baby. The first time she went to buy baby bottles, Xu Jing’an was truly amazed.

Who would have thought there were glass bottles shaped like birds and fish? She was so surprised when she saw them. People back then were said to dress conservatively, but there had been such a new breakthrough in the shape of baby bottles.

Of course, in the end, she bought the regular upright bottles. She couldn’t quite accept the other shapes. It was a bit beyond her understanding.

No matter the shape of the bottle, all were the standard 3.5 cm opening.

There were two drawbacks: One was that the bottle neck was too narrow, making it difficult to pour in the milk powder. The other was that glass products were fragile — what people often referred to as “bursting.” (Glass bottles are cold, and when hot water is poured in, the likelihood of cracking is higher, especially in winter, making them prone to breakage and injury, so caution is needed when using them.)

After gathering the prepared items, Xu Jing’an also added two newly bought pieces of cloth: one in light purple with white plum blossoms and the other in light blue with white polka dots (after all, the heroine was expecting twins this time). She also included three bags of milk powder and two baby bottles and sent them off.

February 14, 1976 — Lantern Festival (the 15th day of the first lunar month) — Of course, the whole family gathered to eat tangyuan (sweet rice dumplings). Xu Jing’an had always thought that tangyuan and yuanxiao were the same thing, just called differently in the north and south.

She had never eaten yuanxiao at Xu’s family, but when she arrived at the steel factory, she learned that the two were actually different. Yuanxiao had a thick skin, while tangyuan had a thin skin; the soup for yuanxiao was cloudy, while tangyuan’s soup was clear.

Although she still thought tangyuan tasted better, it didn’t stop her from enjoying the deliciousness now. After all, it was only eaten once a year, and who could say no to the sweet, fragrant black sesame filling?

Each of the three children had two in their bowls, eating without lifting their heads.

“Mom still wants some?” Dou Dou hugged Xu Jing’an’s leg and looked up at her with her chin sticky with black sesame filling.

Xu Jing’an smiled, holding up her bowl for Doudou to see. “See? Mom eats faster than you!”

“Ah——” Dou Dou looked at the empty bowl, disappointed, and let out a little cry.

“Hurry here, Grandma has some,” Shen mother, afraid the child would cry, quickly took a few yuanxiao from her own bowl and handed them to the children.

In this place, as soon as the twelfth month of the lunar year begins, there are many taboos. One is not allowed to say — “It’s over,” “It’s finished,” or “We’re out of luck.”

“Is the housework done?” — “Is everything in order at home?”

“Everything is tidied up” — this means the work is finished.

“Just talking about it” — this means the work isn’t finished yet.

When eating noodles, one must not stick chopsticks upright in the bowl — this is something done when offering food to the dead. Knives should not be placed in bowls either — this is something done only when there’s been a death in the family. When someone’s life is improving, people will say, “So-and-so’s life is getting better.” So, before the New Year, when steaming buns, people will ask, “Have the buns risen yet?” Regardless of whether they’ve been steamed, most people will answer, “They’ve risen, they’ve risen.” Some will say, “Not yet, but it’ll be soon.”

It’s also forbidden to break things, and no one is allowed to cry if they have all their teeth. From the beginning of the twelfth month until the first month, it’s rare for anyone to hit their children. It’s simply not desired to have crying in the house.

In the evening, the children hold red paper lanterns with tiny candles inside, running around the yard. Soon, they slip out of the house to join their little friends in the neighborhood.

Zhuang Zhuang even had some firecrackers saved up from the New Year in his pocket, which made a group of kids gather around him.

After dinner, Shen He went to the police station to be on duty. The units were especially busy during holidays, and with the New Year coming, there were no breaks.

As it got dark, Shen father, not at ease leaving the children, went outside to watch over them.