Raising Babies in the 70s

Zhou Xiaoling’s eyes were sharp, so she saw two people from a distance, “Look, the army officer over there is the man. He came to send Qin Rou back.”

Mrs. Yang turned her head and saw a heroic young man standing beside Qin Rou. He wore a white uniform, and the red star on his hat shone especially in the sun.

What were the two talking about?

Seeing that, Zhou Meilan immediately urged her, “Aren’t you looking for Qin Rou? Why don’t you hurry up? Didn’t you want to scold her for seducing your son?”

She wanted Mrs. Yang to cause trouble in front of Officer Lu. She wanted her to let the army officer know that Qin Rou was pungent, and she used to wish to climb up and be a stepmother.

The two secretly expected Mrs. Yang to act, but Mrs. Yang spat out a mouthful of phlegm at Zhou Meilan, which happened to fall on her shoes, “Bah, you have a vicious mind.”

Although Mrs. Yang was a person from the countryside, she definitely was not a fool. She dared to come to the art troupe to make trouble with Qin Rou, because she knew that the girl had no background, and her sister was not good enough.

But with a man beside her, she with a bit of wisdom knew that she could “bully the weak and fear the strong”. When doing things, she couldn’t cause trouble for her son.

Those who encouraged her to make trouble were vicious.

“Fangfang, let’s go,” Mrs. Yang dragged her daughter-in-law and bowed her head.

Wang Fangfang had wanted to leave for a long time. She was a country girl, and was embarrassed in front of this group of young city girls who were flamboyant, but when she looked at Qin Rou, who was the prettiest, she felt incomparable.

She hurriedly stepped forward to hold Mrs. Yang’s hand, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law walked away quickly. The two of them were used to walking on mountain roads in the countryside.

Xue Tingting was dumbfounded when she saw that, while Zhou Meilan’s face was red, as a mouthful of green phlegm fell on her white shoes. She was so angry that she almost jumped up. These were the new shoes she saved up money to buy!

Qin Rou and Lu Yan made an appointment to see her sister and her family. Lu Yan said that he would take a day off in two days, and he would pick her up to go to Chen’s house.

Lu Yan dropped her at the dormitory of the art troupe and left.

When they came back, the two bought a lot of things. Lu Yan accompanied her to the department store to buy a brown leather suitcase, as well as wine, tea and sweets, which were all packed in a suitcase.

After Lu Yan left, Tang Rui and Luo Beibei gathered around her. Qin Rou opened a bag of fruit candies and gave them a handful one by one, thinking they were all wedding candies.

Anyway, her plastic sisters did spend time with her, so she should always give them the wedding candies.

When Luo Beibei looked at the brand-new leather suitcase beside Qin Rou’s legs, her eyes were about to turn red. The army officer was not stingy. He bought her a suitcase, but she didn’t know what other goodies were in it.

With the fruit candy in her mouth, she couldn’t taste the sweetness, but it was sour, “Qin Rou, do you really want to go to the island with the army officer?”

“That’s not necessarily good. It’s better to find a man from Bencheng to marry, and stay in Bencheng in the future.”

Luo Beibei said sourly, “Qin Rou, Qiongzhou Island used to be a place of exile. The ancient prisoners were kept there. It’s too late for you to regret it now.”

Qin Rou wanted to go with the army officer to Qiongzhou Island. Luo Beibei was more concerned than herself. She went to a bookstore and searched for everything about Qiongzhou Island. Looking at the Qiongzhou Island at the southern end of the map, she envied that Qin Rou could marry a young and handsome naval officer, and then secretly hoped that life conditions in Qiongzhou Island would be difficult.

In that kind of hell, Qin Rou must go to suffer!

“Yeah, Qin Rou, why don’t you think about it? It’s too far, I heard that it is thousands of kilometers away!”

The traffic there was poor. Most people lived in a closed and small environment. The distance was really unimaginable.

“It used to be a place of exile? What kind of harsh environment is this? Qin Rou, can you really afford the hardship?”

“Qin Rou, you are too impulsive, the army officer is good, but he is going to Qiongzhou Island. Do you want to go to the island with him to suffer?”

Qin Rou smiled and said, “Don’t worry about me, maybe I won’t suffer. Have you ever heard a poem, ‘I eat 300 lychees every day, and I will grow up to be a Lingnan native’.”

She was originally a Lingnan native.

Tang Ruibai said, “I still eat lychees. When you get there, let’s see if you can still laugh.”

“Maybe once you get off the boat, you will come back crying in a few days.” 

After thinking about that, Luo Beibei looked at Qin Rou again and felt a bit more comfortable.

The officer surnamed Lu was reluctant to let someone else suffer, so he tricked the silly girl into a deserted island and made her suffer.

“After you go, be sure to write us a letter and send a photo!”

She would absolutely cry and clamor to go back.

“If we have a chance, we would definitely come to the island to see you.”

Miao note: 

Su Shi, a writer and a gourmet when exiled to Lingnan, was full of praise for Guangdong’s lychees. He was willing to always be a Lingnan native for 300 lychees.