The Art of Getting Along

  She struggled to climb onto the kang, but at her age it was still a bit of an effort. As soon as Baiming saw his daughter coming over, he stretched out his arm and scooped up his precious child into his embrace.

  "Girl, have you eaten enough?"

  Yu Tong smelled the strong smell of wine and smoke on her father's body, pouting her small mouth and frowning her small eyebrows. "Dad, Mom said you should eat more vegetables and drink less wine."

  Others on the table saw Xiao Yatou's small appearance and burst out laughing, "Bai Lao Da, this time someone can finally control you, haha..."

  Look at how happy you brothers are, Bai Wengui rubbed his nose and chuckled, "You guys, don't mention me, in the future, when you have a daughter too, you'll understand what's going on."

  Bai Wengu didn't put her down, and instead sat with his own daughter in his arms, chatting and eating together. The others had stopped drinking, as they knew that drinking too much was not good for them. Bai Wengu had invited everyone over to socialize and treat them to a nice meal, but he didn't want anyone to get drunk.

  The old man has finished eating and is now whispering to his grandson in another room, while the others are rushing to finish their meal, as they had agreed to play cards after dinner.

  Looking at Li Qian's eyes, Yu Xi felt that this woman seemed not to be a gentle owner, but she was still a little girl and no one would believe her words.

  After having a lively lunch, Geng Mei and her elder sister gave some meat to the people who came over today as a token of appreciation. They were all friends of their husbands, so it was just a gesture. In plain words, they said don't mind that little bit of meat, if you want to eat it later, you can buy it anytime.

  After sending off the old man and his family, Bai Xinyi and Geng Mei busied themselves cutting up the remaining meat and storing it in the cellar. In Beijiang, where the temperature is low, there's a saying that winter lasts half a year.

  Putting meat in a cellar is equivalent to putting it in a natural refrigerator, and you can eat it until April or May next year.

  Yu Tong is accompanying Bai Haoran to practice writing on the kang, today's task is not completed and she won't let her brother go out to play. In her heart, she thinks that she should cultivate a habit for the little guy, aren't good habits all cultivated from childhood? Her family's Bai Haoran has red lips and white teeth, a small and upright boy, if he is well-cultivated in the future, who knows, maybe he can become talented.

  At home, with Geng Mei and her husband around, life returned to normal. Bai Xinyi also had time to go out for a walk. This year, Geng Mei didn't want to keep her older sister at home all the time, so she gave her some money to go to the teacher's department to take a look, and told her to buy whatever she needed and bring it back.

  Bai Xinyi really felt a bit embarrassed to take the money, but Geng Mei advised, "Sister, you've been taking care of the child for so long, and your family relies on you to take care of everything. You don't even have time to go out and relax. Take advantage of the New Year's holiday to go out and unwind a bit, and visit some old friends too."

  Bai Xinyi originally had several good friends from before who were married to the instructor team, and since her divorce, she hadn't been in touch with them. So when her younger brother's wife sent over some money, she accepted it and went out for a walk to clear her mind, as there was still her younger brother and his wife at home.

  Smiling and nodding, "Little sister, thank you. I'll go out for a walk and visit some old friends."

  In the Spring Festival of 1983, they still followed the usual practice, and all the family members gathered at the old man's place. As for Li Qian, Geng Mei was too lazy to compare with her. She, as the eldest daughter-in-law, should do things as before, and there were also the elder sister and the husband helping out beside her. It didn't matter if there was one more person or one less person. Besides, since Li Qian used pregnancy as an excuse, Geng Mei couldn't say anything about it.

  But Yu Xuan found that Li Qian didn't eat less when eating, whatever was delicious, even if she couldn't reach it, she would let Bai Wenyi clip it into her own bowl. Seeing Er Shu looking at his wife with a gentle expression, she even felt that the woman in front of her was not worthy of her family's talented and gentle Er Shu.

  "Yu Tong, I heard you and Hao Ran have both started learning characters?"

  After dinner, Bai Wen Yi started chatting with the two kids. The whole family except for her eldest sister-in-law who had been with them for so long thought that this second uncle was quite good to her, so she was happy to chat with him too.

  Smiling and nodding, "Yeah, I've learned a lot."

  Bai Haoran said proudly, "Second Uncle, I study every day. Auntie says we should learn from you."

  Bai Wenyi's face suddenly showed a gentle smile, and he stroked his little nephew's soft short hair. "Hmm, our Haoran will definitely surpass Second Uncle in the future, best if he can get into university, this task I'll leave to you."

  Bai Haoran nodded vigorously, "Uh-huh, I'll listen to Second Uncle."

  Bai Wenguang was secretly delighted on the side, if his son could really be like this, then he would have burned high incense in his previous life.

  When I went home, the sky outside started to float snowflakes again, and it seemed like a big piece of cotton was floating down. The whole family didn't ride a bike, but instead walked directly across the frozen river surface, fortunately the ice was very thick and there was no need to worry about falling into the river.

  And when they were almost home, they saw many little kids playing on the ice. Bai Haoran didn't want to stay at home and directly went to play with those kids on the ice.

  Bai Wenli wasn't worried about this either, he just reminded his son to pay attention to safety and took his daughter back home first.

  After the New Year, Bai Wenli and his wife decided to go to Jinshan again this year. Bai Xinyi was still a bit worried about her brother's decision.

  "It's just a formality, having some spare change in hand is enough. That gold isn't easy to come by, you see what state you both are in after just coming back, and the child misses you two as well."

  "Come on, sis, let's just do this for the last year. The controls aren't that strict yet, and I'm thinking of making some extra money. It's hard to make more just by farming here, you're tired too, at most it's just this one year, next year I definitely won't go."

  Bai Wengui had heard rumors that things were going to be strictly controlled, but so far nothing had come of it. He wanted to take advantage of this last opportunity to make some more money with his wife and then settle down at home to take care of the children. He knew the child was still young and shouldn't leave Geng Mei now, but for future considerations, he had no choice but to make such a sacrifice.

  Bai Xinyi knew that she couldn't persuade her younger brother, Bai Wenli. She was too familiar with his personality. Once he made up his mind about something, he would never give up easily. Fortunately, this younger brother didn't have any ulterior motives, and the couple did it all for the sake of their family.