Five years of marriage, always separated [1970s]

Everyone in Erbao's unit needs a detailed political review. Thinking of this, Ye Fan asked, "Then what does the teacher know about our family?"

Erbao: "The teacher didn't seem to know. Before the New Year, the department came to our school to select people, and the leader of the team talked to me for a few words. The implicit meaning of his words was that a good father will have a good daughter. He must know who my father is. After they left, the teacher said that they also came to the New Year's Eve party, and the program they were most satisfied with was the performance of our debate club."

Geng Sensen: "The prelude to Journey to the West?"

Erbao nodded. "There was only one folk music performance among a bunch of Western dance music songs. Not only did it not suck, it also livened up the place and was in line with the festive atmosphere. They spoke highly of us. The teacher said that everyone in our debate club had been noticed by the leaders of the department. But some people didn't like it, thinking that it was not stable for a future diplomat to do somersaults, and that performing the prelude to Journey to the West in such a solemn and serious evening party was just ridiculous."

Geng Sensen sighed, "Old feudalism!" He thought of his former leader again, "Why are there these self-righteous old antiques everywhere? What era is this?"

Erbao: "Some people also dislike Minletu."

"You are worshipping foreign things!" Geng Sensen said bluntly, "By the way, Erbao, you can't do this."

Erbao: "You absolutely can't! We diplomats also worship foreign things. If we get to the negotiation table, we will be kneeling before we even start talking."

Geng Sensen was very satisfied: "Student Geng Jingjing will definitely become an excellent diplomat in the future."

Erbao raised his chin and said, of course!
Geng Sen Sen suddenly understood why Dabao liked to slap her on the head: "Just be proud of it." He slapped her head down and went to the back to find Dabao and Chu Guangming, asking them what they were plotting.

Knowing that Chu Guangming wanted to buy a motorcycle, he asked Dabao to help him with his advice. Geng Sensen said, "No wonder he didn't dare to let my aunt hear it. You might as well buy an Alto instead of a motorcycle."

"It's too small." Chu Guangming has seen it, "It's very cramped to sit in it. Aunt Ye's car is more comfortable to drive."

Geng Sensen: "It's not cold in the winter and not hot in the summer, and you don't have to worry about falling and dying or getting disabled."

Chu Guangming looked at Dabao and asked him to make the decision.

Dabao: "There have been a lot of motorcycle gangs on the streets in the past two years. If they dare to rob passers-by, they will dare to rob your motorcycle. I suggest you buy a bicycle. When I renovate the office building, you don't have to ride a bicycle to work, you can ride mine."

"You still have to stay in school for another year. I'll ride yours. What will you ride this year?" Chu Guangming paused and confessed, "Actually, I have thought about buying a bicycle, but my workplace is far from home and it takes half an hour to ride a bicycle. It's too time-consuming."

Geng Sensen: "Don't you plan to live in the company?"

Chu Guangming has a computer at home and wants to take on some private work, but it is inconvenient to live at the office: "My home is comfortable."

Dabao: "Let's just get the Alto. Sell it after two years and buy its big brother. By then you should be looking for a partner, and I can pick you up from get off work."

Chu Guangming shook his head: "We'll talk about this later." He asked unwillingly: "Is it really impossible to buy a motorcycle?"

Dabao nodded: "Okay. Don't tell me I told you to buy it."

Chu Guangming would feel annoyed if others nagged him. Except for Ye Fan, he would think that Ye Fan was doing it for his own good. The reason for this was probably that Ye Fan's help to him was always just right, which made him feel grateful and embarrassed to disappoint her.

Chu Guangming was silent for a while, then said, "I'd rather go with the Alto. The Alto is also cheap. It's just that it doesn't look right for me to drive an Alto at such a high price."

Dabao snorted: "How tall are you? Not even taller than me." The implication was that he had the nerve to complain that the Alto was too small.

Chu Guangming: "Not as tall as you, but not as short as you. Besides, Grandma Yu said that people grow taller by the age of 23. I am exactly 23 this year, so I can definitely grow taller."

Dabao asked casually: "Is it forcing things to grow faster?"

"You..." Chu Guangming couldn't argue with him, "Why do you have a mouth?"

Dabao chuckled.

Geng Sensen never went hungry when he was a child, and his family had a good life during his puberty years, but he was still not as tall as Dabao. Geng Sensen guessed it had something to do with genetics, as his father and mother were not as tall as his third uncle and aunt. Geng Sensen wanted to grow taller, and seeing Chu Guangming talking as if it were real, he asked him how he grew taller.

Chu Guangming: "Eat eggs, drink milk, play basketball and stretch your muscles."

Dabao didn't expect that he believed "the twenty-three year old still jumped up", and was very surprised: "It turns out that this is really forcing the growth of seedlings."

"Just shut up." Chu Guangming said unhappily.

Geng Sensen said, "But sometimes I get diarrhea after drinking milk. My aunt said I'm allergic to milk."

Chu Guangming: "I also have diarrhea sometimes. I found that boiling milk in a pot will help. I'll try getting a bottle of pure milk. Milk-flavored drinks are useless. It's better to drink pure water than to drink them."

Geng Sen Sen nodded: "Let's go out. It's not appropriate to stay here on New Year's Day."

Chu Guangming asked: "Don't you two need to go out and wish people a happy new year?"

Geng Sensen: "My aunt called to say hello, so we don't need to go, right? It doesn't matter if colleagues and leaders don't contact each other in the past. It's not customary for tutors to pay New Year's greetings. Besides, they are busy on New Year's Day."

Dabao suddenly remembered that his tutor had a pager, so he immediately went to the front and called his tutor using his home phone, leaving a message saying Happy New Year.

Geng Sensen and Chu Guangming followed suit, and Yu Wentao and Huihui muttered, "This month's phone bill is twice as much as last month."

Geng Huihui smiled and said, "Only once a year."

"I'm just saying." Yu Wentao paused, "Nowadays everyone uses pagers, so no one should come today, right?"

Geng Huihui instinctively wanted to nod, but she heard a flurry of footsteps. Geng Huihui opened the window and saw that the child running in front was her former neighbor's child, Xiaohu, who loved to follow Dabao around.

Behind Xiaohu were his sister, his parents, and a few former neighbors. Geng Huihui suspected that they had bought a house nearby so that they could meet today.

Yu Wentao asked: "Who is it?"

Geng Huihui asked her to look at it herself.

Yu Wentao saw it clearly, and hurried to the main hall, saying, "Why are you here? Come in quickly."

Xiaohu, a boy who just entered junior high school, jumped over the threshold in one step. His mother said, "Don't be naughty," and happened to look up and see Ye Fan. Xiaohu was so scared that he dared not move.

Yu Wentao smiled and pulled him inside: "It's okay. Do you want some candy?"

Erbao held up the fruit plate with melon seeds, peanuts and candies and asked Xiaohu to grab them by himself. He subconsciously looked behind him. Yu Wentao saw that he was afraid of his mother, so she grabbed a handful and stuffed it into his pocket.

Ye Fan stood up and asked everyone to sit down.

They came here to pay New Year's greetings. Maybe because they were of the same age as Ye Fan, and it was not reasonable for people of the same age to pay New Year's greetings to each other, so they came to see their aunt, Yu Wentao.

Xiaohu saw Dabao, Chu Guangming and others chatting in the yard, so he quietly approached them. Dabao saw him from the corner of his eye and asked, "What's the matter?"

The boy was probably embarrassed or not used to it. He hesitated for a while and said, "Happy New Year, Brother Dabao."

Dabao touched his head and said, "You are shy now since you are in middle school. Why didn't you feel shy when you asked for my clothes before? You little brat!"

Xiaohu is not shy. His new home is not far from Dabao's home, but Dabao is busy and he hasn't seen Dabao for a year since he moved here. This makes him afraid that Dabao has forgotten him or is too lazy to pay attention to him.

Seeing that Dabao was still the same as before, Xiaohu couldn't help but pull his sleeve and ask, "What are you talking about?"

During the Chinese New Year, no one wanted to talk about work or studies, so of course they talked about cars. Chu Guangming didn't want the car to be known to everyone before he bought it, so he said nonsense: "Let's talk about where your brother Dabao will work in the future."

Xiaohu asked: "Which unit are you going to?"

Dabao: "Aeronautical Research Institute."

Xiaohu exclaimed, and then said: "Brother Dabao is so awesome!"

Dabao was surprised and raised his eyebrows slightly: "You know?"

"It sounds amazing." Xiaohu blurted out.

Dabao choked, but had to admit that he was right, "Not bad."

"You're about to go to heaven, and you're still okay?" Xiaohu couldn't believe it.

Dabao: "There are always people who are better than you. By the way, how are your grades?"

The admiration on Xiaohu's face disappeared instantly, and he became ashamed. Dabao asked: "Are you biased in one subject or do you just not want to learn?"

The boy looked up suddenly. He was surprised that Dabao didn't scold him directly, but was curious about the problem. The boy dared to speak boldly: "Why do I need to learn a foreign language? I'm not going abroad!"

Dabao thought to himself, why is it the same as when I was a child?

"Learning a foreign language is not for communicating with foreigners or going abroad, but for looking up information. When you go to university, you will find that a lot of information is in foreign languages."

The boy frowned: "No one can translate?"

Dabao thought about how to fool people: "Yes, but it's not accurate enough. For example, the poem 'The guest's road is beyond the green mountains, and the boat is in front of the green water.' How about this line? And 'I send my sorrowful heart to the bright moon, and follow you to the west of Yelang.' If it is translated into vernacular, will it taste like this? The same goes for foreign language materials."

Xiaohu's eyes widened and he couldn't help asking, "So we have to learn foreign languages ​​well?"

Dabao: "You don't have to be able to speak it, but you have to know it. You can learn more if you do well in the exam and go to a good university. Don't think that you are taking the exam for your parents. The exam is actually just to test your learning results."

Chu Guangming followed his words and said, "You said you were good at studying, but you failed the exam. What's so good about that?"

"I-I'm good at math!" Xiaohu thought he was right and said confidently, "I got the first place in math in the final exam this time."

Dabao: “Have you ever participated in a math competition?”

The boy, who has just entered the first grade of junior high school, has not had the opportunity to participate in mathematics competitions.

Seeing him shaking his head, Dabao said, "If you can get first place, even if you fail in English, a good university will make an exception and admit you. If you are just slightly better than your classmates and the school cannot recommend you to go to university, then you still have to study English well."

"Want to be first in the city?"

Dabao nodded: "It would be best if we can be among the top three in the country."

Xiaohu opened his mouth in shock and gasped.

Dabao: "You think I'm awesome, right? I'm pretty average in our school. There are at least 800 people as good as me in my major, if not a thousand, and they're all my age."

Chu Guangming and Geng Sensen looked at each other——

Geng Dabao is really good at talking nonsense. How many talents are there in the aviation field? There are 800 people of the same age. However, Xiao Hu believed it and said in a muffled voice: "I feel like a frog in a well."

Dabao touched his head and said: "The frog in the well is not scary. What is scary is that he dares not jump out of the well to see the world outside."

The boy nodded vigorously.

Dabao: "Your parents are out."

The boy turned around and saw his parents greeting Ye Fan and Yu Wentao.

Dabao said, "Your family has some money now. You can hire a student from the Foreign Languages ​​College to help you with your lessons. With one-on-one practice, your grades will improve in one or two semesters. You are good at math and have a passing grade in English. You don't need to be the best in other subjects. If you are in the top ten in the class and maintain that level until the third year of high school, you may be able to get a recommendation."

"Is it Beijing University or your school?"

Dabao: "You need to work harder to get into Beijing University and my school. Your English score should be better. You can get 70 to 80 points out of 100 on the test."

It's not 90 points, nor 100 points, but Xiaohu thinks he can do it. When he hears his mother calling him, he jumps up and down to follow her.

Chu Guangming muttered, "He ranked first in the grade in math, and was in the top ten in the class in other subjects. He barely passed English, but he can still get into our school."

Dabao: "It's easy to go from failing to passing, but it's not easy to go from passing to 80. He got 80 points in English, which at least shows that he no longer hates English. With his IQ, he can learn it well if he doesn't hate it. He is in the top ten in the class in all subjects, and he is outstanding in mathematics. He may be in the top ten in the whole grade. By then, he will be admitted to Peking University."

Chu Guangming was surprised: "So you hope he can overcome his English problem? What if he is really not good at it?"

Dabao: "His IQ is fine, and the college entrance examination doesn't include oral English, so he can pass it by rote memorization. If he is good at English but not math, I definitely won't ask him to score 70 or 80."

Geng Sensen nodded: "If you know math, you know it. If you don't know math, you don't know it."

Dabao said, "You can also do more exercises, but it can only help you cope with exams. You need to study liberal arts in college. I would suggest that he go to Sister Huihui's school."

Chu Guangming couldn't help but say: "No wonder you asked him if he didn't want to study or was biased in his studies. I also thought that biased studies and not wanting to study are the same thing, aren't they?"

Dabao: "Now I know, it's not!"

Chu Guangming nodded: "If you don't want to learn, you may hate it, or you may not be able to learn it. Hey, your brain is worthy of being Aunt Ye's biological child."

Dabao was about to say something when he heard footsteps again. Looking south, Dabao was surprised to see Wei Jianshe coming with his wife and children.

Dabao went over to take the child and asked: "Why did you bring him here?"

Wei Jianshe: "There's nothing to do at home."

Dabao: "How did you get here?"

"Drive." Wei Jianshe didn't wait for Dabao to ask, "I bought an Alto before the New Year, and I treat it as a three-wheeled vehicle that is airtight."

Dabao glanced at Chu Guangming.

Chu Guangming scratched his nose: "Uncle Wei, can you let me try?"

Chu Guangming's biological father, mother and aunt could guess that he was rich from the commercials he shot, so how could Wei Jianshe not know that? He probably wanted to buy a car, so he gave him the car keys.

Wei Jianshe winked at Dabao, and Dabao stuffed the child into Geng Sensen's arms and followed him.

Two people with long arms and legs got into the Alto, and Dabao said, "No wonder you said my mom's car is comfortable. I want to buy a car like that."

Chu Guangming: "You still want me to buy it?"

Dabao: "If you drive a nice car to the company and your boss borrows it, or if you need to pick up a client and your boss asks you to go, will you go or not?"

If it was a private company, Chu Guangming could go to another company if he didn't want to work there, and he could say no. But in a state-owned enterprise, if he wanted to stay, he had to obey.

Chu Guangming: "Then I'd rather go with Alto. Alto is good, and everyone who sees it will think it's petty. It also fits my status as an orphan."

Dabao: "Let's go for a walk on the street and see if it's stable."

"It's definitely stable." Chu Guangming drove out of the alley and was surprised to find that a small car also has its advantages. It can go through the streets and alleys.

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Dabao accompanied Chu Guangming to get a car. After the formalities were completed, Chu Guangming drove to Ye Fan's house and asked Erbao if he could drive.

Dabao taught Erbao, but she didn't dare to go on the road. Dabao said: "Erbao, I will use Guangming's car to pick you up from get off work later."

Erbao: "Can't I use mom's?"

Ye Fan shook his head: "Your mother's company is open too."

Erbao remembered: "Brother, can you use it for a few days?"

Chu Guangming: "I can give you a ride later, and you can take the bus to work."

"Never mind. I live over there."

Ye Fan: "That's fine. I'll pick you up on Saturday afternoon."

Geng Sensen said, "I'll go. It's a good opportunity to practice driving."

When Yu Wentao heard that Erbao was going to live near the workplace, she asked Ye Fan to take her, Erbao and Huihui there the next day. Erbao went to report to the workplace, and she and Huihui went to Erbao's new house to see if anything was missing.

Rice, flour, oil, and salt were all in short supply. Yu Wentao took Geng Huihui to the nearby vegetable market to buy a bunch of things. The meat was chopped into stuffing and made into dumplings and buns and put in the refrigerator. The wet noodles were packed separately and also put in the freezer. The eggs, green peppers, tomatoes, and other items were placed on the stove.

At noon, they did not go back home, but had lunch with Erbao in the new house. Erbao told them that they could eat at the company, but Yu Wentao said with disdain: "What's so good about the big pot meal at the company?"

Erbao thought to himself, fortunately they were at home and the boss couldn’t hear: “Grandma, the food in our unit is pretty good.”

“You can’t have three meals a day at the company,” said Yu Wentao.

Erbao: "Look, my mom isn't worried at all."

"Your mother is very generous. Who can compare to her?" Yu Wentao muttered, "Listen to grandma and make it yourself when you have time. You see, tomatoes and green peppers are easy to make. Just chop them up, beat an egg and fry them in a pan. That's enough for you to eat."

Geng Huihui nodded: "Yes. If you don't want to eat rice, you can cook noodles. You can eat noodles with scrambled eggs and green peppers, or noodles with tomatoes and eggs."

Yu Wentao added: "Call grandma when you've finished eating the dumplings and buns. I'll make some at home and ask your mom to bring them over."

"Please stop busying yourself." Erbao didn't feel comfortable asking her grandmother to serve her.

Geng Huihui: "You forgot, we have a nanny at home. When we are not at home, Xiao Wang asks her to make buns and dumplings for you when he has nothing to do."

Xiao Wang went to work on the tenth day of the first lunar month and is still at her hometown now, so Erbao has completely forgotten about her.

Erbao: "Okay then."

Geng Huihui reminded her to take the clothes home to wash on the weekend.

Erbao has two washing machines, the big one washes thick clothes and bed sheets, and the small one washes underwear, so she doesn't need to do anything. Erbao saw her grandma nod, as if she had forgotten, and could only say, "Okay."

After Erbao had his meal and took a short rest, he went back to work. Yu Wentao checked the doors, windows, water and electricity again, and opened the curtains in Erbao's bedroom to let the sun in. Then she and Geng Huihui went back.

When she got home by bus, Yu Wentao sighed: "Why is it so far? Erbao is like a country bumpkin coming to the city. Why go to the diplomatic department? He might as well stay in school and be a teacher."

Geng Huihui didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Won't you be even more worried if Erbao goes abroad with his boss someday?"

"Erbao hasn't graduated yet, so she's not qualified to go abroad with her boss." Yu Wentao said, "When she can go abroad, I should be reunited with your grandfather. Out of sight, out of mind!"

Geng Huihui: "Be careful, good things don't work, but bad things do."

"What are you talking about?"

Geng Huihui was startled and looked back: "Dad? Mom?"

Chu Fenghe walked into the room carrying a bag: "Why are there only the two of you? Where are Dabao and Erbao?"

Huihui: "Dabao is at Guangming's house, and Erbao has gone to work."

The couple was stunned.

Geng Huihui explained: "Internship."

Geng Zhihui couldn't accept it: "How old is Erbao?"

Geng Huihui: “Twenty years old.”

Chu Fenghe: "I remember Erbao was born in the summer, and he's not even 20 yet. How can he do an internship when he's so young?"

Geng Huihui thought that she could get married at 20. But they were really worried about Erbao, so Geng Huihui said, "He's in the diplomatic department, very safe."

Chu Fenghe wondered where the diplomatic department was: "How can we get back from such a long distance?"

Geng Huihui: "If she stays in the internship unit after graduation, my aunt will buy her a car. In the past six months, she missed home, so my aunt went to pick her up. Usually, my grandmother and I go to see her."

Geng Zhihui nodded: "That's fine." Then he couldn't help but sigh, "Little Erbao has started working."

Yu Wentao couldn't help but say, "Your daughter is old enough to get married."

The couple turned to their daughter and asked in unison: "Are you married?"

Geng Huihui was speechless. What ears?

"Grandma said I can get married." Geng Huihui didn't want to hear their constant questioning anymore, so she took the initiative to confess that she had a boyfriend and that he was okay. If they could stay at home for a few days, she would call him over on the weekend so they could meet him.

Chu Fenghe asked hurriedly: "Where is your home? What do you do? Did you find this person yourself or was he introduced by someone else?"

(End of this chapter)