To please others? It's better to please yourself.

Drinking fragrant soy milk soup with crispy fried dough sticks in the morning was incredibly delicious. The two little ones drank without even lifting their heads, while Xu Jing'an's eyes narrowed.

Xu Jing'an is pregnant again. This pregnancy was quite unexpected, disrupting her plans for the future. She had been having a poor appetite for a while and couldn't eat anything. Recently, for some reason, she's been craving soy milk, and has been drinking it for five days straight.

Doumo is a local specialty snack. It is not made from soybean flour, but from millet flour.

The origin of Doumo (a type of fermented soybean curd) is said to be related to Bo Yi and Shu Qi of the Shang Dynasty. The Records of the Grand Historian states: "After King Wu quelled the chaos of Yin, the world revered Zhou, but Bo Yi and Shu Qi were ashamed of this. Out of righteousness, they refused to eat Zhou grain and hid in Shouyang Mountain, where they ate wild vegetables."

Grind the millet into flour, and while cooking, add soybeans, peanuts, broken vermicelli, and sometimes kelp and tofu (add as needed depending on available resources). Just before serving, add chopped spinach. Sprinkle with sesame salt when serving—it's truly delicious!

Xu Jing'an only doesn't feel nauseous when she eats this. Now the whole family is trying to switch to millet noodles for her and her two children.

Counting the days, it had been more than five months since Xu Jing'an last sent a letter to the Xu family. Xu Jing'an took out a piece of blue-printed paper and placed it under the letter paper, then wrote a casual letter to his parents.

There was only one copier in the entire steel plant, so individuals who wanted to make copies used blue paper.

Blueprinted paper is a type of carbon paper, made by coating a thin, tough base paper with a mixture of wax and pigments.

Placing it under paper will transfer your writing onto the next sheet. To transfer blue paper, you need a ballpoint pen or pencil; if you write hard, you can write through three or four sheets, with the writing on the bottom sheet still clearly legible. However, you can easily get your hands covered in blue ink, which is very difficult to wash off.

Keep a copy, just in case Xu's parents turn around and accuse her of being unfilial. Before marriage, she sent a greeting letter every month. It was always the same: nothing but sweet words and complaints of poverty. After marriage, she started sending a letter every six months, so no one could say she didn't care about her parents or was unfilial.

After all, "Lust is the root of all evil; judge by actions, not intentions." "Filial piety is the foremost of all virtues; judge by intentions, not actions."

At the end of August, Xu Jing'an gave birth to another boy, named Shen Can, nicknamed Mao Mao. The nickname was also chosen for the younger brother after discussion between the two children.

In September 1975, Zhuangzhuang started first grade. Maomao was already two years old and running around everywhere.

Shen's mother stayed home with Dou Dou and Ma Mao. The older sister "Dou Dou" and the younger brother "Ma Mao" drew together: a green sun, a red house, and a sky full of colors. The two siblings used crayons to color the drawing with their favorite colors.

As soon as they got home, the two children showed their drawings to their grandpa, dad, and mom. Xu Jing'an kissed each of the three children, "Great job! Zhuangzhuang went to school today and studied hard. Maomao and Doudou drew at home today and didn't cause any trouble; their drawings are especially good. Congratulations to these three little darlings!"

The whole family smiled and applauded enthusiastically for the children. The three children were especially excited, their little chests puffed out even higher than before.

Mid April

"Old Shen, the boss has written a letter!"

"Did he say anything?" Mr. Shen asked with concern.

The smile on Shen's mother's face was impossible to hide when she mentioned it: "My eldest son's wife is pregnant."

"That's wonderful!" Mr. Shen exclaimed excitedly. After all these years, his eldest son's heart has finally turned over a new leaf, and he can finally have an heir.

Shen Yue was away in the army, and the elderly couple often worried about him. How could parents not know what kind of temperament their son had?

Shen Yue is a man of unwavering determination; once he sets his mind on a goal, he won't give up easily. He said he wanted to be a soldier when he was in first grade. He excelled in his studies from a young age and ran every day to maintain his physical fitness. How many people can stick to that for over a decade?

The eldest son eventually worked hard and passed the entrance exam for military academy, becoming a soldier. It could be said that he grew up surrounded by praise; everyone around him gave him a thumbs up when Shen Yue was mentioned!

Such a proud person was forced to agree to this marriage. Her son had gritted his teeth and accepted a wife who was overly calculating; how could she not worry? Clearly, their personalities clashed; wouldn't her son be burdened with regret for the rest of his life?

She never used her status as a mother to pressure her son into marriage; she just felt sorry for him! Being a soldier is a dangerous profession, and she never thought it was wrong for her son to find a woman he liked to marry and live a comfortable life.

Sure enough, this was the first time in five years that the letter mentioned the eldest son's wife. Regardless, the fact that the eldest son has a child is something to be happy about.

After dinner, the family discussed that after the New Year, when the weather warms up, Shen's mother would go to Shen Yue's place again. She would then return after taking care of Shen Yue during her postpartum period.

……

Gu Panpan touched her still-not-so-obvious belly and finally felt relieved. For the past four to five years, she had received a letter every seven days and a package every two weeks.

The meat sauce we made, the stir-fried pork cracklings and pickled vegetables, the sauerkraut we made, the jam we made by boiling wild fruits with white sugar, the frozen dumplings we made in winter and the wooden boxes we ordered, the pheasants and rabbits we found and made into preserved chicken and rabbit, the larger fish we caught in the river and made into crispy fish, the smaller fish and made into spicy dried fish, the steamed white flour buns and baked into dried buns, the big shorts we made in summer, and the leftover scraps of cloth we used to make new shoes and insoles...

It can be said that she sent all the money she received each month—five yuan, a little bit of fine grain she earned from working in the fields, and anything she found in the mountains—to Shen Yue.

For nearly five years, she gritted her teeth and persevered. At first, many people in the village laughed at her and gossiped about her, but later, didn't most of them start to sympathize with her?

Over the years, Gu Panpan had become quite famous in the army. Shen Yue's superiors and those around him knew that she had been forced into marriage, and initially, they pitied Shen Yue for looking down on her. But now, who wouldn't envy Shen Yue's wife for thinking of him so much, sending him letters and gifts every few days?

Whether it was because her efforts finally touched Shen Yue's heart, or because he had grown older and wanted a child, or because he was forced by public opinion to bring her over to give him an explanation, Gu Panpan achieved what she wanted. She finally escaped the countryside, and even earlier than in her previous life.

As long as she doesn't make any mistakes, Shen Yue won't be able to shake her off! Good days are hers, and no one can take them from her.

Even the child in her womb was conceived by carefully calculating the dates. Who would believe that? Shen Yue hasn't touched her in all this time they've been married!

In their past life, at least Shen Yue still wanted her after their marriage. But this time, after she schemed against Shen Yue's mother at her job and said the wrong thing, Shen Yue stopped touching her.

He went back with her to get their marriage certificate, held a wedding ceremony in the village, and left that very night.

It seems that once Shen's mother arrives, she'll have to be even more filial! She should say a few nice things, and be more observant (meaning she should be perceptive, quick-witted, and good at handling situations). She must build up her reputation for being filial and well-mannered!

Besides, Shen's mother came here to take care of her and the children. The second son's family's children are already grown up, and she needs to have a few more children while her mother-in-law is still around, otherwise she can't manage alone. It's too tiring!