TPW – Chapter 65

As bedtime approached in the evening, Yu Zhilian brought out the quilts, preparing to make a bed on the floor. Back when Haizhou and Haiping hadn’t gotten married yet, there had been two beds in the room. Later, when both of them left home, the beds were put away.

Xu Haizhou quickly stopped his mom. “No need to go through all that trouble. Qiao Lu and I will sleep at a guesthouse.”

“What? A guesthouse? That must cost quite a bit per night!”

“Not much, just a few mao. We’ll leave the luggage at home — we don’t need it anyway.” In winter, there was no need to change clothes every day like in the summer. They could buy new toothbrushes from the store, and they’d go to the bathhouse to shower, which saved them the hassle of carrying things around.

In the 1970s, guesthouses were cheap — generally under one yuan per night. The rooms were plain with no decoration, and the beds were small, barely 1.35 meters wide. A family of three squeezed onto one bed, which was quite cramped.

Still, no matter how rough the conditions were, it was better than squeezing into the tube-shaped apartment with his parents.

In five days, it would be Spring Festival — time to prepare for the New Year.

Ancheng was a city slightly larger than Lian, though its population was smaller. Yet, its markets were much livelier than Lian’s. Whole families often went out shopping for New Year goods together. The crowd was so thick that the swirling snow didn’t seem that cold anymore.

During the Spring Festival, sugar was available without rationing. Ham, sausages, and cured duck were plentiful without needing to fight for them. Sunflower seeds, peanuts, preserved fruits, and pastries were all in abundance. New Year paintings and couplets could be bought or written by hand.

On the second floor of the tube-shaped apartment lived Old Man Niu, who was skilled in calligraphy. Every year, the Xu family would buy red paper and ask him to write couplets for them, and this year was no exception.

They sent Xu Yonghe to get them. Qiao An trailed along, eager to join in the fun. When they came back, their pockets were full of candies and snacks.

When asked about it, they said the child was so sweet-tongued that Old Man Niu couldn’t stop laughing. Pleased, he not only fed the child snacks but also insisted they take some home.

Qiao Lu and her husband exchanged glances, both amused and exasperated.

With Xu Haizhou and his wife joining the preparations this year, they ended up buying more and more — practically everything edible in the market, as if it cost nothing.

During this process, Qiao Lu gradually got closer to Yu Zhilian and Song Wenmin. The three women had plenty to talk about — everything from Haizhou’s life in the South to the family’s situation after he left.

Her father-in-law was still the same — cold and aloof. He would occasionally join the conversation, but at least he wasn’t cold from beginning to end.

Apart from the Xu family, no one knew that Xu Haizhou had married a divorced woman.

“Mama, I shared the milk candies Daddy bought, and now everyone wants to be my friend! Can I go downstairs to play with my new friends?”

“Playing in the snow again?” Qiao Lu was wrapping dumplings with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Hearing this, she pinched her son’s little white face between her fingers, leaving half his face covered in flour.

“Mm-hmm!” Snowball fights were so much fun. “Mommy, do you want to come too?”

Qiao Lu smiled and shook her head. “Mommy is helping Grandma wrap dumplings. Go ahead, but be careful not to go too far.”

“Then Daddy, Grandpa, Uncle, and Mianmian — do you want to play with us?”

Xu Haiping declined with a smile. Xu Yonghe didn’t say anything, but it was obvious he wouldn’t go. Xu Haizhou was playing chess with his father.

Only Mianmian stepped up. “I want to go too!”

“Okay~” Holding his little sister’s hand, the two kids waddled off, their little butts swaying with each step until they disappeared from sight.

Qiao Lu felt a little uneasy. Her son wasn’t familiar with the area, and he definitely couldn’t win a snowball fight against the local northern kids.

“Haizhou, why don’t you go down and keep an eye on them,” she said, turning to her husband.

“Alright.”

Xu Haizhou had been playing chess with his old man. Hearing her, he stood up and patted his older brother on the shoulder. “You take over. I’ll go check on my son.”

He almost jogged out. Watching him hurry off, Song Wenmin chuckled. “Haizhou and An’an seem to have a great relationship. He was only about three when you two got married, right? Old enough to remember things. Didn’t your son resist him?”

Yu Zhilian was curious too. In a blended family, it was usually hard for a child to accept a stepfather so quickly.

Thinking back, Qiao Lu couldn’t help but laugh.

“He did resist. He wouldn’t even let Haizhou hold his hand. When they walked, he kept his distance. But kids are kids. Haizhou treated him with genuine kindness. Over time, that kind of care isn’t something a child can’t feel. Slowly, they warmed up to each other. After going through some things together, he accepted him.”

“Oh~ So it wasn’t all smooth sailing. But Haizhou is a reliable guy — there probably isn’t a kid who wouldn’t like him.”

“Exactly. Everyone likes him.” Such a gentle man, with a good temper and good looks — even the aunties in Hong Kong couldn’t resist him, let alone a child.

“Hey, Dad, where are you going?” On the chess side, the game was going well, but suddenly Xu Yonghe put down the pieces and walked off.

“Taking a stroll!” With hands behind his back, he left the room without even looking back.

Everyone looked at each other, confused. What was going on with Xu Yonghe now?

Putting down his chess pieces, Xu Haiping quickly followed.

“What’s up with Dad? Out walking in this freezing weather? Isn’t he the one who fears the cold the most?” Song Wenmin was puzzled.

“Who knows? That old man is always acting strange. So much free time, and he won’t even help us wrap dumplings — just going out for a stroll. Must’ve had too much salt!” Salty old man!

Suddenly, something seemed to click. Yu Zhilian paused, then burst out laughing. She said, “Qiao Lu, after we finish wrapping dumplings, I’ll teach you how to stuff blood sausage.”

“Okay!”

Blood sausage was a Northeast specialty — pork blood sausage stewed with pickled cabbage. Spicy, sour, and appetizing, it was perfect with rice.

Yu Zhilian said Qiao Lu should bring some blood sausage back to Lian for her family to try, so they needed to make extra. With not enough hands, they had Song Wenmin go next door to invite Yan Ni and a few other older ladies over to help.

These experienced aunties were pros at making blood sausage. They chatted as they worked, and before long, they had filled a large basin.

“The black coat you wore on your first day here — the long one — did you buy that down South? It looked great.”

Northern fashion really couldn’t keep up with “trends,” lagging far behind the South. Popular coats that sold out quickly in the South were nowhere to be seen in the North.

So when Qiao Lu arrived in that coat, many people took notice and were quite interested.

“You probably can’t find it in the market. If you like it, take it and use it as a model to sew one yourselves.”

These were all old neighbors from her husband’s side, and they had a good relationship. With them asking so openly, Qiao Lu knew exactly what they meant. It didn’t hurt to go with the flow and do them a favor.

“That’s great!”

Qiao Lu took the coat out. Northern winters were really too cold — she had no plans to wear it again. She had only worn it the first day to make an impression. After that, she’d obediently switched to a thick cotton jacket.

“You can browse the market. If you can’t find the same fabric, I can’t help that.”

“No problem, if we can’t get the same material, we’ll use something else. We just want the pattern.”

They happily took the coat and rushed home to study it. Just as they stepped out, Qiao An and the others came back from their snowball fight. Adults and children alike were covered in snow, grinning but also looking quite ridiculous.

Most shocking of all — even Old Man Xu Yonghe was covered in snow!

“Mama! Grandma!” The little guy was bouncing with excitement. “I couldn’t beat them, but then Grandpa helped me — Grandpa was amazing, even better than Daddy!”

“Every snowball Grandpa threw hit them dead on — they were begging for mercy!” The phrase “begging for mercy” he had learned from Huo Yuanjia — not bad memory for a kid.

“Even the older boys couldn’t beat Grandpa! I helped too sometimes, but I’m too weak. I couldn’t hit anyone.”

Qiao An babbled on… and the women were stunned.

What? Xu Yonghe had a snowball fight with the kids? That rock-solid personality of his, playing with children?

Unimaginable — the old man with his stiff limbs, actually beating a bunch of kids into “surrendering”?

Isn’t this just so strange?

Bullying a child sounded ridiculous, but thinking about it carefully, those kids might not even lose to Xu Yonghe—they were just letting him win!

As for Xu Yonghe, although he looked calm on the outside, he was actually panicking inside.

He pretended to be composed, not knowing that his nervousness was already written all over his face.

He had a sharp tongue but a soft heart. On the surface, he disliked Qiao An because he wasn’t Xu Haizhou’s biological child, yet he couldn’t resist this adorable little dumpling.

Xu Haizhou’s dad was quite an interesting person.

Qiao Lu chuckled.

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, the family began the major cleaning for the New Year. Every nook and cranny of the house was scrubbed spotless. Xu Haiping and his wife cleaned their own home, while Xu Haizhou brought his wife and child over to help at his parents’ house.

They had stockpiled a lot of meat, but since there was no refrigerator, everything was kept frozen on the balcony.

The balcony didn’t have windows, so snowflakes drifted in and piled up, eventually covering the whole balcony with snow. It became a natural freezer—they could freeze anything by just burying it in the snow.

Qiao Lu watched in amazement as Yu Zhilan magically pulled out all sorts of New Year goods from the snow pile like it was a treasure chest.

Chicken, duck, fish, frozen pears, frozen persimmons, frozen tofu… Most of it was fine, but the frozen meat was so hard they couldn’t cut it and had to use a large cleaver to chop it apart.

Qiao Lu’s favorite was the homemade sticky bean buns—their soft, glutinous texture was her absolute favorite!

“Mommy, sticky bean buns are so yummy. Can you make them?” Qiao An loved them too and insisted on eating one every morning. Otherwise, he’d talk about them all day.

Qiao Lu shook her head. “Mommy doesn’t know how. Grandma does.”

“Then let Grandma teach us. That way, when we go home, we can make them ourselves,” Qiao An said innocently.

“Mommy can’t learn it. You learn,” Qiao Lu teased her.

The little one furrowed his brows, thinking seriously for a long while before saying, “Alright then.”

After finishing quickly, he trotted out into the hallway to find Yu Zhilan.

“Grandma, Grandma.” He tugged on her clothes.

Yu Zhilan was at the stove frying tofu cubes. She paused and asked, “What is it, little darling?”

“Grandma, can you teach me how to make sticky bean buns?” The little one tilted his head up and asked sweetly.

Yu Zhilan couldn’t help but laugh, tapping his nose. “You tiny thing, you want to learn how to make sticky bean buns?”

“Mhm! Mommy said she doesn’t know how, so An An should learn~”

That had the adults in the hallway laughing heartily.

Yu Zhilan pinched her obedient granddaughter’s cheek. “Your mom is tricking you. Tell her to come learn.”

Scratching his face, Qiao An turned around and dragged Qiao Lu out of the room.

In the end, of course, it wasn’t Qiao An who learned. It was still Qiao Lu, the mom, who had to do it. But it wasn’t difficult—watching a few times was enough to learn.

This year was the liveliest Spring Festival ever for the Xu family.

On New Year’s Eve, things got even more interesting—the busyness began right from the moment they woke up.

They stewed pork, chopped pickled cabbage, and the first meal of the morning was dumplings—specifically made to look like gold ingots, symbolizing wealth and prosperity. The first meal featured vegetarian fillings, while the evening ones were meat-filled.

Yu Zhilan hid three one-jiao coins inside dumplings.

Xu Yonghe served the dumplings—one bowl per person. Whether it was coincidence or luck, the three dumplings with coins ended up with Qiao An, Qiao Lu, and Xu Yimian.

When the coin hit her tooth, Qiao An winced and nearly cried. Xu Haizhou quickly explained the meaning behind the coins.

After a while, he not only didn’t cry but got excited: “Mommy, Me, and Mian Mian are the luckiest!”

This kid was really too easy to please.

Besides dumplings, steamed buns were also an essential part of the New Year. They had to be perfectly fermented—the better they rose, the more prosperous the upcoming year would be.

Then came steamed meats, stir-fried dishes…

“When I was little, our family was poor. Even during the New Year, we only had one or two meat dishes. Now that life is better, we have a whole table full of meat. Today’s kids are really blessed,” Song Wenmin sighed.

If she knew that in another 20 or 30 years, most people would be able to eat meat at every meal, who knows what she’d think.

On New Year’s Eve, after the reunion dinner, the whole Xu family went to Xu Haiping’s work unit’s house to watch the Spring Festival Gala.

This year was the second-ever Spring Festival Gala. After seeing last year’s show, Xu Haiping had planned to buy a TV.

He saved for half a year and waited in line all night. Finally, he carried the TV home. This year, no matter what, he wanted his wife, daughter, and parents to watch the gala.

Fortunately, he managed to buy it in time.

Because of that, Xu Haizhou’s family of three also caught the right moment. If they’d come home last year, they would’ve had to sit around the house listening to the radio.

“Hurry, hurry, it’s about to start.”

“Don’t eat anymore, An’an. Come quick—it’s starting.”

They all sat in a row on the bed. Qiao An sat with his mom, next to Qiao Lu was Xu Haizhou, and on the other side was their son. On Qiao An’s other side was Xu Yonghe, and next to him was Yu Zhilan…

On New Year’s Eve, the whole family squeezed onto the big bed, munching on sunflower seeds, sipping drinks, snacking, and eagerly waiting for the Spring Festival Gala to start.

Compared to the first year, the second year’s gala was clearly more experienced, better crafted, and more entertaining.

It was a true live show. Even though the audience was small, the stage wasn’t as big as those in later years, and the props weren’t as fancy, it still gave off a strong sense of warmth and joy.

The 1984 Spring Festival Gala was a huge success for comedy and sketch performances. Several acts became timeless classics in later years.

Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao’s Eating Noodles, Ma Ji’s solo comic talk Cosmic Cigarettes, magic shows, fun ping-pong performances, singing acts…

And finally, Li Guyi’s performance of Unforgettable Tonight became the standard closing song for every Spring Festival Gala in the future.

Honestly, even though Qiao Lu usually couldn’t get into old TV dramas, this 1984 Spring Festival Gala—even in black and white—had her totally engrossed!

Unknowingly, she blended into this joyful family atmosphere, enveloped by a strong sense of contentment.

Her gaze occasionally drifted to the corner of the bed, where at some point, Qiao An had fallen fast asleep in Xu Yonghe’s arms. One tiny hand clutched Grandpa’s coat button, the other curled up on his chest. His rosy little mouth was slightly pouted—he was sleeping soundly.

As for Xu Yonghe, though his eyes were on the TV, his large hand gently patted Qiao An’s arm, like he was soothing him to sleep.

Qiao Lu admitted—Xu Haizhou wasn’t wrong. His family really was quite good.

Now that the misunderstanding had been resolved, the clouds had cleared, and everything was bright again.