Chapter 346: A Fashion Item Everyone Has

The old couple had already changed into the leather cotton-padded shoes their grandson bought for them; wearing these, both felt they had become quite something.

Seeing his eldest son so oblivious, he felt stifled inside.

"Ahem." Gu Fu cleared his throat, his voice loud and clear.

Gu Yuanshan was a straightforward man, the least capable of beating around the bush; he didn't notice his old father's thoughts and was still asking Gu Lan about the situation in the provincial capital.

"Our A-Lan is now someone who has ridden a train. How is the provincial capital? How tall is the tallest building? There must be many times more cars on the streets than here, right? Do the people there look down on those from out of town...?!"

He threw out one question after another, his words full of curiosity.

Clearly, Lin Zhao and the twins had mentioned the situation in the provincial capital before, yet all of them were tireless in asking about it.

Gu Lan had a soft, honest, and obedient nature, answering her father's questions one by one.

"The provincial capital is more prosperous than here. There are quite a lot of people riding bicycles, and there are cars, but not that many. How tall is the tallest building? I'm not sure, but it looks quite tall. The people in the provincial capital are very enthusiastic and don't look down on people..."

She took out the feather given to them by the zoo staff, a smile blooming on her face brighter than summer flowers.

"This is a peacock feather given by the zoo staff when Third Aunt took us to the zoo. Third Aunt gave it to me."

The feather was very magnificent and large, different from a pheasant feather.

"A peacock? I heard they can fan their tails. Did you see it?" Gu Yuanshan asked curiously.

"I saw it. Third Aunt said we were really lucky; many people want to see it but can't." Gu Lan thought of the peacock fanning its tail, her expression somewhat dazed. The world is truly wonderful, to have given birth to so many magical animals.

Gu Hangbao chimed in, "Mom took a lot of photos of us, and I even took a photo with a tiger!"

The excitement in his tone could be heard clearly from far away.

Yuan Bao, Ye Tie Niu, and a few others came to play with the twins. Just as they reached the entrance of the old Gu residence, they heard this boastful sentence first.

The children paused slightly, then slid out in an instant, scurrying over to their good friends.

"Xiang Yubao, Gu Hangbao, did you really take a photo with a tiger? Why didn't the tiger eat you?" Yuan Bao asked, puzzled.

Ye Tie Niu said loudly, "I know. It must be because the twins are too small and not enough to fill the gaps in its teeth, so the tiger was too lazy to eat them!"

Da Zhuang deeply agreed with this explanation, "Tigers don't eat children, only adults."

This viewpoint was not only wrong but also very dangerous. One must know that they were backed by high mountains here; if these cubs really believed it and went into the deep mountains in a group, then... the village would be in chaos.

"No, compared to adults, tigers prefer to eat children; children's meat is tender." Lin Zhao smiled and scared the group of children.

Yuan Bao and the others were so scared their expressions stiffened.

Gu Lan knew Third Aunt's intentions and put on a serious look, echoing her words, "That's right. The tigers in the zoo don't eat children or adults because they were raised by people and were fed beforehand."

The children didn't know why, but they felt it was impressive.

Ye Tie Niu's eyes brightened, his words full of admiration, "Someone actually raises tigers? So amazing, I want to raise one too."

Xiang Yubao said, "Tigers need to eat meat, and your house has no meat."

Little Ye Tie Niu choked and decisively gave up the idea, "Forget it then. I don't even have meat to eat myself; I'll talk about it when I have endless meat."

The Gu family laughed out loud.

Yuan Bao scratched his head and said directly, "Did you bring back the photos of you and the tiger? I want to see; I haven't seen a big tiger yet."

Before Xiang Yubao could speak, Gu Hangbao had already rushed to Lin Zhao to ask for the plastic bag containing the photos.

After getting it, he found a rag to wipe the large stone table in the courtyard and poured out the photos.

A clear voice rang out, "Come here to look, the photos are all here."

The old couple of the Gu family were the closest and saw the photos first. There were quite a few of Little Shi Tou in them. After seeing them, the couple took the photos into their hands and looked closely.

"Little Shi Tou! It's Little Shi Tou!!" Gu Mu's old eyes were filled with joy. Her rough hands touched the face of her little grandson through the photo, her face full of longing, "He looks thinner. Is Little Shi Tou not getting enough to eat? Heartless A-Chan, how could she bear to send her own son away? My little grandson is only that big..."

Hearing the old woman nagging endlessly, Gu Fu couldn't help but speak up, "Alright, don't say this in front of A-Chan. What mother doesn't feel heartache for her son? A-Chan is also doing it for Little Shi Tou's own good."

His eyes were fixed tightly on Little Shi Tou in the photo, "He hasn't thinned out; he's even grown a bit fatter. There's meat on his face now."

Gu Mu looked back and forth, but she felt Little Shi Tou had thinned out, and she unconsciously cast her gaze on Lin Zhao.

"He hasn't thinned out; he's grown taller." Lin Zhao thought to herself, there is a kind of thinness called your grandmother (maternal grandmother) thinks you are thin.

"He's doing quite well. The coach takes good care of him, and the children who train with him treat him like a younger brother. No one bullies him. I see him smiling, and his temperament has become much more optimistic."

Knowing her parents-in-law were worried about their little grandson who had left home, Lin Zhao spoke in great detail.

Hearing her say this, the old couple felt relieved. Their third daughter-in-law was thoughtful and meticulous; if she said Little Shi Tou was doing well, he certainly wasn't doing poorly.

"Little Shi Tou will come back for the New Year. In less than three months, he will be back. You can ask him yourselves then, Father and Mother."

Getting the confirmation that their little grandson would be back for the New Year, the old couple were so happy they couldn't speak and began to look at the photos seriously.

Seeing Xiang Yubao and the others touching the tiger's head, they exclaimed.

"This... how dare you even touch a tiger's head! Xiang Yubao, Gu Hangbao, how can you be so bold? It's so dangerous. Tigers are fierce beasts; if they go crazy, they will eat people! You mustn't have no sense of weight in the future!" Gu Mu hurriedly said to the twins.

Xiang Yubao hurriedly said, "There are many keepers there, and my mom is there too, so I'm not afraid."

"That's still dangerous." Gu Mu imagined a terrifying scene, "What if it jumps up and bites your arm in one gulp, what then?!"

Biting the arm was nothing; what about biting the neck? Thinking of this, her heart pounded wildly with lingering fear.

Gu Hangbao said, "The big cats raised by people are very affectionate; they don't hurt humans."

"Better safe than sorry," Gu Mu said.

Gu Fu felt she was a bit of a killjoy and interrupted her, "Let's not talk about this anymore. The children have all come back safely, so why talk about this? Besides, Third Daughter-in-law is here; could she watch Xiang Yubao and the others get into trouble?"

Lin Zhao smiled and nodded.

Gu Mu stopped talking. She knew she was nagging, but she really couldn't help it.

Xiang Yubao was quick-witted and handed a photo of himself face-to-face with a giant panda to his grandmother, "Grandma, look at the giant panda."

Gu Mu looked down and saw a large basin-like face and a pair of pitch-black eyes.

"Oh my, what a big basin face, and the eyes are really black!"

Lin Zhao: "..." Harsh words hurt the cat's heart.

Xiang Yubao's expression was indescribable.

"Grandma, Tuan Tuan doesn't like being told its face is big. Don't say that about it." Gu Hangbao, who had a long mouth, made a request.

"Who is Tuan Tuan? This big cat?!" Gu Mu asked.

"That's right, its name is Tuan Tuan," Gu Hangbao said.

Yuan Bao: "Wow, it even has a name. Do big cats have names?"

"They all have names. Let me tell you slowly..." Gu Hangbao had a good memory and began telling his little friends the names of the animals in the photos.

The children would exclaim "wow" from time to time, and the Gu family courtyard was incredibly lively.

There were many photos, and looking at them one by one took quite a bit of time, but the children were not in a hurry.

"Xiang Yubao, what is this!? Is it a snake? It's so thick." Ye Tie Niu was the first to see the photo of the giant python, his chin almost dropping off.

"Yes, it's a giant python from the zoo. It's super big, and it's sleeping," Xiang Yubao explained.

"So scary." The only son of the Zhibao team leader Zhang Yongqiang, Little Calf, said softly.

He was a premature baby and was born weak. He was two years older than the twins but the same height as them. He spoke in a thin, soft voice, had fair skin, and looked a bit feminine.

"Little Calf, why are you afraid of everything you see? My mother said you were reincarnated into the wrong family. You should have been reincarnated into a big shot's family. There are no toads, scorpions, or centipedes in small foreign-style buildings..." Yuan Bao said.

Little Calf's eyes moistened, his face showing grievance, and he said weakly, "I don't want to go to a big shot's family; I just want my father and mother."

Gu Mu was afraid he would cry, so she took out a handful of large red dates and shared them among the children.

"Eat the dates, to sweeten your mouths."

The children thanked her obediently.

Lin Zhao's gaze fell on the clothes Little Calf was wearing. The style of the clothes the child was wearing looked simple, but there were actually many clever touches, such as the slightly gathered cuffs and the little ducks embroidered stitch by stitch, making the child's already delicate little face look even cuter.

"Little Calf, did your mother make your clothes?" she asked.

Little Calf looked over, stunned, and nodded seriously twice, "Mm-hmm."

"Does your mother take on work?" Lin Zhao wanted to make new clothes for the four cubs. Her own craftsmanship wasn't bad, but she was a bit lazy and wanted to pick up something ready-made.

Gu Mu interjected, "You want to find Yu Zhen to make clothes?!"

Yu Zhen was the wife of the Zhibao team leader Zhang Yongqiang and also Little Calf's mother. She was twenty-seven years old this year, had good tailoring skills, and could also embroider.

"That's right, to make a set for the four cubs." Lin Zhao didn't deny it.

Making them again? They hadn't even worn the ones made last year much.

Gu Mu muttered in her heart but didn't dare to say it in front of Lin Zhao.

"Yu Zhen takes on work. If you want to make some, just go and tell her."

Lin Zhao agreed, "Okay."

Hearing this conversation and knowing that Mom was going to make them new clothes, Xiang Yubao took the initiative to make a request, "Mom, I want to embroider flowers on my clothes!"

"Embroider Da Huang, Hu Po, Xiao Jin, or Mei Qiu?" Lin Zhao asked.

Gu Hangbao's loud voice rang out, "I want Tuan Tuan too, a big Tuan Tuan."

He spread his arms and gestured a large circle.

"Embroider it on the chest, it has to be big!"

Lin Zhao: "..."

Just thinking about it, it looked bad.

"Don't go too far," she said.

Gu Hangbao restrained himself slightly and said reluctantly, "Then embroidering half is fine, right?"

"... Fine."

She asked about the requests of the other three cubs. Xiang Yubao said he wanted to embroider a group photo of their family. Lin Zhao felt it was too strange and politely declined his request. Da Zai looked slightly disappointed but didn't make a fuss, only saying he wanted to embroider Mei Qiu.

As for Qian Bao and Seeing Yaobao, they had no requests. Qian Bao said he would listen to Mom, and Seeing Yaobao followed her brother in saying she would listen to Mom. The little brother and sister followed Lin Zhao's ideas.

Looking at the twins' soft faces, Lin Zhao already had an idea in her heart, just waiting to go back and draw it out.

After the family finished admiring the photos, Xiang Yubao and Gu Hangbao put them away carefully.

Lin Zhao reminded, "Don't forget to leave two for your grandparents."

The old couple painstakingly picked out two photos and cautiously placed them under the transparent glass covering the cabinet. They could take a few glances whenever they passed by, which made the old couple incredibly happy.

The desire of the two to show off their cotton-padded shoes was finally satisfied.

When walking into the house, Gu Yuanshan noticed the shoes on his parents' feet.

"Father, Mother, when did you buy the cotton-padded shoes?" Gu Yuanshan walked over, staring at the shoes on his parents' feet, his expression as envious as could be.

Gu Fu's whole body shook; the opportunity had come.

The old man stood still, trying hard to restrain the corners of his mouth from turning up, and said in a calm tone the most pretentious words, "Xiang Yubao and Gu Hangbao used their prize money to buy them for your mother and me, saying it was to show filial piety to us."

Gu Mu continued, "When we go out in the snow this year, your father and I won't be cold anymore."

The cotton-padded boots she made herself would get wet when meeting snow or rain; they weren't as waterproof as the ones bought.

Gu Yuanshan was silent.

Are children nowadays this capable?!

"Xiang Yubao and Gu Hangbao are better than me," he said.

Gu Mu didn't belittle her son and said, "You're not bad either."

Gu Fu nodded.

Among his sons, none were unfilial.

Yuanshan and Yucheng didn't have much money, but they were also filial, a filial piety reflected in every trivial aspect.

Gu Yuanshan's heart felt warm. He must earn a lot, a lot of money in the future and treat his parents well.

The news that Xiang Yubao and Gu Hangbao bought leather cotton-padded shoes for their grandparents soon spread throughout the entire brigade.

A group of people's eyes were red with envy.

Those who felt there was no need to buy an abacus for their children immediately arranged one for them.

Thus, there were many more children in the Harvest Brigade learning arithmetic anytime and anywhere.

Walking on the road, one could see many dolls carrying abacuses.

The abacus had become a fashion item that every child in the entire brigade had.

Lin Zhao's mouth twitched.

"..."

The next day, at noon.

Song Yuncheng received the love-filled lunch specially delivered by his sister.

Fragrant and soft white rice, Dongpo pork, fish with pickled vegetables, and pork stir-fried with chili; all three dishes were meat dishes.

He was somewhat flattered, "Sister, what do you need me to do?"

"... You really understand me." Lin Zhao gave him an appreciative look.

Without wasting words, she said directly, "Qingzhou wants to do some mechanical work in the future; you should guide him."

"Me?" Song Yuncheng pointed to the tip of his nose with the hand holding the chopsticks, "I haven't finished my apprenticeship yet; it wouldn't be good for him to take me as his master. If my father knew I dared to teach others when my skills weren't refined, he would definitely beat me to death."

"Take you as his master? You wish." Lin Zhao rolled her eyes at him, "I'm just letting you guide him into the entry level; don't have so much drama."

Yuncheng patted his chest, "It's fine as long as he doesn't take me as his master. Scared me to death. Guide him into the entry level? Sure, it's not a difficult task. I agree."

He ate a piece of soft and fragrant Dongpo pork, which almost made him dizzy with delight, and the speed of his rice-shoveling became much more agile.

Thinking of something, he suddenly raised his head and said, "Sister, you aren't planning on having him take my father as his master, are you?!"

Yuncheng's brow furrowed into a small hill, weighing his words, "My father has high requirements for apprentices. He doesn't want fools, he doesn't want those who aren't steady and diligent, he doesn't want those who don't catch his eye, and he doesn't want those who use family connections to get close to him..."

After saying a series of "don't want," he spread his hands and concluded, "When it comes to work, even if you personally open your mouth to beg my father, he might not necessarily nod..." ===== CHAPTER 347 =====