Back to 1988 9

Chapter 9: The Thermos

After the New Year, little Bai Luochuan began to learn to speak.

He started with simple repetitive sounds, which gradually became smoother. He was a fast learner, and within a few days, he could already say quite a few single words. He was very sensitive to the sound of adults calling his name and would try to babble along with whatever was said to him. Mi Yang, who was always with the little young master, was also practicing in secret. His control was much better, and he could speak a little earlier than little Bai Luochuan, but he didn’t dare to show it. Mi Yang waited until after Bai Luochuan started calling out, and then, after a while, he also began to try calling “daddy” and “mommy,” learning to speak.

By the time spring arrived, Mi Yang could already call his parents fluently.

Mi Yang couldn’t remember when children started to speak in short sentences, so he diligently followed Bai Luochuan’s lead.

When little Bai Luochuan started calling people, he would wait a few days before trying to say a couple of words himself; when little Bai Luochuan started talking, he would talk along with him; if the little young master said a single word, he would never say two.

As a result, years later, all the adults praised Bai Luochuan for teaching Mi Yang how to speak.

Mi Yang could have coughed up three liters of blood, but he had to swallow this silent grievance.

Cheng Qing stayed at home with the child, sometimes making a few small clothes. Mi Zehai, a tough man with an iron fist outside, would come home covered in mud from training, and then hug his wife and son, grinning from ear to ear.

Mi Yang was used to this contrast and couldn’t even be bothered to roll his little eyes anymore.

Mi Zehai had been busy with the military district’s major exercise recently. He had even specifically sought out Bai Jingrong for this, and the two of them had gone to the operations room to work on the sand table, acting very mysterious.

Compared to studying and reviewing, Mi Zehai, a veteran who had been tempered in the military camp for years and had earned his position in the field army through actual military merit, clearly preferred to speak with force. Working on the sand table, he was a hundred times more energetic than when he was holding a book and studying.

Cheng Qing saw all of this. At first, she was a little anxious and would make him study at home. This caused Deputy Company Commander Mi to run out whenever he had a chance, heading to the operations room to work on the sand table with a few soldiers with great enthusiasm. His addiction was like that of a retired old man playing chess by the lake. A couple of times, Cheng Qing caught him, and he stood there, startled, clutching the red and blue pencils in his hand, too flustered to speak for a long time.

Cheng Qing still gave him face in front of others, only saying she had something to discuss with him and asking him to go home for dinner first.

Deputy Company Commander Mi immediately understood, straightened his back, and said, “Ahem, you go ahead. I still have some work to do.”

Cheng Qing agreed and obediently left. The moment she turned the corner, she hugged Mi Yang and said through gritted teeth, “When you grow up, you must study hard. Don’t be like your father, feigning compliance!”

Mi Yang was also a little curious. How did his father manage to get into military academy like this?

Soon, Mi Zehai returned. After entering the house, he mumbled a few explanations in the outer room. Mi Yang pricked up his ears to listen, but the voice was too low for him to hear clearly what was said.

Cheng Qing’s voice wasn’t loud either. She said lightly, “Done with your work?”

Mi Zehai said in a panic, “Done, done!”

Cheng Qing remained indifferent. “Then go inside and study. Same old rules.”

Mi Yang, bored on the bed and practicing rolling over, saw his father come in with a washboard. First, he drew the curtains in the room tightly, then he knelt on it and obediently began to study. He couldn’t have looked more serious.

Mi Yang blew a bubble of laughter, giggling uncontrollably. So that’s how it is, he thought. Studying with such diligence, like tying one’s hair to a beam and pricking one’s thigh with an awl? No wonder he passed.

Mi Zehai shot his son a sour look, feeling that the little rascal was laughing at his old man. But he didn’t dare to get off the washboard under his knees. He knelt and recited his books for over half an hour. Finally, Cheng Qing came in to test him, as serious as a teacher.

Mi Zehai’s answers were quite good, almost all correct.

“That’s more like it. You can go,” Cheng Qing closed the book, letting him up and ending the punishment. Mi Zehai looked relieved. Kneeling for a while didn’t bother him at all; in fact, he felt he had fulfilled his duty to his wife and that the matter was over. Seeing his smiling face, which clearly showed he didn’t learn his lesson, Cheng Qing became a little displeased again. “With your cleverness, if you had worked hard back then, you could have gotten into university. You just don’t study seriously.”

Mi Zehai said placatingly, “I’ll start working hard now. Don’t be angry.”

Cheng Qing looked up at him.

Mi Zehai pledged his loyalty again. “Really. It’s fine if we have it a bit tough. Yangyang and the others will have a good life in the future!”

No, you have no idea how tough Yangyang’s future will be.

Mi Yang thought with a solemn little face.

All that money I saved for so many years, I finally paid off the mortgage on that apartment, and I didn’t even get to live in it for a single day!

The closer it got to the time for Mi Yang and his mother to leave, the more reluctant Mi Zehai became. He would often hug his son and then his wife. There wasn’t much he could do, so he did what he could.

Mi Zehai took a weekend, and with his newly received salary of 182 yuan, he took Cheng Qing on a trip to the city to buy things.

It was also Mi Yang’s first time leaving the military camp. His eyes darted left and right, full of curiosity.

The closest city to the military camp was an old industrial city. The streets were older, and the buildings were relatively low. Even the department store in the city center was only a few stories high, standing there squat and solid. But compared to the surrounding tube-like apartment buildings, it was already grand enough. The glittering gold characters in front of the store were very eye-catching.

Mi Zehai first took Cheng Qing to the women’s clothing section. They looked at several woolen dresses and skirts through the glass counter. The prices were all very expensive. Cheng Qing repeatedly said she didn’t want them and instead pulled him to the general merchandise section.

Cheng Qing still remembered the slender thermos from the Bai family. She walked around the general merchandise section several times, and by a stroke of luck, she found an identical one. When she asked for the price, it was 43 yuan. The salesclerk told them, “This is a new product from Shanghai. There are only two left. If you don’t buy it today, it’ll be sold out.”

Cheng Qing gritted her teeth and said to her, “Please wrap it up for us. We’ll take this one.”

Mi Yang’s gaze fell on the red thermos, thinking that this was how the old antique in his home had come to be.

In the past, Bai Luochuan had also mentioned it to him once or twice. It was likely that Mrs. Bai had told him a few times about the amusing stories from their childhood. He didn’t remember any of it and thought the young master Bai was deliberately teasing him. He didn’t seem very interested in these things, and after Bai Luochuan mentioned it a few times, he became angry and embarrassed and refused to speak of it again.

It was no wonder that Bai Luochuan, a person with such strong defenses, would be particularly affectionate and caring towards him.

He had thought they were just from the same hometown, but Bai Luochuan had considered him a childhood friend who grew up sharing the same pair of pants.

Just as he was thinking, he heard Cheng Qing’s smiling voice say, “This size is just right, and it keeps things warm well. It’ll be perfect for use on the train.”