Back To The 80s-Chapter 112 - 111: Household Registration_1

Gu Xiaobei also regained his composure, saying, "Jiujiu, eat as much as you like, we will bring some white flour for your mother tomorrow."

Jiujiu lit up but immediately seemed disheartened. She whispered, "Auntie, it’s okay. Even if I took the white flour, my fourth sister-in-law would just hide it. I just want my mother to eat some white flour buns."

Gu Xiaobei and Lu Zhanguo looked at each other. Such a small child, living such a hard life.

Gu Xiaobei patted Jiujiu’s head and said, "Then Jiujiu, listen to your auntie. Study hard, get a good job in the future, bring your mother to live in the city, and eat white flour buns every day."

Jiujiu nodded energetically, indicating that she would certainly listen to Gu Xiaobei.

Lu Zhanguo was supposed to go with them to Chen Family’s field to pick potatoes on Sunday, but he was urgently called back to the military district for a meeting early in the morning.

Zhang Lijun couldn’t leave because he was on duty, so Li Fengmei suggested, "Let’s borrow a cart. When the time comes, I’ll push it and you and Dadong can help push it from the sides."

At present, there was no other solution, and Gu Xiaobei felt she had no choice but to do so.

Going there with an empty cart did not feel heavy. They reached Chen Family’s field by noon.

When the children playing at the entrance of the village saw Jiujiu, they widened their eyes, and then exclaimed excitedly after a while, "Jiujiu, you are Jiujiu!"

Jiujiu shyly laughed and didn’t speak, but her eyes were filled with excitement.

Gu Xiaobei took out the egg cakes that Chang Yuan had brought back yesterday and let Jiujiu divide them among the children. Each of the six or seven children received two pieces, all displaying joyous and satisfied smiles.

When they arrived at Chen Family’s house, Li Xianglan was sitting in the courtyard, looking after the children. Seeing Gu Xiaobei and others arriving, she didn’t show any signs of happiness, as Jiujiu’s absence these days had kept her very busy.

Now, seeing Jiujiu dressed in new clothes, with neatly combed hair, her heart was filled with suppressed anger.

Chen Gang was tidying up the chicken coop. Hearing voices, he happily ran out. Seeing Jiujiu standing there in new, beautiful, and clean clothes, his eyes welled up with tears. He looked gratefully at Gu Xiaobei, speechless.

Jiujiu went over and held Chen Gang’s hand. With joy she asked, "Is ’A Niang’ (Mother) okay? I brought white flour buns for ’A Niang’."

Upon hearing about the white flour buns, Li Xianglan gulped and felt a few more hatreds towards Jiujiu. She thought, how fortunate this wild girl is.

Chen Gang too had wide eyes and joyfully exclaimed, "Really? Come on, let’s go and give them to ’A Niang’." He took Jiujiu’s hand and headed into the house.

Gu Xiaobei and Li Fengmei didn’t mind that the children had forgotten about them and followed them inside.

As soon as Jiujiu saw Chen’s wife lying on the bed, she immediately fished a big white bun out of the cloth bag she was carrying and held it up in front of Chen’s wife like a treasure, "’A Niang’, look, I brought back a white flour bun for you."

Chen’s wife wiped her tears with her frail hand and said, "Jiujiu really met Goddess of Mercy, Jiujiu is a good girl..."

Jiujiu’s eyes also welled up with tears, she said, "’A Niang’, you eat the bun, it’s really tasty."

Chen’s wife took the bun and took a big bite. She said through her tears, "This bun is really delicious."

"’A Niang’, Auntie said, as long as I study well, find a good job in the future, and take you to the city, you can eat white flour buns every day." Jiujiu held Chen’s hand, which was as thin as dry branches, and said.

Chen’s wife lowered her head and wiped her tears, "Jiujiu, mother... I’m sorry."

Gu Xiaobei and Li Fengmei couldn’t bear to watch any longer and left the room to go outside.

Li Xianglan was still sitting in the same place holding the child. Gu Xiaobei saw the child in Li Xianglan’s arms, dirty, sucking his dirty fingers, and making a ’popping’ sound. She sighed, reached into the cart, took out two egg cakes, and handed them to the child.

Li Xianglan’s face showed a hint of embarrassment. She took the egg cakes for the child without saying anything.

Li Fengmei asked, "Where is Chen Qiang? Help us with potato loading onto the cart, we have to hurry back home."

"The villagers are digging ditches together, Qiangzi has gone to help."

After a while, Jiujiu and Chen Gang came out of the room. Gu Xiaobei took out the clothes she bought for Chen Gang and asked him to try them on.

Chen Gang fumbled with his hands, excited and not knowing what to say. Gu Xiaobei shoved the clothes into Chen Gang’s arms, "Don’t stand there in a daze, go and try them on quickly."

Chen Gang had a good build but appeared somewhat thin due to malnutrition. Once he changed into a striped autumn shirt and sports trousers, even Gu Xiaobei was impressed by his look. Chen Gang didn’t look much like Jiujiu at all; Jiujiu had round eyes, a slightly collapsed nose, and a very round and refined nose tip.

Chen Gang, on the other hand, had deep-set eyes, a high and straight nose, and somewhat mixed blood looks that gave him an exoticism. Now, his face was young and tender, she expected him to grow into a very handsome man.

Chen Gang shyly came out and did a turn before quickly returning to the room to take off his new clothes. He said, "Auntie, I’ll help load the potatoes onto the cart."

To Gu Xiaobei’s surprise, the thin Chen Gang was stronger than herself. She and Li Fengmei tried to lift a sack of potatoes but couldn’t. Yet Chen Gang easily lifted a sack of potatoes with Li Fengmei.

After the potatoes were loaded onto the cart, Chen Gang looked at Gu Xiaobei and said, "Auntie, should I escort you back?"

"Chen Gang, take your summer homework with you. You don’t need to come back tonight since school starts tomorrow." Dadong enthusiastically suggested. Chen Gang hesitated a bit after hearing it. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Lao Liu, go with them, it’s not too busy at home right now." Li Xianglan kindly suggested. She had just seen that there were several buns in Jiujiu’s bag. If Chen Gang left, they could have a good meal tonight.

Chen Gang thought for a while and nodded. He went into the house, put his summer homework into his school bag, and also put in the new clothes after folding them.

Gu Xiaobei looked at Chen Gang carrying his slanting satchel, neat even though it had two patches on it. It suddenly occurred to her that she forgot to buy a school bag for Jiujiu.

With Chen Gang’s help, Gu Xiaobei was able to save a lot of energy. It was just a matter of helping Dadong support the other side of the cart.

Gu Xiaobei looked at the four children and a thought flashed through her mind, "Do you guys learn English in school?"

"No, we only start learning it in junior high school." Dadong answered.

Gu Xiaobei became interested and said, "Would you like to learn? I can teach you."

Dadong excitedly said, "Auntie, we want to learn."

Chen Gang pushed the cart silently on one side, but he was quite happy in his heart.

"Chen Gang, what is Jiujiu’s name on the household register?" Gu Xiaobei suddenly remembered that Jiujiu didn’t have a formal name.

"Jiujiu does not have a household register. Several years ago, no one in the family thought to register Jiujiu. Later, when they wanted to distribute land, some people in the village disagreed with Jiujiu having a household registration, saying that as soon as Jiujiu was registered, she would take up a few more shares of land. Then, my Xiao Ma (Mother) being afraid of troubles, let the matter drop." Chen Gang spoke softly.

Gu Xiaobei found it strange. Given the villagers’ sympathy for Jiujiu, how could they not allow Jiujiu to be registered? Frowning, she wondered who could help Jiujiu with her household registration problem.

Li Fengmei also sighed, "This place is short of land, and these people won’t let go of a few shares. One less person equals one less piece of land to split."

When the group arrived at the entrance of the military department, they saw Xiangmin and Chi Xiaoyue standing at the gate, as if they were waiting for someone.

Seeing the group, Xiangmin lifted her chin arrogantly. Chi Xiaoyue, not interested, turned her face away.