The New Year celebration was exciting. It lasted a few days and people were coming and going, so time passed relatively fast.
In a flash, it was over. On the seventh day of the new year, the celebrations had slowed down. When it was the eighth and ninth day of the new year, there was really nothing going on.
But the gambling den in the village still had people in there.
Su Danhong didnât go, and Ji Jianyun didnât like to go either. Meanwhile, Mother Ji liked to play a game or two.
Just yesterday, Mother Ji came to ask Su Danhong if she could win a game.
Su Danhong thought it was funny. This was an ask to the Great Fox Immortal, but where did she get the idea that the Great Fox Immortal could do something for her? She told Mother Ji that small pleasure from gambling would eventually lead to bigger bets and be harmful. At noon yesterday, Mother Ji came to confess something.
She said she regretted it. She had won at the beginning, but then she lost it all.
Mother Ji didnât say it clearly, but she just came to apologize to the Great Fox Immortal for not listening. It was just a small gamble. If it was a small gamble, wouldnât she win?
After gambling for a long time, she lost all her money.
Su Danhong smiled but said nothing.
When Mother Ji went back, she went to gamble again, and then lost again. After this, she didnât go again.
She believed that the Great Fox Immortal didnât care for her anymore since she had offended her. Without the Great Fox Immortalâs care, she would not dare to gamble and would definitely lose money if she did.
But even like this, she ended up losing three or four yuan. This stressed her out for a long time.
While Mother Ji still liked to gamble, Father Ji didnât like it. Even on the first day of the New Year, he went for a walk in the mountains.
After the fifth day, Father Ji basically stayed in the orchard. He even slept there and didnât descend the mountain.
Su Danhong asked Ji Jianyun to deliver very delicious meals to Father Ji every day for all the efforts he put in for the couple.
On the tenth day, Ji Jianwen and Yun Lili, as well as Ji Yunyun all left. They left their daughter, Yanâer, behind.
The reason they did so was because Yanâer could eat solids and didnât need to be breast-fed. Thus, she could stay in the village and be taken care of for a year or two. When she was older, they would take her to kindergarten. Otherwise, the couple would have to hire a babysitter, which was a lot of money. Moreover, Yun Lili couldnât take her to her maternal home. She would have to spend a lot of money on milk powder and so on.
Mother Ji also agreed.
Feng Fangfang, Ji Mudan and Su Danhong did not say anything about this matter since this was also a relatively normal thing. Jiangshui City was not like the village, what didnât cost money?
The child was still young, and the couple had to go to school to teach. How could they be free to do other things?
Because of Yanâer, Mother Ji didnât gamble any more. She had to take care of her at home.
At the beginning, Yanâer was not used to it. She cried intensely, but there was nothing Mother Ji could do about it. She brought Yanâer over to Su Danhongâs and wanted to let the Great Immortal see if she had offended her?.
But Su Danhong gave Yanâer milk powder. After letting her drink it, she was quiet.
Su Danhong gave her the doll she had made for Xiao Renren, and she had fun playing with it.
A child would always forget the past easily. After a few days, she didnât think about her parents. In the evening, she would sleep with Mother Ji. As soon as it was the next day and she was awake, she would go over to Su Danhongâs.
She had to go there to play or she would throw a tantrum.
Mother Ji had no choice but to bring her here. She apologized to Su Danhong, âDanhong, this girl is set on coming over. Why donât you let her stay here and wait for me to take her back in the evening?â
âOkay,â Su Danhong answered.
Yanâer, this niece, was actually taught well. Although she was only two and a half years old, she could happily play on her own as long as she had enough food and water and was given a few dolls.
When she had to use the bathroom, she would sort of say she had to go or use other words to express her urgency. At other times, she would play with herself on the kang. Xiao Renren was about the same, saying âah-ahâ and babbling. Yanâer would be curious about him from time to time. Sometimes she would stand up and go over to him by herself.
She wanted to give him the doll she had, but it was clear that Renren didnât know how to play with it yet. As soon as he got the toy, he would bring it to his mouth and get a lot of saliva over it.
The sister and brother played on the kang by themselves, while Su Danhong set up an embroidery frame nearby and began to embroider. The child was obedient and easy to take, so she still had time to do her own things.
When Ji Jianyun came back, he smiled when he saw what was going on. He said, âYanâer is a good child, sheâs quiet.â
âSheâs a good child. Go and buy a box of apples tomorrow. Weâve eaten all of it,â Su Danhong said.
âOkay,â Ji Jianyun replied.
The next day, he went to town and brought back two boxes of apples. Ji Jianyun sent twelve apples to Mother Su, three to Mother Ji, and a few to Father Ji on the mountain. As for the rest, he asked for Hou Wazi, Xiaozhen, and Xiaoyu to come over and gave each child two apples.
One box of apples had a lot. He saved the remaining box for his family to eat.
A box of apples was a lot of money, but Su Danhong has no problem with Ji Jianyunâs decisions.
Although she had made a lot of money, she has never felt that everything was just amazing. She just thought of herself in the context of being a wife. When her husband needed her, she should do her duty as a wife. When her husband did something wrong, she would tell him.
He was happy about doing these small acts of kindness. She didnât care about which family the apples were given to. One was to her mother, another was to his mother, and the rest were not given to outsiders, so what was there to bring up about that?
Most of the apples were given to the old Su family and it was all red Fuji apples.
Naturally this was also because her sister-in-law was pregnant. It was good to eat more apples, so they were given more.
Su Danhong was eating an apple. Xiao Renren didnât know how to eat it, and he didnât have teeth yet. Yanâer could eat it. More specifically, she could eat applesauce.
If it was any other aunt, Yanâer would not be able to eat. Su Danhong was the kind of aunt that would share. Not just that, she made the apples into applesauce for her.
âMom, eat, eat.â
On this day, Yanâer spoke, which startled Su Danhong. She immediately found it funny, but also did not correct her.
The child was still young. She would understand when she grew up.
âYou can just eat it. Third aunt has already eaten,â Su Danhong smiled and explained.
Yanâer ate it.
She basically ate half an apple every day, and Su Danhong was not troubled by this. When Mother Ji learned of it, she came by and said to Su Danhong, âDanhong, just give her a bite to eat. You donât have to do this.â
Su Danhon did not tell her about this. It was said by Ji Jianyun when he was joking around. He just said it casually, and he didnât take it seriously.
But Mother Ji listened to him and thought they were specifically buying apples for Yanâer. Thus, she had to come over and say her opinion.
âMother, I buy it for myself to eat, but how old is Yanâer? If she likes it then she should eat it.â Su Danhong didnât think it was a big issue. How could half an apple be worth coming over to say this?
Footnotes
The term refers to children who live in rural areas and are taken care of by extended families while their parents work in urban areas. Wiki