Bai Shuhua felt that there was no hope with Bai Dad, and decided to shift her focus to Bai Mother.
Originally, after dinner, she had planned to discuss storytelling with Bai Mother.
But Bai Dad and Bai Mom were too eager for a “kang chat,” and kept urging the siblings to go to bed early.
Bai Shuhua still understood very well the feeling of her parents being apart for a short time and feeling like newlyweds, so she could only put the storytelling matter off for later.
Two more days passed, and the matter of Bai Dad going to Harbin gradually faded away.
Bai Shuhua held up the newspaper and said in surprise, “Mom, look, storytellers can even make the newspaper.”
In this era, people had an especially strong sense of honor, being in the newspaper meant bringing glory to the family.
“Where? Where?”
Mother Bai was indeed very interested, and snatched the newspaper over to look.
“Let me see too.”
Bai Dad also leaned over.
“They really tell it well, I can’t do that.” Mother Bai was quite self-aware. “I only know a few old routines, and those aren’t popular anymore now.”
Bai Shuhua did not want Mother Bai to be discouraged. “But Mom, you have the foundation. You learn fast at anything. If she can tell it, you can learn it too.”
Mother Bai rubbed her daughter’s head a little sadly. “What’s the use of learning it? I still have to work in the fields every day.”
Bai Shuhua was left speechless. She really could not give any guarantee.
Why was it so hard to make her parents work hard?
“Learn it. Come back at night and tell it to us, the four of us will be your audience.” Bai Dad said with a grin.
Mother Bai pouted. “Forget it, if I had that time I’d rather lie down for a while.”
Bai Shuhua thought, don’t lie down!
She grabbed Mother Bai’s arm and acted coquettishly. “Mom, teach me. A few days ago, the teacher taught us the school song, and I sang it badly. The teacher said I was off-key. I have to learn something else, or else when I need to perform in the future, the other classmates will all be able to sing, and I’ll be left staring blankly.”
For her own mother, she had to put herself on the line.
Bai Dad immediately passed the blame. “I don’t sing off-key, so this part doesn’t take after me.”
Mother Bai was unhappy. “The good parts take after you, and the bad parts take after me? My voice is just fine. Otherwise, among the four sisters in our family, why would my maternal grandmother have picked only me?”
Bai Dad and Mother Bai looked at each other for a while, and Bai Dad changed his tune. “Then maybe it takes after your maternal grandmother.”
The corners of Bai Shuhua’s mouth twitched. Luckily it was only the three of them in the room, otherwise if Grandmother Bai found out, she would definitely start scolding people.
“Big girl, do you really want to learn?” Mother Bai asked again.
Bai Shuhua nodded heavily. “I want to learn, I have to learn. Mom, think about it, I’m now the teacher’s favorite student. Whatever good things the teacher has, she never forgets me, but I can’t do leading songs and the like. In order not to embarrass myself, I have to get myself a specialty.”
Bai Dad also strongly agreed. “Our daughter is right.”
Two votes in favor, one abstention, and the matter was settled.
Mother Bai said, “Then the day after tomorrow I’ll take half a day off and go back to my natal family to find the little drum. It’s been so many years, and I don’t know whether it’s broken or not.”
Bai Shuhua looked very eager and a little childish. “Mom, I want to beat the drum, dong dong dong… it must be fun.”
Bai Shuhua really had not expected that Mother Bai, such a lazy person, would become so strict when she taught.
She said that her maternal grandmother had taught her that way, and she did not know anything else.
Bai Shuhua had the feeling of lifting a rock only to smash her own foot.
At first she had still been thinking of muddling through, just letting Mother Bai pick the skill back up would have been enough, but now it had become a matter of practicing every day.
The only comfort was that Mother Bai would accompany her.
So it still counted as having achieved most of the goal.
Day by day passed, and time quickly reached the end of July. The primary school started summer vacation.
Bai Shuhua had already passed the teacher’s test, and when school started again, she could go straight into third grade and follow the second-semester classes.
The matter of skipping a grade again stirred up a wave of “comparing children’s studies” in the tiny production team.
As someone else’s child, she had brought great honor to the Bai family, and Grandfather Bai was very generous in giving her a five-yuan reward. However, this money was also meant for buying books, fourth-grade books, notebooks, a fountain pen, and ink. Once everything was bought, there really would not be much money left.
Mother Bai also wanted to take the chance to make her a new set of clothes, but was pushed back by Grandmother Bai, who said there was no cloth coupon.
Because of this, Mother Bai grumbled quite a bit in her own little family about Grandmother Bai playing favorites.
Another day after dinner, Mother Bai urged Bai Shuhua, “Big girl, the test is finished, and it’s time to get the practice going.”
Bai Shuhua was very unwilling. Chewing on a small stick to practice pronunciation was too uncomfortable.
It really was, whoever bit it knew.
A while ago, she had used the exam as an excuse to drag it out for more than half a month, and now there was no way to delay it.
“Mom, how long do I have to practice before I can touch the drum?” Bai Shuhua felt that she would rather play the drum than bite the small stick.
Mother Bai laughed and scolded, “You haven’t even learned to walk and you want to run? It’ll probably be next year.”
Bai Shuhua looked a little dead inside and grabbed Mother Bai’s hand to act coquettishly. “Mom, do a segment.”
Anyway, she’d drag out today first.
“Mom will do it!” As soon as Bai Xiaojun heard that Mom was going to tell a storytelling performance, he stopped going out to play.
Now it was dark late, and after dinner the children also had to run wild everywhere.
“Mom, tell Monkey King!” the little guy was even pretty good at making requests.
Bai Shuhua flicked her little brother on the forehead. “What Monkey King, that’s the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.” My Monkey Brother!
As for Journey to the West, it was not an old routine Mother Bai knew.
It was an old picture book Bai Shuhua had bought from the junkyard, with the story pieced together from it, and then Mother Bai was asked to perform it.
Monkey Brother’s charm was indeed not limited by age or gender. Not only was Bai Xiaojun captivated, even Bai Dad and Mother Bai liked it, so they practiced very diligently.
However, to avoid trouble, Mother Bai practiced the storytelling routine in their own room, and when she beat the drum, she did it lightly, not even louder than speaking.
She had also specifically frightened Little Brother Bai, telling him that if outsiders found out, there would be no more Monkey King to listen to, and the small drum would also be taken away. So for so long, apart from the third branch, no one else knew that Mother Bai was practicing the storytelling drum routine.
Mother Bai, however, was not in much of a mood to tell Monkey King stories. “Why hasn’t your dad come back yet? He was called away by the production team leader. Is something going on?”
Bai Shuhua also did not know. Since Bai Dad had gone to Harbin, the production team leader probably felt that he had seen the world, or maybe thought that he was reliable, and from time to time would call him over to chat.
But usually it was just a few sentences, unlike today when he had not even come back for dinner.
Could there be some big trouble in the production team?