“Father, I think the opening is too stiff. We can write about the production team’s difficulties first, and then have the production team leader put his horse to work planting medicinal herbs. Wouldn’t that make him seem especially full of resolve?” Bai Shuhua wracked her brains to “guide” Father Bai, almost writing it for him.
“What does full of resolve mean?” Father Bai did not understand.
Bai Shuhua gave a dry, forced explanation. “It means a lot of people are afraid of this and that, then they get timid and back off. Full of resolve is the opposite, very decisive, once you’ve made up your mind, you just do it.”
Actually, with Father Bai’s emotional intelligence and his excellent speaking ability, writing an article was not hard, but he had one major flaw, his vocabulary was too small.
A lot of things he could say, but not write.
It was like dumplings boiling in a kettle, there was something inside, but it could not be poured out.
Bai Shuhua had already had him read the newspaper every day, but that was not something that could be made up for in a short time.
Father Bai nodded to show he understood.
“Father, once our production team grows the medicinal herbs well in the future, then compare it to how things are now, and that will be another good article. You have to broaden your horizons and look farther ahead.” Bai Shuhua started painting him a rosy picture again.
Ah! People in this era were honest and had never tasted “chicken soup” or “painted pictures,” so this was still very effective.
Father Bai felt like he had some ideas now, like he could do it again.
He pressed himself against the kang cabinet and bent his head to start writing.
Since it was still not dark yet, he could write quite a lot.
Bai Shuhua did not disturb him, she just sat to the side and read a book.
In order to let the father and daughter study properly, Mother Bai took Bai Xiaojun out for a walk, so they would not cause a fuss at home.
“Daughter, take a look and see whether this is written okay.” Father Bai was full of confidence this time.
Bai Shuhua lowered her head to look at it. “Let me see… it’s written very plainly, just this style, aside from a few individual words, the rest is all pretty good.”
A father also needed praise.
“Then help me revise it.” Father Bai said very naturally.
He did not feel at all that asking his daughter, who had only self-studied up to third grade, to revise his wording was wrong.
In their eyes, if their daughter studied well and had a quick mind, it was only right for her to know a few things.
But Bai Shuhua did not dare reveal too much. “Some of it I’m not sure about either, it just sounds awkward when you read it. Tomorrow I’ll ask the teacher.”
Father Bai was a little embarrassed. “Then… is that okay? I still have to revise this, won’t your teacher laugh at me?”
Bai Shuhua said, “I’ll just remember these few words, I don’t need to bring a notebook.”
That way the article would not be seen.
Naturally, Father Bai had no objection either.
This article was finally finished after being polished for more than a week.
Father Bai went nervously to the town post office to mail it.
He sent it directly to the Northeast Agricultural Newspaper, since it was more professionally relevant.
Of course, that decision had been made with Bai Shuhua’s participation.
After the article was mailed out, Father Bai did not, like an ordinary person, wait eagerly and think about it every day. It was as if he had already put it behind him.
That was fine too, so that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.
Bai Shuhua also could not guarantee that the article Father Bai had polished with her help would be published.
After all, she had only read some newspapers and was not very familiar with the writing style of this era.
Father Bai’s matter was basically set aside for now. Aside from supervising him to read the newspaper every day, Bai Shuhua’s focus began to shift, because school had started, and Mother Bai also needed to be given priority “care.”
Recently she had gotten lazy again, no longer practicing the basics, and after dinner she took Xiaojun everywhere to wander around and listen to gossip.
Bai Shuhua first found a little helper, Bai Xiaojun.
Then she began to unleash her fooling tactics.
Bai Shuhua: “Little Brother, is it fun to go out with Mother?”
Bai Xiaojun: “It’s fun.”
Bai Shuhua paused. “Then is it as fun as hearing Mother tell Journey to the West?”
She did not believe he did not love Monkey King anymore.
Sure enough… Bai Xiaojun answered without hesitation, “Journey to the West is fun.”
Bai Shuhua spoke with fake seriousness and pure nonsense. “That’s right then. But Mother listens to Aunties and other women gossiping every day, and by the time she gets back, Journey to the West will be forgotten completely. We have to keep Mother here, and then do this and that…”
The siblings began whispering to each other.
On another evening after dinner, after Mother Bai finished tidying up, she called out very naturally, “Xiaojun, let’s go.”
Bai Shuhua grumbled to herself, she was really used to going out for walks.
The moment the time came, she wanted to leave.
She gave Bai Xiaojun a look.
Bai Xiaojun grabbed Mother Bai’s arm. “Mother, don’t go out. Today we’re telling The White Bone Demon’s Three Transformations.”
Mother Bai found an excuse, “Let’s go out and tell it, your father is at home reading the newspaper.”
Bai Shuhua felt that her mother’s intelligence had increased, this excuse was very good.
Still, it had to be her. “Mother, let’s go tell it behind the house. It won’t interfere with Father reading the newspaper, and it’ll be cooler. Xiaojun and I will pick some cowpeas, and tomorrow we’ll steam them to eat.”
Both of Mother Bai’s arms were being held, so even if she did not want to go, she had no choice.
Mother Bai really had talent in storytelling, she had not gotten rusty at all. On the contrary, she told it even more vividly.
Little Brother listened entranced, while Bai Shuhua occasionally threw in some rainbow praise.
The more Mother Bai told, the more excited she became, and the three of them did not go inside until after dark, when the mosquitoes came out.
The next few days were more or less the same.
Bai Shuhua felt that they could move on to the second step.
The land-reclamation work had long since ended. After all, this was the first time growing medicinal herbs, and even if the production team leader had resolve, he would not dare take too big a step all at once, so everyone in the team went back to the days after dinner of cooling off at several “base stations,” enjoying the breeze and gossiping about other people’s private matters.
Bai Shuhua’s plan was to let Mother Bai go out.
To keep Mother Bai from being scared, from being startled.
So it had to be done slowly.
First, find a few little friends, that was not hard.
Bai Shuhua did not have any especially close classmates, but she could still say a few words to her classmates, not to mention the classmates of her two paternal female cousins, a casual shout could gather quite a few people.
Bai Shuhua noticed that Mother Bai was a little nervous, but they were all children, and Mother Bai quickly entered “performance” mode.
These children were hearing it for the first time, and each of them listened with rapt attention, occasionally even giving a couple of “oh ah” sounds to cheer her on.
Their unforced reactions made Mother Bai’s confidence surge.
Then more and more children came, more and more, and even adults came to join in the fun. The courtyard simply could not fit them anymore.
Bai Shuhua suggested, “Mother, how about we go under the big willow tree tomorrow? The courtyard has been messed up by them.”
Mother Bai immediately shook her head. “I’m not going, it’s embarrassing enough already.”
Bai Shuhua disagreed. “What’s embarrassing about it? Whoever listens says it’s good. Mainly, if you keep telling it in the courtyard, Auntie will start nagging again.”
Mother Bai said, “Then I won’t tell it. Anyway, I’ve already told almost all of it.”
Bai Shuhua was not surprised at all.
But she had already thought of a way. “Then it’s up to you.”
Yet Mother Bai did not want to tell it, and she could agree to that, but there were still so many people who had not finished listening.
Didn’t they feel bad?
So the next evening, people came one after another to find Mother Bai and urge her to hurry up and tell the storytelling.
With so many people, it was no longer good to keep refusing.
On top of that, Father Bai joined in the commotion too, and in the end Mother Bai went to the big willow tree to tell it, and she started from the beginning.
Bai Xiaojun trotted along after her, while Bai Shuhua did not go.
“Big Daughter, why didn’t you go? Want to read the newspaper with Father?” Father Bai generously handed over a newspaper.
Bai Shuhua naturally was not there to read the newspaper. “Father, have these old newspapers at home been mostly read already?”
Father Bai shook his head. “You bought so many, there’s still plenty to read. Mainly because I read slowly, some of it takes several readings before I can make sense of it.”
“Father is amazing!” Bai Shuhua’s rainbow praise was almost becoming reflexive. “Father, how long has it been since you mailed it?”
Father Bai froze for a moment. “Let me count… it’s already September 9, more than ten days. I’m afraid it’s a bust, so you don’t need to keep thinking about it.”
Bai Shuhua truly had not been thinking about it. “Father, don’t be sad either. I think your writing has improved a lot, next time you’ll write even better.”
The corner of Father Bai’s mouth twitched. “Write again?”
Bai Shuhua began fooling him. “Father, writing is not a task, nobody is forcing you, but you’re no longer the same as you were before, a man who has changed in just three days is already worthy of a new look, you understand, right? So writing is just a way to test your progress.”
Father Bai pondered it, and it seemed he had listened in.
However, Bai Shuhua did not want to strike while the iron was hot, because she had not stayed behind today for Father Bai. Her target was Mother Bai.
And Father Bai needed more time to figure it out himself.
“Father, do you want to earn more work points?”
Father Bai wiped his face. “Girl, Father has not been slacking lately, I get seven work points every day.”
You had to know that before the family split up, he usually only got six work points, or even fewer.
Bai Shuhua had no choice but to explain, “Father, I wasn’t talking about you, you’ve already worked very hard. I was talking about Mother.”
Father Bai still loved his wife. “Your mother is tired too, she only gets five work points every day, just two less than me, that’s enough. When the autumn harvest comes, I’ll work hard with your mother, I won’t let you and Xiaojun go hungry.”
Bai Shuhua was deeply moved. Her parents were lazy, but they still had some sense of responsibility. “Father, my mother tells storytelling very well now, half the production team has run to the big willow tree to listen. Do you think we can charge a fee?”
The early groundwork was basically done, it was time to move on to the charging stage.