This apartment building had originally been built to house foreign experts, so both the rooms and the living rooms were quite spacious rather than cramped.
With a large round table borrowed for the occasion, the Qiao family’s living room was just big enough to seat eleven adults and two children.
Since this was a birthday celebration, Qiao Jia Jia was naturally the star of the day. So the first thing every guest said when they came in and saw her was a compliment.
One person praised how pretty she was, another said she looked clever, and not a single compliment was repeated.
Qiao Zhufang and He Yingying were naturally delighted to hear everyone praising their precious little girl. They happily carried Jia Jia around and introduced her to everyone.
And Qiao Jia Jia was very cooperative. Whenever she was supposed to call someone “Uncle,” she did so. When she was supposed to call someone “Auntie’s husband” or “Uncle” in the older-brother sense, she did that too. She showed no shyness around strangers at all.
This surprised the guests.
“Your family really knows how to teach children. She speaks so clearly and isn’t shy around strangers at all. My child is completely different. Whenever he sees someone he doesn’t know, I’ll consider myself lucky if he doesn’t cry or throw a tantrum. There’s no way he’d obediently greet people like this.”
Almost all the guests had children of their own, so they naturally knew how troublesome one- and two-year-olds could be.
Their fondness for this well-behaved little girl therefore kept rising.
As mentioned earlier, everyone the Qiao family had invited was someone they were close to. Naturally, they all knew how much the Qiao family treasured this child.
So no one said anything unpleasant or spoiled the mood. Everyone genuinely liked the little girl.
Although the Qiao family had already told everyone that they only needed to come and did not have to bring a red envelope, how could these guests really come empty-handed?
In the end, they followed the Qiao family’s wishes and did not give Jia Jia any cash in a red envelope, but they certainly did not come without gifts.
Qiao Qiusheng’s old friend, Sheng Heyu, had gone through the war-torn years together with Qiao Qiusheng. Their experiences were very similar. Both had left the countryside and come to the city to make a living.
Qiao Qiusheng had worked as an apprentice in a factory, while Sheng Heyu had done odd jobs in the hospital’s logistics department. When the enemy attacked the city, they had even hidden together in air-raid shelters and saved each other’s lives.
Their friendship was truly one forged through life and death.
Sheng Heyu worked in hospital logistics and was, after all, a department supervisor. Milk powder, which was extremely difficult for ordinary people to obtain, was relatively easy for him to get.
So this time, he brought two tins of milk powder.
Qiao Qiusheng did not stand on ceremony with his old friend and simply accepted the two tins. Their relationship was so close that neither of them cared much about a little gift like this.
The remaining guests were all friends of Qiao Heping and He Yingying.
Three of them were Qiao Heping’s good friends. The three had discussed it beforehand and pooled their money to buy malted milk powder, high-quality biscuits, and canned food, all things that children could eat.
After all, everyone knew who the main guest at today’s meal was.
Another guest was a female coworker who was especially close to He Yingying. She had even jokingly appointed herself as little Qiao Jia Jia’s godmother.
The gift she brought was a new dress. The design was very fashionable for the time, somewhat like the fake two-piece outfits of later generations. A white shirt and a floral pinafore skirt had been sewn together as one piece.
In those days, it looked extremely stylish.
He Yingying laughed and said, “Looks like Jia Jia won’t be short of little dresses this summer. We made her two dresses right when summer began, then made another two before her birthday. Now, with the one from her godmother, she has five brand-new dresses.”
Shu Meilan, the female coworker, laughed.
“Jia Jia is perfect for wearing dresses. Just look at how pretty she looks in one now! Thinking about how good she’ll look in it gave me so much motivation while I was making it.
“Otherwise, I’m honestly too lazy to make pretty clothes at home. I’m telling you, those two little brats of mine nearly drove me crazy.
“They kept demanding new clothes. When summer started this year, I finally made each of them a brand-new white shirt. They were so fresh and clean, and it took me forever to make them.
“But they hadn’t even been wearing them for half a day before they turned into little mud monkeys. Their white shirts were filthy beyond recognition.
“I was so angry that I declared I’d never make them white shirts again. From now on, they can wear black!
“If I ever make pretty clothes again, I’ll make them for Jia Jia. And when you buy new fabric, come find me. I’ll help you choose a pattern. I’m telling you, I have lots of clothing patterns at home. You know my mother used to be an embroiderer, so I got all the patterns from her…”
At that time, more than ninety percent of women knew how to make clothes.
After all, most people had grown up in an era when clothes were constantly being patched, repaired, resized, and altered. Even then, knowing at least some basic sewing was essential for getting by.
And the scarcer something was, the more precious it became.
After giving birth to two sons, Shu Meilan dreamed of having a daughter. So she was especially fond of the daughters of her close friends.
And little Jia Jia was not only a girl but also exceptionally pretty. Shu Meilan simply could not get enough of her. Her eyes remained fixed on the little girl, unable to look away.
“Of course! Then I’ll come find you when the time comes. You have to teach me more!”
He Yingying immediately agreed enthusiastically.
Now that she had a daughter, she loved making clothes, especially little dresses. She almost wished she could turn her entire salary into cloth coupons and make eight or ten different dresses for her daughter all at once.
But when she had lived at home, her family had been poor and there had not been much fabric available. Most of what she did was follow her mother in patching clothes or altering them to make them bigger or smaller.
She had rarely had the chance to make an entire garment from scratch, so she could not really claim that she was particularly skilled at sewing.
Now that she had the opportunity to learn more from Shu Meilan, naturally she was eager to do so.
More importantly, Shu Meilan had a sewing machine at home. Making clothes with one was much faster and easier.
There was no particular rule in those days about not talking while eating. Everyone was accustomed to chatting around the dinner table.
But Qiao Zhufang did not want everyone to get so caught up in conversation that they forgot to eat.
“Don’t just sit there talking. Eat more! This beef stir-fried with green peppers is especially delicious.”
Starting the previous year, people had begun using ration coupons for grain, cloth, and cooking oil, and these items were distributed according to monthly quotas.
Meat, however, still did not require coupons.
Since there were quite a few people today, when Qiao Qiusheng went to the state-run meat shop, he bought four jin of beef and four jin of pork.
That was more than enough for eleven adults, especially since there were also several vegetable dishes.
At the time, pork cost only fifty-five fen per jin, while beef was even cheaper at fifty-three fen per jin.
As for vegetables, most cost only two or three fen per jin.
Qiao Qiusheng and Qiao Heping had gone out early that morning and bought four jin of pork, four jin of beef, and a large amount of vegetables. The entire shopping trip cost less than five yuan.
Although there were only six dishes on the table, each dish was generously portioned. The table was practically overflowing with food.
That was why Qiao Zhufang urged everyone to eat quickly. If too much food was left over, it would not keep for long in such hot weather. By evening, it could already have spoiled.
There was pork stewed with sheets of starch noodles, beef stir-fried with green peppers, and red-braised pork. The aroma was truly mouthwatering.
Unfortunately, none of those dishes had anything to do with Qiao Jia Jia, the birthday girl.
She could only look at them without being allowed to eat.
She was only one year old, and her teeth had only just started coming in. Her tiny teeth certainly could not chew such large pieces of beef and pork.
Besides, the dishes were heavily seasoned with oil and salt, so the adults in the family did not dare let her eat them. They were afraid it would upset her stomach.
Her meal had been prepared separately by her grandfather, Qiao Qiusheng.
However, Qiao Jia Jia did not have a very large appetite. She had also drunk milk powder earlier that morning, so she became full after only a few bites.
There was still a little food left in her bowl.
The Qiao family was very careful when raising their child. They never forced her to keep eating after she was full.
So when Qiao Jia Jia had finished eating, Qiao Heping naturally picked up his daughter’s little bowl and ate the leftovers himself.
He did not mind at all.
As one of the only two children at the table, four-year-old He Rou Rou also wanted to eat more, but her stomach simply could not hold any more.
Before long, she was full as well.
Seeing this, He Yingying picked up her daughter and niece and carried them over to the sofa, letting the two little girls play there together.
It was much more comfortable than sitting on chairs.
The sofa was right beside the dining table, so the two children remained practically within the adults’ line of sight. Anyone could reach out and grab them if necessary.
There was no need to worry about little Jia Jia falling off the sofa because she was so small.
Qiao Jia Jia was not unfamiliar with her cousin He Rou Rou. She even remembered her cousin’s name.
The last time she had gone to her maternal grandparents’ home, she had been too young and spent most of the time sleeping. There were also too many older male cousins there, and she had stayed for such a short time that she could not tell which name belonged to which person.
But she had remembered her female cousin’s name.
After all, she was the only girl among the six children, so she had stood out enough for Jia Jia to remember her.
He Rou Rou was the youngest among the He family’s grandchildren and the only girl.
Giving her a name following the “Cheng” generation used by her older brothers and male cousins did not sound particularly nice, so her grandmother, He Yingying’s mother, had simply given her a repeated-character name similar to her aunt He Yingying’s.
Although Qiao Jia Jia remembered her cousin’s name, there was no way she could actually be very familiar with her.
She had only visited her maternal grandparents’ home twice. She was not even particularly familiar with her grandparents, let alone this cousin.
Besides, she was only one year old and had just begun learning to speak. There was no way she could carry on a conversation with a cousin three years older than her.
So Qiao Jia Jia quite happily played with her building blocks by herself.
There were very few toys in this era.
And since she was only one year old, she could not read books either. There were very few things available to keep her occupied.
Although she found building blocks rather boring, Qiao Jia Jia played with them anyway, simply to pass the time.
After playing with them for a while, she found that they were actually quite interesting.
In her previous life, she had been an orphan. When she was little and lived in the orphanage, there had not been many toys for her to play with either.
As for her little cousin, who was only three years older than her, Qiao Jia Jia was quite considerate.
She pushed her nesting dolls toward Rou Rou with her little hands, offering them for her to play with.
The nesting dolls and building blocks had been gifts her grandfather had brought back for her from a business trip to Shanghai.
The department stores there had a much wider variety of goods than those in the provincial capital.
Both of these toys were even foreign-made.
He Rou Rou was actually quite lively by nature. Now that she was only with her aunt and little cousin, she was no longer as restrained as she had been when she first entered the house with her grandparents.
She happily picked up the nesting dolls and began playing with them.
She had never seen a toy like this before.
It was so delicate that when she picked it up, she was afraid she might drop it and break it. She hesitated and almost did not dare to play with it.
He Yingying had been watching her daughter and niece the whole time.
She smiled and said, “It’s okay, Rou Rou. Don’t worry and play with it. It’s made of wood, so it won’t break if you drop it.”
Only after hearing her aunt say that did He Rou Rou feel safe enough to play with it.
As she played, He Rou Rou began to feel a little envious of her cousin Jia Jia.
Jia Jia had so many interesting toys, and she even got to have a birthday celebration.
At only four years old, Rou Rou’s thoughts were very simple.
She wished she could be a child in her aunt’s family too.
Qiao Jia Jia naturally had no idea what her little cousin was thinking.
She also had no idea that she had not simply transmigrated into another era—she had actually transmigrated into a novel.
The daughter of the brigade leader in He Family Village was the female protagonist.
And her cousin, He Rou Rou, was a cannon-fodder supporting female character.
As for the male protagonist, he would naturally be the educated youth who would be sent to the countryside more than ten years later.
Of course, it did not matter that Qiao Jia Jia knew nothing about any of this.
There were still more than ten years before the story’s plot would begin.
Besides, the Qiao family was merely part of the background of the novel. They were not even mentioned and had absolutely nothing to do with the main plot.