As for Qiao Qiusheng, he was deeply grateful that Old Mrs. Qiao had bought him back then. Given the circumstances at the time, being purchased was actually a way out; otherwise, he would have starved to death long ago.
Thus, he had absolutely no objections to being a child-bridegroom. He had always doted on Qiao Zhufang, this “little sister,” since childhood. Later, after learning to cook from the old lady, he took over all the kitchen duties at home, never letting his little sister lift a finger.
Although in those days, no matter what kind of family one came from, daughters were expected to learn how to cook—otherwise, after marrying into another family, not knowing how to cook would surely displease the in-laws and the husband.
But in Qiao Qiusheng’s eyes, he had known since childhood that his little sister would one day become his wife and would not marry out. So, after they married, her inability to cook naturally wouldn’t be a big deal!
Over the years, Qiao Qiusheng’s cooking skills had become the best in the family.
As the only son, Qiao Heping naturally learned cooking from his father and became quite skilled—far better than his wife, He Yingying.
He Yingying only knew how to make simple dishes. When she was young, her grandmother was still alive and would never let her or her mother help with cooking, fearing they might sneak food. So, before marriage, He Yingying had hardly cooked at all.
After marriage, they mostly ate at the canteen. On the rare occasions they cooked at home, her father-in-law usually took over the kitchen duties, leaving her with very few chances to cook.
Neither Qiao Qiusheng nor Qiao Heping saw anything wrong with two men doing the cooking. Qiao Qiusheng wasn’t afraid of gossip about being a live-in son-in-law, let alone this.
And Qiao Heping, well-taught by his grandmother, Old Mrs. Qiao, had been considerate of his mother since childhood and remained considerate of his wife after marriage. He saw no issue at all with him and his father handling the cooking.
While the father and son went out to buy groceries, at home, Qiao Zhufang and He Yingying, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, were busy changing Qiao Jiajia into new clothes!
The new clothes were two sets of pinafore dresses—one with green checks and the other with red checks. The new cotton fabric had been bought from the department store just a week ago. Qiao Zhufang and He Yingying had made the dresses together at home, finishing them just three days ago. They were washed the day before yesterday and, once dried yesterday, were immediately put on Jiajia to wear out.
Pinafore checkered dresses paired with white blouses never go out of style, no matter the era. Coupled with Qiao Jiajia’s pretty looks, whenever she wore these little dresses out, she never failed to receive compliments.
Qiao Zhufang and He Yingying were passionate about making clothes for their precious Jiajia. This year, almost all the cloth coupons allocated to the family were used to make clothes for Qiao Jiajia.
Since last year, cloth coupons had been in use, with each person allocated only sixteen chi per year. At that time, fabric widths were mostly two chi and one cun. Just sewing a pair of trousers required seven chi worth of cloth coupons. With only sixteen chi per year, it was barely enough to make one set of clothes—nothing like the days before cloth coupons were needed.
The four adults in the family all doted on Qiao Jiajia as if she were a treasure. From the moment she was born, they never skimped on making new clothes for her, all from cotton fabric. As a result, the household’s cloth coupons were certainly insufficient. Fortunately, they could go to the black market or privately exchange money with neighbors and colleagues. To this day, there were still several unused cloth coupons in the family drawer!
Moreover, the welfare benefits for employees at their steel mill were quite good, with comprehensive labor protection supplies. Every month, they received a pair of cotton gloves, and in winter, they were issued insulated gloves. Socks were a given, and on top of that, every year and a half, they were given a set of work clothes—deep blue and incredibly durable.
Both Qiao Qiusheng and Qiao Heping wore their work clothes almost year-round in the factory workshops, so their cloth coupons were hardly needed. These were now entirely reserved for the three women in the family!
Qiao Zhufang held the financial reins of the household but was far from stingy. She spent money generously, having experienced better days and not placing too much importance on money as long as there was enough to get by.
When He Yingying first married into the family, she often hesitated to spend money. Back in the countryside before marriage, even one yuan felt like a fortune to her. After marrying and securing a job, she saved every bit of her monthly salary, reluctant to spend it. Over time, living with her mother-in-law, she finally learned to be more open-handed. The two women often went out shopping together.
These past few days, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had been discussing another trip to the department store in the city center in half a month. According to a friendly salesperson there, a new batch of fabrics would arrive soon. They were saving their cloth coupons precisely to check out the good materials then.
The two even considered that if the fabrics looked nice, they would buy extra to make three matching outfits—one for each of them and one for Jiajia. That way, when they went out, it would be clear they were a family, and they were sure to look great.
If Qiao Jiajia knew about her grandmother and mother’s plans, she would surely praise them for their forward-thinking—already considering matching parent-child outfits at this time.
But for now, she was still being fussed over by her grandmother and mother, who couldn’t decide which little dress she should wear—the red one or the green one? After much deliberation, they decided to have Jiajia try on both.
It was widely acknowledged that Qiao Jiajia was a beautiful child. No matter which dress she wore, she looked absolutely lovely, as exquisite as a character from a poster.
In the end, Qiao Zhufang and He Yingying settled on the red plaid dress. The green one had been worn out yesterday, and the red one was still unworn. Besides, red was festive and perfect for a birthday.
Qiao Jiajia could now walk quite steadily, but her family doted on her so much that she was often carried around, especially by Qiao Heping. Not only did he carry his daughter every day after returning home, but he also gave her piggyback rides, spoiling her endlessly.
Now, after dressing Qiao Jiajia in her new dress, Qiao Zhufang and He Yingying held her hand wherever they went, afraid she might stumble and fall.
At noon, Qiao Qiusheng and Qiao Heping, father and son, prepared a table full of dishes—three meat dishes and three vegetable dishes. For the time, this was an exceptionally lavish feast, more sumptuous than what many families ate during the New Year.
Father He and Mother He arrived quite early. Upon arriving, they were surprised to find that it was actually Qiao Qiusheng and Qiao Heping—two grown men—cooking in the kitchen.
Father He frowned and whispered to his daughter, “Since you’ve married into this family, you should be more diligent. What kind of sight is it to have your father-in-law and your husband cooking in the kitchen? Men have no business being in the kitchen.”
He Yingying wanted to argue that there was no reason why men couldn’t enter the kitchen—men and women were equal—but she knew her father was set in his old-fashioned ways and couldn’t be changed. No matter what she said now, it would be useless. So, she simply explained, “My cooking isn’t as good as theirs. The two of them are much better at it, so today, my mother-in-law and I are in charge of entertaining the guests and looking after Jiajia. Besides, I already went in to help out for a while earlier.”
“Alright, as long as you know what you’re doing, I won’t say more. I’ll go see Jiajia. Where is she?” Father He asked.
“Oh, my mother-in-law took her to the department store to buy some candy. We forgot to buy it yesterday. Since every family has children nowadays, we thought it would be nice to give some to the guests when they leave,” He Yingying replied.
Just as the father and daughter were talking, Qiao Zhufang returned with Qiao Jiajia, carrying a bag of candy in her hand.
Seeing that her in-laws had arrived, she said to her precious granddaughter, “Jiajia, look, your grandma and grandpa are here. Let’s go say hello. Do you still remember how to say ‘Grandma’ and ‘Grandpa’? Call them once, and they’ll surely be delighted.”
Qiao Jiajia didn’t have a deep impression of her maternal grandparents. From birth until now, she had only seen them twice—once during her full-month celebration when her grandma and grandpa came over, and another time when she was six months old and her parents took her to He Family Village. However, she caught a chill on the way back and developed a fever afterward, so she never went again. She overheard her parents discussing that they wouldn’t take her there until she was a bit older and less prone to falling ill when traveling.
Today would be the third time she saw them. If she were truly a child, she would have long forgotten what her grandma and grandpa looked like, but she wasn’t, so she recognized them at a glance.
Since she had seen them so few times, there wasn’t much of an emotional bond with her maternal grandparents. Still, they were her mother’s parents, and Qiao Jiajia loved her mother, He Yingying, so she wouldn’t be cold toward them. Hearing her grandmother’s words, she cheerfully called out, “Grandma! Grandpa!”
Hearing his granddaughter call him, Father He smiled and responded, “Yes!” He added, “Jiajia looks much taller than the last time I saw her, and she’s grown fairer and plumper too. Here, this is a red envelope from Grandpa for our Jiajia. Keep it to buy candy later.”
The red envelope contained two yuan—a significant sum for Father He, far more than what any of his five grandsons or one granddaughter had ever received.
The six able-bodied laborers in the He family earned a little over a hundred yuan combined in a year. After deducting expenses for food and clothing, what remained was even less. These two yuan were given with great reluctance, but since the Qiao family was well-off, giving too little would have been embarrassing.
At that moment, seeing Father He take out a red envelope, Qiao Zhufang immediately said, “Please put that away, in-laws. We already said this is just a casual meal with close friends and family—how could we possibly accept your red envelope? Besides, you brought so many dishes when you came, along with a whole sack of sweet potatoes and radishes—enough to last our family over half a month. It wouldn’t be right for us to take your money on top of that.”
Father He waved his hand and replied, “Those vegetables were for your family to eat. This red envelope is for my granddaughter Jiajia—it’s not the same thing. It’s just a token of affection from her grandpa. Here, Jiajia, take it quickly.”
Mother He added softly from the side, “Her grandpa is right. This red envelope is just a little gesture from us, her grandparents. Let Jiajia have it. Besides, we didn’t give her lucky money during the New Year, so consider this making up for that.”
Seeing how insistent the child’s grandparents were, Qiao Zhufang felt it would be awkward to refuse further. She looked down at her precious granddaughter and said, “Come on, time to accept the red envelope. Jiajia, say thank you to Grandma and Grandpa.”
Qiao Jiajia glanced at her grandma before taking the red envelope, then beamed brightly and said in a clear, cheerful voice, “Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa!”
“Is this your second son’s daughter? Yingying mentioned her to me before. She should be four this year, right? Three years older than our Jiajia, so Jiajia should call her cousin. Here, have some candy.”
Qiao Zhufang also noticed the little girl who had been staying close to Mother He. After a moment’s thought, she remembered who she was and warmly offered her some candy. At that time, there wasn’t a child who didn’t love candy.
Four-year-old He Rourou was already quite sensible. Hesitantly, she looked at her grandparents—her parents had told her to behave before they left.
Mother He smiled and said, “Grandma Qiao is giving you candy. Take it and put it in your pocket so you don’t drop it.”
Only after hearing her grandma’s words did He Rourou accept the candy. She was no stranger to candy—almost every time her aunt came home, she got some. Her older brothers even said she was lucky. When they were her age, times were tough at home, and they didn’t even know what candy tasted like!
He Rourou also felt she was lucky. Compared to her brothers, her aunt doted on her more, always giving her the most candy—more than any of her brothers.
Since the other guests hadn’t arrived yet, Qiao Zhufang sat down with the two in-laws to chat. He Yingying took her niece and daughter to sit elsewhere.
Before long, almost all the invited guests had arrived. The living room wasn’t very large, and the table couldn’t seat many people. Aside from Father He and Mother He, only five others had been invited: an old friend of Qiao Qiusheng, three close buddies of Qiao Heping, and a female comrade from the factory who got along best with He Yingying.
As for Qiao Zhufang, the good friend she had intended to invite had fractured a bone in an accident a few days earlier and was still recuperating at home, so naturally, she couldn’t make it.
Author’s Note:
Recommending another completed era-themed novel from my column:
“Only Daughter in the 1970s”
Mainly about the daily life of an only daughter from a dual-income family in a small county town, living in a Tongzilou.
“Daily Life of an Only Daughter of Factory Workers in the 1960s”
The female protagonist is the only daughter of a dual-income family in a provincial capital, with a childhood sweetheart. The career arc is also excellent—joining the cultural troupe, being recommended for university, and entering the General Political Department Song and Dance Ensemble.