In fact, she deliberately made herself sick at first. Only seriously ill patients had the hope of returning to the city for treatment.

She successfully returned to the city, but the vacant position needed to be replaced by other educated youth. If there was no one to replace her, she would have to return to the countryside after she recovered, but if someone replaced her, it would be different.

What she didn't expect was that Chuchu would take her place in the countryside. She has always felt very guilty and self-blame for this. If it weren't for her, Chuchu would not have gone to the countryside to suffer that pain.

"Chuchu, how long can you stay at home this time to visit your relatives?"

The family visit leave is generally six to ten days, and four days will be wasted on the round trip. When she went to the countryside and missed her relatives, she would apply for a family visit leave, but every time she went home to visit her relatives, she could not stay at home for more than three days.

"I won't go to the countryside this time when I come back."

Then, Ling Chuchu explained what happened.

Of course, I can only say what I can.

Knowing that Chuchu returned to the city and would not have to go to the countryside anymore, Ling Jiaojiao finally didn't have to feel guilty and self-blame in her heart.

The family sat together happily for dinner.

Ling Chuchu looked at the food on the table.

In addition to the boiled fish, there were a few black wowotou on the plate on the table. They were dry and hard to swallow.

She didn't know what the wowotou was made of. Why was it different from the wowotou she had seen before?

Aren't wowotou usually made of cornmeal?

In the memory left by the original body, before going to the countryside, the table was often filled with steamed buns made of white flour mixed with wowo flour, rather than black wowo buns.

This level of frugality seems a bit too much.

Or did something else happen at home that she didn't know about during her absence?

Before the meal, Liu Fanghua took a bowl and scooped out a bowl of chicken soup.

"Your sister-in-law has given birth to a baby. I'll serve some fish soup to your sister-in-law."

Fish soup is best for women who have given birth.

My sister-in-law gave birth to a grandson for the Ling family. Shouldn't my mother be happy? Why didn't she look happy at all, but looked a little sad instead.

"Mom, when did your sister-in-law give birth? Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Three months ago, she gave birth to a girl. She was not born full-term, but less than seven months. When she was born, she weighed only 4.62 catties. Your sister-in-law had little milk, so I was so worried at the time. I was afraid that I couldn't keep the child alive."

The baby is still limp and has no energy.

Unlike other babies of the same age, who at least sleep well, open their eyes and look around curiously, or giggle when adults tease them.

Their baby just sleeps with his eyes closed.

For the sake of the child, she went to the black market and exchanged all the money she had saved for several years for refined food and meat coupons. The money was given to her daughter-in-law, so at least she had more milk and had a chance to feed the child.

But her daughter-in-law valued her parents' home more than her husband's home. Even during the confinement period, she did not forget to take things from her husband's home to her parents' home.

All the food and meat coupons she brought were taken to her parents' home by her daughter-in-law.

Now, the child is getting worse day by day. I don't know how many days he can live.

And their family has not yet found food for this year.

"Then let me congratulate mom on becoming a grandmother. By the way, I will go with mom to see my sister-in-law and my little niece tomorrow."

"Okay."

Liu Fanghua sighed in her heart. This might be the last time she sees her little nephew.

In fact, the Ling family is not complete.

The eldest brother and his wife lived separately, the eldest sister Ling Qingqing had married a worker in the city, the elder sister worked in the canteen, and the brother-in-law worked as a clerk in the factory.

The couple lived a relatively comfortable life.

The younger brother returned to the countryside with his grandmother. In my memory, my grandmother was an old woman with traditional ideas and had a serious preference for boys over girls.

I didn't like the four sisters of the Ling family very much.

Except for the elder brother and the younger brother, the four sisters had never stayed overnight at their grandmother's house since they grew up.

But there were exceptions. Grandma especially loved Ling Tiantian, her cousin.

After dinner, the family sat and chatted, and the topic revolved around the interesting things that Ling Chuchu had experienced in the countryside.

Ling Chuchu made tea for everyone. The tea trees were moved to the manor when they were in the countryside. The tea produced in the manor tastes better than the tea produced in the original place.

Ling's father Ling Guodong stared at the changes in the tea in the teacup after soaking in water, "This tea smells so good, Chuchu, is this the tea you taught us to make?"

Ling Chuchu smiled and replied, "This is just one of them."

Ling Guodong was shocked when he heard this.

When did their daughter become so capable? She can make tea and even got a chance to return to the city.

He didn't care that the tea burned his mouth and tasted it. "This tea is much better than the one bought from the supply and marketing cooperative."

Ling Guodong picked up the tea bag and weighed it. "Is this tea one kilogram?"

Ling Chuchu asked in surprise: "Dad, you just weighed it and didn't put it on the scale. How do you know that this tea weighs one kilogram?"

Ling Guodong smiled proudly. "Every year, I go to the fields with your uncles to collect grain. I can't do the detailed work. I am strong, so I am responsible for carrying the bags. Many things are not weighed. I know the approximate weight by just shaking them."

Ling Chuchu felt sad when she heard it.

What food is easy to borrow? It was all earned by my father's hard work. In the end, even if there was food on the ration book, their family had to pay a few more kilograms of food.

Ling Chuchu felt that it was necessary for her to mention the fact that she had made up that she was engaged.

Anyway, the journey was far, and I thought the Ling family would not go to verify it.

Since she was engaged, even if they found out that she had a child later, it would be a natural thing, and it would not bring disgrace to the Ling family's reputation.

"By the way, Mom and Dad, I have something to tell you."

Ling Guodong and Liu Fanghua said in unison: "What's the matter? Tell me."

"Actually, I'm already engaged in the countryside."

Ling Jiaojiao and Ling Feifei's faces changed when they heard this, and they looked at each other.

The smile on Liu Fanghua's face gradually disappeared, and Ling Guodong's expression became serious.

"Si Wa, is what you said true?"

Ling Chuchu nodded seriously.

"I've also received the engagement gift." As he said this, he took out a bundle of big wedding gifts and some coupons from his pocket. This big bundle of wedding gifts was worth more than 300 yuan.

Ling Guodong was speechless when he saw the big bundle of wedding gifts on the table.

In the city, a better family can give a betrothal gift of 180 to 200 yuan.

The worse ones give only 30 to 20 yuan.

He had never seen a betrothal gift of 300 yuan like Chuchu's in his life.

Liu Fanghua's first reaction was to get angry.

"How can you be so opinionated? You got engaged without telling us?"

"Time is too tight. I don't have time to tell you. Mom and Dad, please don't be angry with me."

Her voice is naturally soft, and with an innocent face, it is easy to soften people's hearts when she is angry and coquettish.

Liu Fanghua couldn't get angry when she acted like that, not to mention that she hadn't seen her daughter for so long. Even if she made a big mistake, she couldn't bear to blame her. Liu Fanghua sighed helplessly.

Her eyes moved to the betrothal money on the table.

That family was really generous. They gave Chuchu a lot of betrothal money without meeting their parents. Their belongings must be almost the same. Their daughter must be miserable after entering the house.

Now Chuchu is 18 years old, just at the age of marriage. But their daughter, because of going to the countryside, is now a 25-year-old old girl and has not married yet. It's really worrying.

Thinking of this, she no longer bothered about Siwa's secret engagement.

But when she thought about the long journey and the fact that Chuchu's husband didn't come to see her off, she couldn't help but speak more seriously:

"Why didn't your son-in-law see you off in person?"

"It's not that he didn't want to come, but that he couldn't come."

"What do you mean? How could he not come? Is he disabled?" Liu Fanghua asked with a frown.

Ling Chuchu shook her head quickly, "No, he's missing."

"What?" Liu Fanghua felt that her blood pressure was a little high after being frightened one after another.

Ling Guodong continued: "Si Wa, what happened? How could he go missing?"

"He has been missing for months and no one can find him. Everyone suspects that he is dead."

"What will you do in the future?"

What Liu Fanghua and Ling Guodong are most worried about now is how their daughter will live after losing her husband at such a young age.

Ling Feifei hugged Ling Chuchu's arm with both hands, "Sister Chuchu, you are so pitiful. You became a widow at the age of 18."

Ling Chuchu: "..."

Okay, she will be a widow.

It's better than letting the Ling family's reputation be affected by an unmarried pregnancy.

The Ling family has more than one child. There are also elder sister Ling Jiaojiao, younger sister Ling Feifei, and younger brother Ling Yunzhi. These three people have not married yet. If she ruins the reputation of the family and affects the marriage of several brothers and sisters in the future, she will blame herself for the rest of her life.

"I have returned to the city, so of course I have to live my own life."

"Chuchu, so you don't care about your parents-in-law?"

Ling Jiaojiao thinks that since she has accepted the gift money, she should take the responsibility of taking care of her parents-in-law after their son dies.

Chuchu just gave up and didn't care about it. It was really unkind.

"Sister Jiaojiao, I don't know if there are parents-in-law. My husband never mentioned this to me when he was alive."

Anyway, everything is up to her.

The whole family looked at each other.

They chatted until late, and then everyone went back to their rooms.

The unmarried daughters of the Ling family lived in one room.

Ling Jiaojiao was the only one who suffered from insomnia in the room. She was now taking over Chuchu's job. Now that Chuchu was back, she should return the job to Chuchu.

However, it was so hard to find a job now. If she returned the job to Chuchu, what would she do in the future?

After a whole night of worrying, she only dozed off at dawn. The next day, Ling Jiaojiao was not in a very good mental state. She had planned to tell Chuchu in the morning that she would return the job to her, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Mom, I'm going to the factory first."

After saying hello to everyone, she left in a hurry.

"Mom, when we go to my eldest brother's house later, let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative first."

"What are we going there for?"

"Didn't you say yesterday that your sister-in-law didn't have enough milk? I have a special malted milk coupon here, which can just buy a can of malted milk for my little niece."

When Liu Fanghua heard that her fourth child had a malted milk coupon, her eyes lit up and she asked hurriedly: "Chu Chu, do you really have a special malted milk coupon?"

"Yes."

She still has two malted milk coupons. When she was in Shanghai, she sold several of them. She could earn more than ten yuan for each malted milk coupon.

The only two cards she has are prepared for the two babies in her belly. However, my little niece needs malted milk for feeding now, so I'd better save one card for my little niece first.