CH 113

There were seven people in Lin Lan’s family, so adults would get 2 zhangs of cloth, teenagers would get around 7.5 feet worth whereas Sanwang and Xiaowang would both obtain 5 feet.

There was also cotton. An adult could claim 2.5 atties of cotton a year and a child could get 1.5 catties.

Fortunately, cotton coats and quilts were not made new every year as they are worn for several years. Only the children needed to make up and modify theirs because they were in a growing stage.

Dong Huaihua moved quickly. After Lin Lan told her, she brought the cotton tickets and cloth tickets to Lin Lan that night, “Qingsong’s wife, when the cotton ticket is given at the end of the year, you must remember to give it to me. Don’t give it to anyone else.”

She was also afraid that Lin Lan would take it back to her mother’s house to show it off.

Lin Lan smiled and said, “Sister-in-law Huaihua, I’ll tell you now that you don’t need to hand me the tickets when the time comes to divide it; just take it away according to the number that I’m borrowing now. If I have a loan, I should pay it back. Now that you’re willing to help me, I should be thankful to you.”

The tickets wouldn’t be issued and distributed until the end of the year. So, if she was going to wait until then, there wasn’t going to be enough time to make the suitable clothes.

Dong Huaihua didn’t expect her to be so sensible now as she found herself becoming more willing to talk to her. Generally speaking, people who do guidance work always hoped that the people that they were guiding could improve themselves. Now that she was seeing the change in Lin Lan, she felt a geat sense of accomplishment.

After dinner in the evening, the family didn’t chat leisurely. Lin Lan sat on the kang to put away rags and reminded the children of the precautions for tomorrow.

Han Qingsong borrowed some items from a carpenter’s house. He had a few of their broken door panels that the others had removed and nailed a small bench together.

Dawang, Erwang and Sanwang helped him as Maisui and Xiaowang aided Lin Lan on the kang.

Han Qingsong said, “Tomorrow, you can just buy whatever you need. Once you’re done, you can have them help you set things up. I’ll borrow a cart to pull the heavier items in the afternoon.

Lin Lan smiled, “Okay.”

She instructed Erwang and Maisui, “Don’t play outside at noon and bring Xiaowang back so we can cook early.”

Erwang and Sanwang both happily responded.

She also called by name, “Sanwang, you are not allowed to go into the Southern River’s water, you can only play in the Western River.”

Sanwang started to smile cheekily. However, he did not give her a verbal response.

“Dawang…” Lin Lan glanced hesitantly. The boy was sculpting on a piece of wood without putting on a shirt. He had a good appearance, but he hadn’t spoken to her at all these few days, so she didn’t know how to start either.

Han Qingsong said, “Dawang, you will go to work for your mother in the future.”

“No, no, he’s still young, he has to go to school. What do you mean work…” Lin Lan quickly stopped him.

“It’s settled,” Han Qingsong’s tone was relentless.

Dawang continued to carve in the corner, but he didn’t say a word.

Lin Lan continued to say something else. There were too many children and too many naughty behaviours, so she had to nag  repeatedly for fear that Sanwang and Dawang would cause trouble.

The few children didn’t feel annoyed at all listening to Lin Lan’s nagging and were instead, very happy. Because instead of yelling and scolding them at every turn, they would rather her nag like everyone else’s mother.