Chapter 933: Chapter 806: Where’s the Promised Love and Harmony?

Every day in this world, lives fade away, and new lives arrive in their place. No one cares when some insignificant life that has nothing to do with them disappears.

Another year-end has come, and the children on vacation are all beaming as they look forward to the New Year. Sure enough, in the depth of winter they all crowd into the reading room in the west wing, calculating with great hope how much New Year’s money they can get.

Oh, no, now it should be called pocket money.

In the East Wing, the six‑month‑old twins listened to the voices of the older boys and girls outside the window discussing, and went "waa waa," flailing their arms toward the outside.

Just as Zhou Jiao had expected, these two kids, apart from not being able to talk, could already read people’s faces. Seeing that the adults had no intention of going out, they immediately launched into a dry howl without tears.

Those two pairs of chubby little hands covered their eyes, leaving a narrow slit between the fingers. The little brothers even cooperated to peek at each other and produced a see‑sawing male high pitch.

At birth, May 1st had been a pound lighter than his older brother, but now you could no longer tell the weight difference. With facial features resembling their mother, those almond‑shaped eyes darted left and right. After bawling for a bit and seeing no one came to pick him up, he abruptly stopped, stretched out his legs, and gave the brother in front of him a kick.

—Liu Yi, who had just opened his mouth to howl, immediately toppled over.

That did it; Liu Yi scrambled up at once and grabbed at him.

Watching the show, Zhang Guoqing separated the two brothers with a headache. Truly a pair of nemeses! When they were in a good mood, the two could happily babble Martian to each other, but the moment you looked away, they were at it again.

So much for brotherly love.

"It’s cold outside, you can’t go out." Zhang Guoqing grabbed a bottle of milk and shook it at them. "Drink your milk first, okay?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the two brothers immediately stretched out their arms to snatch it. And not just that, their chubby little fingers pointed at "the older (younger) brother," and out came another string of Martian syllables.

This little drama had been repeating itself in an endless loop ever since the kids turned six months. With sons this small already like this, Zhang Guoqing couldn’t help wondering if they’d be fighting from childhood all the way to adulthood.

Zhou Jiao gave each of their bottoms a light smack and put on a stern face to scold them: "If you’re not good, I’ll smack you!"

"*&...%......&#￥"

"%...@#..."

"Keep making a racket and there’ll be no milk." Zhou Jiao finally used her trump card and hid the bottles behind her back. Sure enough, the two little guys quieted down and blinked drowsily at her.

Zhang Guoqing laughed as he picked up May 1st. "You little rascal, you’re the bad one—how can you kick your big brother first? Be good, our May 1st will race with big brother to see who drinks faster."

Liu Yi was in Zhou Jiao’s arms and ignored his younger brother completely. His little head was focused on searching for the bottle. Only when Zhou Jiao guided the nipple to his mouth did he drink contentedly while clutching the bottle.

"Don’t they all say twins are telepathic and have great feelings for each other? How come these two are always at odds?"

"Takes after you, I guess."

"Wife, are you implying something there?"

Not long after their bellies were filled, the two little young masters, well attended, drifted off to dreamland. Seeing this, Zhou Jiao let out a breath... little rascals really can’t compare to a little padded jacket.

Zhang Guoqing, grinning from ear to ear, looked at his two sons. "No wonder Dad says the house is getting livelier and livelier. Once they start walking, it’ll definitely be chickens flying and dogs jumping." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"It’s already a handful now!" Zhou Jiao shot him a sidelong look. "Haven’t you noticed that Yueya’er doesn’t even dare go near them these days?"

"Who told that little girl to snatch their bottles?"

"You can say that with a straight face." Zhou Jiao deliberately glanced at the pile of toys on the carpet. "I think they’re just like Ping’an—stingy as anything."

Zhang Guoqing knew very well how tightfisted his three sons were, but he still argued, "Who says so? Ping’an doesn’t even blink when he hands all his precious toys over to his little brothers."

As he spoke, he gave an example: "When Ping’an is drinking milk, these two never try to snatch it—he’s very generous."

Zhou Jiao looked at him in amusement and nodded. "Right, your son is generous!" After a pause, she added, "With Ping’an chanting in their ears day and night, just you wait and see."

Hearing this, Zhang Guoqing forcibly held back a burst of laughter and pushed her out the door. Once he was standing in the courtyard, he couldn’t help laughing out loud. Who else has a son as slick as Ping’an, preaching to his little brothers every day that once you give something away, it’s gone?

Thinking of Ping’an, Zhang Guoqing felt genuinely pleased.

"Brother, when you have time, bring some paints back for me."

"What are you going to paint again? The kids are still small; it’s not necessary to put up so many character charts." Zhang Guoqing disapproved and shot her a look. "Use the time to rest more."

Just as Zhou Jiao was about to reply, she saw Aunt Sun, and a glint flashed through her eyes as she lowered her lids. "If they look at more pictures and compare them with the characters, it’ll help the kids’ development."

Seeing that the children’s precocity couldn’t be hidden from those with an eye for it, she had to act in advance. She needed to give people the impression that it was the parents’ education that made the children smarter.

Ever since the holiday began, she had racked her brains over their solid food and talked to her sons all day long. Tossing them about like this, over and over, was precisely meant to cover up certain truths.

That kick from May 1st just now had sent Liu Yi straight over; and when Liu Yi got mad and slapped Yueya’er, he’d left a red swollen mark; and then there was the rest... all of it clearly showed that the boys had inherited their father’s gifts.

Their strength could not be masked, but some things still had to be handled carefully.

Zhou Jiao could easily imagine that if she didn’t cover it up now, once Aunt Sun started bragging about the three kids to outsiders, what a stir it would cause.

"Tomorrow then. You happen to have to come with me to the outskirts anyway."

Zhou Jiao nodded in understanding. Nowadays when they took things out, they no longer said they were going to the Black Market; they used the excuse of going to the villages to trade instead. Especially since the policy had relaxed the year before last—now there were private plots, and people were even encouraged to raise more pigs and chickens and ducks.

It was almost laughable. They demanded that there be no private trading, and if you were caught you’d be severely punished, yet somehow barter was perfectly fine. With that kind of rule, when there’s policy from above, there will naturally be countermeasures below.

Take pigs for example. Beyond what the family used themselves, the pig had to be sold to the meatpacking plant at one yuan four per jin. Other than those who were honest and timid, who’d be willing?

So there were bold farmers who took the risk of applying to the production team to keep pigs for their own use in order to sell at higher prices. Did Captain Qian and the others really not know what was going on? They were just turning a blind eye.

As long as the procurement quota was met, who would really go head‑to‑head with the commune members? Not to mention that in these years when people couldn’t even get enough to eat, anyone who could still afford to raise pigs had to have some ability.

With things arranged this way, there was one less layer of risk than going to the Black Market, and the prices in the villages were even lower. A lot of city folk suddenly acquired many "relatives."

This time they were going for pork. Compared to outsiders, Aunt Qian trusted this young couple much more. The New Year’s pork from both her in‑laws’ and her own parents’ sides had long been gathered in one place, just waiting for them to "barter."

Zhou Jiao didn’t lack supplies, but knowing how policies could change overnight, how could she refuse? So even with a mountain of game piling up, she still accepted.

"It’s a pity we can’t go back to our hometown this year. Uncle San Yuan wrote to say that Captain Liu’s several villages had another bumper harvest; I wonder how much he bought?"

Zhou Jiao gave him a sidelong glance.

"You think he can still buy fine grains?" Zhang Guoqing’s lips curled in a slightly wicked smile. "I figure he’s just coming to show off, so it’s probably not likely."

Did he even need to say it?

That year, the young couple had dressed up and bought up so much fine grain. After that, although no one starved to death in the several production brigades, just thinking about it made you know how much their hearts had ached.

Zhou Jiao, sharp‑eyed, saw Yi Shumin carrying her little girl in at the door again. She nudged him and went up to greet them. "Yueya’er, have you eaten?"