Transmigrated as My Aunt in the 70s
Chapter 178 - 171 Pleasing the Master

Chapter 178: 171 Pleasing the Master

After returning, it was still early, so Tian Mantong took the opportunity to use the vehicle to purchase everything needed for Tian Manxing’s family, such as honeycomb coal and rice. At that time, coal and rice were supplied by rationing, and every household had a limited amount. People in Shanghai were very economical when it came to burning coal balls, making sure to burn each one until only the yellow muddy remnants were left before reluctantly throwing it away.

Tian Mantong, Hu Dingbei, and Hu Weiwen were moving things in and out together, sweating profusely. Tian Xinhua, He Chengsi, Hu Weichao, and Hu Weixin quickly became good friends. At that time, Shanghai people generally didn’t have TV sets, so the four young men sat at home with nothing to do until Hu Weichao had an idea.

"We should go watch a movie. My elder brother said that the cinemas are currently showing the Albanian movie ’Never Surrender,’ which is really good, and Mila in it is especially beautiful!"

Hu Weichao was at the age where young men start to feel restless, hence his standard for judging the quality of a movie often depended on whether the female protagonist was beautiful.

"Sure, let’s go watch a movie, come on!" Hu Weixin agreed too.

The boys decided to go and after informing the adults, they cheerfully left the house. Tian Sisi didn’t want to go; she wasn’t interested in watching old movies with poor makeup techniques and blurry images.

Most importantly, she knew about ’Never Surrender,’ a World War II story that wholly adhered to that era’s style. The protagonist was a perfect, noble saint, whereas the villain was irredeemably evil—purely black and white, which Tian Sisi didn’t quite like.

In her view, no matter the time or country, people could never be absolutely good or absolutely evil. Everyone should be viewed in shades of gray, with some deeper and others lighter. Everyone has their pain points; it just depends on whether these are uncovered.

He Xuewen borrowed a bicycle from the Hu Family and took Tian Sisi out. Tian Sisi specifically took a camera from her bag. Zhou Yali was startled and felt a bit sour seeing the camera hanging around the young girl’s neck.

She was proud of her family’s good conditions, yet even they didn’t possess a camera. It was partly because they couldn’t bear the cost of the camera, the film, and the photo development fees, and also because cameras required a special permit, and without connections, it was impossible to purchase one.

Unexpectedly, the uncle from the daughter-in-law’s family was so particular that he even specially bought a camera for a young girl—truly mind-boggling!

"Mommy, let me take a photo of you and Daddy. Mommy, you look so beautiful, the photo will definitely turn out great."

Tian Sisi praised continuously, making Zhou Yali extremely delighted; any slight sourness in her heart flew away to the Pacific Ocean.

Zhou Yali combed her hair in front of the mirror, straightened her collar, and alongside Hu Yaohan, who was listening to the radio, struck a pose. Tian Sisi took both group and individual photos for them, taking the most of Zhou Yali.

"Mommy, you pose so beautifully, just like a movie star."

Tian Sisi sincerely complimented. In this era, many people posed awkwardly during photos, turning even extreme beauties into merely pretty. But Zhou Yali was different; her poses graceful and her smile natural, she was very photogenic.

"Little Ah Nan’s mouth is so sweet. Mommy was even prettier when I was young. Now I am old, my skin is wrinkled, not pretty anymore."

Zhou Yali couldn’t stop smiling; she was someone who kept up with the trends. Even a simple blouse would be adorned with two flying ribbons tied into a beautiful bow at the collar, appearing ethereally charming.

"Mom doesn’t look old at all, she looks just like my aunt," Tian Sisi flattered Xiao Ma, as she needed to stay for half a month and wanted to establish a good relationship with the lady of the house. Sure enough, Zhou Yali was so pleased she couldn’t stop smiling.

After He Xuewen and Tian Sisi left, Zhou Yali said to Hu Yaohan, "Oh, Yaohan, it would be so nice to have a granddaughter like Ah Nan. No wonder they say daughters are cotton-padded jackets, granddaughters are even better than grandsons, they cause less trouble, unlike those three mischievous boys who only know how to be naughty every day."

Hu Yaohan’s face showed agreement, but inside he was secretly critical, thinking about how when their daughter-in-law was pregnant, didn’t you specifically pray at the temple for a grandson? And now you’re praising the granddaughters?

"Then let Hu Dingbei and Tian Manxing have another granddaughter, we are still young enough to handle the responsibility."

Hu Yaohan also liked his granddaughter, especially after seeing the lovely and cute Tian Sisi, the desire for a granddaughter that he had harbored for a long time immediately sprouted.

"Right, let Manxing and Dingbei have another, oh, I am going to have a beautiful granddaughter right away, I am so happy!"

If Tian Sisi had heard this, she would definitely roll her eyes. There wasn’t even a shadow of a new baby yet Zhou Yali acted as if Tian Manxing was already pregnant. And even if Tian Manxing gave birth again, could you be sure it would be another girl? What if it’s another grandson?

He Xuewen took Tian Sisi out of the alley planning to get some rice and oil to take back; initially, he thought they would only stay at the Hu Family for a couple of days and then leave, but now it turned out they would need to stay at least for half a month, so he had to gather more supplies for the Hu Family, especially rice.

As he knew, currently in Shanghai each person only received 8 jin (about 4 kilograms) of rice per month, the rest being lesser quality yellow rice. Although the status of yellow rice had been enhanced lately, claimed to be nutritious especially suitable for diabetics, people didn’t enjoy eating the tough and coarse yellow rice.

So, people in Shanghai generally ate yellow rice, and only cooked rice for festivals or when they had guests. Since rice was cooked for lunch at the Hu Family, given the pride of Shanghai people, they would definitely not serve yellow rice. Cooking rice continuously for half a month might deplete all of the Hu Family’s rice stock.

They arrived at a secluded place, and Tian Sisi took out a sack of about thirty jin of rice along with a jar of soybean oil weighing about five or six jin, and also a bag of about ten jin of flour. He Xuewen carefully tied the goods to the rear seat of the bike.

"Daddy, is this enough? Should we take some more out?"

"That’s enough. Don’t take out too much at once. We can take more after some time."

"Okay, Daddy, where do we live? Is it here too?"

"No, we live on Fenyang Road. Tomorrow, Daddy will take you to see it. When I have time, Daddy will take you to collect the He Family Treasure Vault, these things all belong to Ah Nan."

"What about Brother He?" Tian Sisi felt a little distressed, as He Chengsi had been very kind to her too.

"Ah Nan, don’t worry. Daddy has already arranged other things for your Brother He."

He Xuewen gently soothed his daughter. Of course, he wouldn’t neglect his adopted son; he had already planned that the money he earned would be half for his daughter and half for Chengsi. However, the He Family Treasure Vault absolutely had to be left to Ah Nan, as those are possessions of the He Family and could only be left to the bloodline of the He Family, as per the ancestral instructions. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to recommend and provide monthly tickets at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)