Chapter 11 Two Twin Brothers

It's about ten o'clock in the morning.

Wang Mengde waited outside the courtyard gate, occasionally stretching his neck to look to the west.

Today is Sunday. Counting the days, my father Wang Hao has to be on duty in the hospital again. My mother Ran Xiaomei will bring my two younger brothers over to help him clean the house, mend some clothes, wash the sheets and quilt covers, etc.

He didn't have to wait long, and soon he saw two identical twin boys, about four or five years old, running towards him with their short legs, followed not far behind by a middle-aged woman in her forties.

Before the person arrived, a voice came over: "Brother, brother."

When they got closer, Wang Mengde quickly half-knelt, opened his arms, and let the two little guys rush into his arms.

Holding one in each hand, Wang Mengde stood up and kissed the two brothers on their cheeks. Then he smiled and said, "Yuan Chao, Wei Guo, do you miss your brother?"

These two children are his twin brothers, who are five years old this year. According to generational naming, his brothers should be named Wang Mengdao, which together with his name would form the character “德” (morality).

When his mother was pregnant with twins, she found out that they were going to have twins. In addition, they were born at the end of October 1950. So his father Wang Hao simply followed the crowd and did not consider their generational structure. He gave them names that were full of the spirit of the times, such as "Yuan Chao" and "Wei Guo".

"Brother, I miss you so much."

"Brother, I miss you too."

Wang Yuanchao and Wang Weiguo put their arms around his neck, raised their little faces, and spoke in a rush.

They are both chubby, with bowl-cut hair, which was their mother's "masterpiece" a few days ago. They are wearing exactly the same clothes, even the small flower sewn on their trouser legs is in the same position and shape.

As far as Wang Mengde knows, last year, Wang Yuanchao's trousers had a small hole, and Ran Xiaomei sewed it up. At that time, she thought of embroidering the patch into a flower on it to make it look better.

When Wang Weiguo saw this, he became unhappy and cried and shouted that he wanted the same flowers, and no matter how he was coaxed, he wouldn't stop.

In the end, there was no other choice but to stay up all night long and sew an identical flower on the same position on his intact trouser leg.

This made him calm down.

"Really? How much do you think about it?"

"There are so many!" Wang Yuanchao stretched out his little hand, spread his thumb and index finger as wide as possible, and gestured.

Wang Weiguo saw his second brother's actions, his eyes rolled, he opened his arms, and said to Wang Mengde in a baby voice:

"Brother, brother, I have so much, much more than my second brother."

"No, I said it wrong just now. Let me start over. I miss my brother so much too." Seeing his brother's actions, Wang Yuanchao became anxious and quickly stretched out his hands, opening them as wide as he could.

Seeing his two younger brothers so cute, Wang Mengde smiled happily.

In order to stop the two little guys from continuing to argue, he said:
"Okay, okay, brother has seen that you two miss brother equally."

After hearing his words, Wang Yuanchao and Wang Weiguo contentedly put down their sore arms, and smiled and made faces to each other in his arms.

At this moment, Ran Xiaomei also came over. Looking at her three sons, a smile of relief appeared on her face.

"Yuan Chao, Wei Guo, hurry up and get off your brother. You two have grown up now. Just hold me for a while."

"Mom, it's okay, I can hold it."

Wang Mengde shook the two little balls in his arms. The two younger brothers were about the same height and weight. Weighing more than 30 kilograms, they were taller than most of their peers in that era.

Fortunately, he has been practicing martial arts for many years, so he didn't feel tired even when carrying his two younger brothers, who weighed 70 kilograms in total. "Let's go home."

Wang Mengde turned and walked into the yard. Behind him, Ran Xiaomei, holding a package in her hand, also followed with a smile.

Along the way, she met several neighbors from the same courtyard. Ran Xiaomei stopped to chat with everyone about family matters. She had lived in this courtyard for nearly twenty years.

When they got home, Wang Mengde finally put his two younger brothers down and let them rummage through the drawers. Then he quickly poured a cup of hot water for his mother.

Ran Xiaomei entered the house and put the package in her hand on the table in the living room. After opening it, she found that it contained more than a dozen steamed buns and several corn breads made of two kinds of flour.

"Little Pig, I steamed these last night. You have a big appetite, so if they're not enough, go buy some outside."

As he said that, he took out a small dustpan from the cupboard and put the steamed buns and corn bread in it.

"Mom, don't call me by my nickname. I'm grown up." Wang Mengde protested because his head hurt when he heard the word "piggy".

He was born in 35, the Year of the Pig, so his parents gave him the nickname "Piglet".

This nickname caused him a lot of confusion since he was a child. Several peers in the school often made fun of him with this name. It was not until he entered high school that people gradually stopped calling him by this name.

But his mother, Comrade Ran Xiaomei, would occasionally call him by this nickname.

"No matter how old you grow, you are still your son." Ran Xiaomei was unmoved by his protest and continued to insist with a smile.

Wang Mengde held his forehead with his hand helplessly.

"Okay, take Yuan Chao and Wei Guo out to play. I'll take down the quilt cover on your bed and wash it. It's been a whole winter and it's going to stink.

The same goes for cotton-padded clothes. When the weather gets warmer, I take out the cotton inside, wash it, and sew it into a padded jacket. Now you need cloth coupons to buy cloth, so I have to be more frugal with clothes in the future."

Ran Xiaomei looked around the living room and saw that the room was relatively clean and tidy. She nodded with satisfaction.

In September last year, the state issued a regulation that cotton cloth and cotton yarn produced not only by state-owned enterprises, joint public-private enterprises and cooperatives, but also by private enterprises must adopt the rules of zoning, quantitative supply and ticket supply.

In the capital city, each person was given 17 feet and 3 inches of cloth coupons every year, which was just enough for an adult to make a set of clothes.

Therefore, the saying "three years new, three years old, and three years of mending" is not only due to poverty, but also partly because the number of cloth coupons obtained each year is relatively small, and one cannot buy anything even if one has money but no coupons.

Seeing Ran Xiaomei rolling up her sleeves and preparing to take off the quilt cover, Wang Mengde called her and led his two younger brothers out the door.

It would be difficult for a mother to work with peace of mind if the two naughty younger brothers were at home.

Wang Yuanchao and Wang Weiguo were familiar with every place in the courtyard, so they walked towards Sha Zhu's house with ease.

In the middle courtyard, three-and-a-half-year-old Banggeng was playing in the water by the pool. Jia Zhang was standing nearby watching. His two younger brothers turned a blind eye as they had been told long ago to stay away from Banggeng.

"Brother Shazhu." After entering the He family, the two younger brothers saw Shazhu busying around and called out to him in a crisp voice.

"Oh, Yuan Chao and Wei Guo are here. I just steamed some white flour buns. Come on, you two each take half, and add some sugar to it and let you taste it." Sha Zhu said happily.

He really likes children with sweet words.

"Thank you, Brother Shazhu." Wang Yuanchao and Wang Weiguo were not polite. They took the big white flour buns and started biting into them without fear of the heat.

"Hehe, you're welcome. You're really sensible." Sha Zhu said with narrowed eyes.

(End of this chapter)