Chapter 32 Cloth Shoes and Clips

Rainy Alley.

Ran Xiaomei was holding a shoe sole in her hand and was hemming it.

Wang Yuanchao and Wang Weiguo were concentrating on dividing the walnut cakes. Wang Mengde had just bought a pound of them for 65 cents when he went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy something.

"Ah~, Yuan Chao and Wei Guo's feet have grown a lot, and the shoes they are wearing now hurt their feet, so they need to change to new ones."

Ran Xiaomei said with a sad look on her face.

My two younger sons are in the growing stage, so if their clothes are too small, they can still be worn for a while, but if their shoes are too small, they cannot be worn.

Therefore, they basically have to change shoes once every half a year. Every time is a big project for Ran Xiaomei, and she needs to change at least four pairs.

Including Wang Hao, Wang Mengde and her own, the family has to make at least a dozen pairs of shoes every year to have enough to wear.

At the dining table, Wang Mengde was eating slowly. When he heard his mother's words, he smiled and said ingratiatingly, "Mom, you've worked hard."

"Hmph, you don't even know how to help your mother." Ran Xiaomei felt that the needle in her hand was having difficulty piercing the sole of the shoe, so she rubbed the needle on her scalp. After adding some grease, it really became a lot easier to sew.

"Mom, how do you want me to help? As long as your son can do it, I will do it without hesitation." Wang Mengde finished the last bite of the steamed bun in his hand, and then patted his chest to show his loyalty.

"That's what you said." Ran Xiaomei raised her head with joy: "Hurry up and find me a daughter-in-law. From now on, there will be someone to help me share the housework over there. This is the greatest help to me."

She said that on purpose.

When Wang Mengde returned home at night, she felt something was wrong.

Although he loves to laugh normally, he is never like he is now. He seems a little distracted when he laughs.

This little pig in her house is definitely ready to eat other people's cabbages.

"Mom, don't worry, I will definitely bring you a daughter-in-law this year." Wang Mengde made a bold statement.

If he hadn't met He Shengnan before, he would have definitely found an excuse to shirk or change the subject, but now, he became a little impatient.

"Really, don't lie to me." Ran Xiaomei said with some doubt.

Last year, she and Wang Hao urged him several times, but he always stopped them by saying that he was not of legal marriage age. This year, when she turned 20, she urged him two or three more times, but he fooled her again with jokes.

She didn't expect that he would agree so readily today, which made her more and more certain that her previous guess was correct and her son must have a girl he liked.

"Mom, I can't lie to you."

"Okay, Mom believes you."

Ran Xiaomei said happily.

"By the way, little pig, go to the bedroom and get me some thick cotton thread, I'm running out of it."

I looked at my mother helplessly. It seemed that I would never get rid of the nickname "Piggy" in this lifetime.

Wang Mengde got up and went to the bedroom to get the thick cotton thread. He did not hand it to Ran Xiaomei, but took out a slightly larger needle from the sewing box, put the thread end in his mouth to moisten it, then went close to the light and helped thread the needle.

When he put the threaded needle into the sewing box, looking at the awl, thimble, pliers, shoe pattern and other tools inside, he always felt that something important was missing. Thinking carefully, he saw his mother holding the sole in one hand and pinching the needle in the other hand, and suddenly he realized that he had missed the clip for sewing the sole.

"Mom, in a few days, I will make you a tool that will save you a lot of time and effort when you sew the soles of your shoes." Wang Mengde squatted beside his mother and said with a smile.

"What kind of tool is so magical?" Ran Xiaomei said without raising her head.

Her hands kept moving. She first used an awl to drill a hole in the sole of the shoe, then inserted the needle into the hole, and then used the thimble covered with tiny holes on the middle finger of her right hand to hold the tail of the needle. After the needle and thread were passed through, she pulled it hard again.

It takes at least 2,000 stitches to sew a pair of cloth shoe soles. Almost every housewife can sew shoe soles. When they are not busy, it is normal for several people to gather together and chat about family matters while sewing shoe soles.

"You'll know when I make it and you try it." Wang Mengde kept it a secret.

Ran Xiaomei was about to say something else when Wang Weiguo's unhappy voice came from the side: "Mom, brother, Wang Yuanchao is playing tricks, come here quickly."

"What's wrong with you two?" Ran Xiaomei sighed in her heart and asked softly.

The two younger sons in the family often fought at home over some inexplicable little things every day, which made her exhausted.

"Aid Korea, defend the country, what's going on?" Wang Mengde hurried over to see what was going on.

There was a box of walnut cookies on the dining table. There were four pieces in front of Wang Yuanchao and Wang Weiguo each, and there was one extra piece, which was held in Wang Yuanchao's hand.

"Brother, he is cheating. We agreed that each of us gets half of the walnut cookies, but now he took one extra piece." Wang Weiguo complained to his brother. As he spoke, his mouth pouted and he was about to cry out of grievance.

"I'm not cheating. We agreed that each of us would get one piece, and now the extra piece should be mine." Wang Yuanchao was also unhappy and hurriedly explained.

Ran Xiaomei, who was standing by, frowned when she heard that there was an extra piece of walnut cake. She complained, "Little Pig, isn't a pound of walnut cake ten yuan? Why did you buy an odd number?"

The twin sons in the family not only learned to fight for things since they were over one year old, but also learned that "it is not the lack of things that is worrying, but the inequality of things."

Everything two people own must be exactly the same, and the quantity cannot be different. Otherwise, as long as it is different, each will definitely think that the other's thing is better and that they are at a disadvantage.

After many bitter lessons, the Wang family has developed the habit that if there is only one thing given to the child, the child cannot take it home even if it is thrown away. If it is an odd number, the child must be made into an even number in advance.

Wang Mengde also realized that something was wrong. When he bought the walnut cookies, he was hungry, so he ate one first and didn't think much about it at the time.

Seeing that the situation was getting worse, the two brothers were getting more and more excited and were about to fight. Wang Mengde was quick-witted and quickly stepped forward and said, "You just divided it wrong."

"What's wrong?" they asked in unison.

"It's not right for only the two of you to share the walnut cookies. We have dad, mom and brother at home. Shouldn't you give some to them first and then divide it between you two?" Wang Mengde said softly.

"Yes~!" Wang Yuanchao and Wang Weiguo thought about it and felt that he was right, so they stopped arguing and started to redistribute.

Ran Xiaomei, Wang Hao (who was not at home temporarily), and he each got one, and there were six pieces left. The two younger brothers picked out those that looked similar and divided them equally.

After they calmed down, Ran Xiaomei rolled her eyes at Wang Mengde and warned him, "Little Pig, next time you bring something back, think twice and don't do it like today again."

She was still frightened at the thought. If her two sons didn't listen to her advice, she wouldn't be able to sleep well tonight.

Wang Mengde also breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at his mother with sympathy and thought to himself: It is not easy to have twin children in the family. Fortunately, I don’t have children yet, and I probably won’t have twins in the future.

(End of this chapter)