The children's cheers and shouts startled Wang Dazhu, Liu Guilan, Mu Xueqing and Huang Li—who were coaxing the children to sleep—as well as Shen Wei and Zhao Cuiyun, who were working, and Wang Daliang and his wife, who had come over for a visit.
One by one, they dropped what they were doing and ran over to watch the television.
Noticing that Mu Xueqing had pulled Huang Li along and run to the back house, Wang An immediately asked with displeasure
"Where are the children? Is no one watching them? How can you two be so carefree?"
As he spoke, ignoring the crowd of relatives who had rushed over and leaving the television only half-tuned, Wang An started walking toward the east room.
To Wang An, Xingfu and Kuaile were the treasures of his heart. Although the two of them couldn't even crawl yet and were safe enough left on the kang, Wang An could not put his mind at ease if there wasn't an adult supervising them.
In fact, ever since Xingfu and Kuaile were born, Wang An had not even allowed the two lynxes to enter the east room of their house.
Mainly, those two lynxes were, after all, fierce beasts brought back from the mountains. Although they had been raised as cats by the Wang family since they were young, and were likely more sentient now because they had been eating Spirit Awakening Powder, in Wang An's heart, a fierce beast was always a fierce beast. He truly worried that they might suddenly regain their wild and ferocious nature and harm his two little treasures.
It couldn't be helped; Xingfu and Kuaile were the continuation of Wang An's bloodline across two lifetimes. He truly cherished them to the point of fearing they would melt in his mouth or break in his hands.
At times, Wang An felt he was being overly anxious about the two of them—to be precise, he was beyond anxious. Yet, whenever it concerned them, he simply couldn't control himself.
Seeing that Wang An was unhappy, Mu Xueqing quickly grabbed his sleeve and said
"The children are asleep in the rockers, sleeping soundly. Besides, I only came to take a quick peek before heading back."
Upon hearing Wang An's words, Huang Li didn't even spare a glance at the television and hurriedly said
"Big Brother, please don't be angry. I'll go back to the room right now, I'll go back right now."
With that, Huang Li immediately ran back to the east room.
Wang An realized he had overreacted. As a mother, Mu Xueqing's concern for the children was not any less than his own; in fact, she cared for them even more. Therefore, it was impossible for Mu Xueqing to neglect the safety of her own children.
Taking a moment to calm down, Wang An looked at Mu Xueqing helplessly and said to the crowd with a frown
"The TV isn't set up yet. I'll call you once it's ready. Everyone, please go back to whatever you were doing."
Everyone had seen Wang An's display of displeasure; even Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan didn't say a word. After Wang An finished speaking, they glanced at the television one last time before dispersing to attend to their own chores.
Once the crowd scattered, Wang An didn't continue tuning the TV, but instead couldn't resist walking into the east room.
When Wang An entered, Huang Li was sitting between two rockers, her hands gently swaying them, while the two little treasures were sleeping very sweetly inside.
The "rockers" mentioned here were actually cradles that could sway from side to side.
Normally, when raising children in the Northeast, a rope would be tied to the ceiling beam with a basket hanging below, and the infant who couldn't crawl yet would be placed in the basket to sway. This way, the mother watching the child could do needlework while swaying the basket. This was the origin of the phrase "hanging the child from the beam" in the Northeast.
To put it simply, this was a form of wisdom among the people of the Northeast—though, more accurately, it was a practice born of necessity. After all, someone had to watch the child, and someone had to do the needlework.
As for why Wang An's family used rockers instead of hanging baskets, it was because the ceiling of their new house was plastered with lime, leaving nowhere to tie a rope. Thus, Comrade Wang Dazhu had built two rockers very similar to cradles.
Seeing Wang An enter, Huang Li looked at him with a bit of fear and said
"Bi... Big Brother, I... I just wanted to take a look, I won't do it again..."
Before Huang Li could finish, Wang An interrupted her with a smile
"Oh, it's fine. You've done a great job. I just came in to check on the children. I'll put the TV in the east room later, then you and your sister-in-law can watch TV while coaxing the kids."
Truth be told, Huang Li was a very good girl. She was quiet and reserved, woke up early every morning to cook, and besides helping Mu Xueqing with the children, she handled all the other housework. Overall, the Wang family was quite satisfied with her.
Of course, the Wang family was also very good to Huang Li and her brother. Whatever the family ate, the two of them ate the same; they were never treated differently. For the siblings, life at the Wang house was a thousand times better than at their own home.
Hearing Wang An's words, Huang Li's anxious heart finally settled. With a slight sob in her voice, she said
"I thought Big Brother was going to kick me out."
Wang An was stunned for a moment and said, half-amused and half-exasperated
"Why would I kick you out? Would I really do that over something so small? What kind of person have you imagined me to be?"
Huang Li stole a glance at Wang An and fell silent.
Wang An didn't dwell on her thoughts. He gazed quietly at the two little treasures for a while, then turned and left the room to continue tinkering with the television.
After tuning the TV to a relatively optimal state, Wang An had Wang Li and Mu Xueli fix the television pole in place.
"Fixing it" here meant inserting other pieces of wood into the hole to wedge the television pole tightly. They couldn't fill it with soil because if the signal became poor in the future, or if there were other broadcasting stations, they would need to pull the wedging wood out to rotate the pole and search for a signal.
Once the first color TV and its corresponding pole were installed, installing the second color TV and its pole was much easier, taking less than ten minutes to complete. It was simply a matter of ensuring the two poles were perfectly parallel.
Finally, without stopping to make an amplifier, Wang An led Wang Li, Mu Xueli, Wang Dazhu, Huang Zhong, and Wang Daliang and his wife, pulling the poles and televisions to install them at Wang Li's house.
With the experience gained from installing the TV at his own home, the coordination among everyone became much simpler. Of course, because the ground was frozen hard, digging the holes remained the most time-consuming part.
By the time they finished with Wang Li's television, it was already past noon.
After having a simple meal at Wang Li's house, the three of them pulled Mu Xueli's color TV and pole, hurrying toward Mu Xueli's home.