"Diu diu diu~ deng deng deng deng deng deng deng, deng deng deng deng deng deng deng deng..."
At 7:48 p.m. on New Year's Day in 1986, the TV blared the exhilarating theme song of "Journey to the West."
A group of children gathered in front of the TV, while the adults sat nearby, holding sunflower seeds and peanuts.
"Wow! It's jumping out! It's jumping out! It's Sun Wukong!"
The children's exclamations echoed.
"Even Little Baby and Miaomiao enjoy watching it. Oh my, they're so young, yet they know how to watch TV."
Aunt Wang observed the two little ones craning their necks.
Professor Wen and Yang Yufen were also smiling, watching the kids' excitement, fearing they might jump into the TV at any moment.
The children were engrossed, and the adults were not far behind. For the first time, they didn't urge the kids to hurry to bed, but watched the entire episode together.
Since it was late, Professor Wen only took Little Baby home, leaving Hu Zhenghao to stay and sleep with the twins.
"Ah-da! Watch me with my magic staff!"
The children on the bed were playing, and Yang Yufen didn't mind. During the New Year, while children are joyful, adults are quite tired.
On the morning of New Year's Day, they went to watch the flag-raising ceremony. After that, they hurried back for lunch and visited relatives. Their family had fewer obligations, having agreed to watch the flag-raising together, leaving less visiting to do.
Early the next morning, Yang Yufen was awakened by a crisp sound.
"What happened?"
Yang Yufen rushed out and saw four children holding bamboo sticks, with broken glass all over the floor and the window damaged.
Yang Yufen took a deep breath, rarely allowing herself to sleep in a little.
"Explain yourselves."
Yang Yufen looked at the children.
"Sorry, Grandma Yang, we wanted to play Sun Wukong, and the magic staff accidentally hit the window. Can you not confiscate our magic staffs? We'll clean up right away."
Wang Xing spoke up, and Hu Zhenghao nodded, reaching out to clean.
"Stop, don't move. Stand far away, by the wall."
Yang Yufen quickly commanded, and the children dared not move, obediently standing by the wall.
Yang Yufen cleaned up the glass, looked at the window with a big hole, removed the remaining glass, and found some oil paper to cover it, preventing the warm air from escaping.
"Now go inside, hold your magic staffs, and continue to stand as punishment."
Yang Yufen finished cleaning, pointed at the children, who obediently went inside, while Yang Yufen glanced at them and turned to cook.
When Professor Wen arrived, he saw the children standing as punishment.
"What happened here?"
Professor Wen placed Little Baby on the bed.
"We broke the window."
Hu Zhenghao spoke honestly.
"What were you doing breaking the window? In this cold weather."
"..."
Each child stood quietly like a quail, not daring to speak.
"They wanted to play the Monkey King, and the sticks in their hands are the tools of the crime. Alright, let's get ready to eat."
Yang Yufen came out with two bowls of noodles, placed them on the table, and turned to bring more.
Professor Wen looked at the children's straight bamboo sticks. To be honest, they had quite an eye for picking them.
"I’ll keep an eye on the kids for a while. The logistics office should have some glass. Just using oiled paper won’t do."
Professor Wen glanced at the window.
"I was thinking the same. I’ll measure the size in a bit."
After breakfast, Yang Yufen went out to look for glass, while Professor Wen called Hu Zhenghao over.
"Zhenghao, you’re the older brother. When you play with your younger brothers, you need to be mindful. You were all swinging those long sticks around, and now you’ve accidentally broken the window. Have you thought about what could happen if you accidentally hit one of your brothers in the eye?"
Hu Zhenghao lowered his head.
"It’s fine to play, but you need to keep a safe distance from each other. Don’t get all tangled up in a mess. And for those sticks, wrap one end with some cloth."
Professor Wen looked at the kids but ultimately decided not to forbid them from playing.
"Got it!"
The moment they heard they didn’t have to throw away the sticks, the kids were all thrilled.
Yang Yufen came back carrying the glass, and she installed it in no time. Since the glass was fragile, the logistics office kept plenty in stock, and it was already cut to the perfect size, so there was no need for extra trouble.
"Grandma, do we have any cloth at home?"
Dabao asked eagerly.
"What do you need cloth for?"
Yang Yufen looked down at Dabao, who was clinging to her leg.
"Grandpa said if we wrap it up, we can keep playing."
Dabao pointed at his makeshift "Ruyi Jingu Bang" (Golden Staff).
Yang Yufen looked over and saw all the children staring at her expectantly.
"I’ll take a look."
Yang Yufen remembered that she had some leftover cloth from when she prepared swaddling clothes for the kids. She just needed to recall where she had stored it after the move.
When she brought out a bag of cloth scraps, the kids crowded around to take a look.
Hu Zhenghao got very excited when he spotted a piece of yellow cloth.
"I want this color! It’s just like the one on TV!"
"Me too! Me too!"
The children excitedly rummaged through the scraps, but unfortunately, there wasn’t enough of any one color for them all to choose from.
"Waah! Grandma, I want one too!"
Dabao, though slower with his hands, was quick to cry and threw himself at Yang Yufen.
Yang Yufen furrowed her brows. Erbao didn’t say a word, but his eager expression spoke volumes.
"Let’s not use the cloth scraps. Grandma will wrap the sticks with hemp rope and paint over it. Once it dries, it’ll look just the same."
"Paint might not be the best option. I have some dye. Zhenghao can go fetch it, and we can use that to color the rope."
Professor Wen chimed in.
"I know where it is! I’ll go get it now."
Hu Zhenghao immediately dashed out, full of excitement.
Yang Yufen went to fetch some hemp rope. It was a bit thick, so she cut a piece and unraveled it into smaller strands, which were just the right size.
To make sure the hemp rope wouldn’t slip off the bamboo sticks, Yang Yufen used a knife to carve some spiral grooves for grip. She also smoothed out the middle of the bamboo sticks to ensure there were no splinters.
Hu Zhenghao returned quickly with the dye, and by that time, Yang Yufen had already wrapped the ends of four bamboo sticks.
Professor Wen applied the dye to the surface of the hemp rope, then placed the sticks near the radiator to dry. It didn’t take long for them to be ready.
"Wow! They look amazing!"
The four kids squatted by the radiator, guarding their respective "Golden Staffs." They patiently waited for one end to dry before applying color to the other.
Although it couldn't stretch and shrink like the one on TV, the kids were already overjoyed.
Once the paint dried, the group of children eagerly ran outside to show off their creations.
“Wow! Your golden cudgel looks so cool!”
The kids in the courtyard gathered around. Among the boys, nine out of ten were holding sticks, and even the firewood at home hadn’t been spared.
At first, everyone was comparing whose golden cudgel was the straightest. Then Hu Zhenghao and his friends appeared, and the vibrant colors of their sticks immediately drew everyone's attention. The crowd quickly surrounded them.
“My grandma and my nana made these for us! Aren’t they pretty?”
Dabao was brimming with pride, and Hu Zhenghao and the others puffed out their chests confidently. Hu Zhenghao even went so far as to twirl his stick around, mimicking Sun Wukong and striking a pose as if gazing at the moon.
“Wow! That’s so cool!”
A chorus of exclamations followed.
