Chapter 178: Another one, giving birth in spring

Yun Tangyin stuffed a key into Zhou Desheng's wife's hand and said, "It's hanging behind the kitchen door. It's made of bamboo strips. Go get it yourself."

She watched him carrying the cabbages toward the corner. The back of his blue cloth jacket was stained with a thin layer of snow, like a falling cloud. "Did you just take it out of the cellar? It looks very fresh."

Zhou Desheng's wife stood up and patted her apron, snow flakes falling on her shoulders. "The temperature in the cellar is just right. The cabbage hearts are so tender that you can squeeze out the juice."

She pointed at the rabbit in the bamboo cage and laughed, "This little thing really knows how to enjoy life. The cotton wool on it is thicker than my child's mattress."

As he spoke, he caught sight of the locust flower cake on the stove and suddenly swallowed his saliva. "The cake you steamed is so good that my son Desheng was still talking about it last night, saying it's ten times more fragrant than the white flour steamed buns in the cafeteria."

Yun Tangyin stuffed a piece of cake wrapped in oil paper into her hand and said, "Take it back for Desheng as a midnight snack. Fu Yucheng said he added three spoonfuls of sugar when making the dough, so it's very sweet."

Zhou Desheng's wife walked towards the kitchen with the cakes in her arms, the bamboo strips of the basket making a rustling sound as they dragged across the floor. "Thank you very much! Tomorrow I'll bring you a jar of spicy cabbage, pickled with freshly dried chilies. It's perfect with porridge."

Fu Yucheng was nailing wooden hooks into the wall, and the fresh fragrance of pine wood mixed with the coldness of snow filled the air.

"It's for hanging wintersweets." He wrapped a red string around the hook. "When the flowers bloom a bit more, pick two branches and hang them by the bed. You can smell the fragrance while you embroider."

Yun Tangyin touched the burrs on the wooden hook and laughed, "You said the same thing last year, but the wintersweet didn't hang for a few days before a rabbit ate half of the branch."

The rabbit in the bamboo cage seemed to understand and suddenly pricked up its ears.

Fu Yucheng threw a carrot into the cage: "I'll find you a companion this time. Let it watch you so you don't get greedy again."

The rabbit turned around with the carrot in its mouth and burrowed into the cotton pile. Its round body hit the cage, making it creak, as if it was holding a small ball.

When the sun sank to the treetops in the west, Fu Yucheng squatted in front of the chicken coop to pick up eggs. The mud stains on his military boots mixed with straw, leaving a series of flower prints on the snow.

"Mom said to pickle these eggs into salted eggs," he put the eggs into the jar, suddenly turned around and smiled, "When you are in confinement, it will be perfect to eat them with porridge in the morning."

Yun Tangyin added a handful of pine needles to the stove, and the delicate fragrance of pine resin filled the air. "We have to save a few for the child. Director Wang said that eating egg yolks helps children gain strength."

From outside the yard came Mrs. Li's loud voice, mixed with the children's laughter: "Yinyin! I've got new soles for you!"

Yun Tangyin stuffed a piece of locust flower cake into Mrs. Li's hand and said, "Try it quickly. Fu Yucheng just steamed it. It's sweeter than the last time."

Mrs. Li bit her cake and looked at the kang. She saw a light blue floral cloth spread on the cotton quilt. She suddenly clapped her hands and laughed, "This cloth will be beautiful for a swaddling cloth. When the baby is one month old, I'll make a tiger-head pillow for your family. It will be a good omen to match the whole set."

She stuffed a bag of peanuts into Yun Tangyin's pocket and said, "Fry them until crispy. Peel them and eat them when you have free time. They will replenish your energy and blood."

The moonlight at night shone through the ice-flowered window, covering the kang with a layer of silver frost.

Yun Tangyin leaned in Fu Yucheng's arms, listening to him talk about the time when he robbed bird nests when he was a child. Suddenly, the little guy in her belly kicked her, gently like a feather brushing across her heart.

"Look," she took his hand and pressed it against her belly, "children like to listen to stories, too."

Fu Yucheng put his ear close to hers, the collar of his army green cotton-padded jacket rubbing against her fleece: "You're saying 'Daddy's words aren't nice'."

In the celadon vase on the stove, two more wintersweets have bloomed. The tender yellow petals are covered with moisture, and the fragrance is so sweet that it makes one's bones soften.

Yun Tangyin suddenly remembered the soles of shoes that Sister Li gave her during the day. There was a red thread hidden in the tiger-striped stitching, like a red hairband in the snow.

"Wait until spring to wear these shoes and go pick locust flowers," she huddled into Fu Yucheng's arms. "You stand on the bench to pick them, and I'll catch them from below, just like we did last year."

Fu Yucheng added a piece of coal to the stove, and the flames cast dancing shadows on the wall. "I won't let you take it this year. Just stand by and watch. Don't get tired."

Before daybreak, Fu Yucheng went out with two locust flower cakes in his pocket.

The creaking sound of military boots stepping on the unmelted snow startled the sparrows under the eaves. The gray shadow passed over the red silk lantern like a rolling ball of ink.

When he rushed to the town, the cake in his pocket was still warm, and the oil paper was slightly damp from his body temperature.

That was specially reserved for the youngest son of Zhang the butcher. I heard that his female rabbit had just given birth and he knew the ins and outs of breeding best.

There were still icicles hanging on the fence of Butcher Zhang's house. When Fu Yucheng lifted the curtain, he happened to see Aunt Zhang feeding rabbits.

The gray female rabbit pricked up her ears as she scrambled for food, her red eyes shining like cherries in the morning light. "Why is Comrade Fu here?"

Fu Yucheng put the locust flower cake on the table. The snowflakes on his army green cotton-padded jacket fell on the oil paper. "My wife said that my white rabbit is always alone, so I want to find a female rabbit to breed with."

He scratched his head, the tips of his ears flushed red. "She mentioned it casually yesterday, and I thought spring would be a good time for a baby."

Aunt Zhang laughed as she pinched the cake, the brown sugar melting into a sticky sweetness on her fingertips: "Your wife is pregnant, and it will be a great addition to the family."

She pointed into the rabbit cage and said, "That grey one is the most fertile. It gave birth to five kittens last year. Should I send them to your house to stay for half a month?"

Fu Yucheng nodded quickly and stuffed two feet of blue cloth into Aunt Zhang's hand: "Make a small jacket for the baby. Thank you for your help."

On the way back, the gray female rabbit huddled in the bamboo basket and shivered, looking at Fu Yucheng timidly with her red eyes.

He unbuttoned his military coat, took the rabbit out of the bamboo basket, and put it in his arms to warm it. The fur rubbed against his chest and made it itchy.

When passing by the supply and marketing cooperative, I specially bought a bag of dried carrots. The oil paper bag rustled in my hand. Yun Tangyin always said that the rabbits at home loved to eat this, and it was especially fragrant when mixed with alfalfa.

When I pushed open the gate, Yun Tangyin was embroidering tiger-head shoes in front of a bamboo cage.

The white rabbit clung to the railing and circled around, putting its three-petaled mouth close to her hand to sniff the ball of yarn, with some thread ends stuck to its fur.

"Why are you back?" She looked up, the needle making a small hole in the cloth. "Didn't you say you were going to the canteen to get flour?"

Fu Yucheng didn't say anything and put the bamboo basket in his arms on the ground.

As soon as the gray female rabbit landed on the ground, she ran to the side of the cage. The two rabbits rubbed their noses against each other through the bamboo sticks, like old friends meeting again after a long separation.

"From Aunt Zhang's," he stuffed dried carrots into Yun Tangyin's hand, his palm still warm from the rabbit fur, "You said yesterday you wanted to find a companion for it, and I thought spring would be a good time for a cub."

Yun Tangyin suddenly laughed out loud, and poked the rabbit fur on his army green cotton-padded jacket with her fingertips: "Why did you make a special trip for such a small matter?"

The white rabbit had passed a piece of alfalfa across the railings, and the gray rabbit took it and went into the cotton pile, as if she was building a new nest.

Fu Yucheng added firewood to the stove. The flames licked the bottom of the pot, casting their shadows on the wall, close together: "I remember everything you said."

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound in the bamboo cage. Two rabbits were huddled in the cotton wool, chewing on dried carrots, their red eyes sparkling in the shadows.

Yun Tangyin added some straw to the cage and suddenly found that Fu Yucheng's face was covered with rabbit hair. She smiled and reached out to brush it off for him.