If Lin Meiyu had known that Tian Tian would need water, she would have gone to melt the ice in the morning.
Nowadays, water scoops are made from a grown gourd split in half, and can scoop up a lot of water. Tian Tian held the gourd with both hands and carefully carried it to the well outside, for fear that the water would spill out and scald her.
When they arrived at the well, there was a thick layer of ice on the top of the water pressure well. Tian Tian poured all the hot water on the ice. She didn't want to melt all the ice, just a little bit so that the water pressure valve inside could move.
Tian Tian poured hot water while pressing the well. Soon the well was pumped up and large streams of water gushed out of the front outlet, all falling into the bucket below the outlet.
When the bucket was half full of water, Tiantian would quickly carry the water into the vat. After repeating this several times, Tian Lisong finally came out.
"Dad!" Tian Tian and Tian Lisong greeted him.
"Get some water! Dad's here to fetch water. How long will it take you to fill this half bucket?" Tian Lisong was sleepy and obviously not fully awake yet. He took the half bucket of water from Tian Tian's hand and put it under the well to fill it up.
Tian Lisong was very strong and could carry a bucket of water at a time. Soon he filled the water tank.
Just then, Lin Meiyu and the others had served their meal to the table. Lin Meiyu scrubbed the pot dry, scooped a few scoops of water into it, helped Tian Tian boil the water, and then they went to eat.
Tian Tian didn't sleep well last night, and she was feeling lazy because of her period, so she felt weak and listless.
Old Mrs. Tian glanced at Tian Tian and asked, "What's wrong with you? Didn't you sleep well last night?"
Tian Tian said with a bitter face: "Grandma! My feet are frozen. I didn't sleep well last night. My feet are swollen when I woke up this morning."
"You deserve it!" Old Mrs. Tian said angrily, "I've told you a long time ago not to put your feet under the quilt when you come back, and not to warm your feet in the brazier. Feet that are constantly changing temperature are most likely to get frozen. Look, now you're frozen! I wonder if you can sleep at night in the future? Your feet will get frozen every year after this."
Tian Tian ate her meal listlessly, listening silently to Old Lady Tian criticizing her.
However, Old Mrs. Tian still felt sorry for Tian Tian, and after she finished her talk, she gave Tian Tian some advice.
"From today on, you will soak your feet in ginger water every night. If it doesn't work, you can boil potato slices and pickled cabbage leaves. If you feel itchy when you sleep at night, put your feet outside the quilt. And you must never put your feet in a warm place immediately after you come home."
Tian Tian's eyebrows drooped, and she listened listlessly to Old Lady Tian's lecture.
She didn't know that doing this would freeze her feet. It was so cold outside, and if she wore thick cotton shoes, the wind would blow through them. If she walked a little further, her feet would be frozen when she came back. She would definitely be careful to keep her feet warm. If she had known that freezing feet would be so uncomfortable, she would not have done this.
Old Mrs. Tian had a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Although she scolded Tian Tian, after the meal she still fished out a head of sauerkraut from the jar, peeled off the outermost layer, and spread the sauerkraut on Tian Tian's toes.
Tian Tian didn’t know whether this was a good idea or not, but the cool feeling she felt when she first applied it was indeed quite comfortable.
The only thing that Tian Tian couldn't stand was the sour smell of the sauerkraut, but Old Lady Tian was watching closely and she had no way of removing the sauerkraut.
After finally waiting for enough time, Tian Tian immediately threw the sauerkraut aside, washed her feet, put on her shoes and ran out.
The hot water in the pot boiled early. Tian Tian added a little warm water to a large basin, ran to her room, took out the clothes and soaked them in the basin.
When Lin Meiyu saw that the clothes in the basin were still stained with blood, she quickly took the basin to Tian Tian's room and asked her to wash them quietly in the room.
Tian Tian was not surprised. Whether it was Lin Meiyu or Old Lady Tian, they washed the clothes stained with menstrual blood in secret. After washing, they would not put them in the sun, but would find a small corner to let them dry little by little to avoid being seen by men like Tian Lisong, especially the underwear stained with blood.
However, according to Tian Tian's observation, Tian Lisong did not show any disgusted expression when he saw it several times, which shows that he did not care about such things.
Tian Tian simply lived in a room of her own with a firewall inside. Tian Lisong would not enter her room, so Tian Tian openly hung her underwear on the firewall.
Tian Tian would not be so smart as to try to change Old Lady Tian and the others' thoughts and actions, nor would she show anything on her face. Anyway, she would definitely not do that in private.
Tian Tian poured the water back and forth four times before she washed the clothes and sheets clean, which really exhausted her.
She had just found that pair of panties and put them on yesterday, so they were still clean. She just needed to wash the blood stains off them.
But she had already slept on the same mattress for more than half a month. Tian Tian couldn't convince herself to put the mattress in the basin just to wash the blood stain, so she simply washed the entire mattress.
After washing, she was glad that her quilt was not dirty, otherwise she would not be able to wash both a large quilt and a large mattress cover.
Seeing Tian Tian hanging the sheets on the string outside, Old Mrs. Tian went back to the cupboard to find a piece of clean cloth and asked Tian Tian to bring the mattress over.
Today's mattress covers and quilt sheets are not like quilt covers, but a whole piece of cloth sewn on the outside of the quilt. If they get dirty and you want to wash them, just remove the cloth and sew it back on after washing.
Although it sounds a bit troublesome, Tian Tian still likes it very much. During the time she has been here, no matter who is sewing the quilt at home, she will always be there to watch. If she were not already a 15-year-old kid, she would also like to roll around on the quilt like Tian Zhuo and Tian Baobao.
She always felt that the woman who was sewing a quilt with her head down under the kerosene lamp, scratching her hair with a needle from time to time, was a very warm atmosphere, which made Tian Tian feel at ease.
I watched Old Mrs. Tian skillfully spread out the mattress, then put the sheet on it and measured the distance.
This mattress sheet is not a whole piece of sheet, but is made of pieces of cloth pieced together. I don’t know who sewed it. Although each piece of cloth is different, there is an inexplicable beauty when they are put together. Tian Tian likes it very much.
"Grandma! Where did you get this mattress sheet? It's so beautiful!" Tian Tian said as she looked at the fine stitches on the mattress sheet. "It's well stitched. You can't even see the stitches when you drill through it."
"I sewed this a few years ago. If you like it, you can put it in your room." Old Mrs. Tian spread out the sheets and mattress and began to thread the needle.
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