Grandma Li raised her chin, gesturing for her granddaughter to look at the half-dead wildflowers under the courtyard wall.
Those are the masterpieces of flower-growing experts; they water them whenever they remember, and leave them dry for half a month if they forget.
Luckily, it was a wildflower, which is very resilient; otherwise, if we were short of firewood, we could have just pulled it off and thrown it into the stove.
Jiayin covered her face. Oh dear, Grandma is so cruel! You can't hit someone in the face!
She's just being lazy sometimes, why bother arguing with a child!
Unfortunately, the little green snake in the space didn't know this, otherwise it would probably be hugging the wildflowers and crying loudly, lamenting that we were all spirits of the mountains and fields, how did we end up in the hands of this little witch!
Just as the grandfather and grandson were talking, Li Zhensheng and Tao Hongying and the others finally returned from the city.
The courtyard, which had been quiet just moments before, was now much more lively.
Grandma Li busied herself with chores, overjoyed, which made Li Zhensheng feel flattered. Then, seeing that Jiayin was the only child left in the house, he understood.
All the naughty boys have been sent to academy to study, and I'm finding it hard to adjust; I feel the house is too quiet now...
Normally, the Li family's dinner table is so big that two tables are barely enough to fit. Today, the children are not here, Li Laosi is not here, and Jia Huan is staying at the restaurant to keep watch.
So everyone sat at one table, leaving half the seats empty.
Old Mrs. Li hesitated to put her chopsticks down. "Tonight, Jiaxi and the others are staying at the academy. I don't know if they'll be able to get used to it..."
Everyone quickly tried to comfort him, but Li Zhensheng smiled and said, "They're all grown men now, Mother, don't worry about them."
Tao Hongying knew her mother-in-law best, and she pretended to look worried as she said, "Yes, Mother, you can't put all your attention on your grandson. You should also think about the family. I have to work at the restaurant for a few more days and won't be able to take care of anything else."
"Winter is just around the corner. There are more than twenty sets of cotton-padded clothes for Uncle Zhao and the others in the backyard, as well as for our family. Mother has to get things ready."
Li Lao Er understood and added fuel to the fire, "We just finalized an agreement today that our village will join forces with three other villages to build bridges and roads. First our village, then Dahuaishu, Dawangzhuang, and Xiaowangzhuang. Wherever we work, we'll be provided with lunch."
"It's not easy to feed and water all the hundred or so people in the village. Starting tomorrow, it will take about ten days to repair the roads in our village. Mother has brought the women from the village, so they have to be our support!"
These are tasks that the family would never normally allow the old lady to do, but now everyone has tacitly pushed them all onto her.
Firstly, there simply aren't enough people.
Secondly, we also hope that the old lady can shift her focus and not worry too much about her grandsons leaving home for school, lest she become ill from being bored.
Sure enough, no matter how capable Old Lady Li was, she couldn't outmaneuver her united children.
After the meal, she quickly got to the storeroom and found all the suitable fabrics and cotton for making jackets and trousers.
These were gifts from Madam Cui and Madam Liu on a regular basis; they were not expensive, but extremely practical.
Unfortunately, even if we arranged for everyone in the family to have their own coats and trousers, it still wouldn't be enough.
So, Old Lady Li asked Granny He to make a list and find some free time to go to town to buy the items.
Not only that, but we'll be cooking for the road construction workers tomorrow at noon. And that's not just for our own village, but also for the other three villages!
The food should be affordable and presentable, so as not to invite ridicule behind people's backs, or else I'll have to make a menu.
I need to go to the village warehouse to collect grain tomorrow morning, and I also need to go and buy any ingredients I'm missing...
Jiayin was worried that her grandmother might overthink things, so she wanted to stay in bed with her, talk to her, and comfort the old lady.
As a result, Old Lady Li fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow...
Actually, if her family hadn't pushed so much work onto the old lady, she wouldn't have had much time to worry about her grandsons...
After all, late autumn is always the busiest time for farmers.
Even though the Li family has no shortage of food and drink now, some habits are still ingrained in their bones, such as drying vegetables, boiling beans and making soy sauce, storing cabbages and radishes, chopping firewood and stacking firewood...
Every single item is related to whether the family can have enough to eat and wear, and get through the winter properly!
And so the bridge and road construction plan began in full swing at Suijintan.
Every single man in the village participated.
The women were busy cooking, while the elderly delivered water to the construction site and helped take care of the tools.
The mischievous boys still attend school, but in the afternoons they also go to the construction site to do small tasks that they can manage.
The villagers didn't stop him; after all, what boy doesn't grow up following his father around, learning as he goes?
After two or three busy days, Hui Niang finally finished her postpartum confinement. She soaked in the hot spring for a full hour before she finally felt alive again.
When she entered the room with her hair down, the two children were being placed on the kang (a heated brick bed), surrounded by Jiayin and Granny He, who were laughing and teasing them.
Granny He turned her head and quickly grabbed a cloth to wrap up the woman's half-wet hair. "Even though you're out of confinement, you still need to be careful. Keeping your hair wet like this can easily cause headaches!"
Jiayin didn't understand any of this; she just listened to the excitement and that was it. For the time being, she was only interested in the two chubby children in front of her.
Life is much better now than before, and the family is not as poor as it used to be. This time, when Hui Niang was in confinement after childbirth, both Old Lady Li and Tao Hongying made her plenty of chicken soup and fish soup.
Hui Niang drank it every day, and although she didn't gain much weight herself, she fed her two children until they became chubby.
Right now, the chubby boy was earnestly blowing bubbles, but every time he succeeded, Jiayin would reach out and pop them.
The chubby boy was so angry that he kicked and thrashed about, his face turning red, and he babbled incoherently. Jiayin then laughed mischievously!
When Huiniang saw her son being bullied, she wasn't angry; instead, she laughed along with him.
Granny He helped her braid her hair into two braids, which were cool and neat.
Unexpectedly, a commotion suddenly broke out outside the courtyard. The three of them looked out the window and jumped up in surprise.
Several guards carried a stretcher, followed by a group of people, and they squeezed into the courtyard. On the stretcher lay... Li Yong!
Hui Niang ran out like a madwoman, threw herself onto the stretcher, and couldn't say anything, only tears streaming down her face.
Li Yong's chest and back were covered in blood. He was in pain and gasped for breath, but he still tried his best to comfort his wife, "Don't worry, I'm fine. It's just flesh and blood."
Doctor Zhang, also looking disheveled, followed beside him and cursed, "That kid is infuriating! He promised to come with me to the mountains to gather herbs, but instead, he went off to fight a tiger! Luckily, his saber was sharp enough, otherwise he wouldn't be alive to come back!"
Grandma Li caught up, panting, and helped Hui Niang up, saying, "Let's settle Dayong down first, we can talk later."
The group quickly settled Li Yong in a side room.
The heated kang bed in the side room is quite large. Normally, Hui Niang and her two children sleep there, and with Shui Yun or Granny He helping to keep watch at night, it's not crowded. Now that Li Yong has been accommodated, it's quite spacious.
While on the mountain, Doctor Zhang only stopped the bleeding for Li Yong. Now, he has to take off Li Yong's clothes, clean him, apply medicine, and even stitch up some of the wounds.
After all that work, the old man was exhausted.
But Li Yong only suffered superficial injuries; his bones and muscles were fine, which relieved everyone who heard the news.
After Li Lao Er chased everyone away, he went inside with Li Lao Tai and the village chief to visit them.
Hui Niang no longer cared about being shy, and grabbed her husband's hand, not daring to let go for a moment.
Old Mrs. Li was furious and berated Li Yong, "You, a father of two, how can you be so reckless? What will Hui Niang and the children do if something happens to you? Weren't you supposed to accompany Doctor Zhang to gather herbs? How did you end up fighting with a tiger?!"
Li Yong was somewhat weak, but his eyes shone with an unnerving brightness. "Auntie, I heard there were tigers in Yunwu Mountain, so I went to look for them under the pretext of gathering herbs. Otherwise, I was afraid you wouldn't agree."
"I just passed through the city. The dead tiger has already been delivered to the Marquis's mansion. The head steward will help me sell it. I heard it will fetch at least five hundred taels!"
"I plan to build a house here for Huiniang and her two children. In the future, even if I go to war with the Marquis, I won't have to worry about them anymore."
After saying this, his eyes shone even brighter. "I've already drawn up the blueprints. It's going to be a two-courtyard house, so the children can all live there after they get married. Hui Niang likes embroidery, so I'll also set aside an embroidery room for her!"
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