Xiao Yunying, riding in a rented oxcart, left a little later than Old Zhang's oxcart. On her way back to the village, she met someone.
"Yingying".
Duan Yingying turned around: "Sister Yunying, it's you."
Xiao Yunying stopped the oxcart: "Get on, let's go back to the village together."
Duan Yingying thanked her without hesitation and sat down next to her.
"Why didn't you ride in Old Zhang's oxcart? Did you miss it?"
Duan Yingying held her basket in her left hand: "It's not that I missed it, I just wanted to save two coins to buy more grain."
"Did you go to town to buy grain?"
Duan Yingying tilted the basket towards Xiao Yunying: "Yes, I went to sell the purses and handkerchiefs that my mother and I embroidered, and bought some black flour."
"Did you embroider the handkerchief you gave me yourself?"
"I embroidered it myself. My embroidery skills are not as good as Sister Yunying's, please don't mind."
"No, I think it looks great, I really like it."
Duan Yingying blushed slightly: "I want to thank you, sister, for allowing my sister and mother to eat white flour buns and meat."
Her mother didn't want her to go that day, but her younger sister hadn't had a proper meal in a long time, so she disregarded her mother's objections, took the handkerchief she had embroidered, and took her sister to a feast.
According to the village custom, when attending a housewarming party, the gift of food must be brought into the house. She thought she would be refused and kicked out, but to her surprise, Aunt Xiao was willing to let them stay for a meal and arranged a seat for each of them.
There was also meat and steamed buns that Sister Yunying asked her to take back.
She was truly grateful to the Xiao family.
"You give a gift, I'll stay at the table—it's standard procedure, no need to thank me."
Duan Yingying got off the oxcart at the village entrance, thanked them, and left. Xiao Yunying pointed out the direction and told the cart drivers to take the oxcart to her home.
As soon as I reached the gate, I heard Luo Xin crying from inside the courtyard.
Xiao Yunying panicked, jumped off the oxcart, and pushed open the courtyard gate: "Xin'er, what's wrong?"
Luo Xin threw herself into her arms, crying uncontrollably. Xiao Yunying looked around but didn't notice anything amiss.
Aside from the brothers Luo Chen and Luo Li having somewhat strange expressions.
"Luo Yang, what happened?"
Luo Yang calmly recounted what had just happened: "When my elder brother was carrying firewood, he didn't notice that Xin'er tripped and hit her face on the door frame, losing a tooth."
Ali was being mischievous and lied to Xin'er, saying that her older brother's teeth couldn't be put back in and he wouldn't be able to eat meat anymore. Xin'er felt guilty and immediately burst into tears, and no amount of coaxing could soothe her.
Ali knows she said the wrong thing and is afraid you'll scold her when you come back, so she's been trying hard to coax you for fifteen minutes.
Xiao Yunying: ……
What kind of nonsense is this?
Luo Chen spread his palms: "I told Xin'er that my second brother and I have lost several teeth already. This tooth became loose a few days ago. It has nothing to do with her. It will grow back, but she doesn't believe me."
Xiao Yunying, both amused and exasperated, comforted Luo Xin: "Xin'er, don't cry. Your brother's teeth weren't knocked out because of you. Every child starts losing their baby teeth around five or six years old, and some will lose them around eleven or twelve. You'll lose your baby teeth too."
Luo Xin sobbed, "Really?"
"When has Mother ever lied to Xin'er?"
"But my third brother said that my eldest brother's teeth won't grow out and will leave a dark hole in the future."
“Your third brother is bad. He lied to you on purpose. I will stand up for you and go beat him up to vent your anger.”
Luo Xin wiped away her tears with her sleeve, then turned to Luo Li with her hands on her hips and said, "Third brother is so mean, how could he lie to Xin'er!"
Knowing she was in the wrong, Luo Li tried to coax her younger sister.
Xiao Yunying coaxed the little girl and went outside the courtyard gate to ask the people from the cart company to help move the pickled vegetable jars from the cart into the courtyard and the meat into the kitchen. She gave them an extra five coins.
After seeing the oxcart off and closing the courtyard gate, Xiao Yunying washed her hands with a basin of water and said to Luo Chen, "Come here, let me take a look at your teeth."
Luo Chen didn't move, pursed his lips and said, "I'm fine."
"Whether something is wrong or not is not up to you to decide. Come here and let me take a look."
Luo Chen shuffled over slowly, and Xiao Yunying lifted his chin and said, "Open your mouth."
Luo Chen reluctantly opened his mouth.
He lost the second tooth on the left side of his lower incisor; if you look closely, you can see a small white tip peeking out from the pink gum.
Luo Xin stood on tiptoe and craned her neck to ask, "Mom, will big brother's teeth grow in?"
"It will grow back. Your older brother's tooth was loosened by the newly grown tooth. If it doesn't fall out today, it will fall out in a couple of days."
"Why are my teeth falling out? It looks so painful."
"Because children need to grow up and their baby teeth need to be replaced with stronger teeth so they can eat more and better food. And it doesn't hurt when they lose their baby teeth. If you don't believe me, ask your older brother."
The slight swelling and pain during the natural tooth replacement process is not very noticeable.
If it's abnormal, manual intervention is needed. She can't guarantee whether it will hurt or not; she'll have to ask the dentist.
Luo Chen nodded: "It doesn't hurt."
Xiao Yunying stroked her chin and thought for a moment: "What was the saying when I was a kid about losing my baby teeth? Throw the lower teeth on the roof, bury the upper teeth under a tree."
Luo Chen asked with a strange expression, "You believe in this?"
"Believe it or not, just do it and see. It's not troublesome, just a simple matter of lifting a finger."
She doesn't think this is just superstition; rather, it's about giving children a belief, alleviating their fear of losing teeth, and comforting their hearts.
It also contains parents' blessings and expectations for their children's healthy growth.
"Give it to me, I'll throw it on the roof for you."
Luo Chen handed her the tooth: "What good is throwing it on the roof?"
"Words passed down from the older generation can never be a bad thing."
Xiao Yunying threw Luo Chen's tooth onto the widest part of the roof: "Okay, I'll go cook."
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