Jiang Jianhua smiled and squatted down, picking out a smooth yellow pebble from the bamboo basket and handing it to Nian'an: "Nian'an, doesn't this look like your favorite pumpkin pancake? Count them again, how many are there including this one?"
Nian'an placed the yellow pebbles last, pointed at them with her little finger, and counted with her face flushed red: "Four, five... five!"
Song Yushuang clapped her hands and laughed: "Our Nian'an is so smart! In a few days, your father will teach you to recognize an abacus. You'll definitely be a clever little rascal who can do accounts in the future."
Just then, Fu Yuanshan returned from the vegetable garden carrying a hoe, his trouser legs covered in mud.
"What are you three laughing about here?" He put down his hoe and came over. Seeing the pile of stones on the ground, he said, "Oh, Nian'an is learning to count? You're much better than your second uncle was when he was a kid. I would forget how to count to three back then."
Upon hearing this, Nian'an giggled and stuffed the largest red pebble into Fu Yuanshan's hand: "Second Uncle, red, big."
Fu Yuanshan put the pebble into his pocket and flicked his little nose: "I'll make you a small cloth bag for pebbles this afternoon, so you won't always have to put pebbles in your pocket and hurt yourself."
The afternoon sun slanted into the courtyard. Jiang Jianhua put the dried diapers into a bamboo basket, while Song Yushuang moved a bamboo chair under the shade of the locust tree and told Nian'an the old story of "the tiger scaring away the lynx".
Nian'an lay on her grandmother's lap, her little hands clutching the tassels on her purse, listening intently without blinking.
When she spoke of the tiger opening its mouth wide, Song Yushuang deliberately lowered her voice and let out a "roar." Nian'an was so frightened that she shrank into her arms, but then she giggled and reached out to touch the tiger's head on her purse.
"This child knows that the tiger is protecting him." Song Yushuang stroked the silk thread on the purse. "When you grow up, Grandma will embroider a big tiger on the top of your pillow so you won't be afraid of the dark when you sleep at night."
Nian'an nodded as if she understood, then suddenly pointed to the courtyard gate and shouted, "Sister Lan, Sister Lan!"
Xiao Lan ran in carrying a cloth bag, a wild rose tucked into her braid: "Nian An, look what I brought you!"
She opened the cloth bag, inside were several small grasshoppers woven from wheat straw, their bright green wings still flapping.
Nian'an immediately slid off Song Yu's knees, grabbed the grasshopper, and ran into Fu Yuanshan's house: "Second Uncle, look, jump!"
Fu Yuanshan was chopping firewood when he put down his axe and took the straw grasshopper: "Your mother made this, right? It's much prettier than the ones I made when I was little."
Xiao Lan squatted beside the pile of pebbles, teaching Nian An how to arrange pebbles into a little rabbit: "Look, these two are for eyes, and these three are for ears..."
Jiang Jianhua carried over the dried persimmons and distributed them to the children, saying, "Eat slowly, they're freshly dried and very sweet."
Xiao Lan took a bite of the persimmon cake and pointed at Nian An's new jacket: "Nian An, the flowers on your jacket are so pretty, did your second aunt embroider them?"
“Yes,” Jiang Jianhua said with a smile, straightening Nian’an’s clothes. “In a few days, I’ll embroider a little purse for you, with a little rabbit on it, okay?”
Xiao Lan nodded happily, then took a wild strawberry out of her pocket and stuffed it into Nian An's mouth. The two of them squinted their eyes because of the sourness, which amused the adults under the locust tree.
In the evening, Fu Yucheng returned with newly bought flour and brown sugar in his car, as well as a bamboo cage containing two fluffy little chicks.
"Nian'an, look! What did Daddy buy for you?" As soon as Fu Yucheng put the cage on the ground, Nian'an came over and touched the tender yellow down of the chicks through the bamboo strips with her little hands. The chicks chirped and pecked at his fingertips, making him giggle.
Song Yushuang lifted the flour bag and smelled it: "This flour from the newly milled wheat smells so good. Tomorrow I'll steam some jujube paste buns for you, and make some chick-shaped sugar buns for Nian'an to play with."
Fu Yucheng wiped his sweat and smiled, "I also bought some red silk cloth. Mom, you can make two little bibs so you won't catch a cold at night."
Jiang Jianhua chimed in, "I'll embroider a few more wildflowers on it, and it'll look beautiful."
At dinner time, the kitchen was filled with the sweet aroma of pumpkin porridge. Nian'an sat on a small stool, scooping porridge herself with a spoon. Although she spilled quite a bit, she insisted on not letting an adult feed her.
Fu Yuanshan teased him deliberately, "Nian'an, why don't you scoop a spoonful for your second uncle?"
Nian'an scooped up a full spoonful and handed it over, but her hand trembled as she reached the edge of the bowl, spilling most of it onto the table. She became so anxious that her eyes reddened.
"It's alright, it's alright," Song Yushuang quickly wiped his hands. "Our Nian'an can feed people now, he's really capable."
Fu Yucheng smiled and picked up a piece of pumpkin from his bowl and gave it to Nian'an: "Here, reward our capable little adult."
Nian'an immediately laughed, stuffed the pumpkin chunk into her mouth, and her little cheeks puffed out like a little squirrel.
At night, Nian'an fell asleep hugging a straw grasshopper, with a bit of persimmon crumbs still stuck to the corner of her mouth.
Song Yushuang sat under the oil lamp, sewing red silk bibs for the chicks, while Jiang Jianhua sewed shoe soles beside her, occasionally helping to thread a piece of thread.
Yun Tangyin leaned against the headboard doing needlework, looking at the moonlight outside the window and said, "Aunt Zhang said today that the primary school is recruiting students. When Nian'an gets a little older, he can go to school."
“Of course,” Song Yu said, her hands still busy with needle and thread. “We will study and learn to read and write so that we can become knowledgeable and reasonable people in the future.”
She placed the sewn little bib on the table; the red silk was embroidered with pale yellow forsythia flowers. "Look at this little bib."
Jiang Jianhua nodded with a smile, the needle tip making neat stitches on the sole of the shoe: "When Nian'an learns to walk, I'll make him a pair of tiger-head shoes, paired with the tiger purse you embroidered. When he stands at the school gate, he'll be the most spirited child."
The glow of the oil lamp danced on the three faces, while the locust leaves outside the window rustled, as if echoing the warmth filling the room.
As dawn approached, the chicks in the coop began to chirp. Nian'an smacked her lips in her sleep, her little hand still clutching the straw grasshopper.
Song Yushuang got up and added firewood to the stove. Looking at the millet porridge that was gradually bubbling in the pot, she thought to herself: Today I need to slice the dried hawthorns so that I can boil them with brown sugar into hawthorn paste tomorrow.
We also need to ask Fu Yuanshan to make a small desk for Nian'an so he can use it when he learns to write...
The morning light shone through the window and fell on Nian'an's quiet little face, as well as on the needlework that still carried the warmth of her body.
When the sparrows in the locust tree started chirping noisily, Nian'an finally sat up, rubbing her eyes, still tightly clutching the straw grasshopper in her little hand.
He saw the red silk undergarment beside his pillow, the forsythia flowers on it glistening with the morning dew, so he picked it up and held it up to his body, mumbling, "Chicken, wear, chicken."
Song Yushuang walked in carrying millet porridge. Seeing his appearance, she couldn't help but laugh: "Nian'an wants to wear new clothes. Grandma will get you the little jacket that your second aunt made."
She carried Nian'an to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) to get dressed. The little guy's feet had barely touched the ground when he toddled over to the chicken coop, pointed at the fluffy chicks inside, and shouted, "Bromise, put it on."
Fu Yuanshan was squatting in the yard sharpening his axe when he heard this. He straightened up and laughed, "Our Nian'an even knows how to care for chicks. I'll put some bibs on the chicks later, and I guarantee they'll stay warm."
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