Yun Tangyin took the cotton-padded coat and gently stroked it. The fabric was mixed with freshly fluffed cotton, soft like a cloud: "Mother, your stitches are so tight that even the wind can't get in. Nian'an will definitely not be cold this winter."
Jiang Jianhua was sewing shoe soles when he heard this. He looked up and smiled, "My shoe soles are almost finished too. They're made with many layers, so they won't hurt your feet no matter how much you walk. They're perfect for your little cotton-padded jacket."
A faint aroma of dates wafted from the kitchen; it was leftover dough from steaming buns during the day. Song Yushuang had specially made a few small cakes filled with date paste and placed them in the embers of the stove to warm.
She got up and went to the kitchen to find some small pancakes. The crispy outer layer was filled with piping hot date paste. As soon as she lifted the lid, Jiang Jianhua sniffed out: "Your skill is truly ingrained in your bones. Everything you make smells so good."
Just then, the urgent chirping of chicks suddenly came from the yard.
The three of them quickly got up and went out to see what was going on. It turned out that Nian'an had woken up at some point and was lying by the chicken coop, reaching her little hand in to touch the chicks' red bibs, which startled the chicks and made them flutter around in the coop.
"Why aren't you sleeping, you little rascal?" Song Yushuang picked him up; the little guy's feet were still warm from the blankets. "Are you smelling the jujube cakes?"
Nian'an buried her face in the crook of Song Yu's neck and hummed sleepily, "Chicken, fly."
Fu Yucheng was woken up and came out of the east room with a smile: "I guess you dreamed of a bamboo dragonfly flying."
He took the Nian An and weighed it in his hand. "These past few days of meals haven't been a waste; it's gotten quite heavy."
Upon hearing her father's voice, Nian'an immediately snapped out of her daze and reached out to grab the bamboo dragonfly on the table.
Jiang Jianhua went to the kitchen and got a warmed jujube cake, broke it into small pieces and fed it to Nian'an: "Eat slowly, don't burn yourself."
The little guy's cheeks were chubby, and the jujube paste on the corners of his mouth looked like rouge.
Fu Yucheng sat on the doorstep, smiling at his son's greedy look: "I'll go to town tomorrow and buy you some maltose. It'll taste even sweeter with the jujube cakes."
The moonlight quietly climbed up the old locust tree in the courtyard, casting the shadows of its branches onto the newly made small desk.
The varnish that Fu Yuanshan had applied during the day had dried completely and gleamed warmly in the moonlight.
Song Yushuang held Nian'an in her arms and sat down at the desk, tracing circles on the surface with her finger: "When spring comes, I'll have your father teach you to write the characters 'Nian'an.' Practice on this desk first, so you won't be unfamiliar with them when you go to school."
Nian'an stretched out her little hand to follow along, the warmth of her palm leaving a faint mark on the cool tabletop.
He suddenly pointed to the bamboo dragonfly on the corner of the table and mumbled, "Fly, high."
Fu Yuanshan, who had been standing at the door at some point, smiled and said, "Tomorrow, your second uncle will make you a big one, the kind that can fly to the roof."
The chicks in the coop gradually quieted down, and the red silk bibs looked like two dancing flames in the moonlight.
Jiang Jianhua put the dried hawthorns into a ceramic jar, which he will boil into a paste with brown sugar tomorrow.
She sprinkled some millet into the chicken coop and smiled as she watched the chicks pecking at it: "These two little guys have grown quite a bit, their down is all shiny now."
As night deepened, Nian'an finally fell asleep in Song Yushuang's arms, with a little jujube paste still on the corner of her mouth.
Yun Tangyin tucked the blanket around the child and smiled as she looked at his little hand clutching the bamboo dragonfly: "He doesn't let go even when he's asleep. What a devoted child."
Song Yushuang placed the tiger-shaped purse beside Nian'an's pillow. The purse contained dried mugwort, and the faint medicinal fragrance mixed with the sweetness of jujube cakes slowly filled the room.
As dawn approached, Fu Yuanshan went to the back mountain with dew still on his face.
He wanted to take advantage of the cool morning to make a small bamboo bookshelf for Nian'an and nail it next to the small desk.
While cutting bamboo, they found a few new bamboo shoots, so they dug some up, washed them with well water, and handed them to Jiang Jianhua: "Make some stir-fried bamboo shoots with meat for lunch, it'll be perfect as baby food for Nian'an."
Jiang Jianhua cut the bamboo shoots into thin strips, so tender that you could squeeze water out of them.
Song Yushuang was kneading dough; she was going to make some scallion pancakes today, as Nian'an had been tearing them apart with her little hands to eat them lately.
The flames in the stove licked the bottom of the pot, filling the whole yard with the aroma of noodles and scallions, which made Nian'an, who had just woken up, clap her little hands and say, "Roll, eat!"
Fu Yucheng carried a hoe to the field, and before leaving, he placed an old thread-bound book on his small desk.
The edges of the pages were worn rounded; it was the "Thousand Character Classic" he had read as a child.
“Let him play with it for now,” he said to Song Yushuang. “Once he recognizes a few words, I’ll teach him to read them.”
Nian'an immediately climbed onto the small stool and slapped her little hands on the pages of the book, as if she were turning the pages.
In the sunlight, a newly made small bookshelf stands next to the desk, its bamboo strips thinly shaved, exuding a faint green hue.
Song Yushuang put Nian'an's straw grasshoppers and bamboo dragonflies on the table and suddenly felt that this small corner was more decent than the school in town.
The locust leaves rustled in the wind, as if reciting an incomprehensible primer, accompanied by Nian An's "ee-ya" recitations, spreading throughout the warm morning.
Nian'an lay on the small desk, slapping her little hands on the pages of the "Thousand Character Classic" with a "slap slap" sound, and occasionally she would grab a corner of the book and put it in her mouth.
Song Yushuang quickly pulled the book out and patted his palm lightly with a smile: "This book is for reading, not for eating. When you're older, Grandma will teach you to recognize the words in it."
Nian'an blinked as if she understood but not quite, then reached for the straw grasshopper on the bookshelf, her little body swaying so much that the stool creaked.
Jiang Jianhua carried freshly steamed scallion rolls out of the kitchen. The plump white rolls were sprinkled with bright green scallions, and the oil droplets glistened in the steam.
"Nian'an, come and eat some steamed buns." She placed the steamed buns on the stone table, picked one up with her chopsticks, and tore it into small pieces. "They're fresh out of the steamer, be careful they're hot."
Nian'an immediately slid off the stool, skipped over to the table, opened her little mouth to wait to be fed, her lips still stained with the jujube paste she hadn't wiped clean the night before.
Song Yushuang picked up a steamed bun, broke it in half, and handed it to Jiang Jianhua: "You should eat this too, you've been busy all morning. This steamed bun is really well-risen, it's as soft as cotton."
Jiang Jianhua took a bite, the aroma of scallions mixed with the fragrance of flour spreading in his mouth, and he squinted his eyes in satisfaction: "Your kneading skills are still the best. I can never make dough this soft."
As the two were talking, Xiao Lan's voice came from outside the courtyard: "Nian An, I'm here!"
Xiao Lan rushed into the yard carrying a small bamboo basket containing several ripe, purplish-red mulberries.
"My mother picked these mulberries and asked me to take some to Nian'an." She poured the mulberries into a plate, and the purplish-red fruits rolled all over the ground. "These mulberries are so sweet, not sour at all."
Nian'an grabbed a mulberry and stuffed it into his mouth. The purplish-red juice immediately stained his little hands and the corners of his mouth purple, making him look like a little kitten stealing a bite.
Fu Yuanshan returned from outside carrying the repaired hoe. Seeing the children eating happily, he smiled and said, "Xiao Lan, would you like to try the scallion rolls made by your second aunt? They're even more fragrant than the sugar buns your mother makes."
Xiao Lan picked up a steamed bun without hesitation, took a big bite, and exclaimed, "It's so delicious! Second Aunt, could you teach my mother how to make it? I want to eat it every day!"
Jiang Jianhua smiled and nodded: "I'll teach your mother when I have time. It's not difficult, it's just that the dough needs to rise well and the chopped green onions need to be sprinkled evenly."
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