Chapter 012 Chapter 12

The day after the baby’s one-month old is the gathering time.

That day, Lin Yue got up early and put red cotton jackets on the two little guys.

These were specially made for her two children to wear when they were one month old. During this month, she asked for advice from everyone she met and consulted several masters before she managed to make these two small pieces of clothing before she left the confinement period.

The material of the dress was the same red shirt she wore when she got married. This dress originally belonged to the original owner's cousin and was no longer so bright. Later, the cousin was admitted to university and was going to study in the city. She thought this dress was rustic and ugly, so she gave it to the original owner to wear when she got married, and she persuaded her mother to buy a new dress for her.

The day before the wedding, my cousin used this to tease the original owner, saying that if she hadn't given her a red dress, the original owner wouldn't even have a red veil for her wedding.

She was bullied by this cousin since she was a child, but the original owner also knew that she meant well this time, so she has always been grateful to her.

The original owner had few clothes, so he cherished this piece of clothing without patches. The cotton inside was also good, so it could be altered to make a cotton jacket for each of the two little guys.

The shoes were tiger-head cloth shoes made by Aunt Zhang. The small shoes were soft and warm, with fine stitching, and they looked like a work of art in my hands.

There are two small hats made by Auntie Zhou. Auntie Zhou's name is Zhou Pandi. Her husband died during the war of resistance against Japan, leaving only her and her son at home. Auntie Zhou worked hard to raise her son. Now she is married to Secretary Liu's daughter. She thought she had finally gotten through the hard times, but it turned out that this daughter-in-law was a powerful woman. She was so upset.

Aunt Zhou couldn't bear to see the original owner suffer, so she helped the original owner several times before. She felt that she was a widow, which was unlucky, and she was too embarrassed to give the two hats away. As a result, her daughter-in-law found out and made several sarcastic remarks about her in the village, saying that Aunt Zhou didn't love her own two grandsons, but was busy raising other people's grandsons.

Aunt Zhou was furious when she heard her daughter-in-law say that. How could a woman who could raise a child by herself be a soft-hearted person? She was still hesitating whether to send the child away, but after hearing what her daughter-in-law said, she sent the child away openly.

Lin Yue felt very sorry and was afraid that Auntie Zhou would be embarrassed. As a result, Auntie Zhou slapped her on the shoulder and said nonchalantly: "What are you afraid of? Do you think I can be controlled by a daughter-in-law? Don't say that Liu Dehui is just the daughter of the village party secretary. Even if she is the daughter of the king, it is not right for her, a daughter-in-law, to give orders to her mother-in-law! You don't have to care about her!"

In fact, in the nearby villages, there are very few men who have not been to the battlefield. Some have returned, some have not, so there are a lot of widows in the village. In Xiaotian Village, only Liu Jinfeng is called a widow. People never look at other people differently. Aunt Zhou cares so much about her identity as a "widow" because of her personality.

She had been tough for half her life for the sake of her son. Lin Yue knew that if she didn't accept it, she would lose face, so she accepted it with peace of mind.

After Lin Yue dressed up the two kids, she started to dress herself up. She took out the beeswax cream that she had made last night. There were many different skin care products in later generations, and she didn't know how to make them. This beeswax cream was just made by adding some lard to the beeswax and dripping a drop of spiritual spring water into it.

Although it is called beeswax, it is still a bit hard, harder than lipstick. However, the weather is dry and cold now, and beeswax has the effect of moisturizing the skin, so it is better than nothing. She also added the "yellow foundation" she made, and it really adhered to her face more smoothly.

Lin Yue applied a little on her hands, dissolved the beeswax with the warmth of her palms, and rubbed it evenly on her face. There was no mirror at home, so she looked at herself in the water tank and could only vaguely see the black and yellow spots on her face.

She also prepared a face wipe specifically for the two little guys, and she took it out and wiped some on them before wrapping them up in a blanket, and then used a sling to tie the two children to herself, one in front and one behind, and walked out of the house carrying a bamboo basket.

Aunt Luo's eldest daughter-in-law is Sun Meifeng, her niece from her mother's side. Sun Meifeng is pretty and hardworking, but she can't speak, has a low self-esteem, and is reluctant to go out.

Aunt Luo thought Lin Yue had a good personality and often brought Sun Meifeng to visit during this period. The two got along well, which made Aunt Luo happy and she was willing to let the two interact more often.

Lin Yue and Sun Meifeng agreed to meet at the entrance of the village. When they arrived, a donkey cart was already parked there.

There are two donkey carts in the village. They pick up people at the village entrance during market hours. The money they collect counts as the brigade’s income.

It costs two cents to take a donkey cart for a round trip. When it is full, it will leave, drop off the passengers, and then come back for the next trip. If someone arrives at an unlucky time, they may have to wait for most of the day at the entrance of the village.

Of course, there were also people who were reluctant to spend money and walked to the market. Lin Yue saw many old ladies walking to the market with their children, their hands behind their backs.

Business was not allowed during this time. In the city, people had to go to department stores, state-owned vegetable markets, and non-staple food stores to buy things. In the countryside, apart from the supply and marketing cooperatives, if you wanted to buy things, you had to go to the big market held every few days.

Today they went to the Xiaokubo Village Market. As it is close to the county town, it is the largest market nearby and is very lively. Every first and fifth day of the month when the market opens, it is always crowded with people. Not only do people from the village come to the market, but even people from the city who eat commercial food come to join in the fun.

Kokubo Village and Oda Village were quite far away, and it took more than an hour to get there by donkey cart. Lin Yue looked at the sun in the sky and estimated that it was only around eight o'clock, but the market was already crowded with people.

It was the first time for the two children to see so many people. Their heads were moving around so busy that they couldn't see everything. Little Linghan kept yelling "Oh, oh, ah". People on the street saw the little cutie in Lin Yue's arms, and several of them couldn't help but touch the little guy's face with their fingers.

Because the Chinese New Year is approaching, there are a lot of stalls selling couplets and blessing characters, as well as window decorations and firecrackers. Looking around, everything is red and the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year is very strong.

Lin Yue had never been to a big market in her previous life, so everything she saw here was new and interesting. She saw someone selling small baskets made of willow branches in various shapes, and she thought they were no different from handicrafts. She took out her money and wanted to buy a few, but was stopped by Sun Meifeng.

Sun Meifeng gestured with the small basket for a long time, but before Lin Yue could understand, the aunt who was selling the baskets understood first. She was not angry that her business was ruined, and kindly told Lin Yue: "This young wife said she can weave this kind of basket, so you should not buy it!"

When Lin Yue heard this, he was very surprised: "Sister Meifeng, you can also weave this kind of basket!"

Sun Meifeng smiled shyly at the auntie selling baskets and nodded vigorously.

Sun Meifeng had very dexterous hands. Lin Yue knew that she was good at making clothes and shoe soles, and she could make children's toys, stools and mats, and she could also weave cloth, but he didn't know that she could also weave baskets.

Lin Yue happily took Sun Meifeng's hand and said, "Good sister-in-law, please teach me when we get back. When I learn it, I will make a few more to honor you!"

Sun Meifeng was amused by Lin Yue and nodded in response, her eyes sparkling.

As they walked, whenever Sun Meifeng wanted to buy something, Lin Yue would ask her about the price and bargain for her, and Sun Meifeng would pay.

Aunt Luo just wanted Sun Meifeng to go out more often and not stay at home all day. She came early to catch up. When Lin Yue and the others met her, Aunt Luo had almost finished her shopping and was about to go back.

Seeing the two of them happily strolling around the market, she reminded Sun Meifeng: "If you see someone selling chickens later, pick out a half-grown hen and buy one. Remember not to buy a chick, it's too cold today and we can't keep it alive."

Then he looked at Lin Yue and said, "You only have one old hen at home, and the Chinese New Year is coming in a few days. You will have to kill the chickens then. Why don't you buy two now? It won't be a big deal in a few days. But don't buy chicks just to save money. You don't have the experience to raise them."

Lin Yue thanked Aunt Luo and offered to help her deliver the things to the donkey cart, but Aunt Luo waved her hand to refuse. So the two of them happily went to the market together.

Lin Yue bought a lot of things, mostly brooms and baskets, which are common household items. He also bought needles and thread and a pair of scissors, so he wouldn't have to use other people's scissors all the time. He also bought a broom for sweeping the kang, several large and small pottery jars, and a basket full of miscellaneous items. He also bought a new mat, because he had to replace the old mat on the kang during the New Year, as it was torn.

Sun Meifeng didn't have anything to buy, so she put the things that Lin Yue couldn't take into the basket behind her.

Vegetables are also sold at the market, mostly cabbage, potatoes, spinach, which are common in winter and are available in every rural household, so they are sold to city dwellers. Some people also grow leeks, garlic sprouts, and spring onions on their kangs, which are rare vegetables, and sell them at the market as the New Year is approaching, but the prices are generally not cheap.

Lin Yue started drooling when she saw the leeks. She wanted to eat dumplings stuffed with leeks.

She also planted chives in the space, but she used seeds to grow them, so they were inedible in the first year. No matter how fast the flow rate in the space was, they would not be edible before the Chinese New Year.

Now she was short of money and had to spend it wisely, so in the end she couldn't afford to buy anything to eat.

In fact, what Lin Yue wanted to buy the most was meat. Since she started cooking for herself, she had only eaten fish twice, and both times were sent to her by Xu's father. She had never tasted meat at all.

There were indeed a lot of rabbits in the space, but she didn't dare to kill them. She didn't even dare to kill chickens. She could only drool at the rabbits jumping around in her space every day.

As expected, Lin Yue didn't see a single butcher in the entire market, which made her very disappointed.

There were a few people sneaking around, and it turned out that they were secretly selling their own old hens. Lin Yue had no interest in the old hens that she couldn't bite, and she didn't dare to kill the chickens herself, so she firmly refused.

There are often thieves at the market, so even the police patrols are useless. Lin Yue was afraid that there might be something wrong with those who came up, so he took Sun Meifeng to a less crowded place and checked the two children carefully again. After confirming that there were no problems, he continued to go to the market with Sun Meifeng.

In fact, the two of them had already bought most of their things. After buying the chicken, there was basically nothing else they needed to buy.

On the way, they met Wang Xiuxiang and her sister-in-law Zhang Xiaomi. They heard that they had finished shopping and were about to go back, so they asked the two sisters-in-law and Sun Meifeng to go back together while she went to buy some more things. Sun Meifeng took the big items such as the kang mat and broom from Lin Yue's hands and followed the two to ride the donkey cart.