Chapter 12: Thick-skinned Yan Jiuru stood up and went over to pick up the little ones...
Chapter 12: Thick Skin
"Hey, are you all home?"
The people who came were the famous Mrs. Zhang in the village and her daughter-in-law. The old woman was holding a boy, and the daughter-in-law was leading two girls, one big and one small.
The Yan family was not rich to begin with. The group of half-grown children in the family were of the age that could eat their parents out of money. The four adults, grandparents, parents and others, worked hard, and barely prevented any of them from starving to death during the disaster.
But at least the adults and children are clean and the house is tidy.
It's nothing like Mrs. Zhang's house. Look at these children. Not only are their noses runny, but they have lice crawling out of their heads. They don't even wash the sleeves of their clothes even after wiping them until they're shiny. The little girl, who's seven or eight years old, is still scratching her butt.
"His Aunt Zhang is here. Have you eaten yet?"
Aunt Yan brought out a bench, placed it in the yard, and greeted her half-heartedly, "Sit down for a while."
Aunt Zhang smiled and changed her arms, saying, "Don't sit down. I heard that the eldest son has returned from the city, so I came to see him."
It sounds really nice, and if you don't look hard into the main room, it really does look like that.
"Well, I heard the whole bicycle came back? Is that true?" He asked knowingly to make conversation.
"Grandma, I want some candy~" The little grandson in her arms turned around and drooled as he pointed at the candies on the table in the main hall.
Even when he was five or six years old, he was still held in his arms all day long.
The other children also asked for the delicious food.
"Snap, snap"
Aunt Zhang slapped her little granddaughter on the ground a few times and scolded her, "Why are you so greedy, kid? Didn't I tell you at home not to ask for anything when you go out? That's what your Uncle Yan bought for your little brother."
My little brother who was born only a few days ago: . . . . .
What else can Yan Jiuru do?
They have known each other for a long time. Everyone in the village knows what kind of family this is.
Aunt Yan held her son, who was about to get up, and went into the house to get a few candies she had bought from the supply and marketing cooperative a while ago. She said, "Eat this candy, and don't touch that one. Your uncle Yan brought it to someone else."
"Grandma, I want to eat cookies, I want to eat cookies--"
"I want to eat cookies - wow wow wow -"
The devilish sound is so annoying.
Aunt Yan couldn't help but said, "Don't make any noise, the little brother is sleeping."
There are babies and new mothers in their family. No matter how uncivilized you are, you can't make such a fuss.
Who is this person!
Aunt Yan's face darkened. "I can't entertain you today. My child is still in confinement."
Not only do you come here empty-handed, but you also have the audacity to ask for food and drink. Who will pamper you?
However, her cold face didn't work.
Aunt Zhang acted as if she hadn't heard anything and continued, "Whose family is this for? Could it be Wang Laosan's family in the west end? His daughter is getting married soon."
No one from the Yan family spoke.
Mrs. Zhang's daughter-in-law immediately put the child on the bicycle and said, "Don't cry, donkey. Look at your uncle Yan's bicycle. Let's take a ride on it. Look at it. It's so stable. It's so nice."
As they were talking, they brought the children up one by one and sat them in a row, front and back.
The donkey sitting in the front was so happy that he forgot about eating. He reached out his hand to twist the bells here and there, "Ring, ring, ring", and he didn't know where he turned the bell, but it rang, and he was so happy that he laughed.
"I want to play, I want to play too." Several children simply grabbed the bicycle bell. Their mother held on and the bicycle did not fall over, but the "ring, ring, ring" sound kept ringing.
Although the Yan family was not so stingy as to not even let them ride on a bicycle, it was really too much to show off their new car like that.
The key point is that the children in the west room started crying "Wuwa~Wuwa~".
Yan Jiuru stood up and went over to pick up the small ones and threw them to Mrs. Zhang and her daughter-in-law, saying with obvious disdain, "Don't mess around. If you break them, you'll have to pay for it."
"Aunt Zhang, why don't you take care of your child? Look how scared my son is! I'm going to settle the score with your family!"
"Look at this little girl, she's already this big, but her head is covered with lice. Isn't that disgusting?
Also, don't you give your children pagoda candy? This itchy bottom means there are worms in the stomach. Don't barefoot doctors give them to every family?"
The little girl was sensible, but she couldn't control the itch on her bottom. When she heard this, tears came to her eyes. "My grandma always gave my and my sister's to my brother."
Yan Jiuru was so angry that he was snorting heavily. "I've never seen a family like yours. You can take medicine casually? Aren't you afraid of taking too much?"
"Go, go ask the barefoot doctor for some pagoda candy. Don't let him send it home. Go to the team clinic and eat it directly. Let him deduct the money from your family."
The little girl was not stupid either. She took her sister's hand and turned around and ran away.
Don't wait a moment.
When Mrs. Zhang heard that they had taken too much medicine, she was a little scared. She said, "I thought it was all candy, sweet, and I used it to comfort the children. I didn't refuse to give it to them."
As for whether my granddaughter has worms in her stomach, it’s not worth worrying about at all.
The daughter-in-law’s eyes flickered. She didn’t eat it either, but gave it to her son. She didn’t know if it would...
"This bug is contagious, Rushan. Take a rag and wipe the bike to disinfect it, then push it into the house."
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law finally left in embarrassment.
What a bummer!
***
My second brother actually got a basin of water and put a rag in it to wipe the bicycle.
"Don't make it too wet, it will easily rust." Yan's father warned. If it weren't for the fact that it's not appropriate for a grown man to interrupt, he would have been unable to hold back his curse.
I'll have to give Zhang Daye a good scolding when I see him next time.
Grandma Yan asked worriedly, "Is this bug really contagious?"
"infect!"
Yan Jiuru swept the floor with a broom, his disgust couldn't be more obvious.
***
Aunt Yan and Grandma prepared dinner and asked Yan Jiuru to go back to the west room to look after the children.
"Did you scare the child?"
Yan Jiuru remembered that he had not taken out the medicine he bought yet.
Chen Yin was holding the child and swaying around, saying unhappily, "This old Zhang family is so annoying for begging for money.
Whenever someone has a problem, they are the first to approach, regardless of whether they are annoying or not. Adults and children all flatter them and ask for food. Other families are poor and can't afford it, so they don't care. But his family is the best. No one is so shameless.
Aunt Zhang used to be okay, but she seems to be becoming more and more like a member of the Zhang family...
"Marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog."
Seeing that the child had stopped crying with the milk in his mouth, Yan Jiuru said unhappily, "You can't just give milk to the child as soon as he cries. It's better to make it a habit."
Oh, he remembered something and took out a "flower stick" toy from his bag and shook it next to his son's ear.
"Hua Leng Leng~" the small bell inside rang crisply.
The son turned his head towards the sound. His eyes, which had just been opened after crying, looked like washed black grapes. He looked at his hands and opened his toothless mouth as if smiling.
At this moment, Yan Jiuru thought, this toothless kid is okay. Well, ignoring the crystal saliva.
***
Aunt Yan came in with the confinement meal and said, "Don't let Yinyin hold the baby. Her arms will hurt after a long time. You take the baby and let Yinyin eat."
Yan Jiuru didn't know how to hold a child, but he couldn't push it away either, otherwise his mother would have to give up her meal and hold the child. So he had no choice but to grit his teeth and do it.
Chen Yin laughed at him: "Looking at you like that, I would have thought you were going to fight the Japanese."
As he said this, he placed his son on his arm and said, "This hand supports his neck, this hand supports his buttocks, and lean a little closer to my arms."
"Yes, that's it."
Seeing his silly look, Chen Yin couldn't stop laughing. "Don't be nervous. If you're nervous, the child will be nervous too, and both will feel uncomfortable."
Well, seeing his son pouting and about to cry, Yan Jiuru took a deep breath, told himself to master the key points, relax, and then slowly adjust his arms.
You know what, it really works.
Chen Yin had hen soup today. The chicken had been stewed until the bones were removed and scattered in the soup. Her staple food was white porridge.
The chicken soup smelled delicious, but Yan Jiuru knew that it was definitely not salty at all, not to mention tasteless.
Yan Jiuru sympathized with his daughter-in-law's diet and stared at his son. Fortunately, the little guy fell asleep obediently in his father's arms after a while.
"Wife, look, he's asleep." Yan Jiuru walked over carefully and bent down to show his wife.
Chen Yin looked at the child, who was sleeping soundly with a relaxed brow and a smile on his lips.
"Stinky boy, I coax him and feed him every day, but I've never seen him sleep so well. It's all thanks to your dad."
As he spoke, he thought of something, "By the way, Jiuru, the child should be named, right?"
Yan Jiuru poked his son's mouth with his finger and said, "I'm thinking about it. I'll discuss it with Grandpa and Dad later and decide on it."
"How about giving the child a nickname first?" Without a name, the child won't know who to call.
"How about a nickname like Zhuangzhuang?" As parents, don't we all hope that our children have a strong body? Everything else is secondary.
"Okay, that's good." As long as it's not Goudan, Gousheng or something like that, it's fine.
"Zhuangzhuang, we have a name now, right, Zhuangzhuang?"
Aunt Yan also thought it was a good idea, so she went out and told her family members about it, and asked them to call the child Zhuangzhuang from then on.
***
After dinner, the family closed and bolted the door, and lit the oil lamp in the main room.
Yan Jiuru had gotten used to using electric lights these days, and suddenly going back to the oil lamp was a little uncomfortable.
He continued to dig out the treasure that he had not yet finished.
"Here, my second brother's triangle and compass, and your pencil cases, pencils, and knives. They're for sharpening pencils, so don't play with them."
"Ahhh, it's the little rabbit's pencil, and it comes with an eraser..." Little girl Ruyue covered her mouth and whispered happily.
Afraid of disturbing Zhuangzhuang in the west room.
"It is said that poor students have more stationery. If you don't study hard, I will confiscate it." The person who spends the money has the final say.
Yan Jiuru took out a large bundle of defective cloth.
"Grandma, Mom, I happened to come across someone selling defective cloth, and they didn't even ask for tickets, so I bought some extra. You can make some clothes, a few pairs of shoes, or something."
He separated the colors one by one. Except for the red color which had been processed by his spiritual sense and the flaws were not obvious, the others were still visible.
"What nonsense is there? This cloth is so sturdy, it won't cause any problems." Grandma Yan touched the big red cloth lovingly, and she had already started thinking about what to make for her children and grandchildren.
Anyway, since he had bought the cloth, he didn't care how it was used.
The defective cloth was unfolded, revealing the things wrapped inside. Among them were two flashlights. Yan Jiuru gave one to his grandfather, "It will be convenient for you and grandma to light up when you get up at night."
He handed the other to his father.
In addition, each family member received a vest.
Men's are all white regardless of size, while women's are white with small floral patterns.
His grandfather's and his father's vests had been torn with holes for a long time, the kind that couldn't be patched up. His original vests weren't much better either, so he changed them into new ones.
Oh, and the same goes for pants.
"This one is for Ruchun."
When Ruchun was mentioned again, Yan's father frowned and said, "Someday when you send her something, you can ask her how she is doing."
"Hmm?" Yan Jiuru looked at his father, "What happened to Ruchun?"
"The last time your eldest sister came home, I noticed she had lost some weight and didn't smile as much. She came yesterday to help with milk production and she's even thinner. She won't tell anyone who asks about it and is very stubborn."
A married daughter cannot be kept under the watchful eyes of her family every day. If she does not tell her parents about something, her family will be helpless.
Ruchun is the first daughter. She is capable at home and often takes care of her younger siblings. As parents, we know this. Seeing that our son has matured and can handle things after having a child, we leave it to him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
