Chapter 4 The Duck Lays an Egg
Du Wanchun was not surprised by his words. The matchmaker had come today, but Zhou Ruiyuan had not come out to perform the wedding ceremony with her. He must have already made other plans. She slowly walked to his side, picked up the book he was reading, and smiled, "Now that I have entered your family, I am your Zhou family's daughter-in-law. You don't mind that I am stupid, so I will not mind that you are disabled. We are evenly matched and a perfect match."
As she spoke, her eyebrows curved into crescents, and small dimples appeared on either side of her mouth.
Zhou Ruiyuan was startled by her words, and looked up at the playful and lively girl in front of him, slightly lost in thought.
Du Wanchun glanced down at the book in his hand; it was an unusual book. After flipping through it, she continued, "I just hope you'll be more tolerant of me in the future, my husband. I'm willful, capricious, and reckless... please don't find me unpleasant..."
Her words were clear and sharp. Zhou Ruiyuan slowly recovered from his surprise and leisurely took the book from her hand. "Girl, are you not stupid?"
Du Wanchun wasn't the type to be shy around men. Once the conversation started, she naturally became less reserved. She leaned against his table, propped her chin up, and smiled with her round eyes, saying, "No, I'm stupid. Everyone in the county says I'm stupid, so I am stupid."
Zhou Ruiyuan met her gaze, staring at her blankly, unsure how to respond.
After all, he was only seventeen or eighteen years old and had never been close to any woman. Du Wanchun was so close to him that he could even smell the fragrance in her hair. His heart, which had been as calm as still water, suddenly began to churn and pound loudly.
Just then, someone outside the door called out, "Mother, hurry to the backyard!"
It was Zhou Zhao's voice.
Du Wanchun quickly got up, lifted the curtain, pushed open the door, and went outside.
Aunt Zhou hurriedly walked towards the backyard, still holding the spatula she hadn't put down yet. "Zhao'er, what's wrong?"
Zhou Zhao couldn't hear her and kept running backwards, calling out, "Mother, come quick!"
Du Wanchun quickly followed.
The Zhou family's backyard was a patch of red earth enclosed by a fence, but because of a month of rain, it was full of puddles.
There was a straw nest on each side of the puddle, with two skinny ducks and a large duck egg lying inside.
These two skinny ducks were bought by Aunt Zhou by pawning her only jewelry. They were lively and energetic when she first bought them, but they fell ill within a few days. They were poisoned by her sister-in-law next door.
These two ducks were supposed to be on their last legs and wouldn't survive the night, but now they're hopping around and have laid an egg in their nest.
When Aunt Zhou saw the duck egg, she was overjoyed. She carefully held the egg in her hands and said with a smile, "Great! Zhao'er, Feng'er, we can finally eat eggs!"
Even though duck eggs are still eggs, Zhou Feng and Zhou Zhao, one blind and the other deaf, can still feel their mother's joy.
This family has been in Changliu Village for three years.
Zhou Da Niang's original surname was Chen. She was only five or six years old when she was sold to the capital to be a child bride. When she returned with her three sons, her parents had died, leaving only an older brother who was not close to her and two younger sisters.
Both younger sisters are married and live in the neighboring Xiangtan Village. Knowing that it was not easy for their older sister to raise three children alone, they asked their older brother to give them the three abandoned small mud houses in their house to live in.
However, the eldest brother and sister-in-law, Jiang, always looked down on the three of them, not only refusing to help them, but also seizing their land, making things difficult for them, and wanting them to leave as soon as possible.
Aunt Zhou barely made ends meet by doing laundry for the county's high-ranking officials and wealthy people with her sewing and mending skills, but without land in the countryside, she simply couldn't survive.
Aunt Zhou wanted to find another way, so she bought two ducks and planned to raise some to sell at the market. Unexpectedly, her sister-in-law was jealous and poisoned them.
Now everything is alright, the ducks are alive and can lay eggs, and their future is secure.
Aunt Zhou held the duck eggs, her eyes brimming with tears, almost bursting into sobs.
Suddenly, the two ducks in the nest raised their heads, stretched their long necks, and looked at Du Wanchun in the distance. Their eyes were as bright as stars. Then they stood up together, wiggling their butts and flapping their gray and white wings.
Aunt Zhou looked up and saw that there were still a few duck eggs in the nest. She counted about four, and with the one in her hand, there were five in total.
She quickly bent down to pick them up, "Oh, there are exactly five, enough for us to eat."
Du Wanchun looked at the round, green-shelled eggs with curiosity and ran forward to help Aunt Zhou collect them.
Aunt Zhou, holding the egg, called out to her with a smile, "Wanchun, there's mud on the ground, don't come any closer."
After saying that, he waved to Zhou Zhao.
Zhou Zhao quickly stepped forward to take the duck eggs from her hands, looking at them with a beaming smile. Perhaps due to excessive excitement, she blurted out, "Mother, these duck eggs are better than the ones we had in the palace before..."
Before he could finish speaking, Aunt Zhou interrupted him, holding a handful of duck eggs, "Zhao'er, come on, let's go inside."
After saying that, he led Du Wanchun into the house.
Zhou Zhao then realized he had said the wrong thing and quickly shut his mouth, following behind Aunt Zhou and the others.
"Mother, Third Brother." Seeing their voices fading into the distance, Zhou Feng groped his way after them.
After the three of them entered the house, Zhou Zhao suddenly stood up and remained motionless.
Aunt Zhou turned to look at him, feeling a little strange. She put down the duck egg and gestured as she asked, "Zhao'er, what's wrong?"
Zhou Zhao looked up, dazed, and asked, "Mother, what did you say to me when you came in from the backyard just now?"
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