Beside her, Tian Tao saw that her mother was silent and touching her belly, so she couldn't help but reach out and touch it as well: "Mom, did my little brother bother you yesterday when Dad wasn't here?"
Although the Tian family's house didn't leak yesterday, Tian Gui went out several times. First, he took Xia Xiucai to the storeroom, and then, after hearing the shouts, he went to rescue Xu Changming. He didn't return until midnight.
My parents didn't find village affairs troublesome; they just said that since the village chief wasn't in the village, they should be responsible for it themselves.
Before my father passed away, he told me to take good care of my mother and younger siblings.
Peach's mother shook her head: "No, everything is perfectly fine!"
Aside from the initial morning sickness, this pregnancy has been much smoother than my previous one, even the wind and rain last night didn't bother me at all.
"Yes, Dad's shack is still the best!" Tian Tao praised, just as she heard hurried footsteps outside.
Looking up, I saw my second brother, Tian Xiaoquan, carrying loaches skewered with grass stems.
Covered in mud and water, with a few water plants hanging from his head, he had clearly been in the water.
"Mom, sister, come quick! I caught some loaches and two fish." He said, pulling two palm-sized fish out of his pocket.
Tian Tao'er exclaimed in surprise, "You really went fishing first thing this morning!"
Tian Xiaoquan chuckled: "Xiaoxi is behind us, and there's more there!"
Soon, Peach's mother and Tian Tao saw Tian Xiaoxi, who was also covered in mud and water, carrying a large yellow eel in her hand.
After the rain stopped in the morning, the adults were busy checking the damage to each family's shacks and fields.
The boys in the village were busy catching fish and eels.
Although the stream at the foot of the mountain flows intermittently, there is always water at the weir, which contains crabs, fish, shrimp, and loaches.
Despite Tian Gui and his team's prior precautions against the heavy rain, several dikes were still breached by the flash floods.
In particular, the highest and sturdiest weir also collapsed.
The water that was originally stored inside had been completely drained, revealing the muddy bottom and a shallow layer of water.
In the muddy water, the fish, starving, were still struggling to survive, and there was movement in the nearby grass.
The adults needed water to irrigate the fields, and they were busy repairing the breaches in the weirs to retain as much water as possible, so they didn't have time to catch fish.
The boys were delighted, and they scooped up mudfish in the dam, looking like mud monkeys, so they could take them home and have their mothers cook a dish for them.
In the ditch, the children, who had been frightened by the torrential rain all night, went completely mad.
Xu Genyou's family has two children, Tian Gui's family has one, Lin Tong's family has Lin Xiaohu, and there's also Shi Houzi. These boys, who are not much different in age, have already jumped into the water and are splashing around.
You grab something and throw it out without even looking at it, mud and water mixed together.
On the shore, Tian Xiaoxi and several girls were laughing and joking, frantically trying to catch the small fish and loaches jumping around in the grass.
In the countryside, children don't need buckets to catch fish and loaches. They just need to pull a blade of grass, thread it through the fish's gills, and then out through its mouth to string them all together.
When Peach's mother saw that there were loaches, eels, and fish, she was overjoyed: "Peach, help me fetch some water and get them ready now."
It's the middle of summer now, and loaches and eels will quickly start to smell bad if they die, so we have to deal with them right away.
Tian Tao was also delighted and praised, "Xiao Quan is amazing! After Mom ate the loach, my little brother will be smart too."
Outside the Tian family's hut, Tao'er's mother was scaling fish and gutting eels and loaches.
The three children chattered incessantly around her, laughing and running around.
Some people are taking basins, others are scooping water. Mom, get everything ready early so Dad can have fish soup and stewed loach when he gets back.
Tian Xiaoquan pasted the fish tail onto his own door panel, making them symmetrical.
Not far away, Qin stood outside her half-collapsed shack, covering her face and wailing, "That damned heaven, it destroyed my house! Where am I going to sleep tonight?!"
There are advantages to living in a thatched hut. If it collapses, it's just a pile of straw. The pillars and beams, which are as thick as an arm, won't crush anyone. Even the clay pot that gets crushed remains intact.
Lianhua and Xu Genqing busied themselves pulling apart the wet grass and taking out pots, pans, and bowls from under the shed.
The messy weeds were left on the embankment in front of them, while Lotus washed the things with water. The two of them were so busy that they had no time to pay attention to Qin.
After crying for a while, Qin looked at the Tian family's children and the fish and meat in Tao'er's mother's hands, and her eyes filled with redness, jealousy and hatred. She couldn't help but curse again: "You've given birth to a bunch of debt collectors!"
Turning to look at his daughter-in-law's flat stomach, he was overcome with grief again: What kind of sins have I committed?
The eldest daughter-in-law gave birth to two children, but they were inseparable from him. Even when they fled famine, they were driven back.
Now, this youngest daughter-in-law happens to be unable to conceive, while next to her, the woman who is almost a grandmother is heavily pregnant.
We're being outdone in terms of having children, and now even our shacks are collapsing!
This is so embarrassing!
Lianhua was terrified by her mother-in-law's crying and cursing. Thinking about how Qingge had taken her away first yesterday, she was probably resented by her mother-in-law. Looking at the messy shack, she stepped forward and said, "Mother, if you want to sit down, the stools here are dry!"
"Sit down! All you know is to sit. Who are you trying to impress with this fake filial piety? When will you give me a grandson and that will be considered true filial piety!" Madam Qin roared and stormed into the half-collapsed shack.
Lianhua stood there dumbfounded after being yelled at. Xu Genqing pulled her aside and said, "Ignore her. If Mother wants a grandson, she should ask Big Brother. My sister-in-law has given birth to two, but she hasn't said a word of filial piety."
Lotus paused for a moment before muttering, "Mother wouldn't want to have a child herself, would she? She doesn't like anyone else's belly."
Those who have given birth, those who haven't, including those who are heavily pregnant.
Xu Genqing almost dropped the stack of bowls in his hand. He kicked Lianhua twice in a panic, saying, "Are you crazy? What are you saying? Do you believe I'll hit you?"
Lotus was startled by her own thoughts.
My father-in-law and mother-in-law are both in their second marriages. My mother-in-law had my older sister and brother-in-law from her previous marriage.
When her brother-in-law was two years old, her former mother-in-law passed away due to illness. Seeing that there was no one to raise the child, her father-in-law took a second wife, and that's how her mother-in-law married into the family.
However, her father-in-law died unexpectedly while performing corvée labor, and her mother-in-law was also widowed young, but she gave birth to a son.
Fortunately, her eldest aunt had already married by then and used the money to help her maternal family. A few years later, her husband's older brother got married, and the family only had Xu Genqing as their youngest son.
By the time she married into the family, her sister-in-law had already given birth to two sons, but she didn't get along with her mother-in-law and they argued every day. The village mediation failed, and they even went to the village head several times.
Filial piety is paramount. Although my brother-in-law was not my biological brother, he was raised from the age of two and dared not rebel.
But after they fled the famine, my brother-in-law and the others never came back.
My sister-in-law used to be the one to stand up for me, but now my mother-in-law, who was originally quite kind to me, is looking at me with displeasure every day.
Xu Genqing glared at Lianhua: "If you dare let Mother hear you say that, I will definitely divorce you!"
Lianhua glared back: "Fine, then let's break up. With your mother watching over us, you can barely sleep with me once a month, and you're always sneaking around like a thief. It would be a miracle if you could have a child, unless it's not a member of your family!"
"You...shut up, shut up!" Xu Genqing was furious, both ashamed and angry.
He didn't want it to be like this either!
How wonderful it would be to sleep with my sweet-smelling wife in my arms.
But less than a year after they got married, war broke out, and everyone had to squeeze into a shack. They still live in shacks now, and they have to endure it if they have to do it secretly!
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