Song Anxin stayed with Lin Taohua at the Liu residence until almost afternoon when Lin Taohua slowly woke up. Song Anxin then fed her the half-stewed ginseng soup. Lin Mingzhu and Mingyue, the two maids, had also cried all night and didn't wake up until the afternoon. The first thing they did after waking up was to come to Lin Taohua's place.
Song Anxin comforted them and talked with them for a while before setting off back to Linjia Village in the evening. As soon as she arrived at her door, her whole family surrounded her, each with a worried and anxious expression on their face.
"Fengnian's mother, is Taohua alright?" Brother Lin asked.
"Mother, you're back. Is Aunt alright now?" Lin Fengnian asked.
"Yes, sister-in-law, did Taohua give birth safely? After Fengnian told me, I haven't been able to relax all day," said Sister-in-law Lin.
"......"
Song Anxin patted her sister-in-law's hand and said, "Don't worry, Taohua gave birth to a boy safely, and both mother and child are safe."
Everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Sister-in-law Lin pressed her hand to her heart and said, "Oh, thank goodness, may God bless us, may my parents-in-law bless us." Then, her face lit up with joy. "It's so wonderful that Peach Blossom was able to give birth to a boy safely. With a son and a daughter, Peach Blossom will have no worries for the rest of her life."
Everyone was very happy for Lin Taohua, and Song Anxin smiled and said that no matter what, Taohua had given birth safely.
As for the matter of Xiao Su, Song Anxin thought she still had to tell her elder brother and sister-in-law.
"What! This little Su woman is so vicious! I used to think she was truly virtuous and kind, and good to Tao Hua. Ugh, I'm so angry! Why wasn't I there? If I had, I would have scratched her to death!"
Sister-in-law Lin looked furious after hearing this.
Brother Lin's expression was also quite unpleasant: "Fengnian's mother, Madam Liu is still the lady of the Liu family. Will Peach Blossom still be able to..."
"Yes, will she harm Peach Blossom and her child? What will happen to Peach Blossom then?!" Sister-in-law Lin asked anxiously.
Song Anxin comforted them, saying, "Don't worry, she will definitely behave herself during this time. Master Liu will also be at home for the next two months, so Little Su won't cause any trouble. If you're really worried, elder brother and sister-in-law, we can go and check on Taohua more often."
As for what comes next...
---
In Liuzhou, during the imperial examination, a young man in a corner of a cubicle had a flushed face and his eyes were gradually becoming unfocused. He shook his head, picked up his pen again, and tried to write, but instead collapsed onto the desk.
"Someone come quick! Another examinee has fainted. Quickly carry him to the infirmary!" an invigilator said.
Soon, someone came and carried the person out. The proctor sighed and continued his rounds. For two consecutive nights, wind and rain blew during the second session of the provincial examination. Many cells were not only drafty but also leaking, and many students developed fevers and caught colds.
Students have studied diligently for years, and even when they are delirious from the fever, they are unwilling to give up on the imperial examination. In the past two days, many students have fainted one after another in the examination room. Alas, it is so difficult to pass the imperial examination.
The month drew to a close, and the newly added mushroom houses and side rooms at Dafeng Factory in Linjia Village were completed. A total of ten mushroom houses were set up, along with three rooms specifically for cultivating spawn and two rooms for storing harvested mushrooms. There were also five side rooms; more than enough were needed for the time being, but they still needed to be prepared in advance.
Summer Solstice is just around the end of the month, and the time around Summer Solstice is also the time for transplanting rice seedlings. As the saying goes, if you transplant more rice seedlings around Summer Solstice, you'll have a full granary of millet.
These past few days, the rice paddies in Linjia Village have been bustling with activity. Although Song Anxin is a wise and virtuous woman, she has not forgotten her roots as a farmer and is planting rice seedlings alongside everyone else.
In the paddy field, Song Anxin's trouser legs were rolled up, and half of her heels were covered in mud, with some mud splashing onto the rolled-up trouser legs. In the countryside, there is no saying that women don't show their feet; they are all people who have to work.
She bent over, holding a handful of seedlings in one hand and separating two seedlings from the others with the other, then planting them deeply into the soil. Planting seedlings is not something that can be done haphazardly. If the seedlings are planted too shallowly, they will easily fall over and scatter, while if they are planted too deep, it will affect the seedlings' greening and tillering. At the same time, attention must be paid to the spacing and density.
After planting a row of rice seedlings, Song Anxin straightened up and rested for a while. "Oh dear," she thought, "planting rice seedlings is really hard work for my back."
Just then, across the paddy field from theirs, Aunt Tie Tou was also planting rice seedlings and spoke up:
"Fengnian's mother, the rice seedlings you've grown from soaking the grain and sprouting the rice in the ridges are really good. These are the strongest seedlings I've ever seen. As the old saying goes, strong seedlings mean a good harvest. This year, everyone has something to look forward to."
Song Anxin smiled and responded with a few words. At this moment, Lin Fengnian and Qingshan Anshou, along with a few others, each carried a load of rice seedlings. Lin Fengnian put down his load and said:
“Mother, are you tired? If you are, you should go back. We are enough for you here. You really don’t need to come with us to the fields.”
Granny Wei, who was planting rice seedlings in another row, said, "Yes, madam, we servants are enough. Why are you coming down here? You should go back and rest."
Song Anxin smiled and said, "The whole family is out here, how can I stay at home? Don't worry, there are many of us, we can finish by tomorrow at most, it won't tire me out."
Besides Song Mei, there was also Granny Zheng who cooked and Tao Xiuniang who didn't go to the fields. Almost everyone in their family was in the fields. If they weren't in a hurry, it would only take a day and a half to finish. Their family was probably the first in Linjia Village to finish planting rice seedlings.
"Granny Wei, Granny Sun... thank you for your hard work these past two days."
Granny Sun hurriedly said, "Since you're personally going to the fields, how can we be tired? We're mostly idle at home anyway, so why don't we come to the fields and get some exercise?"
Granny Wei added, "Yes, my parents who died young were also farmers. This reminds me of my childhood."
Meanwhile, Ping An and Xi Le... The girls found it extremely strange to do something like this for the first time, and they chattered endlessly in the other paddy field.
Everyone felt very relaxed, with no chaotic thoughts in the fields, only the rice seedlings in their hands and the swaying of the spring breeze.
As the sun slowly began to set in the west, a horse-drawn carriage appeared at the entrance of the village. Everyone was planting rice seedlings in the paddy fields, and it was easy to spot them at a glance.
Those who practiced martial arts, including Qingshan, could see it more clearly. At this moment, Qingshan suddenly straightened up and said:
"Madam, it's Uncle and Third Young Master's carriage. Uncle and Third Young Master have returned."
Song Anxin, Lin Fengnian, and several others immediately went to the paddy field, waded through the water, put on straw sandals, and headed straight home.
Meanwhile, a group of villagers had already gathered at the entrance of Song Anxin's mansion to watch the excitement. Lin Lizheng even came barefoot from the paddy field without wearing straw sandals.
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