"Not yet, mother, do you have any good name?"
The new parents forgot about naming the child, and Li Qingmei planned to discuss it after Qiu Jianshe came. However, the nickname can be chosen by the old lady, which will bring good luck.
Huang Duoer also agreed and said she would listen to her mother.
She likes her grandmother, but for some reason, she is inexplicably more grateful to her sister-in-law.
From listening to their conversation, I learned that the sister-in-law brought her the bitter candy right after she came back from the exam. After eating it, she felt energetic soon, the baby became normal, and the birth went very smoothly.
And this room, this kang, and the curtains surrounding it were all thought up by her sister-in-law. She even thought about the possibility that the babies she had just given birth to might go hungry. She bought three such precious milk bottles at once...
When Qiu Yuling came back at noon, the privilege of naming had been given to her for a while.
"Little sister, you can choose it. Grandma said she would listen to you when you come back. Our father also likes to listen to you. You can choose it."
She had actually thought of this, but only as a joke. She then recited the name she had come up with on a whim. "Red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, blue, and purple, in that order, and then add the word 'grain' at the end. I tossed it around and decided that adding 'bean' would sound the best."
"Red beans, orange beans, yellow beans, mung beans, green beans, blue beans..." Qiu Dashan couldn't say which one was bad, but he always felt that something sounded weird, and the yellowish ones were very popular.
She cheered as soon as Qiu Yuling said that, which made Qiu Yuling confirm again and again that she was not speaking in a sarcastic way.
Qiu Yuling felt a little guilty for having given the three little ones such strange nicknames for no apparent reason. She felt like she had let her nephews down.
After chatting and laughing for a while, it was time to eat.
Because Qiu Yuling still had to go to school in the afternoon, the bathing was moved to the afternoon.
"It's okay. What ceremony? Just hold it. I'm not important."
"You are their aunt, how can you not be important?" Before Mrs. Qiu could refute, Huang Duoer disagreed. Anyway, her father had not arrived yet, so she had to wait for him and Yuling as well.
Qiu Jianshe and Li Qingtong waited until the pots and stoves were cleaned up before entering the house.
Not long after they came in, Qiu Yuling also came back.
"Why are you back so soon?" Li Qingmei was curious. It was not yet time for school to end as usual.
"Isn't it time to take a bath? I came back too late after school, so I went to the teacher to ask for leave. Let's get started."
She had only heard of this ceremony but had never seen it. As for what to prepare for and how to do it, she had no idea. For now, it seemed that she could only come to show her support.
There was no plan to make a big deal about it. The longans, red dates, dried mugwort leaves, and dried locust branches were all brought back by Qiu Jianshe from the farm.
Even the noodles for lunch have their own requirements. They must be eaten three days after washing, and the time is just right, right after lunch.
The first step is to worship the gods. Under the command of Qiu's mother, Huang Duoer placed a red rooster and a hen in front of the kang, and then burned incense to worship the kang lord and kang mother, followed by the goddess of labor, the goddess of childbirth, the goddess of Yunxiao, the goddess of Qiongxiao and other gods.
After worshipping the gods, the second step of bathing on the third day is to add water to the basin.
Grandma Yuling placed a basin of Chinese medicinal bath soup containing mugwort leaves, locust twigs, etc. on the kang, and then picked up the child.
Then they began to add a spoonful of water, longan, red dates and other items into the basin in order of seniority.
Grandma will say the corresponding blessing words according to what people add. For example, if you add water, grandma will say: "May the water flow long and the children be smart and clever." If you add red dates or longans, grandma will say: "May you have a son soon and may you have many sons."
After the filling of the basin, it was time to stir the water. Grandma picked up the stick and stirred the basin, accompanied by blessings: "Stir once, stir twice, stir three times, the elder brother leads the younger brother to run..." After stirring, she began to give the three brothers a bath.
As she washed, Grandma Yuling said, "Wash your hair first, and you will become a prince. Wash your shoulders second, and you will become a high official. Wash your waist, and each generation will be higher than the last. Wash your balls, and you will become a county magistrate. Wash your gutters, and you will become a prefecture governor..."
When taking a bath, the three little ones all cried. As soon as they started crying, Li Qingmei said that it was a good omen. Only then did Qiu Yuling realize what "loud" meant.
After taking a bath, start dressing your child.
Grandma first lit a moxa ball, put a piece of ginger on the child's forehead, and then placed the moxa ball on the ginger slice, symbolically roasting the child.
Then he began to comb the children's hair one by one: "Comb, two buns, you will wear a red hat when you grow up; draw eyebrows on the left, do the temples on the right, and find a wife who will be envied by the whole village; brush your teeth, rinse your mouth, and don't embarrass yourself when talking to others."
Finally, he rolled a hard-boiled egg on each of the three brothers' faces, muttering, "Egg rolling on your face, your face is like egg skin, your face is as red as willow's white, you are my true love."
After the children finished dressing up, grandma led them to start the next series of blessing process.
For example, children are hit three times with a scallion, accompanied by blessings: "One hit means they are smart, two hits mean they are clever." After that, the scallion is thrown onto the roof, which means they are extremely smart.
He then picked up the weight that Qiu Jianshe borrowed from the brigade and gestured with it, implying that the child would be able to play an important role in the future like the weight.
Then pick up the door lock and gesture with it, which means that the child will be careful, steady and cautious in the future.
Then she took out an old silver ring and placed it on the child, implying that the child would have good fortune in the future.
Use a baking basket to sift paper flowers, and your child will not get smallpox and will grow up healthy.
Finally, each doll was given a symbolic drink of rhubarb soup, which means: "If you taste the bitterness of coptis root for three days, you will be rich and prosperous all your life and never suffer from poverty."
Finally, after completing this set of procedures, Qiu Dashan was asked to burn the tablets of the kang master and kang mother, as well as the incense roots, in the yard. The ashes were wrapped in red paper and placed at the head of the kang, implying that the gods would always keep the family safe.
Only then did the whole process come to an end. Qiu Yuling also opened her eyes. They still said this was a simplified version, while the previous one was more complicated and tedious.
The three children were already hungry and sleepy, so they were stuffed back into the tent on the kang. Soon, their crying stopped.
Qiu Jianshe had seen and touched his grandchildren, and was about to go home when Li Qingmei asked, "Have you thought of a name these days?"
"Ah?" There was a name waiting for him, so he raised his butt and sat down again.
"By the time of their generation, it's time for the 'Wen' generation. The first one is Qiu Wen or something, and the next one, I haven't thought about it yet."
On such a happy day, Li Qingmei didn't want to bully him. The things in front of him were already there, so why did he have to think about it? After all, he was the grandfather after all.
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