Two months later.
Amian blinked, looking at the little dumpling in front of her.
She just gave birth to a child like that?
A strange feeling arose in her heart. Her father and mother were no longer alive, but now she had a blood relative in the world.
The little dumpling is A-Mian's baby.
Unlike other newborn wrinkled babies, the little dumpling was a girl, weighing five pounds and six ounces at birth, and was extremely cute and exquisitely beautiful.
"Her eyes and mouth are like A-Mian's, and her nose is like my brother's. My little niece is so smart; she inherited all the good features from her parents." Meng Jing had already been showing off in the village. With the birth of her little dumpling, she was no longer the youngest daughter in the family, but had been promoted to an elder!
Ah Mian's labor went very smoothly.
More than a month beforehand, Dr. Mo came and taught her two new martial arts techniques, called "Lamaze Breathing" and "Kegel Exercises".
“Ah Mian, it’s actually much easier for you, a peasant woman, to give birth than for many of the sheltered ladies I’ve seen. That’s because you have proper exercise and diet, and you’ve always followed the advice in my booklet. All of these things are beneficial.” About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Ah Mian gave birth to her baby.
Dr. Mo observed Meng Chijian for half the night, gave him all the instructions, and then left.
When Mo Man returned to the city, she discovered a small box on the carriage containing a delicate and lightweight dagger with beautifully engraved patterns on its handle. Beside it was a silver ingot with the character "绵" (mian) engraved on its bottom.
This is the Meng family's thank-you gift. Although it is simple, it is the most presentable thing they can offer.
In reality, Mo Man's path as a royal physician was not smooth; she had actually been expelled from the Imperial Medical Academy. The official explanation given was that she was going to travel around and compile a new "Pharmacopoeia."
Mo Man touched the word at the bottom and thought casually, "Little Tu, you are one of the few people in this world who still believes in me."
A few months later, Ah Mian's family was thrown into chaos.
"What should I do? The baby keeps crying." A-Mian was at a loss. For the first five months, she did nothing but breastfeed and play with the baby. On weekdays, Aunt Wang and Meng Chijian mainly took care of the baby.
But today, Aunt Wang took leave to attend a wedding banquet, and Meng Chijian also went to the shop to work.
At first, A-Mian thought the baby was hungry, but the baby wouldn't drink milk and kept crying.
Amian picked up the baby and coaxed, "Ayue, be good, don't cry."
Little A-Yue was wearing a small silver bracelet on her left wrist and a jade pendant around her neck. She stopped crying and focused on sucking her thumb.
Ah Mian hugged for a while before finally sitting down.
"Waaaaah..."
"You're such a little devil." Ah Mian's arms were getting sore from hugging you.
Ah Mian tried to reason with her and appeal to her emotions, but Ah Yue ignored her completely, insisting that Ah Mian carry her around. Just as Ah Mian was wondering what to do and feeling increasingly frustrated, Meng Chijian returned. He pinched Ah Mian's cheek and took little Ah Yue in his arms—
To be fair, men do have an advantage when it comes to taking care of children.
Firstly, having enough strength means you won't experience unavoidable emotional fluctuations due to declining physical strength and exhaustion (people are more likely to feel bad when they're tired); secondly, men's hearing is generally not very good, so they have a certain immunity to crying sounds.
Meng Chijian quickly changed the diaper and dressed the baby, then carried Xiao Ayue on his back. "The shop isn't very busy today. Hu Zi is watching over things, so I came back first." He went about his work as usual; this little baby was no burden for him.
However, Little Yue found it very amusing, and her head was turning around and around as she watched and laughed.
Ah Mian secretly made a face at Ah Yue.
Little A-Yue was puzzled at first, then she started to move her nose and eyes as if she wanted to make a face back at A-Mian.
"!!!"
"Our baby might be a prodigy!" A-Mian exclaimed excitedly, and then deliberately stuck out her tongue. Sure enough, little A-Yue followed suit and stuck out her tongue as well.
"She's copying me!"
Amian thought the baby was very smart, and in a good mood, she went to the kitchen and brought out a bowl of rice cereal. She asked Meng Chijian to put the baby in the bamboo basket that had been prepared beforehand, and fed the baby while blowing on it to cool it down.
Meng Chijian asked, "What did you have for lunch?"
Amian said, "She wasn't very hungry; I just kept trying to coax her."
“Then I’ll go cook,” Meng Chijian said, taking out three or four eggs from the henhouse. He then discussed with A Mian, “The baby will be six months old next month. I was thinking that since it’s the off-season now, I’ll bring Yueyue to the shop during the day. Aunt Wang will be six months old soon, and we’ll take care of her ourselves after that.”
This was a last resort. During the last three months of A-Mian's pregnancy, up until today, the family's savings had been almost entirely depleted. If it weren't for the fact that Aunt Wang's wages were paid by Meng's mother, they would probably be struggling to make ends meet by now.
It wasn't that A-Mian didn't want to go out to work, but at first the baby was too small, needing to be fed five or six times a day, and couldn't be separated from his mother at all.
Moreover, A-Yue was only the size of a kitten when she was born, and the baby couldn't be exposed to wind within the first hundred days. A lot of effort was put into feeding the baby so that she could "stand up" and become stronger.
Now, A-Yue only needs to eat four or five meals a day, two of which can be intermittently fed rice cereal, pumpkin puree, vegetable puree, or meat puree.
That way, A-Mian can just feed the baby once in the morning and once in the evening, and if necessary, she can go to see the baby again when she has a spare moment in between.
"Okay, then I'll go to the food street this afternoon. Oh my, our little A-Yue is going to the city for the first time, aren't you excited?"
After eating her fill, Little A-Yue yawned and started chewing on her teething toy.
After the family of three had eaten and taken a nap, A-Mian put the (still sleeping) baby in a bamboo basket, sat on the donkey cart, and Meng Chijian led A-Dou into the city.
Upon arriving at the blacksmith's shop, Meng Chijian led Adou to the backyard, laid out a rolled-up mat on the ground, and placed Ayue on the mat when she was almost awake. He then let Huzi, who was experienced in taking care of his younger sister, play on the side.
A-Yue can sit up now and is playing with her cloth tiger with great concentration.
Meng Chijian glanced at it a few times, and Hu Zi noticed his gaze and couldn't help but ask, "Third Uncle, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Twenty-seven-year-old Meng Chijian offered no explanation.
The statue of Laozi (Taishang Laojun) gazed at him with a smile, seemingly offering a silent blessing.
May he be able to see his wife as a child in a moment of reverie.
In just a short while, Ah Mian had arrived at the food street. What she didn't expect was—
"How could this be?! I was only gone for half a year, how did I end up opening three tofu pudding stalls?"
"That's not all, but how come one of these stalls is even advertising itself as 'Zhen Amian Tofu Pudding Stall,' and the helper inside is Aunt Liu..."
Ah Mian held her head in her hands, deep in thought.
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