Chapter 158
A gust of cold wind blew, and the temperature dropped rapidly. It was the first time Qin Mianmian felt such a degree of cold, and she stayed in the kitchen and refused to come out.
Jiaojiao, wrapped into a round ball by her father, came in with Youyou, staggering by the door frame. She squatted beside Qin Mianmian, stretching out her little paws and warming herself by the fire.
Qin Mianmian made room to the side, and Jiaojiao also moved so that Youyou could also roast by the fire.
"Where is Uncle Yin?" Qin Mianmian asked while warming herself by the fire.
Because the weather was too cold, the hot air exhaled from his mouth when he spoke turned into mist visibly.
"Dad is working on the pit with Uncle Daqiang and the others." Jiaojiao said as she took out the pebbles wrapped in cotton cloth that she used to cover her hands from her arms.
Qin Mianmian, who had never heard of a kang, asked curiously, "What is a kang?"
Jiaojiao, who had also never seen it, shook her head: "I don't know!"
When Yin Zheng came in, he saw three little ones squatting beside the fire pit.
"Dad!" Jiaojiao shouted happily, supporting herself with her hands and standing up with her butt sticking out.
Just because he was wearing too much bulky clothes, he had some difficulty standing up. After he stood firm, he staggered back and forth and almost fell forward.
Yin Zheng squatted down to support him. Jiaojiao, supported by her father, handed him a small bag of pebbles in her hand. Her childish voice was filled with a little worry: "Jiaojiao, it's roasted, isn't it hot?"
Yin Zheng took off the cotton cloth that wrapped the pebbles and buried the round and small pebbles that he had picked up specially by the river in the stove. After doing this, he reached out and touched Jiaojiao's little hands and face, and felt relieved when he found that she was not cold.
The winters in the north are so cold that sometimes water can even freeze into ice. This means that every household in the north has a kang, including the Yin family, but there is no kang in Yin Zheng's room.
It's unclear what Yin Dazhu and his wife's original intentions were, but Yin Zheng was the only one in the family who didn't have a kang (kang). Every winter, while Yin Youcai and his family huddled up on the kang in their own rooms, Yin Zheng was the only one who did all the miscellaneous chores that required going out, such as cooking and fetching water.
Having never slept on a kang since childhood, Yin Zheng was a little unfamiliar with this indispensable item for every household in the northern winter.
In addition, when they first moved to the courtyard at the foot of the Wushan Mountain, the original kang in the room had been dismantled and moved to the new house when the village chief and his family moved more than ten years ago.
Farmers are reluctant to throw away any good brick. The village chief and his family certainly would not spend money to buy new bricks to build a kang. They simply dismantled the kang in the old house and put it in the new house.
This resulted in Yin Zheng, who had always slept on a bed he built himself by cutting wood from the mountains, having no habit or idea of sleeping on a kang.
It was not until the temperature dropped two days ago, when Qin Mianmian was so cold that she ran to the kitchen, and Jiaojiao curled up in his arms and refused to get out of bed, that Yin Zheng remembered the kang.
Jiaojiao imitated her father's actions and touched his hand, then stood on tiptoe to touch his face.
Seeing that he couldn't reach it, Yin Zheng lowered his head in cooperation.
Jiaojiao touched her father's forehead and cheeks, and when she found them a little cold, she frowned and ran to the fire pit with her little paws stretched out. After her hands were warmed up, she ran back to her father and tiptoed to touch his face.
Yin Zheng cooperated by lowering his head and letting Jiaojiao cover his face with her hands. When the gentle little hand fell on his face, the not-so-hot temperature flowed all the way into his heart, warming his heart and making it slow down for a beat.
He lowered his eyes to look at Jiaojiao's serious little face, and there was a deep tenderness in his deep eyes.
Estimating that the time was about right, Yin Zheng pulled the pebbles out of the stove, waited for the temperature to drop a little, then wrapped the pebbles in cotton cloth and handed them to Jiaojiao.
However, Jiaojiao did not take the pebble. He pushed the pebble into his father's arms with his little hands, then ran to squat beside the stove, as if to say that he was warm here and did not need the pebble.
Jiaojiao originally wanted to bake the pebble for his father because it was warm in the kitchen and it was cold outside.
Yin Zheng did not refuse. He put the pebbles into his arms, turned around and walked out to continue making the kang. If the kang was made a day earlier, Jiaojiao would suffer less from the cold. The little one squatted in front of the stove to keep warm, looking very pitiful.
It took one day to prepare the kangs in the main house and the side room, and another three days to wait for them to dry in the shade.
During these three days, Yin Zheng would warm Qin Mianmian's quilt with pebbles before he went to bed, and also put a bag of hot pebbles under his feet while he slept.
Qin Mianmian, lying in the warm quilt, blinked and looked at Yin Zheng: "Uncle Yin, you and Jiaojiao are so kind, thank you."
Yin Zheng said "hmm" and walked out, closing the wooden door behind him.
Watching the door close in front of him, Qin Mianmian took a deep breath and then sighed. He missed his parents a little. Jiaojiao's father was so good to Jiaojiao. It would be great if his father could treat him like Jiaojiao's father treated Jiaojiao.
Thinking of this, he rubbed the quilt and buried his head in it. However, his father was also very good, at least better than his cousin's father. He didn't know when he would be able to see his parents again.
Yin Zheng returned to the main house. Not seeing Jiaojiao, his eyes moved and fell on the bulging little bag in the quilt. Yin Zheng didn't understand why Jiaojiao hid herself in the quilt. He was afraid that he would feel suffocated, so he took two steps forward and gently lifted the quilt.
Jiaojiao was kneeling on the bed under the quilt, curled up into a small ball and sleeping. Seeing his face buried in the bed, Yin Zheng, fearing that he would have difficulty venting his anger, gently held him and tried to turn him over.
Jiaojiao, who was not sleeping very deeply to begin with, was woken up by Yin Zheng's movements. He opened his eyes in a daze and looked at his father. It took him a long time before he vaguely remembered that he was hiding under the quilt to scare his father. He subconsciously made a tiger claw shape with his hands and placed it on his head and shouted "Awoo!"
Yin Zheng, who was holding him, paused and looked down at Jiaojiao, who was still in a daze in his arms.
Did he have to act scared?
Thinking of this, he tried to act frightened, but being unused to this, the expression on his face only made him frown even harder.
Fortunately, Jiaojiao just whimpered and then rubbed against his arms and fell asleep again. Yin Zheng breathed a sigh of relief but also felt a little regretful. If Jiaojiao had succeeded in scaring him, she would be very happy, right?
Maybe he'll roll around in bed with joy!
Compared to other kids in the village, Jiaojiao was too quiet. Even when she was happy, she would just frown and rarely laugh out loud. The occasional liveliness she showed was when she was protecting him or hiding something good that she couldn't wait to give to him.
Yin Zheng held the little Jiaojiao in his arms. It would be better if she could be more lively. Lively and naughty babies are easier to raise. Those who are too quiet and well-behaved always make Yin Zheng feel fragile.
Yin Zheng didn't know that Jiaojiao had become much more lively compared to when he first raised her.
The next day, a fine drizzle fell from the sky, and the already cold temperature dropped even more. The kang (kang) at home had been heated up, and as long as one stayed on the kang and did not go out, one would be very warm.
Jiaojiao was very happy that he no longer had to be wrapped like a dumpling. Seeing his curved eyebrows, Yin Zheng suddenly reached out and pressed his forehead and poked him back.
Jiaojiao, lying on the bed, blinked in confusion. Before he could react, Yin Zheng had already curled him up into a small ball. With a light push, Jiaojiao rolled around on the bed.
Jiaojiao, who was a little slow to react, thought his father wanted to watch him roll around, so he automatically held his feet with his little hands, curled up into a ball, and rolled several times in a row.
Jiaojiao, who was dizzy from rolling around, sat up, held her head and shook it, then looked at her father with her messy hair and smiled foolishly with her eyes curved.
How can you be so obedient!
Yin Zheng poked Jiaojiao's chubby face and his eyes softened.
"Uncle Yin, I'm here to practice calligraphy with Jiaojiao." Qin Mianmian, who was bored being alone, came over with pen, ink and paper.
As soon as he came in, he saw Youyou sleeping on the corner of the kang. He put the things in his arms aside, ran over, squatted down and pinched Youyou's nose with his hands.
Jiaojiao lay on the edge of the kang and watched curiously.
In his sleep, Yoyo kicked his hooves and shook his head. He was having difficulty breathing and couldn't get rid of the thing blocking his nose, so he opened his eyes. When he saw Qin Mianmian, he instinctively lowered his head and hit her.
Qin Mianmian dodged in time and turned around and quickly climbed onto the kang. Youyou was so angry that he stomped his hooves and walked around the kang.
Jiaojiao reached out and touched Youyou who ran over and cried "Yoyou" for comfort: "Brother Mianmian was playing with Youyou, not bullying Youyou."
It called out a few times, rubbed against Jiaojiao, and then lay back down on the edge of the kang.
Yin Zheng moved the small desk onto the kang and skillfully ground the ink. Then the three of them sat cross-legged on the kang and practiced calligraphy. However, Yin Zheng and Qin Mianmian were writing the characters while Jiaojiao was outlining them.
He is still young and his wrists are too soft, so it is not time for him to practice calligraphy.
After copying for a while, Bian Jiaojiao stopped. He lay on the table and watched his father and Qin Mianmian practicing calligraphy. While watching, he fell asleep in his father's arms.
Yin Zheng glanced at Jiaojiao and adjusted his posture so that he could lie down more easily.
There were some faint shouts mixed in with the howling cold wind outside. Yin Zheng listened carefully and heard some unclear shouts and some noisy sounds.
However, Yin Zheng didn't care much about it. He withdrew his gaze, raised his hand to block the light that was deflected to the sleeping Jiaojiao, and continued to practice calligraphy with his head down.
The noise outside was caused by Chen slipping and falling to the ground while digging wild vegetables.
She was pregnant and about to give birth, so the fall was terrible. She was in so much pain that she couldn't even breathe.
Feng, who was also pregnant and digging wild vegetables, saw this and immediately dropped the vegetables and came to support Chen. "What's wrong, sister-in-law?"
Zhao, who was standing by, also hurried over to support Chen.
Chen held her stomach and gasped violently, she was in so much pain that she couldn't speak at all.
When Aunt Feng saw her condition, she cried out in pain and quickly stepped forward to support Chen. Seeing that Chen was so frightened that she couldn't even breathe, she kept saying, "It's time to give birth. Don't be afraid. Just do what I say. It's okay."
Chen, sweating profusely from the pain, clutched Aunt Feng's hand tightly and said fearfully, "Auntie, baby, baby, will you be okay?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? It's already the day for the baby to be born. A fall won't cause any harm." After comforting Chen, Aunt Feng turned around and said, "Cuihua, you're fast. Go to the village head's house and inform your grandmother Wang to have Uncle Changyuan come and take your Aunt Chen back home."
"Hongmei, go chase after your grandmother Li Si. She's just coming back from digging wild vegetables. If you catch up with her, don't let her come over. Go straight to the village chief's house and wait."
Grandma Li Si used to be a midwife. Chen's pregnancy looked dangerous, so she had to be asked to take care of it.
"Oh!" Cuiping and Hongmei nodded, then turned around and ran away in a hurry.
Upon hearing that his wife had fallen and was about to give birth, Li Da crawled out from the field, his face bruised and swollen and covered in mud.
When he ran to the foot of Wushan Mountain, his eyes turned red when he saw Chen. He held Chen horizontally in his arms with shaking hands and gritted his teeth, and walked quickly towards home.
When they came back, Mrs. Wang had already boiled hot water and prepared all the necessary items.
After Li Da carried the person into the house, he was quickly pushed out by Li Sijia and Old Wang. After Li Da left, Old Wang brought a bowl of not very thin porridge to Chen: "Drink it quickly, it will give you strength to give birth later."
After Chen endured the pain and drank the porridge, Li Sijia felt the position of the baby in her belly and said, "It's okay, the baby is in the right position. Although it's a little early, there's nothing to worry about. Don't push too hard later. Just follow my instructions."
Outside, Li Da was pacing anxiously. Seeing this, Li Gensheng began to panic. He took two puffs of his pipe and said, "Boss, go change your clothes first. Don't make yourself sick in this cold weather."
"Dad, I'm fine..."
Before Li Da could finish his words, he was interrupted by Li Gensheng: "Listen to me, go change quickly, giving birth is not a quick process."
In the end, Li Da was pulled into the house by Li Er to change his clothes.
As time went by, screams gradually came from the house. Li Da was so panicked that he kept walking back and forth outside, and the floor was almost worn shiny by him.
Chen had not given birth until dinner time. As her voice grew weaker and weaker, the people outside the house became increasingly worried.
Seeing that Chen was becoming increasingly powerless, Old Wang's heart sank. Finally, she bit her lip, turned around, opened the door and ran out.
"Mother, Chen..."
"Where are you going?"
Old Wang didn't hear the voices of Old Man Li and his son and daughter-in-law behind her. She had only one thought in her mind now, and that was to find Jiaojiao and the little Fuwa.
The villagers, including Li Gensheng, believed that the wild vegetables that grew every two days in the village were due to the appearance of Hou Tu Niangniang. Only Old Wang thought it was not the case. She thought it was because of Jiaojiao.
The village had suffered famine before. Old Wang had personally experienced two such disasters over the years. In which of those times had the goddess of the earth appeared? Even if many people starved to death in the village, the goddess of the earth had never appeared.
Only this time! Only this time the village was suddenly covered with wild vegetables overnight!
No matter how the villagers said that it was the appearance of Hou Tu Niangniang, Old Wang stubbornly believed that it was the little kid named Jiaojiao who was blessed enough that the wild vegetables grew.
So Jiaojiao will definitely be able to keep her grandson safe.
In the cold wind mixed with drizzle, Old Wang ran towards Jiaojiao's house with all her might using her old legs.
At this time, Jiaojiao was sitting on the kang, eating noodles with her cheeks puffed out.
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