Chapter 180: Pregnant Again
After more than a week of continuous transportation, everyone breathed a sigh of relief after the exam. Just as Wen Wan had said, the fugitive trafficker knew everyone was watching him and was likely hiding in the mountains and forests. He probably wouldn't come out and cause trouble again. That would be the sign of him being truly tired of living. After hearing nothing more for two or three days, the team gradually forgot about it.
The weather was not very good. It was snowing on the first day of the final exam. When I returned in the afternoon after the exam, I saw Lu Minghai and his wife in the kitchen. Chuyi was holding the fire there and chatting with Lu Mingjiang and his wife.
Wen Wan poked her head out of the kitchen door and called out, "Uncle, aunt."
Gao Xiulan turned around and said, "Hey, Wanwan is back! Is she taking the final exam today? So she doesn't have to go tomorrow?"
Wen Wan entered the house, and Zhang Hongying moved a place for her: "Hurry up and warm up. There's snow over here. Where's Dongping? Didn't he come back with you?"
Wen Wan came over and squeezed in between them to warm her hands, saying, "I'm back. I'm going inside. I've finished my exams today, so I don't have to go out tomorrow. With such heavy snow, tomorrow is a good day to sleep in."
"Sleep, go to sleep. It's snowing so hard, and there's nothing to do at home. It's a rare opportunity that you don't have to go to school. You can sleep in any time you want. I won't call you." In fact, no one had called Wen Wan in the past few months since she came home. She had to go to school in the morning, getting up earlier than everyone else in the family. Even on Sunday, she was very self-disciplined and got up early. Even if she didn't go to work, she would not sleep in.
The whole family is busy, and she feels really embarrassed to sleep in at home.
After hearing what Zhang Hongying said, Wenwan smiled and her eyes curved into a pair of moons.
Gao Xiulan said, "Take a good rest tomorrow, or you won't be able to rest the day after tomorrow. We were just talking about this, and it's already the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. Once it's over, we can start slaughtering pigs."
"Slaughter the pig the day after tomorrow?" Lu Dongping came in from outside.
Lu Mingjiang said, "Yes, we'll slaughter the pig the day after tomorrow. When you have time, go to the educated youth camp and ask Qingming to come over early."
Lu Dongping responded, took a bench and sat down next to Wen Wan. The people next to him took the initiative to move aside.
"Where is Lu Donglin?" Wen Wan looked around but didn't see him.
Zhang Hongying said, "Who would have thought, without going to school or working, this person would be so wild that he could fly to heaven."
Gao Xiulan asked Wen Wan, "I heard Chun'e say that you were going to the commune in a few days to arrange a program for the Women's Federation?"
Wen Wan rubbed her hands. "It's not really a rehearsal, we're just watching and learning from each other. I heard they've organized people to do the yangge dance, stilt walking, and lion dance. Every brigade will go and perform, and then they'll choose the best performances to go to the county and city art troupes for performances."
"Oh, then this year will be lively."
Wen Wan glanced at the snow falling outside like goose feathers and said, "It all depends on the weather. I hope there will be good weather around the New Year."
Zhang Hongying stood up and said, "Let's cook early while it's still light. After eating, we can roast for a while and then go to sleep. Anyway, we can't do anything once it gets dark." Going to bed early can also save some kerosene.
Gao Xiulan took Chuyi from Lu Minghai's arms and said, "I'm going back too. I'm going back to cook. We should eat two meals a day early."
"Why are you so anxious? Dongcai and his wife are already in the house, so why aren't they cooking?"
Gao Xiulan said, "I can't count on it. Something was wrong the past two days. I guess it's happening again. I don't know what to do with it these days."
It took Wen Wan a while to realize what she meant by "pregnant again": "Sister-in-law Laiying is pregnant again?" This is too fast, isn't it? Chuyi is less than four months old!
Gao Xiulan said, "I saw her squatting there retching. It's very likely she's pregnant. These past two years have been really tough."
This baby is only a few months old, which makes her unable to do anything. She was planning to carry the baby to the fields in the spring when it is older, and the whole family will work together for a year to earn more work points and have more food for the family. Who knew that she would get pregnant again.
Lu Minghai said: "Don't talk nonsense. If it's true, it's a good thing. More children, more blessings."
Gao Xiulan remained silent. "In other families, it's a blessing to have many children, but in her own family, it's hard to say! Who knows if this baby is a boy or a girl? If it's a girl, then Li Laiying, that woman, will lose the first one and the second one too."
"If this baby is still a girl, I'll see what she does. If she throws the baby away like she did on Chuyi, I'll break Lu Dongcai's legs and we'll get a divorce."
Zhang Hongying hurriedly advised her, "Stop saying such depressing things. It's the same for boys and girls. The first one didn't feel any pain because she was still young and her mind wasn't working properly. The second one will be different."
Wen Wan sat next to Lu Dongping, reaching out and gently poking his leg again and again.
Lu Dongping held back his laughter and grabbed her hand. She gently scratched his calloused palm, which made Lu Dongping feel itchy.
Lu Donglin came in from outside, carrying a red-feathered pheasant with a broken leg: "I'm back!"
"You're back, so why are you making such a fuss? Do you want someone to greet you?"
Lu Donglin snorted, proudly holding the pheasant and waving it around: "Look, look, I didn't run around aimlessly, I got a pheasant!"
Gao Xiulan turned her head and said, "Wow, Donglin kid is really good, he can even catch a pheasant!"
When someone praised him, Lu Donglin was so proud that he seemed to have grown to 2 meters 80 in an instant. He came to the fire with a chicken and said, "That's right, not only my brother can get this thing, but now I can too."
Lu Dongping was too lazy to pay attention to him, so he caught a pheasant with a broken leg and wanted to shout it out so that the whole production team would know.
Every blade of grass on this mountain belongs to the collective. Usually, everyone turns a blind eye and grabs it according to their ability, but if you really get something special, you have to hand it in.
Wen Wan glanced at the pheasant that was still alive and said, "Can it be fed? It may lay eggs if it is fed, right?" She had eaten scrambled bird eggs before and could not forget them.
Lu Dongping laughed: "I can't feed it. Pheasants are different from rabbits. They are very irritable and won't eat. They will die in two days."
Lu Donglin took over the conversation: "It can't lay eggs even if it's kept alive. It's a rooster. Hey, sister-in-law, you can't confuse male and female, right? Pheasants are the same as the chickens we raise at home. Roosters are beautiful, while hens are gray and ugly, even worse than domestic hens."
Wen Wan felt a little embarrassed. She had eaten pheasant meat several times, but she really didn't know this. She thought pheasants looked so beautiful, but it turned out not to be the case.
Lu Donglin looked at Lu Dongping and said, "Brother, can you help me with this? Don't perm it. I want to leave some feathers and make two chicken feather shuttlecocks."
"You don't dislike that thing, saying only girls play with such girly things."
Lu Donglin said: "I don't like it now, but I will make two, one for my sister and one for my sister-in-law. She made a cotton-padded jacket for me, and I don't have anything to give her."
Gao Xiulan laughed: "Hey, the little brat has grown up now and knows how to behave."
As they were talking, it got dark outside. Lu Chun'e came back, and Gao Xiulan didn't stay to join in the fun. The couple went back with their child.
Lu Dongping took the pheasant outside to bleed it, and Lu Donglin followed him like a tail, wanting to pluck the most beautiful feathers.
Wen Wan and Lu Chun'e sat by the fire and whispered to each other.
"How did the exam feel?"
Lu Chun'e shook her head. "It doesn't feel very good. There are a few questions that I haven't learned before, and they are very difficult to do."
"Do you still remember the question?"
"I remember, I remember!" Lu Chun'e said, taking out a piece of rough paper from her pocket, on which she had copied a few questions in pencil, and the final answers she had written herself.
Wen Wan took the question, looked at it, and then solved it with her.
There were three questions she did correctly, though they were a bit tedious, and two of them were definitely wrong.
Lu Dongping packed up the pheasant and brought it in. Zhang Hongying said, "We're going to slaughter the pig the day after tomorrow. Why don't you rub some salt on it and keep it for now?"
Lu Donglin said, "Let's cook it tomorrow. We'll eat it when we have it. The pheasant meat is so dry and smoked that you can't chew it."
"That's fine, just stew it."
As he was speaking, Lu Donglin ran in from outside: "Brother, brother, I remember you picked up some big coins before. Where did you put them? Can you give me two? Which one is better for making chicken feather shuttlecocks?"
"It's in your room, in the drawer against the wall."
'Oh, you locked it, key!'
Since getting married and moving into the new house, Lu Dongping has never entered that room again, and all the things he needed were moved there.
He took out the key from his body and threw it to Lu Donglin, who took it and ran away.
The room was now completely dark, and he ran out and called Wen Wan, "Sister-in-law, use the flashlight."
"It's on the desk in the room over there. Go get it yourself."
Lu Donglin turned around and ran away.
Everything that needed to be taken out of the drawer had been taken out, leaving only a few dirty hemp coins and a palm-sized iron box. Lu Donglin took the hemp coins and curiously unscrewed the iron box. The thing inside was a bit strange. He was a little curious and saw that there was more than one. He took one out secretly, thought about it, took another, then closed the box, locked the drawer, went out and returned the key to Lu Dongping.
After eating and roasting for a while, a layer of snow-white covered the outside.
Wen Wan tidied up and Lu Dongping followed her into the house carrying a kettle.
Wen Wan yawned as she crawled into the quilt and said, "Mom said I can sleep in tomorrow. Don't call me. Don't bother me tomorrow. I'm going to sleep until I can't fall asleep anymore."
Lu Dongping hugged her and said, "Well, then you can sleep well all day tomorrow. I promise not to disturb you, so..."
"Don't sleep tonight."
Wen Wan, who was suppressed, was like a turtle turning over, waving her claws, but it was of no use.
"Lu Dongping, it's been so long, why are you still like this? Aren't you tired of it?" He comes every night. When will I be able to wrap myself in a quilt and have a good sleep!
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