Chapter 79
Qin Xia walked into the courtyard and saw Li Xin. He exclaimed, "Are you having a baby?"
His bluntness left even the usually outgoing Li Xin speechless: "Ah, yes, I'm about to give birth."
Qin Xia sat in the seat where Chen Qing had previously sat, her eyes sparkling as she stared at Li Xin: "Can I touch it?"
Chen Qing went inside and brought out some snacks, placing them on the table. He then moved a stool back up and sat down next to them. He was usually a man of few words, but this time he listened quietly to their conversation.
Li Xin nodded, and Qin Xia reached out and placed her hand on his stomach. The two children seemed particularly mischievous, as if they knew someone was touching them, and they moved their hands and feet very lively.
"It's amazing." Qin Xia cupped her face in her hands. "This place is so wonderful. The wind here smells sweet; you can smell the fresh grass when it blows by."
Li Xin scratched her head: "It's pretty good, you, um..."
"I know what you want to ask. The old lady can't quite grasp it right now, I understand." Qin Xia didn't care. He didn't care about other people's opinions. He knew what Meng Shuanzi's mother was worried about. What Chen Qing said earlier was also true. He could leave home without hesitation, and he would leave here in the future.
“Actually, she’s overthinking it.” Qin Xia’s eyes were sincere. “I left Xiaxi because the people there were no longer worth my sincere treatment. This place is so good. As long as someone treats me sincerely, I definitely won’t leave.”
Chen Qing and Li Xin exchanged a glance: "So where are you living now?"
Qin Xia smiled and said, "Of course we'll stay at his house. We're getting married."
"Oh. That's good." Li Xin had probably never been so at a loss for words before.
Qin Xia touched Li Xin's belly again: "I hope I can have a child soon after I get married. If I have a child, they won't worry about me leaving, right?"
Without any hesitation, he reached out and ate a pastry from the table, but after just one bite, he grimaced in disgust.
Chen Qing quickly poured him some water: "What's wrong? Is it broken?"
"It tastes like nothing but sourness, it's so sour!" Qin Xia took a big gulp of water to suppress the sourness. "Has it really gone bad?"
Chen Qing took a piece and ate it: "It's not bad. We bought it on the way from a small town. It's called tamarind cake. I think it's quite delicious and keeps well. Maybe you're not used to it."
Li Xin's curiosity was piqued, so he tried a piece. He thought it was alright: "It's quite appetizing."
Chen Qing looked at his belly and said, "You'd better not try to stimulate your appetite. If you do, your belly will get even bigger. I feel like I have to support your belly when you walk."
Li Xin sighed, "Who says otherwise? I'm always walking with my belly in my hands."
Qin Xia looked at Li Xin's belly with curiosity: "It must be so hard."
Li Xin smiled. In this short time, he had come to understand Qin Xia's personality. She said what she thought, which was the exact opposite of Chen Qing, who kept everything to himself.
"After that, will you stay in the village?" Li Xin asked. "I mean, after you get married."
"If we get married and have children, we'll have them first. If we don't have children, we'll go out and find some work." Qin Xia was very optimistic. "If I were to do farm work, I guess I'd have to learn more."
"What kind of work are you looking for?" Chen Qing asked.
"Is it okay? Don't you guys usually go out to work?" Qin Xia asked curiously.
“We usually farm. In my spare time, I embroider some handkerchiefs to sell in town. Li Xin is very skilled; she can forge iron,” Chen Qing said. “The boys here don’t really go out to find work.”
Qin Xia straightened her back and then gave Li Xin a thumbs up: "You're really amazing. You can have children and you can also forge iron."
"It's alright, it's alright." Li Xin also laughed. "I heard from Aqing that you are also very capable, raising such a large family all by yourself."
"What's the use? We've raised a whole bunch of ungrateful wretches." Qin Xia scoffed. "Save your energy for raising Shuanzi and his mother."
They chatted for a while longer, and finally Chen Qing decided to take Li Xin home. He hadn't seen Aunt Yin and Uncle Li yet, even though he'd been back for two days. Qin Xia went along too; Meng Shuanzi's house was in the same direction as Li Xin's.
When they reached the Li family's door, Qin Xia waved to them. Chen Qing looked ahead and saw Meng Shuanzi by the roadside. Qin Xia's pace had noticeably quickened.
After dropping Li Xin off at home, Chen Qing chatted with Zhang Yin for a while before leisurely walking home. He happened to run into Zhou Yuan by the field: "How are things? Are you going to work tomorrow?"
Zhou Yuan nodded: "I asked the village chief, and he said that the tool will be pushed into our fields tomorrow, and the autumn harvest will begin."
Chen Qing nodded. After such a long period of idleness, he wondered if Chen Qing would be able to get used to doing farm work again.
The next morning, before dawn, Zhou Yuan was already up. During the early days after their marriage, Chen Qing always woke up before him, but now he could finally see Chen Qing sleeping in.
He made quite a racket when he got up, but Chen Qing still didn't wake up. So Zhou Yuan cooked some food first. The dry food at home was all prepared by Chen Qing yesterday, and he only needed to heat it up in the morning.
After the dry rations were heated and the water was boiled, Zhou Yuan went to wake Chen Qing up. Chen Qing stretched and felt sleepy, but he still got up quickly and ate breakfast with Zhou Yuan. They had to work today, and they couldn't work on an empty stomach.
After breakfast, they arrived at Grandma Sun's door. Grandma Sun was also ready, carrying a basket on her back with several sickles inside.
It was still dark, and the path through the fields was narrow. Chen Qing walked behind.
The water in the fields had almost dried up, and the fields were now full of mud. They took off their shoes and went into the fields. It was already autumn, and it was getting a bit chilly to walk in the fields with their shoes off.
Chen Qing shivered and quickly bent down to start cutting rice.
He and Aunt Sun worked quickly, clearing a third of the field in no time. Zhou Yuan was much slower than them. He always felt that the sickle was disobedient, running around randomly. Fortunately, he didn't cut his hand again.
As dawn broke and the sun rose, Chen Qing, who had been bent over all morning, straightened up and felt his back was about to break. He pounded his back a few times, then lay down again to continue cutting.
Zhou Yuan didn't harvest the grain this time. He went to find the old foreman who was still in the village and also got the threshing tools from the village chief. Since he couldn't do it alone, he called Meng Shuanzi to help him carry the big thing to the field.
Chen Qing's eyes widened: "What is this?"
The old foreman came over, adjusted the wooden box, covered the upper part with a cloth curtain, then picked up the rice they had piled up to the side and slammed it against the wooden box. After being slammed, the ears of rice fell into the box.
He demonstrated, then looked at Zhou Yuan: "That's it."
Zhou Yuan copied his movements and didn't find them particularly complicated; they were much easier than harvesting rice or hoeing the ground.
So Chen Qing and Aunt Sun cut the grain, while Zhou Yuan threshed it by himself. Soon after, Meng Shuanzi came to help, and unexpectedly, Qin Xia also arrived.
"Chen Qing, I'll help too. Teach me." He took off his shoes, went into the field, and held the sickle that Zhou Yuan had just used.
Chen Qing originally said no, but Meng Shuanzi spoke up: "Auntie, why don't you teach him?"
Grandma Sun and Chen Qing had no choice but to teach him. Fortunately, he was very smart and learned everything very quickly, much faster than Zhou Yuan. In no time, he caught up with Chen Qing and the others.
The sun grew stronger, and Chen Qing's forehead was covered in sweat. The sweat stung his eyes as it fell in. He straightened up and saw that the rice in the field was almost all harvested.
Grandma Sun also called to him, "Aqing, take a break."
Chen Qing dragged his heavy steps to the edge of the field and sat down. This time, he felt more tired than ever before. He didn't even have the strength to drink water. After resting for a while, he took out his water bag to drink and watched Zhou Yuan work.
He can't do delicate work, but he's quite good at heavy physical labor.
Li Xin arrived shortly after. Chen Qing was frightened by her duck-like gait. She was about to give birth and was still wandering around the village every day. When they were still some distance from the edge of the field, he stopped Li Xin from coming over.
Li Xin listened obediently and stood there watching them work: "Aqing, come to my house for dinner later, my mother has cooked."
Li Xin knew that once they started working, all three of them would have to work. If they had to cook after finishing their work, it would be too tiring. So he asked his mother to help them cook. Zhang Yin's health was getting better every day, and she was more than capable of cooking.
"Please thank your mother for me," said Granny Sun.
Grandma Sun didn't have many fields. They worked for two days, and by the third day, Chen Qing was so exhausted he couldn't straighten his back. After the last crop of rice was harvested, Chen Qing felt a sudden darkness engulf him, and the world spun around him. Fortunately, Qin Xia, who was nearby, caught him quickly and asked, "Are you alright?"
Chen Qing took a deep breath: "It's nothing, I probably stood up too quickly. I'll go sit down for a while."
Qin Xia was worried about him, so she helped him sit down on the edge of the field. Zhou Yuan turned around to look at him: "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Chen Qing shook his head and took a sip of water: "I'm a little tired."
"We'll finish collecting everything today. Take a good rest tomorrow." Zhou Yuan smiled at him and continued working.
After finishing the work, Chen Qing lay on the bed and slept all day. Grandma Sun was drying the threshed rice in the yard, looking at the house with some concern: "Qing hasn't gotten up yet? He went home and slept yesterday afternoon, and he's still sleeping now?"
Zhou Yuan said, "I got up in the morning, ate lunch, and then went back to sleep."
"So many?" said Aunt Sun.
Zhou Yuan was taken aback for a moment: "These past two days of harvest must have been exhausting."
Not to mention Chen Qing, even his own arms felt like they didn't belong to him. It was Chen Qing who massaged them for him a couple of days ago, and they only felt a little better afterward.
"But you can't sleep for so long!" Grandma Sun spread out the rice. The sun has been shining these past two days, so once the rice is dried, we can start pounding it.
Zhou Yuan also noticed something was wrong. He looked at Aunt Sun and said, "On the way back, Aqing was able to fall asleep on horseback."
Grandma Sun threw down the broom in her hand: "Are we eating?"
Zhou Yuan thought for a moment: "He eats normally, and his appetite hasn't changed much."
"Does he still like to eat the foods he used to like?" Aunt Sun had a vague idea.
“No,” Zhou Yuan said. “No, that’s not right. He used to like sweet snacks, but he stopped eating them. These days he likes to eat the tamarind cakes we brought back from outside.”
"He likes sour foods?" Aunt Sun's eyes widened. "He likes sour foods and loves to sleep. Could it be that Aqing is pregnant?"
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