The two children spoke without restraint. Shu Ying came out of the house and saw that they were still at the door. She called the two little ones to wash their hands and eat.
Yangyang drank a bowl of soup, and Shuying offered him a second bowl, but he refused to drink any more.
"The soup was salty today and didn't taste good at all, but Aunt Song's cooking was delicious. Mom, I'm really full now. My sister and I are going to play with little brother Tuantuan."
Ding Rumei's face flushed red and then turned pale. She picked up a spoon and scooped a large piece of pork rib into her bowl.
"How can such a small person tell whether something tastes good or bad? It only tastes good when there's too much salt. Such good meat would be a waste if it didn't have any flavor."
Shu Ying's expression remained unchanged as she collected the children's bowls and simply instructed, "The children are at a crucial stage of their growth, so they shouldn't eat too much salt right now. Our family usually eats a light diet, so please be mindful of that next time you cook, cousin."
After she finished speaking, she glanced at the pickled peppers on the table and said, "If you prefer a stronger flavor, I can make two other dishes that suit your taste, but please don't put peppers in every dish."
Yueyue choked on her food during dinner, and her face turned red. The two little ones love to eat, and this was the only time they didn't eat well.
Ding Rumei was worried that Shu Ying might make her leave again if she disagreed with her, so she just said dismissively, "I know, I'll put less next time."
Shu Ying got up from the dining table, picked out some good fruit, and said goodbye to Song Zhaodi before leaving.
"Sister Song, I happen to have some time today, so I'll go for a visit next door. I took the fruit you bought this morning with me. If the children come back looking for me, you can take them next door."
Song Zhaodi nodded, connected a long water pipe from the yard, and then deftly carried the quilts that were drying outside back into the house.
"Then you go ahead, I'll stay here at home."
The house behind is where Liu Xiulan and Zhang Hongxia live. They had just finished dinner and were discussing doing some handicrafts when Shu Ying greeted them from the doorway with fruit in her hand.
"Sister Liu, we bought some extra fruit this morning. We thought it would go bad if we didn't finish it, so we brought some over to you and Sister Zhang."
Liu Xiulan had originally wanted to spend more time with Shu Ying, but seeing that she had come over first, she quickly grabbed a stool and said, "Come in quickly, have you had dinner yet?"
Shu Ying placed the washed fruit on the table next to her, sat between the two of them, and started chatting about everyday things.
"I just ate, and the two kids went out to play, so I came over to visit."
Liu Xiulan glanced out of her yard; the two little ones were nowhere to be seen. With a smile on her face, she lit the hemp rope used to repel mosquitoes, which emitted a faint scent of dried herbs.
"I've been wanting to visit your two kids for a while, but you've been quite busy lately. The two little ones are very polite; they greet people as soon as they see them from afar."
When talking about her child, Shu Ying's words revealed a hint of pride.
"These two children were easy to take care of from the moment they were born, and they didn't require much of my energy. Zhang's children are already in school, right?"
Zhang Hongxia was embroidering insoles with needle and thread in her hand. The insoles were decorated with red and green characters for "peace and safety throughout the four seasons." After she spun the thread along the needle, she would give it a firm tug.
"They'll be starting primary school soon. I heard you also completed the school registration procedures for your children a few days ago? Are they going to start school soon too?"
Shu Ying nodded and divided the apples between the two children: "I was thinking of sending them there next week, but these two children have never left my side since they were little. I feel a little reluctant to send them to school."
Zhang Hongxia, threading the needle, laughed and said, "I've been through this too, so I understand how you feel. In the end, it's us parents who can't let go of our children. Watching them grow up little by little, and now they all have their own little secrets, it's not that the children can't let go of their mothers, it's us who can't let go."
Liu Xiulan just smiled along, but there was a hint of bitterness in her smile.
The child's joys, sorrows, and anxieties are all blank to her.
She looked at Shu Ying with some envy: "I envy you the most. You have both a son and a daughter all at once. My belly is so uncooperative. I haven't been able to get pregnant for so many years."
Shu Ying was puzzled: "How could that be? I happen to know a little about traditional Chinese medicine, otherwise I would like to take my sister-in-law's pulse first."
Liu Xiulan had little hope: "I've been to the hospital countless times, tried both Chinese and Western medicine, and seen all the doctors I should see, but they still haven't been able to diagnose anything. The doctors just tell me not to worry, but how can you not worry about something like this?"
Especially as she watched the number of children in the compound increase and she grew older, the lack of children became a thorn in her side.
Shu Ying placed her hand on Liu Xiulan's wrist, and Liu Xiulan couldn't help but tense up. She then switched hands, her face expressionless, which made people even more uneasy.
After the diagnosis was completed, Liu Xiulan withdrew her hand, her expression filled with anticipation: "Can...can my body get pregnant?"
Shu Ying carefully spoke: "Endometriosis, perhaps it's because your body hasn't been properly cared for over the years. But I don't have any medicine on hand right now. I'll prescribe a formula for you, but you'll have to find it yourself. Some medicines are genuine, some are fake, so it has to be genuine to cure the disease."
Liu Xiulan was overjoyed: "Really? I'll go get paper and pen right now."
Finally, she saw hope again that she could become a mother, and Zhang Hongxia was overjoyed.
"You have no idea, this has become a real worry for her. When she heard you say there was still hope, she was overjoyed. It's a good thing you came. None of us understand these things. When we went to the hospital, they only said that she was fine and met the requirements for having children."
Liu Xiulan quickly took out paper and pen, and Shu Yingjuan wrote down more than a dozen kinds of medicinal herbs in her beautiful handwriting.
"But you must make sure that these are all genuine medicines. It's hard to distinguish between real and fake ones on the market. You can come back to me after you buy them, and I'll help you distinguish between real and fake ones and tell you how to take them."
Liu Xiulan's smile deepened as she brought out some fresh vegetables from the house, wishing she could give Shuying the best of everything.
"Look, I don't have anything worth showing off here. These vegetables are all grown by myself, without any pesticides, and they're all fresh. You've helped me so much, you absolutely have to take these, otherwise I'll feel bad."
People value reciprocity, so Shu Ying didn't refuse.
She placed the vegetables next to her, then thought of Shi Tou and casually asked, "By the way, sister-in-law, I noticed today that Shi Tou seems a bit introverted. He didn't agree to come over to play when the other kids invited him, and his parents didn't come out even after we waited for ages at the playground. What's going on with that kid?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
