Chapter 79 Disgusting! His mother opened the door for disgusting things.
Having appeased Li Ersao, it was time to prepare lunch.
Li San Niang was still waiting to hear Li's mother explain why she had returned so early today, and why she was in a bad mood and said she felt nauseous.
So, money should be spent, right? With a wave of her hand, Li San Niang asked her young waiter Li Gui to order a bowl of hot soup noodles for each person on the street, plus a mutton sandwich for each person. In addition to the Li family members, the two young waiters and Shen Qiu Niang spent a total of three coins.
Mother Li didn't criticize Li San Niang for spending money so extravagantly. After all, firstly, Li San Niang had at least five thousand taels of silver; secondly, she didn't eat out every day; and thirdly, since the atmosphere among the mother and children had reached such a point today, there was no one in the mood to cook.
So, while waiting for the soup noodles and mutton sandwiches, Li's mother continued to tell them in the courtyard about what happened that morning when she was delivering a baby in a village outside the newly expanded outer city.
Seeing that they had a daughter to talk to, Li's father and second brother didn't disturb them and waited for their meal in the main hall.
Li's mother was a registered midwife. There weren't many midwives like her, but there weren't few either. According to Li's mother, in addition to herself being a midwife, there was another elderly midwife in the longevity neighborhood where the Li family lived. She no longer delivered babies much. This was the previous generation of midwives.
Because Li's mother was only trained to be a midwife by Li's father after her second marriage, there was another midwife in Changshoufang named Sun before that. She was a little older than Li's mother and was the daughter-in-law of the midwife who didn't deliver babies much. She had passed on her cooking skills to her daughter-in-law.
Changshoufang is not small. Weddings and funerals are things that everyone has to go through in this era, so there are many clients for midwives. Changshoufang only needs two midwives.
Sun the midwife mostly accepted invitations from families in the neighborhood, because her grandmother was a midwife of the previous generation, and she did business with acquaintances, which was more reliable.
Therefore, Li's mother, who married into Changshoufang later and was a midwife who came to the profession later, not only took on some jobs within the ward but also many jobs outside the ward, mostly in the countryside.
But in fact, before the city was expanded, each of the 108 wards in Chang'an had its own midwives, just like the cleaning staff in different buildings of a modern residential area. They all had their own areas. If someone picked up cardboard boxes or water bottles in someone else's area, that would be overstepping their bounds and would be condemned by the other cleaning staff in the entire neighborhood.
However, after Emperor Wu ascended the throne, he disliked that Chang'an was too crowded and had poor sanitation. If he wanted to continue developing, he had to expand the city. So, from the outer city, it gradually expanded to the current three outer cities.
Thus, Li's mother left Changshoufang. In addition to the familiar villages in the countryside, many villagers and people from other places settled and multiplied in the outer city after the city was expanded, so Li's mother expanded her business scope to the outer city.
This morning, Li's mother went from home to a family in a village called Xiliu Village, west of the outer three cities.
The original surname of the old man in this family was He. He had fled famine during a year of famine and later settled in a village outside Chang'an. He was allocated land and helped each other with several other families who had fled famine with him. That's how they made a living.
He was introduced to a kind-hearted woman in the village and married a widow surnamed Jin. They had a son, He Dalang, and later a daughter, He Xiaoniang.
But the good days didn't last long. A cold took the life of Old Man He. He Dalang was not yet grown up, and He Xiaoniang was even younger. There was no other way. After the mourning period, Widow Jin remarried to an old man in the village. The old man's wife had died long ago, and his eldest son was almost an adult.
The village headman stepped in and drew up a contract. Since He Dalang is still young, the old man and his son will cultivate the land left by the old man and raise He Dalang and He Xiaoniang. When He Dalang grows up, the land will be returned to him, but He Dalang will also have to support the old man in his old age.
Several years passed, and He Dalang was almost an adult, and He Xiaoniang had also grown up. During this time, Widow Jin gave birth to two more sons for the old man.
Today, Li's mother went to this house to help Widow Jin give birth; yes, this is the old man's third child.
Normally, childbirth is a joyous occasion, and welcoming a new life is a wonderful thing. But today, Li's mother was truly disgusted to death at the He family's house.
Why?
From the onset of pain to delivery, it always takes some time. Li's mother was taking care of things inside the house when she heard loud shouts coming from the He family's courtyard. At first, Li's mother thought something had happened. The He family had it tough too, so out of kindness, Li's mother went out to see what was going on.
Then it disgusted Li's mother.
The old man's son had grown up, but his family was poor and he couldn't find a suitable wife. In desperation, he harbored evil intentions and actually wanted to marry He Xiaoniang to him.
He Xiaoniang was only eleven or twelve years old, while the old man's own son was eighteen or nineteen. Not to mention that their ages were inappropriate, although they were not related by blood and had different surnames, how could they be clearly distinguished in terms of human relations?
They're stepbrother and stepsisters!
Most importantly, how could He Xiaoniang possibly agree to this?
When Li's mother came out, she saw the old man's own son grabbing He Xiaoniang's hair and trying to drag her into a side room. He Dalang was pulling his younger sister while hitting the old man's own son, shouting, "Let go, let go of my sister!"
The old man squatted on the ground nearby, neither speaking nor stopping him.
How could Li's mother allow such a thing to happen in front of her? She stepped forward and called on her old man and son to stop and release He Xiaoniang.
Obsessed and paranoid, how could Li's mother listen to reason? She went around to the door and started shouting at the gate, which finally woke up the neighbor who was pretending to be deaf and dumb, and someone went to find the village chief.
More than a dozen young men arrived, and only then did the old man's son have no choice but to let go.
Li's mother rushed to check on He Xiaoniang; thankfully, she had only lost some hair, which had been pulled earlier.
Seeing that the village chief was about to argue with them, Li's mother had no choice but to tell He Dalang and then take He Xiaoniang into the house. Just then, Widow Jin started to get going.
Young women shouldn't be allowed to witness childbirth before they are married, for fear that they will be too frightened to marry and have children later.
But given the current situation, there's no other way. It's the countryside, and there's not even a chair, let alone a screen.
Li's mother then told He Xiaoniang to close her eyes and cover her ears. Then Li's mother helped Jin the widow deliver the baby. Since she wasn't a first-time mother, the delivery was quick. After cleaning her up, she showed the baby to Jin the little boy.
The birth of a son should have been a joyous occasion, but hearing the noise outside, Li's mother lost all interest in saying anything nice.
Li's mother told Widow Jin what had happened in the yard, and Widow Jin's smile, which was still happily holding her newborn son, froze on her face.
Looking at He Xiaoniang, whose hair was sticking up, whose clothes were torn and whose face was covered in tears, Widow Jin said nothing.
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