Li Meihua made eight dishes for lunch. She wanted to make more, but Qiao Xiaoni stopped her, saying they would have dumplings for dinner. They made too many dishes; they would have to eat leftovers for the next two days.
However, according to old tradition, there should be leftovers at home during the Lunar New Year, symbolizing good weather and abundant harvests in the coming year. Therefore, the eight dishes were made in large quantities, and even though everyone tried their best to eat, there were still many leftovers.
Qiao Manli and Su Chenqiu have both grown quite a bit taller these days, and their clothes look much smaller now.
Qiao Xiaoni bought two sets of clothes for each of them as New Year's gifts, and almost got scolded for it.
Tao Chunfang yawned incessantly and complained to Qiao Xiaoni, who was cracking sunflower seeds, "Now I sleep during the day and wake up at night. As soon as I open my eyes, I want to eat. I feel like I've turned into a pig."
"Sister-in-law, it's good to be able to eat, but you need to eat within your limits. Just eat until you're about 80% full at each meal. That's better for both you and the baby. You're not at the stage where you should really eat a lot yet." Qiao Xiaoni stared at her belly and suddenly saw something move. How strange! She touched it with her hand, and the baby inside moved again.
Was it saying hello to me?
"Yes, I think so! This baby is quite active. After the baby started moving, it would move every now and then. Sometimes I didn't want to eat anything. After it moved a couple of times, I had no choice but to eat a couple more bites, and then it stopped bothering me." Tao Chunfang touched her belly, a happy smile on her face.
"That's amazing!" Qiao Xiaoni exclaimed, marveling at the wonder of life. The child must be incredibly smart. So young and already thinking of how to benefit himself.
Qiao Manli ran over and sat down: "Mom, can I touch your little brother?"
"Mmm." Tao Chunfang took her daughter's hand and placed it on her belly, wanting the two children to get closer.
Su Chenqiu watched from afar. Her mother had passed away from illness when she was just old enough to understand things. Seeing such a heartwarming scene now, she felt a little lost.
"Chenqiu, come here, touch your little brother and see if he wants to say hello to you," Tao Chunfang called out to the door.
As a mother, she saw it all.
Su Chenqiu walked over and looked at the round belly: "Can I touch it?"
"Touch it! Your little brother wants to say hello to you." Tao Chunfang took his hand and stroked her belly.
Su Chenqiu felt a small thing in her palm that moved occasionally, and her eyes sparkled.
"Chenqiu, you're the eldest in our family. You'll have to help take care of the little one after he's born," Tao Chunfang teased.
"Yes, I'll definitely help take care of her." Su Chenqiu felt that the warmth she lacked as a child was completely made up for in this moment.
Tao Chunfang and Qiao Xiaoni exchanged a smile, everything understood without a word.
We ate lunch quite late, so we didn't start making dumplings until 5 pm. We made two kinds of dumplings: sauerkraut and chives. The table was full of food.
Tao Chunfang wanted to start wrapping the dumplings, but she got sleepy and had to go back to her room to sleep.
Qiao Xiaoni and Li Meihua were in charge of making dumplings, while the others rolled out the dough. The TV they had bought at the flea market not long ago came in handy, allowing them to sit together and watch the Spring Festival Gala.
Although the color television was a bit blurry, everyone still watched it with great interest.
Li Meihua placed the dumplings she had wrapped on the curtain and sighed, "I never dreamed that we could live such a life now."
Qiao Haisheng laughed: "Isn't that right? I remember this time last year, we were arguing about how much meat to put in the dumplings. This year, we're eating meat and egg dumplings."
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