Chapter 119
Of the pregnant women in the compound, Wu Sanmei was the most advanced. Bi Chunliu asked, "Brother Hou, how many months pregnant is your sister-in-law now? When is she due?"
Hou Zhiqiang had just accompanied his wife for a checkup a few days ago and immediately said, "The doctor said she'll be due by the middle of next month at the latest."
Bi Chunliu was shocked. It was just the beginning of March, and there was still a little over a month until the middle of next month. He didn't expect that Wu Sanmei was already in the late stage of pregnancy. Time passed so quickly!
"Brother Hou, we don't have much left at home. Even if I give it all to you, it will only be enough for a few days. It's too late to make it now. You can't eat it right after it's been made. It's not good for your health."
This was mainly because pickled foods made in a short period of time often contained nitrites. She remembered watching a popular science video that said pickled foods needed to be marinated for at least 20 days before they were safe to eat. Given Wu Sanmei's due date, making that possible was impossible.
Hou Zhiqiang scratched his head in worry, "What should I do? Xiao Bi, who else have you worked for? I'll go ask if I can charge you for it."
Bi Chunliu suddenly thought of her grandmother. She must have made kimchi. "Brother Hou, please find something else for my sister-in-law to eat. I'll go to my grandmother's house after work and ask. She must have made a lot of kimchi."
"Okay, okay, Xiao Bi, thank you for your help. Go ask the old lady and the price will be negotiable." Hou Zhiqiang was overjoyed.
Bi Chunliu: "...Don't worry, I will help you negotiate the price and send it directly to the slum." Bi Chunliu thought to herself that Brother Hou really underestimated her grandmother. If he really let the old lady bid herself, she would bid without hesitation.
Before her wedding last year, she went to her grandmother to tell her she was getting married. But the old lady thought she was just trying to get some wedding money, so she flatly said she didn't have time to come. She also said that seeing them reminded her of her mother and it made her sad. Now that her mother is gone, her relationship with them is severed. She just needs to have less contact with them in the future, and they don't need to visit her during the holidays. When she dies, she will let her uncle notify her.
Their grandmother, Old Lady Xu, was a solitary woman who kept track of everything. Unlike other old ladies who liked to hang out together and chat, she didn't like to gossip. According to her mother, her favorite things were keeping accounts, counting money, and cutting off ties. She cut off all ties with anyone she didn't want to have any dealings with!
In an era when those without relatives were easily bullied, her grandmother, Old Lady Xu, was a breath of fresh air. So Bi Chunliu and the others were very obedient and didn't visit her grandmother during the New Year. They only asked Weiguo to send a small New Year gift, and Old Lady Xu only left a pound of brown sugar and a can of malted milk, and even paid for the malted milk according to the market price.
After work that afternoon, Bi Chunliu went directly to the soy sauce factory's family compound, where her grandmother and two uncles lived. Both uncles worked at the soy sauce factory, her eldest aunt was a temporary worker there, and her second aunt stayed at home to take care of the five children of the two families.
When Bi Chunliu arrived, she heard her two aunts busy cooking at the stove on the other side. She knocked on the door, and it was her second uncle, Lin, who opened it. Bi Chunliu looked over and saw her eldest uncle, Lin, sitting on a bench, watching over her three cousins who were in school and doing their homework. He was also trying to stop two naughty kids who hadn't been to school from disrupting their homework. In the open room, she could see her grandmother, reclining on the bed. Overall, the family was complete.
Uncle Lin was stunned when he saw his niece. It was quite strange that his niece had come. Then he called out to his mother who was lying in the room, "Mom, Chunliu is here. Come in and sit down."
Old Mrs. Xu came out of the house and was surprised to see her granddaughter. "It's already this late, is there something wrong?"
Bi Chunliu: Look, this is her extraordinary grandma.
So she didn't exchange pleasantries, "Grandma, I want to buy you some kimchi. I've finished pickling it."
"Oh, that's it." Old Lady Xu sat down and instructed her son, "Second son, forget it. Don't hit the jar with your rough hands. Eldest son, accompany your niece to look at the kimchi jar and see how much she wants."
"Wait, why didn't you bring any stuff when you came? How are you going to take it away?" asked Old Mrs. Xu, as if Bi Chunliu wanted to get a small jar of pickles from her for free.
Bi Chunliu: "..." I didn't expect you to agree immediately. "Do you have any empty jars at home? I'll use them first and bring them back to you tomorrow."
Old Mrs. Xu sighed, "Then don't forget it."
Bi Chunliu: "...Don't worry." How much does a jar cost? Could she still steal it secretly?
Bi Chunliu followed Uncle Lin to the small north balcony. There, three large pickle jars were placed side by side, each resembling a half-sized water tank she had seen before. Three smaller jars were placed against the wall to the left of the large jars. She might not have paid much attention to this before her rebirth, but the sight of these jars made Bi Chunliu's heart race. Fortunately, the Lin family's house was on the first floor. If three such large jars had been placed on other floors, the weight the balcony would have borne... She shuddered to think. If it weren't on the first floor, she wouldn't have dared to stand on the balcony.
"Chunliu, take a look at which one you want. The ones your grandma made this year are really delicious. Would you like to try them?" Uncle Lin said loudly while looking towards the living room.
Bi Chunliu: It’s too much like acting, uncle!
Then, Uncle Lin quickly whispered again: "Chunliu, go get you a big jar. If you can't carry it, I'll bring it to you. Get more!!"
He's been eating this dish since he was a kid, and his mom makes it more and more now; he can't finish it all! Autumn is his happiest time of year, if for no other reason than that he doesn't have to eat kimchi, radish, pickled beans, and pickled garlic and chili sauce.
"Look at what you want. I'll find you a big jar." Uncle Lin said and went to find something for his niece. He was determined to make sure she came back with a lot of things! She couldn't come here in vain!
Bi Chunliu opened the cracks of several jars one by one, looked at them carefully and smelled them. She planned to take the kimchi mainly, and then put some radish and beans on top, and leave them for her family to eat.
Uncle Lin found a jar for Bi Chunliu. It was the same size as the small jars that Old Lady Xu used to pickle vegetables, the kind that could hold ten pounds of stuff. Uncle Lin said, "Chunliu, don't worry. Your second aunt washed and dried this. There's no water in it. Anyway, she'll change the jar when you take it home."
"Okay." Bi Chunliu rolled up his sleeves, took the jar, and started scooping out the vegetables with a big spoon.
Soon, the jar was full, and Bi Chunliu carried the jar to the living room to show her grandma.
Old Lady Xu glanced at the size of the jar and said, "Don't bargain. I won't charge you any wages. I'll just calculate it at 1.3 yuan per jin. Ten jins, that's 1.3 yuan in total. How's that?"
Bi Chunliu: ...
The pickles sold at the supply and marketing cooperative were about 12.5 cents per pound, and her grandmother wanted 13 cents. Okay. We can't let the old lady work for nothing.
Bi Chunliu nodded, took out one dollar and three cents and handed it to Old Lady Xu.
After the two of them finished their transaction, my aunt smiled and said, "Chunliu, please sit down and have something to eat."
"No, no, I didn't tell my family I was going out, and they're still waiting for me."
"Oh, all right then. This jar is so heavy, let your uncle take it to you."
"No need, let my uncle eat. Grandma, I'm leaving." It's rare to see my aunt being so enthusiastic.
"Okay, let's go back."
Only after exiting the soy sauce factory with the jar in his arms did Bi Chunliu realize he had made a mistake. He could have come to check it out today and picked it up tomorrow by bike, carrying the jar with him. Instead of carrying it home, he had to walk back home with it. The problem was, the soy sauce factory wasn't close to either the large or small courtyards.
After walking for a while, Bi Chunliu found that she had only walked half the distance when she heard Wei Guo's voice.
Bi Weiguo took the jar from his elder sister first, "Sister? Why are you here?"
Bi Chunliu breathed a sigh of relief. The jar had no handle, so she had to carry it herself. "I went to my grandmother's house to exchange some kimchi for Brother Hou. Why are you here? Did your master take you out?"
"Yes, my master has a friend who went to Beijing to study. He came back and stayed here for a day to meet my master and have dinner."
"Then it seems we are really good friends."
"Sister, I must learn cooking skills. My master said his friend is amazing. He once cooked for our Prime Minister and even shook hands with him!"
"Wow! So impressive! Did you shake hands with that master?"
"Hey, I shook hands with you all. I'll shake hands with you all when I get home, especially Xia He. I want her to share in the good luck."
"Okay! I think it's okay!"
When the two siblings returned home, Bi Xiahe and Bi Qiuguo were already there cooking.
Bi Chunliu shook his waist, which was sore from holding the jar, and asked, "Is your brother-in-law not back yet?"
"No." Bi Qiuguo said, "Sister, why did you take kimchi and radish from grandma's house? Don't we still have some at home?"
"Then he might have something else to do. This dish is for Brother Hou and his wife. And it wasn't taken for nothing. Grandma asked for 1.3 yuan. By the way, Weiguo, are you going to the soy sauce factory tomorrow? Bring the jar back to Grandma."
"Then I'll take it to Grandma before I go to work tomorrow." Bi Weiguo replied, "Sister, we don't have many jars at home. You forgot to ask for this one too. Grandma is very picky when it comes to choosing jars."
Bi Chunliu slapped his head and realized it was true!
"Forget it, I already told you to send it back, so you might as well send it back, lest your aunt really think I'm taking advantage of you. Let your brother-in-law take you there tomorrow morning, so you don't have to carry it, it's really heavy."
"good."
After dinner, Bi Chunliu left two pounds of pickled beans and took the remaining kimchi and radishes back to the compound with Weiguo. She thought leaving the radishes at home would provide a snack if she needed to stay overnight. She gave the remaining six pounds of kimchi to Wu Sanmei, who unexpectedly also enjoyed the radishes, so she gave the entire jar to the couple.
When coming out of the slum, Bi Chunliu heard Uncle Qi, who lived in the gatehouse, asking Qi Chao how Deng Hong was doing recently, what she liked to eat, and whether it was sour or spicy. Qi Chao said that Deng Hong liked to eat oily food.
Bi Chunliu almost laughed out loud and quickly took Wei Guo out.
The calendar pages are torn off one by one, and the days pass by in a dull manner.
On April 9th, Bi Chunliu had just arrived at work when she saw Hou Zhiqiang running away from the factory without even touching the ground. Could it be that her third sister was about to give birth?
After work in the afternoon, Bi Chunliu went back to the slum first, and then heard Aunt Liu say that Sanmei gave birth to a big fat girl weighing 6.62 catties at around 5 o'clock. Hou Zhiqiang was so happy that he wanted to name the girl Hou Liuliu on the spot, but was rejected by Wu Sanmei.
Aunt Liu made a circle with her hands and gestured, "That fat one, his arms and legs are so thick! I haven't seen such a chubby child in years. Old Qiu, the last chubby kid I saw was your little fat boy."
Knowing that Wu Sanmei had given birth, Bi Chunliu was about to go home. At this moment, she noticed that Grandma Zhang, who was standing nearby, had obvious dark circles under her eyes. She asked, "Grandma Zhang, haven't you had a good rest recently?"
Grandma Zhang waved her hand and said, "Don't mention it. The little kid in the Nie family is a night cryer. He cries at night." Bi Chunliu had no idea what to do if the child cried at night. This was her blind spot in knowledge.
Aunt Wang also looked tired, but she was different from Grandma Zhang. She was busy preparing for her son's wedding during the day and couldn't sleep well at night. Aunt Wang had already decided that after her son got married next week, she would sleep for two days and two nights!
"Chun Liu, my son Mu Sheng is getting married on the 16th of this month, you must come."
"Okay, Aunt Wang, I'll definitely come." Bi Chunliu agreed immediately. She would definitely enjoy a banquet, especially one organized by the Yu family!
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