Today is a safe "third day of bathing". After the family finished breakfast, Zhang's mother, as usual, prepared a new comb, new soap, new towel, navel hairpin, hot water bottle, new wooden tray, thick cloth, cakes, tea, copper tea tray, green onions, ginger slices, mugwort leaves, locust branches, baking basket, raw and boiled eggs, mallet, etc. according to the midwife's requirements.
She also used red paper to dye the laurel, lychees, raw peanuts, and chestnuts red. She had prepared some of these things nine days before her grandson was born, so they were familiar to her and she handled them with ease.
Early that morning, Grandma Zhou came to the Zhang family alone with two old hens and some small clothes and shoes she had made. After exchanging a few words with her old relative, Mr. Lin, she went to the west wing to see Zhou Jiao.
Lin Lishan and her daughter were both in tears when they saw the old lady. The old lady had worked hard to raise Jiaojiao. Lin Lishan was very respectful to her mother-in-law and felt guilty about it.
Old Mrs. Zhou smiled at the mother and daughter, and touched Xiao Ping'an: "You can't cry during the confinement period. Today is a good day for our baby. You have to smile. Now seeing you and your daughter together, the stone in my heart has really fallen. Shanshan, you have been wronged over the years. The family has been tossed around. The Zhou family owes you. You should get along well with Jiaojiao. The child is filial. If she hadn't been forced, she would not have torn her face with them. This child has been hiding things in her heart since she was young, just like her father, and never tells outsiders. She has suffered a lot of grievances over the years, and it's all because of that old man's confusion. Jiaojiao, don't worry about the Zhou family's affairs in the future. Don't bother anyone who comes to you. Live your own life well."
Zhou Jiao pulled Old Lady Zhou to sit down and said, "Grandma, I just feel sorry for you. You raised me up, and I haven't been filial to you yet, but I'm already hurting you. Grandma, if you have any ideas, please tell me, and I will definitely do it. And I also told my mom about the box you sent over. I have to let her know that I have a good grandma."
Sitting on the kang, Grandma Zhou was silent for a while, sighed, looked at the mother and daughter, hesitated for a moment, thought for a while, and said: "There is nothing to be sorry about, Grandma, as long as Jiaojiao is doing well. It's okay to tell your mother that this box is not Grandma's. Grandma was penniless when she met your grandfather, so how could she have such good things? You have seen the title deed, and Grandma can't afford to go so far to buy a house for you. This box was originally yours. When you were young, I didn't take it out for fear of something happening. Someone secretly handed it to me and specifically asked me to give it to you.
I've been feeling so lost these past few years, I didn't dare tell anyone. While you and your daughter are here, I'll tell you something. I'm afraid I won't have much time left, and no one will know about this. Who will give you the house and the valuable jewelry?
I'm worried, but no one dares tell anyone. You two, mother and daughter, just pretend nothing happened and hide the box. I don't know what happened, and I haven't asked your grandfather for help. Don't tell anyone about this. It's impossible. My heart aches when I think about it. Jiaojiao, your father would never do anything bad. He's my son, and I know him. If you don't believe me, ask your mother. If your father wasn't good, would your mother have stayed with him for so many years?"
Lin Lishan held the old lady in her arms, tears streaming down her face, and whispered, "Mom, don't worry, everything is fine. Her father is not a bad man, he is a hero of this country. He went on a mission. He will be back soon. Even my dad didn't know that he and my eldest brother were on a mission. He is coming back now. Mom, he is really coming back."
Old Mrs. Zhou covered her eyes with her trembling hands. After a long time, she slowly removed them. A string of tears flowed silently from her face full of mixed sadness and joy. There was no sound of crying, she just let the tears continue to flow.
"Okay, okay, okay, my son is back. I've been looking forward to him for so many years, thinking about him for so many years, and worrying about him for so many years. It's good that he's back, it's good that he's back."
Lin Lishan stood up and took a towel to wipe the tears from the old lady's face. She knew how she felt. When she heard the news, she hid in the room and cried all day, laughing and crying, which made the old man worried and stayed with her all day.
"Mom, don't get excited. Not many people know about this news yet, so you have to keep it a secret. He should be back before the New Year. When he comes back, I'll go see you with him. We should all be happy and wait for him to come back."
"Well, Mom knew I had to keep it a secret and not tell anyone. Telling anyone would bring him danger. Shanshan, good girl, you finally made it. You were a good girl, only 18 years old, but your family broke up after you got married and didn't enjoy a few good years. You were still foolishly staying with him. Now everything is fine, Mom is relieved, even if I die now, I will be relieved." Old Mrs. Zhou hugged Lin Lishan and patted her on the back.
Lin Lishan said happily to Mrs. Zhou, "Mom, don't say such depressing things. You have to live well and watch our little Ping'an grow up, get married and have children. You don't know, on the day the news of Jiaojiao's pregnancy reached the capital, our family received news from above that her father and her uncle were alive and well. The whole family said that this child is a lucky star."
Friends and relatives came one after another. Close relatives gave Zhou Jiao some food such as fried cakes, eggs, and brown sugar, as well as clothes, shoes, and socks for Ping An.
By noon, the weather had warmed up and the third-day bathing ceremony had begun. All the relatives and friends gathered in the main hall. Zhang's mother had even specially placed a stove.
The tool for the third day of bathing is a large basin, and the host is the midwife. Today the midwife has a big harvest, and soon everything in the plate is hers.
Pour hot water made from Sophora japonica branches and mugwort leaves into the basin, and then add a small spoonful of water to the basin. After the banknotes and bills are placed on the tea tray, Lin Lishan also puts in silver dollars, copper coins and banknotes. Then the relatives and friends present add some banknotes, bills, copper coins, peanuts, eggs, dates, laurels, chestnuts, etc. into the big basin. This is "adding water to the basin".
You add water, and she says, "Flowing water is wise and intelligent;"
If you add some auspicious fruits like jujubes, laurels, and chestnuts, she will say: "May you have a son soon, and may you have many sons. May you have laurels, laurels, and may you win the top three prizes in the imperial examinations."
The relatives and friends who were watching laughed heartily.
After adding the "fill basin," the midwife picked up the prepared mallet and stirred it, saying, "One stir, two stirs, three stirs, and the elder brother leads the younger brother. Seventy-year-old, eighty-year-old, crooked-haired, naughty, they're all here!"
Then they began to bathe Ping An. Ping An caught a cold and cried loudly, which worried Zhang Guoqing who was standing beside him. Everyone thought that it was not taboo, but auspicious. This is a "ringing basin"
While the midwife was washing the baby, she was muttering blessings silently. No one else could hear what she said because they were afraid to say it out loud.
After washing, Ping An was tied up in a red quilt and hit three times with a scallion, saying, "One hit for smart ("cong" and "cong" are homophones for "cong"), and two hits for cleverness."
Then he asked the child's father, Zhang Guoqing, to throw the onions on the roof. Before leaving, Zhang Guoqing hurriedly asked someone to carry the child into the house because it was cold.
The third bathing ceremony was over, and the next step was to wash the three noodles. The aunt of the first and third wives of the Zhang family and the cousin's wife came over at dawn to help wake up the dough, and then entertained everyone after the ceremony.
By noon, the noodles were ready. Bowl after bowl of them, made with bone broth, topped with slices of pork belly and chopped green onions, were fragrant. They began to be carried into the main hall. Fortunately, Zhang Guoqing had brought back a lot of meat the previous day. Everyone's mouths were greasy, and they all felt that Old Zhang was truly honest and that the ingredients in each bowl were truly authentic.
Seeing the child want more after finishing a bowl, the adults tried to stop him. Zhang's mother was not stingy and asked someone to boil all the noodles that had been proofed today and eat them all.
In the main room, the women ate and chatted loudly, talking about things in their respective villages, about distant relatives, and about their own lives. The children counted the candies in their pockets and happily ate the noodles fed by the adults. The older children had already finished their noodles and ran out with their candies.
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