Two days later, Zhang Fangyuan doubled the width of the single-person crib that the family had originally prepared. It would have been made very quickly by the carpenter, but Zhang Fangyuan wanted to make the cribs for the eldest and second babies himself, so the construction was delayed for a few days.
These days, the two little guys have been sleeping with the couple on the big bed at home. The babies are still too young, and Zhang Fangyuan doesn't dare to move them around when he puts them on the bed. They can only sleep for three or two hours a night, and he has to wake up from time to time to check on the children.
Fortunately, the two little guys haven't been too noisy these days. At night, the older brother falls asleep as soon as the lights are blown out, while the younger brother wants his dad to hold him by the bed and rock him for a while before he falls asleep.
Maybe it was because Zhang Fangyuan was big enough, the two cubs felt safe nestling beside their big daddy and little daddy, and they seldom woke up crying when they fell asleep, so they were really little troubles to take care of.
Although he didn't sleep well at night, Zhang Fangyuan was as energetic as if he had been given an injection of chicken blood every day.
After the baby was born, there was no leisure time in the first month.
"If we take both, the milk production should be good, right?"
"Don't worry, it's fine. Many young men in the village have given birth to babies and they all asked me for milk for their children."
Zhang Fangyuan patted the two chubby ewes. He was quite satisfied with how strong they were and how much milk they produced. My brother cannot breastfeed his child, so the only way for the baby to get milk is to look for cows and sheep. Although the nutrition is similar, sheep are much easier to buy than cows these days.
"Okay."
The two sheep cost Zhang Fangyuan six thousand coins, which were much more expensive than pigs. However, one must not be careless when it comes to children. Xu He also told him to choose the best sheep for the children. Adults can be frugal, but children are still so young, so they must have the best.
He also looked for sheep from honest families. He had slaughtered pigs before and bought them. The livestock to feed his children had to be carefully selected for fear of encountering sick sheep.
I was driving the two ewes back to the village and met some villagers working in the fields along the way. They all looked at the two ewes with envy.
"When my brother gave birth, we had to buy goat milk. It was troublesome to run around to buy milk. The Zhang family was better off. We could just buy two sheep and tie them up so that the child could eat when he was hungry."
"If you ask me, this boy has to marry into a wealthy family like the Zhang family. Otherwise, if an ordinary family doesn't have a sister-in-law above or a brother-in-law below, the child will have to rely on buying milk from outside. Who can afford it easily?"
Zhang Fangyuan could only hear the village women mumbling, but he had no idea what they were talking about. However, a digger called out to him, "Zhang the butcher, did you buy this for your child?"
"yes."
"It's not good for this child to only eat goat's milk. He needs human milk. Only then can he grow up healthy and smart in the future."
Zhang Fangyuan was skeptical. There were many children in the village who were raised on goat's milk, and none of them would be stupid when they grew up. But if you think about it carefully, it seems that families in the city who can afford it will hire a wet nurse to feed their children.
He thought about it for a while and decided that it would be easy to hire a wet nurse in the village. It would just be a matter of spending a little more money.
Zhang Fangyuan exchanged a few polite words with the villagers: "Okay, thank you. Come over in a few days to celebrate the baby's full moon."
He pulled the sheep back home, ready to discuss the matter with Xu He. When he arrived at the gate of his yard, he found someone coming again. Zhang Fangyuan tied the sheep in the yard and thought it was Liu Xianglan coming to visit her eldest grandson again. But when he went in, he saw a woman from the same village who rarely came to his house.
He glanced at Xu He in confusion.
"Aunt Zhao from the village said she wants to feed Dabao and Erbao."
The woman looked honest and a little shy. She was very talkative with Xu He. Seeing the man coming back, especially Zhang Fangyuan who looked so fierce, she didn't say much. After nodding and greeting Zhang Fangyuan, she said to Xu He, "Brother, if you have made up your mind, please tell me."
"Okay." Xu He sent the people out and saw two ewes in the yard. When he saw the woman walking away, he said, "Aunt Zhao heard that we have two ewes, so she came to our house and said she wanted to nurse our baby."
"This is good news." Zhang Fangyuan said happily, "I just said I would come back to discuss hiring a wet nurse with you, but I didn't expect someone to come here on their own."
Xu He said: "I didn't agree right away, thinking that you had already gone to buy the sheep."
"It's okay. It's just a matter of spending a little more money. Besides, the reason we save money is for our children."
Xu He smiled and nodded. The two kids in their family were good eaters. The elder brother seemed to drink a lot like a strong baby in an ordinary family, while the younger brother didn't look very big, but he couldn't stop eating and ate more than his brother. It's also good to drink both goat milk and breast milk.
"I had originally planned to spend some money on buying sheep when the baby was born, but I didn't expect that there would be so much more expenses after the baby was born."
There were two ewes instead of one, and more clothes had to be made for the children. Zhang Fangyuan originally said that he had made too many because children grow up quickly and clothes cannot be worn for long. But who would have thought that with two ewes, everything that was originally prepared fully and fully would become cramped.
Although he said this, he couldn't hide the smile on his face. He was really happy and worried.
"The two children are so caring, I am happy to spend more."
Zhang Fangyuan washed his hands and dried them in the yard: "Where are the two guys, are they asleep?"
Xu He said, "It's in the house, on the wooden bed you made. The fences on both sides are high, so you can relax for a while while lying inside."
As they talked, they went into the house together. The two little ones were still wrapped in soft swaddling clothes. They would not be able to wear clothes until they were one month old. They lay next to each other, looking very happy.
The second baby was sleeping soundly at this moment. The first baby was much less sleepy than his brother. He looked around with his round eyes open. He was not sleeping but was not making any noise either. He seemed to notice that his father had come in and kicked his short legs. The wooden bed is very big. The two babies can be placed on the bed together, and there is still space left for two more children.
Although it was spacious, the wooden bed took up a lot of space in the bedroom, so Zhang Fangyuan moved out the original table in the room and left the space for the second baby.
Zhang Fangyuan teased Dabao for a while in front of the bed, but after less than a quarter of an hour he could not help but reach out from the bed and hold him in his arms to tease him.
"Have you thought of a name for yourself now? Don't wait until the full moon banquet when you still haven't thought of one, or you can only call it a nickname. When you grow up and go to school, ask the teacher to give you a name."
Wrapped in the swaddle, Dabao looked a lot bigger, like a super cicada pupa, but still looked super small in his grandfather's arms.
Zhang Fangyuan held the child in his arms and said, "When I delivered the goods to the shop today, I thought that I had not yet decided on a name for the child, so I simply took the birth date and time to ask a master to come up with a good name. But when I asked around, one said there was a master in the east of the city who was good, and another said there was another master outside the Guanyin Temple who was good at naming. Ten people had eleven answers, and everyone's suggestions were good. I felt that if I chose one, I would lose the other, so I might as well come up with names for the first and second babies myself."
Xu He slightly widened his eyes and stared at Zhang Fangyuan: "Have you thought about it?"
"I passed by the Chunchi pond in the west of the city and saw the koi in the pond. I thought it was a very auspicious omen. Since our family has twins, we gave them these two characters. My father's generation was called Shi, but my generation is called Xiao. The next generation is Rui. Let's call the two children Zhang Ruijin and Zhang Ruili. What do you think?"
Xu He's eyebrows moved slightly. This morning was auspicious and auspicious. It was much better than the previous Gou Dan'er and Er Ya's family. He found it easier to call them: "This is the best."
"It's just that your generation is the Xiao generation, why don't you follow the Xiao character?"
Zhang Fangyuan laughed and said, "Do you think it's appropriate for me to be named Xiao like this? Zhang Xiaoyuan? The name sounds like someone who can be bullied. Ever since I was a kid and could recognize two characters, I persuaded my parents to change the name Xiao to Fang."
Xu He was too young to remember anything at that time, so naturally he didn't know what Zhang Fangyuan's previous name was. However, after reading it once, he did find it somewhat funny, as it sounded like the name of a child who had not grown up.
"But your people also agree?"
"Of course they didn't agree. Every time we had a reunion dinner during the Chinese New Year, my uncle would complain that I was rebellious and ignorant, and that I would definitely be a disobedient child when I grew up." Zhang Fangyuan slapped his thigh with one hand: "He was right."
Xu He laughed and said, "Although I didn't agree to you not following your generation name, didn't I still call you by your current name?"
"How could they just follow my wishes? They still called me by my old name. Later, when they grew up, they heard that I was causing trouble. Today, I smashed my eldest uncle's cup, and tomorrow, I stepped on my fourth uncle's cabbage. They yelled and scolded me, so they naturally didn't dare to call me by that name anymore. So my fourth aunt always called me A Yuan."
Xu He shook his head helplessly. He only knew that Zhang Fangyuan was disobedient when he grew up, but he didn't expect that he was so naughty when he was a child.
He took the eldest child from his arms and placed him next to the second child: "Don't teach these two children bad things in the future."
"Some children are born naughty and don't need to be taught."
"Then he must be of the same bloodline, and he takes after his father."
Zhang Fangyuan scratched his head.
The spring scenery is beautiful and the days pass briskly. In a few days, the eldest and second baby will be one month old.
Zhang Fangyuan's mansion was also completed. The family chose an auspicious day and moved in before the full moon banquet.
The wall surrounding the mansion was as tall as two people, Zhang Fangyuan's height, and the front and back yards inside were a full five mu wide.
In addition to the necessary central hall and kitchen, the house has eight bedrooms, a separate living room and a dining room. There are storage rooms and warehouses outside.
There is a large cellar under the backyard, which can be used to store ice in winter and vegetables and meat in summer...
When you enter the house from the outside, you will first praise its spaciousness, and then you will be amazed at its extravagance.
The scale of this place is no less than that of the landlord’s house in the village.
On the day of moving into the new house, although Zhang Fangyuan did not prepare a banquet, he still called his relatives to come and liven up the party so that he could light a fire in the kitchen and add some homely atmosphere to the new house.
Two days later, it was the full moon banquet for the first and second babies.
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