Chapter 535 Chapter 536: Spring
After the beginning of spring, it was the fifteenth day of the lunar year in a blink of an eye. After bidding farewell to the Nian, construction of the house in the county town began, and Zhou Yumei and Luo Haili also moved to the town to live.
Zhou Huaian drove a tractor and took the two of them to Ning'an for two days and opened the agency store.
After the Rain Water, the second day of the second lunar month comes, and after the Waking of Insects, the temperature warms up and spring thunder sounds. After several spring rains, the vegetation in the mountains becomes lush, and colorful wild flowers bloom all over the hillsides.
As February approached, the amount of truffles collected became less and less. The delivery to Ning'an went from once every week to once every two weeks, and the amount was only four or five hundred kilograms. Finally, it stopped completely.
After one season, the villagers who collect and sell truffles and those who dig and collect truffles are all smiling. Many families in the three nearby villages are preparing to tear down their low and dilapidated earthen houses and replace them with spacious and bright brick houses.
Zhou Huaian posted an advertisement at the brigade headquarters, purchasing large quantities of herbs such as Zanthoxylum bungeanum, Rosa rugosa, Tripterygium wilfordii, Gardenia jasminoides, Codonopsis pilosula, and Cistanche deserticola, and noted that they had to be purchased with the roots and soil.
On that day, many villagers went into the mountains to dig and bring back the herbs. Zhou Huaian hired a dozen people in the village, and took them with the old man to plant the herbs and pepper trees they had collected on the fence walls and the medicinal fields respectively. They also planted the herbal seeds from their homes, as well as herbs such as stinking peonies grown in sandy soil.
The three eldest brothers and Zhou Yiding also harvested a lot of seeds in the medicinal fields. Xu Hongbing, Zhou Datian and several other families in the village who also grew herbs also went up the mountain to dig some and took them home to plant in their medicinal fields.
At the end of February, Wang Zhen helped buy the land below the new house, and he, Zhou Huaian, and Yang Weiguo each got a piece.
February was spent in busyness. As the third month of the lunar calendar arrived, the violets in the medicinal fields bloomed one after another. The purple sea of flowers attracted swarms of bees busy among the flowers.
In March, Yang Chunyan's due date was getting closer, so they went to the county town for a check-up. The doctor said that the baby's position was normal and there was no need to give birth in the hospital. They could go to the town's health center or ask a midwife in the village to deliver the baby.
Yang Chunyan's sister-in-law gave birth to twins at home. The doctor said everything was fine, so she stopped worrying. She went home, boiled the babies' diapers and clothes, exposed them to the sun and cooled them before putting them away.
As the time got closer, Zhou's mother moved here and told the village midwife not to go anywhere for the next two days.
That night, seeing Zhou Huaian fidgeting, she said unhappily, "What are you afraid of? I gave birth to five of you and I was fine even though I had miscarriages for two of you."
Zhou Huaian smiled awkwardly, "I'm not afraid, the main thing is that the due date is the sixth day of the first lunar month. Today is the eighth day of the first lunar month and there is still no movement. I'm a little nervous!"
Zhou's mother rolled her eyes at him and said, "Why are you so nervous? It's normal to be born two days early or two days late. Those who didn't eat well before gave birth early because of poor nutrition."
"I gave birth to your third brother half a month early. I was in the fields cutting grain before he was born. I ran home because of a seizure. He went to the fields before the midwife even showed up. He was still alive and kicking."
Zhou Huaian thought for a moment and said, "I'll go to Ning'an tomorrow morning to bring my cousin home. She's studying medicine, and I'll feel more at ease with her around."
After Dr. Wang came back, Yang Dongmei stayed in the clinic to study and waited to go to the flower market for the exam in June.
"The doctor said it's okay, you're the only one who's making a fuss every day!" Zhou's mother slapped him in anger, "Be quiet, you've scared Chunyan so much."
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian returned to the room in his slippers. Seeing Yang Chunyan leaning against the bed with her eyes squinting, he quickly folded the quilt and stuffed it behind her waist. "Yan'er, how about I go to Ning'an tomorrow morning to bring Xiaomei home to stay for a few days?"
"It'll be fine, you have to trust the doctor." Yang Chunyan patted her side and said, "Go to sleep, I'll sleep after sitting for a while."
She started feeling uncomfortable lying down this month, and every time she slept, she would lean against the head of the bed for a while before lying down again.
"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian climbed onto the bed, pulled the quilt over him and lay down.
Yang Chunyan dozed off for a while and then lay down to sleep. She woke up several times during the night. When it was almost dawn, she had just fallen asleep when she suddenly felt an uncomfortable pain in her back. She remembered what the doctor said and pushed Zhou Huaian, "Huaian, I may be giving birth soon."
"Really?" Zhou Huaian turned over and sat up, "I'll ask mom to look after you, and then I'll go get the midwife."
Yang Chunyan nodded, got out of bed and went to the toilet. Then Zhou's mother came over and asked, "Your back hurts. Is there anything else that hurts?"
Starting from the end of February, Zhou's mother asked the two to put a chamber pot in the room, saying that a woman in the village gave birth to her baby in the pit when she went to the toilet. She also said that several of her sisters-in-law did the same thing and they would not go to the toilet when their period came.
"I feel better now. My stomach feels a little tight and uncomfortable!"
Mother Zhou helped her onto the bed and said, "You should get some sleep first. I'll go make you a bowl of rice and eggs."
Yang Chunyan hurriedly said, "Don't put too much oil or sweetness in it."
"Mom knows your taste!" Zhou's mother said gently and walked out.
The old man also got up and waited, "Guilan, is Chunyan having an attack?"
"Yeah!" Zhou's mother smiled, "It's the first child, it's still early! Go to sleep for a while!"
The old man shook his head, "No, I'll just sit here for a while."
After Yang Chunyan took out the clothes that would be used for the baby after he was born from the closet in the room and put them away, she took out a light blue vest and placed it next to the pillow.
This was the nursing clothes she had prepared in advance. She had only known about such clothes in her previous life when Xiaolin and her sisters came to her for help to modify the nursing clothes they bought online because they were not comfortable to wear.
Based on her experience in her previous life, Yang Chunyan bought several men's pure cotton vests in advance, cut a section downwards from the armpits on both sides, enlarged the openings on both sides, and then locked the edges with thin cotton thread. She only needed to lift them up when breastfeeding.
After putting on the nursing clothes, even if you are feeding outside, you won’t have to lift up your clothes to expose your white belly.
Thinking that I wouldn’t be able to brush my teeth or wash my hair for a month after the birth, I quickly got dressed and went out.
When the old man saw her coming out, he hurriedly asked, "Huai'an hasn't come back yet, why aren't you lying down?"
"Grandpa, I'm fine. I'll go wash my face and brush my teeth."
Zhou's mother heard the conversation between the two and hurriedly scooped out some hot water. "Just wash here, I'll take it and pour it out!"
"oh!"
Yang Chunyan brushed her teeth and washed her face. She felt her stomach begin to ache again. She also felt as if the baby in her belly was falling down. She hurriedly went back to the house and lay down, hugging her belly.
It hurts every now and then. This should be what the doctor calls the regular contractions before the baby is born.
She relaxed her body and gently stroked her belly, thinking that she had lived a lonely life, and that her family would be together in peace in this life...
Yang Chunyan heard the sound of a bicycle bell coming from the yard, and Zhou Huaian came back with the midwife.
"Ouch!" Aunt Chen patted Zhou Huaian as she got out of the car. "I told you, your family's first child wouldn't be born so quickly, but you didn't believe it! You almost threw me out of the car. If I had fallen out of the car, who would have helped Chunyan deliver the baby?"
The old man smiled and said, "Youngest, quickly help your Aunt Chen to go see Chunyan."
Zhou Huaian immediately supported her and walked inside in a flattering manner, "Aunt Chen, I'll hold your hand..."
"It's okay!" Aunt Chen also laughed, "Don't panic, I'll go wash my hands first."
"Sister Chen, I know you want to wash your hands, so I brought you some water." Mother Zhou put the porcelain basin on the basin stand and handed her a piece of soap. "It's just the beginning, and you haven't seen any blood yet."
Aunt Chen nodded, "Okay! I'll go over after I wash it. You prepare the swaddle, bandages, diapers, etc."
"Chunyan has already prepared it. I'll just go get it." Zhou Huaian said and ran to the room in a hurry. Seeing Yang Chunyan leaning against the bed with a frown on her face, he hurried forward and said, "Yan'er, what's wrong? Is it in a lot of pain?"
Yang Chunyan smiled at him and comforted him, "It will hurt a little, but I can bear it."
Seeing that the baby's clothes were all on the desk, Zhou Huaian walked to the bed and said, "If you feel uncomfortable, you can scold me. You can scold me as much as you want. I won't be angry!"
Yang Chunyan looked at him and said heartily: "What's the point of scolding you? You're going to be hurt anyway!"
Zhou Huaian touched her hand worriedly, and felt relieved when he saw that it was warm. "Let me tell you, when my second sister-in-law gave birth to Xiaoqian, she scolded my second brother for being An Yi, and she also grabbed his hand and bit it, leaving a big mark, which took more than half a month to heal."
Yang Chunyan imagined the scene when Zhang Xiuxiang yelled and bit people, "Second sister-in-law is really fierce!"
Aunt Chen followed Zhou's mother into the room, and seeing the young couple talking together, she said with a smile, "Guilan, your youngest son loves his wife dearly."
"Hmm!" Zhou's mother rolled her eyes at Zhou Huaian with disdain, "You don't know, seeing that the due date has passed and the baby hasn't come out yet, he has been fidgeting like he has a boil on his butt these past two days."
"One moment he's going to fetch his father-in-law and mother-in-law to accompany Chunyan, and the next moment he's going to Ning'an to fetch his sister-in-law who's studying medicine. None of the three older ones are as frivolous as he is."
Zhou Huaian looked at her proudly, "Mom! There's nothing my brother and his friends can do even if they want to. They don't have a father-in-law or sister-in-law who knows medicine."
Yang Chunyan blushed after hearing this, and smiled at Aunt Chen embarrassedly, "Please trouble your aunt."
"No trouble, no trouble! Lie down here and I'll show you." Aunt Chen smiled and let her lie horizontally on the bed.
Zhou Huaian quickly stepped aside, and his mother patted him, "Get out quickly, let your Aunt Chen take a look at Chunyan."
"Oh!" He took two steps and turned back worriedly, "Yan'er, I'll be waiting outside."
Aunt Chen was happy, "Go ahead! I won't do anything to your wife!"
Zhou Huaian walked out of the main room, took out a cigarette, lit it up, and squatted at the door to smoke.
The old man came over with a pipe in his mouth, pulled a straw stool over and put it under his buttocks, "Sit and wait, it will take a while!"
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian sat down, turned his head and looked, and saw Zhou's mother came out and picked up the Yinmi eggs on the coffee table, "Mom, what's wrong?"
"It's still early!" Mother Zhou came into the room holding a bowl, "Yan'er, finish eating these. Only after eating will you have strength."
Before cooking the glutinous rice with poached eggs, you must first stir-fry the glutinous rice with lard for a few times. After the glutinous rice expands, fry until the rice grains turn slightly yellow. Drain the excess oil, add appropriate amount of water and bring to a boil. Then beat in the eggs and bring to a boil. Add a spoonful of brown sugar and cook.
(End of this chapter)
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