In the afternoon, Zhou Huaian rode his bike back to Funiu, entered the yard, put his bike away, walked to the main room, and thinking about how the wind had covered his face with dust along the way, he hurried out to wash his face, patted the dust off his body, and then went to see his wife and son.
When I entered the room, I saw Yang Chunyan lying on her side, with little Jiuer wrapped in a blanket beside her. "Yan'er, I'm back. Is Jiuer being good? Did he bother you?"
Yang Chunyan looked at him with a smile, "He went to sleep after eating. He stretched comfortably when mom washed his butt!" Then she asked, "Did mom say when they would come to take care of him?"
"Mom consulted a fortune teller, and he said tomorrow is a good date. If we wait any longer, we'll have to wait until after Qingming Festival. After Qingming Festival, Yi Ding will hold a wedding banquet, and they said they'll come tomorrow!"
Zhou Huaian came forward to look at his son who was sleeping soundly, then pulled a stool and sat down, "My sister-in-law said that everything has been prepared a long time ago, and she was just waiting for me to announce the good news."
Yang Chunyan didn't expect them to come so soon. Thinking that Xiao Jiuer hadn't been named yet, she said, "Go find mom and ask her to ask a fortune teller to read Xiao Jiuer's horoscope and see what's missing from his destiny. Then we can give him a name."
"I'll go right away!" Before Zhou Huaian left, she thought of Li Qiuyue again.
"Huaian, Mom said... If it were in the past, I would have told her directly and let Third Sister-in-law hide in our house on North Street for a few months. But thinking of Third Sister-in-law's stubborn personality, I felt that if we let her live in the house for a few months for free, we might not get a single good word from her, and we would have to listen to a lot of sour words."
"It's not possible, it's definitely a lot of sour words." Zhou Huaian pouted with disdain, "She is the most petty among the three sisters-in-law. If it weren't for my third brother, I wouldn't bother to meddle in her affairs."
He paused for a moment and said, "You should have a good rest. I will tell mom that we can rent a house in the county town, and then we can rent our yard to them."
"Yeah!" Yang Chunyan then lay down.
Zhou Huaian found Zhou's mother in the backyard and told her about renting a house. He then said, "The last time I delivered goods to Ning'an, I heard from Brother Huang that his colleague was transferred to work in the flower market and planned to rent out the yard where he lived. I will go to the city to ask the day after tomorrow."
"That's a good idea!" Zhou's mother thought of something else after saying that. "Qiuyue has been gone for several months. What should I say if someone asks about it?"
Zhou Huaian thought for a moment, "Why don't you ask her if she has any distant relatives? Then you can find a reason and ask Secretary Xu to help you get a letter of introduction, pretending to be visiting relatives!"
"Okay! I'll go read Xiao Jiu'er's fortune first, and then I'll tell your third sister-in-law when I come back!" Mother Zhou took off her apron and straightened her clothes. "I'll warm the chicken soup in the stove. In an hour or so, you can send a bowl to Chunyan and skim off the oil on it."
"Remember." Zhou Huaian looked around, "Where are grandpa and the old man?"
Mother Zhou turned around and said, "I went back to the old house to plant vegetable seedlings and dig green onions."
She planted several more varieties of vegetables this year than last year, including tomatoes, leeks, green onions, etc. She also asked Qian Chunhua and a few other friendly families to plant some as well.
During this period, the rape flowers have bloomed, and the broad beans and peas in the fields have matured in large quantities. Zhou Huairong and his friends went to the fields to pick broad beans and peas.
After Zhou's mother left, Zhou Huaian went to the stove to look at the chicken soup warming up there, closed the back door and prepared to go back to the house to take a nap. When he came out, he saw Zhou Yiding, Xu Erchun, and Xu Hongbing coming.
When the three of them saw him, they all congratulated him in unison: "Brothers, congratulations to the youngest for becoming an old man."
"Thank you very much! Thank you very much!"
Zhou Huaian looked at the three people carrying a net bag filled with turtledoves and a basket full of eggs, and slapped his head, "Oh my god! Why didn't you come earlier! My mother just left a while ago, and I don't know how to cook fermented glutinous rice eggs or rice eggs!"
Xu Hongbing put down the basket and handed the net bag to him with a smile, "It's okay, I can cook!"
"Okay, okay!" Zhou Huaian hurriedly took the net bag from his hand and took him to the kitchen. "Old Xu, the eggs, glutinous rice, and fermented glutinous rice are all here. Just open the charcoal stove and you can start. I'll leave it to you!"
Xu Hongbing smiled and nodded, "Don't worry, I took care of everything for my wife during her confinement!"
"I'm very relieved. Whether it tastes good or not, you three will eat it!" Zhou Huaian walked out with a smile, "When did you go to hunt the turtledoves?"
Zhou Yiding and Xu Erchun also put down their baskets and said, "The three of us agreed to go up the mountain together to hunt!"
Zhou Yiding pointed at him and said, "Let me make it clear to you first. These turtledoves are for Yue and her son to eat! Don't take my godson's food!"
Zhou Huaian said with a smile: "Don't worry, I won't fight with you. You two can sit for a while, I'll take the turtledove to the backyard!"
"Okay, come quickly and bring my godson out for me to see!" Zhou Yiding sat down on the rattan chair and turned to look at Xu Erchun, "How are your things going?"
Xu Erchun also pulled the one next to him over and sat down. "The master just finished making the furniture. We'll start painting in the next two days. The door of the new house will be installed tomorrow, and we'll also build the stove... After all these are done, Yang Hui and I will go to the county town to buy wedding clothes. Are you ready?"
"It's almost done. I plan to go to the city in the next two days to buy wedding clothes." Zhou Yiding said and looked at him, "How about we go together?"
Xu Erchun: "Okay! Yang Hui is coming tomorrow, how about we go the day after tomorrow?"
"Then we'll go the day after tomorrow."
Zhou Huaian came back from the backyard, "I'll go get Xiao Jiuer out for you to see!"
"It's windy outside, let's go to the main room and watch." Zhou Yiding said as he pulled Xu Erchun to the main room.
Zhou Huaian came out holding Xiao Jiuer and approached the two of them, "Look, my seven-pound son, hehe!"
Zhou Yiding gently touched the dimple in the middle of the baby's chin, "Youngest, Xiao Jiu'er's chin is quite similar to yours!"
Zhou Huaian touched his chin proudly, "My nose and chin are the best looking. My son is so smart, of course he picked my good-looking son!"
"Tsk~" Zhou Yiding and Xu Erchun looked at him with disdain, "If I say that Xiao Jiuer has beautiful eyebrows, your kid will definitely say that you have the best eyebrows!"
Zhou Huaian raised his eyebrows and glanced at the two of them, looking smug, "Are my eyebrows not good?"
Zhou Yiding turned his head and curled his lips, "Disgusting guy!"
"That's right~" Xu Erchun patted his chest and pretended to be disgusted, "I'm going to call Old Xu over, so that he won't be disgusted by you and won't be able to eat the Yinmi Egg later!"
Xu Hongbing came over and after looking at Xiao Jiuer, he said with a smile: "Youngest, you have many nephews. If any of them are strong, go find some old clothes for them to wear. This way they will be easier to take care of!"
Zhou Huaian smiled and nodded, "My eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law each picked out two pieces to send over, and this one outside is it."
Zhou Yiding hurriedly said after hearing this: "Youngest, remember to save the things that Xiao Jiuer wore for my son in the future!"
"Don't worry, I'll keep them all for you!"
Zhou Huaian took the child back and put him away. The three of them went to the kitchen to eat the rice eggs cooked by Xu Hongbing. They thought the rice eggs cooked by him tasted quite good.
Zhou Yiding praised: "Old Xu, I didn't expect that you are good at cooking!"
Xu Hongbing complained: "My mother doesn't care about the taste of food, as long as it can fill her stomach, it's fine. When I was a kid, as long as I had something to eat to fill my stomach, it was fine.
I realized when I grew up that other people’s mothers could cook potatoes in different flavors, but my mother’s way was to boil or roast them. I’m a greedy person, so I learned to cook them myself.”
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "Fortunately you learned it, otherwise we wouldn't have any Yinmi eggs to eat!"
Zhou Yiding rolled his eyes, "How dare you say that? We're giving you a confinement gift, and you want us to cook for you ourselves!"
"Hehe!" Zhou Huaian smiled and gave him another spoonful. "We are all good buddies. It's more comfortable to do it yourself!"
After eating the rice eggs, the four of them sat in the yard and chatted.
Xu Erchun and Xu Hongbing also followed Zhou Huaian to grow some herbs. The two asked some questions about growing herbs, and Zhou Huaian told the three everything he knew.
Before Zhou Yiding and the other two left, Zhou Huaian told them about the three-day banquet tomorrow and asked them to come early to help tomorrow.
The three of them gladly agreed and left with their baskets.
Zhou Huaian looked at the eggs in the basket and felt a little worried. The three of them brought fifty eggs each. Aunt Datian and Aunt San also brought the same amount in the morning. They also brought chickens and clothes...
He looked at the eggs and brown sugar in the main room, and thought of the situations of his sisters-in-law during their confinement. He smiled and shook his head, "I am not worried about my daughter Chunyan having nothing to eat, but I am worried about her not being able to eat!"
If Zhou's mother were here and saw him showing off, she would probably feel itchy and pinch him a few times.
Zhou Huaian looked at the time, went to the kitchen and scooped a bowl of chicken soup and chicken and brought it to the room, "Yan'er, get up and drink the chicken soup."
Yang Chunyan looked at it and smiled: "Do you know how many meals I have eaten today?"
Zhou Huaian put down the bowl and put the food on top for her. "Four meals?"
"This is the fifth meal!" Yang Chunyan took the chicken soup, "Mom said I was too thin, so I should gain some weight during the confinement period!"
"You have slender bones, you don't look thin at all!" Zhou Huaian looked at her with a playful smile, "If you gain some weight, you will be even more suitable!"
"Go to hell~" Yang Chunyan pinched his arm, "My son is still here, why are you not paying attention to what you say!"
"He's so young, he won't be able to remember it even if I tell him!"
"You can't remember it now, but when he grows up, you will develop the habit of telling him everything. The child is ignorant and will tell him everything when asked!"
Zhou Huaian thought of the childish words said by his nephews and couldn't help laughing, "I'll be more careful next time!"
"You have to remember this. The old man said the other day that children are very clever. We think they are still young and ignorant, but in fact they are the best at observing people's expressions."
"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian agreed, and went over to lean against the other side of the bed. "Put your bowl on the stool after you finish eating. I'll take a nap!"
Yang Chunyan thought about how busy he had been since early morning and asked, "Why don't you go to that room and sleep for a while?"
"No, I'll just take a nap here for a while."
"I'll hold Xiao Jiuer inside to sleep, you lie down and have a good sleep for a while!"
"I'll do it!" Zhou Huaian hurriedly carried the child inside, then lay down and went to sleep. (End of this chapter)
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