Seeing that she didn't say anything, Zhang Xiuxiang blushed and asked hurriedly, "Is Erchun also in this month?"
Yang Chunyan: "Yes! The first three months will be held on the 19th, and the second spring month will be held on the 28th!"
There are many happy events this month, even the youngest Xiong is holding his wedding after Yiding.
Zhang Xiuxiang calculated, "Today is the ninth day of the lunar year, and there are still ten days until the nineteenth day!"
Li Qiuyue thought Zhang Xiuxiang deliberately changed the subject, and felt a little unhappy. She said angrily, "Chunyan, you take a good rest. I'll go to the backyard to take a look."
She almost cried when she left the room. Her three sisters-in-law all gave birth to sons, but she had two daughters. She didn't know whether the baby in her belly was a boy or a girl. What if it was another girl...
Not only will I be fined, but I might even have my house ripped off. If that were the case, why would I bother? I might as well take Xiaoru and Xiaolin with me and recruit a son-in-law...
After Li Qiuyue left, Zhang Xiuxiang also put the child next to Yang Chunyan, "You take a break, I'll go see if the youngest has finished killing the chicken!"
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan looked at the child and closed her eyes to rest.
Zhang Xiuxiang arrived at the backyard and saw Zhou Huaian plucking chicken feathers. She rolled up her sleeves and walked forward, "Youngest, get out of the way and let me clean up!"
Zhou Huaian was eager for help and immediately stepped aside. "Thank you, second sister-in-law. It's very troublesome to clean up this thing!"
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and said, "Sister-in-law is cooking fermented glutinous rice wine eggs for Chunyan. Go and take a look and bring it to her."
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian washed his hands and went over. Zhao Huifang had already cooked the fermented glutinous rice and eggs. He went over and picked them up, "Sister-in-law, I'll take it to Chunyan."
"Yes!" Zhao Huifang handed him the spoon, "Bring it to her to eat, and go to the old house and tell the old man!"
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian carried it to the room, saw the mother and son lying side by side, put the bowl on the small square stool, walked up and said softly: "Yan'er, get up and eat fermented glutinous rice eggs."
Yang Chunyan opened her eyes and said, "I fell asleep just now and didn't even hear you come in!"
"You've been in pain for so long, eat and have a good sleep." Zhou Huaian came forward to help her up, and tucked the quilt behind her waist, "Do you want me to feed you?"
"No need!" Yang Chunyan pointed to the cloth cushion on the desk, "Use that to cushion the quilt so that the soup won't drip onto it."
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian neatly placed the bowl on the table and handed it to her, "Drink more soup!"
"Got it!"
Zhou Huaian sat on the edge of the bed, touching the child's face and ears with great joy, and he liked him no matter how he looked at him. "My son is so handsome!"
Seeing him smiling so hard that his mouth couldn't close, Yang Chunyan was also very happy, "How can it be beautiful if it's red?"
"They are all like this when they are just born. They turn white after two days. Jiaming and the others are all like this!" Zhou Huaian said, and suddenly remembered that he hadn't decided on a name for the child yet. "Yan'er, what do you think of the name I gave him before?"
Yang Chunyan glared at him in reproach, "How dare you say that? You didn't even know whether it was your son or daughter, but you named him Zhou Jiaqian. You also said that Qian is pronounced the same as money, which means to attract wealth! The dog at home is already named Zhaocai Laifu, so why don't you just name your son Zhaoyuanbao!"
Zhou Huaian looked at her with a smile, "Hehe! It's good to have more money at home, I think it's great!"
"Bullshit! I didn't think so until you said it, but now you make me feel like a money-grubber. I don't like it, and neither will my son!" Yang Chunyan patted him as she spoke, "Don't touch him, let him sleep, babies need more sleep to grow!"
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian took his hand back, "Then let's give him a nickname first! As for the full name, I'll ask a fortune teller to calculate his horoscope and see what he's missing from the five elements, and then give him a name based on that!"
Yang Chunyan thought this was a good idea and nodded, "The baby was born weighing exactly seven pounds. How about we call him Qijin?"
Zhou Huaian looked disdainful, "Seven pounds is just a country bumpkin!" He thought for a moment, "Our son was born on the ninth day of the first lunar month, and at nine o'clock, so let's call him Little Nine!"
"Xiao Jiu!" Yang Chunyan read it once and nodded, "Okay, let's call you Xiao Jiu."
"Xiao Jiu'er, Xiao'er, your old man is calling you, do you know?" Zhou Huaian touched the child's face and found that the child had his eyes closed and his mouth open, and his mouth was crooked. "Yan'er, does he want to drink milk?"
Yang Chunyan remembered that she was sweating just now, "Go get a basin of hot water, I'll wipe it off before giving it to him!"
"That's right!" Zhou Huaian stood up and walked to the door, suddenly turning his head to look at her, "I remember you can't take a bath during the confinement period, is it okay for you to wipe it?"
"It's okay! Just go get it." Yang Chunyan picked up the nursing clothes on the bed and put them on. She looked down and saw the baby opened his eyes, looked at him, and then immediately closed his eyes, licked his lips, blinked hard a few times, and yawned lazily when he opened his eyes again...
Her heart softened and she hugged him happily, "My little Jiuer is awake! Are you hungry? I don't know if I have any food for you!"
Mother Zhou and Zhou Huaian walked in together, "You opened your eyes so soon?"
Yang Chunyan nodded happily, "Yeah! I just opened my eyes and yawned!"
Zhou's mother and Zhou Huaian both happily came up to the child and looked at him, "Wow~ Look at him, he looks just as lazy as the youngest one used to be!"
Zhou Huaian looked at him proudly, "Mom, look at him licking his lips non-stop, he must be hungry!"
"Wipe it and let him suck it and see!" Zhou's mother turned around and picked up the steaming towel from the porcelain basin, "Youngest, hold the child!"
Zhou Huaian nodded, stretched out his hand and took the child from Yang Chunyan's arms, "I dare to hold him when he is wrapped up, but I don't dare to hold him when he is unwrapped and soft!"
Yang Chunyan saw that he was holding the baby's head and neck with one hand and his waist and back with the other hand, "You are holding the baby very well!"
Zhou Huaian smiled proudly and said, "I've practiced this with Jiaming and the others before." Then he said to Zhou's mother, "Mom, my son's nickname is Xiaojiu. I gave it to him. Does it sound nice?"
Mother Zhou nodded happily after hearing this. "Hello, Xiaojiu! Our little Jiu opened his eyes a short while after he was born, and he knew he was hungry..."
As she spoke, she took the child and began to teach Yang Chunyan how to feed the child!
Zhou Huaian watched the child sucking hard, his already red face turned even redder, and after a while he began to swallow, "No wonder people say that sucking milk takes strength, look at his face, it's all red."
"Take the first bite, and you can suck it out without any effort!" Zhou's mother said happily: "This is considered easy, some people still need adults to help!"
Yang Chunyan blushed after hearing this. Zhou Huaian scratched his head awkwardly and said, "I'll go to the old house to tell the old man the good news, and then I'll go to Yangjiaping to report the news when I come back."
"Yes, yes, we need to report the news!" Mother Zhou picked up the basin and walked outside, "If you hadn't told me, I would have forgotten! Hurry up and boil the red eggs." She chased Zhou Huaian out, "Youngest, remember to bring the big rooster I prepared!"
According to the local custom, when a son-in-law goes to his mother-in-law's house to announce the good news, if a son is born, he will give five red eggs as a gift, meaning five sons will pass the imperial examinations. He will also give a big rooster as a gift. If a daughter is born, he will give an even number of red eggs and a hen as a gift.
"I understand!" Zhou Huaian waved his hand and walked away briskly.
Zhou's mother went to the kitchen and saw Zhao Huifang and Zhang Xiuxiang were there. "I was busy all morning and even forgot to boil red eggs."
Zhao Huifang smiled and said, "We have already cooked the eggs. We are just waiting for you to soak the red yeast rice to color them. The chicken is also stewed in the sand pot. I have also washed some red mushrooms and will put them in after the chicken is stewed."
"Luckily, I have you two!" Zhou's mother took out red yeast rice from the cupboard and poured it into the ceramic basin. She scooped a ladle of water into it, and the water instantly turned deep red.
Zhang Xiuxiang also walked to the stove, opened the lid of the pot, and revealed cooked eggs inside. She picked them up and put them in a ceramic basin, soaking them for a while, then took out the eggs that had turned red and put them in a basket to dry.
To dye red eggs, you need to use hot eggs. This makes it easier to dye the eggs, the color is even, and it doesn’t fade easily.
The dye used to make red eggs is red yeast rice, which is made from indica rice, japonica rice, glutinous rice and other rice varieties and fermented with Monascus purpurogenum. It is brown-red or purple-red rice grains.
Modern medical research reports believe that red yeast rice has the effect of lowering blood pressure and blood lipids, and the red yeast rice K contained in it can prevent the production of cholesterol.
Compared with chemically synthesized red pigment, red yeast rice has the advantages of being non-toxic and safe, and it also has the effects of strengthening the spleen and digestion, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis.
The outer skin of red yeast rice is purple-red, the inside is red, slightly sour and light in taste. It has a strong coloring power on protein and is a natural food colorant with no side effects invented by our ancestors using local materials.
Mother Zhou thought of Li Qiuyue's belly and said to Zhao Huifang and Zhang Xiuxiang with some worry, "I think Qiuyue's belly will soon be unconcealable. Last time she told the third child that she wanted to hide in the forest farm. Did they go to Yiding to tell him?"
"Qiuyue just said that she would ask the youngest to help them find Uncle Daqing..." Zhang Xiuxiang suddenly remembered Li Qiuyue's expression just now, "Oh no! Qiuyue just asked Chunyan... I saw that Chunyan was thinking about something and didn't answer, so I asked Chunyan when Erchun's wedding would be held. Qiuyue might be unhappy."
"Alas! She thinks too much!" Zhou's mother sighed, "She used to worry that Xiaoru and Xiaolin were sisters and we didn't like her. Now she's worried that the next child she'll have is another girl. I think she'll go crazy sooner or later if she keeps going like this."
Zhao Huifang also felt that Li Qiuyue had a weird temper recently and got angry easily. Whenever the three sisters-in-law talked together, she felt that they were gossiping about her behind her back.
"Mom, we can't say anything to her. Please go and persuade her to relax. Otherwise, she will get seriously ill before the child is born."
"I'll take some time to ask Daqing if it's convenient at the forest farm?" Zhou's mother thought that Zhou Daqing was a man of his words, and the youngest and Yiding got along like brothers, so he would probably agree if he could help.
Zhang Xiuxiang remembered that Yang Chunyan and her family had bought a house in the city, "Mom, why don't you ask Lao Ya and Chunyan first, maybe they have a solution!"
"Okay, you guys go deliver the red eggs later, I'll go see if Chunyan is still awake, and ask her if she has any solution?" Zhou's mother felt that her children were a debt, and she had to worry about her grandchildren after worrying about her children. (End of this chapter)
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