"Did you oversleep?" Li Mai murmured, turning to look at Zhou Quan with disbelief.
Zhou Quan rubbed his eyes, quickly got out of bed, and apologized to Li Mai, saying, "Whatever you need, I'll go with you. I'm probably too tired these past few days; I slept for so long during my afternoon nap."
Li Mai quickly got down from the ground as well. "I was planning to go talk to Sister-in-law Shi Fan and the others this afternoon about the arrangements for the remaining supplies after I leave."
"Okay, I'll go with you to talk to them one by one in a bit, and you can think about how to arrange this." The two helped each other straighten their clothes and walked out together.
After they went outside, they saw Zhuzhu playing in the yard and Zhou Tao busy in the kitchen.
"Dad, Mom, you're up!" Zhuzhu rushed over happily when she saw the two of them come out.
Zhou Quan bent down, picked up Zhuzhu, and bounced her a few times with a smile, making Zhuzhu giggle. Then he put her down again.
Li Mai watched the father and daughter playing with a smile from the side.
Before, Zhou Quan couldn't stand up and had never played with Zhu Zhu like this. But after he was able to stand up, he played with Zhu Zhu like this once, and after making Zhu Zhu laugh happily, Zhou Quan learned a little about how to amuse his daughter.
"Mother, Zhuzhu just went to look for you and saw you and Father sleeping." Zhuzhu rushed towards Limai again.
Hearing the child's innocent words, Li Mai helplessly covered her forehead, secretly glared at Zhou Quan, and quickly picked up Zhuzhu to coax her, "I'm sorry, I couldn't play with Zhuzhu this afternoon. I've been a bit tired these past few days, and I took a break today, but I overslept."
"It's okay. Grandma and Grandpa said that Mom is too tired and they don't want Zhuzhu to bother you anymore," Zhuzhu said sensibly.
Upon hearing this, Li Mai blushed. Even her parents knew that the two of them were sleeping in each other's arms.
That was so embarrassing.
Zhou Quan received a glare from Li Mai, chuckled softly, and hurried to Zhou Lin and Zhou Lei's room to arrange some things with them.
Li Mai put Zhu Zhu down, took her hand, and led her to the kitchen. "Xiao Tao, what are we having for dinner?"
"Let's eat noodles, sister-in-law. There's some meat broth left over from lunch. Mom told us to chop some cabbage and cook it into a meat and vegetable soup. We'll mix it with the noodles and eat it together," Xiao Tao said.
Seeing that Xiao Tao was already rolling out the dough and had nothing else to do, Li Mai sat on the stool outside the door and talked to her.
"Did Mother go up the mountain to cook dinner tonight?" Li Mai asked.
"No, Mother and her team aren't on duty tonight. Mother is making cotton cloaks for you and your older brother."
Among the fabrics given by Madam Yu were brocade pieces, and Zhao used two of them to make a quilted cloak for Li Mai and Zhou Quan each, so that they wouldn't be so cold when they went out.
Upon hearing this, Li Mai hurried to the main room of Zhao's house, where she saw Zhao making a cotton cloak for Zhou Quan, with a light blue cotton cloak already stuffed with cotton on the other side.
"Mother, is there anything else we need to do? Let me help you!" Li Mai said with a smile, feeling a little guilty.
When Zhao saw her, she smiled happily, "No need, no need, there's only the final finishing touch left. You can rest, you've been working so hard lately."
As she spoke, Zhao let her sit on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) to rest.
Li Mai could only sit obediently to the side, holding Zhu Zhu, watching Zhao Shi do her work, and chatting with her for a while.
Now that the two families have moved into the house, the villagers still need another month. So, after discussion, everyone decided to continue eating and cooking together for the next month. Li Mai decided that after she left, Shi Fan's wife would take charge of the logistics team. She and Zhao discussed whether to let Aunt Da Niu or Shi Fan's wife take charge.
Zhao said it would be better to let Shi Fan's wife manage things.
This was exactly what she had expected, so Li Mai agreed.
They talked for a while, and then Zhou Quan, Zhou Lin, and Zhou Lei came over.
When Zhou Quan came in and saw Li Mai there, he naturally walked over to her and sat down next to her on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).
Zhuzhu climbed from Limai's lap and sat obediently in his arms, listening to the adults chat.
"Mother, I've spoken with Xiaolin and Xiaolei. Xiaolei won't be going to school before the New Year. After the New Year, I'll find him a school in town to attend. As for Xiaolin, he'll go back to his master's carpentry school in half a month to continue learning the craft and hopefully graduate as soon as possible," Zhou Quan said softly to Zhao Shi.
"Okay, you can arrange it." Zhao replied, then looked up and asked Li Mai and Zhou Quan, "If someone tries to find a wife for Xiao Lin before the New Year, should we accept it?"
Li Mai and Zhou Quan shook their heads at the same time. "No way. We just moved into our new house and someone's already asking for a marriage proposal. They're probably after our new house. Let's wait and see. We'll talk about it next summer. Xiao Mai and I are planning to let Xiao Lin study with his master for another year so we can open a furniture shop for him in town. If Xiao Lin opens his own shop, he'll have plenty of things to do, and he won't have to worry about finding a wife."
Zhao asked in surprise, "You want Xiaoquan to open a furniture shop?"
"Yes, I just asked Xiaolin, and he said he also wants to open his own furniture store," Zhou Quan said with a smile.
Zhou Lin nodded to Zhao Shi, "Yes, if Xiao Lei goes to school in town, I'll open a shop there and someone will look after him. When he has a day off, I can bring him back."
After thinking about it, Zhao agreed and nodded, "That's good. Okay, it's good that you have your own ideas."
After saying that, Zhao glanced at Li Mai again. She knew that her eldest son couldn't have come up with these ideas on his own; it must have been Xiao Mai who instructed him to help his two younger brothers.
She was completely satisfied with her daughter-in-law from the moment she entered the family, and now she is even more grateful to her.
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