Zhuzhu glanced at Zhou Quan subconsciously, and seeing that her father didn't shake his head, she smiled sweetly at Li Mai, "Can I ask Mom to carry me to visit Hei Dou's house?"
"Oh? Why do you want your mother to carry you to Black Bean's house?" Li Mai asked curiously.
“A few days ago, when Heidou’s mother was holding her outside our gate, Heidou laughed at Zhuzhu for not having a mother to hold her.”
"Zhuzhu wants Heidou to know that Zhuzhu also has a mother, and that her mother will hug her."
After hearing this, Li Mai pinched Zhu Zhu's little face tenderly, smiled and said, "Come on, Mommy will carry you to buy tofu. Zhu Zhu, do you know which family sells tofu?"
"I know, Mom, aren't we going to Heidou's house to see him?" Zhuzhu asked curiously.
“No, we won’t go. They’ll laugh at Zhuzhu’s black beans. Mother doesn’t like that. We won’t go to her house. Mother will carry you to a place with more people. Starting tomorrow, everyone in the village will know that Zhuzhu has a mother,” Li Mai said with a smile.
“Okay, then let’s go buy tofu.” Zhuzhu was delighted to hear this.
Zhou Quan looked at Li Mai helplessly and stopped her, saying, "Xiaomai, Zhuzhu is very heavy. If you keep holding her, it will be too heavy."
"It's okay, I'm strong, I can carry Zhuzhu." Li Mai gave him a reassuring look. "I'll have Xiao Lei change the hot compress again in a bit, and leave it on for half an hour."
"Let Xiao Lei take you there. Dad can come back and change the cloths." Zhou Quan was worried that Li Mai would be bullied by those bad boys in the village if she went out alone with Zhu Zhu.
There are a few unreliable young men in this village.
Li Mai wanted to say that she wasn't afraid, and that who knows who would be unlucky if they encountered trouble, but thinking that Zhou Quan would be worried at home, she nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll go out into the yard and call Xiao Lei to take me."
After saying that, he patted Zhou Quan on the shoulder and took Zhuzhu's hand as they went out.
She first took out twenty copper coins from the money box inside her room and put them in the inner pocket of her inner garment. She patted her chest, smiled at Zhuzhu, and took her hand as they went out.
She planned to let Zhuzhu walk for a while first, and then carry her when she got tired.
Children can be spoiled, but not pampered; good habits must be cultivated.
In the courtyard, Old Man Zhou and Zhou Lei were sitting under the shade of a tree on the south side, twisting hemp rope. When they saw Li Mai and Zhu Zhu come out and walk away, Old Man Zhou stood up and asked, "Where are you going?"
"Dad, I'm taking Zhuzhu to buy tofu. I'll have Xiaolei show me the way. You go back inside and keep an eye on things. When it's time, change the blindfolds for Mom and Xiaotao. Zhou Quan will tell you how to do it."
“Okay!” The father and son instinctively followed her instructions and responded. Zhou Lei led the way to the gate, while Old Man Zhou carried a bundle of hemp and went back into the house.
Walking along the main road in the village, Li Mai got a full view of this small mountain village.
This village is neither too big nor too small. It is larger than Lijia Village and has more houses, so it should be considered a large village. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and to the south, there are many fields to look out over.
The terrain of the entire village is high in the north and low in the south.
"The tofu seller is Zhou Yuan's family, they live in the south of the village, and our family lives in the north of the village." Zhou Lei, like a little adult, introduced the village to Li Mai as they walked.
"Oh, Zhou Yuan is his son?"
"Yes, Zhou Yuan is three years older than me. His family raises pigs. I heard that they feed the pigs with the tofu residue from making tofu. His pigs are very fat and big. During the New Year, people buy pork from his slaughtered pigs."
“Our family also bought one for Chinese New Year. During Chinese New Year, Mom would make meat dumplings for us,” Zhou Lei said, unconsciously licking the corner of his lips.
Li Mai listened quietly, and smiled when she saw his subconscious action.
"Are Zhou Yuan's parents related to our family? How should I address them?" Li Mai asked again.
"Yes, call her Auntie and Uncle Da Niu. Zhou Yuan's father is called Zhou Da Niu. However, his family is beyond the fifth degree of kinship with ours, so they are not very close. We don't usually exchange gifts."
Although Zhou Lei is only ten years old, he has become much more sensible in the past two years as he has grown up since his older brother was suddenly injured.
Li Mai nodded, indicating that she understood.
At this moment, Li Mai picked up Zhu Zhu, as they had to cross a rough stretch of road ahead.
After being held in Li Mai's arms, Zhu Zhu subconsciously reached out and hugged Li Mai's neck, happily looking around.
She suddenly realized that being carried by her mother made the surrounding scenery much more beautiful than she had ever seen before.
It seems the trees along the roadside aren't as big or as tall as she used to think.
A man and a woman walked towards us, each carrying a basket on their backs, seemingly heading to the fields.
Upon seeing the man, Zhou Lei instinctively greeted him, "Brother Shizhou, are you going to the fields with your wife?"
"Yes, Xiao Lei, who is this?" The man and woman were Zhou Shizhou, the second son of the clan chief, and his wife, Qu Shi, was standing next to him. Zhou Shizhou asked Zhou Lei curiously, wondering if it was the wife that Zhou Quan had married yesterday.
But then again, I thought, "No way, she's that good-looking?"
Qu looked at Li Mai with curiosity. This girl's appearance must be the best in the village.
"This is my sister-in-law. She's going to buy tofu, and I'll show her the way," Zhou Lei said with a smile, then led the way forward.
Li Mai nodded to the person above, then continued walking forward with Zhu Zhu in her arms.
After they passed by, the young couple whispered behind them, "Zhou Quan is so lucky? He actually married such a beautiful wife?"
"Yeah, look at her, she's still holding Zhou Quan's bastard child, who knows who he had it with. Do you think his family would lie to this girl and say the child is being raised by a relative?"
"Who knows!" The two voices gradually faded into the distance until they could no longer be heard.
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