Chapter 137: This Time I'm Really Pregnant
This is how we spend our simple and warm days.
In the early morning, Yun Tangyin was awakened by the sound of bamboo strips colliding.
When she opened her eyes, the morning light was falling on Fu Yucheng's back through the window lattice. He was sitting on the kang weaving bamboo strips. As his fingertips flew, the bamboo strips bent into gentle arcs.
"Awake?" He turned around and smiled, a hint of morning light on his eyelashes. "I made a small bamboo basket, perfect for your sewing box."
The edge of the basket is woven with small floral patterns and the handles are wrapped with red ropes.
Yun Tangyin propped herself up and sat up. Just as she was about to take it, he held her hand and said, "Don't touch Liangzhu when you just woke up. I'll warm it up before giving it to you."
He stuffed a hot water bottle into her hand. "It's filled with new cotton from Aunt Zhou. It's warmer than a military coat."
"Why are you up so early?" She smiled, touching the hot water bottle. "The old Chinese doctor said you need to rest for a while."
"I want to give you a surprise." Fu Yucheng put the bamboo basket into the quilt, "When it's warm, I'll put some osmanthus cake in it for you."
In the morning, Yun Tangyin sat in the corridor embroidering a pencil case, while Fu Yucheng squatted in the yard carving patterns on a bamboo jewelry box.
The carving knife moved across the bamboo surface, and soon a half-opened plum blossom appeared. "Do you think the petals are round?"
He held it up and asked, "It's fatter than the flowers on the handkerchief you embroidered."
Yun Tangyin glanced up and said, "Carve another bend, like it's been blown crooked by the wind, it will be more lively."
She suddenly stuffed a plum into his mouth, "Is it sour? It's refreshing."
Fu Yucheng squinted his eyes in pain, but nodded: "It's just the right amount of sour, milder than the vinegar in the army."
He suddenly leaned over and pinched her face with his fingers covered in bamboo shavings, "Why aren't you afraid of soreness?"
"I'm pregnant..." Yun Tangyin suddenly covered her mouth and her face turned red.
The carving knife in Fu Yucheng's hand fell to the ground with a clang. He grabbed her wrist and asked, "What did you say?"
"No, nothing." She hid behind the pillar. "I just like sour food."
Fu Yucheng refused to give in and hugged her from behind: "I heard you say two words and then stopped. Are you pregnant?"
His voice trembled, his chin resting on the top of her head, "Yinyin, is it?"
Yun Tangyin was strangled by him and could only nod: "The old Chinese doctor told me this yesterday when he took my pulse. I wanted to tell you after I finished making the jewelry box."
Fu Yucheng suddenly picked her up and carried her sideways, spinning her around in the yard three times, leaving her covered in bamboo shavings. "I'm going to be a father!"
He suddenly remembered something and gently put her down again. "The old Chinese doctor said that we can't shake it. How could I have forgotten!"
Yun Tangyin laughed and punched him: "Just now I said you were careful, but now you are confused."
At noon, Fu Yucheng killed an old hen and squatted in the kitchen, clumsily stewing soup.
Yun Tangyin leaned against the door frame and looked: "You put too much ginger slices. Traditional Chinese medicine says pregnant women should avoid spicy food."
"Oh, right." He hurriedly picked up the ginger slices, his fingers slapping them from being burned. "There's no need to be so particular about cooking in the army. They even throw chili peppers into stewed meat."
Yun Tangyin held his hand from behind: "Let me do it, you go and varnish the jewelry box."
"No." Fu Yucheng pushed her out of the kitchen. "The fumes are choking you. Go rest on the kang. I can handle it."
The soup turned out to be black. When he brought it to the kang, he looked frustrated and said, "It looks like diesel fuel in the army. Don't drink it."
Yun Tangyin took a spoonful and tasted it: "It's more fragrant than the vegetable soup in the cafeteria. I like it."
She fed him a mouthful and said, "Look, it's not bad."
In the afternoon, Fu Yuanshan came to deliver a bamboo baby bathtub. Seeing Fu Yucheng massaging Yun Tangyin's legs, he laughed: "They're spoiling the newborn so much right now. Won't they be like picking the moon after the baby is born?"
The bottom of the tub was woven with a non-slip diamond pattern, and Fu Yuanshan put a piece of flannel inside. "I added a layer of bamboo strips, which is stronger than a wooden tub and can be used until the child can run."
Fu Yucheng suddenly stood up: "I'll go cut the straightest bamboo."
"What's the rush?" Yun Tangyin held him back. "The old Chinese doctor said you need to rest for the first three months. Don't do anything stupid."
She stuffed a piece of chicken leg from the chicken soup into Fu Yuanshan's hand and said, "Brother, try it quickly. This is the first time that Ah Cheng has made soup."
In the evening, Song Yushuang came back with a bamboo basket filled with some dried wolfberries and red dates.
"I heard the good news from Yuanshan." She stuffed a cloth bag into Yun Tangyin's hand, "This is the silver bracelet I wore when I was young. I'm saving it for the child to calm him down."
There was a small lotus engraved on the inside of the bracelet. Yun Tangyin touched it and found it very warm.
"Mom, this is too expensive." Fu Yucheng put some brown sugar into the bamboo basket, "Take it home and soak it in water."
"Why are you being so polite to me?" Song Yushuang patted his arm and carefully reminded him, "Cover Yinyin up thickly at night, don't let her get a cold."
At night, Yun Tangyin lay on the kang, touching her slightly bulging belly and smiling: "Do you think he will look like you or me?"
"Like you." Fu Yucheng placed a small bamboo pillow behind her waist, which he had just woven. "Like you, I have a pair of skillful hands and can embroider a flying tiger."
"I hope to be like you." She snuggled into his arms. "You have a kind of tenacity, like bamboo, which can't be bent no matter what."
Fu Yucheng lowered his head and kissed her forehead: "Tomorrow I will go to the army to ask for a long leave and stay at home with you. If you don't approve, I will dismantle his bamboo bookshelf and rebuild it."
"Don't be silly." Yun Tangyin pinched his ear, "I'm fine at home, with my eldest and second sisters-in-law taking care of me. I embroider my little clothes, and my life is still sweet."
The shadows of bamboo outside the window sway gently on the wall, as if someone is quietly swinging on a swing.
Fu Yucheng counted Yun Tangyin's breaths, and suddenly remembered something. He stuffed something into her palm: "Here, osmanthus cake."
The sweet-scented osmanthus cake in the bamboo basket was still warm. Yun Tangyin took a bite and her eyes sparkled with sweetness. "It's sweeter than brown sugar cake."
She put a piece in his mouth and said, "Try it too."
Fu Yucheng smiled and said vaguely: "From now on, I will weave bamboo baskets for you every day and fill them with osmanthus cakes for you every day until our hair turns white."
Yun Tangyin didn't say anything, but just leaned closer to his arms.
The moonlight fell on their clasped hands, like a handful of silver coins scattered, so gentle that they could melt.
When Yun Tangyin woke up, she found that Fu Yucheng had been sitting against the head of the bed for who knows how long.
She suddenly leaned on his arm and asked, "Why are you awake so early?"
"I can't sleep." Fu Yucheng hugged Yun Tangyin, "I keep thinking about what the child will look like, and whether he will be as pretty as you."
He stuffed a hot egg into her hand and said, "Eat this to replenish your blood. I kept it warm in the stove. It's still warm."
In the morning, Yun Tangyin sat in the yard basking in the sun, embroidering a baby's bellyband in her hands.
Fu Yucheng squatted beside and weaved a small bamboo cradle, and the bamboo strips were bent into beautiful arcs in his hands.
"Do you think the spacing between the railings is okay?" He held it up to measure. "It can't be too wide, or the child might get stuck."
She suddenly laughed out loud, "Erzhuzi just came over to climb the wall and said he wanted to be my little brother's apprentice and teach him how to weave bamboo dragonflies."
"He can't even weave a straight dragonfly." Fu Yucheng lowered his head to cut bamboo strips. "The dragonfly he weaved yesterday had one wing longer than the other, and he said it was intentional. He called it 'The Dragonfly That Can't Fly Straight'."
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