Chapter 168: My belly seems to be bulging a little
When the sun climbed up to the window frame, Mrs. Li came in with the child in her arms and a bamboo basket on her arm. The cotton bag in the basket was steaming.
"Freshly steamed red bean paste buns," she put the basket on the table. "My husband brought a bag of sugar from town to sprinkle on your buns."
The child was playing with snowflakes in her arms. His little hands were red from the cold, but he was giggling. Saliva dripped down his chin onto his cotton jacket, leaving a small wet mark.
Yun Tangyin stuffed a cloth tiger into the child's hand. It was the one Xiaolan had given her a few days ago. Now the tiger's eyes were embroidered with round shapes, and it looked much more energetic.
"Let him play with it," she said, stuffing a bowl of hot porridge into Li's hand. "It's freshly cooked, warm your hands too."
Mrs. Li looked into the yard while drinking porridge and saw Fu Yucheng covering the pile of firewood with plastic sheeting. The snow on his army green cotton jacket was shining in the sunlight.
"Your Yucheng is so considerate," she said with a smile, "My husband always forgets to block the snow when he chops wood, and the wet wood just smokes when it burns."
As he was speaking, Jiang Jianhua came in, with the scarf on his head covered with snow, like a layer of frost.
"I just got some cotton from the regiment. It's getting cold and snowy." She glanced at the stove and saw chicken soup simmering in the pot. She suddenly laughed out loud, "You're living a really comfortable life. I'm cooking a pot of cabbage today."
Yun Tangyin stuffed a piece of cured fish into her hand: "Zhou Desheng's wife gave it to me. You can use it to stew cabbage. It's very delicious."
She pointed at the New Year pictures on the wall and laughed, "Look at this fat baby wearing a red cotton-padded jacket. You were destined to give birth to a child this good-looking."
As soon as Yu Xia left, Fu Yucheng came in carrying a bundle of firewood. Snow fell from his cotton-padded jacket and formed a small puddle on the ground.
"Zhou Desheng said the snow is deep in the mountains behind us," he added a piece of firewood to the stove, "and told me not to go pick walnuts and wait until the snow melts."
He stuffed a red cloth bag into Yun Tangyin's hand and said, "This is the wool I just bought from the supply and marketing cooperative. It's pink and tender."
As the chicken soup was bubbling in the pot, Zhou Desheng's wife came in with a bowl of pickled radish. The snow fell on her blue cloth headscarf, like a handful of salt.
"I heard you guys have some chicken soup," she put the bowl on the table, "and this radish is really sour, it'll help you get rid of the greasiness."
She peeked into the cage and saw the rabbit napping in the hay. The cage was wrapped in a layer of quilted cloth to keep it warm. "This little thing is quite smart. It knows to go back to its nest to keep warm."
Yun Tangyin stuffed a pair of baby shoes into her hands. "I just made them. Keep them for the child to wear in the spring. Remember to call me when you get the cloth coupons. I want to buy some blue cloth."
"I'll definitely call you tomorrow," Zhou Desheng's wife put her shoes in her pocket and responded with a smile.
She suddenly lowered her voice, "The regiment cafeteria slaughtered a pig and distributed the meat to the soldiers' families this afternoon. Since you're pregnant, you can get an extra two pounds."
The afternoon sun shone through the snow, casting faint spots of light on the ground.
Yun Tangyin sat in front of the embroidery frame, using pink thread to weave the outline of tiger-head shoes on the red cloth, with very fine stitches.
Fu Yucheng sat opposite her, twisting a hemp rope. The hemp rope circled in his palm and soon he twisted it into a tight rope. Occasionally he looked up at her, his eyes full of smiles.
The rabbit in the bamboo cage woke up and watched them through the bars.
Yun Tangyin threw a piece of dried sweet potato into the cage and said with a smile, "I left this for you. Stop staring at us. You know he's twisting the rope to tie the cage for you, right?"
Fu Yucheng reached out and touched the rabbit's head. The snow on its fur had melted, and it became wet like a ball of cotton.
The little rabbit also knew who was good to it. It ate dried sweet potatoes and obediently let Fu Yucheng touch its head.
When the meat was distributed in the evening, Fu Yucheng came back with a piece of pork belly, and oil dripped onto the snow, forming small yellow spots.
"The kitchen staff left some spare ribs for me," he put the meat on the stove, "I stewed it for you and added some hawthorn to help with the greasiness."
Yun Tangyin held his hand: "Look how cold you are."
Yun Tangyin pulled Fu Yucheng's hand. His palm was frozen stiff, and there was some ice on his knuckles from the snow.
She pressed his hand into the basin of warm water on the stove, and her fingertips touched the calluses on his knuckles, which were as rough as the stones in the mountains behind.
"I told you to wear gloves," she sprinkled a handful of Sichuan peppercorns into the water, and the hot steam, wrapped in the fragrance of pepper, spread out. "This water can invigorate the blood, soak it thoroughly first."
Fu Yucheng let her play with him, his eyes fixed on her bulging belly, and he suddenly laughed out loud: "When we first divided the meat, Zhou Desheng said that when his wife was pregnant, she could eat two pig's trotters in one meal."
He added a piece of hardwood to the stove, sparks crackling, "I'll stew some pig's trotters for you later with soybeans."
Yun Tangyin patted his arm and said, "You only know how to coax me into eating. If the baby grows too fat, it will be difficult to give birth."
She dug out a piece of ginger from the cupboard, cut it into thin slices and sprinkled it into the soup. "Ginger can dispel cold. Put two slices in your pocket when you train."
As he was speaking, the rabbit in the bamboo cage suddenly jumped up from the bars, and put its three-petaled mouth close to the hemp rope that Fu Yucheng had just twisted to gnaw on it.
Yun Tangyin smiled and knocked on the cage wall: "Greedy thing, this rope is for you to reinforce the cage, not for you to grind your teeth."
She threw a piece of frozen cabbage into the cage and said, "Eat this."
Fu Yucheng had just stewed the spareribs when he heard Xiaolan's shouting outside the yard. The little girl was wrapped in an oversized cotton jacket, looking like a round snowball.
"My mother said these are freshly pickled sour beans to whet your appetite!"
Yun Tangyin stuffed a hot sweet potato into her hand.
She picked up a sour bean and the sour juice dripped down her fingertips.
Xiaolan squatted in front of the stove, holding a sweet potato. The red string on her braid was stained with snow. The white breath she exhaled was wrapped in hot air as she spoke: "My mother asked me to learn how to embroider a tiger-head hat from you. She said she would make me a new dress in the spring, which would be perfect to match the tiger-head hat."
The firelight from the stove reflected on the tip of her nose, which was red from the cold, like a ripe cherry.
Fu Yucheng added a piece of firewood to the stove. The flames licked the bottom of the pot, casting Xiaolan's shadow on the wall, which grew larger and smaller like a jumping rabbit.
Xiaolan finished her sweet potato and was about to leave when Yun Tangyin stuffed a piece of wrapped cured fish into her pocket: "This is from Zhou Desheng's wife. Go back and ask your mother to steam it for you."
The pocket of the little girl's cotton-padded jacket was too shallow, and the salted fish fell on the snow, leaving a small oil mark due to the freezing.
She picked it up and put it in her arms, blushing and smiling: "Thank you, sister-in-law! My mother will be very happy!"
In the evening, the snow fell heavier and heavier, covering the pile of firewood in the corner of the yard tightly.
Fu Yucheng stuffed a hot water bottle into her hand: "Come on, your hands are frozen."
He looked out the window and saw that the snow was already up to his ankles. "I'm afraid I won't be able to train tomorrow, so I'll just stay home with you."
At night, the snow stopped and the moon lit up the yard brightly.
Yun Tangyin woke up because of hunger. Fu Yucheng got out of bed, put on his clothes, added a spoonful of brown sugar to the pot, and cooked a bowl of egg custard.
The sound of porcelain bowls hitting the table was particularly clear in the quiet night, mixed with the occasional barking of dogs outside the window.
Yun Tangyin felt that the days of pregnancy were like this long night. Although it was cold, there was always someone who kept the warmest light for you, and that was enough.
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