Chapter 186: It's a lot more lively with the little rabbit
Fu Yucheng reached out and touched the fabric of the little cotton-padded jacket. When his fingertips touched the copper buttons, the cool metal mixed with the warmth of the fabric reminded him of the copper thimble pinned to Yun Tangyin's lapel when he first met her.
"These buttons are so bright they can reflect light on you," he said with a smile. "When the child wears them, he'll definitely be the coolest kid in the yard."
Yun Tangyin folded the cotton-padded jacket neatly and put it into a wooden box covered with floral cloth, as if she was hiding a rare treasure.
"When spring comes and the temperature rises, we can give it to the child." She looked up at Fu Yucheng, the smile in her eyes like the dancing flames in the stove. "Then let him wear the new cotton-padded jacket and bask in the sun in the yard with Snowball and the others."
Xiaolan squatted beside the cage and saw Snowball scratching at the trough with his little paws. She quickly added a handful of soybeans and said, "Eat quickly, Snowball. You'll grow up strong and play with your little brother."
She suddenly remembered something and took out a frozen hawthorn from her pocket and stuffed it into Fu Yucheng's hand. "Brother Fu, this is for you. My mother just pickled it. It's more sour than the last time. It's refreshing to hold it in your mouth while chopping wood."
Fu Yucheng took the hawthorn, took a bite, and squinted his eyes because of the sourness, which made Yun Tangyin and Xiaolan laugh.
"You girl, you only feed me sour food," Fu Yucheng smiled and shook his head, but put the remaining hawthorns into his pocket, "Eat them while chopping wood tomorrow, it will really refresh you."
Director Wang's loud voice could be heard from outside the courtyard, mixed with the crying of his little grandson: "Is Fu Yucheng home? My kid is clamoring to see the little bunny!"
Yun Tangyin looked out the window and saw the child clinging to the crack of the courtyard gate. His little face was red from the cold, and he was holding an uneaten candy in his hand.
"Call him in," Yun Tangyin said to Fu Yucheng, "Don't let the child get cold."
Fu Yucheng lifted the curtain and went out. When he came back with the child in his arms, the little guy was still sobbing, "Uncle Fu, I want to see Snowball."
He lay down beside the cage, his little hands gently touching the bars. Seeing Snowball moving closer to his hands, he suddenly laughed out loud: "It likes me! It's shaking my hand!"
Yun Tangyin stuffed a biscuit into his hand and said, "Eat it quickly. After you finish eating, ask your Uncle Fu to take you home, otherwise your mother will be worried."
After sending the children away, the room finally became quiet.
Xiaolan packed up her things and walked out with the empty cloth bag: "Sister-in-law, Brother Fu, I will come early tomorrow morning to help you change the cotton wool for the rabbit."
She walked towards the alley on the snow, her red hairband like a dancing flame in the night, "Don't forget to let me feed Snowball!"
Yun Tangyin smiled and replied, "I won't forget. I saved some soybeans for you."
Fu Yucheng added a piece of coal to the stove, and the firelight made the outline of his profile clearer.
"I'll finish the feeding trough tomorrow and add a small partition to the cage." He sat down next to Yun Tangyin, the snow on his military boots melting on the blue bricks, leaving small water marks, "so that the little rabbits have somewhere to run, so they don't have to be crowded together all the time."
Yun Tangyin leaned in his arms, listening to the subtle sounds of the rabbit in the cage, and the little guy in her belly suddenly kicked her.
"Look," she grabbed Fu Yucheng's hand and pressed it against her belly, "It's greeting you too. It must be happy to hear you say you want to be a feeding trough."
Fu Yucheng put his ear close to it and whispered, "When it comes out, I'll teach it to feed the rabbits and let it become Snowball's best friend."
In the second half of the night, the snow began to fall again, gently falling on the window paper, like countless gentle hands tapping.
Yun Tangyin woke up and saw that Fu Yucheng was not around. When she got out of bed and put on her clothes, she saw him squatting in front of the rabbit cage, holding a piece of cotton cloth soaked in warm water in his hand, gently wiping the stains on the bottom of the cage.
The light from the oil lamp shone obliquely on him, and there was some cotton wool on the shoulders of his army green cotton-padded jacket, as if it was covered with snowflakes.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" She walked over and put an old cotton-padded jacket on him. "Be careful not to get cold."
When Fu Yucheng turned around, his eyelashes were slightly damp with moisture. "I heard Huaqiu humming. I was worried it would get cold, so I put some cotton in the cage."
He pointed into the cage and saw Huaqiu huddled in the gray rabbit's arms, its little paws scratching the rabbit's fur as if it were a hand warmer.
Yun Tangyin squatted beside him, watching the three little rabbits gently rise and fall with the mother rabbit's breathing, and suddenly felt her heart as soft as a ball of cotton.
"Wait until spring," she said softly, "open the cage door and let them run around in the yard and bask in the sun."
Fu Yucheng held her hand, and the thin calluses on his fingertips made her itch: "Build a small nest under the old locust tree so that they can avoid the rain and smell the fragrance of the locust flowers."
When the sky was just getting light, Yun Tangyin was awakened by the noise in the kitchen. Fu Yucheng was squatting in front of the stove and making a fire. The sweet potato porridge in the pot was bubbling, and the sweet fragrance filled the room.
She walked over wearing her cotton jacket and saw a piece of rabbit hair stuck to his military cap. She couldn't help but reach out and take it off for him. "Why don't you sleep a little longer?"
Fu Yucheng added a handful of pine needles to the stove, and the fragrance of pine resin mixed with the aroma of porridge wafted over: "I want you to drink hot porridge when you wake up. Aunt Zhang said pregnant women need to eat on time."
Just as I put the porridge into the bowl, Xiaolan's voice came from outside the yard, mixed with the sound of the bamboo basket shaking: "Sister-in-law! Let me help you change the cotton wool!"
When she lifted the curtain and came in, the tip of her nose was red from the cold. In her bamboo basket was half a bag of soybeans, still steaming.
"My mother said these soybeans are freshly ground and more nutritious than stale ones." Xiaolan peeked into the cage and saw Snowball napping on the white rabbit's back. She suddenly laughed, "Snowball is so lazy. He just woke up and fell asleep again."
Fu Yucheng stuffed a bowl of hot porridge into Xiaolan's hand. There were a few red dates floating on the surface of the porridge. The sweet fragrance mixed with the hot air hit Xiaolan's face, making her red nose gradually warm up.
"Drink it while it's hot," he said with a smile. "It won't taste good if it's cold. Your mother would be heartbroken if she knew you came to work on an empty stomach."
Xiaolan held the bowl of porridge and drank it in small sips, but her eyes never left the rabbit cage.
Snowball seemed to be awakened by the smell of porridge. He raised his head from the white rabbit's back, his little nose twitched, and his bright black eyes stared straight at the bowl in Xiaolan's hand, causing Xiaolan to burst out laughing: "Look, Brother Fu, Snowball wants to drink porridge too!"
Yun Tangyin was squatting by the cage, changing the quilt. Upon hearing this, she looked up and smiled, "It's still young and can't drink porridge. When it grows a little bigger, make corn paste for it."
She folded up the old cotton wool she had replaced and planned to put it out to dry in the sun. "After it's been exposed to the sun, I'll put it back on the rabbits at night. It'll be soft and warm."
After Fu Yucheng finished his porridge, he picked up an axe and prepared to chop wood to make a trough. Just as he reached the gate of the yard, he saw Zhou Desheng coming over with a shovel, his military boots leaving deep footprints on the snow.
"Brother Fu, let me help you chop wood," Zhou Desheng put the shovel in the corner and rubbed his red, frozen hands. "Yesterday I heard you were going to make a feeding trough for the rabbits. I happened to have nothing to do, so I came to lend a hand."
Fu Yucheng stuffed a piece of locust flower cake into his hand: "Eat something first to fill your stomach, and then you can work later."
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