Chapter 407 Taking care of children
Zhao Hongying's sudden suggestion made Song Lubai's mind wander, but this was no small matter and could not be decided hastily.
"Why did you decide to bring your sister here?"
Zhao Hongying said a little embarrassedly, "I'm not afraid you'll laugh at me, but my family is big. My sister is just a maid at home. She has to do chores outside and take care of the children at home. She's already twenty-two and still not married. My parents say to wait a few more years before she gets married. I know my parents just want her to stay home and work for a few more years. If she delays any longer, she'll become an old maid. I've been doing pretty well these past two years. Zhigao and I can help her, so I thought I'd get her to come over. If she doesn't come over now, another few years will be wasted."
Song Lubai nodded and said, "Staying at home all the time is really not a good thing. Let her come. We need to make pickled vegetables in a few days, and the workshop is short of people. It would be good for her to come and work in the workshop."
Zhao Hongying's eyes lit up, and she said excitedly, "Xiao Song, I don't know how to thank you enough."
Working in a workshop is much easier than working in the fields. Although the workers in a food workshop are busy all day long, it is much easier than rolling around in the soil with farm tools.
She originally planned to have her sister come first, and she would have to figure out what to do with her sister. Helping Xiao Song take care of her child would be a temporary solution, as long as Xiao Song's family could provide her sister with food.
Zhao Hongying really didn't expect that Song Lubai could even arrange a job for her sister.
Song Lubai said, "Let's not talk about helping me take care of the kids for now. I'm not in a hurry. We'll talk about it later. My mom might be here soon anyway. You don't need to thank me for your sister's job. You provided the recipe for pickled radish strips. You'll have to come help us out later. Your sister got the job because of you. If you want to thank someone, you should thank yourself for knowing so much."
Zhao Hongying shook her head and said, "That's not what you said. No matter how much I know, I was nothing before, wasn't I?"
The two talked for a while longer, and then the child started crying again.
If one person cries, the other, even if they're sleeping soundly, will be infected and wake up to cry too.
Song Lubai was truly exasperated by these two kids; she couldn't even manage to soothe them all when she was alone.
Zhao Hongying picked one up for her, looked at it, and said, "It hasn't pooped or peed, it must be hungry."
Song Lubai said, "I'm breastfeeding, so I won't see you out. Please close the door for me."
Zhao Hongying shook the child and said with a smile, "You're quite shy."
Song Lubai was too embarrassed to breastfeed her child in front of others, so she hung a curtain by her bed so that if someone came in, they wouldn't be completely exposed.
On the 28th, Zhang Cui brought her child.
Having visited once last year, Zhang Cui was experienced and knew the way. Although she was robbed on the way, she didn't write to Song Lubai this year to save on telegram fees and came with her child.
Remembering last year's lesson, the mother and her two children dressed very warmly, wrapped up from head to toe with only their eyes showing. Although they walked from the city to the 16th Regiment, the three of them felt tired but not particularly cold.
Walking back to the 16th Regiment with her comrades, Zhang Cui knew which way to go once she entered the regiment's grounds.
No one needed to lead the way; the mother and her two children all remembered where Song Lubai's house was.
Inside the house, Song Lubai and Wei Zhao were frying radish balls, Chen Yu was sitting on the edge of the bed helping to watch the child, and the radio was playing a program.
The door was pushed open, and cold air rushed in. Everyone looked over at the same time.
Song Lubai thought her mother would wait until after the New Year to come, but she didn't expect her to come so early this year.
Zhang Cui quickly let the Jianshe brothers in and closed the door.
The room was packed with people, and it was lively for quite a while.
Wei Zhao made brown sugar water for the three of them and had them sit in front of the stove to warm up.
Zhang Cui said, "We're dressed warmly, and we're all sweaty from walking, but we haven't felt cold yet. I used the cotton you sent us this year to make a thick quilt, and I also got a few thick coats..."
In early November, Wei Yang sent three bags of cotton to Zhang Cui.
After warming herself by the fire for a while, Zhang Cui couldn't wait to go see the two children.
Zhang Cui picked up one of the children and said, "We can't let them lie like this forever. It'll make their heads flat, which won't look good. Do you remember Guiying from your third uncle's family? She was such a beautiful girl, but unfortunately, her head was flat. From the side, her head only looked this thick..."
Zhang Cui gestured with her fingers to indicate a width of three or four centimeters. Song Lubai thought her mother was exaggerating a bit, but she did start to pay attention to the issue of her child's sleeping posture.
As the meatballs were cooked one after another, Wei Zhao urged the Zhang brothers to eat them while they were still hot.
"This year we got an extra pound of pork compared to last year. There's some pork in these meatballs, they smell amazing, eat them while they're hot."
Zhang Cui opened the cloth bag she had brought, revealing three jin of pork belly, two pig trotters, and three rabbits wrapped in several layers.
The meat was frozen solid, but it looked really tempting.
Besides meat, there were also two kilograms of rice and two kilograms of wheat flour.
“I brought all the things we received for the New Year, and I also exchanged some fine grains for them. I brought you a few pounds. You gave birth to twins, so you need to take good care of yourself. You need to have a longer postpartum period, preferably a double postpartum period. I can wait until mid-March to go back and stay for about a month. I will take care of the babies for you after that. You just need to focus on taking care of your health.”
Wei Zhao said somewhat apologetically, "My parents have a special job, and I can't contact them all year round. Auntie, you've really gone through a lot of trouble."
Zhang Cui shook the child and said, "What's this about hardship? Your parents are contributing to the country. Besides, I'm the child's maternal grandmother. It's only right that I take care of them. I wish I could have the child by my side every day."
"Look at those eyes, they're exactly the same as Lu Bai's..."
When Zhang Cui played with the child, her eyes and brows were full of smiles.
Wei Yang returned at noon. When he saw his mother-in-law and brothers, he called Aunt Lu next door and her husband to go to the Armed Forces Department and bring back a rickety bed.
Since they couldn't find suitable wood to replace the bed legs in a short time, they could only put bricks underneath.
The bed was placed in Song Lubai's room, separated by a curtain.
After the bedding was laid out, Wei Yang said, "The fire in this room has never gone out, so it's warm. From now on, you women will live in this room, and Jianshe and his brother, Shaohua and the others will live in the other room."
The family is now quite large. Wei Yang and four boys live next door, while Song Lubai and three other women live here with two babies and a little girl. Although it's a bit crowded, no one gets cold.
It was almost Chinese New Year, but Wei Yang still hadn't taken a holiday. He had to go to the division headquarters on the 29th, so that afternoon he went to the city with Wu Jianying, Feng Gang, and the others.
After Zhang Cui arrived, she not only took care of the children, but also the food that needed to be prepared in the kitchen.
Unfortunately, Song Lubai slept in the same bed with her mother and child at night, and she still couldn't escape the child's wailing in the middle of the night.
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