Cheng Baidong left on the 22nd day of the first lunar month, and Fang Qiao still had a week left in her postpartum confinement period.
Fortunately, Xiao Jing was still at home, and Wang Yun also came to live and eat with her. The three adults took care of the four children, which was quite manageable.
The main reason is that Tian Tian's preschool class has started. We can just drop her off in the morning and pick her up in the evening. It doesn't take much effort from the adults. In fact, she can also play with An An.
An'an is over a year old now. She has just learned to walk and is still very excited about it. She usually loves to run around behind her older sister Tian Tian and rarely lets adults carry her.
After the first month of the lunar calendar ended, Fang Qiao was out of confinement. The first thing she did was to take a thorough bath, washing off all the mud from head to toe.
It's already warm outside, and people have taken off their cotton-padded clothes. The nearby Heshan Mountain has also shed its withered yellow coat from winter and is now a vibrant green in the distance.
Springtime is windy, and babies who are just a month old shouldn't be exposed to the wind. If Fang Qiao wants to go out, she can only go out for some fresh air by herself. When she comes back, she still has to stay indoors with the two children and keep them warm.
On February 1st, Fang Qiao got up early and boiled eggs. After boiling and cooling them, she peeled off the shells, then used the peeled hard-boiled eggs to circle around Chuan Chuan and Yue Yue's heads. After that, she cut them in half and let Tian Tian and An An eat them.
This custom was told to Fang Qiao by Chen Guizhi when she visited her neighbor. She said that if the first egg of a child is shared with his or her siblings, the siblings will live in harmony for the rest of their lives.
As for customs, if you didn't know them before, that was fine. But now that you know them, just follow them. Anyway, it doesn't cost much, and all the eggs are eaten, so nothing is wasted.
After breakfast, Fang Qiao asked Chen Guizhi to find a professional hairdresser who specializes in shaving the hair of one-month-old babies to come to their house and shave the baby hair of Chuan Chuan and Yue Yue.
The barber was a kind-faced old man. He rode a worn-out bicycle and wore patched clothes, but the bicycle frame was polished to a shine, without a speck of dust. Although his clothes were patched, they were spotless, making him a neat and tidy person. Chen Guizhi's four children all had their baby hair shaved by him. His hair-shaving technique was exceptional; he shaved quickly and steadily, rarely hurting the baby's scalp.
The tools used to shave the baby's head were clean, having been soaked in white wine. However, Fang Qiao was worried about the baby sharing a razor with others, so she prepared a new razor in advance.
After shaving their heads and seeing off the barber, Fang Qiao put the two children to sleep. She then collected the babies' first hair, twisted it into balls with red thread, and put it into a specially sewn little cloth bag. She hung it at the head of the crib along with the little cloth bag that An'an had used to store her first hair, believing it would ward off evil spirits.
After watching the whole thing, Wang Yun couldn't help but exclaim, "There are so many things to pay attention to when a baby turns one month old."
Fang Qiao said with a smile, "This isn't the end of it yet. Next, the bride's family will come to celebrate the full moon."
Wang Yun looked up at the sun and said, "Does it have to be on the day of the full moon? If so, then it's time to come. It's getting late."
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be on that day. Any day after the full moon is fine,” Fang Qiao said. “However, you can’t go back to your parents’ home on the first or fifteenth of the month. If you don’t come on the first day, you should come tomorrow.”
Wang Yun slapped his forehead: "I forgot, today is the first day of the lunar month."
"It's okay to forget now, but you have to remember this for your own future. When you have children, you'll have to go through this process too."
"I just registered my marriage, having a baby... is a long way off." Wang Yun lowered her head shyly when the topic of having children came up.
"Early? Not early at all. Your Gao Ping is in the army. Once you two have your wedding banquet and move in together, I'll make sure you get pregnant right away. With a little effort, you might even have a baby born in the Year of the Rat." Fang Qiao winked at Wang Yun, her eyes full of mischief.
No matter how lively and outgoing Wang Yun was, she was still a virgin who had never experienced such things. She couldn't resist this, and her pretty face immediately turned as red as fire, with the blush spreading from her cheeks all the way to her ears.
"You, you should stop talking."
"You really won't let me say it?" Fang Qiao joked with her on purpose: "Then I won't say it. I'll save it for your wedding night, and let your Gao Ping tell you."
Wang Yun glared at Fang Qiao with a shy smile, then punched her with her fist: "You're so annoying!"
Wang Yun made a move but didn't use much force; the blows didn't hurt much. Fang Qiao laughed and dodged at the same time.
The two of them fooled around in the sun for a while, and they both got all sweaty.
Just then, Chen Guizhi came in from outside the courtyard carrying a bamboo basket of wild vegetables. Seeing the two of them, she couldn't help but laugh and say, "Oh, what are you playing? It's so lively!"
Wang Yun glanced at Fang Qiao sheepishly. Fang Qiao smiled and said, "I didn't play anything. I'm not out of confinement yet, and I'm so tired of lying in bed that my bones are practically melting. I just got up and stretched."
Chen Guizhi didn't press for details. Instead, she held up the bamboo basket in her hand and said, "Hey, I dug up a lot of shepherd's purse and some dandelion today. We can't finish them all, so I brought some to you."
Fang Qiao accepted the basket of wild vegetables from Chen Guizhi without any ceremony, smiling as she said, "Thank you, sister-in-law. This basket of vegetables you brought is just in time; I've been craving them."
She carried the bamboo basket into the kitchen, poured the wild vegetables into her own basket, and put an apple into Chen Guizhi's basket before returning the basket to her: "A few days ago, the two little ones delivered rice, and relatives and friends gave us a lot of apples. We haven't finished them yet, and they're a bit wrinkled, but the insides are still good. Here, take one, don't mind."
"No, no, not at all. Apples are such a good thing. Even wrinkled ones are very expensive. I usually can't afford to buy them. How could I mind?" Chen Guizhi said hurriedly. "A basket of wild vegetables is worthless. Exchanging them for an apple is actually a bargain for you."
"Even if half a basket of wild vegetables isn't worth much, you still dug them up one by one on the mountain. It would take half a morning to dig all of these. This is the fruit of your labor, and it's well worth exchanging for an apple." Fang Qiao smiled and put the bamboo basket into Chen Guizhi's arms: "Sister-in-law, you can take it. It's perfect for sharing with the children when we get back."
Chen Guizhi chatted with Fang Qiao for a few minutes, then left happily.
Fang Qiao rummaged through the wild vegetables and found that both shepherd's purse and dandelion were very tender. So she turned to Wang Yun and said, "I'll cook lunch today. I'll make some shepherd's purse dumplings and a cold dandelion salad. What do you think?"
Fang Qiao has finished her postpartum confinement period, so cooking is no problem for her, but...
"Can you eat this cold dandelion salad now?" Wang Yun asked with some concern.
"It's okay. I'll blanch the dandelion in hot water and then add the seasonings directly, but I'll use cold water. That way, it won't be too cold and will keep the texture from getting cold."
After Fang Qiao finished speaking, she turned and went into the kitchen: "Keep an eye on the child for me, don't let him wake up. I'll start kneading the dough first."
Fang Qiao is the most efficient cook in the family, thanks to her cooking skills since childhood. She can roll out several wrappers at once without them sticking together, and the finished dumpling wrappers are thin and round.
Without needing anyone else's help, they quickly wrapped the dumplings for lunch.
The dumplings were cooked, and I served six to An'an to cool. She can eat them by herself, and six dumplings were just the right amount to fill her up. If I gave her too few, she would throw a tantrum; if I gave her too many, it would be a waste, because she would play with them after she was full.
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