"Then you're right." The old lady said proudly, "I'm not bragging, but my son Baidong is a well-known handsome young man in the surrounding villages. And Xiao Qiao is the prettiest among the educated youth. Their child is sure to be good-looking."
The two of them burst into laughter, and Fang Qiao laughed along with them.
After a while, Wang Yun took out a roll of bright red paper from his pocket and stuffed it into An'an's swaddling clothes.
Fang Qiao quickly stopped her: "What are you doing?"
"This is a gift from me, An'an, as her aunt."
"How can I take your money?" Fang Qiao declined. She had already received enough things from Wang Yun recently: malted milk powder, canned fish, and half a basket of eggs from a while ago. Wang Yun herself wasn't well-off, so how could she take her money again?
“There’s not much money inside, the important thing is the gift.” Wang Yun stuffed the gift money back into An’an’s swaddling clothes and said seriously, “I specifically asked the old people in the village. They not only cut red paper to wrap the gift money, but also tied it with red string. It has a very good meaning, so you mustn’t refuse it.”
The old lady also said, "Xiaoyun gave me a little lock as a gift. These are all the rage now. Everyone gives them as gifts. Xiao Qiao, you should accept it."
"Little lock" is a local custom. A small amount of money is wrapped in red paper, rolled into a circle, and tied with a red string. It is a gift given to the child by relatives and friends when they come to visit. It means to "lock" the newborn child in so that the child can grow up healthily in the family.
This was the first time Fang Qiao had heard of this saying. Upon hearing that everyone else was giving gifts, she quickly accepted the little lock that Aunt Yun had given to An'an.
"Then I'll accept it."
However, since An'an was asleep, the little lock was not hung around her neck, but was instead hung by the old lady on the headboard of the child's bed, with the same effect.
An'an is an easy child to take care of. As long as she is fed in time when she is hungry, she will not cry and fuss.
Because they are feeding formula, anyone can feed them, unlike breastfed babies who require the mother to get up at night. So, Cheng Baidong usually gets up at night to make formula and change diapers for An'an.
Several times, when Fang Qiao woke up groggily from her sleep to the sound of An An crying, Cheng Baidong had already prepared the formula and fed it to An An, letting her go back to sleep.
Without having to worry about the baby, Fang Qiao slept soundly for several nights in a row. In addition, she drank spiritual spring water every day and went to her space at night to absorb spiritual energy, so her body recovered very quickly. She was able to get out of bed and walk around on the fourth day after giving birth.
Before we knew it, it was the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. Early in the morning, my third aunt brought Xiao Jing to visit us.
Xiao Jing is still as quiet as before, but her condition is much better than before. At least she doesn't hide from people anymore. Moreover, she likes An An very much. She moves a small stool to sit next to the cradle and sits on it, watching An An without moving for a whole morning.
The cradle was custom-made by a carpenter in the village, and to protect his precious daughter's eyes from the sun, he even sewed a cloth cover for it himself.
Cheng Baidong was a soldier, and he had a lot of training. It was inevitable that his clothes would get torn here and there, and he had to sew them up himself.
His needlework skills are comparable to Fang Qiao's, and perhaps even a little better.
Moreover, bedspreads are easy to sew; just measure the size, cut the fabric, and sew it together—there's no technical difficulty involved.
Cheng Baidong was happy with the sewing, but unfortunately, Fang Qiao and Xiao Jing both disliked it as soon as it was put on. There was no other reason than that it was just too ugly.
The stitches were uneven, the lines were crooked, and it looked wrinkled and crumpled on the crib; it would have looked better if it had just been covered with a piece of cloth.
Xiaojing took it down that very day, took it home and reworked it. She was skillful and not only added a pleated border at the bottom, but also embroidered several small flowers with colored thread, making it even prettier than the ones sold at the supply and marketing cooperative.
An'an lay on her crib looking up, blowing milk bubbles out of her mouth, as if to say: I like this pretty bra.
Xiao Jing gently wiped the drool from An An's mouth with a clean cotton handkerchief, and then shook a rattle drum to amuse her.
Third Aunt sat on the edge of the bed chatting with Fang Qiao.
"Tomorrow is the day the village settles work points. After that, they'll start slaughtering pigs and distributing the meat. There will be extra to sell. Do you want to buy some more to use for a feast when the rice is delivered? It's always more cost-effective to slaughter pigs in our village than to buy them from the butcher shop in town."
Sending rice as a gift is also a local custom. Instead of holding a grand full-moon celebration, a simple banquet is held on the 9th day after a girl's birth and the 12th day after a boy's birth, with the main guests being relatives from both sides.
Usually, it's the maternal grandparents who come. They prepare a bamboo basket, put the new clothes for the child inside, along with brown sugar, eggs, rice, and flour, and finally cover it with a red cloth before sending it to the groom's family.
Friends and relatives would send raw eggs, which the host would then boil, dye red, and return as a gift.
Fang Qiao nodded: "Yes, Bai Dong and I have discussed it. We'll buy five catties of pork belly in the village, stew a pot of braised pork, and kill a chicken. Everyone is struggling right now, so two hearty dishes will be enough."
"That's enough. When people hold a wedding banquet, they're lucky if they have two main dishes. You're just giving away rice. You could just have one meat dish."
The two chatted for a while longer. Auntie seemed hesitant to speak, but ultimately didn't. Just then, An'an started to pout and whine. Fang Qiao guessed that she was a little hungry, so she called Cheng Baidong over to make formula for the child.
"You feed the baby, it's almost noon. Xiaojing and I will go back first." With that, Auntie San got up and led Xiaojing back.
"good."
Cheng Baidong prepared the formula and fed it to An'an. An'an immediately stopped crying and began to drink the milk quietly.
Fang Qiao sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Cheng Baidong, then asked, "Baodong, did something happen outside today? My aunt seemed hesitant to speak several times when she was talking to me today."
Cheng Baidong hummed in agreement: "There is something, it's about Cheng Yajun. You're currently in your postpartum period, so your third aunt probably didn't mention it because she doesn't want these messy things outside to affect your mood."
"So what? I just treat his family's affairs as a joke now."
Cheng Baidong's words piqued Fang Qiao's curiosity: "Tell me quickly, what trouble has his family caused this time?"
"Cheng Yajun had already set a wedding date for the 16th of the twelfth lunar month. But the woman's family disagreed and wanted to break off the engagement. However, they failed to do so last time, so the wedding was put on hold."
Tomorrow is the sixteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, and the two sides still haven't reached an agreement on the wedding arrangements. This morning, the woman's side came again, and this time they not only agreed to return the betrothal gifts but also promised to give Cheng Yajun an additional fifty yuan as compensation.
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