When the flu ended, the first snow fell.
It snowed for a whole day and a night. It started as rain and snow, and turned into snow in the afternoon when the temperature dropped. The originally wet ground gradually froze, and the snow that fell later piled up on it. So although it looked like snow on the surface, it was actually all ice underneath, and you would fall if you were not careful.
Tian Cai climbed a ladder yesterday afternoon to scrape down the snow from the roof and the bamboo shed in the backyard. She was afraid that the snow was too thick and would damage the thatched roof, so she got up twice in the middle of the night.
That day, Luo Xiujuan came over with her sewing basket. Tian Cai had asked her to help make cotton shoes before. She had already made a pair, which was now on Tian Cai's feet, but she made a second pair for her in case she didn't have a replacement.
Tian Cai had nothing to do, so he learned to make clothes under the guidance of Luo Xiuyan.
What we are learning now is said to be the simplest cotton waistcoat, which is a cotton vest.
I watched Luo Xiuyan measure her own size and write it down on paper, and then use coarse cloth to measure the fabric to be used. I taught her step by step how big the opening should be and how the chest should be cut to leave room for the front chest, where the buttons should be pinned, how long the back should be, and so on.
Tian Cai also found the rabbit skins he had hunted before, and spread them flat on the kang piece by piece. He cut off the scraps of skin from the arms and legs and put them aside. He only pieced together the largest pieces and sewed them on according to the shape of the fabric.
Luo Xiuyan herself also has a cotton waistcoat like this, also made of rabbit skin. She was watching her mother making it, so now she can guide Tian Cai in a very professional way.
However, Tian Cai did not intend to make just a simple rabbit fur waistcoat. She planned to add some cotton into it, and the waistcoat should also be able to cover the shoulders and have a higher collar.
The two chatted while working. Tian Cai lived far away and seldom went out. He learned a lot of news about the village from Luo Xiuyan and the villagers who came to see the doctor.
Most of the women in the village are busy making straw ropes. Each commune has a task to complete, and the supply and marketing cooperatives will purchase them in bulk. However, young girls cannot do this job as it is too laborious.
"The postman came the day before yesterday," Luo Xiuyan said suddenly, remembering something. "He asked about the location of the Youth House. He said that several of the youth families had sent gifts, and the packages were quite large."
Tian Cai nodded without comment. They were all the treasures of the family. Many of them went to the countryside to protect themselves. Moreover, the situation was about to become turbulent. The smart people in the family should have noticed the signs by now.
Of course, those who want to protect their children should take advantage of the power they still have to find a place that is not so poor and remote to arrange for them to go there, and provide all the supplies they can. No one knows what the future will be like.
"Why aren't you curious about those educated youth?" Luo Xiuyan asked in confusion. The girls in the village were all curious about them. After all, these educated youth came from the city they longed for. They were beautiful and educated, and their dress and way of speaking were different from those of the villagers.
"What's there to be curious about? They all have the same nose and two eyes," Tian Cai replied nonchalantly. "Besides, you never know how long they've been in the village. After a while, you'll find they're no different from the villagers."
That's true. Luo Xiuyan felt that what Tian Cai said made sense. "Yesterday, Luo Juan asked me if Yan Zhiqing had a girlfriend. I don't know what she was thinking."
"Luo Juan?" Tian Cai couldn't remember who this Luo Juan was.
"It's my second uncle's cousin, Luo Xiujuan. She thought Luo Xiujuan sounded bad, so she asked my second uncle to go to the brigade and change her name to Luo Juan."
Tian Cai then remembered this person. When she first came to the village, Luo Juan was said to have gone to visit relatives in the county and came back before the autumn harvest. She had met her once. It was said that the two cousins were actually the same age, but Luo Juan looked obviously much more mature.
"Didn't your sister find a boyfriend in the city?" Tian Cai remembered Luo Xiuyan had told her this before.
Speaking of Luo Xiuyan, it was quite strange. "Her second aunt came to my uncle's house several times before, saying that she wanted to take Luo Juan to the county and introduce her to the son of the factory workshop director as a match. My second aunt immediately agreed to it. She grinned non-stop for the past few days, bragging to everyone that Luo Juan was going to marry in the city."
"You know her second aunt, too?" Tian Cai pricked up her ears. Based on her years of police experience, she knew there was something fishy going on. For example, how could the workshop director's son not find a partner? There was definitely something wrong with this guy.
"I have never seen her. She is definitely not my second aunt's biological sister. I have seen all of her biological sisters. Later, I went back to ask my mother, and she said that she was my second aunt's cousin. She had seen her several times after my second uncle and second aunt got married." At that time, her mother's attitude was quite strange when she mentioned this cousin, and she asked her to stay away from that woman.
"My cousin said she wanted to introduce me to someone, but I had eczema and didn't want to get married. So my cousin went to the county alone.
As for why she came back later, I don't know. Anyway, she asked me about several male educated youth, and the one she asked the most was Yan Zhiqing. Do you think she is crazy about being a city dweller?
Tian Cai looked at Luo Xiuyan speechlessly. This kid must be stupid. She dared to share this kind of "family shame" with her. What could she say?
Luo Xiuyan knew that family disgrace should not be made public, she just wanted to find someone to complain to. Because her parents and elder brother had been hiding secrets these days, she didn't want to tell her mother anything.
Tian Cai didn't expect that she would meet the person they were gossiping about today the next day.
That day, Tian Cai had dinner early. Seeing that no one came, he sat on the kang and read a medical book. At about seven or eight o'clock, he heard someone knocking on his door.
The knocking sound was not loud, but there was no one near Tian Cai's house so it was particularly obvious. The person knocking on the door seemed to have noticed it as well. Except for the first knock which was relatively loud, the following knocks were much quieter.
Tian Cai put on a cotton jacket and went to open the door. It was his beautiful second aunt Zhu Cuihua, who was accompanied by a woman wearing a headscarf.
The woman's face was tightly covered with a headscarf, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed. Tian Cai did not ask any questions and led the two into the house.
"Doctor Tian, I'm so sorry to bother you so late at night. I want you to check on my niece." Zhu Cuihua said this, but her face didn't show any embarrassment at all.
"Where do you feel uncomfortable?" Tian Cai pulled a bench over for the two of them to sit on.
Zhu Cuihua: "My niece just got married a few months ago, so I want to ask how she is doing, when she can get pregnant, and whether she needs to eat more healthy foods."
Tian Cai asked the woman in the headscarf who had not spoken a word to put her hand on the table to feel her pulse. As soon as she started, she understood. The pulse was as smooth as a pearl, which meant she was pregnant.
This wasn't a body check, but something he wanted to confirm as he had been feeling it for a long time. Tian Cai touched her for a while and confirmed that she was about a month pregnant.
From the moment she put her hand on it, the two of them kept staring at her until she took her hand away.
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