The family members went to meetings, some went up the mountain to cut wood, and Xue Nizi took the children up the mountain to dig for wild vegetables.
Only she and Zhang Yueniang remained at home.
Li Lanzhen looked at her belly and asked, "Eldest daughter-in-law, you must be more than six months pregnant, right?"
Zhang Yueniang smiled and gently rubbed her high, protruding belly with both hands.
"Mother, it's been more than seven months."
Li Lan nodded, went into the cave, and rummaged through her basket.
Actually, she just wanted to use the basket to take out some cotton cloth from her storage space.
They picked out a few pieces of blue floral fabric and a dark red fine cotton fabric, intending for Zhang Yueniang to use these two pieces to make some small clothes for the unborn child.
Then he took out a few pieces of blue coarse cloth and made two small mattresses.
After picking and choosing for a while, I took out a few pieces of blue cotton cloth to make a small swaddle blanket for the child.
I casually took out more than two pounds of cotton.
Li Lanzhen noticed that the cotton from the merchant who exchanged labor protection goods with her wasn't pure white; it was a bit yellowish. She didn't know if it had been stored for a long time or if it was a problem with the production technology, but it was still cotton, and it would be fine for keeping warm.
She put all of these in a basket on her back and carried them out.
"Eldest daughter-in-law, here's some for you. Use the fine cotton cloth to make clothes for the baby to wear close to the skin. Use the cotton cloth to make two swaddle blankets for the baby, one thin and one thick. Use the coarse cloth to make a mattress for the baby. You can decide what to do with the rest."
Judging from Zhang Yueniang's clothes, they should be the eldest brother's clothes. The eldest brother is tall, while she is short. The width is okay, and it is still loose even though she has a big belly, but she can't fill them out. The clothes cover her buttocks.
It's impossible to make maternity clothes for her right now; I'm thinking of making them after she gives birth.
Looking at the basket of cotton and cloth on her back, Zhang Yueniang's tears instantly flowed down her cheeks.
Her lips trembled, her hands shook, and she cried out in disbelief, "Mother! Mother, you...you said you'd give all of these to me so I could make clothes and blankets for the baby in my belly?"
Seeing her surprised expression, Li Lanzhen pretended to be angry, glaring at her and clicking her tongue twice.
"Tsk tsk, really. I'm the child's grandmother. I'm just getting him some cloth and cotton to make clothes and blankets. What's wrong with that? Do you want to make them or not? If not, give them back to me."
Zhang Yueniang quickly picked up the basket and hugged it to her arms, nodding vigorously and saying, "Mother! Yes! Yes, okay, I'll make it for the child. Thank you, thank you so much!"
After saying this, he wiped away his tears, picked up his basket, and sat down under a tree next to the cave.
There were a few dead trees that Li Lanzhen had brought over with her two sons. Old clothes were placed on them so that Zhang Yueniang could sit and rest.
Suddenly, Li Lan realized that she might not have any needles or thread while fleeing the famine.
He then pretended to rummage through the basket for a long time, and took out a pair of scissors, various colored threads, and a dozen needles of different sizes and thicknesses, as well as three thimbles.
"Here, this is a needle and thread."
Li Lanzhen knew that Zhang Yueniang was exceptionally skilled at sewing and embroidery.
In recent years, with natural disasters and man-made calamities, life has been difficult, and there has been no extra time or cloth to sew new clothes or embroider.
She wasn't afraid of her wasting things, because Zhang Yueniang was a frugal and hardworking child at home.
Li Lanzhen also sat on the other end of the log, leaning against the big tree behind her, thinking about what to do next.
The primary issue is solving the food problem. Now, the old village chief and his team are starting to plant sweet potatoes and potatoes, as well as wild vegetables and fruits that are abundant in the mountains, and small animals.
As long as you are diligent, store up some food, and arrange your three meals a day reasonably, you should be able to get through the winter without any problems.
Li Lanzhen wasn't too worried about this, as her children were very sensible and hardworking.
They didn't miss a single wild vegetable or fruit from the mountain, and carried them all home in their baskets.
The second most important thing is to find Han Mingxiang and Han Shulan.
The two children had disappeared to an unknown location, but they knew they were going to Youzhou, so they still decided to make the trip.
Leave the agreed-upon mark outside Youzhou City, and make sure to mark the way up the mountain to lead them here.
Ideally, I should go into Youzhou City and leave my mark in various places.
The third most important thing is to renovate the cave and build a heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed), which is the primary issue for ensuring a safe winter.
Li Lanzhen didn't need to worry about that. As for building the house in the cave, it had already been discussed that morning, and Han Mingjiang and the others should be able to complete it. As for building the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove), her father and brothers could also do it.
So, the next step is to go to Youzhou City.
The message Xue Laohu brought back that day said a riot had broken out outside Youzhou City. Now three or four days have passed, and he doesn't know what the situation is.
Li Lanzhen thought that this time she would just take Gou Dan and Han Yinan with her.
Of course, it would be best to bring Han Mingjiang and Xue Bao with you.
However, the situation outside is unclear. If they were conscripted after going down the mountain, it would be very troublesome.
It would be much safer to bring two small children and pretend to be refugees.
Li Lanzhen wanted to go down the mountain to enter Youzhou City for two reasons: one, to leave a message for Han Mingxiang, and two, to bring out supplies from her spatial storage.
Otherwise, there's really no other way. If we take it out of thin air now, we can only find a suitable opportunity and reason when we get to Youzhou City.
We can't always drag Jin Fulai, the young master, into taking the blame.
Having made her decision, she planned to tell everyone when they returned for lunch.
Then, he took Gou Dan and Han Yi down the mountain. The round trip would probably take three or four days.
Since Li Lanzhen traveled here, she has eaten three meals a day whenever conditions allowed during her escape from famine. Even when there were no conditions or opportunities to cook hot meals, she would still eat dry rations three times a day.
The two in-laws, along with her parents, had long been used to it by Gou Dan and his grandson.
Yesterday, both in-laws, their own parents, and Gou Dan's grandmother all said they would eat separately, each family eating their own food.
Li Lanzhen thought for a moment. She had food in her space, and she had a lot of work to do lately, so it would be better to eat together.
Once things settle down, or when winter comes, everyone will eat at their own expense.
Li Lanzhen tried to dissuade her, saying, "These next few days we need to build houses inside the cave, construct heated brick beds, and farm the land. There's a lot of work to do."
Let's eat together. When winter comes, we can each eat at our own homes.
There are many wild vegetables and fruits in the mountains. Everyone should collect as much as possible, whether to dry them or pickle them. They all belong to each family.
During the time we ate together, what we ate for each of the three meals a day, and how it was arranged, was entirely up to Xue Nizi.
This way, we could avoid everyone bringing too much food at once, which would lead to waste or people forgetting about it and having nothing to eat. So Xue Nizi arranged for five households to take turns coming.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com