Upon seeing the female doctor, Sun Xunqiao poured out her grievances, "It's so hard being a woman. I don't dare to go to the clinic to have my pulse taken and ask for medicine. Doctor, thanks to you, I was able to come out today under the pretext of wanting to eat some pastries from Yifanfengshunlou to have my pulse taken and examined by you. I've been married for three months and haven't been able to conceive. My mother is very worried. I was supposed to come yesterday, but the shop was still open yesterday. I couldn't use the back door and was afraid of attracting too much attention. I'm sorry to bother you today."
The female physician carefully took her pulse. "Young lady, you are newly married. You only have some coldness and blood deficiency. There is nothing to worry about. Don't worry about getting pregnant. When the time is right, you will naturally conceive."
Sun Xunqiao breathed a sigh of relief, "It's good that you can have children, it's good that you can have children. I was just afraid that I couldn't."
Qin Xiaozhou was speechless. He got up to check how the packing was going. Today was the eve of the Lunar New Year, and he needed to go home early to celebrate. Wang Lan and Zhao Fang were probably already eagerly waiting for him.
"Don't go!" Sun Xunqiao grabbed her, looking pitiful. "I haven't had a proper conversation with anyone in so long. My husband only knows how to study all day. If I talk too much, he complains that I have long hair but short knowledge, or scolds me for bothering him with these trivial matters. When my mother-in-law heard this, she thought I was delaying her son's studies and ordered me to see my husband only once every ten days. Otherwise, I wouldn't be in such a hurry to see a doctor."
After saying that, the young girl relaxed and slumped her shoulders. "My cousin went to the capital. I heard that the old lady in the capital wants to arrange a marriage for her. I wonder where she will marry. If she marries someone far away, I will never see her again in this lifetime."
Sun Xunqiao talked on and on, and Qin Xiaozhou didn't know how to comfort her, so she just had some desserts made, saying, "Eating something sweet will make you feel better."
Sun Xunqiao pouted, her eyes brimming with tears, "My husband's family is poor, and I haven't dared to come since we got married, but I'm craving this."
Before I left home today, my mother-in-law nagged me for a long time. She said it was nothing more than that I don't know how to be frugal, don't understand how hard it is to earn money, don't understand the difficulties my husband's family faces, and only know how to squander money.
She felt very aggrieved. Her dowry was quite substantial, and she used it all when she went out. Her mother-in-law clearly couldn't stand to see her doing well.
After eating and taking some medicine to nourish her blood and qi, Sun Xunqiao smiled and regained her energy, waving goodbye as she left.
Lu Yan, who had overheard the conversation, said with concern, "Sister-in-law, it's so hard for a woman to get married. Will my aunt also be like this, with no one to talk to, elders making things difficult for her, and her husband ignoring her?"
Imagine arriving in a strange home and being bullied by everyone there – how terrible that would be!
Qin Xiaozhou patted her head, "Dr. Li is a kind-hearted person..."
Then she couldn't continue. Even kind-hearted people have friction with others; no one can get along without any barriers. "On the second day of the Lunar New Year, your brothers will be able to invite your aunt home. You'll know when you ask her."
The group arrived at Wangjia Village in the afternoon. The two small boats were full of New Year's items. Lu Yan slung a small package over her shoulder and ran home. "Grandma, Mom, we're back! We have so much stuff. My brother said you should take the baskets with you."
Both the embroidery building and the textile factory needed someone to guard them, and this time only the real Lu family members returned. The whole family made two trips to move all the things.
Half the yard was filled with the things they had brought back. Wang Lan looked at each item one by one and said, "Why did you buy so much? We have chickens, ducks, goose eggs, and nothing at home. Why did you need to buy all this?"
The Lu brothers packed up the items. "Some of them are to be taken to our aunt's house on the second day of the Lunar New Year. It's the first holiday we visit, so we can't be impolite. Buying more will save them some money."
“Her dowry is already quite substantial.” Although it was her own daughter, Wang Lan was telling the truth. In the countryside, which girl had hundreds of taels of silver saved up? “You don’t earn money easily, so you should be frugal and not waste it.”
Lu Yunfeng gave a perfunctory reply, and Lu Yan ran off in a flash. If her grandmother knew that she earned one and a half taels of silver a month and had received eight hundred coins yesterday, she would probably nag her again. She took out something to tease Lu Xiaosi, "Little brother, look what your sister brought you!"
She pulled out a music box from behind her back. It would make a tinkling sound when opened. This thing was very expensive. It was brought by a stranger and cost her a full thirteen taels of silver. She was now penniless.
The child was very curious about the sound and reached out to grab it, and then tried to smash it. Luckily, Lu Yan was quick-witted and caught it. A two-year-old child would either put things in his mouth or throw them away; he didn't know how to play with them. Zhao Fang slapped her youngest son's hand and said to her youngest daughter, "You can play with this for now. When you're tired of it and your brother has grown up, you can give it to him."
“Alright.” Lu Yan pulled Qin Jinxiu over. “Let’s go see my sister.”
He called out to Lan, "Little Stone just drank her milk and fell asleep. Don't wake her up." Then he said to his grandsons, "It's cold in winter, and the goats don't produce enough milk for Little Stone. I've been feeding her some egg custard and minced meat to fill her stomach these days."
“She’s seven or eight months old now, so she should start eating some complementary foods.” Qin Xiaozhou wasn’t worried about her little sister. Wang Lan and Zhao Fang were both kind people and wouldn’t mistreat a child. Besides, there was a nanny at home. “She should be weaned next spring.”
Today is the eve of the Lunar New Year, and we're going to eat eight-treasure rice. Wang Lan prepared it early, saying, "I'm just waiting for you to come back so I can cook some on the stove and warm you up by the fire."
Chicken, duck, and goose were all stewed, and fresh winter bamboo shoots were used. As Zhao Fang peeled the bamboo shoots, she said, "It's cold again, so there are fewer winter bamboo shoots than last year."
Wang Lan specifically instructed, "Don't dig up too many bamboo shoots after the Spring Festival. We cut down a lot of bamboo this year to make bamboo skewers, so let's grow some bamboo shoots to help them recover. I see that the bamboo forest is all bare outside."
Lu Yunfeng reassured him, "It's alright. Bamboo grows fast, and we can't even finish digging up all the bamboo shoots in spring. I'll go check on Qingzhugou."
Although the weather was sunny, the wind was biting. After the snow melted, everything was wet. The sun seemed to have no warmth at all. Chickens were for sacrifice and could not be eaten. Qin Xiaozhou cooked a pot of peanut milk to drink, which was nutritious and could whiten the skin. "Did this year's snow use up all the rain from the drought of the previous two years? There were hardly any sunny days throughout the whole winter."
Lu Yunxing changed out of his long gown and put on the thick cotton-padded coat sewn by Zhao Fang. He went to the vegetable garden next to the house. In the county town, even a handful of green vegetables is hard to come by. He picked a basketful, saying, "Let's have some green leafy vegetables tonight."
After preparing a sumptuous dinner, the family gathered around the large round table to eat. Wang Lan served everyone a bowl of eight-treasure rice, saying, "You have to eat it today, so you can stay safe and healthy."
Soupy dishes can stay warm for a while, but stir-fried cabbage and stir-fried pork get cold in just fifteen minutes, with white lard showing, making them look unappetizing. Lan sighed, "That's how it is in winter. You can't have a good meal. Before you've even finished eating, the food gets cold. You drink some soup to warm it up, but don't eat anything oily, or you'll get an upset stomach."
The villagers are not particular about eating. In many households, they leave the food on the stove to keep it warm from the residual heat. People stand around the stove casually, or squat down to eat some food elsewhere. Unlike the Lu family, where everyone sits properly around the dining table to eat.
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