Fang Meili still brought Fang Meixiang and Fang Dongqiang home to take care of them every morning, and Fang Meixiang's mother would send them back in the evening.
Fang Dongqiang is also growing noticeably. At first, Fang Meili wrapped him in swaddling clothes and carried him horizontally, but now she can hold him upright with one hand supporting his back. Fang Dongqiang will turn his little head and look around.
Along the way, when villagers greeted her, someone would always smile and say, "Meili, you've watched your nephew grow up in your arms all this time."
Fang Meili smiled too, her tone tinged with tenderness, "Yes, now I smile when I see everyone."
It's that time of year again for the "double rush" – harvesting early rice and planting late rice.
During the busy farming season, people can already be seen in the fields at the crack of dawn.
During this time, Fang Meihao was on holiday at home, so she took care of Fang Dongqiang and Fang Meili to work in the fields.
"Meihao, you must study hard. If you get into university, you won't have to carry a hoe anymore."
Fang Meili returned from the fields soaked to the bone, her skin sticky and clinging to her skin. Her face was burning from the sun, and the back of her neck was scorching.
Fang Meili clutched the back of her hand, her exposed skin often scratched and itchy by grass and rice leaves, and sometimes she would get several mosquito bites.
“Yes, if you have a job, you can sit in an office and relax in the cool air. You don’t have to suffer like this. The government arranges good jobs for university graduates,” Fang Meixiang’s mother chimed in.
"Mmm." Fang Meihao nodded, hugging Fang Dongqiang.
Even with her big belly, Hua Mei went to work in the fields during this season.
The scorching sun baked the rice paddies like giant steamers, and the muddy water was so hot it could burn your skin. Hua Mei bent over to harvest the rice, and sweat streamed down her forehead and into her eyes, making her squint.
Suddenly, it felt like a dull knife was churning inside her stomach, and waves of intense, sharp pain caused her to drop the sickle in the field with a clang.
"My stomach hurts." She propped herself up and looked at the square tree roots not far away.
Fang Shugen immediately dropped his sickle and ran over to help her move towards the edge of the field.
Hua Mei, supporting Fang Shugen's arm, kept sinking down, unable to take another step.
"Can you still walk? Let's go cool off under that tree."
Hua Mei was in so much pain that she couldn't straighten up.
Fang Shugen gritted his teeth, picked her up, and quickly walked to the shade of a tree by the roadside, gently placing her on the grass.
Hua Mei curled up in pain, her lower body already soaked.
Seeing this, the neighbor woman hurriedly shouted, "Shugen, Huamei is about to give birth, take off her pants!"
She then turned to the men next to her and waved, "What are you men doing here? Get out of here, all of you get out of here."
The men tactfully dispersed, while several women who had given birth provided guidance from the sidelines.
"Hua Mei, put your strength downwards."
...
Fang Shugen's mother rushed over from home in a panic, carrying scissors and a swaddled baby.
When she arrived, a wrinkled baby girl had already emerged and was curled up beside her, crying weakly.
Upon seeing that it was a girl, his face instantly fell. "How lazy of you to give birth at this time."
Fang Shugen carefully wrapped his daughter up.
Hua Mei lay on the grass, her face pale, and weakly smiled at her daughter.
Several women with some experience helped to handle it.
Fang Shugen looked at his daughter in his arms, then at Hua Mei who was still lying on the grass, "Hua Mei, can you walk?"
Fang Shugen's mother saw that there were still people watching, and said, "Give her to me, and you carry her back."
She reluctantly took her daughter from Fang Shugen's arms.
Fang Shugen carried Hua Mei on his back.
When they encountered villagers on the road, they saw that Fang Meigen's mother had a bitter face, so they didn't ask her any more questions.
Fang Shugen's mother was still muttering complaints beside her, "How could we have given birth to a daughter?"
"Mother, your daughter is good. Your first child can have two more."
Fang Shugen's mother looked at Hua Mei, who was clinging to Fang Shugen's back, and sighed, "With her physique, I thought she could have a son... Sigh..."
Hua Mei can finally get some rest.
Fang Shugen's mother felt sorry for her son, so she went to work in the fields with him.
Hua Mei was home alone with her daughter. No one taught her how to do it, so she could only rely on instinct to figure it out. When her daughter cried, she would lift up her clothes to breastfeed her, and when her daughter wet her diaper, she would quickly change it.
Unlike Fang Meixiang, she didn't have many good foods during her postpartum period. Without good food, her breast milk was insufficient, and her daughter often cried because she wasn't getting enough to eat.
In the summer, my family would cook some porridge in the morning and leave it on the table so we could eat it as soon as we came back from the fields.
Hua Mei scooped up the rice porridge and fed it to her daughter little by little with a small spoon.
My daughter's little mouth was unconsciously pursed, and after she finished eating, she smacked her lips, with a little white paste on the corner of her mouth.
Looking at her daughter's adorable appearance, Hua Mei smiled like a loving mother and fed her a little more.
At this moment, she was neither crazy nor foolish; she was simply a mother who loved her daughter with all her heart.
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