When Fang Dongqiang woke up on the second day of the Lunar New Year, he immediately asked, "Auntie, is Second Aunt coming today?"
"I don't know, go ask Grandma."
He ran up to Fang Meixiang's mother and asked, "Grandma, is Second Aunt coming today?"
"Do you miss your second aunt?" Fang Meixiang's mother asked with a smile.
"Mm." Fang Dongqiang nodded.
Do you miss your second aunt as a person, or do you miss the things she brought you?
"I want both, and my second aunt's husband's bicycle."
"Your mouth is quite honest, though."
"Mother, is Second Sister coming?" Fang Meihao also asked.
Fang Meixiang's mother walked to the door, looked at the sky, and then glanced at the road in front of the door. "They need to watch the shop, and Meili is heavily pregnant, so it's inconvenient for them. I told them last time that they don't need to come during the first month of the lunar calendar."
"Auntie isn't coming." Fang Dongqiang sat down in the chair with his head drooping in disappointment.
"Dongqiang is most disappointed that his second aunt isn't coming," Fang Meihao joked.
"Little Aunt, since Second Aunt isn't coming, let's go to the stream instead. Let's call Fang Yu."
"Hmm, I'm not going today. It's boring to go to the same place every day."
"Where are we going today?"
Fang Meihao thought of the people who had visited them on the slope yesterday, and even went to the small shop to say, "I'm not going anywhere, I'll stay home today."
Fang Dongqiang couldn't sit still at home, and soon he ran to the threshing ground to play with his friends.
After lunch, Fang Dongqiang hadn't even left the house when he heard the doorbell ring. He immediately ran to the door, saying, "Second Aunt is here!"
"Dongqiang really wants Meili to come! He can't sit still at the slightest sound."
Fang Dongqiang had already run to the door, "Second Aunt, Second Uncle!"
"Ah, Mei Li really came?" Fang Meixiang's mother also ran to the door.
"Meili, Xinkang, and Dongqiang heard the bell ring and said that Auntie was here, but we didn't believe it."
“You could even recognize the ringtone when Dong Qiang called; he was the first to run out to greet us,” Fang Meili said with a smile.
Fang Meixiang's mother quickly helped Fang Meili up, saying, "We told you not to come this year, the shop is busy, and you're heavily pregnant."
“I wasn’t originally going to come, but when I saw them coming to buy things to take back to their parents’ home this morning, I couldn’t resist coming.”
"Second Aunt, your belly is so big!"
Fang Meili linked arms with Fang Dongqiang, who carefully touched her belly.
"Dongqiang, is your second aunt carrying a little brother or a little sister?" Fang Meixiang's mother asked.
"Little brother, play with me. Little sister too, I'll take her to the stream to collect stones."
"Why did you go to collect stones?" Fang Meili asked curiously.
Fang Dongqiang pulled Fang Meili to see the stones they had picked up yesterday.
Fang Meixiang's mother and Yuan Xinkang carried the things into the house together.
"Xin Kang, it's good that you're here. You brought so many things during the New Year, and now you're bringing more."
“Mother, yes, these are all things that the store has,” Yuan Xinkang replied.
"Some things in the store can be sold for money, and the items in the store were purchased with money."
Fang Meixiang sat next to her and pointed to the stone she had brought back.
“My mom said she brought this back from the stream.”
Fang Meili patted the back of Fang Dongqiang's head. "Dongqiang has grown up. He can even guess what his mother is thinking now."
"I'm 5 years old," Fang Dongqiang said, puffing out his little chest.
"Yes, you've grown up. You understand what Mommy means and you can protect Mommy now."
"Second sister, you're here." Fang Meihao came over.
Seeing Fang Meili and Fang Meihao talking, Fang Dongqiang immediately stepped in front of Yuan Xinkang, smiled slyly, and said, "Second Uncle."
"What do you want to do?" Yuan Xinkang saw through Fang Dongqiang's thoughts.
"Want me to take you out for fun?"
Where are you taking me to play?
"Threshing ground, small shop, production brigade."
Yuan Xinkang turned to Fang Meili and said, "Meili, Dongqiang said he'd take me out to play."
Fang Meili was delighted when she heard this, "Okay, Dong Qiang is familiar with the village, you can hang out with Dong Qiang."
Yuan Xinkang led Fang Dongqiang out the door, deliberately passing by bicycles without stopping.
Fang Dongqiang shuffled his toes along the ground, leaned back, and tugged at Yuan Xinkang's hand, as if trying to quietly "brake."
"Dongqiang, don't you want to go anymore?"
"Second Uncle, aren't you going by bike?" he asked in a low voice.
"Do you want to take me sightseeing, or do you want to ride in a car?"
"Hehehe!" Fang Dongqiang bit his lower lip.
"Come on up." Yuan Xinkang lifted Fang Dongqiang onto the crossbeam.
"Ring ring!" Fang Dongqiang happily pressed the bicycle bell.
"Where are you going? The tea is ready, have some first," Fang Meixiang's mother called out from outside.
“Mom, we came right after lunch. Let them go play,” Fang Meili said.
"Slow down, there are a lot of people during the New Year!" Fang Meixiang's mother shouted at the top of her lungs, even though they had already gone far away.
"Meili, are you struggling now?" Fang Meixiang's mother went back into the house to sit and chat with her third daughter.
Fang Meixiang listened quietly to their conversation.
"Merry. When you're close to giving birth, send someone a message that I'm coming over."
"It hurts, it hurts!" Fang Meixiang cried out.
"Huh? Is childbirth that painful? It's been so many years, and you don't remember anything else, but you still remember this pain," Fang Meili said in surprise.
"Meixiang, don't scare Meili. Childbirth is painful, but look how well Dongqiang has grown up now. Isn't it all worth it?"
Upon hearing this, Fang Meixiang nodded, her expression relaxing.
“Our Meixiang actually knows everything.” Fang Meixiang’s mother looked at Fang Meili’s braids. “Meili, you’re about to give birth, so cut your hair then. It’ll be more comfortable during your postpartum period.”
“No, I won’t cut it. If I cut it, I’ll look like an old woman.” Fang Meili quickly waved her hand.
"Are you still a girl? You're going to be a mother soon. You can't wash your hair during postpartum confinement, it's uncomfortable when your hair is too long." Fang Meixiang's mother touched her braid.
“I used to see people in the village, like the older sister. After she got pregnant, she cut her hair and looked much older. She went from a young girl to a woman. At that time, I thought, when I get pregnant, I won’t cut my hair. After I give birth, I will be like Yu Jihong and take good care of myself.”
“Just like her. Speaking of her, ask Meihao what happened yesterday.” Fang Meixiang’s mother looked at Fang Meihao.
"Meihao, what's up?" Fang Meili asked immediately.
“We played with Fang Yu’s mom yesterday. Hmm, she doesn’t seem crazy. I think she’s a pretty good person.”
“Both of you sisters say she’s a good person and you enjoy interacting with her,” Fang Meixiang’s mother said helplessly.
"She's really nice and smart. Last time she came to the shop, she asked me to take out my sewing machine so I could repair things and earn some money for labor. She made small items from leftover fabric scraps to sell, and just by doing that, she made double the price of the fabric scraps."
“Yesterday, everyone was saying that a college student was playing with three crazy people on the stream,” Fang Meixiang’s mother sighed.
"Oh? You play with Hua Mei too?"
"No, we were there first. Hua Mei was brought over by her mother-in-law later."
"Meihao, Huamei, don't pay any attention to her. Her mother-in-law is awful and doesn't have any good intentions."
"Oh, I wasn't home for more than a few days. I went back to school after the semester started."
Yuan Xinkang led Fang Dongqiang past the small shop. There were many people at the shop entrance, which made Fang Dongqiang even more excited, and he kept ringing the bicycle bell.
Fang Damiao was already at the shop entrance. "Xin Kang, you're here?"
"Hey, bro, we just got here." Yuan Xinkang stopped at the entrance of the small shop with one foot on the ground.
"Dongqiang, who is this?" someone next to Fang Dongqiang teased.
“My second aunt’s husband owns a shop, a bigger one than this one,” Fang Dongqiang said proudly, raising his head. “My second aunt’s husband has a bicycle.”
Yuan Xinkang felt embarrassed by Fang Dongqiang's praise and patted his head, "Brother, I'll take Dongqiang for another ride."
“Okay, okay, I’m going home too,” Fang Damiao said.
"Meili is good to Dongqiang. She took him with her every day before she got married. Now her husband is just as good to your Dongqiang. Damiao, you are truly a lazy person with good fortune."
"Yeah, yeah!" Fang Damiao smiled as she watched Yuan Xinkang ride away on his bicycle.
On the bicycle, Yuan Xinkang leaned close to Fang Dongqiang's head and asked, "Dongqiang, do you like your second aunt's husband?"
“I like it. Your family has a big shop, and you have a bicycle. Your bicycle,” Fang Dongqiang pressed the bicycle bell, “It will ring.”
"You like me because of these things?"
"And also... you are my second aunt's husband."
"Haha, you even know what a husband is? Do you even know what a husband is?"
"I know, when your second aunt goes to your house, she's your husband."
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