Chapter 190 189. Isn’t it a specialty that you have a lot of time?
Zhou Yi actually knows a lot of children's songs.
"Selling Tangyuan", "Catching Loaches", "Lubinghua", "Little Crescent Moon", "Little Garden", "I Go to Kindergarten"...
Some of them were taught by his teacher when he was a child, and some were remembered by his aunt's little cousin and his friend's children after singing them many times. He could remember three or four sentences, if not the whole song.
It's always out of tune.
So Zhou Yi doesn't like singing.
——He is an adult in his thirties and has no children. It is so embarrassing for him to always sing children's songs. He doesn't listen to many pop songs and can't sing them very well. He remembers the red songs and military songs but can only sing them.
When Zhou Yi was in school, he would not be chosen to sing on stage unless it was a class chorus.
Oh, by the way, he can't dance, draw, play the piano, guitar, violin, flute... nothing.
Apart from cooking, I don't have any special skills.
"No."
Lei Li said seriously, "You have a long time, so why isn't it considered a special skill?"
“…”
Zhou Yi blushed and blushed
But little Jiang really likes listening to his father singing. Every time Zhou Yi sings, he opens his round black eyes and looks at his father intently.
But I fell asleep before I could even sing three sentences.
It's very hypnotic.
Lei Li discovered this new world. When it was time to coax little Jiang to sleep, he would send Zhou Yi to sing to soothe the child to sleep. After the child fell asleep, he would naturally pull Zhou Yi to do some things that were not suitable for children.
Sometimes he even teased Zhou Yi.
"What did you sing to Little Ginger today?"
“…lupine.”
Zhou Yi was silent for a moment, then said with a hint of doubt, "I don't know why, but after singing just two lines, Xiao Sheng Jiang started crying and fell asleep with tears in her eyes."
His little hands were still tightly holding his fingers, as if he was afraid that his father would abandon him if he fell asleep.
——Although it is true.
Zhou Yi patted Little Ginger's back and coaxed him. When his frown subsided and he looked obedient and stopped holding his fingers, he tiptoed out of Little Ginger's room.
Lei Li laughed a little after hearing this, and was also a little curious, "How does Lu Binghua sing?"
"Then you are not allowed to laugh."
"I don't laugh."
"…The tea gardens of my hometown are full of flowers, my mother's heart is far away, every night I think of her words, and my tears sparkle like lupine flowers."
"No wonder the little ginger is crying."
Lei Li didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and asked again, "Does Mama mean A Niang? Do you call A Niang "Mama" over there?"
"Um."
Zhou Yi nodded and said, "It's like this in most places. It's said that because children start making the sound 'mu' 'mu', they call their mother 'ma'."
"What do you call your father?"
"dad."
Zhou Yi paused and looked at him with a bit of surprise, "I thought you would take the opportunity to respond..."
Lei Li snorted softly, "I'm not in the habit of being a casual father." He then said with a hint of joking, "I don't want a son who sings off-tune either."
“…”
Zhou Yi was speechless for a moment, then asked, "What if Xiao Shengjiang also sings out of tune?"
"this……"
Lei Li pretended to think deeply, then seriously discussed, "It's easy, actually. Let the little Jiang take your last name, and if there's another one who doesn't sing out of tune, take my last name. Then the one who sings out of tune will be your Zhou family's child."
“…It’s treating the root cause, not the symptoms?”
"What?"
Lei Li snorted and said, "I'm giving you a chance. If we don't have another child, Little Jiang will have my last name, and your Zhou family's lineage will be truly cut off."
"Then break it off."
Zhou Yi said without hesitation, "It doesn't matter whether they have your surname or mine, they are our children. My Zhou family doesn't have a throne to inherit."
He was Zhou Yi, not the Emperor of Zhou. His son, Xiao Sheng Jiang, was not the Crown Prince, so it didn't matter what his surname was. Besides, Xiao Sheng Jiang was the child of Lei Li's painstaking nine-month pregnancy, so it was only natural that she should have the same surname as him.
Zhou Yi paused, thinking about what he had heard from Lei Li several times about having a second child, and how anxious she seemed to be about not being able to have one, he added a word of comfort,
"We are both still young. You don't have to rush if you want a second child. Just let nature take its course and you will eventually have a child."
How could Lei Li be anxious about not being able to have a second child?
Anyway, Zhou Yi was the one who took care of everything before and after the birth, so he only had to stay in the delivery room for a short while—besides the fact that confinement was a bit boring, he was not allowed to eat anything with too many different or strong flavors, saying that it would affect his postpartum recovery...
He now realizes a little bit late, and is worried that he was too arbitrary before. He wanted Zhou Yi to marry into his family and let the little girl Jiang take his surname, which would make Zhou Yi feel uncomfortable.
But Zhou Yi was open and aboveboard, and even advised him not to be impatient. Really...
Makes people want to eat.
Lei Li's heart was moved and she immediately took action. She threw Zhou Yi to the ground, took his hand, touched her flat and tight belly, and whispered teasingly with a smile on her face,
"My husband, please work hard and give birth to a little baby Zhou Zhou as soon as possible so that he can play with Brother Jiang..."
"……Um."
Zhou Yi's ears turned red.
I was thinking, Lei Zhouzhou? Lei Li's name this time is pretty nice...
After several months of hard work, there was no sign of little Lei Zhouzhou, but little Jiang learned to sing "Catching Loaches". He sang a line of the lyrics in a baby voice, and then carried a small wooden bucket to go to the fields with his brother Xiaobao and brother Tao to catch loaches.
Autumn goes and winter comes.
By November, when the autumn rice is harvested, the tomato season is also coming to an end.
The stored tomato seeds are enough for planting in several prefectures, but there is no time to plant them this year, and the tomatoes in Sanlihe Village are only enough for Qingmi County.
When the first snow of this year fell, most of the tomato plants in the tomato garden withered, with only a few half-red fruits hanging here and there.
These tomatoes won't survive the winter.
Not cold-resistant.
Zhou Yi did not supply Qingmi County with the last batch of tomatoes he harvested. The Sichuan restaurant’s tomato pot was officially sold out, while the Lei family’s tomato pot was bubbling.
Sweet and sour red soup.
Delicious red meat.
This year, Dongyuan had shipped a batch of fresh milk and meat early on, almost all of which were grassland products from foreign tribes. The cattle grazing by foreign tribes were not used for farming, and a batch would be slaughtered for trade and meat as the New Year approached.
The same is true for sheep.
However, these beef and mutton are in short supply. In previous years, they were supplied to Kyoto Prefecture and Nakagawa Prefecture first, and the rest were divided up among the major prefectures. Very few of them could be found in Qingmi County.
"Xiaoqing specially asked someone to keep some of it."
Meng Luo said proudly, wishing everyone knew about Mei Yuqing's cleverness, "This year, there is a lot of beef and mutton traded by foreign tribes. The Dongyuan Mengjia Rice Shop branch grabbed some, and most of it was shipped to Zhongchuan."
"Xiaoqing specifically asked me to save some for you and Zhou Yi, don't you like it? This beef and mutton is very fresh, and they are all grass-fed. It will definitely taste good in hot pot."
"There are also a lot of nougat and goat milk cakes for Xiao Shengjiang and Xiao Bao."
"I'm luckier this year."
Mei and Qing smiled lightly.
He was not a person who liked to seek credit or reward, but seeing Meng Luo so happy, he pursed his lips and showed an obvious smile.
"That's perfect."
Lei Li smiled and said, "In previous years, I only ate mutton. This is the first time I've eaten beef. It's cold today, so the meat and milk can be stored better."
"If you're not in a hurry to go back to Zhongchuan, just come to our house and eat together. You don't have to cook separately."
"That's a good feeling."
Mengluo agreed and nodded happily.
"but……"
Zhou Yi frowned slightly. "Didn't the foreign tribes suffer a snowstorm last year? Why are they slaughtering so many cattle and sheep this year? Are they also suffering from a disaster this year?"
"That's not the case."
Meng Luo shook his head, revealing a look of righteous indignation. "It's because the imperial court negotiated peace last year and paid a large sum of silver and medicinal herbs to those foreign tribes. They have no shortage of expenses this year, so naturally they're willing to sell more cattle and sheep to save money for a good New Year."
"Because our Dayou Dynasty surrendered without a fight, those foreign tribes look down on us. Beef, mutton, and milk are now much more expensive than before."
"The year before last, it was 150 wen per catty, but this year it's tripled to 450 wen!"
"The Dongyuan prefect feared that if we went against the wishes of the foreign tribes, they would attack and massacre the people again, so he secretly asked us merchants to buy all their goods."
"If you want to buy their beef and mutton, you have to buy other things together. It's simply forced buying!"
"That's really excessive."
Lei Li also frowned, "If next year is still like this... I'm afraid there will be a war sooner or later."
"There is also a big country eyeing Xiling with covetous eyes and two small countries sitting on the fence."
Zhou Yi added, "These two small countries were once frightened by Emperor Anwu and surrendered and paid tribute. But now, a foreign tribe with a total population of only a few hundred thousand can oppress our dynasty and force us to pay compensation—"
"I'm afraid other neighboring countries are also ready to make moves."
"The Wanyi Kingdom in Wuxing is not a good bird either."
Meng Luo said angrily, "When Emperor Anwu attacked them before, he hypocritically begged for peace and said he was a brother. Now if our dynasty loses power, he will definitely turn into a jackal, tiger or leopard and pounce on us to tear off a piece of our flesh."
"really."
Mei Yuqing nodded gently.
Everyone was silent for a while.
Little Ginger came running over, holding a white nougat, his black eyes sparkling, and asked in a baby voice, "Daddy, Daddy, Tangtang, Tangtang, Little Ginger wants to eat some?"
"sure."
Lei Li put aside his worries, picked up little Ginger, and smiled as he unwrapped the nougat wrapper for him. "Open your mouth, ah~ good boy, go play, Ginger."
"Okay~"
Little Ginger smiled so hard that his eyes curved. He got down from his father's arms, ran a few steps, and then ran back happily to show him the candy in his other hand.
"Tangtang, Daddy will demolish it~"
"Is Tangtang for Daddy to eat?"
Lei Li deliberately took the candy and asked Xiao Sheng Jiang. As expected, Xiao Sheng Jiang was stunned for a moment, then slowly frowned and said in a childish voice with hesitation,
"Tangtang, give it to Brother Xiaobao. Daddy should eat it, eat it..."
Little Jiang took the candy out of his mouth and handed it to Lei Li with great reluctance. He said, "Daddy eats it, and the candy is for Brother Xiaobao."
"Oh, the ginger you've eaten is for Daddy to eat, and Brother Xiaobao will eat the new one?"
"ah……"
Little Ginger was stunned again.
In his mind, one candy was for himself and the other was for brother Xiaobao, but his dad wanted to eat it, so he gave his candy to his dad, and brother Xiaobao's candy remained brother Xiaobao's.
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