The Lucky Farmgirl

Zhou Xi was feeding his daughter milk. After feeding, he gently patted her, then wrapped her up and placed her aside, swatting away his son’s hand that wanted to touch his daughter.

Guan Xiaolang could only stand by helplessly, staring eagerly at his sister, his chubby face asking, "Mom, why can Grandpa and Grandma touch my sister, but I can’t?"

"Because your little fat hands are too dirty. Tell me, did you play with mud again?"

Guan Xiaolang immediately hid his hands behind his back and ran off.

Guan Xin brought in a bowl of chicken soup, nearly bumped into his son, and scolded him jokingly while handing the chicken soup to Zhou Xi, "Drink up, there’s chicken legs in the pot, I’ll get them for you later."

Zhou Xi took it, frowned, "Why did you kill chicken again, didn’t I tell you not to?"

Guan Xin laughed, "Mother brought the chicken, and I also bought ten and raised them in the yard. Including those we raised before, it’s enough for you to eat one a day until the confinement period ends."

He continued, "You suffered too much during this pregnancy, unable to eat for over half a year; look how thin you’ve become!"

It was true, Zhou Xi vomited throughout this pregnancy, from two months pregnant until over nine months. Even the prescription Manbao sent back didn’t work, and many doctors were consulted here, but nothing helped.

She basically ate and vomited continually, and at one point, it was so severe that the mere smell of any meat made her vomit.

Finally, Old Zhou and the others returned from the capital. Seeing the situation wasn’t right, they took Guan Xiaolang to Qili Village, while Ms.Qian stayed here to care for Junior Ms.Qian. The three of them ate vegetarian all day. Guan Xin even had to wash up and change clothes in the barracks after eating a meat pie at noon outside before coming home, only then did it feel better.

But there’s a child in her belly, constantly vomiting, couldn’t even eat an egg, and she became rapidly thin.

However, Zhou Xi is strong, and slowly she endured.

The delivery was smooth though; possibly because of not eating meat, the child was small and had a somewhat yellowish complexion.

But after the child’s birth, her appetite improved, she could eat meat, and the eggs too.

Still, the doctor advised not to eat too much at once to avoid discomfort.

Guan Xin looked down at his daughter who was gradually becoming fairer and breathed a sigh of relief. This daughter somewhat resembles him, if her complexion were like his, it would be difficult later on.

Fair is good, fair is good.

There was a commotion in the yard, Guan Xin quickly got up and went out, seeing Ms.Qian and three Qian-family aunts bringing a basket in together. His son, upon seeing Grandma, rushed over and hugged her, shouting joyfully, "Grandma!"

Ms.Qian smiled and hugged him, asking, "Where’s your father and mother?"

"Mom," Guan Xin greeted warmly, took the items from her hands, then looked at the three aunts, shouting a round of greetings, "Eldest Aunt, Second Aunt, Third Aunt."

He said, "Why did you bring eggs again? We have so many at home, we’re almost running out of space to eat them."

Ms.Qian laughed, "Isn’t there a cellar at home? If you can’t eat them, store them in the cellar below, it’s cool, can keep for a while."

She said, "No need to always buy meat for her to eat, eat some eggs, two in the morning, two at noon, eating boiled eggs is even better than meat."

She added, "Also Little Fatty, at his growing stage, he should eat too."

The three aunts laughed and said, "Yes, we can’t neglect Xi’er and the child."

The three aunts were visiting the baby for the first time and each brought a basket of eggs and rice, which is seen as a high gesture of courtesy when visiting a new mother.

Eldest Aunt brought nearly a hundred eggs.

Guan Xin receiving this many eggs, was genuinely troubled.

But the items can’t be returned, so he placed them in the corner of the room.

Ms.Qian and the three aunts went inside to see Zhou Xi, asking, "Where’s the elder sister-in-law who helps you with work, why isn’t she here?"

"Her child at home didn’t behave, said to have gotten heatstroke, so she went back for two days, will return tomorrow."

"It’s already the season, how could one get heatstroke?"

"Who knows, autumn has arrived, heard the child ran outside to play with others, forgot the time, stayed under the sun from morning till afternoon, without drinking a drop of water, forgot the time playing, luckily someone on the street sent them to Jishi Hall after fainting, otherwise it would have been serious."

Eldest Aunt said, "It’s odd this year, though not much water has been lacking, the sun is too fierce; during late morning, the weather feels like a big furnace, roasting even one’s face red, from late morning to later afternoon, constantly roasting, the other day harvesting wheat, many fainted in the fields, really was scorching."

Ms.Qian became concerned, "We’re doing alright here, I read in Datou’s letter from the capital saying not only is it sunny there, there’s also less rain, this year’s harvest is much worse than last year’s."

Eldest Aunt knew Zhou Man has many lands now, heard it’s because she works for the emperor, and the lands were gifts, employing many to farm them.

So she worriedly asked, "Wouldn’t Manbao’s land... suffer losses?"

Ms.Qian chuckled, "It’s unlikely to suffer losses, but surely won’t profit much, this year’s circumstances aren’t favorable, everyone better economizes."

Eldest Aunt could only nod.

Second Aunt said, "But this year’s ginger and yam grew well, Erlang mentioned it to us the other day, advised us to separate harvested ginger into old and new, dry the old ginger, he’s planning to ship it to the capital later, new ginger also to be sent to Yizhou Prefecture, Sister, is he and brother-in-law going to the capital again?"

Ms.Qian laughed, "That should wait until this year’s harvest is stored, and until Xi’er finishes confinement."

She said, "Datou’s wife is also about to give birth, when we go to the capital, it would be right to look after her."

"Isn’t Dalang’s wife there? Why hurry?" Second Aunt glanced at Eldest Aunt, chuckling, "Our big girl has always been considerate, wouldn’t she look after daughter-in-law well?"

Eldest Aunt hadn’t seen her daughter in years, quickly asked, "Elder sister, are Dalang and the family behaving in the capital, not causing trouble for Manbao?"

Zhou Xi gently patted the baby, trying to lull her to sleep, responded with a smile, "Eldest Aunt, how could big brother and sister-in-law cause trouble? You know sister-in-law’s nature well, Manbao was raised by her, they’ll only get closer in the capital, how could there be trouble?"

Though said this way, Eldest Aunt still felt family’s foundation was most important, and currently, Zhou family’s foundation is mostly handled by Zhou ErLang and Zhou Sanlang, yet Zhou Dalang had been outside.

Not outside exactly, he’s always been with Old Zhou and Ms.Qian, caring for parents is also an eldest son’s duty.

Eldest Aunt sighed, "They’re good, that’s fine, I’m just afraid they lack insight, causing trouble for Manbao in the capital."

Ms.Qian laughed, "Sister-in-law, Dalang is my son, Manbao is my daughter, you worry too much."

Second Aunt laughed, "If we have the chance, maybe we could visit the capital and see for ourselves."

She sighed, "Speaking of, Manbao grew up under our watch, yet when she got married, we didn’t even get to have a celebratory drink."

Ms.Qian upon hearing laughed, "That’s easy to fix, when Manbao returns to the hometown, I’ll have her and her husband toast you three big bowls."

Second Aunt was surprised, "Manbao is coming back?"

Ms.Qian laughed, "She’ll return at some point, I heard Manbao mention they have a kind of family leave for officials, need to accumulate it, the longer accumulated, upon application, those with distant families get more days."