Peasant woman

Chapter 44

The third brother Yang Xiaotong turned around in a hurry, standing in front of the house, he didn't know what to do, when he saw Xu Cao coming, he just nodded, and then started walking back and forth in the same place.

Old Man Yang was squatting in the yard, he seemed to be worried too, when he saw Xu Cao coming in with Shen Shi, Old Man Yang nodded to her.Xu Cao hurriedly called out to her daddy, and when she saw Mrs. Chen beside her, she called out to her mother again.

Mrs. Chen snorted, ignored Xu Cao, and saw Yang Xiaotong who was running around in a hurry, Mrs. Chen said with hatred, "Why are you panicking, child? Isn't that how women give birth? Look at you, don't you?" Promising! You don't feel ashamed!"

Nobody pays attention to her.

Xiao An was boiling hot water in the kitchen, Xu Cao saw it, and rushed in with Shen Shi to help.The fourth sister, Yang Xiaoan, was very anxious, her hands trembling when adding water.

"Xiao An, don't worry, your third sister-in-law will definitely be fine." Xu Cao comforted her.

Xiao An glanced outside the door, worried: "It's been a few hours, and the third sister-in-law hasn't been born yet, hey."

Shen was also busy comforting Xiaoan, saying that women give birth like this, and some of them take a day and a night to give birth.

Xu Cao thought how many hours had passed, and hurriedly said to Xiao An: "Fourth sister, I see that the hot water is almost boiled, now hurry up and give the third sibling a bowl of noodles, and give two extra poached eggs, the third sibling is called All afternoon, I was afraid that she would have no strength to give birth later."

Xiao An nodded, and after the water in the pot boiled, she hurriedly cooked a large bowl of noodles with a few poached eggs on top.As soon as Xiaoan brought out the noodles, Mrs. Chen yelled, "Oh, it's not raw yet, what kind of noodles are you eating, and you are given so many eggs, you don't know how expensive rice, oil and salt are if you are not in charge."

"Mom, what are you talking about!" Xiao An frowned while holding a bowl of noodles, "Third sister-in-law hasn't eaten all afternoon, how can she be strong if she doesn't eat something?"

Father Yang who was squatting beside him also frowned, and said to Xiao'an, "Sir, please ignore this old lady, and send the noodles in quickly, asking the midwife if she needs anything else."

Mrs. Niu in the room naturally also heard the voices outside. Not only did she feel sad from her heart, she thought that compared with this Mrs. Chen, the eldest sister-in-law and the second sister-in-law are really good. sarcastic remarks.She felt sad, as if all the strength to give birth just now was taken away, and now she has no strength anymore.

Seeing this, the midwife hurriedly said: "Sister-in-law of the Yang family, don't be discouraged, give birth to the fat boy quickly, and you will enjoy the blessings when the boy grows up. Why bother to think about those nasty things now?" .”

Xiaoan also just opened the door and walked in. Hearing what the midwife said, she hurriedly walked over with her face, "Sister-in-law three, sister-in-law and second sister-in-law asked me to cook noodles, saying that they were afraid that you would lose strength. Third sister-in-law, hurry up and put the noodles in." Let's eat the noodles."

Niu was sweating all over in pain, looking at Xiao An's face, and thinking about Chen's words just now, tears flowed down unconsciously.

"Sister-in-law three..." Xiaoan panicked, and came to Niu with noodles, "Sister-in-law, eat the noodles quickly, don't take what our mother says seriously, she is that kind of person. Sister-in-law, third brother is still here." Waiting outside, third brother is very anxious, always wanted to come in to see you, but men are not allowed in the delivery room, third sister-in-law, think about third brother, when you give birth to this fat boy, then just live with third brother , why bother to think about those that are available, don’t you think?”

Niu thought of Yang Xiaotong's good fortune, and thought that if she went like this, wouldn't Chen be in vain.No, she can't be busy, she must give birth to a big fat boy, and live a good life with Xiao Tong in the future.After thinking about it, she seemed to have the strength again, took the bowl from Xiaoan's hand, and started to eat in big mouthfuls.

Watching her finish eating the noodles, Xiao An comforted her a few more words, and then went out with the empty noodle bowl.

It was getting dark, and Fugui also came over with two pheasants. Niu's child hadn't been born yet.Looking at the pheasant in Fugui's hands, Xu Cao hurriedly handled one, then put it on the small stove to stew, and then cooked some more casually, and the family had dinner together.It was not until the end of Haishi that the sound of the baby crying came from the delivery room.Those who were waiting outside were relieved.

As soon as the door of the delivery room opened, Yang Xiaotong rushed up and saw the baby in the midwife's arms, and said hurriedly, "Grandma Wang, how is Meizi?"

The midwife smiled and said, "It's all good."

Seeing the baby, Chen also moved closer, "Aunt Wang, is this baby a boy or a girl?"

"It's a rich lady."

As soon as these words came out, Chen's face immediately collapsed, "Hey, you are a loser. You just ate such a big bowl of noodles and those few eggs. It was all a waste. You are a loser!"

Everyone's faces were ugly, Xu Cao saw that everyone was silent, and said to Xiao An: "Xiao An, go and give your third sister-in-law a bowl of the chicken soup stewed on the small stove, and then seal the small stove, so that tomorrow morning The chicken inside is all stewed into the soup, which is the best for pregnant women to eat.”

"Xiao An, don't go! We'll save this chicken soup for tomorrow, and she'll have the nerve to drink it after giving birth to someone who loses money, I'm sorry!" When Chen saw the doll wrapped in the midwife's hand, she became very angry.

"Mother, this is the chicken I sent. It's my daughter-in-law's wish. It's for the third sibling." It's hard to live together.Although he didn't like the third sibling, he and his wife would not be less polite to leave.

"Yeah, mother, what's the difference between a boy baby and a girl baby? I'll just look at the girl baby." Xiao An said with a sigh, and went into the kitchen to add chicken soup.

Yang Xiaotong carefully took the doll from the midwife's hand, took out a red envelope from her body, and stuffed it into the midwife's hand. The midwife weighed the weight and left contentedly.

Looking at the crumpled baby in his arms, Yang Xiaotong narrowed his eyes with a smile, raised his head and said to Chen Shi: "Mother, I think female dolls are pretty good, don't say those things in the future, I just want to live a good life with Meizi That's it, Meizi is my daughter-in-law and also your daughter-in-law, you should pay attention to what you say in the future, otherwise it won't sound good when it comes out."

Seeing that the big guys were not on her side, Chen's face turned blue with anger, he glared at Xu Cao bitterly, and went back to the room.

Xu Cao was stared at inexplicably, and it had nothing to do with her.

Niu gave birth to the baby safely, so Xu Cao and Fugui couldn't stay any longer. When Xu Cao left, he told Yang Xiaotong, "Third brother, mother doesn't like the third younger sibling. You have to take care of the third younger brother and sister this month." The younger brothers and sisters are the ones, the pregnant women can't go to the fields for a month, can't work, can't touch the cold water, and have to eat and drink well, don't let your mother be angry with the third younger siblings."

Yang Xiaotong nodded hurriedly, "Sister-in-law, I have written down everything you said, and I will definitely take good care of Meizi."

Only then did Xu Cao go back with Fu Gui.

Today Miao Miao was left at Li's home, under the care of Erya and Sanya. Li also knew about Niu's birth, so she didn't send Miaomiao back.

When the two returned home, Xu Cao lit the oil lamp, saw a big bag of things in the room, raised her head and said to Fugui, "What is this?"

Fugui smiled and said: "The purple fruit you picked in the mountains for you today is the wild grapes you mentioned. I see these things are everywhere in the mountains."

This is the time when the wild grapes are ripe.

Xu Cao took a bunch of wild grapes out of the bag without washing them, so she just picked one and stuffed it into her mouth. It was sweet and sour, and tasted great.

Looking at the big bag of wild grapes, Xu Cao thought of delicious wine.These grapes can be made into jam or wine.Now there are too many wild grapes in the mountains, and it is impossible to make them all into jam. Xu Cao plans to make some jam, and the rest will be turned into delicious wine.

The next day, Fugui didn't go hunting in the mountains, but went to the town to buy ceramic jars. Xu Cao asked him to order thirty jars and come back.She was busy washing the grapes at home, but she didn't wash off the white frost on the grapes.Then pick out the bad and unripe grapes, and then dry the water on the cleaned grapes.

When Fugui came back from buying the jars, the grapes had all dried up.Xu Cao first sterilized several ceramic jars at high temperature, and then crushed the washed and dried grapes and threw them into the jars.The big bag of grapes that Fugui picked filled three jars.Then she put the three jars in a cool and ventilated place in the corner.

"Fugui, let's continue to pick grapes on the mountain in the afternoon. I'll see you stop hunting for a few days and help me make grapes, okay?"

Fugui grinned, "Okay."

Of course, Xu Cao also told Li about making money.Mrs. Li was a little hesitant, "Big girl, can you really make money from the wine you said? You can get a few hundred coins when you buy the jar, don't even lose the money from the jar. Besides, how do you know?" This is how to make wine?" She couldn't figure out why her eldest daughter had so many weird ideas in her mind since she was a child.

Xu Cao had already thought of a way to evade it, "Mother, didn't I learn to read with the old scholar in the village when I was young? There are so many strange books in his family. I learned from him, but I don't know This purple fruit is called a grape, I only found out from the travel notes, and I also learned the method of making wine from there.”

The old scholar has also passed away now, and there is no proof for the things she said.And everyone in the family knew that she learned to read with the old scholar when she was a child, and the old scholar praised her for being smart and learning things quickly.Everyone knows this.

In the end, Mrs. Li decided to make wine with Xu Cao, because she could see that her eldest girl had gotten better and better since she got married, all of which had something to do with her weird ideas.

In the afternoon, Xu Cao and Fugui, Mrs. Li took Erya, and Sanya stayed at home to take care of Xiaoshan and Miao Miao, while Mrs. Xu was sent by Mrs. Li to the town to buy jars.

In one afternoon, the four of them picked four large bags of wild grapes.

In the evening, Xu Cao told Mrs. Li the method of making wine, and explained all the details clearly.

Li Shi said: "I think it's better for me to do it with you tomorrow morning, otherwise I'm afraid that something will go wrong. If I make a mistake, the money in this jar will be wasted."

Mrs. Li made an agreement with Xu Cao to learn how to make wine tomorrow morning and continue picking grapes in the afternoon.

The next morning, Mrs. Li went to Xu Cao's house early in the morning. Both Xiaoshan and Miaomiao were handed over to Erya and Sanya, so they didn't have to worry about it.Li studied very seriously, and had to ask many times about every step before he dared to do it.

She studied very seriously, and with Xu Cao pointing at the side, she didn't make any mistakes.

During this period of time, everyone has been busy picking grapes and brewing wine. In the end, Mrs. Li brewed a total of 35 altars, and Xu Cao brewed [-] altars.They picked all the wild grapes around the mountain, only in the mountains, but they were afraid of encountering wild animals, so they were not allowed to go deep into the mountains.

After the grapes were put into the jar, sugar had to be added, which was a lot of expense. Although Mrs. Li felt distressed, she didn't want to give up halfway, so she had to follow the method Xu Cao said.

Fugui waited for them all to finish their work before continuing to hunt in the mountains. Xu Cao told him that if he met wild grapes, let him bring some back so that she could make jam.

Sure enough, when Fugui came back at night, he only brought a wild rabbit and a bag of wild grapes.

There was still some sugar left in the house, so Xu Cao went to her mother's house and asked her father to go to the mountains to get some wild honey, and when the time came, making jam would be regarded as a joint venture between the two families.

As soon as I told Dad Xu that I wanted honey, Dad Xu immediately went up the mountain with things, and when he came back at night, Dad Xu brought back two beehives.Xu Cao could smell the scent of wild honey from a long distance, and Miao Miao and Xiao Shan also ran out sniffing.

There is a big honeycomb and a small spot. Xu Cao is afraid of wasting, so he puts all the honey from the two honeycombs into the jar. There is so much honey that there is no way to use it up.

Father Xu was looking for wild bees, and Xu Cao directly took the small honeycomb and stewed wild rabbits.The two little ones were so hungry that Xu Cao made them two bowls of honey water with wild honey.

In the evening, Father Xu's family ate dinner at Xu Cao's place. They stewed hare with honeycombs and cooked a few vegetarian dishes. Xu Cao also made a few taels of wine for the father and the husband to drink.

The next day, Mrs. Li accompanied Xu Cao to make jam again. Looking at the thick thing, Mrs. Li was a little confused, "Ah, is there someone who bought this stuff?"

Xu Cao was busy mixing the honey into the jam, and then put the jam into a small jar, and put it in a ventilated place under the eaves to let the jam cool down.

This bag of wild grapes only made three small jars of jam. Xu Cao planned to take the jam to the town to buy it tomorrow. It's in November, and after selling those two jars of jam, I can't make it anymore, and I don't know if Miss Ma's family blamed her.

(End of this chapter)