The north wind was howling, and the sky was filled with heavy snow. The old lady of the Li family was sitting in the kitchen, adding firewood to the stove while puffing on her pipe, with a look of sadness on her face. Suddenly, the cotton door curtain was lifted, and the third and fourth sons of the Li family, Li Mingnan and Li Mingbei, came in from outside, bringing in a gust of cold wind and snowflakes.
As soon as he saw the old lady sitting in the kitchen, Li Mingbei shouted before he even took off his thick gloves: "Grandma, my brother and I caught two fish."
As soon as she finished speaking, the old lady stood up from the stove, raised her leg and knocked the pipe against the sole of her shoe, and said with a grin, "Really? Bring it here for me to see. It's been a long time since I last saw it. It's all fish."
Li Mingnan handed two carps weighing more than two kilograms strung together with a hemp rope to Old Lady Li. He picked up a water ladle, scooped half a spoonful of cold water from the water tank, and drank it down in one gulp.
"Even this summer, I didn't catch such a big fish." Old Mrs. Li looked at the two fish in her hands over and over again, smiling so hard that she could hardly close her mouth. "It just so happens that your mother is about to give birth, and your eldest brother is tired from studying, so I stewed the fish for them to nourish themselves."
Li Mingbei hummed and asked, "Can my mother give us a little sister this time?"
Thinking of her grandchildren, Mrs. Li felt a little worried. She sighed and said, "I hope I can have a girl. I am upset when I see you guys who are willing to eat me out of money."
Li Mingbei chuckled and called Li Mingnan over to squat in front of the stove to warm themselves. Suddenly, the two boys wrinkled their noses, looked at each other, grabbed the stove hook on the ground, and dug out two roasted potatoes from the stove in a few strokes. Regardless of the heat, the two hurriedly picked up the potatoes and put them on the stove, blowing on them while peeling a little bit of the skin, and took a bite.
When Old Lady Li turned around, she saw that her grandson had already eaten half of the two roasted potatoes. If it were usual, she would definitely scold him, but today, her grandson had caught two big fish, so she didn't feel sorry for him. Instead, she scolded him with a smile: "What a shame, go to the west room to eat, and ask Guihua to come out and stew the fish."
The two boys responded, and while pouring the still hot potatoes with their hands, they shouted at the top of their voices: "Sister-in-law, grandma asked you to come out and cook."
A girl with shiny black braids came out of the west room. She was about 17 or 18 years old and her face was full of vitality. She asked while fetching water to wash her hands, "Grandma, what are you doing tonight?"
"Stew fish! Stew cabbage and potatoes!" Old Mrs. Li said in a loud voice, leaning on her walking stick.
Although the two boys of the Li family called Guihua "sister-in-law", in fact, Wu Guihua had not yet married Li Mingdong, the eldest son of the Li family. Wu Guihua's family was born into a landlord family. Because of their bad class background, they had a very hard life. When Guihua was seven or eight years old, the family really couldn't afford to eat, so they thought of selling the eldest girl Guihua for food, but the families who came were not satisfied. It happened that the old lady of the Li family passed by the Wu family when she was visiting relatives. Seeing that Guihua was good-looking and cheerful, the Wu family also knew that the old Li family was kind, so the two families discussed and took half a bag of soybeans to exchange Wu Guihua back and raised her as a child bride.
Guihua stayed in the Li family for ten years. When she first came, she went to school for a few years and learned a few words. But when she was thirteen or fourteen years old, she stopped studying and helped with cooking, washing, and cleaning the house.
Old Lady Li sat on a small stool in the kitchen, watching Guihua skillfully kill the fish and remove the scales, then pour a little bit of oil into the pot. She then stood up with satisfaction and said, "Stew it more fragrantly. Dongzi hasn't had meat for a while."
Guihua responded crisply, threw her long braid behind her, and started cutting potatoes swiftly. At this moment, a cry of pain suddenly came from the east room. Old Mrs. Li forgot to take her walking stick and ran to the east room in two steps, anxiously asking, "Dongzi's mother, did it start?"
"It's been hurting for a while. I think I'm about to give birth." In the room, Wang Sufen endured the pain, grabbed the mattress under her body, and adjusted her breathing.
"Oh, there are people who are willing to endure this. Why didn't you say so earlier?" Old Lady Li took a look and immediately shouted, "Mingbei, go find your Third Aunt for help."
Li Mingbei grabbed the fur hat and put it on his head, then rushed out wrapped in his coat. Guihua in the kitchen heard the noise, quickly boiled a pot of water, and brought all the prepared things into the house.
Beicha District is a small town surrounded by mountains. Although the Li family lives in a town, the population is sparse, so it is not convenient for them to live close to each other. Fortunately, Li Mingbei is very agile and ran to his third aunt's house in no time.
Mrs. Li's third daughter-in-law, Liu Xiulan, was cooking corn porridge when she suddenly heard a series of dog barking in the distance. She stood up, poured chopped kohlrabi stalks into the porridge and stirred it, while calling her son, "Guangzi, look and see if your second uncle's brother is here."
Li Mingguang opened the door and looked out. He happened to see Li Mingbei pushing open his own door. He turned around and said, "Mom, my brother Beizi is here."
"It must be that your second aunt is about to give birth." Liu Xiulan wiped her hands on her clothes, turned around and called her eldest son: "Mingrong, come and watch the pot. I'm going to your grandma's house." After saying that, she hurriedly followed Mingbei.
Mrs. Li’s second daughter-in-law, Wang Sufen, has already given birth to four children. So although she is older now, her birth canal opens quickly. By the time Liu Xiulan from the third daughter-in-law came, Wang Sufen was about to give birth.
After washing her hands in a hurry, Liu Xiulan came over and touched Wang Sufen's belly, and said to Old Lady Li, "Mom, take a rest. I'm here."
Old Lady Li sat on the kang, making room for her third daughter-in-law, wiped the sweat off her head and said, "You can't do anything when you're old. I was the one who delivered your second sister-in-law when she gave birth to Beizi."
Liu Xiulan pushed Wang Sufen's belly and said, "Beizi is already eight years old. That was a long time ago."
Wang Sufen wanted to laugh after hearing this but was afraid of losing her strength, so she bit her lips and pushed down hard. Liu Xiulan shouted quickly, "Ouch, I see the head, second sister-in-law, please try harder." Wang Sufen gritted her teeth, held her breath, and pushed down hard.
The unbearable pain made Wang Sufen snort involuntarily. The sweat on her forehead wet her hair and stuck to her face. Just when Wang Sufen felt that she could not hold on any longer, a warm current flowed back from her abdomen. With the blood flowing, Wang Sufen slowly regained her strength and felt much better.
"Wa wah wah..." Clear cries echoed in the mud-brick house. After Liu Xiulan caught the red baby, she glanced at her and immediately smiled: "Mom, my second sister-in-law gave birth to a girl!"
"Really? Let me take a look!" Old Mrs. Li leaned over. Liu Xiulan had already cleaned the child up swiftly. She wrapped the child in the quilt she had prepared and handed it to Old Mrs. Li's arms.
Old Lady Li lifted the quilt and took a look inside. She immediately smiled and said, "What a girl! I gave birth to four boys, and thought that if I didn't have a daughter, I could have a granddaughter. Look at you guys, you give birth to sons one after another. I thought I would never have a granddaughter in this life."
"Second sister-in-law is lucky, she will have a daughter to love her in the future." Liu Xiulan smiled, and quickly helped Wang Sufen clean up, washed her hands, picked up her clothes and said, "Mom, you go ahead, I'm going back."
"Don't go back, eat here." Old Lady Li held her granddaughter in her arms without even raising her eyelids: "If you go home now, there will probably be nothing left in the pot. I asked Guihua to stew cabbage and potatoes, and also made some porridge."
Wang Sufen, who was lying in bed, also advised: "We are not strangers, why be polite? Just eat here, sister-in-law."
Liu Xiulan had drunk a few sips of liquid in the morning, and her stomach was already rumbling. She had always been cheerful, and she had a good relationship with Wang Sufen, so she didn't act pretentiously. She smiled and said, "Thank you for letting my second sister-in-law spend money."
"What's the big deal?" Old Lady Li said nonchalantly, "If there was such a big event in the past, I would have to buy some meat to make some dumplings to satisfy my craving. Alas, it's all because of the bad harvests in the past two years. I haven't received enough food in the past few months. If I hadn't reclaimed the wasteland and planted some vegetables, I'm afraid I wouldn't even have enough to eat."
"That's right." Liu Xiulan also sighed: "I heard from Mu Sen that the harvest in the countryside was quite a lot this year, but it was all distributed outside the mountains, so we can't get the rations. If we hadn't listened to mother and planted some land, I'm afraid we wouldn't even have corn porridge to eat now."
Old Lady Li was born in the old society. She had lived a hard life since she was young. She was extremely eager and uneasy about food. Although the Li family had household registration and could use the food book to collect food supplies every month, Old Lady Li still felt uneasy. In the early years, she took her son and grandson to find a flat place in the ravine to open up wasteland, and also planted some crops such as corn, soybeans, cabbage, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. When materials were abundant, these things could also improve life. Now that food supply is suddenly in short supply, the Li family is barely not hungry because of planting these crops.
In the kitchen, Guihua had already prepared the meal skillfully. She stewed a pot of cabbage and potatoes, cooked a pot of cornmeal porridge, and made a pot of cornmeal pancakes.
The fish caught by the two brothers were stewed with tofu, vermicelli and other ingredients, and the fish was oily and fragrant. The remaining fish was cooked into a large bowl of milky white soup, which was for Wang Sufen to drink to increase her milk production.
When Li Muwu came home from get off work, he heard that his wife had given birth to a girl. He quickly took off his coat and went to the east room to check on his wife and the newborn girl.
Guihua brought the fish soup, helped Wang Sufen sit up, and then handed her a bowl of fish soup.
Li Muwu felt very satisfied when he saw his daughter's face, and his voice was a little gentler than usual: "Drink more soup, and have more milk so that our girl can be full."
Wang Sufen forced a smile, "You are so old, how can you still have milk? I didn't produce much when I gave birth to Beizi, and I had to bring a sheep back to feed Beizi. Tomorrow when you go to work, ask around to see who has sheep. We can buy some goat milk every day, which is better than feeding him mush."
Li Muwu hummed in a rough voice and said, "Tomorrow I will go to register our daughter's household registration and see if I can get milk powder and brown sugar back."
Wang Sufen lowered her head and ate half a bowl of fish soup. She turned around and saw Li Muwu poking her daughter's pink face with his rough fingers. Her daughter was sleeping soundly. Wang Sufen was afraid that he would wake her up and she would cry for milk, so she hurriedly drove him out: "Don't stay here, eat quickly."
Li Muwu stood up with a smile: "For such a happy event, I have to take out the wine I have stored and have a drink with my mother."
The table outside was set up, and the whole family was crowded around. Li Mingnan and Li Mingbei stared at the food on the table and kept drooling. Li Muwu came out of the east room and took out the wine pot. Li Mingdong took it over and took out two small wine cups of 2 liang each, and poured a glass of wine for Mrs. Li and Li Muwu.
Old Lady Li took a sip of wine, pointed at the basin of fish and said, "Dongzi, eat more fish to nourish your brain. You'll be taking the college entrance exam soon."
Li Mingdong pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose and showed a gentle smile: "We haven't seen meat at home for a long time, how can I eat it alone? Grandma, you eat first." As he said that, he picked up a piece for Grandma Li first, and then wanted to pick up another piece for Liu Xiulan.
Liu Xiulan quickly took the bowl and moved away, saying, "I'm not an educated person, so please don't waste the food. I'll just eat a handful of vermicelli to get rid of the flavor."
Seeing that his son was also about to pick up some fish for him, Li Muwu quickly waved his hand and said, "It would be best if you give me the fish head and the wine. I'll leave the meat for you guys to eat."
Li Mingdong then picked up a piece of fish for himself, and his three younger brothers also picked up a large piece of fish and started eating with relish. Li Muwu took a sip of wine and a bite of the fish head. Just as he had gnawed the fish head until only the bones were left, he heard the cry of a baby next door. Li Muwu couldn't help laughing: "My daughter is awake."