It is the deepest part of winter, almost the end of the year, and the weather is extremely cold.
Yingbao took Youyou and ran more than ten laps in the threshing ground before she and Dani and Erni went home.
This is her daily exercise, and she also trains the deer to make it more docile and obedient so that it can serve as her mount one day.
Jiang Sanlang, who was cooking in the kitchen, saw his daughter coming back and poked his head in and said, "Your uncles gave you three hundred coins. Daddy put the money on the table on your bed. Put it away quickly."
"Oh." Yingbao sent Youyou to the straw shed, added straw into the stone trough, and then ran towards the west room.
Three hundred copper coins were strung together with thin hemp ropes, with fifty coins in each string. They formed a small pile together, which was pleasing to the eye.
When she had enough money, she would go to town to order a leather saddle for Yoyo so that she could ride it farther.
Yingbao happily put the copper coins together with the last ones, and ran to the east room to see her brother.
Mother was sitting on the kang spinning, and two little babies were lying beside her, sleeping soundly.
"Baoer, are you cold?" Chunniang asked.
"Not cold." Yingbao eats a handful of Wudingzhi every day before going out. Her body is warm and she is not afraid of the cold at all.
Chunniang looked at her daughter with a smile, "Why do I feel like you've grown taller?"
"Really?" Yingbao ran to the wall and stood still, comparing it with the mark from last time with her hand.
"Oh, you've grown taller." She smiled.
It’s good to be taller. The taller you are, the stronger you are and you won’t be afraid of being bullied.
"No wonder the sleeves of your cotton coat seem to be too short. My baby is growing so fast." Chun Niang put down her work and came over. "Let me see if you want to let the sleeves outwards."
Yingbao quickly shook her head, "No need, it's just right like this." The sleeves were a little long before, which made it inconvenient to do things, but now they're just right.
Then he turned and ran out of the house, "I'll go help Dad light the fire."
When I went to the kitchen, I saw that my father had already prepared the meal.
Fish soup, lard cakes, rice porridge, a bowl of pickles, and two boiled eggs.
Such a dinner is quite sumptuous in the village.
Yingbao helped her father carry the dishes to the east room and placed them on the kang table.
After the family of three finished their meal, Jiang Sanlang went to wash the pots and dishes, boil water for washing, and was busy until dark.
Yingbao lay on the kang, peeling off the black scabs on her wrists bit by bit.
The burn on the wrist has completely healed, the skin is smooth, and only a faint pink remains. I believe that this pink will return to normal color soon.
The original plum blossom birthmark is gone, but a small red mole the size of a needle remains.
Yingbao frowned, a little dissatisfied.
The last time I permed it so deeply, it wasn’t completely removed. Do I have to perm it again
Thinking of the pain that day, she shrank her neck.
Never mind, let’s just leave it at that for now, there are still several years to go anyway.
Moreover, Han has not been seen recently, and even her two daughters seem to have disappeared and have never appeared in front of him again.
But despite this, Yingbao cannot take it lightly.
Her wrist still needs to be wrapped. Well, she also needs to borrow a pen from her little cousin. It would be better if she could get some cinnabar mud. She wants to draw a turtle pattern on her wrist, just in case.
Because even if there was no birthmark on his wrist, Han would still target him.
What that woman wanted was never a daughter, but a son.
Blow out the oil lamp and enter the cave.
The wheat and rice in the cave have matured. The heavy ears of rice have full grains and look very pleasing to the eye.
Yingbao picked up a sickle and decided to start harvesting from the rice.
After an hour, only a quarter of the rice had been harvested, but Yingbao's palms had two big blisters on them, causing her to grimace in pain.
With a hissing breath and tears in her eyes, Yingbao picked up some Wudingzhi from the rock wall, crushed it, and rubbed it on the blisters on her palms before going to sleep.
When I woke up the next day, the blisters on my palms had disappeared.
Yingbao was very happy, and quickly went back into the cave, ate a handful of Wudingzhi, and while she was still energetic, she continued to cut for a while before coming out.
Alas, I still don’t have enough strength. How long will it take to harvest this large field of rice, wheat and soybeans
I got dressed and got off the kang, went to the kitchen to fetch water for washing, then ran to the chicken coop to pick up eggs, and took Yoyo outside to have fun.
"Third uncle, third uncle!" Jiang Quan from my uncle's family ran into the main room in a hurry.
Jiang Sanlang poked his head out from the kitchen. "What's going on?"
Jiang Quan went to the kitchen again and shouted anxiously, "Third Uncle, go and have a look. Second Uncle has a persistent fever and was coughing up blood this morning."
Jiang Sanlang was startled and quickly put down the spoon in his hand and walked out. "Why did you cough up blood for no reason? You looked fine yesterday."
It is not a good thing for a patient to cough up blood. It would be terrible if my second brother got tuberculosis. His Hu Zi is only three years old and Er Ni is only six years old.
"I don't know." Jiang Quan said, "I heard Second Aunt and Second Uncle quarreling yesterday. Their family didn't cook dinner at night, so Erni and Huzi went to our house to eat."
Jiang Sanlang frowned and felt a little unhappy.
This second sister-in-law is so ignorant. My second brother is still sick, but she doesn’t even cook.
Without cooking, it would be impossible for me to boil medicine. I don’t know whether my second brother took the medicine yesterday.
Jiang Er's house was not far from the two brothers' homes, with only a few houses between them.
Before the uncle and nephew arrived, they had already heard Leng's crying.
Jiang Sanlang frowned and thought for a moment, then turned to ask his second nephew, "How is your father?"
"My father got better after taking the medicine yesterday, but he still has a slight cough. He ate two big bowls of rice porridge this morning." Jiang Quan said.
Jiang Sanlang felt relieved.
It seems that the medicine I brought back is still effective.
However, my second brother has always been weaker than my eldest brother, and I was negligent. I thought that since they caught a cold together, their symptoms should be similar. But I didn't expect that my second brother actually vomited blood.
Jiang Sanlang walked into the yard feeling annoyed and saw Leng sitting on the ground holding Dahu and crying.
Erni also had tears in her eyes and stood aside at a loss. Several villagers stood outside the fence with bowls in their hands, watching the fun.
"Second sister-in-law, it's cold outside. Let's go back to the house quickly so the child won't get cold." Jiang Sanlang said in a deep voice.
When Leng saw Jiang Sanlang, she cried even louder, complaining as she cried, saying that her life was miserable, that it was pointless to marry a man, and that her children would suffer.
Seeing that she was getting more and more outrageous, Jiang Sanlang turned around and went into the house in anger, only to see his parents and eldest sister-in-law Zhou were all there.
"Sanlang, go take your second brother to the town later." Old Man Jiang said, "Your eldest nephew has already gone to borrow a donkey cart."
"Yeah." Jiang Sanlang nodded, went to the kang, and touched his second brother's forehead.
The temperature is very high and I am having a high fever.
"How are you, second brother?" Jiang Sanlang asked.
Jiang Erlang's face was flushed, and he kept coughing. He looked very weak. "My chest hurts, cough, cough, cough... I have no strength."
Zhou brought a bowl of porridge and handed it to the third brother: "You feed some porridge to the second brother. He was hungry all night yesterday. How can he have strength? Alas." She was also convinced by her second sister-in-law.
Jiang Sanlang took the bowl and helped his second brother up. "Drink some porridge to warm yourself up first. I'll take you to town later."
Jiang Er was scared after all, so he nodded and forced himself to eat half a bowl of rice porridge.
After a while, the eldest nephew Jiang Cheng drove a donkey cart to the door. Jiang Sanlang picked up his second brother and put him on the cart, and wrapped him in a quilt.
Jiang Liushi caught up with him, stuffed a string of coins into San'er's pocket, and whispered, "Take it with you, it will be used for the second son's medical treatment."
Jiang Sanlang did not refuse. He took it, put it in his arms, sat on the cart, whipped it and drove away.