The day after returning from Cui's house, Jiang Juan's family of five came to the door. Upon seeing this, the young couple hurriedly invited people into the reception room in the west wing. The two families sat in the room and chatted eagerly.
"How come my aunt and uncle are free to come here today?"
Aunt Cui took the package she had brought along and handed it to Shen Luzhu: "I heard that you went to A Niang's house yesterday, so I guessed that it was three months since you went back to tell A Niang the good news. Damn them, why don’t we rush over today to cheer you up!”
There is indeed a saying in Daqian about bringing joy to pregnant women. The elders of both men and women will send gifts with special meanings, including wedding eggs and brown sugar dyed red, and new shoes and hats sewn for the baby in the belly. If there are children in the family who have not yet reached the age of adulthood, a piece of underwear that the child wears on daily basis will also be sent together, which is prepared to be used as a Momofuku quilt for the newborn.
Aunt Cui had already begun to prepare these items after she learned from Jiang Juan that Shen Luzhu was pregnant. However, at that time, the couple was still keeping the good news a secret, and she could not bear to send it directly. Come here, I've been waiting for today.
Inside the package were two pairs of baby socks, a newly sewn quilt, a tiger head hat, a few dolls for children to play with, and Xiaobao's blouse. These items were previously shared by the Shen family next door. Aunt Qian secretly sent a lot of them over, but when Shen Luzhu picked up the tiger head hat, he was still amazed. He looked left and right to see if he liked it: "Auntie made this?" The tigers are so vivid, and these puppets are so beautifully made, and they look better than the stitching done by those garment shops in town!"
Aunt Cui waved her hand: "If you were ten years younger, let alone this tiger head hat, it would be a doll to make a bed for the golden bump in your belly. Your aunt and I would have no problem, but now my eyesight is not good." "I can do rough sewing and mending, but I can't do such delicate work. I only made the quilt and socks, and Juan'er did the rest!"
Shen Luzhu was even more surprised when he heard this: "After such a long time, I didn't know that my cousin still had such skills!"
Jiang Juan smiled sheepishly: "I just made a few puppets. It's not really a craft. Cousin-in-law, please stop praising me!"
Aunt Cui pulled Shen Luzhu around and looked around: "Juan'er said you can't eat anything oily now, and you have to retch for a long time when you smell the smoke from cooking. Look, this person has lost weight. Auntie will give you some I bought a lot of wedding eggs and brown sugar. If I can’t eat the rest, I’ll use the brown sugar to boil a sweetened egg to eat. There are also some vegetables and fruits planted in the front and back of my yard. Your family’s farmland has been rented out, but there are no crops in the yard. These are inconvenient to eat. If you like them, just ask Ayi to pick them in your yard!"
"Thank you, aunt. Don't worry too much. I have indeed lost some weight, but there is nothing wrong with my body. My grandpa and grandma come over every ten days to check on me. It's just a normal pregnancy reaction. , maybe it will be fine after a while!"
Aunt Cui nodded: "That's what I said, but you still need to pay more attention. The two bodies are not as normal as usual."
After caring about Shen Luzhu's health, the men went to the main room to sit and drink tea and chat. Only the Jiang family's mother and daughter were left in the room to accompany Shen Luzhu. In addition, there was Chu Xiuxiu who was coaxing Xiaobao to play. They chatted with each other. As we chatted, we talked about Ding An and Jiang Juan.
"What happened with Capt. Ding before? My Juan'er has been living with you in Luzhu for almost a decade. If I had known you were pregnant at that time, I couldn't have let her bring Xiaobao to cause trouble for you. of!"
"What are you talking about, my aunt? My cousin came over and helped me with a lot of work. She also chatted with me all day long to relieve my boredom. I wish my cousin could live with me forever with my little treasure!"
Aunt Cui smiled and joked: "If Juan'er and Xiaobao are really allowed to stay with you, the village will not be able to say that I kicked out my daughter and grandson! But then again, Capt. Ding I also heard that Juan'er learned from me about the matter that brought you here. My aunt has to say thank you and Ayi for this matter. Thank you for thinking about Juan'er in everything. If it had been someone else, it might not have happened. We have to pack them up and send them to Na Ding’s house. Juan’er is lucky to have cousins like you!”
"When my aunt said this, she was out of touch with me and Chu Yi. Juan'er is her cousin, so she must be protected! Besides, we couldn't help much. The main thing is
But Capt. Ding is a reasonable and good man. "
Aunt Cui sighed: "Yes, this arrester is indeed a good man. It turns out that we had some misunderstandings about him, thinking that he was an official in the county government, and we ordinary people could not afford to offend him. We are so shameless If we give people face, we might make them angry. Who knows, but we have misunderstood them. Instead of being angry, they even apologized to us. What a good person!"
Seeing that there was still a follow-up to this matter, Shen Luzhu hurriedly asked, "Cousin, did you go back and talk to Ding Baotou?"
Jiang Juan nodded: "After I came back from my cousin, I felt a little sorry for Brother Ding. He was kind to me, but I refused to see him as if I was hiding from the god of plague. Later, I heard that Brother Ding came back during the Ghost Festival. After I got to the village, I went to Tian's house to apologize to Brother Ding."
"Then you have completely talked it over?"
After saying this, Jiang Juan stopped, a little hesitant and a little embarrassed, as if she didn't know how to speak. After a long time, she shook her head and said: "I told Brother Ding that I just want to take good care of Xiaobao right now and have no plans to marry again. Brother Ding said that he respects me, and will never be the same again, but...but, he said that he is also sincere, and hopes that if I change my mind one day, I can consider him..."
"That's fine. Once we talk about it, my cousin won't have to hide here and there anymore. Just live your life according to your own ideas. We are all on your side."
"Well, thank you, cousin!"
In the days that followed, Shen Luzhu still raised her baby peacefully at home. She was cared for by Chu Yi and Aunt Han every day. She was accompanied by Yuan Shuang, Jiang Juan and Chu Li Xiuxiu to relieve her boredom. Apart from some lethargy and loss of appetite, her days were uneventful. Living as comfortably as a god.
Chu Yi, on the other hand, traveled with brothers Shen Songjie and Shen Zeqi from time to time to the surrounding mountains and county towns. Finally, towards the end of July, he signed a lease with the county government and opened a new building on the east side of Hexi Village. That mountain covers twenty acres of land halfway up the mountain.
On the day when the lease was signed, the young couple, Uncle Chu, and his family drove a bullock cart to the Shen family in Hexi Village. The two families made an appointment to celebrate together.
Before the meal started, Shen Songjie stood in front of the dining table and announced: "While everyone is here today, Zeqi and I have something to say. When we were doing this mosquito repellent business, Zeqi and I had no time to discuss it. I wanted to do some private work on my own and thought it would be good to earn some pocket money. But I didn’t expect that due to some strange combination of circumstances, it actually got bigger. We couldn’t have done it just by the two of us. Thanks to Lu. Zhu and my brother-in-law also benefited from the help from their families, so we thought that from now on this business would no longer be our private business, half of it belongs to Lu Zhu and Ayi, and the other half belongs to our family!"
The brothers had never told anyone in the family before that they wanted to return the business to their family, so everyone in the Shen family was a little stunned when they heard: "Songjie, you are saying that you want to return the half of the business with Zeqi. Come to our house?"
"That's right, Grandpa, my family helps with this business all day long. Today, my eldest brother and Grandpa will find a recipe and make pills. Tomorrow, Dad and my second uncle will help with the reclamation in the mountains. Grandma and my second aunt will still have to help." We settled the accounts separately, and the whole family was busy working on it, so how can it be considered ours!"
Regarding the decision of his brothers, Shen Chuanbai was somewhat dissatisfied: "It's not possible, it's just a matter of reading the medicine book and making some pills. It doesn't help at all! I spend all day in the medicine shop, doing business. You two are busy working on your own. If you return home, wouldn’t it be that I took advantage of you both in vain?”...
Shen Zeqi ignored his wife Liu, who was looking at him in disbelief, and tried to persuade her: "What we sell is medicinal oil, medicinal wine and medicinal pills. My eldest cousin will give you all these items that can make money." We have done it, how can we say we are taking advantage!"
"That's right, brother, if you say so, then before we started this business, besides farming, my family's income was all earned by my grandfather and you in the drug store. Over the years, if we were to take advantage, it was me and Ze. Qi took advantage of you, brother!"
The younger generations in the family are harmonious. As the elder, Grandpa Shen is naturally the happiest one. After listening to the words of his brothers, he said with a smile while stroking his beard: "Okay, okay, you two should stop rejecting each other. We are a family, we just have different division of labor, whatever is yours and mine, it’s settled that it belongs to our family!”
When Shen Songjie heard that Grandpa Shen not only agreed, but also made a decision, Shen Songjie was so happy that he sat upright in his chair and replied loudly: "Thank you, Grandpa!"
After the meal, the Chu family and the young ones were sent away, and the Shen family returned to peace again. Mrs. Liu helped clean up the kitchen, and then excused Sanqi to be sleepy and hurried back to her and Shen Zeqi's house.
"Ms. sir, why didn't you discuss this matter with me in advance?"
Shen Zeqi drank some wine tonight, his face was a little red, but he was still sober. He thought about the fact that half of the previous transaction was given to his cousin, and his wife Liu knew it, so it seemed that the transaction was returned home. What happened: "Madam, are you talking about the business going back home?"
Mrs. Liu nodded: "It's such a big matter, why don't you discuss it with me in advance?"
Shen Zeqi touched his nose. It was true that he hadn't thought much about this matter. He just felt that what his second cousin said was reasonable. The two of them made the decision as soon as they put it together: "It is indeed my fault this time. I should have gone ahead in advance." I’ll let you know.”
Mrs. Liu knew that this matter was now a foregone conclusion, and she could not change anything. She could only say: "My husband is not to blame for this matter, but I feel that this business has changed from a private matter to a family matter, so it is not as convenient as before. , but since it has changed, that’s all it can do!”
"Madam, do you think something is not as convenient as before?"
Ms. Liu hesitated for a moment and said: "Before, it was a private job, and the money was all in my own hands. Now it belongs to the family, so naturally the money must be managed by the family..."
"Madam, you are worrying too much. My aunt has always been generous and doting on us juniors. If you want anything, just tell me directly."
Ms. Liu looked at her innocent-looking husband, thought for a while and swallowed her words.
