Zhou Shuren went to the side room and knocked on the door. When Jiang Sheng came out, Zhou Shuren handed the blanket and diaper to Jiang Sheng with a dark face, “Are the child and Xuemei okay?”

Jiang Sheng’s heart trembled. His father-in-law was in a bad mood. Recalling his mother-in-law’s tired face, he understood why his father-in-law was angry with him. “The child and Xuemei are both fine. Dad, you and Mom can rest assured and go to bed early!”

Zhou Shuren nodded, turned around, and went back to the house. When he entered the house, he saw that Zhulan was already asleep.

Zhou Shuren blew out the candle and went to the kang. In the dark, he pinched Zhulan’s nose and said resentfully, “You really treat Zhou’s children as your own!”

Zhulan couldn’t breathe properly and slapped Zhou Shuren’s hand away, mumbling in a daze, “Stop it.”

Zhou Shuren chuckled and hugged Zhulan. This woman was really too soft-hearted sometimes.

The next day, Zhulan didn’t get up early. When she woke up, breakfast was ready. Zhulan’s legs were a little uncomfortable. She stood for a long time yesterday. One and a half hours was three hours!

For breakfast, Li Shi cooked rice porridge, cornmeal cakes, steamed egg custard, and two stir-fried vegetables. After breakfast, the oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar brought back from Pingzhou were gone.

Xuemei rested for a night, and in the morning she drank rice porridge and ate five boiled eggs in one go. Xuemei’s milk supply was good, and the two little ones were also in good condition.

Zhulan was sitting nearby changing the baby’s diaper and asked, “These two little guys are nine months old now, right?”

Xuemei had never calculated it, so she calculated in her mind, “Mom, it’s already nine months.”

Zhulan felt relieved. She wasn’t superstitious; it was just that the memories of her original self had an uncanny accuracy when it came to life and death.

Xuemai bit her lip and said, “Mother, I didn’t expect them to rush out. You worked hard yesterday.”

Zhulan smiled and said, “They’re also in a hurry; both of them are quite fortunate.”

Xuemei thought that the two little guys were indeed blessed. The children were born in her mother’s home, and she felt at ease. With her mother by her side, she felt particularly at ease. As for her husband, she didn’t trust him so much. Although her husband was very stable, he was very flustered every time she gave birth. This time, there were two children. If she really gave birth at home, who knew how chaotic it would have been!

Zhulan put the children down. She didn’t dare to use force and moved lightly. The two children were too young. “You can rest assured to stay at home during the confinement period. When we leave, your second brother’s family will be here, and your second sister-in-law will take care of you, so I can feel more at ease.”

Xuemei blinked her eyes and asked, “Is the Second brother staying here and not going back?”

Zhulan nodded, “Well, the autumn harvest is coming soon. He can come back to watch over the harvest, and Jiang Sheng only needs to take care of the 20 acres of land in Zhoujia Village. Jiang Sheng can also take better care of you.”

Xuemei didn’t expect to get pregnant again. They were supposed to take care of her family’s land. “If I wasn’t pregnant, my second brother and his family wouldn’t have to stay.”

Zhulan smiled and said, “Even if you weren’t pregnant, your father would have let your second brother stay back.”

Xuemei was indeed one reason. Zhou Shuren arranged his sons in this way, more because he wanted to test the ability of the second son and Chang Lian to be the head of the family alone.

Xuemei felt that something was wrong. Although she did not see her sisters-in-law yesterday, she heard some noises in the house early in the morning. Her second sister-in-law and her younger sister-in-law were very affectionate to her eldest sister-in-law. She did not forget her younger sister-in-law’s arrogance. However, as a daughter who married out, giving birth to a child at home would be enough trouble for her mother, so it was better for her not to ask or interfere.

Zhulan left the house, and Jiang Sheng came forward, “Mom, Dad is going back to Zhoujia Village, I’m going back with him to get the baby’s things.”

Zhulan said, “Go ahead. I’ll take care of Xuemei and the child.”

Jiang Sheng bowed and said, “Thank you, Mother.”

Zhulan waited for Zhou Shuren to leave with Boss Zhou and Jiang Sheng, then called Second Zhou over, “Send Dr. Lu back to the county and buy all the things the family needs when you come back. I’ll write you a list later, and you just buy according to it.”

Second Zhou said, “Mom, I’ll go get the cart first.”

“Okay, come pick up the order later.”

“Ok!”

Zhulan held the pen and thought, there were really a lot of things missing at home. Her daughter was in confinement at home, so she needed to buy pig’s trotters, soybeans, and crucian carp. She also needed to buy oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, millet, rice, and flour for household use, as well as some pork ribs, roast chicken, and braised meat. Most importantly, she needed to buy paper and wine for visiting the graves, and some fruit.

Although the fruits in Northeast China were either mountain pears or hawthorns and were not particularly delicious, they were better than nothing.

Zhulan wrote as she thought, and in total, she wrote a page of paper. Her handwriting was small, and she carefully counted the fifteen or sixteen items she wanted to buy.

Second Zhou came back and took a look at the list. There were so many good things. “Mom, I’m leaving now.”

“Ok.”

After Second Zhou saw Dr. Lu off, several daughters-in-law of the Zhou family, including Li Shi went back to her parents’ home, while Zhao Shi was packing the second room’s luggage. The second room had the most luggage this time as they were going to stay in their hometown, so they didn’t actually bring many things back, mainly clothes and quilts, and they had everything they needed for the house.

Zhulan was preparing to make small clothes with the remaining fine cotton when Dong Shi knocked on the door and came in, “Mom.”

Zhulan motioned for Dong Shi to sit down, “I know why you are here. You will go to the grave to pay respects tomorrow. The day after tomorrow you and Changlian will go back to your mother’s home to stay for a few days.”

Dong Shi was delighted, “Ok!”

She just wanted to visit her parents, and her mother-in-law actually allowed her to go back and live there for a few days. As long as she didn’t cross her mother-in-law’s bottom line, she was still generous to her daughters-in-law.

Dong Shi picked up the cloth and said, “Mom, I will help you sew it.”

“No, just help me go check on your elder sister. If she needs anything, just call me.”

Dong Shi put down the cloth, “Ok.”

Zhulian worked quickly with her needle and thread. By the time Jiang Sheng returned with the ox cart, she had finished making the clothes. Zhulian was very pleased that Jiang Sheng washed the baby’s diapers. Even in modern times, many men wouldn’t lend a hand. She thought having someone like Zhou La’er in ancient times was rare enough, but she didn’t expect Jiang Sheng to not mind doing it, especially since he was a scholar. That made it even more exceptional.

Among the four sons of the Zhou family, the eldest son was not the proactive type. He was capable of being instructed by Li Shi, even behind others’ backs. The second son did not care at all. As for Chang Lian, Zhulan did not even need to bet that Chang Lian would never raise a finger. As for Chang Zhi, Zhulan was really unsure. This kid really cared about the things he cared about, and he would not pay attention at all if he did not care.

Jiang Sheng moved all the things the children would be using into the house. Seeing his mother-in-law holding a basin to wash the child’s clothes, he quickly reached out and said, “Mom, just leave it to me.”

He didn’t dare to trouble his mother-in-law. His father-in-law’s face was so scary that he was so frightened that he kept his eyes open while resting last night.

Now his father-in-law had become a juren, and who knew, he might become an official in the future. He was really scared!

Zhulan watched Jiang Sheng take the basin away and remained silent. Zhou Shuren must have scared Jiang Sheng yesterday.

Jiang Sheng was a diligent and clean man. Zhulan sat on a chair and watched Jiang Sheng wash clothes. Jiang Sheng washed their clothes very carefully. She never washed clothes three times. She was used to washing them twice and then rinsing them three times. Jiang Sheng washes them three times and rinses them three times.

Half an hour later, Second Zhou came back. All the necessary household items had been purchased. Second Zhou didn’t buy too much. His parents said they would leave a horse-drawn carriage at home. It would be convenient for him to go to the county with a carriage. If he needed anything, he could just go to the county and buy it.

(End of this chapter)

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