Chapter 52
It was almost noon when the young couple arrived home. After entering the house, Lin Zhen asked Ji Congzhe to go upstairs and lie down to rest, and then called him after he had finished cooking.
"Let's take a rest after dinner later. Besides, it's still a little hot upstairs."
Lin Zhen asked, "Then I'll take the mat down and you can lie down on the first floor for a while?"
"No, I don't feel uncomfortable right now. Just cook your food."
Lin Zhen saw that Ji Congzhe's complexion was obviously much better than in the morning, and his tense spirit relaxed.
He put the quail eggs and beef he bought in bowls and put them on the table. "Then I'll cook the rice, and you eat first."
There was rice and oil at home. They had gone to live in the watermelon field before, but they only brought some of it with them.
Lin Zhen went to the well to buy rice, and then lit a fire in the stove. While the firewood was burning, he asked Ji Congzhe to help keep an eye on it. He had to go to the back mountain to pick some vegetables.
Ji Congzhe peeled a few quail eggs and ate them, occasionally taking a look inside the stove. After a while, Lin Zhen came back with a basket. He picked some eggplants and two loofahs from Uncle Yang's house.
At noon, I cooked a plate of loofah soup and a dish of fried eggplant. I couldn't help but eat the beef. The two of them finished it at noon, but they could still eat two meals of quail eggs.
After lunch, Ji Congzhe had to take a nap, but the weather in early September was still a bit muggy upstairs, so Lin Zhen carried the mat to the first floor and got pillows and sheets.
After Ji Congzhe lay down, Lin Zhen told him, "You take a nap first. I'm going to the watermelon field to move things back. I have to clean the house in the afternoon, otherwise there will be a smell."
Ji Congzhe lay on the mat and sniffed, "There is a strong musty smell. Then why are you moving so many things by yourself?"
"Pick out the important ones today, and pick up the rest bit by bit later. Anyway, we still have to farm over there."
"Okay, then don't be too tired." Ji Congzhe warned.
Lin Zhen said "Yeah." Then he picked up two empty baskets with a pole.
I picked out the quilts and mats last night. There is nothing important in the watermelon field at the moment. There are just pots, pans and coal stoves. Hoes and other things are needed anyway, so I will leave them here for now.
The mosquito net still has to be taken down, and now that it's early autumn, mosquito bites are even more painful.
Lin Zhen dismantled the mosquito net and put it into the basket. He also dismantled the wooden bed in the shed, put the wooden board aside, and then piled the stones underneath into the corner.
Originally, the rapeseed flowers were cut, but the straw was still piled in the ground. These fields still need to be sown in the next two days. Lin Zhen moved the straw from the field into the shed so that if any crops needed to withstand the cold, they could be burned.
It seems that this shed is quite useful. It can escape the heat in summer and store things in winter.
There was no time to dig up the ground today, so he remembered Ji Congzhe's body, packed up his things, and carried the load back.
Ji Congzhe was about to get up when he heard Lin Zhen opening the door and coming back.
"You continue to sleep for a while, I have to clean the second floor."
Ji Congzhe yawned, "I won't sleep anymore. I have a headache from sleeping too much."
Lin Zhen: "Okay, then you go and sit under the eaves. I will sweep the floor on the second floor later, and the dust will fall down."
After Ji Congzhe got up, Lin Zhen rolled up the mat on the ground and put it aside. Then he twisted the wet rag and carried the lead bucket upstairs.
In fact, the house is not dirty, but dust easily falls from the gaps between the tiles. Just cleaning it requires washing the rag several times.
He wiped the glass windows, the table, the bed and the wooden wall next to the bed, and finally mopped the floor. After doing this, he felt that the air was much fresher. In fact, the musty smell was because it had not been inhabited for too long. It's caused by lots of rain and humidity in summer.
Uncle Yang said that if a wooden house like this is regularly occupied, it will last for hundreds of years, but if it is uninhabited, it will fall down in a few years.
After returning from the hospital this time, Aunt Yang not only cared about Ji Congzhe's health, but also gave special instructions to Lin Zhen.
"The weather is getting colder. From now on, you have to use hot water for Xiao Ji to bathe and wash his feet. Don't ask him to do any work. Now that he doesn't vomit much, you can get him some fish and meat to replenish his body. He is now two A person with a weak body will definitely get hungry easily."
So Lin Zhen boiled a lot of hot water at night and let Ji Congzhe take a comfortable bath.
Before going to bed, he put up the mosquito net.
After Ji Congzhe moved back, he lamented that it was still more comfortable to live at home. Now it was getting cooler here at night. Lying on a bamboo mat and covering him with a thin quilt, he felt at ease and comfortable.
There are mainly light bulbs, so you don't have to worry about anything falling off the mosquito net.
With the bright light, Ji Congzhe could knit a sweater for a while at night. Lin Zhen sat on the bed and cooperated with him in winding the yarn ball, but his eyes stayed on his abdomen softly.
"It's big."
Ji Congzhe was quickly unwinding the thread in his hand, and was stunned when he heard his rambling words, "What's so big?"
"abdomen."
Ji Congzhe was not wearing a shirt, and his belly, which was more than three months old, was not obvious. However, he used to be very thin, but now his waist and abdomen lines have completely disappeared, and it looks like he has a small belly.
He pinched his belly, shook his head and sighed, "What a shame for my six-pack abs."
After saying this, he glanced at Lin Zhen. After a year of hard work, this young man was getting better and better, which made Ji Congzhe jealous.
After wrapping the ball of yarn, Lin Zhen sat at the table next to him. He took out a notebook and pencil from the drawer and started keeping accounts.
Ji Congzhe asked him while wearing a sweater, "How much eel was sold today?"
"Now that there are less eels, I raised the price a bit today and sold them for thirty-one."
Ji Congzhe clicked his tongue and said, "It's only a little more than the cost of a bag of milk powder. Hey, you spent a lot on shopping today, right?"
Lin Zhen wrote on the notebook for a while, then handed it over, and Ji Congzhe put down the knitting needle.
Received on September 5th: eel 31.
Branches: 6 from hospital, 7 from beef, 2 from quail eggs, 5 from lettuce, lettuce, mustard and Chinese cabbage seeds, 10 from wool, and 1 from fare. Pork 3.
Ji Congzhe finished scanning the accounts and was about to cry, "Well, it's very good. I even got a discount of three yuan today."
He then turned to a page, "It was 275 before, deducting 25 for cotton, you sold eels five times in total..."
Lin Zhen reminded, "In addition, today is the sixth chapter."
"Today's payment is three yuan, it's still nothing! Give me the pen."
Lin Zhen handed him the pen on the table, and Ji Congzhe started drafting in the notebook.
"275 minus 25, 250. 250 plus your eel, 24 yuan 5 plus 26 plus 23..." After sorting through these dense numbers, Ji Congzhe calculated the huge wealth of their family.
Lin Zhen asked "How much?"
"394." Ji Congzhe put down his pen and said depressedly, "No, why do I feel that our money is always this number over and over again? Why can't it break through the four hundred mark in a hurry?"
"Let's look at the tea business next year. The tea business next year should be better than before."
Ji Congzhe sighed.
Lin Zhen took out the pen and notebook in his hand and put them back on the table, then went to bed, only to hear what he said unexpectedly.
"Now that I think about it, I actually think that being able to produce milk is not a bad thing."
"Why?"
"A bag of milk powder is so expensive. If I can produce milk, I can save a lot of money."
Lin Zhen hugged him and laughed.
"Why are you laughing?" Ji Congzhe pushed him, "Go and get me something to eat. I'm hungry."
"Now? Didn't we just have dinner not long ago?"
"Damn, you think I'm happy?" Ji Congzhe rolled his eyes at him.
Lin Zhen let go of him, stood up and put on his shoes, "I'll get you some quail eggs."
After a while, he came up with a bowl of quail eggs. He handed the quail eggs to Ji Congzhe, and then went to get a bowl and a towel.
Ji Congzhe peeled the quail eggs and threw the shells into an empty bowl. If his hands were stained with sauce, he wiped them with a towel.
"Are you going to eat or not?"
Lin Zhen shook his head. He felt that he hadn't digested his dinner yet, and he choked when he saw the quail eggs. Especially after Ji Congzhe ate them all in one go, he felt even more indigestion.
"Are you still hungry? Do you want me to get you some more food?"
Ji Congzhe touched his stomach, "It's okay. I'm about seven to eight percent full. Forget it, I won't eat. If I continue to eat, my stomach may burst before I even feel it."
He was really a little scared, because he had a big appetite now. Even though he usually ate more than twice as much as Lin Zhen, he still felt not full, so he tried his best to control it.
"Turn off the lights and go to bed."
"Okay." Lin Zhen was afraid that food residues would be left on the second floor to attract mosquitoes, so he took the bowl downstairs before going to bed and turning off the lights.
September started, and the next step was the busy sowing period. Ji Congzhe couldn't work too hard, and Lin Zhen wouldn't let him move, so all the work in the fields fell on him alone.
Closer to the back mountain, Ji Congzhe could accompany him to plow the ground, but while Lin Zhen was plowing the ground, he would occasionally help with small things like sprinkling water.
As for places farther away, such as the watermelon field, Ji Congzhe has never been there again.
In the land behind the mountain, they plan to grow lettuce, lettuce, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, which do not take up much space and often appear on the dining table.
However, the potato seeds and potherb seeds purchased in the first half of the year were still planted in the watermelon field.
It is convenient to sow seeds in the open air, and there is no need to cultivate them. After the land is plowed, just spread the seeds directly to cover the soil, and then sprinkle some water to keep the soil moist.
Ji Congzhe accompanied Lin Zhen to dismantle the shelves in the back mountain area. Lin Zhen used a machete to chop the yellow poles into small pieces, which could be used as firewood.
Lin Zhen finished planting the land in one breath for several days, and took back home the corn that had been left to dry in the ground and piled it in the small ancestral hall.
The rice would be harvested in half a month, so he asked Chen Hu to help him go to the mountain to cut down two thick trees in his spare time, and prepare to make cabinets before the rice was harvested to prevent the house from being crowded.
Naturally, it is impossible for Chen Hu and the others to
After being helped, Lin Zhen had to slowly figure out how to use the tools by himself.
He estimated the length and sawed the trunk into several sections, peeling off the bark while chopping with a machete. Then he took the ink fountain borrowed from Chen Hu's family.
When making furniture or something here, an ink fountain is essential. There is a ball of thread wrapped around the small box containing ink. The thread is stuck on one end of the wood. Turn the ink fountain to the other end. After measuring it with your eyes, at about the same time, you grab the taut line and flick it, and an ink-colored straight line suddenly appears. on wood.
Lin Zhen mentally calculated the width of the wooden boards for the cabinet, then continued to play a few lines on the wood, then grabbed the saw.
After a day of sawing, the wood was all turned into planks, and Lin Zhen's body was covered with tree chips, but the only work left was to hammer nails.
A few days later, he made two long cabinets. They looked rough, but they were functional. Drawers couldn't be made, so he installed small doors on both cabinets.
After stuffing it under the bed, it just clicked tightly. Ji Congzhe went to the big wooden cabinet at the entrance of the stairs to sort out the quilt and clothes.
One cabinet under the bed is used to store bedding, and the other cabinet is used to stuff clothes.
In this way, the two large wooden cabinets at the entrance of the stairs can be used to fill the rice.
It was approaching October, and Ji Congzhe couldn't bear to sleep directly on the mat, so Lin Zhen took both quilts out to dry in the sun during the day. The two quilts weighing about four pounds can be used to cover one bed with a mattress for the time being, until the weather gets colder. Their new quilt, which weighs ten pounds, is ready to be covered with.
The quilt that had been exposed to the sun was fluffy and soft, and even smelled of the sun. Suddenly he was covered with a quilt, and Ji Congzhe felt that the moment he got into the quilt, even his pores were stretched.
He felt sleepy as soon as the quilt was warm, but it was still early, and if he slept too much, he might have to wake up in the early morning.
So he held it in again and took the wool to knit a sweater for a while.
Once he became proficient, he could weave very quickly, especially children's clothes, which could be knitted in a week.
When Aunt Yang heard that Ji Congzhe was going to the hospital to give birth in the future, she asked him to put the knitted clothes and pants into a separate cloth bag, so that he would not be in a hurry when the time came.
He knitted for two hours and got hungry. He yelled downstairs, and Lin Zhen quickly rushed upstairs.
It's been like this every night for a while now, and I feel hungry two or three hours after a meal.
"What are you doing downstairs?"
Lin Zhen: "I see there are still some wooden boards, and I plan to make a small bed. Are you hungry? Then I will cook you something to eat."
Ji Congzhe asked, "Have you fed the chicken?"
"Not yet, then I'll go feed the chickens first and cook something for you when I come back."
Lin Zhen left, and Ji Congzhe collected all the wool and stuffed it into the cabinet under the bed.
When Lin Zhen came back, he saw him carrying an egg. Ji Congzhe asked doubtfully, "Didn't we finish eating the eggs at home and not buy them? Is this small shop still open?"
Lin Zhen couldn't restrain his excitement, "This was laid by our hen. I just went to the chicken shed to feed the chickens and saw the hen squatting there. I walked over and took a look and found that it actually laid an egg. You can touch it and see." ."
Ji Congzhe took the egg, his palms felt warm, and he also became excited, "It's still warm!"
"Shall I go and make you some egg yolks? Or do you want some sugar-watered eggs?"
Ji Congzhe thought for a while and said, "How about keeping this egg to hatch the babies?"
Lin Zhen said, "It's okay. I'll lay another egg in the future. I'll give you the first egg to eat."
"Okay, sugar-watered eggs."
Lin Zhen went downstairs to the stove. He scooped a spoonful of water from the bucket, then filled the stove with firewood and lit it. When the water boiled, he cracked the eggs and poured them in whole.
If people here are sick or pregnant, it is popular to eat sugar-watered eggs. I thought it was a dark way to eat egg soup with sugar added, but when Wang Xiaoyan gave it a bowl that day, Ji Congzhe thought it tasted very good.
After the eggs were cooked, Lin Zhen took a spoon and scooped them into a bowl. The tender white egg white wrapped the egg yolk. Then he scooped out some clear soup and mixed in a little white sugar.
He brought it upstairs to Ji Congzhe.
While Ji Congzhe was eating with satisfaction, he told Lin Zhen, "To be honest, this is the first time I have eaten eggs that took less than half an hour to come out of the chicken butt."
"How does that taste?"
Ji Congzhe thought about the taste and said, "Actually, it tastes the same as other eggs, but I think it's fresh."
He even drank the egg soup and handed the bowl to Lin Zhen. After eating and drinking, he felt the warm bedding, which even helped him sleep a lot.
This place is close to mountains, and the temperature is low at dawn and sunset. Ji Congzhe's body is different from the past. In the morning, Lin Zhen asked him to put on autumn clothes and long trousers.
The problem arose when Ji Congzhe put on the autumn clothes and autumn pants that Lin Zhen gave him on the bed.
"Fuck, strangle me."
When Lin Zhen took a look at it, no wonder he would say "Hey," his belly, which was nearly four months old, was obviously bulging. He didn't seem to feel it when he looked at it every day before. When he said this today, Lin Zhen's eyes widened suddenly.
It seems extremely fresh and incredible. This belly seemed to blow up overnight in the blink of an eye.
Ji Congzhe pulled his pants down, and the elastic band buried in his long johns left a red mark on his slightly bulging belly.
Lin Zhen quickly told him to take it off.
But all the pants were wrong with Ji Congzhe. The pants that were clearly wearable two days ago were not the right size today.
The two of them forgot about this and were busy preparing children's clothes, but they ignored that Ji Congzhe had to prepare loose clothes as his belly grew bigger day by day.