Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

“How is that possible? Ah! Speaking of which, Dou Family really suffered a lifetime.”

Di Yelei sighed and raised his hand to wipe his face.

“Dad and Mom asked me to go hunting in the mountains, so I went up there every day, leaving Dou Family alone at home. It wasn’t until later when Dou Family had a miscarriage and lost her life… then I realized how much suffering she had endured at home. I was young and naive back then…”

Looking at the sentimental Di Yelei, Liu Sisi couldn’t help but sigh.

“Don’t be sad, even though she’s not here anymore, she definitely still hopes for your well-being. In the future, we will treat Xuan’er and YingEr well, and raise them to be adults.” As she spoke, she playfully smeared his face.

He took advantage of the situation to grab her small hand and gently kissed it.

“I understand! In the years after Dou Family’s death, I kept asking myself, what have I missed? I also figured out a lot.”

“What did you figure out?”

Her eyes were bright and twinkling, unblinking as she stared at him, making him unable to help but laugh.

“Of course, I figured out that the daughter-in-law I married is not just for show but to be cherished and pampered. I must treat her well and not let her be wronged. Most importantly, our children must be born safely…”

“Yes! Surely it will!”

Liu Sisi held his hand back, her face full of determination.

That lost child had always been a hidden pain in his heart! But at this moment, in the arms of this little woman, his wounds seemed to have miraculously healed.

“Yes! This is our child, it will definitely be! Definitely…”

How she fell asleep again, Liu Sisi didn’t know.

She woke up in the scent of sweetness, Di Yelei was busy making sugar, while Liu Zhi’er was helping him by the side.

At the moment, he was cooling the cooked glutinous rice on the bamboo strips, then adding the cut germinated barley malt to ferment, then pressing it to get maltose.

“Sisi, Sisi, are you awake? The medicine soup is ready and is over there for you to drink.”

Liu Sisi drowsily walked out, heard Liu Zhi’er talking, and quickly responded.

Seeing the maltose the two were making, Liu Sisi thought: “We’re out of the white gourd candy we made last time. With the New Year coming soon, why don’t we buy another white gourd and make some? I saw that the Chen Family outside the village had some, why don’t we buy one to make?”

Di Yelei thought: “It’s already finished? We’ll have to make some more white gourd candy. It can not only be stored, but also used for entertaining guests and ourselves later.”

“That’s what I thought! Let’s make some more pastries for ourselves too. I’ve been craving various foods recently.”

Liu Sisi’s tastes have been particularly strange recently, she would crave something but then not want it once it was in her mouth, and then want some other food, going round and round.

“Alright, I’ll go buy the white gourd, you guys just wait. I’ll be back soon.”

While speaking, Di Yelei took off his apron and left the kitchen.

After thinking for a while, Liu Sisi smiled and said to Second Sister: “Second Sister, let’s take advantage of the empty pot and make some pastries. Let’s check if any chinese chives have grown, and let’s make some chive pies. I’m craving them today.”

Liu Zhi’er laughed: “Look at you, craving all these things, you must be having a boy. That would be perfect!”

“Daughters are even better, aren’t they? If a daughter is as intimate and caring as YingEr, that’s great!”

Listening to the laughter and playing sounds of YingEr and the children outside the courtyard, Liu Sisi couldn’t help but laugh.

Liu Zhi’er, on the other hand, was unimpressed: “That’s short-sighted of you. No matter how good a daughter is, she will eventually get married and leave. Just like you and me, once a woman gets married, it’s difficult to see her parents again…”

As she spoke, Liu Zhi’er’s expression darkened, and the smile on her face faded.

Liu Sisi quickly reached out to hold her hand tightly, “Second sister, after the New Year, I’ll accompany you back to our parents’ house, all right?”

“All right… No, not all right! I won’t go back, how can I go back like this…”

Liu Zhi’er forcefully pulled back her hand and, turning her body, silently added more firewood to the stove.

The light in Liu Sisi’s eyes dimmed as she too understood Liu Zhi’er’s thoughts.

She silently walked over to the stove and began beating eggs, mixing them, and preparing chive pies. Both of them didn’t speak and busied themselves with their tasks.

By the time Di Yelei returned with a huge white gourd, the chive pies were already made.

“Wow! How big is this white gourd? It must be around 100 pounds!”

Liu Sisi was shocked by the size of the white gourd.

“It’s actually 130 pounds! I picked the largest one! I figured since we’re going to eat it, might as well buy a big one and make more since we have so many people in our family.”

Di Yelei put down the white gourd, wiped the sweat from his brow, and then started cutting and peeling it.

Liu Sisi added half a pot of water to the pot and prepared to cook the white gourd.

“That’s great! This year will definitely be a lively year. While we have many people around, let’s make more useful food, so we don’t have to spend our silver on the street. The sugar candies on the street are not cheap.”

Liu Sisi said this immediately, trying to ease the stifling atmosphere in the room.

“Exactly, a sugar butterfly on the street costs 3 copper coins, how much maltose can be used for that?”

Liu Zhi’er nearby hurriedly smiled and replied, understanding Liu Sisi’s meaning.

What Liu Zhi’er was talking about was sugar butterflies, one of the favorite treats for children during festivals. Most vendors would pick up a shoulder pole, shake a drum while walking through the streets, with a pot of sugar syrup at their side. They would also have a flat stone slab for drawing patterns. Once a child paid to spin the wheel, the vendor would use a spoon to draw an exquisite pattern on the heated stone slab.

With just a few copper coins, children could get a maltose-made sugar butterfly, sugar monkey, sugar goldfish, sugar deer…

Not only are they beautiful, but they are also extra sweet. As soon as the New Year came around, such vendors would make a fortune.

“That’s true. We have lots of kids in our family, so it’s good to make more. After a few more days, I’ll make even more, and then our Lunar New Year will be quite grand.”

Liu Sisi was looking forward to it with excitement.

The happy chatter of the group quickly passed, and it was the 23rd of December in the lunar calendar.

Before dawn on this day, Di Yelei took the whole family up to the small town. Di Cheng had sent a letter early yesterday that the bookstore was very busy and needed some help.

Thinking about it, Liu Sisi realized that it was the Minor New Year and the couplets and spring couplets in the bookstore would definitely sell well, so she went early to help out.