ebookland Chapter 122 The Mischievous Little Rascal
Chapter 122 The Mischievous Little Rascal
Spring planting, summer management, and autumn harvest are the busiest seasons in rural Northeast China. Winter is usually a relatively quiet time, but the slogan "Learn from Dazhai in Agriculture" broke this tradition. In winter, the production team organized young and strong men to go up the mountain to work and build Dazhai fields. As the production team leader, Gu Feng set an example, and his entire family, except for Gu Yuanyuan who was still in school, responded to the call.
A heavy snow fell last night, and the thick snow made the village seem even quieter. However, at four o'clock in the morning, the village loudspeaker blared, and the villagers took their farm tools and headed up the mountain. Gu Jun got up very quietly, but he still woke Shu Yun. She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the time on her watch. "So early?"
Gu Jun helped her lie back down and tucked her in. "You can go back to sleep. I'm leaving now."
Gu Jun was serving in the army and was not required to work in the mountains. However, he felt that his elderly parents should be working in the mountains instead of him, as he couldn't do it himself at home. So he told them to stay home and rest while he went up the mountain to work in their place.
Wang Xiuwen originally didn't want to agree, "How can that be? What are you going to do if you're not getting work points?"
Shu Yun persuaded, "Mom, just listen to Gu Jun. We don't usually have many opportunities to take care of you two when we're in the army. We've finally come back, and we can't let Gu Jun just watch you work. It would make him feel bad. Besides, the autumn harvest was so hard. Now that you have some free time, it's more important to rest and recuperate."
Wang Xiuwen moved her lips, looked at Shu Yun, but ultimately said nothing more.
Seeing the old lady's cowardly appearance, Gu Yuanyuan covered her mouth and chuckled.
It was very cold, with the north wind howling and making people's bones ache. Several women stayed indoors by the fire, rarely going out.
Shu Yun was helping Gu Yuanyuan with her homework when the wooden door creaked open, the heavy curtain was lifted, and a gust of cold wind blew into the warm room, making Gu Yuanyuan shrink her neck. The people who came in were several aunties from the village, who were usually on good terms with Wang Xiuwen.
The first thing they saw when they came in was Shu Yun. Their eyes lit up. Goodness, this little wife has been hiding at home for days. Finally, they got to see her face.
The next moment, the group of people silently exclaimed in unison: Goodness!
After greeting the group, Shu Yun continued tutoring Gu Yuanyuan's homework. Meanwhile, the women took out their own needles and thread and sat around the stove, warming themselves by the fire, sewing clothes, and gossiping. Shu Yun was busy multitasking, tutoring and listening to the gossip at the same time.
A metal rack was placed on the stove. Wang Xiuwen put a few oranges on it to roast. Shu Yun took one, peeled off the scalding hot orange peel, and took a bite. The hot orange juice slid down her throat and into her stomach, making her feel warm. The heated orange was even sweeter. Shu Yun couldn't resist eating another one.
It wasn't lunchtime yet, and Wang Xiuwen, understanding that Shu Yun was pregnant, didn't let her lift a finger. However, thinking of her husband still working in the cold wind, Shu Yun picked a few sweet potatoes from the corner of the kitchen, cut them into chunks, and boiled them with water and sugar to make sweet potato soup. She thought that drinking it after lunch would help ward off the cold.
The aunties sat for a while, and then went home when it was almost time for dinner.
Soon, voices could be heard outside. Shu Yun went to the door to greet them. The curtain was opened, and Gu Jun walked in, bringing with him a chill. Shu Yun moved closer and said, "Are you cold? I made you some sweet soup."
Gu Jun didn't let her get close, saying, "Be careful of the cold."
Ignoring him, Shu Yun pulled his cold hand inside, then went to the kitchen and took out the sweet soup that was still simmering in the big pot. She handed a cup to Gu Jun, Gu Feng, and his sister-in-law Li Xueying, saying, "Drink up, warm yourselves up."
The group sat around the table in silence, drinking their sweet soup. Shu Yun sat next to Gu Jun, who picked up a bowl and offered it to her first. "Would you like a sip?"
Shu Yun shook her head. "I already drank it when I was at home. You drink it."
Gu Jun then asked in a low voice, "How are you? Are you feeling alright today?"
Shu Yun nodded, "It's okay." She was still a little nauseous, but it was a normal phenomenon during pregnancy. She ate a few oranges and felt much better, so she didn't say anything, not wanting Gu Jun to worry.
At night, Shu Yun was held in Gu Jun's arms, with a warm kang bed beneath her and a warm stove behind her. She was feeling drowsy when she suddenly remembered something. She put on her shoes and got out of bed. "Look what I saw in the house today?"
As Shu Yun spoke, she took out a faded black-and-white photo from the drawer. It was of a chubby-faced little boy who was frowning at the camera, looking like an angry little tiger. It was clearly a photo that had been taken under duress.
Shu Yun took the photo and lay back on the bed. She placed the photo against Gu Jun's face, compared it, and laughed, "Is it you? You looked like a troublemaker when you were little."
顾峻看着照片的四角已经卷边，记得当年好像是有照相师傅到村里来，不少人都带着孩子、爱人拍了照片，王秀文看得眼热，也拿了钱去给顾峻拍，而当时顾峻正因为闯祸挨了顿揍，哪里有心情，所以拍出来的时候像是别人欠了他一个亿一样。
"But he's been a handsome little boy since he was a baby, not bad," Shu Yun praised. She wondered if her baby would look the same after ten months of pregnancy, and then said, "Maybe the baby in my belly will look just like you when you were little."
Upon hearing this, Gu Jun frowned slightly, and Shu Yun quickly reached out to smooth out the wrinkle. "Don't keep frowning, wrinkles don't look good."
Gu Jun pulled Shu Yun's hand and put it under the covers, saying, "Don't end up like me, it's better if you end up like me."
Shu Yun laughed. "What? You know your personality is annoying?"
Gu Jun looked down at Shu Yun lying in his arms. The light revealed the fine downy hairs on her face, and her slightly raised chin made her look exceptionally proud and fluffy. His voice softened, "I want to see what you looked like when you were little. It would be wonderful to have a daughter; she would be so beautiful if she looked like you. I would definitely..."
Gu Jun looked at Shu Yun with tenderness, but by the time he finished speaking and looked at her in his arms, she was already fast asleep, snoring softly, looking incredibly sweet.
On the other side, Li Xueying lay in bed tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Gu Feng, disturbed by her, asked, "What's wrong?"
Li Xueying sat up in bed. "Do you think the second son's wife is pregnant?"
She had suspected this when she saw the two elders return from the hospital all smiles, and seeing Shu Yun feel nauseous several times afterward only strengthened her belief.
Gu Feng was taken aback, then laughed and said, "If it's there, it's there. What a wonderful thing!"
Li Xueying sighed, "She married into the family several years later than me, but I still don't have a child. What will the villagers say about me? That I'm a hen that can't lay eggs?"
Her self-deprecating humor displeased Gu Feng. "Why do you care what others say? Besides, it's not like we haven't done it before."
Speaking of this, Li Xueying felt even more bitter. "Yes, it's all my fault for being careless at the time, otherwise I wouldn't have miscarried." When she was working in the fields, her foot slipped on the mud and she fell. She started bleeding immediately and that's when she found out she was pregnant. But she couldn't keep the baby. When she found out, she was told that the baby was gone. This has always been a wound in Li Xueying's heart, and she feels terrible when she thinks about it at night.
Li Xueying: "You said I should go to my mother. She told me last time that there is a medicine that can help you get pregnant."
Gu Feng disagreed, "How could it be so effective? If it were really that effective, wouldn't hospitals have them?"
He hugged his wife and said, "You're overthinking it. Just let things happen naturally. Look, my parents aren't pressuring us either. Relax."
Li Xueying lay in her husband's arms, but her mind was still on the medicine that could help her get pregnant.