Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 11996

The old man didn't want to always face his children with a long face that looked like he was about to cry. It was the New Year, a time when everyone was happy and joyful. If he always acted that way, it would not only spoil everyone's mood but also be considered unlucky for the New Year.

"Auntie, we're off now. You can decide what to eat and drink for the two children at noon." Yang Ruoqing first helped Luo the blacksmith into the carriage, then got in herself. Before setting off, she leaned out of the carriage window and gave Wang Cuilian some instructions.

Previously, Cao Bamei had solemnly invited Wang Cuilian to bring the two children over for lunch. Yang Ruoqing had already told Wang Cuilian about this, and this was the second time she had reminded her.

Wang Cuilian smiled and nodded: "I know what I'm doing. When it's time to eat, I'll see what the two children want to do. If they want to go, I'll take them."

Anyway, we have plenty of food and drink at home. Even if the children don't want to go, they can just eat at home. The ingredients at the Luo family's kitchen are just as good as those at a banquet.

……

In Zhoujia Village, Ping An drove the carriage, along with Luo Fengtang, Luo the blacksmith, and Yang Ruoqing.

The carriage was very large, with carpets, a small stove, teapots, teacups, and everything else you could need.

In such a comfortable carriage, Yang Ruoqing had a large and satisfying breakfast in the small second room.

Now that you're sitting down in this warm place, it's no wonder you start to feel sleepy, right?
A cushion was thoughtfully placed behind Yang Ruoqing. "Qing'er, use this as a pillow to sleep. It will be more comfortable this way."

"Okay." Yang Ruoqing closed her eyes, leaned back against the cushion, and began to doze off.

Luo Fengtang sat beside her, not intentionally, but unconsciously placing his leg in front of her, ready to prevent her from falling over if the carriage stopped or anything.

The blacksmith Luo sat opposite them, noticing Luo Fengtang's small detail, and the old man was secretly gratified.

Although life has its troubles, it also has its heartwarming moments.

The old man was very pleased that his children were doing well and loving each other. If there was also good news about Da'e's condition improving, then the old man would truly feel that his life was complete.

They arrived at Zhoujia Village without any problems. Upon reaching the village entrance, Yang Ruoqing was awakened by noises coming from outside the carriage.

She opened her eyes, stretched, and found that only she and Luo Fengtang were in the carriage; Luo the blacksmith was nowhere to be seen.

It was only because Luo the blacksmith was nowhere to be seen that she realized she was sleeping in Luo Fengtang's arms, with a blanket draped over her.

"Where is Uncle?" Yang Ruoqing asked hurriedly, sitting up.

Luo Fengtang said, "When we passed through the town earlier, my uncle bought some pastries at the pastry shop and then went to sit down and talk with Ping An in front of the shop."

"Oh." Yang Ruoqing nodded, sat up straight, and rubbed her eyes. "Are we almost there?"

"Yes, we've passed the village entrance, we'll be there soon." Luo Fengtang said, bringing a bowl of perfectly warm tea to her lips. "Have a sip of tea to soothe your throat."

"Okay." Yang Ruoqing took the teacup, but instead of just taking a sip to moisten her throat, she drank the tea in one gulp, almost emptying her throat.

There was no other way, so a stove was lit in the carriage to keep warm. It was warm, but it was also really dry.

When she wakes up like this, with a dry mouth and throat, let alone a bowl of tea, she can easily handle a big, juicy pear or a few slices of watermelon.

The carriage arrived at the entrance of the Zhou family's courtyard in no time. The sun was already high in the sky, a time when most households in the village would be preparing lunch.

But because it is winter now, the twelfth lunar month, the work in the fields has slowed down, so farmers basically only eat two meals a day.

At this hour, they had just finished breakfast and estimated that it would be another two hours before they would prepare the second meal.

But the Zhou family was different. Because of Luo Da'e's special condition, she needed to eat small meals frequently. So at this moment, wisps of smoke were rising from the chimney of the Zhou family's kitchen.

Zhou Wang happened to be home this morning, and he was tidying up the yard with his eldest son. They gathered the scattered firewood in the corner of the yard together, tied it with ropes made of straw, and finally pulled it into the woodshed next door.

When Zhou Wang saw the Luo family's carriage appear at the gate of the courtyard, he hurriedly put down his work and walked towards the courtyard to greet them. He called out to Xiao Huan, who was cooking in the kitchen, "Wife, come out quickly, your uncle and the others are here!"

Upon hearing the noise, Xiao Huan quickly crawled out of the kitchen and followed Zhou Wang towards the courtyard gate.

"Uncle, Tang Yazi, Qing'er..."

After exchanging greetings, Xiao Huan pulled her eldest son over to greet everyone. The boy blushed deeply, his ears turning bright red. He lowered his head and called out to everyone next to Shun'er, then quickly slipped outside to play with his friends, too embarrassed to stay at home any longer.

Ignoring Zhou Wang and Xiao Huan's enthusiastic greetings, Luo the blacksmith waved his hand, interrupting them directly, and asked, "How has your mother been these past few days?"

Zhou Wang and Xiao Huan exchanged a glance, and then Zhou Wang said with a smile, "Uncle, thanks to you, my mother has been able to eat a little every day since she came back from the clinic in the county town. The doctor said that she should eat small meals frequently, so Xiao Huan has to cook four meals a day now!"

Xiao Huan stood to the side, smiling and nodding gently. "Uncle, Qing'er, please come in and sit down. I'm cooking noodles for Mom in the pot. I'll go take a look."

"Okay, sister-in-law, you go ahead and get busy," Yang Ruoqing replied quickly.

When Luo the blacksmith heard that Luo Da'e's condition had improved, his previously gloomy mood suddenly brightened.

He instructed Zhou Wang, Luo Fengtang, and Ping An: "You guys carry the things downstairs, I'll go inside first to check on Da'e!"

After saying that, the old man rushed into the Zhou family's main room like a gust of wind, and headed straight for Luo Da'e's room.

In the courtyard, Luo Fengtang called Zhou Wang to help unload things from the carriage. When Zhou Wang saw that the Luo family had brought so many things, including fish and lamb legs, he was flattered. Especially when he weighed the quantity and price of these fresh ingredients in his mind, his temples throbbed.

"Tang Yazi, Qing'er, this is too much of a waste!" Zhou Wang said this at least four or five times while unloading the things from the carriage.

"It's Chinese New Year, it's all about having fun," Luo Fengtang said.

Soon, Xiao Huan also came out of the kitchen again. Seeing so many things she had brought, her reaction was similar to Zhou Wang's.

"Qing'er, Tang Yazi, and Brother Ping An, please come in and have some tea." Xiao Huan had already brought in freshly boiled water to make tea for them.

Ping An thanked them, but instead of sitting down for tea, he led his horse to one side of the courtyard to serve it water and fodder. Inside the main room, Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang had just sat down and taken a few sips of tea at the invitation of Zhou Wang and Xiao Huan, and were about to get up to check on Luo Da'e when Luo the blacksmith helped Luo Da'e out of the side room and came straight to the main room.

"Qing'er, Tang Yazi, you're here!" Luo Da'e greeted everyone with a smile.

Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang both put down their teacups and stood up, "Auntie."

Auntie, are you feeling better?

"Thanks to you all, I'm feeling much better. I've been able to eat and sleep well these days."

"If you can eat and sleep well, there's nothing wrong with you. You'll definitely get better every day," Luo Fengtang said.

“Tang Ya is right,” Yang Ruoqing echoed Luo Fengtang’s words, “It’s cold now, and many people are sick. They will recover faster when it gets warmer in the spring.”

"How's it going, Da'e? Tang Yazi and Qing'er said the same thing, right?" Luo the blacksmith's loud and cheerful voice rang out from beside Luo Da'e. The old man's face was ruddy and he was in a great mood: "When I said this before, you didn't believe me and said I was just trying to fool you. Now that Tang Yazi and Qing'er have said the same thing, you should believe me now, right?"

Luo Da'e was a little embarrassed by Luo the blacksmith's strong reaction. She turned her head to look at Luo the blacksmith, smiled and nodded without saying anything.

As soon as Xiao Huan saw Luo Da'e come out, she went straight over and bent down to fiddle with the moon boat-shaped fire bucket in the corner.

Just then, she straightened up and came over to help Luo Da'e. "Mother, if you want to stay in the main room with Uncle and the others, why don't you sit in the brazier? I just turned it over, and it's nice and warm."

Luo Da'e didn't rush to the fire bucket on the moon boat, but turned to Yang Ruoqing and asked, "Qing'er, why don't you sit in the fire bucket?"

Yang Ruoqing shook her head. "I'm not cold. My palms are sweaty. Auntie, please sit down."

Xiao Huan said, "Mother, please sit down. Zhou Wang is going to light a charcoal stove and put it under the table for everyone to warm themselves by.

The blacksmith, Luo, urged Luo Da'e from the side, "You're a sick woman, just take care of yourself. Don't worry about the others. Hurry up and go into the fire."

And so, under the care of Xiao Huan and Luo the blacksmith, Luo Da'e slowly sat down in the fire bucket of the moon boat. Xiao Huan picked up an old quilt from the side and draped it over Luo Da'e's legs to keep her warm.

Watching Xiao Huan's smooth and skillful movements, Yang Ruoqing realized that Xiao Huan had done these things quite often. As a daughter-in-law, Xiao Huan had indeed taken very good care of her sick mother-in-law, Luo Da'e.

However, according to Yang Ruoqing's observation of Luo Da'e, although Luo Da'e said that she was eating three to four meals a day and sleeping well during this period, in Yang Ruoqing's opinion, Luo Da'e's mental state did not seem to have improved significantly compared to last time. In fact, even though she ate more, the flesh on her cheeks had fallen out. Originally, she and Luo the blacksmith had a very similar appearance, with a relatively broad and square face, especially on both sides of the jaw, where the flesh was relatively thick.

As a result, her jawline has become so thin that it's sunken, and her round face is slowly turning into a V-shaped face.

Yang Ruoqing then looked at Luo Da'e's hand on the mattress. The skin on the back of her hand was wrinkled and dry, piled up, and her skin was pale and a little dark. From a distance, it looked like a pile of dark skin socks crumpled up, which was a little scary.

Yang Ruoqing still had a bad feeling. When a person's body is eating a lot but can't absorb nutrients and is actually losing weight, it is very likely that there is a big problem with the body's huge and intricate system.

Moreover, this is not a very optimistic problem. Of course, when Yang Ruoqing first heard that Mai Li'er was a time traveler who had transmigrated after reading this novel, she had inquired about Luo Da'e's background from Mai Li'er.

She wanted to know what kind of illness the author had given Luo Da'e, but Mai Li'er was completely clueless. The reason was simple: when she read the part about Luo Da'e's illness, she had actually skipped through it because she didn't like Luo Da'e's personality and felt that it was only right for her to suffer like this in her later years. She felt that people like her should suffer. So, Mai Li'er didn't know exactly what illness Luo Da'e had.

"Qing'er, have some tea and sunflower seeds. These sunflower seeds are freshly roasted at home with dried tangerine peel and dried grass. Try some." Xiao Huan's voice reached Yang Ruoqing's ears, and a plate full of sunflower seeds was placed in front of her.

"Okay, then I'll try some." Yang Ruoqing grabbed a small handful of melon seeds, twirled them in her palm, and slowly cracked them open.

"How is it? Zhou Wang said it can't be too sweet, or it'll be too cloying. Is it too cloying?" Xiao Huan asked again, her eyes full of anticipation.

Not only did she look expectantly at Yang Ruoqing, but Zhou Wang and Luo Da'e did too. It seemed that Yang Ruoqing's praise and affirmation were the most authoritative. Although Luo the blacksmith and Luo Fengtang were present, they all agreed that Yang Ruoqing was still the true core and soul of the Luo family.

Okay, if Yang Ruoqing had mind-reading abilities and could read the Zhou family's thoughts, she would say to them: Congratulations, you guessed right, it really is me!

"It's not too sweet, the taste is very good, it's light and sweet, and it's very appetizing."

Upon receiving such praise from Yang Ruoqing, Xiao Huan, Zhou Wang, and even Luo Da'e all wore knowing smiles.

Xiao Huan said, "I cooked a lot. I'll pack some to take back for you and your aunt and the kids to try."

"How could we accept that? You gave us so many sweet potatoes last time, and we haven't finished them all."

"Hey, these things are all grown at home, they're not worth much. Compared to the fish and lamb leg you brought, our sunflower seeds and sweet potatoes are just things we picked up by the roadside..."

“Cousin Zhou Wang, you’re exaggerating a bit. You can’t find something this good on the roadside.”

"Haha, don't mind, Xiao Huan will pack some for you to take with you."

"Don't talk about disliking it, we like it more than anything!"

Xiao Huan went to the kitchen again. This time, she gave Zhou Wang a look, and Zhou Wang followed her.

Soon, Xiao Huan returned to the main room, bringing a bowl of noodles to Luo Da'e. "Mother, have some noodles to fill your stomach first. Zhou Wang and I will go cook lunch."

Luo Da'e nodded and instructed Xiao Huan, "Your uncle can't eat spicy food or drink alcohol. Make him a pot of chicken soup."

"Okay."

"Tang Yazi and Qing'er like spicy food, remember to cook a few more spicy dishes for them to eat with their rice."

"Don't worry, Mother, I know what I'm doing."

Beside him, Blacksmith Luo waved his hand and said, "We're not outsiders, don't go to so much trouble. Just cook a couple of dishes and have some rice."

Yang Ruoqing also said, "What my uncle said is true. We had a meal this morning and we weren't hungry at noon. We just ate something simple and then Tang Yazi and I went back. Uncle stayed to keep Aunt company."

"A feast? Is it a wedding in the village?" Luo Da'e was a woman who loved to listen to gossip, and she immediately focused all her attention on the words "feast".

The blacksmith said, "Qing'er's second cousin's family is having a big celebration today, with two daughters getting married on the same day..."