After fleeing the famine, my older sister and I married the brother next door.

On the twentieth day of the first lunar month, while the sky was still overcast, the oil lamp in Chen's mother's room was lit. She quietly dressed and got off the kang (a heated brick bed), careful not to wake Chen's father, who was fast asleep beside her. Pushing open the door, a crisp, dry breeze rushed in, instantly invigorating her. The snow in the yard had already been swept away, revealing smooth soil, and several strings of red peppers and corncobs hung under the eaves, exuding a simple, festive charm in the dim morning light.

She first went into the kitchen, deftly started a fire, and boiled a large pot of water. Then she scooped out fine white flour from the flour bin, mixed in a little bean flour, and began to knead and roll out noodles—this was breakfast prepared for her two daughters-in-law who were in postpartum confinement, soft and easy to digest. She also cracked a few eggs, fried them in lard until golden and fragrant, and prepared to make the sauce.

The noodles had just hit the pan when Chen Dashan and Chen Xiaohe started rustling around. The two brothers, without warning, went straight to the sheepfold in the backyard. They first added some feed to the lambs, watching them eat happily, and the mother sheep obediently came over. Once the lambs were full and frolicking away, the brothers took out clean cloths and a wooden bucket and began milking them. The mother sheep seemed to know there was a happy occasion in the house, and was exceptionally cooperative, her milk flowing freely into the bucket. In no time, the bucket was more than half full, more than usual.

"Mom! The goat milk is ready, and there's a good amount!" Chen Xiaohe called out happily to the kitchen, carrying a bucket.

"Okay! Put it there, I'll get hot soon. You all go and sweep the yard again, and move all the tables, chairs and benches into the main room!" Mother Chen said, her hands moving non-stop as she gave instructions.

As the sun rose higher, the golden sunlight dispelled the last chill, bathing the Chen family courtyard in warmth and brightness. Chen Dashan and Chen Xiaohe carefully wrapped the four well-fed and clean-diapered babies in thick blankets and carried them one by one to the warm, cozy central room. Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing, supported by their mother, were also moved to the kang (heated brick bed) in the main room. Although the sisters were still in their postpartum period, their complexions had improved considerably, especially Su Xiaoqing, whose eyes now shone with life, no longer appearing as weak as before.

Mother Chen brought in the warmed goat's milk, and together the group fed the four babies. Then, Su Xiaoyin took out four sets of new clothes she had prepared beforehand—made from the fine cotton fabric she had bought last time, which she and her sister had made in their spare time during their postpartum confinement. The stitches were fine, and the styles were simple yet comfortable. The eldest, third, and fourth babies, who were boys, wore indigo-blue jackets embroidered with simple auspicious cloud patterns; the second baby, who was a girl, wore a peach-pink jacket with fine rabbit fur trim on the collar and cuffs, embroidered with tiny plum blossoms. Once the clothes were on, they made the four babies' faces appear even whiter and rosier, and their eyes, black and bright like grapes, melted one's heart.

"So beautiful!" Su Xiaoqing looked at her two sons, her eyes slightly red, full of love.

"Like a doll in a New Year's painting." Su Xiaoyin smiled and gently touched her daughter's little face.

Before long, laughter and chatter drifted from outside the courtyard gate. Guests arrived one after another. The village head, Chen Laogen, arrived first with his wife, followed by the Chen Ermu family, the Chen Wufu family, and several other close neighbors. The men automatically stayed in the courtyard or the outer room of the main hall, where they were kept company by Chen's father, Chen Dashan, and Chen Xiaohe, who offered them cigarettes (homegrown tobacco leaves). The women were warmly welcomed by Chen's mother into the cozy main room to look after the children.

"Oh my! Let me see!" The village head's wife was the first to rush to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), her eyes crinkling with laughter as she looked at the four chubby babies lying side by side. "Sister Chen, you're so lucky! Now you have grandchildren all at once! Four of them! Anyone would be overjoyed!"

Mother Chen beamed, saying repeatedly, "Happy! How could I not be happy! Our house has been so quiet for so many years. When Da Shan and Xiao He are this age, other kids their age are already running around. How could I not be anxious? Now it's all made up for! A weight has finally been lifted from my heart!" She paused, her voice tinged with heartache, "It's just that my two daughters-in-law suffered terribly. Especially Xiao Qing, she almost died. My heart is still pounding with worry. That's why I made them do a double postpartum period, they absolutely had to be fully recovered!"

Chen Wufu's wife, a straightforward woman, chimed in, "Sister-in-law Chen, if you ask me, you're a really good mother-in-law! So understanding! Unlike my aunt from my own family, humph, all she knows is how to torment her daughter-in-law, treating her like a beast of burden! Postpartum confinement? She's lucky if she gets a few days' worth of millet porridge!"

The village head's wife sighed, a bitter look of reminiscence on her face: "Our village is relatively upright, there aren't any particularly outrageous families. But it's hard to say about other villages. Take my mother's family back home... if they hadn't been so desperate to survive, would they have sold me here? Back home, we never had a proper meal of thin gruel..." Her words resonated with several other older women, who chimed in with their own reflections on the hardships of the past and the relative peace they enjoyed now.

After talking for a while, Chen's mother saw that it was getting late, so she got up and said, "My dear sisters, please sit down, have some hot water, and some melon seeds. I'll go check the stove; the dishes are all prepared, and they'll be ready in a pan."

"No way! We can't let you do all the work by yourself!" The village head's wife immediately stood up. "We'll all lend a hand! More hands, more feet!" The others chimed in.

Unable to refuse, Chen's mother could only smile and agree. A group of women then rushed into the kitchen, leaving Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing staring at each other on the kang (heated brick bed).

Listening to the sounds of pots and pans clattering and laughing coming from the kitchen outside, Su Xiaoqing couldn't help but whisper to her sister with a smile, "Sister, look at these aunties, they're really... energetic and lively."

Su Xiaoyin smiled, her eyes gentle: "Yes, they're both straightforward, just like Mother. No wonder they get along so well."

Su Xiaoqing leaned against the soft pillows, feeling the warmth from the heated kang bed beneath her. She glanced at her sleeping child beside her and said softly, "Sister, it's probably unique in the village that we can have two postpartum periods here, right? I heard Xiaohe say yesterday that there's a woman in the next village who was urged by her mother-in-law to go back to work in the fields only ten days after giving birth."

Su Xiaoyin nodded, her gaze distant: "Yes. Thinking about our mother, she also gave birth to twins, but she only had a month of postpartum confinement, and she even suffered from some health problems. Sometimes I feel... perhaps it's because our parents are protecting us from heaven, allowing us to escape from famine and finally settle in such a good family and meet such a wonderful mother-in-law."

Su Xiaoqing's eyes reddened again, and she nodded vigorously: "Yes! That's why I need to recover quickly and not let my parents and mother-in-law down. When spring comes next year and I'm feeling better, we'll take on embroidery work again! We'll earn more money! The family has spent so much money on us."

Su Xiaoyin held her younger sister's hand, her voice soft yet firm: "That's what I think too. There are still more than two months until spring, and we'll definitely be healthy by then. Dashan kept stopping me, saying that I shouldn't overexert myself during my postpartum period. Once I'm out of confinement, I'll have to have a good talk with him. I feel so uncomfortable being idle all day."

Su Xiaoqing immediately nodded in agreement: "That's right! I felt a bit better before, so I secretly took a needle and thread to sew a little outfit for the child. I'd only made a few stitches when Xiaohe discovered me and took all the needles and fabric away without a word, saying it was bad for my eyes and I couldn't do it. It's so frustrating!"