Hearing Lai Maoniang's shout, the three-nerve woman squatted down and put the two buckets on the ground, holding the flat shoulder with one hand, beating her waist with the other hand behind her back, and sighed.

"Why are you still doing this, look at what your body looks like?" came to the three-nerve woman, Lai Maoniang complained distressedly, "It's time to give birth in a few days, what are the three nerves doing, and they don't even pick a bucket of water for you?"

"He, can you count on it?" the three-nerve woman's back hand beat her waist twice, and said, "Give birth to these children, he hasn't helped me, and I'm going to give birth over there, what should he do, it's the same as if he didn't have him." ”

"These three nerves...... Just plant and don't reap. Lai Maoniang didn't know what to say about the three nerves, after all, the three nerves were not a family with him, how did he treat his women, it was their family's business.

"It's okay, I'm used to it, and my heart is wooden. The three-nerve woman squatted down and put the flat burden on her shoulder.

Lai Maoniang snatched the flat shoulder, bent her waist, and picked up the two buckets of water picked by the three-nerve woman for her.

The three-nerve woman came to her senses for a long time, she stood there and looked at Lai Maoniang, and didn't know what to say to Lai Maoniang for a while.

Lai Maoniang carried the two buckets of water of the three-nerve woman and went to the three-nerve house in a flash.

The three nerves don't know what to do in their own yard, and the whole yard is fluttering, listening to this sound, it seems that the three nerves are beating the child. Lai Maoniang carried two buckets of water and rushed into the yard in a flash, and it was really the three nerves beating the child, and Er Nizi, who had just been sensible for a few years, had already beaten the three nerves with blood all over her face. The beaten Erni didn't even dare to cry, and Mao Ni next to her looked at her in horror, where did she dare to step forward and pull her father, who was always nervous. If you step forward and pull a handful of Dad, or pull a handful of Ernizi, maybe Dad's fists, feet, and sticks will be beckoned to you.

Lai Maoniang rushed into the yard, threw the burden off her shoulders, and ran over to the three nerves.

"You stinky, you don't cook, where did you die?" Sanshen was beating the child hard, not expecting that someone else would enter his yard at this time, and he scolded without raising his head.

"Three nerves, are you still a person?" Lai Maoniang rushed to the three nerves, pulled the three nerves out, picked up Er Nizi, and yelled at the three nerves.

The three nerves didn't expect it to be Lai Maoniang, he was stunned, and looked at Lai Maoniang blinking his eyes and didn't say anything for a long time.

"Three nerves, you are really not a thing, women are about to give birth, and you still send her to carry water like that. If something goes wrong with you, are you sorry? You're good, women, women, you don't feel distressed, children, children, you play like this, are you still not human?" Lai Maoniang looked at the three nerves, one hand lit the three nerves, and said blamefully.

The three nerves gave Lai Maoniang a meal, stared at Lai Maoniang for a while, frowned, raised the corners of his mouth, and said to Lai Maoniang: "Hey, I said that there is something wrong with you, my woman I love the tribe, my child I love to fight as much as I want, what does it have to do with you? ”

Lai Maoniang choked on the words of the three nerves, and the words of the three nerves made people unable to find anything else, the woman was his woman, the child was his child, and others really couldn't intervene.

The three nerves rolled their eyes at Lai Maoniang twice as tired, snorted in his nose, turned around and went back to the house to lie on the bed, Lai Maoniang cleaned up his face, he didn't care.

Lai Maoniang's heart was on fire for a while, she hugged Er Nizi and carefully looked at Er Nizi's face and looked back and forth. Where can Er Nizi's face withstand the big ear scraping of the three nerves, the small face is swollen like a steamed bun, and the nose and mouth are also bleeding. This three nerves, the child is beaten like this, what is the matter with the child being a kitten and a puppy? She felt a pain in her heart again, and she didn't know if Er Nizi would give her something to do.

Mao Ni saw that her father was okay and went back to the house to lie down, so she carefully found the broken basin in her house, scooped out half a scoop of cold water from the bucket that Lai Maoniang had just picked up, poured it into the basin and brought it to Lai Maoniang. She took Ernimako from Lai Maoniang's arms, bent down and began to slowly wash the blood on Ernizi's face. When her hand caught the water on Ernike's face, Ernike's face unconsciously leaned back. Mao Ni knew in her heart that Er Nizi was taking care of the pain.

Lai Maoniang looked at these two children, and her heart hurt for a while, Er Nizi, the child was also stubborn, she was beaten so hard, she didn't cry or make trouble, not only because Er Nizi was afraid of her, a three-nerve father, but in Er Nizi's eyes, she saw a hatred that was not in the eyes of other children. Suddenly, she remembered that there were two children in the family, why didn't she see it? She stared at Mao Ni and asked worriedly, "Where are the third and fourth Nizi?"

Mao Ni raised her face, looked at Lai Maoniang, turned her head to look at the door of the house, and then turned back to Lai Maoniang and pointed to the pile of firewood in the yard with her hand.

Lai Maoniang followed Mao Ni's hand and looked at the firewood stack, the small firewood stack had been touched for about a few years, lying down weakly like a scattered old man, and it seemed that the woodstack could still hear the moaning sound like the firewood stack was sick.

Lai Maoniang came to the firewood stack and circled around the firewood stack twice, but she didn't see the shadows of Sannizi and Sinizi. The two children hid in the stack of wood, and she circled around the stack again, but she still didn't see Sannizi and Si Nizi. At this time, Mao Ni walked over cautiously with Er Nizi in her arms, then looked back at the door of the house and whispered to Lai Maoniang not to speak. Lai Maoniang already knew very well in her heart that there must be a few children in this woodstack who had made holes in the nests, just to avoid their father's three nerves.

Mao Ni looked back at the door a few times, and after touching her and concluding that her father would not come out for a while, she slowly put down Ernier in her arms, bent down and pulled out a ball of firewood and grass from under the firewood stack. Sure enough, in the belly of the firewood stack, several children took out a hole, and Sannizi and Si Nizi were curled up and hiding in this hole, and two pairs of worried little eyes were looking out in fear in the dim hole. When Sannizi and Si Nizi saw that their father who was not their father had pulled away the firewood and grass blocking the door of the cave, they crawled out of the cave with a little relief.

If one day a few children hid in this nest and the entire firewood stack collapsed, the lives of these children would be gone! This three nerves caused the children to avoid him like this, what kind of father is this? Lai Maoniang looked at the nest under the firewood stack and shook her head unconsciously, and the tears in her eyes even flowed down unconsciously.

The three-nerve woman held her big belly and came back with her hands crossed at the waist.

When Mao Ni and her children saw that their mother was back, they all surrounded them at once.

The woman with three nerves immediately knew what was going on at home, she looked at Er Nizi's face, and suddenly became angry, and shouted at the three nerves in the house: "Three nerves, you brute!

Lai Maoniang hurriedly ran over to stop the three-nerve woman who threw herself into the house, and she persuaded the three-nerve woman and said: "Don't start the fire, your body is like this, you can't use the pneumatic fire!"

The three nerves provoked the woman's shouting, he pulled his shoes, stared at the two eyes as big as a bell, looked at the woman and roared: "You want to find death, right!" Probably because Lai Maoniang was in the yard, he didn't do anything to the woman for the first time.

The three-nerve woman gasped for breath and suddenly fell to the ground, moaning softly in her mouth that her stomach hurt.

"I'm going to give birth!" Lai Maoniang saw the three-nerve woman like this, and immediately concluded in her heart that she immediately shouted for the three-nerve to come over and help the handle get the woman into the house.

The three nerves pouted, and actually pulled their shoes out of their yard.

Lai Maoniang saw that the three nerves shook their hands and left, and her anger suddenly hit the door of her head, and she scolded at the shadow of the back of the three nerves: "Three nerves, you are such a bastard!"

There is no echo from the three nerves, and it is estimated that they are going far, or they simply ignore Lai Maoniang.

Lai Maoniang asked Mao Ni to help lift the three-nerve woman from the ground.

The three-nerve woman supported Lai Maoniang and Mao Ni and pulled her legs into the house.

"Mao Ni, go find Chen's second sister-in-law and come over to help deliver your mother. After the three-nerve woman lay down, Lai Maoniang turned around and said to Mao Ni, who didn't know what to do, after speaking, she remembered something and stopped Mao Ni, who was about to go out, "Second sister-in-law Chen can't do it, she is still in confinement, and she can't enter your yard." You go and call Ma Hua Niang. ”

Mao Ni got Lai Mao Niang's words, raised her legs and rushed out.

Lai Maoniang began to prepare the rags she needed for the three-nerve woman to give birth to a child in the house.

"Lai Maoniang, she Aunt Lai, I'm sorry for you!" The three-nerve woman lying on the bed saw that Lai Maoniang was constantly busy, and moaned and said a word of gratitude.

"You can lie down in peace, and save some strength for later. Lai Maoniang arranged for a three-nerve woman to say, "It's all a woman living in a village, what kind of foreign words do you say?" She glanced at the three-nerve woman, turned her head and looked at Er Nizi again, Er Nizi is still young, and she can't help much for such a thing, so let her boil the pot of hot water, and then boil the scissors, and also have some hot water for the three-nerve woman to scrub. She called out to Erni and told Erni to brush the pot and boil a pot of hot water.

Er Nizi, who had just been beaten, didn't say anything, so she went to boil water in the stove room according to Lai Maoniang's words.

"Aunt Lai, I feel okay at this moment, Er Nizi is small, so please help her add water to the pot, the fire in the stove is lit. The three-nerve woman saw that Er Nizi went to the stove room, and asked Lai Maoniang very uneasily.

Lai Maoniang nodded to the three-nerve woman, and went out to the stove room.

In the stove room, Er Nizi was already stepping on a few half-cut bricks behind the pot table to brush the pot. Although there were a few half-cut bricks under her feet, the pot was still very high, and her two young arms could not reach the bottom of the pot.

Lai Maoniang asked Er Nizi to come down from the half-cut brick that was put up.

Ernimako sat down at the door of the stove from behind the pot table, and began to pull the ashes in the stove with a burning stick like an adult.

Lai Maoniang just put the two buckets of water in the yard into the stove room and poured it into the water tank, when she poured water into the water tank, she couldn't help but be scared into a cold sweat, just now Er Nizi was scooping up the water, a few half-cut bricks under the feet to stretch the body into the water tank to scoop the water, in case the foot slips, or half of the brick falls, the whole person plunges into the water tank, what will be the consequences? After she poured two buckets of water into the water tank, she first told Er Nizi with a heavy face that she couldn't scoop water in the water tank alone in the future, and then she brushed the pot to add water.

Er Nizi seemed to know from Lai Maoniang's face that it was not good for a person to scoop water in the water tank, so she nodded to Lai Maoniang very obediently.

Lai Maoniang put on the lid of the pot and was about to help Ernikezi make a fire, she didn't expect that Ernike had already lit the fire in the stove, six or seven-year-old children, sensible too early! She watched Ernimazi pull the bellows with one hand and add firewood to the stove with the other, and she didn't feel that she hated the three nerves in her heart, such a sensible child, he didn't even blink an eye when he fought.

"Aunt Lai, go and watch my mother, I can boil the water in the pot alone. Er Nizi added a handful of firewood to the stove, looked up at Lai Maoniang and said, "My mother is sick, someone has to watch." ”

Lai Maoniang's nose was sour, and she didn't feel that the corners of her eyes were a little wet. She smiled bitterly and nodded to Er Nizi, and said in a stiff voice, "Be careful not to let the fire fall out!"

Er Nizi also nodded to Lai Maoniang, and the little face that was beaten by the three nerves like a steamed bun was reflected in the fire in the stove, which made people feel very uncomfortable.

Lai Maoniang left the stove room to see the three-nerve woman, she just entered the house with her front foot, and Ma Huaniang and Ma Lingniang followed Mao Ni and came in with her hind foot. As soon as Mao Ni entered the house, the three-nerve woman arranged for her to go to the stove room to make a fire. The three-nerve woman said that Er Nizi was still young, and she was afraid that she would accidentally burn the fire.

"What do you think, do you want to go down?" Ma Huaniang asked when she entered the room and stared at the three-nerve woman.

"I moved down for a while, and now I don't move again. The three-nerve woman looked at Ma Huaniang and Ma Lingniang gratefully, smiled hard, and said, "Look, this is so much that both of you concubines have come over." ”

"Mao Ni went over and called me, and I didn't go through a few such things, so I thought that my sister-in-law had seen a lot, so I called her to come over. Ma Huaniang saw that Lai Maoniang had almost prepared all the rags that should be prepared, so she smiled at the three-nerve woman, comforted the three-nerve woman and said, "You are also the fifth time in this matter, and it is smooth there, don't be busy in your heart, according to what they said foul words, it is the same as rough, as soon as you hold your breath, the child will come down." ”

"It's not time yet, it's still ten days away. The three-nerve woman said with some concern, "Mao Ni and the others were all born at term, this child, I guess I provoked him just now, and I don't want to stay in it." ”

"Not full-term yet?"

"It's nothing to miss for more than ten days, it's just that the child has to put a little more effort into it after he is born. Ma Lingniang said as if she was very experienced, "There are many children under the age of one, and in this month, if you don't pay attention to it, the children will come out early." ”

"No, no, the kid started going down again. As soon as Ma Lingniang's words fell, the three-nerve woman suddenly said to a few of them, "Now I feel different from just now, I am faster than just now." ”

Ma Huaniang and the others heard what the three-nerve woman said, and hurriedly pulled away the things covering the three-nerve woman, staring at the movement on the three-nerve woman. Lai Maoniang put a neatly folded rag under the three-nerve woman's body, Ma Lingniang washed her hands, rolled up her sleeves and arranged for Ma Huaniang to prepare scissors or something to put next to her and wait for Ma to use it. The women of the Zhuang family give birth to children like this, and they are not so delicate to go to the hospital, and to put it bluntly, they can't afford to go. People with a slightly better family background will prepare the things they need at the moment of birth before the child is born, like a three-nerve woman, who can only dry the small clothes worn by the previous child under the sun a few more times, in preparation for the birth of the child in the womb. As for the other things that are needed, they will make do with it temporarily.

The three-nerve woman began to move her body on the bed, and Ma Lingniang looked at the body of the three-nerve woman, and kept shouting to the three-nerve woman: "Work hard!"

Lai Maoniang couldn't intervene next to her, so she was busy using Mao Ni's hot water to scald some rags or something.

The three-nerve woman sweated profusely, and with a long scream, the child came down.

Ma Lingniang carefully cut the umbilical cord with scissors, wiped the child's body with the rags that Lai Maoniang had washed, and slapped the child's back twice with her two little feet.

"Is it a kid?" the three-nerve woman lay there, tilting her head laboriously and asking Ma Lingniang.

"Girl. Ma Lingniang turned the child upside down and handed it to Ma Huaniang, continued to look at the body of the three-nerve woman, and said, "Don't move, the afterbirth will come down later." ”

Ma Huaniang took the child from her sister-in-law, and wiped the child several times with the rags that Lai Maoniang had washed, and then found some torn clothes to wrap the child.

"It's a girl again...... the three-nerve woman sighed a little dejected when she heard Ma Lingniang say that the child was a girl.

"What's wrong with the girl? The girl is not your child?" Lai Maoniang heard the sigh of the three-nerve woman, straightened up and looked at the three-nerve woman and said, "Look how sensible you are." ”

Two lines of tears flowed down the corners of her eyes in the eyes of the three-nerve woman.

"You, don't think too much, wait for the afterbirth to come down. What do you want to do so much at this time?" Ma Huaniang saw the three-nerve woman shed tears, and comforted the three-nerve woman and said.

Ma Lingniang and the others knew very well in their hearts that if the child born to the three-nerve woman was a boy, the three-nerve might be better for her, but she was a girl. This woman, hey, life is hard!

I don't know if it was the child's cry that alarmed the three nerves, or the three nerves ran hungry, at this time, the three nerves entered the house, and when they entered the house, they asked: "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Three nerves, you dog, a woman has a baby, you run out!" Ma Huaniang saw the three nerves, and scolded her face, "Is there a man like you?"

Seeing that it was Ma Huaniang, Ma Lao's second woman, he didn't dare to puff up his nose and stare at him, but smiled at Ma Huaniang a little flatteringly, and said, "What can I do at home? ”

While the three nerves were talking to Ma Huaniang, the afterbirth on the three-nerve woman came down, and Ma Lingniang handed the broken basin with the afterbirth to the three nerves, and said, "Bury it, and tell you that it is a boy or a girl when I come back." ”

According to the custom, the child's afterbirth should be buried in the toilet of his own house, and no one can say what this custom is, so it has been passed down from generation to generation. Some people say that the child's birthplace is the child's home, and it cannot be thrown out, and if it is thrown out, the child will have to work outside for the rest of his life. Some people also say that the child's afterbirth is the mother's life, and it should be buried in a place where the mother can often go, so that the mother will not lose her life because of the child. Of course, there are other theories, and no one can say for sure.

Ma Lingniang wiped the body of the three-nerve woman, then washed her hands in the basin, looked at the three-nerve woman and said, "Will the three-nerve not get along with you later, and give birth to a girl?"

The three-nerve woman didn't speak, just sighed.

Ma Huaniang put the wrapped child next to the three-nerve woman, got up and looked at Ma Lingniang and Lai Maoniang, and said, "The three-nerve will not be happy." In this way, I will stay here at night, so as not to play with the three nerves. ”

After burying the afterbirth, he was still thinking that a woman could give birth to a boy this time, and when he was a little happy to hear that it was another girl from his woman's mouth, he suddenly had a face that could pull a donkey and a cart. He glared at the woman lying on the bed a few times, let out a vicious mouth, and scolded: "You woman, you can't bring a handle in this life!"

Ma Lingniang and the others can understand that if they are not there, the three nerves will definitely do something to Mao Niniang again.

"You stay here all night, you can't stay here every day, what should we do when we leave?" After the three nerves walked out of the door, Ma Lingniang looked at her brother and daughter-in-law and said.

"That's it, after the evening work, let Ma Huadad and Zhao Chang preach the three nerves. Ma Huaniang pondered the reasonableness of her sister-in-law's words, blinked twice, and said, "No matter what, the two of them are the production captains, and how many three nerves will listen to it." ”

"It's hard for a Qing official to interrupt family affairs!" Ma Lingniang said.

"Don't worry about it, you guys, he loves me as much as he wants, I'm used to it anyway. The three-nerve woman looked at the twist girl and the others, and said with a pain in her heart and a sourness, "I have suffered too much from him over the years, and I don't have any sense in my heart." ”

"The three nerves that can't be boiled or boiled, can he listen to the words of the two captains?" the two captains have no problem with him!" Lai Maoniang sighed helplessly and said, "This is his home, none of us can keep guarding here all the time." ”

"With these three nerves, there's really no way to take him......" Ma Huaniang sighed when she heard Lai Maoniang say this.

The three-nerve woman listened silently to the words of several of them, and the tears in her eyes kept flowing down the corners of her eyes. There is a mouthful of people in this family, which should be a festive thing, but since I followed his three nerves, I have never been happy in my heart, especially after giving birth to Ernizi, my life is in the fire and water, and now I have added another Wunizi, what should the future days be like?

"I said Mao Ni and her mother, don't think so much, have a good confinement at home, what can he do with the three nerves? These old and young masters in the village are here, if he doesn't say anything, the old and young masters won't agree!" Ma Huaniang saw that the tears in the eyes of the three-nerve woman had not stopped, and persuaded her, "If you keep doing this, you will delay the milk." ”

"Whether he wants to see me or not, I don't have anything to do with myself, it's just these children, I should be wronged during this time. The three-nerve woman raised her hand and wiped her eyes, "This five girls, I'll trouble you sisters, see who wants a girl, help me touch some, if there is such a family, send it to someone else to raise." ”

"Are you stupid or crazy about this woman? Give it to someone else's family, can the belly of the compartment be the same?" Ma Huaniang immediately became anxious when she heard the three-nerve woman speak like this, "No matter what, we are her own mother, she is the meat that fell from our body, we are distressed! Can it be the same if you change people's homes?"

In fact, several of them know that the three-nerve woman is reluctant to give up her children, for so many years, no matter what the three nerves do to her, and no matter how the three nerves treat this family, a few children have a nestle in front of her, and she takes care of these girls like a look. At this time, she wanted to send the newly born Wunizi to someone to raise, and her heart was not comfortable, all because of the three nerves that were not successful.

"Find someone who knows the roots, has a good heart, and is good to the children, and such a family will be. The three-nerve woman said with a wry smile.

"No matter how good it is, it's good that there are no children to follow their own mothers!" Ma Huaniang disagreed with the idea of the three-nerve woman, "From now on, everyone will often come to see, if there is any nerve in the three nerves, the old and young masters in the village will definitely not spare him." ”