The newlywed Yan'er is like glue. After Ye Zi married into the Zhang family in Qingping, he cherished it very much, and shouted with a smiling face at a sky-high price, and kept working in the field and house, trying to please his in-laws and son-in-law. The neighbors all exaggerated that the family married a good daughter-in-law.

Perhaps because of the long-awaited sake, Zhang's mother saw that Ye Zi was retching, and she was naturally sweet in her heart and overjoyed. Except for doing some light work in the team, Zhang's mother did not let Ye Zi touch this chore. From time to time, I also buy some melons and fruits, cook some good meals for the leaves to eat, and take care of them very well.

At this time, materials are in short supply, and foreign cloth must be purchased with cloth tickets. Just after New Year's Day this year, Zhang's mother said to the family: "You have all thought about this year's cloth ticket, and you must use it with your little grandson first." Zhang's mother estimated that the child was about to be born in the summer, so she took advantage of the winter slack to prepare diapers, small bedding, small clothes and so on.

These diapers should all be made of old clothes, made of single, clipped, and cotton. The small bedding should be used in the old one, the table should be used in the new, used in the summer, used in the spring and autumn, and covered in the winter. He also pulled a piece of red cloth and asked someone to draw a tiger on it and make a tiger quilt. I made tiger shoes and tiger hats. I used dried silkworm feces and put a small pillow on it. I made a few small clothes out of soft cloth, some single, some clipped, some cotton, and I also made small belly pockets. The small clothes are all Chinese-style, without buttons, but tied with strips of cloth.

Ye Zi also came to her mother-in-law from time to time to get a few stitches, and when she heard her mother-in-law say this and teach that, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law got along very well. Zhang's father watched his wife and daughter-in-law busy under the kerosene lamp, smiling happily from time to time, but he didn't participate in anything, just smoked his dry tobacco.

After the winter, there is no important work to be done in the field, that is, to deliver manure, flat fields or something. The production team held meetings from time to time to convey documents, and also opened night schools for peasants to eradicate illiteracy and learn Mao Xuan. Rehearsals and preparations for the fire are also important cultural and recreational activities in the winter farming season, often the preparation begins at the first half of the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, the Spring Festival is officially launched, and the Lantern Festival reaches its peak, and even continues until February 2. High cars, drum cars, gongs and drums, flower drums, suona, lanterns, fireworks and so on, you name it. Singing, there are amateur troupes in every village. In the social fire, Zhuang Zhuang has its own unique skills.

During the Spring Festival this year, the Zhang family's New Year was also better than the previous year, and they did a lot of New Year's goods, cooked twist flowers, steamed flower buns, bought pork and mutton, and played a few catties of good persimmon wine. The relatives of the Zhang family are coming and going, happily talking about the child in the belly of the leaf. Some people say that from the back of the leaf, it looks like a child, and some people say that from the front of the leaf, it looks like a woman. Anyway, there is nothing that is not happy for the Zhang family's parents.

The area around Persimmon Bay has been the main producing area of winter wheat and cotton since ancient times, and there are three busiest seasons in the year: one is the spring plowing and spring sowing in February and March, mainly sowing cotton and large autumn crops; the second is the wheat harvest and planting autumn in June, mainly harvesting wheat and sowing small autumn crops; and the third is the autumn harvest and wheat planting in September and October, mainly picking cotton, harvesting big autumn and small autumn crops, and sowing wheat.

Winter wheat has a long growing season, eight months, planted in October and harvested in early June. The growing season of cotton is seven months, planted in April and picked in September and October. Autumn crops include sorghum, corn, beans and the like, there are big autumn, small autumn, the difference lies in the difference in the growth period, after the beginning of spring sowing is called big autumn, after harvesting wheat back to stubble called small autumn. Winter is relatively idle, generally to send manure, flat fields, for the next year's spring plowing and spring sowing.

Although it is now the busy season of spring ploughing, seeing that Yezi's belly is bulging day by day, Zhang's mother does not let Yezi go to work in the team for the sake of Zhang's incense. After that, Zhang's mother simply asked for leave from the team to take care of her daughter-in-law at home.

Gradually, the tender green leaves covered the branches. Gradually, the little swallow also returned to the nest under the eaves. Gradually, seeing the wheat yellowing, the busy season of wheat harvesting and returning to the autumn is coming. Zhang's mother estimated that even if it was "happy to enter the door", there would be only two months left before the leaves were in pot, so she took care of them more carefully.

But at this time, the leaves showed their appearance in advance. At noon that day, after lunch, Xiao Zhang got on the kang and was napping against the quilt. Suddenly, Ye Zi felt that something was wrong, and his stomach ached. Xiao Zhang hurriedly called his mother.

It's too late, it's too soon. Zhang's mother saw that the leaves looked like they were about to give birth, so she quickly brought a large piece of beige oilcloth and spread it on the kang, and spread the kang sheet on the oilcloth, and hurriedly let the leaves lie down, covered the sheets, and took off her pants. She asked her son to hurry up and ride the bicycle, first to call the midwife, and then to Liuwan to pick up Ye's mother, and at the same time asked the old man to quickly boil a large pot of hot water.

A bag of cigarettes is ready, and the midwife arrives. The old woman quickly took out the scissors, lit the oil lamp, and asked Zhang's mother to quickly take some soft and cloth for wiping and prepare. In less than an hour, Ye Zi's mother also came from Liuwan. Zhang's mother scooped out half a bowl of brown sugar (brown sugar) from the porcelain jar, and was busy boiling eggs again.

The old man of the Zhang family asked his son to ask for leave from the production team, and the family anxiously waited for the birth of the child. was about to be a father, Xiao Zhang was excited, and ran out to buy firecrackers, buy a few packs of paper cigarettes, buy several bottles of wine, and prepare a few kang mats. Father and son were running around the yard, restless.

It wasn't until the afternoon when the sun was setting west that the cry of a baby girl could finally be heard in Yezi's house. After the midwife cleaned up the child with her hands and feet, she first held it and showed it to the leaves. Ye Zi took the child, kissed it lightly on the forehead, and then looked at it carefully, only to see a small red dot under the right earlobe of her daughter.

Zhang's mother brought brown sugar water and boiled eggs to Yezi, and then asked her son to bring food to his mother-in-law. After looking at the newborn baby girl with a smile, Zhang's mother said something close to the midwife's ear. The midwife turned around and packed her things, and then came out of the leaf house with Zhang's mother. "Let's go to the hut first. The midwife said. "Well, there you go. Zhang's mother said.

When Zhang's mother and midwife came out of the leaf house, Xiao Zhang was in the yard talking about "don't grass" for the child. Zhang's mother said to her son: "Let's get it later, take care of your aunt first, I've been busy for a long time." "Hmm. Xiao Zhang answered, put down his work, and went into his mother's house.

This Zhang's house is a small quadrangle, with five rooms in the north building, three rooms in the east and three rooms in the west building. The east end of the south building is connected with the slightly gate tower, the west end is connected with the thatched house, and the middle is open (this area is called Xiazi), put some farm tools, firewood and sundries or something. The floor of the yard is earth, and there are brick steps around the yard, that is, under the eaves, and there is a pomegranate tree in the middle of the yard.

Ye Zi lives in Dongxia. The one in the north of the east building is the inner room separated by a thin inner wall, coiled with kang, and the two rooms in the middle and south are considered outer rooms, with tables, chairs, wardrobes, and so on.

Zhang's mother lives in Beixia. The five rooms in the north building are divided into three parts that are interconnected and independent by partition walls. The two rooms in the middle of the north building are used as halls, and on the facing wall is a hanging painting, on both sides of the painting are banners and couplets, a table of eight immortals is placed against the wall under the painting, there is a circle chair on each side of the table, and a small square dining table is placed in front of the table. When eating, the small dining table is pulled to the middle of the room, and when not in use, the small dining table is placed on the Eight Immortals table.

In the arrangement of housing, the people here take the side of the door as the top, and the old man wants to live in the upper position, so the two rooms in the east of the north building are the residences of the Zhang family's parents, a tiger stove is connected to the big kang, and there is a retaining wall between the stove and the kang, between the retaining wall and the gable, that is, there are two long wooden boards above the kang, and a pair of board boxes are placed on the wooden board. When a person stands on the kang, he can uncover the crate and access things. Underneath the wooden board where the crate was placed was a part of the vacant kang where the quilt was rolled. The large earthen kang leads from the back eaves wall to the front eaves wall window. From the edge of the kang under the window to the partition wall, there are kitchen tables and water urns in turn. The one on the west side of the north building also has a thin interior wall to separate a separate space, where there is a wardrobe and a large urn for storing grain.

After Zhang's mother called the midwife to her room, she said to the midwife that she had worked hard and handed her a thank-you gift, and said that it was getting dark, and she wanted to leave the midwife for dinner and talk. The midwife was busy for a long time and tired, so she agreed to Zhang's mother's arrangement and did not cheat.

Xiao Zhang happily moved the small dining table, set up small stools, and poured wine for his father and midwife. A few people chatted about the children while eating, but Zhang's mother didn't talk much, she seemed to have something on her mind, and occasionally showed an absent-minded look.

In a short time, this dinner was over. Zhang's mother glanced at her midwife, and the two of them were on the side, muttering in a low voice. Zhang's mother whispered, "Hey, I want to ask you something." "What?" "You've delivered a lot. Look at our baby......"

The two were talking, and Xiao Zhang leaned over and said, "Mom, don't be too late today." Zhang's mother replied: "This baby, whose family is black." "That's ready to prepare, let's don't grass early in the morning." "Then don't you need to say it, hurry up Zhang Luo, you baby!" said to his son with a smile.

Xiao Zhang and his father went to the yard to get something, and Zhang's mother and midwife were still talking in Beixia. When it was over, Zhang's mother said loudly to the outside of the house: "What, his father, you come to accompany the old sister-in-law, and go to the house over there." The midwife said, "No need, you take care of it, and go back." "Hey, you go back in a hurry first, come over there and say a few words, and I still have something to entrust you, old sister-in-law." "Oh. So, Zhang's father went into the house to talk to the midwife, and Zhang's mother went out of the room and walked straight to the leaf house.