Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

“Sisi is busy right now? Huh! Why can’t I see Ying’er and Xuan’er?”

Guihua carried a bamboo basket and walked quickly into the yard, where Liu Sisi had already cut a bunch of ribbon flower petals.

“The two children went out to play. It’s not good for them to always stay at home. Guihua, come in and sit down. I’ll get you a cup of tea.”

Seeing Guihua arrive, Liu Sisi hurriedly got up to greet her. In the midst of their conversation, she went into the kitchen, poured a bowl of cold boiled water, and said apologetically, “We don’t have any cups at home, Guihua, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Sisi, don’t worry about it. We use large bowls at home too. Those small white porcelain bowls are precious!”

Aunt Zhang took the large bowl with a smile, took a sip, and then put the bowl down: “I have nothing to do today, so I thought I’d come and visit my younger sister. I brought the clothes I made for Zhang Yun, but I don’t know if I’m bothering you.”

“What do you mean by bothering or not bothering? I have no relatives here and always looking forward to having a chat with sister Guihua.” Liu Sisi squinted her eyes with a smile.

“That’s good. I was also bored at home and wanted to come chat with my sister. Are you cutting flowers or something? Your hands are so skillful!”

Guihua couldn’t help but pick up one of the petals Liu Sisi had cut and admired it with a sound of admiration.

Liu Sisi also sat down and laughed shyly, “I don’t know how to sew clothes, but I am interested in making these little things.”

“Your handiwork is so good, and you can’t sew clothes? That’s easy. Elder Sister will teach you. I guarantee that you will learn it.” Guihua patted her chest to assure.

“Thank you, Sister Guihua.” Liu Sisi was overjoyed, and it was a perfect time to use that bolt of cloth.

“By the way, on that day at the market, I heard a lot of noise coming from the Di family’s old house. Did you hear anything?” Guihua asked curiously while sewing the clothes in her hands.

Liu Sisi, of course, knew that it was the day she had asked Di Xuan to take buns to the old house.

“The old house was noisy? We’re far away and didn’t hear any noise.”

“Oh, it was all messy stuff anyway, it’s best not to hear about it.”

As Guihua wrapped up the conversation, she brought up a new topic: “Do you remember that pockmarked-faced woman we met on laundry day?”

“Of course, what happened to her?”

Liu Sisi certainly wouldn’t forget the pockmarked-faced woman who had picked a fight with her that day.

“Let me tell you, the other day, that pockmarked-faced woman was caught naked with Big Mouth Li from the village in the orchard by her husband. How could her man bear to wear such a green hat? He slapped her and kicked her. That rash woman didn’t know shame, she fought back and scratched her husband’s face all over. Now he has scratches and bloodstains all over his face, haha…”

Guihua whispered mysteriously into Liu Sisi’s ear, her face full of schadenfreude.

“What about Big Mouth Li? Why didn’t her husband beat him up?”

Liu Sisi lowered her head and busied herself with her work, what on earth was all this!

“Big Mouth Li is well-known for being greedy and lecherous, even worse than your sister-in-law! At the age of over thirty, he is still a bachelor, with a broken leg, and even caused the death of his own mother. Who dares to say anything to such a bad guy?”

So, that’s how it was!

With Guihua’s help, Liu Sisi finally finished cutting the clothes for their family’s needs by the end of the day, which relieved her greatly.

As Guihua was leaving, Liu Sisi gave her a basket of yellow bean sprouts: “The two kids are always troubling you and Zhang Yun. This is just some random vegetables I made, you can try them.”

“No! You’ve just got married, how can you have extra food? I’ve heard that your wicked sister-in-laws are forcing you to repay a huge debt of 20 taels of silver within half a year. You should keep it, my home doesn’t lack for vegetables to eat.” Guihua refused to accept.

“Sister Guihua, please take it, this is just a little token from Sisi.”

Liu Sisi covered the basket, not letting Guihua go: “You know the situation at my home, what Sisi can bring out is just these few vegetables. If Sister Guihua keeps refusing, I will really feel humiliated.”

With the discussion getting to this point, Guihua hesitated for a moment and no longer refused: “Alright! Then I will accept it. If you have any difficulties, as long as I can help, I will definitely help.”

Liu Sisi laughed: “Sister Guihua, rest assured, I will definitely not be polite with you!”

…

For several days in a row, whenever she had free time, Liu Sisi was busy making this batch of ribbon flowers.

By the time the market day came around again, every three days, Liu Sisi had already made an entire bolt of silk into ribbon flowers.

These ribbon flowers were pairs of two with different colored stamens attached and no two were the same, so incredibly beautiful!

The originally bizarre-looking silk, under Liu Sisi’s skillful hands, presented a different kind of beauty, making people not want to put it down when they saw it.

Di Yelei naturally also noticed Liu Sisi’s outstanding craftsmanship and held a ribbon flower to take a closer look. It was hard to imagine that such ugly silk could make such beautiful flowers.

“Dad, do you think the ribbon flower Mom made looks good on YingEr?”

What YingEr was wearing on her head was the first pair of finished ribbon flowers Liu Sisi had made, showing off in front of her dad!

“Yes, it naturally looks good on our YingEr.”

Di Yelei couldn’t help but smile too, touching YingEr’s twin braids on the top of her head.

“Sisi, your craftsmanship is good, and it should be able to sell for a good price. I plan to go to the mountain again this afternoon, come down the mountain tomorrow morning, and don’t need to hunt too much game, just a few to sell or eat at the market.” Isn’t it? Di Yelei went into the mountains again three days ago, but didn’t catch anything.

Liu Sisi was busy working in the kitchen. With no oil at home, Liu Sisi kept changing the dish preparation methods.

Today’s lunch was simple, she specially used the small mill to make rice noodles and fermented cakes, which the two children could snack on at any time. These rice noodles were made by Di Yelei taking the rice to the Land Officer’s small mill house. In addition, she made some vegetable buns, served with wild vegetable soup and coarse grain porridge, which was enough to make everyone full.

Liu Sisi thought for a moment, and tomorrow would be Market Day. Having a few game animals would also provide an additional income: “Alright! But you have to be careful on the road. The evening light is not good, so don’t be greedy and neglect your health.”

“I know, Sisi, don’t worry. You have to be careful at home as well, and don’t open the door at will when you hear a noise outside.”

Di Yelei’s eyes were filled with tenderness.

Ever since that day, the two of them had hardly even touched hands.

It wasn’t that Di Yelei had let Liu Sisi go, but rather he worried that he couldn’t control himself, and would end up “disposing” of Liu Sisi on the spot!

“Hmm, I understand, don’t worry.” Liu Sisi nodded vigorously.

“By the way, keep the silver safe, don’t let anyone steal it. I’ll be back early tomorrow morning, don’t worry.” Di Yelei gave a lengthy reminder before finally, reluctantly, heading to the mountain.

In their heartfelt farewell, neither of the two noticed that not far behind them, a malicious gaze flashed behind a large tree.