Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

They also eat yuanxiao (glutinous rice dumplings), admire lanterns, guess lantern riddles, walk away illness, welcome the Goddess of the Hearth, watch lion dances, perform dragon lantern dances, walk on stilts, and chase mice to complete the festivities.

Of course, some of these customs do not start on the 15th but earlier, such as lighting lanterns and walking on stilts, which generally start from the 11th day of the lunar month and end on the 18th.

Accompanying the stilt-walking custom is the lion dance!

The countryside becomes lively a little slower, usually starting these celebrations on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year, while in the city, these customs start even earlier.

Di Yelei prepared a lantern for each of the three children, with the frame made of bamboo strips and sorghum stalks. He made rabbit, puppy, and chicken lanterns, one of each kind.

While Di Yelei’s lanterns had not yet been completed, Liu Quan and Ms. Yao had already sent lanterns over.

According to tradition, the family of a woman who was married in the previous year should send lanterns to symbolize new members. Since Liu Sisi was already pregnant, they sent three lanterns – one large and two small. The person who sent the lanterns was none other than Liu Sisi’s elder brother, Liu Baihan!

Liu Baihan came with two boys around ten years old, and upon their entrance, the courtyard became chaotic!

At ten years old, children should ideally be sensible. However, the first thing these two children did was to pull Ah-Hua’s tail.

Ever since Ah-Hua returned safely from its last adventure, it has become the Di Family’s favorite, and its body has gradually grown plump, regaining its former radiance.

However, one thing remained—Ah-Hua’s recent temper had grown even bigger!

Upon entering the courtyard and grabbing a dog’s tail, the two unruly children were provoking the hounds. Ah-Hua didn’t bark, but bit back instead!

Fortunately, they were wearing thick clothes due to the snowy weather, and Ah-Hua hadn’t bitten down with great force, so no one was injured!

However, the two rascals still didn’t learn the lesson and continued to forcefully pull on Ah-Hua’s tail. Ah-Hua’s snarling and growling escalated, and it seemed ready to bite again. Old Cheng, who had heard the commotion, rushed out to scold them.

“Ah-Hua, Ah-Huang! Go, go, go…”

In the end, Ah-Hua’s tail was rescued from the children’s grips. The dogs quickly slipped into their dog house, reluctant to come out again.

Old Cheng then took a closer look at the visitors: “Sir, who are you looking for?”

Liu Baihan’s eyeballs swiveled a few times: “Is this Di Yelei’s house? You go tell him his brother-in-law has come, let him come out and greet me!”

“Oh? I haven’t heard that my madam has an elder uncle. Sir, are you sure you’ve got the right house?”

Old Cheng bowed respectfully.

“Get lost! You old fool, what are you blocking the way for? Don’t you see who I, Liu Baihan, am? You just need to remember that my name is Liu Baihan. If you really annoy me, I have a hundred ways to make you suffer. If you want to try, I, Liu Baihan, don’t mind playing with you!”

When he said this, Liu Sisi had already heard the commotion and put down her brush to come out of the room.

Upon hearing his words, she immediately understood that the visitor must be the brother who sold off the original owner of her body, Liu Baihan.

As the unsuspecting visitor kept running his mouth, Liu Sisi very nearly went over and slapped him!

Knowing the visitor’s identity, as well as hearing the suffering yelps of the two dogs, she had no intention of leaving any face for him, quickly stepping forward.

In just a short time, the naughty child who had just let go of Ah-Hua and Ah-Huang had already crawled into the stable. Hearing the jujube red horse snorting restlessly, her eyebrows furrowed even tighter.

“Do I, Liu Sisi, have a brother? How come I don’t know about this?”

As soon as she spoke, Old Cheng immediately bowed in reverence, “Madam.”

“Mm, you can step back.”

“Yes, Madam.”

Old Cheng did not leave but instead stood behind Liu Sisi. He could tell that the visitor would not be easily dealt with in just a few words.

Liu Baihan glanced at Old Cheng behind Liu Sisi, and his eyes lit up as their inner radiance grew: “Ah! It’s true that ‘one should look at a person differently after three days’! It hasn’t been that long, and you already have people serving you. You’re truly extraordinary!”

Liu Sisi twitched her mouth corner! Is this really the original owner’s biological brother? He even mispronounced the phrase “one should look at a person differently after three days.” How ridiculous!

“This matter has nothing to do with you. I, Liu Sisi, have long been sold away. I don’t have any brothers. Old Cheng, remember, next time don’t let those crazy dogs in to bite people. Otherwise, it won’t end well.”

As she spoke, she turned and walked toward the house.

Initially, when she was sold off for money and had not been visited for nine months since her marriage, she would never have believed that someone would suddenly visit her without some ulterior motive.

“Yes, Madam!”

Old Cheng naturally agreed, then immediately began to drive the visitor away: “Sir, our madam said she doesn’t know you. Please leave immediately.”

“Bastard! What kind of tone is that? Is this how you serve? Get lost! Don’t get in the way, lest you disgrace yourself!”

Liu Baihan had come with determination, so how could he back down so easily?

With one hand, he immediately pushed Old Cheng out of the way and said, “Liu Sisi! Don’t think that since you have married a good family, you can put on airs with me! Liu Baihan is not easy to bully. If you think you have the strength to play with me, go ahead and try! Watch as I have countless ways to ensure you can’t even eat!”

At this, Liu Sisi laughed!

Do bullies only look for easy targets nowadays? Not showing her fierceness, do they think she’s a sick cat?

“Old Cheng! Get a stick and beat him out of the house! Remember, aim for his leg bones. If he’s injured or crippled, it’s all on me. Just leave him with half a life so he can see who would eventually come to pick up his corpse!”

Liu Sisi was really furious! She had just dealt with an incident a few days ago, and now another idiot had shown up, causing her much anger and resentment!

“Don’t! I…I came here today on a mission! It’s my dad and mom who sent me! If you don’t believe me, look at this…”

Liu Baihan’s shamelessness was truly thick-skinned, as he wailed like a ghost and howled like a wolf!

Liu Sisi’s expression didn’t soften at all, especially when she saw the naughty child who had crawled into the stable tugging on the horse’s tail and trying to climb onto the horse’s back. Her inner flame of anger grew even bigger!