Chapter 104

They have been digging up bamboo shoots for five days and most of the bamboo forest’s bamboo shoots had been collected by them. However, Xu Ran and the others had deliberately left out those bamboo shoots which still had the room to grow. After all, they would come again next year after this year’s digging.

After they finished digging up the bamboo shoots, they started digging up potatoes. Although the potatoes planted in winter were still not big, they could still be served for meals for some time since the ones planted in spring was about to ripe as well.

Other family’s wheat was readied to be reaped, but theirs still needed a few more days. What was most important was that they still didn’t know how much they would be able to harvest.

The freshly cut bamboo shoots have not been brought back yet and were still left on the mountain. Several families took turns to send people up to the mountain to guard the bamboo shoots every day.

The bamboo shoots piled up inside the house needed to be cut into pieces and made into pickled bamboo shoots. However, they didn’t have enough jars in the house and the carrot jar were too small to fit a large volumn.

Xu Ran did not dare to use the large jar which had been used to store chili paste to make pickled bamboo shoots for fear that should anything go wrong, an entire jar of bamboo shoots would be ruined.

Therefore, Xu Ran went out to buy a large jar again. By the time he had finally done with the work and started digging up small potatoes, it was already April 16th. Xu Ran and Liu Tong were just started to dig up potatoes in the field when they heard the hoofbeats.

With a look at the horse, Xu Ran knew that it was Zhuo Yun.

Therefore, they could only stop what they were doing to greet the guests.

This time, Qin Shuwen also came. He was so happy that he couldn’t wait to get out of the cart and have a look around.

Qin Shuwen was a Ge’er who hadn’t been to many places nor did he see much. After getting out of the carriage, he asked Xu Ran what they were doing.

Xu Ran smiled and said, “We were digging up potatoes. The thing that you like to eat very much.”

Qin Shuwen was curious, “How? Is it grown in the soil? Can I go and have a look?”

Liu Tong covered his mouth while smiling. He felt that this side of Qin Shuwen was kind of cute. He smiled and said, “I’ll take you there. Ran, you can talk to Zhuo Yun!”

The driver was the shopkeeper who led the horse to the side of the Xu Ran’s pigpen and threw in a bunch of grass to feed the horse. When the Big Black saw that its food had been taken by others, it glared at Zhuo Yun’s horse but since there were too many ropes and the distance was too far, it was unable to take action and could only watch sullenly.

Xu Ran chatted with Zhuo Yun for a while, then he continued to dig up the potatoes. It was already summer, and the weather changed quickly. It was best to put away the things in the field first.

Zhuo Yun didn’t mind. When Xu Ran was digging, he crouched aside to help pick up the potatoes.

Initially, Qin Shuwen wanted to have a try too, but considering he was five-month pregnant, he could only stand by the side.

At noon, Xu Ran made a potato feast with a whole table’s dishes made of potatoes which served everyone a good meal.

After lunch, Xu Ran took Zhuo Yun and Qin Shuwen for a tour around the village and played in the small river at the end of the village for a while.

In the afternoon, Xu Ran and the rest had work to do, and Zhuo Yun and Qin Shuwen didn’t stay for long. They went back with the potatoes and the chilli paste and the bean curd given by Xu Ran. They said that they would come again after Qin Shuwen gave birth, and Xu Ran told them they would be welcome here.

Xu Ran didn’t plan to eat this patch of potatoes; instead he decided to dry them all. The potatoes were not big in size, so he would cook them in whole before he peeled and dried them and saved them until winter for making soup.

It was one of his favorite dishes, but the weather was too hot at this time of the year. If it weren’t this hot, he could be able to experiment making that dish now.

By the time the batch of potatoes was properly prepared, it was already in the 20th of April and the cherries of other people by the roadside had also ripened and hidden behind the leaves, making people drooling.

Xu Ran did not have those cherry trees in his house, and Xu Ran forbade Tangtang and Guoguo from picking any from other people’s trees. It was indeed a bad habit to form anyway. They could buy it with money and there were wild cherries on the mountain as well.

Their strawberries had also grown green fruits.

Xu Ran remembered that strawberry couldn’t touch the soil or it would rot.

However, it was already the rainy season. Should a few heavy rain occurred, there weren’t be much hope with the strawberries.

However, there was no protective film here and there were no specialized tools to web the strawberries. It was too troublesome to make it himself so Xu Ran naturally wouldn’t use this method. The only way left was to put the strawberry on the leaves one by one so that the strawberry wouldn’t touch the soil.

Ten mu of land was a huge workload, especially when there were about five mu of land planted with strawberries in the second year. There were many fruits, so even if he bent down to work in the field for a day, he probably wouldn’t be able to finish one mu a day.

But Xu Ran couldn’t think of any other way. He didn’t have much spare money to hire others for help, so he could only work on his own.

The busy working place of the family now shifted to the strawberry field.

The first day of May was Xu Ran’s birthday, and then on the third day of May, it was Tangtang and Guoguo’s birthday. The families’ birthdays were all in those few days, but Xu Ran did not really have a birthday thing. In addition, he was too busy, so he celebrated his along with the two children’s birthday.

He let Liu Tong cook each a bowl of noodles together with a meal of meat.

Tangtang and Guoguo bought him some small things.

The sun seemed bigger in May and on the 5th of May, Liu Tong was working in the field in the sun and fainted.

It frightened the family.

Xu Ran hurriedly carried him back home. Xu Ran thought that he was suffering from acute sunstroke, but there wasn’t any Sunstroke medicine in this era. There was only mugwort, and he didn’t know how to make it. So he could only press hard on Liu Tong’s temple while asking Tangtang and Guoguo to go find Doctor Liu.

Not long after Doctor Liu came, Liu Tong woke up. After Doctor Liu took his pulse, he scolded Xu Ran, “Even if you don’t want the child, you shouldn’t let Liu Tong work so hard. Do you still treat him as a teenager? What’s good to you if he hurt himself?”

‘Child?’

Xu Ran was stunned for a while when he heard this. ‘So Liu Tong is pregnant!’

Not only Xu Ran was stunned, even Liu Tong was a little stunned. He touched his belly. ‘I’m pregnant?’

Doctor Liu looked at the those two who were both stunned and started to scold them again. This time, he scolded Liu Tong as well. “Liu Tong, I don’t want to scold you but Tangtang and Guoguo are five years old now. Why didn’t you know how to take care of yourself? You drove me mad by still exhausting yourself in the field in such a hot day when you are pregnant.”

Doctor Liu was obviously more excited than the two parties involved, but he should be blamed. It had been some time since their family had moved to Xu Village and he knew about Xu Ran. People in the village knew the life of Liu Tong in those years, but they could not say anything as outsiders.

When Xu Ran was able to move out and the good time started, they were expecting another child, which was supposed to be a happy thing but these two didn’t take it seriously at all. So how could he not be mad?

Xu Ran also knew that Doctor Liu’s scolding was for their good, so he quickly apologized to him and told him not to be mad and hurriedly offered a bowl of water for him.

Seeing Xu Ran’s actions, Doctor Liu sat down and gave Liu Tong some medicine for the baby. He also urged Xu Ran to take care of the child in Liu Tong’s belly and he definitely couldn’t work hard in the first three months. Let’s see how things were after the first three months to decide whether he would do some work then.

Xu Ran nodded hard, saying that he would do as he told.

Pregnancy was a happy event. Doctor Liu did not even take the money for his consultation.

They had been looking forward to it and had tried hard for a long time, but didn’t succeed. No one would have thought that he would get pregnant at such a busy time.

After the person left, Xu Ran became in a daze. He stared at Liu Tong’s belly and giggled, which made Liu Tong feel a little helpless.

After Tangtang and Guoguo saw that the doctor left, they immediately rushed into the house and asked anxiously if Liu Tong was sick.

Before Liu Tong could speak, Xu Ran had picked up Guoguo who was closer to him and spinned. He said while spinning, “Your Daddy has a baby in his stomach. You will soon have a younger brother.”

‘Little brother?’ The two children tilted their heads and thought about it for a while before they made sense of the situation.

Then they revealed a silly smile, just like that of Xu Ran.

Liu Tong looked at those happy father and sons, then touched his own belly and smiled.

The news of Liu Tong was pregnant was spread by Xu Ran on the day, and then a bunch of people came to congratulate them. Wu Mei and the others naturally came first, and sent over the food which they had been saving to Liu Tong, which made Xu Ran and the family feel flattered.

Xu Ran went to town to buy Liu Tong’s medicine and a bunch of nutritious food. He went to Zhuo Yun’s house to share them with the good news and brought back a bunch of things.

There was nothing much they lacked right now and since Liu Tong was pregnant, Xu Ran didn’t let him work. Especially when Doctor Liu said Liu Tong fainted from exhaustion and he nearly lost the child for that, it frightened Xu Ran who became responsible for both the housework and the field work.

Liu Tong was pregnant for two months. It was the few days before Xu Ran went to the imperial examination. The first three months were the most sensitive time, so Xu Ran naturally did not dare to act rashly.

Xu Ran couldn’t do all the work by himself. In just a few days, he had lost several pounds of weight, which made Liu Tong feel distressed.

While sleeping at night, Liu Tong rubbed Xu Ran’s shoulders and said, “Ran, let me work. I was fine when I was pregnant with Tangtang and Guoguo!”

“No,” although Xu Ran didn’t have much strength, he said firmly, “don’t you remember what Doctor Liu said? It’s been so hard for you to get pregnant and we can’t let anything happen.”

Liu Tong pouted and said to himself, ‘I don’t have the heart to see you so tired!’

Seeing that Liu Tong grew quiet, Xu Ran softened his tone, “Tongtong, it’s not that I don’t let you work. It’s just that it’s inappropriate for you to work now. Wait until three months later, okay? Just wait another month. Listen to me.”

Although Liu Tong was still not very happy, he didn’t say anything about helping Xu Ran again.

Xu Ran also knew that this would not work now. Liu Tong’s belly was small now and although he was not allowed to work, it was easy for him to walk around. But when his belly began to grow and he wanted to go out? There was only old people and children in the house and they would not be of any help, which made Xu Ran worry.

Xu Ran thought for a moment and said to Liu Tong, “Tongtong, let’s hire someone to take care of you in the house. Look at us now, we need the help in the house and in the field, right?”

Liu Tong naturally knew about the situation Xu Ran mentioned. If he was not too busy, he wouldn’t have fainted.

He nodded. “Then Ran, let’s hire someone! However, he shouldn’t need to work here for long. After a month when I gave birth to the child, I would be able to take care of the child myself and help you work.”

Xu Ran felt that it was feasible, just like hiring a babysitter in the modern times, and they would discuss more at that time!

Xu Ran said, “Then I might as well go to town tomorrow to ask Zhuo Yun to help me hire someone for our chores as soon as possible, so I can rest assured.”

After Xu Ran finished speaking, he was so tired that he fell asleep soon. Liu Tong smiled and helped him lie on the pillow before he lay down next to him.