Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Ahua is Pregnant with My Child,
1
Translator: 549690339
Recently, Wen Hengyin had been feeling a bit restless, peeking outside during class.
His father, Mr. Wen Silang, had already knocked on the table with his ruler several times, his gaze full of warnings.
Wen Hengyin had no choice but to suppress his restless thoughts and start studying with a nodding and shaking of his head.
Once school was finally over, Wen Hengyin snuck to the kitchen, grabbed two steamed buns, stuffed them into his bosom, and dashed off to the Jiang Family’s house.
Upon arriving at the yard of Uncle Jiang, he saw that there was no one around, so he silently ran to the pigpen and fed the steamed buns to Ahua in the pigpen over the fence.
Yes, he had named the black pig Ahua and even brought her delicious food every day.
Because Ahua was pregnant, and the piglets in her belly might be his.
This is how it happened.
A few days ago, he often fed Ahua with wild vegetables, and she seemed very happy, grunting whenever she saw him coming.
Wen Hengyin had never seen such a cute and clever pig, so he often gave her wild vegetables and sometimes brought some steamed buns and cakes for her too.
One day, while he was feeding the pig with the mung bean cake his sister had just made, he suddenly noticed someone coming over— it was that annoying brat Yingbao and his sister, Wen Shu.
Fearful of his sister discovering that he used the mung bean cake she made to feed the pig, Wen Hengyin hastily jumped into the pigpen.
He quietly hid behind Ahua, listening to the noise outside.
His sister and Yingbao were chatting non-stop outside, seeming to have endless topics to discuss.
Wen Hengyin was frustrated waiting for them to leave so he could get out, but as he waited, he dozed off and unknowingly fell asleep.
Wen Shu gave a bag of mung bean cakes to Yingbao, “These are ones I made. I added honey inside; they’re really delicious. I originally made a lot, but I don’t know why half of them are gone. I think my younger brother took them away.”
Upon receiving the cakes, Yingbao smiled, “Thank you, Sister Wen. You’re very kind.”
Wen Shu patted Yingbao on her braids and smiled, “You’re very good too,
Yingbao.”
Looking around, she said, “I saw my brother headed this way earlier. I thought he would visit the deer at your house, but I don’t know where he went off to.” Yingbao stood on her tiptoes and also looked around, but saw no one.
“He might have gone to find Huzi.”
Huzi and Wen Hengyin were classmates and were very familiar with each other, sometimes playing together.
The two girls chatted for a while before parting ways.
By dusk, Dani came to feed the pigs with a bucket of pig feed. Suddenly noticing a boy sleeping beside the mother pig, she was startled and nearly knocked over the pig feed bucket.
Upon closer inspection, she realized it was the young master from Master Wen’s house.
Dani quickly woke him up, “How did you end up sleeping here? Were you bitten by a pig?
Wen Hengyin rubbed his eyes, and upon seeing that he was lying next to Ahua, he was so scared that he jumped up and rushed out the gate Dani had opened.
He ran all the way back home, where he saw his parents and sister about to set out with the servants to find him.
Seeing his son, Wen Silang was so angry that he picked up the ruler to hit him.
Xiu Zhenniang didn’t stop him, but watched as her husband hit their son several times before asking, “Where did you go?”
Wen Hengyin hung his head and dared not answer.
Seeing that her brother was all dirty, Wen Shu quickly said, “He must have gone to catch loaches again.”
Since Xiu Zhenniang saw that her son was still silent, she didn’t ask further and let him go inside to change his clothes, letting the matter drop.
However, not long after, Wen Hengyin heard from Huzi that Ahua was pregnant.
Scared witless, he ran to ask his mother.
“Mother, if a boy and a girl sleep together, will they get pregnant?”
Xiu Zhenniang was confused, mistakenly thinking that her son had encountered a challenging medical problem. She answered her son’s question earnestly, “It could be.”
Wen Hengyin’s small face instantly crumpled up like a steamed bun, he stuttered and asked, “Then, then will a male and a female sleeping together also result in pregnancy?
Xiu Zhenniang thought for a moment and nodded, “That’s also possible.”
Wen Hengyin was almost in tears as he asked again, “Mother, am I, am I male
Xiu Zhenniang laughed, poking her son’s forehead, “You’re a man! Why are you talking about males and females? Only pigs and sheep are referred to as males and females.’
Wen Hengyin, with a gloomy face, pulled at his mother’s sleeve and pressed on, “Mother, do I really count as a male?”
Xiu Zhenniang, left speechless by her son’s question, could only reply, “Of course, you do. But you shouldn’t talk like that.”
“Oh.” Wen Hengyin walked away dejectedly to his room, wiping away his tears, and silently made up his mind.
He was a man and needed to be brave in accepting responsibility.
The unborn creature in Ahua’s belly was also his, and he was committed to take responsibility.
Having realized this, Wen Hengyin dried his tears and decided to go visit Ahua first.
Luckily, his grandmother had cooked some eggs, so he put one in his pocket and ran to the pigsty of the Jiang family to feed Ahua.
Afterwards, whenever Wen Hengyin had spare time, he would bring some tasty food for Ahua to boost its nutrition for the baby.
By the time it was May, Ahua’s belly was getting quite big. Wen Hengyin felt very pleased and was more determined to take good care of it and its unborn
pib1eL.
On Dragon Boat Festival in May, the sun was fierce.
The golden sprouts that the Jiang brothers had planted at their new house on the South Slope could finally be harvested.
This time, the third Jiang brother had planted four hundred sprouts, the eldest and second Jiang brothers each planted three hundred, and old man Jiang also planted a hundred.
During the harvest, many people from the village came to watch. They were curious about how the Jiang family harvested, dried, and then put it into the kiln for further drying.
Even the Clan Leader Chen and Chen Cunzheng together with the Master visited specifically for half a day.
“Third Brother, I heard that you discovered this. Could you tell us how to cultivate it?”
Although Clan Leader Chen was not short on money or food, strictly speaking, he wouldn’t be considered wealthy.
His sons lived together without having split the family, and there were always disputes happening every day.
On top of that, his youngest son had been enlisted in the army, and it felt like the whole family had suddenly lost its structure, each hiding their own thoughts.
The fourth branch was having the hardest time at the moment. It wasn’t easy for the young daughter-in-law to take care of a young child alone, so he wanted to find her a way to make more money to make up for what they lacked due to the absence of his youngest son.
Jiang Sanlang smiled, “There’s really not much to say. As you can see, this is not easy to manage. It needs watering everyday to keep it moist, but the water can’t get on the mushrooms, or else they will rot. The shed also needs to be ventilated to let sunlight in, otherwise the golden mushroom will change color.”
He had also learned this through several trials and errors. Last time, because he had not noticed these details, the golden mushrooms were almost ruined.
Clan Leader Chen stroked his beard, nodded, and asked, “Third Brother, can I buy some seeds from you? Ah, it’s not easy for my son Zhuzhu’s wife to care of a young child alone, so I’m thinking…”
“No problem,” agreed Jiang Sanlang readily, “but I have limited spores and can’t give you too many.”
Several villagers had already ordered mushroom seeds from him, and squeezing out fifty sprouts for Clan Leader Chen was the best he could do.
“Give as many as you can. It won’t be easy for Zhuzhu’s wife to manage this alone, and she probably can’t handle too many anyway.”
The Clan Leader, seeing that Jiang Sanlang had agreed, was quite pleased, “Third Brother, calculate how much it will cost for the seeds and I’ll give the money to you later.”
Jiang Sanlang calculated in his mind and said, “Fifty golden mushrooms, you just give me five hundred coins.”
The reason why he asked for ten coins a sprout was after much consideration.
Because after they bought the seeds, they would certainly call him over for guidance from time to time, and if they encountered any problem, he would inevitably need to worry about it.
This back and forth would take a lot of his effort..