The next day the news about Hu Yanxi passing the exam was spread all over the village and everyone talked about it for a while.
Everyone felt that all of Li Fu's efforts to raise Hu Yanxi for a year went to waste.
He got married on the first day of April while Hu Yanxi became a scholar at the end of April. They also heard that on the day of his wedding, Mrs. Qian also secretly went to him to ask him to let her return to the Li family. If Li fu had agreed to take her back or the wedding was set on May 1st, then he could have become the father-in-law of a scholar.
Because of this rumor, Li Qinghe did not feel at ease and took her child to visit Li Fu. Mrs. Liu was as usual carrying out her daily tasks. She was cutting the vegetables to make pickles when she saw Li Qinghe enter the courtyard. She quickly got up to greet her "Qinghe, come inside. Hurry up and sit down, I'll ask Lanhua to serve you some tea."
Li Fu arrived from the backyard carrying a basket of vegetables, "Also make some pickles to eat at the wedding banquet, with us."
Liu Lanhua's wedding date was set on the tenth day of the fifth lunar month, which was only about half a month away, the span of time that was just right to make pickles.
"Qinghe, have you eaten yet? I'll go make something for you to eat now." Mrs. Liu asked her.
Li Qinghe nodded, "Don't bother with that please, I had lunch before coming."
She was relieved that the Li family didn't seem to be affected by the news of Hu Yanxi becoming a scholar. She followed Li Fu to the backyard and saw that the large green vegetables in the backyard were growing very well. Li Fu laughed and teased the child for a while. Seeing her looking at the vegetables, he asked, "Would you like to take some back with you to eat? Now that you have a child, it won’t be easy for you to plant. You should stop planting for now, I'll give you the vegetables instead when I'm free. Your Aunt Liu is always busy with household chores. She likes to clean the house, she even pulled out the weeds from the vegetable field."
"Rest up for a bit." Li Qinghe lowered her voice and asked, "Father, I heard that Hu Yanxi became a scholar, do you know something about it?"
"I heard the news." Li Fu took out a knife and went over to chop vegetables, "That's someone else's business and life, and it's better to live your own life. Don't think too much, we have cared and were devoted enough to Wanwan and her mother. If Wanwan has a conscience and cared for us, she will naturally come back to us. If she didn't have that affection in her heart, then even if we weren't separated right now, situations would still have been the same."
This was the truth though. Li Qinghe originally thought so too. She never expected to get any benefits from the mother and daughter pair. She was just afraid that Li Fu would be upset if they all didn’t live together. Afterall. Li Fu didn't speak to his parents for years because of Mrs. Qian, this just proves how much he cared for them.
Seeing that he sorted out all of his feelings for them, Li Qinghe was relieved. She was now a new mother, so she couldn't help him with work. She stood by his side and talked with him for a while before getting up to go home. While she left, her hand was stuffed with a basket filled with various vegetables by Mrs. Liu. As she was carrying the child, she couldn't hold the basket and had requested help to bring it to her house, to which Lin Lanhua agreed to volunteer.
Lin Lanhua was timid and silent for most of the time while they were walking. When passing by the village, people who greeted Li Qinghe smiled and asked, "Qinghe, is this your sister?"
Li Qinghe then introduced Lin Lanhua to everyone, and gradually Lin Lanhua also smiled at people as a greeting.
After they walked to the end of the village, no one would greet them. When they reached her house, Li Qinghe opened the courtyard door. Lin Lanhua looked at the pond and asked with a smile, "Sister, does the fish in the pond ever die?"
"Yes, occasionally. Like last summer, due to drought many fish died." Li Qinghe opened the door and invited her in.
Lin Lanhua went directly into the kitchen and put the basket there. Then she walked around the courtyard and felt quite envious, "If my life will even be half as comfortable as my sister's, then I will be satisfied."
Li Qinghe smiled and invited her into the house, but Lin Lanhua waved her hand, "No, I have to go back and help. I have so much work to complete."
Before she left, Zhou Chengkang came in from outside. Today he set up a carriage and went to town, and brought back some snacks for Xiyu, who is already more than half a year old and can eat something solid, but coarse grains were still rough for him. The snacks he bought were not junk food and were made of rice mixed with varicose flowers and sugar. It was good for children to eat.
"Brother-in-law." Lin Lanhua hurriedly greeted him and went to help him unload the goods from the carriage. Zhou Chengkang stopped her, "No need to trouble yourself for help, I'll do it myself."
She still helped carry some things and then went home afterwards.
After another two days, Yu Yan held the ceremony for her son where people came to bless her son with a great future. Yu Yan was not familiar with the people in the village and not many people came to her house. It was worth mentioning that both Mrs. Qian and her daughter had come too Compared to their previous silence and sadness, they both seemed very happy and high-spirited.
Mrs. Qian sat at the table. She had a proud look on her face as she said, "Yanxi asked me to live in the town with them but I declined. If I go then the Qian family house would be empty and we will have to demolish it. So I decided to stay back."
Everyone congratulated the mother and daughter and Zhao Wanwan blushed in happiness as a response. She also invited everyone to come to the Huo family banquet held in the town on the eighth day of the fifth lunar month.
Looking at the mother and daughter surrounded by the crowd, Yu Yan whispered, "Look at the level of hypocrisy these people have. I heard that no one in the village talked to the mother and daughter before this, yet look at them now"
In the past, Mrs. Qian's reputation was not good because she was associated with an affair with a married man. In addition, she did not go out much, and the people were not familiar with her, at least not as well as they know her now.
"Whatever." Li Qinghe was thoughtful, "It's not like we’ll be going there anyway."
The day when Li Fu remarried he asked the guests to not bring any congratulatory gifts, but they more or less ended up gifting him something. They didn't receive anything from Mrs. Qian and Zhao Wanwan though. It was believed that when some did a favor, it was to be returned. Since Hu Yanxi didn't come to them, Li Fu didn't go to the banquet either. Besides, Hu Yanxi lived with Li Fu for a year so it was not Li Fu's turn to arrange a get-together with them.
Except for Mrs. Qian and her daughter, who hogged the limelight, the ceremony went smoothly. Yu Yan was bored during her confinement period, so Li Qinghe often went to accompany her.
On the eighth day of the fifth lunar month, there were quite a lot of people from the village going to the town. On the ninth day of the fifth lunar month, everyone went to the family to help again.
The Li family wanted to help again.
It was said that the dowry was not prepared for Liu Lanhua, but in fact, the furniture, the fabrics, the clothes, and the quilts were prepared. Needless to say, the silver was given by Li Fu.
On the day of the wedding, fifth sister Zhou also arrived at the Li family. As she watched Zhao Dashan carry Liu Lanhua onto the ox cart at the door amidst the uproar of the crowd, she sighed slightly, "Fourth sister-in-law, thank you so much."
Li Qinghe was surprised as this sentence came out unexpectedly, and took her to the table to wait for dinner, "Thank me for what?"
"I'm living quite well now." Fifth sister Zhou smiled, "Liyuan loves me and my parents-in-law are busy all day long so I don't need to help them in the fields. Also…" She lowered her voice and said, "They urged me to have a baby. It just so happens that I've been feeling a little sick these past two days and feel like throwing up. When is the Fourth Brother going to town? I want to see the doctor."
"He's going there tomorrow." Li Qinghe looked at her stomach, "Be more careful."
The next day, Li Qinghe was not at ease. She carried her child and went to the town with the Zhou siblings to visit the doctor.
Dr. Huang's medical clinic in the market was always crowded. Even if they went early, a few people were waiting in front of them. They also met Zhao Wanwan there. She was accompanied by Mr. Hu, whom they hadn't seen in a long time.
The two of them went forward and didn't notice Li Qinghe behind them. Mrs. Hu said, "Doctor Huang, take a good look at my daughter-in-law, it's been a few years since the wedding, why isn't she pregnant yet?"
No wonder Mrs. Hu was anxious. Zhao Wanwan got married earlier than her and still didn't have a child. Doctor Huang took her pulse and after a while, he said in a low voice, "Her body is cold and she's too tired. Let her recuperate first."
Mrs. Hu was anxious, "How long will it take to recuperate?"
"Who can tell that?" Because of the increasing number of people in front of the clinic, Dr. Huang's face was not very pleasant, "Maybe half a year, maybe a year or two..."
"At least six months?" Mrs. Hu almost screamed, "That won't work!"
Dr. Huang glared at her, "Keep your voice down."
Mrs. Hu lowered her voice a little and asked, "Will she...... not be able to conceive for the rest of her life?"
Dr. Huang pondered for a bit then replied, "If she carefully recuperates, does not touch cold water, especially during the winter season, does not overwork herself, and eats more healthy food to keep her body healthy, there could be a positive possibility."
"How is it possible to not touch cold water in winter?" Mrs. Hu frowned.
At this time, Zhao Wanwan's body turned stiff and her face turned pale, as she stroked her stomach.
Later, when they went to get the medicine, it seemed that because the cost of the medicine was too high, Mrs. Hu argued again. She pulled Zhao Wanwan, who was pale-faced and left, ignoring the few people at the door from beginning to end.
Fifth sister Zhou was indeed one month pregnant. She was very happy, and so was Zhou Chengkang. He even bought snacks for her. On the way back, the carriage was moving very slowly and it took her directly to the Zhao family's house.
The Zhao family's yard was not big, just like that of the third aunt Li's family. Zhao Liyuan's father and his eldest uncle split the courtyard into two small courtyards.
Seeing that the carriage that was parked at the door was Zhou Chengkang's, Mrs. Zhao, who was still cleaning the yard, greeted them with a smile, "Fourth brother is here, come inside."
She was surprised to see fifth sister Zhou coming out of the carriage and said, "Fifth sister Zhao, it's not that far for you to go back to your mother's house and come back by yourself. You shouldn't bother your fourth brother to make a trip."
Li Qinghe also got out of the carriage holding her son. Fifth sister Zhao reached out to hold the child but Li Qinghe shook her head and gave the child to his father, "Auntie, congratulations to you. Just now we took the fifth sister to see the doctor in the town. She is one-month pregnant.
Mrs. Zhao was stunned at first, then joy replaced her surprise. She dropped the broom in her hand and went to help fifth sister Zhou, "Really?" Then she shouted, "Liyuan's father! Come here quickly!"
Li Qinghe and Zhou Chengkang quietly left in a happy mood.
When they passed by the Zhou's family house, they went inside to give this news to Mrs. Zhou. After they got home, she packed some meat and eggs in a basket and asked Zhou Chengkang to deliver them to the Zhao family.
By the end of May, the weather had become increasingly hot. In comparison to last year, the weather this year was quite pleasant though. Seeing the wheat stalks, they knew that the harvest was better than last year. There were also sweet potatoes this year, so it was a good harvest.
A good harvest was a happy event. During this time, many people in the village borrowed grain from others, and some even borrowed from Li Qinghe. Mrs. Zhou borrowed dozens of catties of sweet potatoes.
One day, early in the morning, they heard the Yang family next door were having an argument.