CH 70.3

Xu He said: "

The few poultry we raised were bought from the city. Chickens can’t grow as fast as ducks. Those ducks are big, almost four catties, and they bump agains each other when they walk, but the chickens are still so small, their feather are still not fully grown. I thought about let the ducks hatch the eggs, so we can have some ducklings. "

“Okay, I still have some duck eggs that can be hatched, you can come and get them tomorrow."

Xu He nodded: "Yes."

The two women were interrupted by his voice, and the topic inevitably fell on him.

"He ge’er, I see that you have a good pregnancy. Your belly is bigger than other ge’er with the same month. It should be a son. It's not that we care about a boy or girl. In fact, both boy and girl love their mother and father, but there are still some men who like to make trouble, because they want a son."

Xu He threw the firewood into the stove, he said with a smile, "A Yuan told me that it's good if it’s a son, a daughter, or a ge’er."

The two women also laughed: "It's the best for A Yuan to think like this. The Zhang family has few children except for your eldest uncle’s family, his few brothers and sisters don't have many children, I only have one little ge’er and your second aunt also only has one girl. "

"We will count on A Yuan, how many children can you have, for your first child, whether it’s a boy, a girl, or a ge’er is fine."

Zhang Shiyue said: "Yes, as long as the child is caring, we can’t help but love them dearly."

"Don't worry about what those gossiping women in the village say, just let it enter one ear and come out from the other, they always like to stare at good people and watch the fun."

Xu He felt warm in his heart.

When Zhang Fangyuan, Zhang Shicheng, and the two children came over, it was already dark. The days were short in winter, and the dark came early. Before they reached the tea shed, the two children who was sitting opposite each other in the back of the carriage took a long breath: "It smells so good!"

"Two little monkeys, the price of mutton is twice as much as that of pork, how can it not be delicious?" Zhang Shicheng also laughed. Today he went to the bamboo forest to dig winter bamboo shoots, but he didn't get much bamboo shoots, but he was still waiting to have a good meal.

Several people got off the carriage and agreed by chance to go to kitchen, and the room was filled with the smell of mutton.

[不约而同 bù yuē ér tóng: to agree by chance (idiom); taking the same action without prior consultation]

The mutton bones were boiled in the pot to make white broth. When Xu He saw that the man had returned, he took out the pot, filled it with charcoal and lit it. Zhang Fangyuan who knew the matter brought the pot into the large room. The two women scooped up the soup, bones and meat into the small pot.

"Wash your hands and eat!"

Zhang Fangyuan went to get some wine and came out, "Fourth uncle, today I'm going to give you some wine for twenty copper coins a catty, don't say I'm stingy, I pay eight copper coins for it."

Everyone in the room laughed, and everyone sat around together, their faces faces flushed red from the steaming mutton soup.

Zhang Fangyuan put some slices of extremely thin mutton into the pot, and the bright red mutton immediately changed color and rolled up, dipped it in some garlic and spicy sauce, and stuffed it into his mouth. Just a bite was so delicious that people couldn't sleep all night just kept thinking about it. 

Everyone drank the soup first, but he didn’t care about the soup, and he was busy eating the mutton. He was laughed at for eating the mutton only, but he was not annoyed. Instead, he gave Xu He a few slices of mutton.

Xiaomao said: "My cousin always only pick up food for my sister-in-law."

Xu He's ears turned red when he heard what Xiamao said, and Zhang Fangyuan spared no effort to pick some foods for the children. Instead, he said: "It's too early to pick up food for you. Let's just wait."

Xiaomao also blushed when he heard the words, he buried his head and drank the soup, which made everyone laugh again.

Xu He felt that the family was very good and had a big appetite, but he only tasted a few pieces of meat.

Although mutton was delicious, it was easy to get hot. He was pregnant and didn’t dare to eat more, but he boiled a lot of vegetable leaves. The pea tips were scooped up as soon as they were put into the pot, and they were crispy and not soft. They were crunchy, sweet and fragrant, and he liked the taste very much.

The family ate for nearly an hour before they left. When they returned home, Zhang Fangyuan raised his horsewhip, he couldn't exhaust his energy, and he didn't feel cold when the night wind blew on his body.