When the pears are green

"Chong'er, be good and stop making trouble. Don't disturb your father from reading." Zhang Ying sat on the dim bed, gently coaxing Jiang Chong who was crying in his arms.

Jiang Qian, who was sitting at the wooden table, looked back at Zhang Ying and her son in the dimness, sighed softly, closed the book, and walked to the bed with the oil lamp. He saw Jiang Zhong rubbing his eyes with his little hands, as if he wanted to sleep.

Jiang Qian put the oil lamp on the stool, took Jiang Zhong from Zhang Ying's arms, and walked back and forth holding Jiang Zhong in the dim yellow light.

Jiang Zhong opened his eyes and looked at Jiang Qian. He grabbed Jiang Qian’s collar with his little hands and slowly fell asleep in Jiang Qian’s arms.

"Shh, go to sleep!" Jiang Qian whispered to Zhang Ying who wanted to speak. Zhang Ying quickly crawled to the end of the bed to make room for Jiang Qian.

Jiang Qian took off his shoes, knelt on the bed and gently placed Jiang Zhong on the inside.

After covering Jiang Zhong with the quilt, Jiang Qian held Jiang Zhong's fingers and looked at Zhang Ying who was sitting cross-legged at the end of the bed. Zhang Ying wrapped herself in ill-fitting pajamas, with part of her arms and calves sticking out from her sleeves and trousers, looking a little funny.

"Why don't you make a new piece of clothing for yourself or have it altered?" Jiang Qian asked in a muffled voice.

Zhang Ying lowered his head and said nothing, tears falling silently on his exposed arms.

Jiang Qian put Jiang Zhong's little hand into the quilt in an annoyed mood, then got out of bed, opened his bag, took out a set of pajamas that had never been worn and placed it next to Zhang Ying.

"You change it and return it to me tomorrow after you're done." Jiang Qian said as he lay on his side beside Jiang Zhong and gently traced Jiang Zhong's eyebrows with his fingers.

Zhang Ying felt even more aggrieved. She stretched her cold legs into the quilt and kicked Jiang Qian.

Jiang Qian sat up suddenly, looking at Jiang Zhong who was still sleeping, and asked Zhang Ying in a low voice what he wanted to do.

Zhang Ying picked up the pajamas beside her and threw them at Jiang Qian's head. Jiang Qian angrily pulled it off and pointed at Zhang Ying.

"Yingniang, what do you want to do?" Jiang Qian threw the pajamas in his hand back to Zhang Ying and asked.

Zhang Ying picked up the pajamas and threw them to Jiang Qian again. Just as Jiang Qian was about to throw them back, Zhang Ying whispered to Jiang Qian, "I'm pregnant. The doctor said I'm already three months pregnant."

Jiang Qian held up the crumpled pajamas and looked at Zhang Ying blankly, his eyes full of disbelief.

The night wind blew into the room through the gaps in the window, and the oil lamp flickered.

"you…"

"Our Chong'er will soon have a brother or sister. He will definitely be very happy to have someone to grow up with. Yingniang, what did you say just now?"

"I, I just said, give me my pajamas, I'm sleepy and want to sleep." Zhang Ying turned his head to the side and looked at the increasingly bright oil lamp.

Jiang Qian climbed out of bed, stuffed his pajamas into Zhang Ying's hands, and whispered to Zhang Ying, "Change and sleep next to Chong'er. You are his mother, and he can't live without you."

Zhang Ying nodded. After she changed into her pajamas, she lay down in the place where Jiang Qian had just lain. The warm quilt was no longer as cold as before.

Jiang Qian carefully touched Zhang Ying's belly. There was his child again, maybe a naughty boy, maybe a quiet girl.

This period of life in the county school made Jiang Qian realize that even if he passed the examination to become a scholar, he would still be a poor scholar who could only afford to study thanks to the hard work of his father and wife.

"Yingniang, do you want a boy or a girl?" Jiang Qian asked Zhang Ying in her ear.

Zhang Ying was a little unaccustomed to Jiang Qian's sudden closeness, so he turned around and warned Jiang Qian: "Brother Qian, Chong'er is sleeping. If you wake him up, just go find dad and make do with him first. Blow out the lights and go to sleep."

Jiang Qian quickly blew out the oil lamp and lay obediently beside Zhang Ying, not daring to move.

Zhang Ying turned sideways and hugged Jiang Zhong, the corners of his mouth raised in the darkness.

The next morning, Zhang Ying handed the still sleeping Jiang Zhong to Jiang Qian and prepared to go to Song Li's house to buy a piece of tofu.

Seeing that Zhang Ying was in high spirits, Song Li first smiled and congratulated Zhang Ying on their reconciliation with Jiang Qian, and then cut an extra half piece of tofu for Zhang Ying.

Zhang Ying lowered his head and told Song Li: "Sister-in-law, I wanted to beat him up before, but I didn't expect to forgive him so easily. He didn't even say sorry, and I came to buy tofu for him eagerly."

"Second sister-in-law, don't worry about it for now. Just think of it as considering Chong'er and the unborn child." Song Li comforted Zhang Ying softly.

After Zhang Ying and Song Li chatted for a while, they were afraid that Jiang Chong would cry when he woke up, so they hurriedly took the tofu back home.

"Chong'er, your mother is back, let's wave to her." Jiang Qian held Jiang Chong and stood at the door of the main hall waving to Zhang Ying.

Jiang Ping, who was washing up, hurriedly took the tofu from Zhang Ying's hand. Zhang Ying smiled and walked to Jiang Qian and teased Jiang Zhong, asking, "When did Zhong Er wake up?"

"He woke up just after you left. He knew I was his father, and looked at me with his eyes open, but didn't cry." Jiang Qian had just finished speaking when Jiang Zhong burst into tears and stretched out his arms for Zhang Ying to hold him.

Zhang Ying quickly took Jiang Zhong and explained to Jiang Qian while coaxing him: "This is because the child cries three times when he sees his mother, no matter what."

"Thank you for your hard work, Yingniang. Dad and I will go cook." After a simple wash, Jiang Qian went into the kitchen with Jiang Ping.

Jiang Ping patted Jiang Qian on the shoulder and told Jiang Qian and Zhang Ying to live a good life.

"Dad, I understand." Jiang Qian scratched his head and continued, "Yingniang is pregnant again. The doctor said she is three months pregnant."

"What? Then why are you still here? Don't let her hold Zhong'er all the time. She will get tired." Jiang Ping pushed Jiang Qian out of the kitchen excitedly.

Jiang Qian walked into the room helplessly and picked up his book to tease Jiang Chong.

After the peach blossoms fade, elm seeds are picked, followed by locust flowers the size of rice grains that appear among the locust leaves.

Just as the streets were filled with the fresh scent of locust flowers, a horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of an alley in Nanguan.

A round-faced girl wearing a scarlet thin shirt, white trousers and double buns jumped off the carriage and said respectfully to the carriage: "Madam, young master, we are here."

"We're finally here. It took three days of carriage ride. Mom, I want to get off." A childish voice came from the carriage, and then a sapphire blue figure jumped down from the girl's side.

"Young master, be careful not to sprain your ankle." The girl hurried to check on the boy who fell to the ground.

The boy grinned and got up from the ground, looking at his new white deerskin boots with annoyance, which were covered with a lot of dust.

The girl quickly took out her handkerchief to wipe the boy's boots.

"Cui'er, don't worry about him." A gentle female voice came from above their heads.

The boy and Cui'er looked up at the woman who had lifted the curtain. The woman frowned and stared at the boy with her almond-shaped eyes. Her oval face was 50% similar to the boy's, and a peach blossom jade hairpin was simply inserted in her hair.

"Mom, Dad is not here and you bully me. If I had known, I would not have come." The boy pouted and protested to the woman.

After hearing this, the woman smiled and said to the boy, "Su Wangyue, I didn't intend for you to come, but you insisted on coming."

Su Wangyue grabbed the golden locket hanging around her neck angrily and shook the two buns on her little head, which were tied with red ropes, back and forth.

The woman jumped off the carriage, took the gold lock from Su Wangyue's hand and stuffed it into Su Wangyue's collar, leaving only a red rope faintly visible around his neck.

“Yue’er, if you don’t want your gold lock to be stolen, don’t take it out again.” After the woman said this, she took Su Wangyue’s hand and walked into the alley.

Cui'er drove the carriage at a moderate pace, following behind the woman and the boy.

"Mom, does Fourth Uncle live here? It looks so shabby." Su Wangyue looked around curiously and asked the woman.

The woman grabbed Su Wangyue's bun and replied, "Is it broken? I think it's fine. Go knock on the door."

Su Wangyue followed the direction the woman pointed, ran happily to the gate of the courtyard, and knocked on it "dong dong dong".