My delicate husband

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, the village chief urgently called a meeting. It was late at night and Lan An was getting ready to go to bed, but he had to get out of bed. It was almost the New Year, and he couldn't understand why the village chief had so many trivial matters.

"An An, put on more clothes, it's very cold outside."

"I know, Brother Xiaomo."

A lot of people slowly gathered under the big locust tree. Every household sent a representative. Torches around the square were lit. Fortunately, there was no wind. The villagers had some complaints, but they still waited patiently for the village chief to speak. However, there was still some disturbance.

"Everyone, be quiet. I know it's a little late to gather everyone here, but something big has happened in the village."

"Village chief, just say it clearly."

"Is everyone here?"

"We're all here."

"Okay, three more people died in the village. Old man Zhang from the north, Li Yibai's boy from the east, less than ten years old, and Zhang Xiaoya from the south who froze to death. The houses of Zhang Daqian, Sun Zhengyi, and Wang Xiaohuo collapsed. Chinese New Year is the day after tomorrow, and it's going to snow heavily in the next few days, so we're gathering everyone to come up with a solution."

"This……"

"Don't people die every winter? What a fuss!"

"Wouldn't the collapsed house in winter be repaired in advance? Why are you bringing us here just for this?"

The villagers were all in bad moods and kept complaining.

"Everyone's quiet. I also learned that there are 30 families in the village who are really out of food and are in real trouble at home, so..."

The village chief was a little embarrassed to speak, but as the head of the village, he could not watch the villagers starve to death.

"Village chief, who has extra food? We don't even have enough to eat."

"Yeah, I thought it was nothing."

"Then I'll make it clear. Over the next two days, each family will send one person to inspect the houses in the village. If any repairs are needed, the village chief and I will each contribute one tael, and the elders will each contribute five hundred wen. The rest will go into the public account."

"Also, apart from those thirty households, every remaining household must contribute at least two kilograms of brown rice. It's mandatory. Anyone who doesn't contribute must get out of Lotus Village. I know everything about your family's situation."

"We're all from the same village, and everyone has their own problems. If we help each other, we can live a good life. Okay, let's adjourn the meeting."

The villagers didn't say much and went back home. However, there were a few families that were obviously not very good people. However, the village chief forced them to do so, and no one dared to express their resentment on the spot. Lan An just felt that it was a waste of his sleeping time. Now, he would have no time to hang out with Zhang Xiaomo for the rest of the days.

"An An, I'm back."

"Brother Xiaomo, you haven't slept yet."

"I was worried about you and couldn't sleep."

"fine."

"You're not going to bed?"

"I'm too cold. Warm me up before I go to bed."

"An An, what did the village chief say at the meeting?"

"Someone froze to death in the village again. Some houses have collapsed, and the village chief asked us to inspect and repair them tomorrow."

Lan An mentioned it briefly, as he was afraid that Zhang Xiaomo would worry too much.

"Brother Xiaomo, I'm sleepy."

"Then go to sleep."

Zhang Xiaomo couldn't sleep. Although Lan An didn't say anything, he was still a little worried. He used to accept his fate, but now he was getting more and more unwilling to accept it. It was because of his incompetence that Lan An had to bear so much. This broken body...

The next day, Lan An got up very early and did not stay in bed. Seeing that Zhang Xiaomo was sleeping soundly, he did not even rub against him in his arms, for fear of waking him up.

Guoge'er can't cook, he can only make porridge. Lan'an didn't want Zhang Xiaomo to drink porridge again, so he fried some cabbage with garlic, leeks and eggs, and made a seaweed and lean meat soup. Guoge'er just needed to heat it up to eat. Lan'an also boiled some cornmeal pancakes. He felt that he probably wouldn't have a chance to eat all day, so he boiled a few more to take with him.

After everything was done and it was getting late, Lan An went to wake Guo Ge'er up, gave him a few words of advice and then left.

Lan An came to the big locust tree. Most of the villagers were there. The character of the villagers could be seen from the representatives sent. Lan An saw many familiar faces. The man who helped repair the roof last time was there. What surprised Lan An was that several lazy guys in the village were there. However, the men in several talkative households in the village still asked the old ladies to come and help. Lan An just took a quick look and didn't show it on his face.

"Okay, everyone is here, line up and hand in the food."

Although everyone complained, they all paid their grain in turn. No household paid more than two kilograms. The same was true for blue eucalyptus. When it was his turn, he clearly felt a lot of scrutiny.

A quarter of an hour later, the grain was harvested and the village chief divided it equally among the thirty families in front of all the villagers. The families who received the grain kowtowed three times to all the villagers.

Lan An looked at these people and found them really thin. Rural people worked all year round and had some muscles on their bodies, but these people were so skinny that Lan An thought of seriously ill cancer patients. He felt that the little bit of food would overwhelm them.

After the grain was distributed, the village chief arranged for Zhang Erbo and Zhang Ping to buy materials. The remaining hundred people were divided into ten groups and began to inspect one by one. Although everyone complained, they obeyed the arrangements. After all, the village spent money to repair houses for all villagers.

Lan An was in a group with Uncle Wang and Wang Tieniu. After all, as boys under 14 years old, they didn't have much energy, so they just did some odd jobs. They were very tired after a busy day and only took a half-hour break at noon.

Fortunately, although all the houses were checked, only half of them needed help from the villagers. A few families with better conditions or diligent people would check in advance. Most villagers basically rest once a year and replace the thatch once a year. The lifeblood of rural people is only three things: houses, fields, and livestock, so they all take good care of them.

After working hard for two days, Lan An was too tired to spend time with Zhang Xiaomo. After finishing his work, he returned home, took a shower, and then hugged Zhang Xiaomo to sleep. Zhang Xiaomo felt very distressed and could only let Lan An hold him, stroke his soft waist, and help massage him.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Time always flies when we are busy. Another old man passed away in the village in the past two days. This year is already very good, with only four people dying. Because it is close to the New Year, there is no need to prepare funerals. They can just dig a hole and bury the bodies in the public cemetery.

During this period, two waves of the three acres of rice in the planting space were harvested. When I clicked to harvest, I felt that the waiting time was longer than before, but I didn’t take it too seriously. After all, the rice was stored in the warehouse, I found that the yield of each acre of rice had increased by one acre. It was quite gratifying, after all, it was an unexpected surprise.

Blue Eucalyptus looked at the star anise and cinnamon he had planted, and they were ripe, with a good yield. He sold half of them through the mall, and the rest were kept in the warehouse for backup.

Lan Euan exchanged two acres of land for rice seeds, and planned to plant vegetables in the remaining acre. Lan Euan divided it into five equal pieces, planting leeks, spinach, peppers, and yam respectively. The last small piece was planted with ginger, star anise, and cinnamon.

After exchanging one meal, there were still 54 dan of rice left in the warehouse. Lan An converted it into 8 taels and 100 wen of silver through the mall. Together with the money from selling cinnamon and star anise, it was almost 15 taels. He had more than 18 taels left before, and now all added up to almost taels, which was enough for a long time.

On New Year's Eve, Chuqi Country needs to send gifts to the elders to express gratitude, which is equivalent to the New Year's greetings in Huaxia Country. Lan An only knew about this when Guo Ge'er mentioned it. Since he had not prepared beforehand, he had to cram at the last minute.

Fortunately, it was New Year's Eve tomorrow, and the reunion dinner would be at the time of Shen, which was around 3:30 in the afternoon, so there was still plenty of time, so Lan An began to prepare.

Lan An didn't understand anything about this. He could only take out all the snacks and pastries he had bought at the market and pile them on the table. It was a huge pile of things, messy and confusing no matter how he looked at it. Lan An scratched his hair in annoyance and tossed these things over and over again. Guo Ge'er thought An Ge'er might be crazy, so he secretly went to the room to find Zhang Xiaomo.

"Brother, An Ge'er is crazy."

"Zhang Xiaoguo, please speak properly."

"Go to the guest room and take a look."

Zhang Xiaomo put down the book he was reading recently and left the room with Guo Ge'er.

"An An, was there a burglary at home?"

"No, I'm preparing a holiday gift."

Lan An looked at the pile of things on the table and scratched her hair embarrassedly, making her hair, which was already poorly tied, even more scattered.

"An An, come and sit here, I'll help you tie your hair."

"it is good."

Zhang Xiaomo was very skilled and tied it up quickly. Soon, a delicate and beautiful An Geer appeared in front of Guo Geer. Guo Geer blushed. It was the first time he realized that An Geer was so beautiful, even more beautiful than the most beautiful girl in the village. Zhang Xiaomo's eyes also flashed with surprise. He had always known that blue eucalyptus was beautiful.

"What are you doing? Look at me. We are discussing serious matters."

"No, An Ge'er, I'll go to Aunt Wang's house and ask for you."

Guo Ge'er left shyly.

"Brother Xiaomo, can you help me prepare?"

Lan Euan unconsciously puts on a coquettish tone, staring at you with her blinking almond eyes, which is really irresistible.

"Okay, An An, I'll accompany you."

"Wait, I'll go get the small baskets. I need to prepare a few so I can determine the number of baskets."

"Bring four."

“We have so many relatives.”

Zhang Xiaomo just smiled and said nothing.

Lan An came back quickly and saw Zhang Xiaomo still standing. Lan An was afraid that he couldn't bear it, so he quickly moved a chair over and helped Zhang Xiaomo sit down.

"Brother Xiaomo, my hands are a little cold. I'll go get the brazier."

"Okay, An An, goodbye, take your time."

"When my parents were still alive, Guo Ge'er and I saw that there were always three festival gifts: one for the village chief, one for the village chief, and one for the elders of the family."

"Then why do we need four?"

"We need to give one portion to my uncle. We are the younger generation."

"Okay, I'll do as you say. Brother Xiaomo is really amazing and knows a lot."

There shouldn't be a man who doesn't like the praise and admiration of his lover. Looking at Lan'an's almond eyes full of admiration, Zhang Xiaomo felt a little proud. He saw that Lan'an was full of himself, and felt full of trust and dependence. He was unsure at first, but now he is full of confidence.

"However, the gifts vary from year to year. There were no specific rules when my parents were alive. They were usually arranged based on the family's remaining funds. There was usually homemade meat, a jar of wine, or a piece of cloth. In total, there were five items, symbolizing a good harvest and wishing for good weather and success in the coming year."

"Ah, Brother Xiaomo, it's too late to go to the county town to buy fabric now. We don't have anything at home."

Zhang Xiao was not quite sure what Lan An bought at the market last time, but he was pretty sure that he didn't buy the Lan An he just mentioned. Feeling that Lan An was a little impatient, Zhang Xiaomo hurried to comfort him.

"It's okay, it's okay, An An, we can just prepare whatever we have at home, it's okay. We also sell wine in the village, don't worry."

"It's so troublesome. Can't we just give them money and let them buy whatever they want?"

"New Year's money is only given to children. An An wants New Year's money this year?"

"I don't want it. I'll give it to Brother Xiaomo. I have money."

Guo Ge'er came back jumping with candy in his hand.

"Ang'er, I've asked for everything. Prepare five things, usually wine, cloth, grain, meat and vegetables. Anyway, get enough of the five."

"Okay, then go to the village and buy four cans of wine. I'll give you the money. If it's not enough, I'll pay you back when you bring it back."

"it is good."

"Walk slowly, don't slip."

Lan An and Zhang Xiaomo looked at the existing items at home and finally decided to give each family a couplet, three pairs of window decorations, a jar of wine, a bowl of braised pork, a package of pastries, and a pound of fine rice.

"An An, how about we just send fresh meat?"

"Would that be insincere?"

"alright."

Zhang Xiaomo was a little unhappy. Lan'an's cooking was delicious and unique, and he didn't want outsiders to taste it.

"Brother Xiaomo, do you want to send the dishes out too?"

Lan Euan was a little conflicted. There really weren't enough plates at home. He had given away all the previous ones, and the ones he was using now were all newly bought. He wasn't very willing to give them away directly.

Zhang Xiaomo instantly understood Lan Euan's dilemma and said

"There's a carpenter in our village who can make custom lunch boxes. How about four? He's just north of the village, a little far. Wait for Guo Ge'er to come back and have him accompany you."

Lan Euan kissed Zhang Xiaomo's cheek. As expected of his cat, she understood him so well that he had to reward her with a kiss.

"I'll go by myself. We're all in the village. It's okay. It'll take up some time waiting for Guo Ge'er to come back."

"Row."

After the discussion, Zhang Xiaomo went to the study to write the couplets. There was no time left and the couplets had not been written yet, so he had to hurry up.

Lan Euan also hurried out. He seemed to hear the beeping sound, but didn't pay much attention to it. He had wasted too much time discussing the holiday gifts, and if he continued to dawdle, he would not have enough time to prepare the reunion dinner.