My sister became the empress, but I'm still growing vegetables and raising chickens

Si Muyan had originally made a plan. Although it was not yet the busy farming season, there were still some chores to be taken care of in the fields, and Si Xingzhi had to go and take care of them.

She took Aunt Jin's younger sister to the morning market to buy porridge.

But now that my second sister and the three-day-old baby are back, someone must be at home to take care of them during the confinement period.

Ancient times were different from modern times. Making fire, cooking, boiling water and washing clothes were not done in one go. Not to mention the clothes and food for such a large family, the little baby had no diapers, so he had to change and wash diapers all the time. The workload was huge.

Moreover, she has to take care of the frail second sister and the baby. I'm afraid that Aunt Jin is the only one who can do this in the family.

Si Muyan entered the house and took the child from her second sister's arms. The little one, well-fed and warmly dressed, was sleeping soundly, making him so adorable.

"What's this kid's name?"

The second sister shook her head: "I haven't had time to choose a name yet."

"You are the child's mother, you should give her one."

The second sister was too weak, and after being frightened for so long, she really didn't have the energy to think, so she said, "Daddy is well-educated, why don't you let him take it?"

Si Xingzhi's previous knowledge was indeed good, but after eight years of neglect, he was suddenly asked to choose a name. He was a little uncomfortable and speechless for a moment: "Name? What should I call it... Jiang... Jiang..."

The younger sister was unhappy when she heard this: "This is my child, why should she be called Jiang something? Her father is gone, and her grandparents don't want her. She is my Si family's child, so her last name should be Si."

"Ah?" Si Xingzhi couldn't make up his mind and looked at Si Muyan hesitantly.

Si Muyan held the little child in her arms and walked slowly to the window. The window was opened at an angle to allow air to pass through without blowing the wind onto her second sister.

It was already night, and the starlight poured in, covering the baby's swaddling clothes.

Somehow, Si Muyan thought back to the scene when she saw the little kid today. It was before sunset, and a ray of sunlight shone through the branches and leaves, just like that, shining on the two wolves and the kid.

"Xia, how about calling her Si Yunxia?" Si Muyan turned her head and asked.

Si Xingzhi was overjoyed and walked over to hold the child. "Yunxia, ​​Yunxia, ​​what a great name! This is the first child of the next generation of our Si family. I'm a grandfather now."

The younger sister slapped his hand away again in displeasure: "Dad, if you say that, then don't hold Xia'er. Children of our Si family have the surname Si, so you are the grandfather, understand?"

Si Xingzhi no longer had the airs of an elder in this family. Even when scolded by his daughter, he just laughed, rubbed his hands, and looked at the child excitedly.

He had three sons and three daughters. If his eldest son were still alive, he would be 23 years old. People in Kyoto marry a little later, and men marry and have children after they reach adulthood. Generally, they would have one or two children by 23. In this rural area, men can get married at 16 or 17, and he would have become a grandfather long ago.

But only now was his granddaughter born.

But it still made him happy.

"Yes, I am a grandfather. Xia'er, call me Grandpa."

Si Muyan handed the child to Si Xingzhi and said seriously, "Dad, now that you're a grandfather, you should take on the responsibility of the family. You haven't worked on the fields for a few days, so you'll do it tomorrow. If you don't understand something, ask the village head or the person who worked for us a few days ago. Don't be afraid of being laughed at."

Si Xingzhi responded, "Okay, now that Erlang is gone, I will definitely take up the burden of the family."

These words made the younger sister look disdainful. If dad was a good dad, why would the second brother be so exhausted and why would he die so early?

"What's wrong with second brother?" The second sister was originally leaning against the head of the bed, still muttering her daughter's name. She was suddenly stunned when she heard her father's words.

Yes, after she came back, she met everyone, even her mother who was suffering from dementia and didn’t recognize her, but she didn’t see her second brother.

She thought her second brother was busy again and wouldn't be back at night. In the past, her second brother had found a short-term job to make money when he was not busy, so it was normal for him not to come home for a few days.

But what dad just said was that Erlang is gone?

Where is second brother?

Si Xingzhi knew that he had said something wrong and looked at Si Muyan guiltily.

Si Muyan sighed helplessly, walked to her second sister and said, "Second brother is gone, you are in confinement now, this is not something you should worry about."

"Gone? Going away?" The second sister pulled Si Muyan's sleeve with hope in her eyes. She hoped that her elder sister would nod.

But the eldest sister didn't say anything.

The second sister turned to look at the youngest sister and saw that the youngest sister's face was full of grief. What else did she not understand?

Tears suddenly fell.

Another voice asked: "How did my second brother die? Tell me..."

Si Muyan didn't have time to care about these things. She went out to find Aunt Jin and her younger brother. In comparison, her younger brother had grown the most in the past few days.

In the past, my younger brother didn’t care about anything and was only concerned with fighting with other kids, or stealing from other people’s homes and causing trouble.

But since his second brother passed away, he didn't even have a good cry. He just came back and stayed with Aunt Jin, doing whatever she asked him to do.

At this moment, Si Xingzhi and my younger sister were looking after the children. Aunt Jin was busy with the housework that had piled up throughout the day, and my younger brother followed behind, doing what he could.

Seeing Si Muyan coming over, Aunt Jin hurriedly said, "Miss, you haven't fully recovered yet. You're tired today and you should go and rest. There are only a few clothes left. I can wash them and hang them up."

"Okay, Aunt Jin, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to sell porridge tomorrow..."

Aunt Jin nodded. "I know. I'll get up early tomorrow morning to make porridge. I watched the eldest lady make porridge this afternoon, so I know how to make it. Then we'll go sell it the same way as before. I'll go with the third lady and the young master."

Si Muyan shook her head. "Second sister and the child both need someone to take care of them. Aunt Jin is the only one in the family who has taken care of a confinement period. What I mean is that you should stop being busy with other things for a while and take good care of Second sister and the child."

"This..." Aunt Jin agreed with her, but if she stayed at home, what would happen to the business outside?

Si Muyan said: "Tomorrow I can go with my second sister and younger brother."

After arranging things at home, Si Muyan got up early the next day and made three pots of porridge: one pot of white porridge, one pot of lean meat porridge, and one pot of preserved egg and lean meat porridge. She also prepared pickles to go with the porridge. There was no need to buy them, as Aunt Jin had made a lot of them before.

After everything was packed up, Si Muyan went to check on her second sister and the child first. A child this old would wake up once an hour at night.

Last night, Aunt Jin stayed with my second sister and it was Aunt Jin who took care of the child all night - my second sister was too weak and even had difficulty getting up to eat, so she was unable to take care of the child at all.

Aunt Jin was holding the baby and feeding him. She couldn't hide the haggardness on her face and yawned one after another.