In the hospital, when there wasn’t enough breast milk, formula was used, but at ho, two dairy goat kids had been prepared. Qin Xi bought them when Li Xianglu was six months pregnant, to provide milk for the family. Now with Ba Yi and Ba’er, there seems to be not quite enough.
The two children grew as swiftly as the wind, changing every day. They were not small at birth, the elder one weighed five jin and one tael, the younger five jin and two taels, both with long legs and large builds.
Li Xianglu, who originally had long hair, had it cut into a boy’s style by Sister Xing during her confinent because she couldn’t wash her hair, planning to grow it back out after her confinent was over.
She naturally looked quite young, with a tiny face like a palm-sized lon seed. Now with her long hair cut off, she looks even younger. Many of Qin Xi’s colleagues and classmates were shocked when they ca to visit after the birth, and couldn’t help asking Qin Xi in private how old his wife was, comnting that she looked about seventeen or eighteen.
With children, one has everything one needs. Qin Xi promptly handed off all his private jobs to Xu Wu.
Xu Wu was originally thrilled to be an uncle, but ended up so busy that he didn’t even have ti to see his nieces or nephews, and spent his days with a dark face, scaring Da Li and the others to complain every day.
Fortunately, the Lunar New Year was at the end of January, so everyone had so ti off. Li Jianqing also ca back not long after Li Xianglu was discharged from the hospital, and was stunned to see his two identical nephews.
Su Yan and Li Huai Ren upgraded to great-grandparents, with the arrival of Ba Yibao keeping them extrely busy. This, however, gave Li Xianglu, the new mother, so ti off.
No sooner did the two children cry out than soone picked them up, either Su Yan or Mr. Li, or it might be Li Huan, followed by a queue, Li Jianqing and a glum Xu Wu, with the children’s father, Qin Xi, at the end.
Qin Zhen’s family, with little Qin Huimin, stayed with the in-laws because of the young child, coming back from ti to ti when they were free, mainly to bring food for Lu Anna.
There were many people in the courtyard house, so Sister Xing and Leng Qing were busy preparing all kinds of food. Qin Zhen ca back several tis to encounter hot pot, sauerkraut fish, or big plate chicken. After eating several tis, Qin Zhen’s face darkened. It turned out that while he wasn’t living here, the family was enjoying good food every day.
Today is New Year’s Eve, and Sister Xing had prepared the atballs, lotus root patties, little crisp at, white-cooked at, braised at, and even stead three to four hundred stead buns and rolls in advance over the last few days.
Sister Xing was planning to go back to Beihai with her husband and children for the New Year. Mr. Li was especially grateful for Sister Xing’s ticulous care of Li Xianglu over the past few months, so he gave her a pile of food and a fifty yuan red envelope for New Year.
Thus, only Leng Qing was left to cook in the New Year, but she was young and deft with her hands, and with Hu Zi helping with so heavy chores, she managed to keep up with the work.
Qin Xi ca in from outside, carrying a thermal pot, and hurried to warm himself by the small stove. After taking off his cotton coat, he poured the stewed pig’s trotters and soybeans soup from the thermal pot into a large foreign porcelain bowl and carried it inside.
Li Xianglu lay languidly against the pillow, while Su Yan held a child wrapped in a red blanket, gently rocking it.
Just as Su Yan stopped rocking, the child in the blanket made a little grunt. Su Yan smiled with pursed lips and remained still. The child grunted again, this ti louder and clearly expressing its displeasure.
Su Yan burst out laughing, sowhat proudly saying to Li Xianglu, "Ba’er doesn’t tolerate any loss, just look at how clever you are." In her words, she couldn’t hide her affection.
Qin Xi couldn’t help but shake her head with a hint of amusent, not understanding what was so fun about it. Every ti, Mr. Li and Su Yan seed to thoroughly enjoy the repetitive experint.
However, it must be said that the two children had different reactions. At just twenty-five days old, their eyes were already following people’s movents, showing remarkable alertness.
As the old saying goes, "You can tell a three-year-old’s future." It wasn’t until he had his own children that he deeply understood this. Every child is a unique individual, with personalities that differ from birth.
Take Ba Yi for instance, he has a placid and obedient nature. But he is certainly not foolish. When he wets himself or is uncomfortable, he whimpers to let the adults know, and once changed, he contentedly falls asleep. When it cos to feeding, he does better with breast milk, but can manage without it.
Second child Ba’er, on the other hand, is a bit more troubleso. The boy does not take any injustice lying down. The mont his diaper feels uncomfortable, he cries so loudly that he could wake up even the heaviest sleeper. As for feeding, ever since he tasted his mother Li Xianglu’s breast milk on his first day, he hasn’t taken a liking to formula or goat’s milk.
Every ti soone tries to take him from Li Xianglu’s embrace, he cries as if thunderstruck. Leng Qing may seem cold-faced, but he’s actually very tender-hearted and feels sorry for Ba’er. He often pleads with Li Xianglu to feed him a few more mouthfuls.
Initially, Li Xianglu indulged him a few tis, but the child ended up eating his brother’s share too, leaving Ba Yi with nothing. Ba Yi, with his good temperant, did not fuss, but Li Xianglu felt this was not good practice. If they gave in to his every demand, what heights of demand might he reach in the future?
While Li Xianglu and Su Yan were playing with the kids, Qin Xi still felt a bit cold and didn’t get too close. Instead, she moved the kang table over to the bed and brought up a bowl of elbow soup.
Seeing the soup, Li Xianglu blinked and looked at Qin Xi: "More soup, huh?"
Qin Xi nodded helplessly and handed over the spoon: "Drink up, the at is cooked until it’s falling apart. If you don’t want the at, eat more of the soybeans."
Li Xianglu glanced at the two children lying in bed sucking on their fingers and pinched her own belly with resignation. Although she had given birth, her stomach was still dragging. Not only did it look unsightly, but her weight was still 140 pounds.
Before giving birth, she weighed 170 pounds. At a height of 5’5", she had a particularly small fra, just a big belly – from the back, she didn’t seem to have gained much weight. She had thought she would slim down after delivery, but to her dismay, when she weighed herself yesterday, she was still 140 pounds, and her belly felt as if there was still a child inside it.
The Foreign Doctor hired by Su Yan said that it will slowly shrink and recover, advising her to gradually start exercising after the confinent period to get her figure back.
Su Yan also kept telling her that, being young, she would recover quickly.
After finishing the soup and picking out all the soybeans to eat, she then pushed the bowl towards Qin Xi, who was sitting next to her holding a child.
Qin Xi stared blankly at the half bowl of pig’s trotters, cooked until they were very soft. If it were before, she would not have hesitated to eat them up. But, having accompanied Xiangxiang through twenty-five days of postpartum recovery, she had eaten pig’s trotters for at least fifteen days herself.
Qin Xi swallowed her saliva and asked calmly, "Isn’t it Jianqing’s turn today?"
Li Xianglu glanced at the calendar hanging on the side and shook her head: "No, he just had chicken legs yesterday. It’s indeed your turn today."
Qin Xi... actually found they kept track with a calendar.
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