Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

Chapter 621: Chapter 621: Liu Sisi’s Solution
 

Liu Sisi didn’t move for quite a while, and then realized suddenly, “You mean… Old He diagnosed that I’ve hurt my body by giving birth to Niuniu and therefore… I can’t have more children?”

“Don’t worry, Sisi! If we can’t have more, we won’t. We already have Niuniu, Chou Chou, and the baby. And there’s Cheng’er, Xuan’er and YingEr. That’s enough. Really, it’s enough. I, Di Yelei, will not be greedy.” Di Yelei hurriedly comforted her, worrying that Liu Sisi might feel burdened.

That’s a very strange thing to say! Liu Sisi thought, amused and confused at the same time.

That being said, the tight knot in her heart has actually relaxed.

She playfully traced circles on Di Yelei’s chest with her fingers, “Yelei, I’m sorry for behaving like this. But recently I’ve… really not been in the mood…”

“My little fool, I understand! Your body hasn’t fully recovered yet. We have a lifetime to spend together. So what if we abstain for a few days? Just sleep now. It’s already very late.” Di Yelei comforted her, got up to put out the lamp, and returned to her arms to drift off to sleep.

It was indeed late. As Di Yelei next to her gradually fell asleep, Liu Sisi stayed awake.

Her mind was filled with thoughts of his consideration, his gentleness, and his care. A sense of regret bubbled up from within.

Next time! Next time she would definitely make it up to him.

As she let her mind wander, she found herself falling asleep without realizing it.

When she woke up, the sun was shining on the windowsill, and Di Yelei was already out. Liu Sisi hurriedly washed up, checked on the children, and took Di Ying out of the manor.

The reason she brought Di Ying instead of Di Xuan was because Di Xuan had gone out with Di Yelei. The little ones were too young. After Chou Chou’s fever last time, she dared not casually take the children outside.

Liu Sisi had several places to go today. One of them was the porridge shed outside the city, which had been established for several months. She had been preoccupied before and hadn’t been able to visit after her recent childbirth and subsequent period of confinement.

When she arrived by coach, it was between 9 and 11 o’clock.

Ahead of the porridge shed was a dense crowd. Four long lines snaked around to the large porridge pot, forming an extensive queue around the moat.

Liu Sisi got off the coach and slowly walked forward, holding YingEr’s hand.

As she walked, she carefully observed the reactions of the people outside the porridge shed. Most of them awaiting their portion of porridge had stoic expressions, with no superfluous behaviors.

People at the forefront simply handed over their bowls when it was their turn and stood still as the server scooped up a spoonful of porridge into their bowls. Then, they silently picked up their porridge and made way for others.

After that, some people hurriedly left with their porridge. Some people, seemingly afraid of being robbed, gulped down the hot porridge disregarding the scalding sensation.

Of course, Liu Sisi also noted that some people were shameless. They had already been informed before the distribution that everyone was limited to one serving of porridge per day. However, there were always those who, after getting their porridge, would take their bowls to the back of the line to queue again for more. Even line-cutting shameless individuals were present, which left Liu Sisi speechless.

Before she could reach the front of the porridge shed, Liu Sisi noticed a sudden commotion ahead.

“Hey, you! You’ve already received porridge twice today. Are you here for more? Can’t you leave some for those behind you?” shouted the soldier serving the porridge, looking as though he had no intention of serving him.

“Just a little bit! Just a little bit…” The man shamelessly held out his bowl, standing his ground as if he wouldn’t leave until he was served.

The soldier looked visibly angry, he raised the big spoon in his hand and waved it menacingly at the man.

“You! Are you leaving or not? If you don’t leave, I wouldn’t mind sending you to enjoy free prison meals for the rest of your life—you won’t have to worry about your meals ever again!”

Maybe the soldier was too intimidating, or maybe the man assessed that he couldn’t beat the soldier, so he turned around and left. As he went away, he grumbled angrily.

“Pah, what the hell! It’s just two bowls of broken porridge! If you don’t give it to me, I wouldn’t even want it!”

An old man cursing and grumbling squeezed out from the crowd.

While walking, he continued to swear, “Don’t think that we common people don’t know. This official surnamed Di is giving out porridge simply to earn himself a good reputation!”

“Let me tell you, this official surnamed Di has many beautiful concubines at home. Not only does his wife wear gold and silver, but even his woman-servants and maids are also in large numbers. Plus his children’s nanny, there are several of them. Such a household, I spit! And they’re still giving out porridge?”

“If you all don’t believe, then go to the official residence of the official surnamed Di and see if what this old man is saying is true or not!”

The more he spoke, the more outrageous he became, stirring up the people waiting in line around him, pointing fingers and commenting.

“Old man, have you seen Mrs Di?”

A clear and melodious voice suddenly came from the crowd. It was like an oriole’s song. Even amidst the surrounding noisy crowd, it made everyone hear it clearly.

The old man who was cursing was taken aback. He immediately looked in the direction of the voice, only to see a plainly dressed woman slowly approaching with a soft smile on her lips. Her cheeks were rosy, eyebrows like willow leaves, eyes like autumn water, lips like peach blossoms, and she had a slender figure. Even without any valuable jewelry on her, she seemed to exude an aura of wealth and nobility.

The crowd was stunned! The old man was also stunned.

The surrounding were all refugees, but suddenly there was a pearl in their midst. The shining radiance almost blinded everyone temporarily, leaving them in a trance, unable to produce any resistance.

“Old man, you haven’t yet said whether you’ve seen Mrs Di?”

Liu Sisi casually stood in front of the old man, looking up at him.

“Of course, of course I’ve seen her. She’s fat all over, and when she walks, her fat jiggles… The gold and silver ornaments on her head are almost as heavy as her fat…”

“How dare you!”

The old man was about to go on when Granny Hu, standing next to Liu Sisi, could no longer bear to listen.

She hurriedly interrupted the old man, pointing at Liu Sisi and addressing the crowd, “Everyone, this lady right here is Mrs Di, the wife of Captain Di! Who’s the gossip monger here spreading falsehoods? Defaming someone’s reputation, are you not afraid of going to hell for that after death?”

“What? This lady is Mrs Di? That can’t be?”

Granny Hu’s words, like a ladle of cold water poured into a hot oil pan, instantly caused a stir among the crowd! How could Mrs Di be so slender? How did she fit the image of a plump and wealthy official that everyone had in mind?

Liu Sisi glanced at the stunned old man but did not say much. Instead, she walked over to the large barrel where porridge was being distributed.

“Madam.”

The servants and soldiers distributing the porridge hurriedly saluted her.