When the pears are green

Chapter 240 The North Wind Does Not Serve as the East God’s Envoy

Under the warm winter sun, the younger generations of the Song family gathered in front of the courtyard gate to watch Song Changhe, Song Changsong, and Song Changming hang red silk and post wedding couplets.

Song Hui held Song Liu's hand and walked to Song Changhe who was holding the wooden ladder and asked, "Uncle, what does the wedding couplet say?"

Song Changhe held the ladder with one hand and picked up Song Liu who wanted to touch the red silk with the other hand and replied: "Xiaohui, I can't read either. Wait until Xiaoxing comes back tomorrow, then you can ask him."

Song Changsong, who was applying paste to the wedding couplets, tapped Song Hui on the forehead and asked Song Hui to take Song Liu somewhere else to play and not to cause trouble here.

Song Hui took Song Liu with a pout, and returned to Song Lan with Song Liu in his arms feeling a little disappointed.

Song Lan stood on tiptoe and rubbed Song Hui's forehead, and asked softly: "Brother, does it hurt?"

"Dad didn't use much force, it doesn't hurt." Song Hui put away the disappointment in his eyes and answered with a smile.

When the wedding couplets were almost done, Zhang walked to the gate and called to the children, "The peanuts are fried, come over quickly, they are hot and delicious."

Song Hui and others looked at Song Changsong and Song Changrong who were working, and did not dare to take a step forward.

Seeing this, Song Changhe smiled and said, "Changsong, Changming, let the children go over quickly. Your sister-in-law cooked a lot of food especially for the children."

Song Changsong and Song Changming looked at each other, waved their hands to let the children pass, and the children ran into the yard with smiles on their faces.

Song Changming glanced at Song Liu who was held in Song Hui's arms, and whispered to Song Changsong who was handing over the wedding couplets: "Changsong, are you going to raise the child like this?"

"Well, let's just keep her like this for now. Changrong and his sister-in-law already have their own child, and the child is not in good health, so they really don't have the extra energy to take care of Xiaoliu. My father couldn't bear to see Xiaoliu suffer with Changrong, and Xiaohua is willing to accept her. This can be regarded as the fate between our family and Xiaoliu. The girl is easy to raise, and we just need to find a good husband for her when she is fourteen or fifteen years old."

Song Changsong sighed as he spoke, recalling the scene when Song Sanshun brought Song Liu home, dirty and crying with hunger.

Li Hua hugged Song Liu in her arms with concern. While feeding him steamed bread, she asked Song Sanshun, who was squatting in the corner, what was going on.

Song Sanshun lowered his head and stammered to explain to Li Hua: "Changsong's family, let you raise this child first. Your nephew is often sick, your sister-in-law is in a bad mood, and Changrong doesn't care about her, so no one takes care of her."

"Dad, you brought the child home, isn't it your responsibility to raise him? You never thought of us when you were doing good things for him, and now that you don't want to raise the child, you think of our family. Raising a child costs money, and you can't just talk him to grow up." Li Hua kept saying this, while her hands were still gently stuffing the steamed bun into Song Liu's mouth, and she asked Song Hui, who was watching, to pour some water.

Song Sanshun blushed and was speechless. He pounded his thigh a few times and continued to say to Li Hua, "She cries all the time. Your sister-in-law thinks your nephew's illness is caused by her crying, so she won't let me raise her. Girls eat less, can work, and can be exchanged for a dowry when they grow up."

Li Hua remained silent, and Song Sanshun left Song Changsong's house with a sigh.

Song Changsong stood at the door and watched Song Sanshun walk away, then turned to ask Li Hua: "Xiaohua, are you really raising him?"

“What can we do if we don’t want to raise the child? Throw it away or give it away? Your brother and sister-in-law seem to be nice people, but when they get ruthless, even I can’t compare to them. They say they don’t want to raise such a cute child, and now the child is starving to the point of skin and bones, and you still blame the child for crying. Xiaoliu, Xiaoliu, change your name to Song Song.” Li Hua carefully picked up Song Liu and patiently coaxed him to sleep.

After hearing this, Song Changsong quickly told Li Hua to shut up: "Don't say anything more, Song Song, who do you want to send away? Changrong's child is in poor health. If anything happens to the child, they will destroy our house."

Song Changming came down from the ladder, pushed Song Changsong who was lost in thought, and asked with a smile what he was thinking about.

Song Changsong came back to his senses from his memories and hurriedly said that it was because he did not sleep well last night. He smiled and picked up the wooden table beside him and walked towards the Song family yard.

As dusk approached, large dark clouds blocked the blue sky.

The north wind blew hard all night, and sporadic snowflakes began to fall near dawn. The snow was not heavy and turned into water when it hit the ground.

Wu Mingshu, Wu Minghui and Lin Chunhong came to the Song family holding oil-paper umbrellas to deliver makeup supplies.

Zhang invited Wu Mingshu and Lin Chunhong to the main room to talk. Wu Minghui, accompanied by Song Li, walked into the room carrying a wooden tray covered with a red cloth.

Song Yue blushed as she lifted the red cloth. On the wooden tray were two boxes of rouge and powder, two silk flowers and a pair of silver hollow-carved gourd earrings.

"Yueyue, there's a note here." Song Li took the wooden tray and pointed at the bottom of the red rouge box with peach blossoms painted on it. A piece of paper was sticking out.

Under the gaze of Song Li and Wu Minghui, Song Yue took out the note and opened it with her lips pursed.

Wu Minghui curiously pulled Song Yue's sleeve and asked, "Sister Xiaoyue, what did my third brother write?"

Song Yue handed the paper to Wu Minghui, turned around and took out a square wooden box from the wooden box, put it on the table and gently opened it, then took out a brush, stone inkstone and ink stick.

Wu Minghui took the note and read it with Song Li. They smiled knowingly and said aloud at the same time: "Last night I dreamed of the east wind coming. I wondered when the peach blossoms would bloom."

Song Li returned the note to Song Yue and asked with a smile how to reply.

Song Yue's cheeks were painted with a layer of sunset glow. She lowered her head and answered while grinding ink: "Sister will make fun of me. I won't tell her."

"Since you don't tell me, I'm going to go to my mother's place to see Huan'er." Song Li said, pretending to go out.

Song Yue hurriedly grabbed Song Li's arm and pleaded softly: "Good sister, can't I tell you? Please don't laugh at me."

Wu Minghui also came over, looked at Song Yue with a smile and said, "Sister Xiaoyue, please tell me quickly, don't make my third brother wait anxiously."

After hearing this, Song Li covered her mouth and laughed.

Song Yue shook Song Li's arm coquettishly, and Song Li hurriedly swallowed her laughter.

Song Yue rubbed her hot cheeks, picked up a pen and wrote on the note: It is still early in spring, and the north wind is not the messenger of the God of Spring.

"Yueyue, your handwriting is pretty good."

"Sister Xiaoyue's handwriting is very similar to Third Brother's."

Song Yue blew dry the ink on the paper, folded the paper and handed it to Wu Minghui.

Wu Minghui ran out of the room to look for Wu Mingshu and Lin Chunhong, and the three of them said goodbye to Zhang with a smile.

Song Li was afraid that Jiang Huan would cry, so she went to Zhang's room, took Jiang Huan out, and stood at the door of the main hall to watch the snowflakes flying.

A moment later, Jiang Qingzhou drove a donkey cart to the Song family, and Jiang Qingye and Song Xing jumped off the donkey cart holding oil-paper umbrellas.

Zhang hurriedly carried the quilt from the donkey cart to the utility room and asked Jiang Qingzhou and the other two to go to the kitchen to drink some hot porridge.

Jiang Qingzhou finished his porridge and ran to the main hall door, rubbing his cold hands and asked: "Xiao Li, has Huan'er been well behaved these days? Did you miss me?"

Song Li glanced at Song Changhe who was sitting by the brazier to keep warm, and replied in a low voice: "Huan'er is very good. I don't know if Huan'er misses you, but anyway, I miss you very much."

Jiang Qingzhou looked at Song Li with a silly smile, and Song Li's ears turned red.

At this time, Song Changhe's loud voice sounded from behind the two of them: "Qingzhou, you are all wet, come and warm yourself up. Xiaoli, don't stand at the door holding Huan'er, Huan'er will catch a cold, go and coax Huan'er to sleep."

Zhang slapped Song Changhe's arm several times, then held up an oil-paper umbrella and sent Song Li and her son back to their room under Song Changhe's aggrieved gaze.

Song Changhe couldn't help but complain to Jiang Qingzhou: "Your mother is like a firecracker lately, she gets violent at the slightest provocation."

Jiang Qingzhou didn't know what to say, so he had to quickly change the subject.

Song Xing and Jiang Qingye stood in front of the door of the west wing and handed two sealed small pottery jars to Song Yue.

Song Yue smiled and asked, "What is this?"

Song Xing scratched his head and replied, "Qingye and I pooled our money to buy osmanthus oil. One can for my second sister and one for my eldest sister."

Song Yue reached out and brushed off the fallen snow on Song Xing and Jiang Qingye's shoulders, and said with a smile that she would pass it to Song Li, and asked the two of them to go back to the main room quickly.

Song Yue turned back to the room and whispered to Song Li who was coaxing Jiang Huan to sleep: "Sister, Xiaoxing and Qingye bought osmanthus oil, you and I each get a can."

Song Li looked up at the white pottery jar placed in Song Yue's hand. The jar was painted with osmanthus flowers all over. A dark green silk ribbon passed through the bottom of the jar and tied a knot on the bottle cap.

"These two kids are thoughtful."

"Sister, I'll put it in the cabinet first, don't forget it. Is Huan'er asleep?"

"Sleep, I know."

Wu Minghui secretly slipped out of her home which was full of relatives and friends, ran into Wu Mingde's study in the increasingly heavy snow, and handed the crumpled note to Wu Mingde.

Li Yun'an and Hu Zhining rushed over and held their breath while waiting for Wu Mingde to open the note.

"Haha, sister-in-law is so funny. The north wind cannot be the messenger of the God of East. Mingde, sister-in-law is telling you that she has no relationship with you yet." Hu Zhining laughed while holding the back of the chair.

Li Yun'an pushed Hu Zhining, and Hu Zhining quickly stopped laughing, sat up straight and wanted to help Wu Mingde with advice.