Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

Chapter 238: 236: Adding Winter Clothes, The Whole Family Rejoices

Di Cheng stammered for a long time, unable to come up with a clear explanation.

“It’s alright. I understand it’s hard for you since she’s your mother. Just hand her over to me and take care of the bookstore.”

Liu Sisi comforted him, explained some matters, and then left the bookstore with the two quiet children and Di Yelei, headed straight for Gan Mansion.

“If Ms. Wang comes again, will you really have her arrested?”

Di Yelei asked with a smile.

“What do you think?”

Liu Sisi asked him back, “Given Ms. Wang’s nature, do you think she will give up just like that? Let’s wait and see!”

With that, she raised her chin, gave a mysterious smile, and walked briskly towards the stone steps at the entrance of Gan Mansion.

Today, the Old Madam of Gan Estate was absent, and Gan Miaoruo happened to be at home. She listened attentively to Liu Sisi’s lessons for four hours and still seemed unsatisfied. She then asked Di Yelei to teach her archery.

Considering there was a dedicated martial arts teacher, Liu Sisi naturally hesitated.

“The teacher is getting stingier and stingier, humph!”

Gan Miaoruo wrinkled her little nose, “The teacher who teaches me martial arts is so boring, always asking me to squat. I’m about to have crab legs, never teaching me anything else! Now you’re making all sorts of excuses too, I’m not happy!”

After saying that, she pouted and ignored everyone.

Di Yelei and Liu Sisi exchanged glances, seeing the amusement in each other’s eyes, and didn’t get angry.

“Miss Gan, it’s not a big deal to learn martial arts, but after all, there is a difference between men and women. Even if I want to teach you martial arts, teaching you archery will inevitably lead to physical contact. It may not matter to me, but you are a precious lady. If the Old Madam finds out or is seen by others, the consequences…”

With Di Yelei’s analysis, Gan Miaoruo’s pout naturally deflated. She grumbled for a while before sitting reluctantly at the edge of a nearby pavilion.

“Alright! Grandmother definitely won’t let me learn from you, it’s so disappointing…”

As she spoke, she kicked the mud on the ground.

“Ruo Ruo, if you want to learn martial arts, why don’t you come to our house next time and I’ll take you up to the mountain to dig traps, those specially designed for catching wild boars.” Di Xuan, who was practicing calligraphy in the pavilion, hurriedly stepped in to help his parents.

Gan Miaoruo’s eyes suddenly lit up, “Is digging traps fun?”

“It’s fun! Last time dad took me, we directly pulled out several wild pheasants from the traps. If you’re lucky, there are rabbits, roe deer, weasels, and wild boars, you can find everything, it’s so awesome!”

Di Xuan demonstrated excitedly, quickly attracting Gan Miaoruo’s attention.

Liu Sisi breathed a sigh of relief, knowing taking the children with them was the right choice. Di Yelei also relaxed; after all, she was a noble miss, and he couldn’t bear the responsibility if anything happened to her.

After leaving Gan Mansion, the group went to buy winter clothes.

Seeing Liu Sisi, the shopkeeper couldn’t help but frown: “Young wife, are you coming today to make fun of me again?”

Liu Sisi felt somewhat embarrassed, as she had indeed gone too far last time: “I’m really sorry, shopkeeper, but I’m genuinely here to buy winter clothes today. However, you must give me a sincere price, right?”

The shopkeeper replied straightforwardly: “Alright! Since you’ve said that, I will definitely give you a sincere price. Please choose your items!”

Of course, Liu Sisi ended up selecting quite a lot of things. Two sets of winter clothes per person for the five adults and two children in the family, including father-in-law, mother-in-law, and Di Cheng, quickly depleted their 5 taels of silver, making Liu Sisi wince.

She thought about it and decided to buy a few more cotton quilts, as there was still plenty of blue cloth left from their last purchase. They could make three sets of bedding, as the current cotton quilts in their home were old and uncomfortable!

She couldn’t skimp on the cotton quilts, so Liu Sisi calculated that twelve catties for the big beds and eight catties for the small ones would be enough. She also had to prepare a quilt for Di Cheng and buy some cotton shoes as well…

After doing the calculations, Liu Sisi genuinely felt like the money was flowing like water.

In the end, the whole family carried a pile of items back home.

“Let’s take these quilts back and sew them with the remaining blue cloth, hopefully we’ll have new quilts to cover ourselves tonight.” Liu Sisi was visibly excited.

Xuan’er and YingEr on the side were also delighted.

Especially YingEr, who kept lifting up her new cotton jacket to look at it, still not entirely out of her excitement.

“Mom! YingEr has a new cotton jacket now! What should we do with the old one? Can I let Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua wear it?” YingEr was excitedly hopping forward.

Di Xuan reproached her seriously: “Stop messing around! Little sister, Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua won’t fit into your small cotton jacket.”

“Xuan’er is right. Our YingEr’s cotton jacket is not something those two big fellows can wear. Once we get back, I’ll take out the cotton, wash and sew it back up, and use it to make beds for them.” Liu Sisi thought the idea feasible.

Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua were no longer the small puppies they were before. Thanks to an unending supply of food and bones at the Di Family’s home, the two dogs grew rapidly, becoming even taller than YingEr. Indeed, they were worthy of their hunting dog title.

Di Yelei also joined in: “I can see that you want to replace all of the old items at home with new ones!”

“Not really. Do you think the old cotton quilts at home are comfortable?”

She had long despised those stiff, musty-smelling old cotton quilts and was determined to replace them all.

“They’re indeed not comfortable. But don’t throw away the old cotton quilts once you’ve replaced them. It’s nice to have an extra quilt when it’s cold.”

Di Yelei was already accustomed to frugality. He wouldn’t say anything when it came to purchasing items, but he was opposed to waste.

“Of course, we can’t throw away the old cotton quilts. However, they should be taken out for a good sunning. Then we can use them as a padded blanket. The cotton inside is hard and heavy, making it very uncomfortable.” Liu Sisi casually decided the fate of the old cotton quilts.

“Haha! What our home needs the most is to clean up the stable, right?”

Di Yelei changed the topic: “We’ve cleaned up the chicken coop and the rabbit’s nest, but the horse is about to be brought home, and the stable hasn’t been prepared. How can we bring it back like this?”

A few days ago, Zuo Xingyu mentioned that a good horse had been allocated for Di Yelei. He planned to carefully choose one for him.

Di Yelei had been yearning for his horse in the past few days, wishing he could bring it home immediately and ride freely across the land.