Chapter 43: Making Straw Shoes
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“He smiled! Ah, the baby smiled!”
Ye Lulu was overjoyed. A small hand beside her ‘hit’ her with a very light force. Ye Lulu turned around and saw that it was her equally lively eldest son. He was stretching out his little hands and legs and moving like a turtle.
That was why he ‘accidentally’ bumped into her.
Ye Lulu snorted again and teased her eldest son. “Big baby, are you a little turtle? Huh?”
Her eldest son seemed to be calm and strong. Ignoring her ‘harassment,’ he continued to crawl with his limbs facing the sky, moving his little hands and feet vigorously.
Ye Lulu came over and rubbed her face against his. Then, she planted kisses on him. The eldest son was stunned for a moment before suddenly stopping. He looked at Ye Lulu with his big eyes, and his cute little mouth moved. He suddenly let out a sound. “Hulu~!”
“Hahaha!” Ye Lulu burst out laughing and teased him. “Son! Why are you so cute?”
Ye Lulu couldn’t help but feel her heart as a mother explode. She gently pinched her son’s cheeks and teased him.
This caused her eldest son to be at a loss. After being stunned for a moment, he let out a ‘hu~’ and then a ‘lu’.
He started to play with his saliva.
“Hahaha”. That was why it was indeed more fun to have an older baby. In the past, he was too small when he was just born. There wasn’t much activity. Now, it was really too fun!
As for the youngest baby,
He had a look of ‘disgust’ on his face and his eyebrows were always slightly furrowed. There was no expression on his face at all. He tilted his head slightly and looked at Ye Lulu.
Although her youngest son did not do anything special, Ye Lulu still liked the child she had given birth to. She went forward and kissed the baby’s forehead lovingly.
After Father Guan and the rest had their breakfast, they went to the city early to do manual labor. Eldest sister-in-law Guan and Second sister-in-law Guan washed the dishes and watered the vegetable fields. When they were free and had nothing to do, they brought handfuls of straw into Ye Lulu’s house.
As they watched the babies with her, they sat by the table to weave straw shoes.
The two sisters-in-law moved quickly when making straw shoes. They stretched their heads over to look at the babies, smiled, and said to Ye Lulu, “The babies are so obedient. They don’t cry much.”
The children at home usually went out to play during the day and were not at home. It was rare for them to be free.
“There’s really no end to making straw shoes. During this period, your eldest brother used a lot of pairs of straw shoes. A pair would break in two to three days. I had to weave them every day so that your eldest brother could wear them.”
Eldest sister-in-law Guan complained.
“Your second brother is the same.” Second Sister-in-law Guan, who looked relatively agile, added. She was also weaving straw shoes in her hands. “It requires a lot of effort to make straw shoes. However, I’m getting familiar with making straw shoes and I can make them quickly. It’s not a big deal. I’ll just treat it as killing time.”
There were many farmers who wore straw shoes regularly.
Especially when it came to working or picking things. Straw shoes were coarse and easy to throw away, but they were cheap and cost-free. They were most suitable for farmers who needed to do farming work.
Eldest Brother Guan and the rest went to the city to do manual labor. They wore straw shoes to walk for a few miles alone. Over the past half a month, they had gone to the city every day to do odd jobs and buy rice and grains for their families and provide for Ye Lulu and the babies to eat and drink. Therefore, they did not stop going to the city every day and the straw shoes broke often.
They had also been going to the city previously, but it might have been intermittent. Eldest sister-in-law Guan and the rest did not think much of it either, but they were more diligent in making straw shoes. “It’s autumn already. The docks are getting busier because winter is coming. As soon as it snows, the river surface will freeze. Voyages will stop and goods can’t be shipped anymore. Therefore, we heard from the head of the household that many large ships have been coming and going recently. More people at the docks are also required to do manual labor. They haven’t stopped working.”