Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 462: Cucumber Dumplings

In the autumn of the 12th year of Jingming, the Dajing Dynasty united various tribes on the grassland and officially declared war on the Jin Kingdom, launching an attack on the Jin Kingdom from Weicheng and Cangzhou in the north.

At first, people thought it was just a small-scale battle, even Emperor Jingming himself thought so. As a result, they waited year after year, from autumn to spring, until Su Fuqing became pregnant with her second child, and Song Chunsheng and Zhou Ning's third son was one year old, but the war in the north never stopped.

In the late autumn of the fifteenth year of Jingming, the Song family had another bumper harvest of grain. Except for the portion they kept for themselves, they asked the Gu family to send the rest to the north.

Song Qin looked at the warehouse full of grain and a rare smile of relief appeared on her face.

Song Chunhua also looked at the grain piled up in the warehouse with a smile on her face. She happily hugged Song Qin's arm and shook it, saying, "This year, the grain harvested from the fields is much more than last year. Mother, let's have dumplings tonight. I've picked out the squash in the vegetable garden."

Song Qin glared at her daughter and said, "You're the only one who knows how to eat. You're just like your second brother. Go ahead and pick some melons from the vegetable garden, and pick some onions. We don't have much meat left at home, so I'll go to the village and get a few pounds of meat. Your brothers will be back soon, so let's hurry up and have some good food when they get home."

When she heard that there was another delicious meal, Song Chunhua jumped up and was scolded by Song Qin for not behaving like a girl.

Song Chunhua didn't listen at all and skipped away. Song Qin looked at her daughter's back and seemed to see Song Chunlin from that year.

"Alas, it's been three years. I should come back at least once."

In the past three years, Song Chunlin, like Gu Fengyue, has never returned home once. Gu Fengyun did not keep the battle reports from the battlefield to himself, but always showed them to them, for fear that they would worry about their son's safety. In addition to the battle reports, every time the Gu family transported food to the north, they would also help the Song family bring letters home, and the Gu family would also help Song Chunlin transport some things back.

The most important things are the spiritual spring water and some medicinal herbs in the space. These are for Grandpa Song and Grandma Song to replenish their bodies. The two old people are over eighty years old and need to be well taken care of. Song Chunlin doesn't want him to be away when the two old people pass away.

However, Dabao revealed to Song Chunlin that the two old people could live for a very long time, so Song Chunlin was relieved. However, he never stopped taking supplements, as he had plenty of these medicinal herbs in his space anyway.

Every time the Song family received something that Song Chunlin asked the Gu family to bring back, they would be happy for a while, not because they received gifts, but because these gifts represented that Song Chunlin was safe.

Song Qin came to the village entrance and prepared to cut a few pounds of meat. Seeing that the ribs were good, she bought all the remaining ribs.

People in the village still prefer the fatty pork belly. Some people eat the ribs, but not much. Song Qin bought them all at once, and Wang Renzhu, the pork seller, smiled so hard that his teeth were showing.

"Aunt Song, your two sons are back again, right?" The Song family has many sons and is well-off, so they are never stingy when selling meat. Every time Song Chunming and Song Chunxiao come back, Song Qinshi will buy a lot of meat for her sons to eat as much as they want.

Song Qinshi smiled and replied, "Yes, it should be here later. The harvest is good this year, so I'll make dumplings with my sons tonight."

The villagers nearby were envious: "Aunt Song is so lucky. Her son is filial and promising, and her two grandsons are also smart. After graduating from the county school in a few years, I'm afraid they will be able to go directly to Dajing College."

"How can that be? They are only a few years old and still have a lot to learn."

"Yes, I know that saying. What's it called... Learning, learning never ends. Oh, yes, learning never ends. It's hung at the entrance of the county school. I know it."

After chatting for a while, Song Qin went home with a basket of meat and ribs. The villagers who stayed behind continued to talk about the gossip about the Song family.

A young man had just gotten married. He counted on his fingers and suddenly felt something was wrong.

"You all say they have four sons, but I've only heard of and seen the eldest, third, and fourth sons. Where is the second son?"

Seeing that he was a new bride, his uncle kindly told him, "The second son of the family has moved north. It's normal that you haven't seen him since you got married. Didn't your husband's family tell you about this?"

"That's not true. The second brother went to the north. Could he be joining the army?"

"Oh, yes, it's been three years and he hasn't come back yet."

"Yes, it takes even longer than when I went to the border."

Song Qinshi didn't care about the topic after she left. She had to wrap the dumplings before dinner. When she got home, Song Chunhua was already shredding the cucumber. Song Qinshi took over her job and asked her to go to the backyard to call Song Dazhuang back and ask him to chop the ribs and meat.

While waiting for the meat to be chopped, Song Qin quickly prepared the vegetarian dishes and shredded some cucumbers. She would soak some black fungus and mix it with the cold dishes later.

After finishing all this, Song Qin hurried to knead the dough. By the time her dough was ready, Song Dazhuang had already mixed the stuffing for her.

The whole family joined in making dumplings, except for Song Chunsheng who had not returned from the fields yet, and even Grandpa Song made a few in between watching the children.

Amao Song looked at Zhou Ning's belly and calculated the date.

"I'm afraid Ning'er's baby will be born next year."

Song Qin looked up and smiled: "Yes, if you give birth in the spring, it won't be so cold then, but it won't be too hot either, so neither the adults nor the children will suffer."

Grandpa Song also laughed: "He is a caring child who knows how to care for his little daddy."

Zhou Ning stroked her belly with a gentle look in her eyes. "This baby's pregnancy is good. I haven't vomited at all. She has a good appetite and is so well behaved. I hope it's a girl. My family is full of naughty kids who are too difficult to manage. It would be great if we had a quiet and gentle one."

"What girl? My sister-in-law is pregnant with a girl?"

Song Chunxiao's noisy voice came from the door. Hearing this, the Song family looked towards the door and saw Song Chunxiao and Song Chunming standing at the door, looking at them with a smile.

Song Chunxiao's eyes fell on the dumplings, and she couldn't help but cheer: "Oh yeah, it's dumplings, Mom, are they the ones with leeks and pork that I love?"

Song Qin slapped her son's head in annoyance and said, "Go away. There are no leeks today. They are all squash and pork. If you want to eat leeks, go to the backyard and pick some yourself."

Between not working and satisfying his appetite, Song Chunxiao decisively chose the former.

"No, I'd rather eat what's ready. Mom, I'm so hungry. When can I eat?"

The youngest son kept acting like a spoiled child and didn't care about the flour on his head. Song Qin was so annoyed that she lost her temper and had to urge Song Dazhuang to light the fire.

The older Song Chunming got, the calmer and quieter he became. He walked slowly to the front of the crowd, called everyone one by one, then washed his hands and helped to wrap the clothes.

Song Qin poked her youngest son's forehead and said, "You went to the academy with your brother, but why aren't you half as steady as your third brother?"

"I'm the youngest, why should I be steady?"

Song Chunhua was unhappy and she immediately retorted: "Fourth brother is not the youngest, it is obviously me who is the youngest."