When the pears are green

Chapter 228 Bitter Summer

Although it was only May and summer had just begun, the pregnant Song Li could not stand the scorching sun. She leaned on Jiang Qingzhou's back, feeling dizzy all the way, and tried hard to suppress her nausea.

Jiang Qingzhou didn't bother to drive the donkey cart back home, and hurriedly picked up the pale Song Li and ran into the yard. He put Song Li on a rattan chair in the shade and shouted to Jiang Qingye, who was about to drive the donkey cart, to pour water.

After Song Li drank the water, her face became slightly rosy.

Jiang Qingzhou fanned Song Li and asked, "Are you feeling better, Xiaoli? When the weather gets cooler, I'll take you to the clinic."

Song Li tilted her head to look at Jiang Qingzhou who was standing beside her and fanning himself vigorously, and replied with a smile: "I feel much better. I probably had heatstroke just now. There is no need to go to the clinic again."

Jiang Qingzhou was worried and still insisted on going.

Song Li had to find an excuse to get rid of Jiang Qingzhou: "Qingzhou, I don't want to go, I just want to lie down. Go soak the sesame seeds and plant them tomorrow."

Jiang Qingzhou frowned and looked at Song Li, who was feeling unwell but didn't like going to the clinic. He turned around and told Jiang Qingye, who was practicing calligraphy on the floor, to go to the kitchen to soak the sesame seeds.

Song Li listened to the "kick-kick-kick" footsteps, closed her eyes and complained quietly: "Qingzhou always bullies Qingye and me."

"How could I bully you? You are just hiding your illness and avoiding medical treatment." Jiang Qingzhou replied while fanning himself and pinching Song Li's face.

Song Li moved her eyelids a few times, opened her eyes, grabbed Jiang Qingzhou's misbehaving hand, and said with a smile: "Qingzhou, I really don't want to move. I want to drink mung bean soup in the evening."

"Qingye, soak some mung beans and make mung bean soup in the evening." Jiang Qingzhou turned around and shouted at Jiang Qingye who was soaking sesame seeds in the kitchen.

Jiang Qingye's voice immediately came from the kitchen: "I know, brother."

Song Li closed her eyes in disappointment, ready to listen to Jiang Qingzhou continue nagging in her ear.

Jiang Qingzhou smiled helplessly and had to compromise with Song Li: "Since Xiaoli doesn't want to go, then don't go. You can't follow me to the town anymore."

Hearing this, Song Li slowly opened her eyes and nodded at Jiang Qingzhou with a smile.

Jiang Qingye stood at the kitchen door, with his right hand on his forehead, looking at the sun hanging on the roof and loudly asked Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou: "Brother, sister-in-law, why is it so hot in summer? Is it because the sun is closer to us in summer?"

After hearing this, Song Li pulled Jiang Qingzhou's sleeve and asked in a low voice: "What do you think, Qingzhou?"

Jiang Qingzhou leaned over to Song Li's ear and answered softly, "I think it should be. If it's not right, please don't laugh at me."

"You are me and I am you. If I laugh at you, it's the same as laughing at myself. Get out of the way, Qingye is watching!" Song Li pushed Jiang Qingzhou away with a red face, stood up and motioned Jiang Qingye to come over and talk.

Song Li took the fan from Jiang Qingzhou and shook it while asking Jiang Qingye who was standing next to Jiang Qingzhou: "Has Qingye learned the Four Symbols?"

Jiang Qingye frowned and tried hard to recall the knowledge taught by Yang Yu and Master Li. He answered while thinking: "I learned some of it before. The Four Symbols refer to Shaoyang, Laoyang, Shaoyin, and Laoyin, as well as Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise."

Song Li pondered for a moment, then continued with Jiang Qingye's words, "The Vermillion Bird represents Emperor Yan, its color is red, the Eight Diagrams represent Li, the Five Elements belong to fire, and it symbolizes the old yang. The four seasons refer to summer, and the god of summer is Zhurong. With so much fire added together, how can it not be hot?"

"Hot, hot." Jiang Qingye, who suddenly realized, quickly agreed with Song Li, and no longer worried about why the summer was so hot and the winter was so cold.

Song Li smiled and asked Jiang Qingye to continue practicing calligraphy, and returned to the east room alone, fanning herself.

At this moment, Song Li was extremely impressed with himself for being able to perfectly solve the problem raised by Jiang Qingye without any knowledge of the ecliptic obliquity and the sun's direct point.

The next morning, in order to take the pressed rapeseed oil home, Jiang Qingzhou and Jiang Qingye went to the town together. After the two left, Song Li took out the sesame seeds that had been soaked yesterday and put them on cotton cloth to dry.

Seeing that Jiang Qingye was the only one driving the donkey cart back, Song Li stood on tiptoe to look at the empty alley, and then asked where Jiang Qingzhou had gone.

Jiang Qingye jumped off the donkey cart, pushed the gate and answered Song Li: "Sister-in-law, my brother was afraid that the donkey cart would be unstable and the oil would splash out of the barrel, so he wanted to carry the barrel back from the oil mill."

Song Li finally felt relieved. Even though she knew Jiang Qingzhou couldn't come back now, she still looked back at the alley before entering the yard.

Jiang Qingye first took the backpack and wooden box off the donkey cart, washed them and dried them, then he took out an oil-paper umbrella from the donkey cart and handed it to Song Li.

Song Li opened the oil-paper umbrella, stroked the orchid pattern on the umbrella with her fingertips, and asked Jiang Qingye: "Qingye, where did you buy the umbrella?"

Jiang Qingye quickly replied: "Sister-in-law, I bought it at the restaurant."

Song Li was half-believing and half-doubting, knowing that she couldn't get anything out of Jiang Qingye, so she thought of waiting for Jiang Qingzhou to come back before asking.

Just as Song Li was about to put the oil-paper umbrellas back into the main room, Jiang Qingye walked up to Song Li holding a bunch of oil-paper umbrellas. Song Li asked with a twitch of her lips how many she had bought.

"There are seven in total. My brother said that our family will keep four, including Xiaoxing, and the remaining three will be given to Uncle Song, Aunt Zhang, and Sister Xiaoyue. Sister-in-law, where should we put these first?" Jiang Qingye barely held the six oil-paper umbrellas and asked Song Li with some difficulty.

Song Li hurriedly took the three oil-paper umbrellas and held them in her arms. Together with Jiang Qingye, she placed all the oil-paper umbrellas on the eight-immortals table in the main hall. Except for the one Song Li had with an orchid pattern, the other six were plain colors.

Song Li sat in the shade of the yard mending clothes, stitch by stitch, thread by thread, while she waited. Jiang Qingzhou returned home with sweat on his forehead, carrying a wooden barrel.

After resting for a while, Jiang Qingzhou took the initiative to tell Song Li about the oil-paper umbrellas. It turned out that Jiang Qingzhou had overheard Zhang Er say a few days ago that Hu Zhimin's friend had imported a batch of oil-paper umbrellas from Jiangnan, so he asked Zhang Er, who was going to the city to buy umbrellas, to bring a few along the way.

Jiang Qingzhou paused, then continued to say to Song Li: "It rains a lot in the summer, and neither our family nor my parents have a decent umbrella, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to buy a few more. They are indeed cheaper than those sold in the grocery store in town. The plain one is thirty cents each, and your patterned one is fifty cents each. I originally wanted to buy Xiaoyue an umbrella with a pattern, but I was afraid Mingde would think too much, so I just bought her a plain one."

Song Li nodded as she listened, her straightforward eyes filled with affection and kindness.

Jiang Qingzhou smiled and rubbed Song Li's hair, and asked Song Li to have a good rest after mending her clothes. After Jiang Qingye packed the tofu and bean sprouts, he hurriedly drove the donkey cart to Zhanggou Village to meet Zhang Ping'an.

Zhang Ping'an sat on the donkey cart and whispered that the Zhang family's living ancestor Chen Yuan wanted to go to the study to study by himself.

Jiang Qingzhou couldn't help laughing after hearing this, and turned around to tell Zhang Pingan not to tease Chen Yuan like that, and that Chen Yuan was doing this for Zhang Pingan's own good.

Zhang Pingan continued with a gloomy face: "Cousin, I feel that I am not good at studying, and I am afraid that my brother-in-law's kindness will be wasted. But my brother-in-law brought it up, and my parents dared not say anything. They are afraid of my brother-in-law behind his back, saying that he is the living ancestor of our family."

"Ping'an, if you don't try, how will you know if you are suitable for it? Didn't you say that you wanted to be a wealthy businessman? How can a wealthy businessman be illiterate and unable to write his own name? Reading more books will help you go further." Jiang Qingzhou continued to comfort Zhang Ping'an.

Zhang Ping'an, who was used to being idle on weekdays, kept sighing, lamenting that he would no longer be able to walk freely with Jiang Qingzhou through the streets, nor could he climb trees in the woods at will.

The sun is hiding in the clouds, as if it wants to rain.