When the pears are green

Chapter 250 Daily life of raising a baby

Jiang Qingzhou bought some baking soda from the clinic. Song Li didn't dare to act rashly. She picked up the "Notes on Silkworm Breeding" and read it carefully twice before starting to boil the cocoons.

Song Li put the cocoons into three cloth bags, tied the mouths, and then put them into an iron pot filled with clean water.

Jiang Qingzhou sat in front of the stove and started to make a fire, while Song Li used the handle of the ladle to continuously press the cloth bag floating on the water.

After the water boiled, Song Li poured the prepared baking soda powder into the pot according to the proportion, then stirred it several times with the handle of a ladle, and then covered the pot.

Song Li told Jiang Qingzhou through the white smoke coming out of the gap: "Qingzhou, cook for another half an hour, and I'll fry the cocoons for you to eat at noon."

"Okay." Jiang Qingzhou answered while adding firewood to the stove.

Song Li lit the prepared incense sticks and stuck them into the ground to tell time. One stick of incense stick equals about two quarters of an hour, and when two sticks of incense sticks are burned out, the cocoons are ready.

Just as Song Li was about to go to the yard to wash clothes, Jiang Qingye walked into the kitchen holding the twisting Jiang Huan.

Song Li quickly pointed at the blood on Jiang Qingye's nostrils and asked with concern: "Qingye, why is your nose bleeding?"

Jiang Qingye gently touched Jiang Huan's grasping hands with his forehead and replied, "I was kicked by Huan'er. I just sat down and he kicked me on the nose. Huan'er is not very old, so it really hurts."

Song Li then found a few scratches on Jiang Qingye's left face and asked with some guilt, "These were also scratched by Huan'er, right?"

Jiang Qingye lowered his head and quietly defended Jiang Huan: "Sister-in-law, Huan'er is young and naive. He didn't mean it."

Song Li quickly took Jiang Huan over, pretending to be fierce as she looked at Jiang Huan who was clapping his hands and said, "Huan'er, if your uncle hadn't spoken for you, your mother would have spanked you."

Jiang Huan seemed to want to test Song Li, and reached out and pulled out the camellia silk flower in Song Li's hair.

Song Li was afraid that it would prick Jiang Huan, so she quickly took back the silk flower, and then patted her chest to comfort herself: "My biological child, my biological child, all children are like this, he didn't mean it."

"Xiao Li, I'm here to play with Huan'er. Qingye, you go and make a fire. After this incense stick burns out, light another one. Remember?" Jiang Qingzhou put down the fire stick in his hand, walked quickly to Song Li, took it over and said to Jiang Huan.

"Brother, I've got it." Jiang Qingye said as he walked towards the stove, unable to help but smile.

Jiang Qingye would rather work than take care of children. Taking care of children is much more difficult than reciting books or writing poems.

Jiang Qingzhou took the silk flower from Song Li's hand and put it back in Song Li's hair.

Song Li couldn't help but pat Jiang Huan's butt gently. Jiang Huan laughed "Aha" and tried to pull Juanhua again.

Song Li quickly ran out of the kitchen to wash clothes by the well. Jiang Qingzhou hugged Jiang Huan and pretended to chase him. Jiang Huan clapped his hands and opened his mouth to laugh. A small front tooth poked out from his gums.

The innocent laughter of “Ahaha…Ahahaha” makes people intoxicated.

Half an hour later, Jiang Qingye walked out of the kitchen and told Song Li, who was resting on a rattan chair, "Sister-in-law, it's time. Do you want to fish it out?"

Song Li stood up and replied, "Qingye, let's wait for the water temperature to drop a little. Let's pour the warm water from the other pot into the wooden basin."

Jiang Qingye carried the wooden basin beside the well to the kitchen door, and then used a ceramic basin to pour the warm water from the pot into the wooden basin.

Song Li used a wooden branch to pick up the cotton rope tied to the cloth bag and threw it into the wooden basin, then sat on the stool that Jiang Qingye brought and untied the cloth bag.

"Qingye, go get the bamboo bow made by Qingzhou and the two clay basins in the kitchen." After Song Li gave Jiang Qingye instructions, she stood up and walked to the rattan chair and read the contents of the book again.

Full of confidence, Song Li returned to the wooden basin, tore open the cocoon, took out the silkworm pupa and threw it into the ceramic basin at hand, then used his hands to open the cocoon and put it on the bamboo bow.

Jiang Qingye saw Song Li operate it twice and was eager to try it.

Song Li smiled and placed the bamboo bow in front of Jiang Qingye. Under Song Li's guidance, Jiang Qingye put the first cocoon on the bamboo bow.

"Qingye, five cocoons make a small cotton bag. After you put one cotton bag on, take it out and put it in the basin." After Song Li said that, she pushed another slightly larger ceramic basin to Jiang Qingye's side.

Jiang Qingye nodded as he put the silk cocoons on the bamboo bow.

Song Li cleans the cotton bag and hangs it on a hemp rope to dry. After it is dry, she can make a silk quilt.

Jiang Qingzhou carried Jiang Huan out of the room. Jiang Huan stretched out his hands and asked Jiang Qingzhou to carry him to find Song Li.

Song Li wiped the water off her hands and took Jiang Huan. Jiang Huan happily hugged Song Li's neck.

It was sunny for three or four days in a row, and the cotton bag dried quickly.

Taking advantage of the cool breeze in the evening, Jiang Qingzhou and Jiang Qingye moved the eight-immortals table to the yard. They took off the cotton bag on the hemp rope, cut it with scissors, and started pulling the tire.

The originally thick cotton bag was stretched into an almost transparent rectangular shape and placed on the eight-immortals table. Layers of stretched cotton bags were stacked together and soon turned into a soft white silk quilt.

Ten cotton bags were made into a thin silkworm quilt. Song Li handed Jiang Huan to Jiang Qingzhou, who sewed the silkworm quilt and cotton cloth together with needle and thread.

After the two silkworms were made, the stars had already begun to twinkle in the night sky.

Jiang Qingzhou touched the soft silkworm quilt and discussed with Song Li who was teasing Jiang Huan: "Xiao Li, the money we sold yesterday is enough for our annual expenses. We should not sell the cocoons this year. Buy some new quilts and new cotton clothes for the family."

"Of course. I saw in a book that autumn silkworms are easier to raise than spring silkworms. It will be enough if we raise more in the fall." Song Li replied while tickling Jiang Huan who was lying on the silkworm quilt.

Jiang Qingzhou smiled and rubbed Song Li's hair, carried another silkworm quilt into the main room, and then went to the kitchen to help Jiang Qingye cook.

Two days later, the cocoons in the silkworm room began to turn into moths.

Jiang Qingye looked at the silkworm moth emerging from the cocoon and asked Song Li: "Sister-in-law, it's out. Will it fly away?"

"No, the silkworms have degenerated and cannot fly. Their lifespan is only half a day to a day. Put the paper in these five baskets." Song Li took the mulberry paper on the table, picked up the silkworm moth with half of its body still in the cocoon, and put the mulberry paper in the basket.

Half a day later, the female moth laid eggs and then slowly died, leaving behind densely packed pale yellow silkworm eggs on the mulberry paper.

After all the silkworms have finished laying eggs, Song Li carefully cuts off the mulberry paper with eggs with scissors and places it in a basket waiting for the eggs to hatch.

During the Dragon Boat Festival, Song Li cut a lot of mugwort and dried it to use it to repel mosquitoes in the summer.

Summer was slowly approaching. In order to allow Jiang Huan to spend the mosquito-infested summer in peace, Jiang Qingzhou went to the city and bought two green gauze tents, one to hang in the east room and the other in the west room.

In early summer, nine-month-old Jiang Huan fell ill for the first time. Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou took Jiang Huan to the clinic overnight. The old doctor took Jiang Huan's pulse and told Jiang Qingzhou and Song Li not to worry, saying that he just had a fever and would be fine in two days.

Jiang Huan had repeated fevers and hung around Song Li all day long without any energy. Song Li became anxious and angry. Jiang Qingzhou had no choice but to agree to his requests and did not dare to say a word.

Three days later, Jiang Huan regained his former spirit, but Song Li fell ill.

The hot summer slowly passed, and in September, one-year-old Jiang Huan began to take his first steps.

Time passed, Jiang Huan grew up slowly, and five years passed in a flash.