The rain continued to fall.

The wind was strong but the rain was light, and it looked like it wouldn't stop any time soon. Fortunately, Huo Duan and his team had finished turning the fields and returned to the Ye family before the rain stopped. Huo Xiuling and Liu Jingyu were just about to prepare the meal and put it on the table.

"I said I was going to bring you rain gear, just come back." Huo Xiuling pulled a clean towel from the washbasin rack and told them to wipe their faces.

Ye Shan gave it to Gu Fengyan first, and he and Ye Bixian used the other one. "Wipe it quickly and sprinkle it carefully. We men are not afraid of this."

Gu Fengyan held up Huo Duan's clothes all the way, and only the tip of his hair was a little wet. He took the towel and wiped it clean, then wiped the water off Huo Duan's face.

“Have you planted the land by the ditch?” Huo Xiuling brought up the last bowl of soup and brought all the dried goods that were drying under the eaves into the house, fearing that they would get wet in the rain.

Huo Duan patted his sleeves and said, "The plots along the river ditch have all been planted, and only the plots on the back hill are left... If it rains, I'm afraid it will take a few days to plant."

"There's nothing we can do if God doesn't give us face. Let's eat first..." Huo Xiuling said with a smile.

"It's a rare opportunity for you to stay in the village for a few days. Although the county is good, there are few people to talk to. I think Yan Ge'er is almost bored to death every day, so I asked Jingyu to talk to him these few days."

Gu Fengyan agreed with a smile, and the family sat down to eat.

The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier, with no sign of stopping. After dinner, several people helped to clean up. The weather was a bit cold, so Huo Xiuling took a brazier and lit some charcoal fire... The villagers didn't have any extra entertainment activities on rainy days, they just went from door to door and talked.

Just after the fire was lit, a few people with umbrellas came to the yard, bringing some snacks. Huo Xiuling invited them into the house to sit down, and a group of people sat around the brazier, eating melon seeds, drinking tea, and chatting.

The topic gradually turned to Gu Fengyan, but he didn't respond as he didn't know these people very well.

They also felt that they had not gone, so they changed the subject.

"This girl is pregnant, so we must be very careful. Just like Rui from the Shen family, she accidentally slipped a few days ago, and Shen Er happened to be out again. If the neighbors hadn't remembered to go and check on her, I'm afraid the baby in her belly would have died..." An aunt sighed, "Poor Rui was so scared that he couldn't even get out of bed these days."

When Gu Fengyan heard this, he asked hurriedly, "How did you fall?"

Seeing that he was interested, the aunt said, "Well... you know that since the Shen family split up, the second branch has relied on Shen Er to make money to support them. He happened to be delivering goods to the county that day. Rui Ge'er said he was bored and took the clothes to wash... but he stepped on the stagnant water and his feet were unstable, so he fell to the edge of the yard."

"Luckily he grabbed a tree and hung himself, otherwise the child would have been dead long ago."

Gu Fengyan was terrified when he heard this. No wonder Jiang Xuerui didn't come to talk to him when they returned to the village. It turned out that such a big thing had happened.

Several aunts sighed, "It's not easy for Mr. and Mrs. Shen, they have to deal with a person like Yu. Rui Ge'er was pregnant, but she didn't visit her for a single day..."

"Looking after her! Forget about it... His elder brother heard that Rui Ge'er was pregnant and wanted to take some eggs to see her. Yu Shi pointed at him and scolded him for several days..."

"Is this true?" Even Huo Xiuling was a little surprised. After all, Rui Ge'er was pregnant with Shen's child, so why was she so reluctant to let him eat even a few eggs?

"Yes, I passed by the Shen family's door that day, and I heard it all clearly..." The aunt described it vividly and imitated it very well.

This caused everyone present to sigh.

Ye Shan and the other men couldn't say a word and just drank tea and ate snacks.

Gu Fengyan found Huo Duan funny, but was worried about Jiang Xuerui. Seeing that he couldn't get a word in what Huo Xiuling and the others were saying, he told Ye Bixian to go see Jiang Xuerui.

Huo Xiuling heard this while they were talking, so she pulled Gu Fengyan over, took out a bag of sugar and a dozen eggs from the house, and gave them some food. "Take these with you when you go to see Rui Ge'er, and tell him that your aunt will visit him another day. The second son of the Shen family and his husband are both good children, tell him to take good care of them."

Gu Fengyan agreed repeatedly. Huo Xiuling got them two umbrellas and packed a large bag of fresh vegetables picked from the fields in the morning for them to take with them. She also told Huo Duan to take good care of Gu Fengyan before letting them go.

It was still raining outside, and the raindrops were dense and fine. The way to the old house of the Huo family on Yejia Road was downhill, and after crossing a ditch, the road was slippery and the ditch was flooded. Huo Duan was worried about asking Gu Fengyan to walk alone, so he asked him to hold up the umbrella and squatted down, "Come up."

The month is still young, so be careful not to crush Jian Jian. Gu Fengyan thought about it, leaned forward and laughed, "Mr. Huo, please walk steadily. If you fall, your wife and children will be gone, one body and two lives..."

"Stop talking nonsense." Huo Duan patted him on the thigh.

Gu Fengyan exclaimed, "You are being a hooligan."

The two of them walked along the path outside the Ye family's courtyard, through the bamboo forest and into the ditch. Raindrops hit the beads on the branches and landed on the edge of the umbrella, like a string of colored glaze beads.

Huo Duan held him tightly and chuckled, "Hold the umbrella, don't get wet."

The sound of rain brought inexplicable tranquility. Gu Fengyan hooked his neck, held the umbrella with one hand, buried his face in his arms, and uttered a muffled "hmm".

The last time Huo Duan carried him on his back was a long time ago.

The two of them went home to get their things, put a cloak on Gu Fengyan, and then went to Shen's house again. At this time, the rain was a little lighter.

The gate of the Shen family's courtyard was open. Shen Zhuo was fanning the stove under the eaves. On the stove sat a black pottery medicine jar... The whole yard was filled with the smell of medicine.

Huo Duan and Gu Fengyan carried their things in and called out, "Second Brother Shen."

Shen Zhuo fanned the charcoal smoke, coughed twice, turned around and saw that it was the two of them, and smiled quickly, "Little Huo and Brother Yan, come and sit down and hide from the rain."

The two of them went to give the things to Shen Zhuo. They didn't see Jiang Xuerui. Gu Fengyan asked with concern, "We came here today to see Rui Ge'er. How come we didn't see him... He is getting better."

Shen Zhuo guessed that they had heard about Jiang Xuerui's situation. He sighed and turned pale. "It's all my fault. Japan should have been at home..."

He forced himself to smile and said, "Let's not talk about this. He's in the house. It's cold outside. I'm afraid he'll catch a cold... He's feeling much better now. I heard you guys come back these days and kept saying you'd come to see me, but I never had the chance. I was also taking medicine, so I was delayed."

"I'll go see him." Gu Fengyan took a bag of candied fruits given by Huo Xiuling and walked into the house... He likes to eat this, and Jiang Xuerui probably likes it too.

Shen Zhuo nodded, "Just go into the bedroom on the left."

It was inconvenient for Huo Duan to enter his brother's bedroom, so he helped Shen Zhuo outside and waited for Gu Fengyan.

It was raining and the room was a little dark. There was a gauze curtain in the bedroom and an oil lamp was lit. Jiang Xuerui was leaning against the head of the bed with an embroidery frame in her hand, embroidering something in the dim light.

"You'll hurt your eyes if you look too closely, it's so dark." Gu Fengyan lifted the gauze curtain and placed the preserved fruit in his hand on the small table.

Jiang Xuerui's eyes widened in fear at seeing someone suddenly come in. After seeing who it was, she put down her embroidery and smiled, "I just told Shen Zhuo that I was going to see you, but you came to see me first."

"I heard you weren't feeling well, so I came to see if you're okay." On the embroidery frame were a pair of little raccoons basking in the sun, rolling together with their furry hands. It was probably embroidered for children. Gu Fengyan liked them very much, but didn't say anything.

Jiang Xuerui lowered her eyes and touched her bulging belly, smiling, "If the aunt next door hadn't come to see me that day and found me... I'm afraid he would be gone."

Seeing that he was in a bad mood, Gu Fengyan quickly changed the subject, "It's all in the past, just take good care of yourself, let's not talk about this..."

She took the embroidery frame and looked at it. "It's very well done. Is it for the child?"

"Yes." Jiang Xuerui nodded, "If you like, I will teach you."

Gu Fengyan waved his hands hastily, "Forget it, I'm just not cut out for this..."

Before, Huo's father had asked him to learn from Jiang Xuerui, but the things he embroidered were completely awful.

Jiang Xuerui smiled and stopped talking.

His belly was already very bulging, and Gu Fengyan took a look... Jiang Xuerui's child was already six or seven months old.

Jiang Xuerui felt a little embarrassed when she saw him looking at her, so she pulled the quilt to cover her, "I heard from Shen Zhuo that you are pregnant too, but how many months have you been pregnant? Are you eating well?"

"Almost two months," Gu Fengyan coughed, "I just have no appetite recently, and I sleep more than before."

"I was like that at that time..." Jiang Xuerui said with a smile.

The two chatted for a while, and Shen Zhuo came in to give Jiang Xuerui medicine. Gu Fengyan left because he was not in a convenient position.

Huo Duan was bored waiting for him, so he sat alone under the eaves watching the rain. When he saw him come out, he said sourly, "Ayan, you still remember to come out? Why didn't you chat with Rui Ge'er for a while? I see you like him very much..."

"What nonsense." Gu Fengyan scolded with a smile, walked over to coax Huo Duan to sit down, "Have you told Brother Shen the second brother?"

The reason they came back this time, in addition to seeing Jiang Xuerui, was to tell Shen Zhuo that Ye Shan was too busy to handle the village business by himself, so they asked him to help take care of it and pay him wages.

Huo Duan touched the back of his neck from behind, "Yeah."

"Stop it." Gu Fengyan grabbed his hand, "Does he agree?"

Huo Duan nodded, "Well, Rui Ge'er is getting older and needs someone to take care of him, and the eldest wife can't help... If he stays, the family will have no income, and the expenses will be high when the baby is born, so he agreed."

"That's good." Gu Fengyan turned his head and saw that it was getting late, so he said, "I'm a little tired. Let's go back."

Huo Duan leaned over and kissed him on the side of his face, "Okay."

Unexpectedly, the rain lasted for five or six days. Since the land could not be submerged, Huo Duan and Gu Fengyan had to stay in the village. They asked someone to take a letter to Huo's father, and they stayed in the village.

Huo Duan often took Gu Fengyan to visit people's homes and fields to ask for fresh vegetables, and he became familiar with the whole village.

When the rain stopped, he took Gu Fengyan to fish in the river and to the mountains to pick wild fruits and mushrooms. After a few days, Gu Fengyan had been playing wildly, but he was in a much better mood, ate more, and finally gained back the weight he had lost.

Finally, on the seventh day after returning to the village, the rain stopped. When they woke up in the morning, there was a faint glow in the sky. Seeing this, Huo Duan hurriedly followed Ye Shan and Ye Bixian to plant several plots of land on the back mountain.

After resting in the village for another day, the two returned to the county.

…

Time passed quickly. A month had passed since Gu Fengyan came back from Heqing Village. Her belly was getting bigger and bigger. At the same time, her morning sickness was getting more and more severe, to the point where she vomited almost everything she ate.

He looked pale and sickly all day long. Huo Duan was so anxious that blisters appeared on his lips. The threshold of Xinglin Courtyard was almost broken by him... But even so, Gu Fengyan still vomited everything he ate.

Huo Duan had no choice but to stop caring about the business outside and concentrate on studying cooking at home. He prepared a large table of light and non-greasy dishes in different ways every day and coaxed Gu Fengyan to eat them bit by bit.

She kept coaxing him like this day after day. By the end of November, when the first snow fell and the child was five months old, Gu Fengyan's morning sickness finally subsided, his face regained color, and he ate more.

Huo Duan gradually felt relieved, but Gu Fengyan had another worry - Huo Duan refused to touch him.