He leaned on.

"I estimate that the weather next year will not be good. When the baby is born, we only have two ewes at home and I don't know if they will be enough!" Yang Dachuan now knows that the little boy does not produce milk.

Speaking of this, Yu Ge'er is also worried. When the years were good, he was not blessed and his child didn't catch up! Now that the times are good, he has to worry about what to eat. "We have glutinous rice and japonica rice at home. Grandma can cook rice porridge and lotus root powder. If things don't work out, there are still the milk powder you bought. There are several cans. It can almost last until the child is one year old!"

After Yang Dachuan settled Yuge'er, he pulled over a small stool, sat next to Yuge'er, and massaged his legs. Yuge'er's legs were all swollen.

"If I hadn't had so little feed at home, I would have bought a few more sheep to help them produce milk!" Yang Dachuan said as he pressed his finger. "It's so hot outside now, there's not even a blade of grass. I can't keep them alive even if I buy some."

Yu Ge'er laughed and said, "No family in this village has as much feed stored as we do. If we raise more, we will be hated. You'd better save some." When harvesting sweet potatoes and corn, the head of the family cut all the sweet potato vines and corn stalks and prepared them as feed early. There were some people in the village who followed suit, but they did not prepare as much as he did.

Yang Dachuan glanced outside the house, but the thorns still made him unable to open his eyes. "If the weather doesn't get better, we won't dare to plant rice in the fields next year. I'm thinking of planting sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes instead!"

"It's hard to say. This kind of land depends on the weather. Anyway, it's always a good idea to prepare more." Yu Ge'er looked outside. Although he was an old hand at taking care of crops, it was the first time he encountered such strange weather. It was even hotter than the summer before the New Year.

"It's OK to grow grains for one or two seasons," Yang Dachuan hesitated, "If we keep doing this for a long time, the world will probably get worse, and it won't be easy to live in!"

"Not really?" Yu Ge'er's mind skipped a beat. "Didn't the old people in the village say that there were droughts and floods in the past?"

Yang Dachuan shook his head, but he didn't deny it. He felt that this matter was not over yet. But he decided not to tell Yu Ge'er about it for now, as it would only increase his worries.

…

In the blink of an eye, it was New Year's Eve. Before dawn, Yang Dachuan prepared the sheep and chickens for today's meal. He set up the altar and took Yu Ge'er to worship the ancestors and the gods of heaven and earth at home. After burning incense, paper and firecrackers, the New Year's program was completed.

The weather is hot and sunny this year, so it's not easy to go out during the day. Let's wait until the sun goes down at night and then send some things to the tribe and the eldest and third brothers.

It's the Spring Festival again. If it weren't for the scattered firecrackers and red paper scraps on the ground, I really wouldn't feel the atmosphere of the Spring Festival. The whole village is quiet, not like the past Spring Festival with people coming and going and firecrackers blasting.

Farmers in the village could not leave their homes for nearly a month. At most, they went out at night to fetch water and chat with their neighbors. They had not prepared any New Year's goods. Yang Dachuan's family had leftover firecrackers from last year's overbuy. The Spring Festival couplets at home were all cut out of red paper by Grandma Shen. Yang Dachuan wrote them in modern simplified Chinese characters, which were so ugly that only he could recognize them. Unable to leave the house and buy New Year's goods, they could only make do with what they had.

Although the dishes on the table are not as rich as in previous years, the smiling faces of Yang Dachuan's family remain unchanged, and they are looking forward to the child who will be born and join the family. The sound of firecrackers can be heard faintly in the distance, and it seems to be mixed with the words of the villagers. The New Year always makes people happy and hopeful. No matter what the year is like, life must go on, and people always expect life to be better.

In previous years, people would sit around the fire after dinner, but this year they sat in the main hall to enjoy the cool air. On the night of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, people wore thin clothes and fanned themselves with cattail leaves. Not only had the younger generation never seen such a scene before, but the older generation even frowned and thought it was strange.

It was a hot day, and the family was enjoying the cool air and chatting. It was already midnight, and Yang Dachuan fetched new water from the well and prepared to blow out the lamp and go to bed.

Yuger had already fallen asleep. He was pregnant and had a light sleep. When Yang Dachuan lay down, Yuger became a little awake. After being kicked several times by the babies in her belly, all her sleepiness disappeared immediately. She just got up slightly and leaned against the bed to rest.

"What's wrong? Are the kids bothering you again?" Yang Dachuan asked when he heard Yu Ge'er's heavy breathing. Now he was no longer afraid of Yu Ge'er's belly. He would occasionally greet the children through his belly. He thought it was cute to see Yu Ge'er's belly bump up and down, with small handprints and little feet appearing on it.

"Well... Dachuan, I think I'm about to give birth..." At first, Yu Ge'er thought the baby was just being naughty and moving around inside, but as his belly became tighter and harder and the pain intensified, Yu Ge'er began to understand. He pushed Yang Dachuan beside him and said, "Go call grandma first. I think the baby is about to come out."

Yang Dachuan shuddered, sat up suddenly, and asked in a panic with trembling lips: "I'm about to give birth...what should I do?...How are you now?"

Yu Ge'er endured the pain and sat on the bed holding her belly. She turned her head to look at Yang Dachuan who was stretching out his hands to help him but didn't dare to move, and said to him, "You can still bear it. It will take a while for the baby to come out. Go call grandma first, and find the uncle and aunt of the Yang family before it gets dark. Yao Ge'er and the sisters-in-law should also go over to let them know!"

"Oh, okay!" Yang Dachuan also came to his senses, and when he heard this, he hurriedly climbed out of bed. Suddenly he turned around and said to Yuger: "I'll be back soon, don't worry, don't move, wait for me to come back..." After that, he ran out of the house without wearing any clothes or shoes, and Yuger was stunned and forgot the pain.

Then there was another loud noise outside the house. Yang Dachuan knocked on Grandma Shen's door and called out to her, "Grandma, Yu'er is about to be born!"

"What? She's about to give birth." Grandma Shen responded and ran out in a hurry.

As soon as Grandma Shen entered the room, she checked on Yu Ge'er's condition and found that he was fine, as it was just the beginning. She calmed down and took out the things she had prepared.

Yang Dachuan ran to the house of Yang's uncle and aunt as if he was standing on two hot wheels. He slammed the door loudly in the middle of the night. As soon as the door was opened, he dragged Yang's uncle and aunt over without saying a word, and then ran to his sister-in-law's house and Yao Ge'er's house to pick them up.

As soon as the uncle and aunt of the Yang family arrived, Yang Dachuan was chased out of the house. He was unable to help at all and could only pace around the door anxiously, peeking inside through the crack from time to time. When he heard Yuger's cries in the house, he was so scared that his calves trembled.

When Yang Dachuan thought about the fact that his wife in his previous life also died of childbirth complications, he felt even colder at heart. He prayed to all the gods and ancestors to bless Yu Ge'er and the child.

From midnight on New Year's Eve to the afternoon of New Year's Day, apart from the commands given by Uncle Yang and Aunt Yu'er's cries of pain, the only sounds in the house were Grandma and Yao'er coming in and out, carrying basins and pouring water. The sight of basins of blood made Yang Dachuan tremble with fear.

"Don't worry! There's no point in rushing about having a baby!" Yang Dashan consoled him.