“Mother, in my opinion, why not put dirt-pants on Little Sister?” Zhao Chunhua suggested.
The so-called “dirt-pants” were small cotton trousers stitched with a baggy rear, filled with clean, fine sand.
The fine sand would first be stir-fried hot in a wok and then allowed to cool down to a comfortable temperature before being loaded into the small trousers.
A child’s little bottom rested right on the warm, fine sand.
This way, whether they peed or pooped, it was easy to manage.
Poor families didn’t have that much cloth to make diapers with, so these dirt-pants were both convenient and saved on cloth diapers.
Especially during winter, almost all infants a few months old wore dirt-pants.
Stir-frying the sand hot served as a form of high-temperature sterilization as well.
Not only that, but sleeping in dirt-pants during winter also kept the child warm.
Hearing her eldest daughter-in-law’s suggestion, Old Lady Su pondered for a moment and said, “Alright then, tell Dahu to go to the riverbank and carry back some clean sand.”
“Okay, I’ll go right now.”
Zhao Chunhua agreed enthusiastically and bustled out like a gust of wind.
Whenever it involved her little sister-in-law, Zhao Chunhua was especially attentive.
Little Tangbao naturally didn’t know what dirt-pants were, but once she wore them, she understood completely.
In her heart, she couldn’t help but marvel at the wisdom of the working people.
Guess I’m wearing a primitive version of a diaper now.
Days spent eating and sleeping flew by particularly fast.
In the blink of an eye, Little Tangbao was almost one month old.
“Tomorrow… how about we don’t hold a full-month banquet?”
Old Man Su sat on the edge of the kang bed, a face full of worry.
Although selling fish days ago had yielded some rice, flour, grain, and oil, a banquet required meat, didn’t it?
They couldn’t possibly just lay out green vegetables on the table.
That would look far too shabby and miserable.
“If we don’t hold it, then so be it. As long as we cherish our own daughter ourselves, that’s enough,” Old Lady Su said.
Though she felt regret in her heart and felt sorry toward her little daughter, she was well aware of her family’s situation.
Seeing Old Lady Su agree, Old Man Su felt even more uncomfortable and disappointed inside.
Lowering his head, he looked at his little daughter on the kang bed, blinking her big, glass-bead-like eyes as she looked up at him, her father, Old Man Su felt even more guilty inside.
If he didn’t even host a full-month banquet for his daughter, he would be doing her huge disservice!
Old Man Su instinctively reached for his pipe, but coming up empty-handed, he remembered that he had already quit smoking.
“I’m going out for a walk.” Old Man Su climbed down off the kang bed, put on his shoes, and walked out with his hands behind his back.
Looking at Old Man Su’s retreating back, Old Lady Su knew her old man was feeling down and uneasy, but she didn’t think much of it.
Old Man Su strolled along aimlessly, unknowingly arriving at the foot of the mountain.
Rustle, rustle…
A sudden noise came from the bushes not far away.
Old Man Su hurriedly looked over.
A grey rabbit leaped out.
Old Man Su’s eyes lit up.
Bending down, he scooped up a stone from the ground and hurled it toward the rabbit.
Flustered and panicking, the rabbit ran headfirst into a large tree in front of it—and went completely still.
For the first time in his life, Old Man Su witnessed the literal idiom of “waiting by a stump to catch a turtle/rabbit.”
Just as he was about to head over and pick up the rabbit, noise sounded from not far away once more.
Rustle, rustle…
Cluck, gaggle…
Two or three rabbits dashed out at top speed, with several pheasants fluttering frantically behind them.
Describing the current scene as “chickens flying and dogs/rabbits jumping” couldn’t have been more apt.
Old Man Su’s eyes widened round.
This is all meat!
However, looking further behind them, his pupils suddenly shrank.
A wild boar!
He finally understood why the rabbits and pheasants were fleeing for their lives.
So there was a wild boar behind them.
Old Man Su turned on his heels and ran.
A wild boar this burly—colliding with him would likely cost him his life directly.
Old Man Su certainly lacked the confidence to tackle a wild boar bare-handed.
The wild boar spotted Old Man Su as well. Perhaps thinking Old Man Su was big and easy to bully, it charged straight toward him.
Old Man Su knew he couldn’t outrun a wild boar.
Gritting his teeth, he set his sights on a massive tree ahead—thick enough to require two people to wrap their arms around it—and charged straight toward it.
Of course, he wasn’t actually going to smash into the tree himself.
He had simply taken inspiration from seeing the rabbit crash into the tree earlier.
At the critical juncture, Old Man Su dodged sharply to the side.
And then—
BANG! A loud crash echoed out.
The massive tree shook violently.
The wild boar’s plump, heavy body tumbled limply to the ground.
Not daring to hesitate for even a second, Old Man Su hauled up a large rock from the ground and smashed it down onto the boar’s head.
He kept pounding away until the wild boar was completely out of breath, only then dropping the rock.
His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground.
Cold sweat had thoroughly soaked through his clothes.
Old Man Su panted and gasped heavily for air.
Immediately after, a immense wave of delight surged into his heart.
His daughter’s full-month banquet finally had meat!
The news that Old Man Su had hunted a huge wild boar spread through Daliushu Village like a gust of wind.
The Old Su family once again claimed the top spot on Daliushu Village’s gossip and entertainment chart.
The entire Daliushu Village was abuzz with excitement.
Whether driven by admiration, jealousy, envy, or genuine congratulations, everyone flocked to the Old Su household to see the wild boar.
“Old Man Su, impressive! Such a massive wild boar—how on earth did you hunt it down?” Old Man Wang asked with a face full of marvel.
“It’s nothing, really—just good luck,” Old Man Su replied with modest, humble laughter, “The boar ran straight into the tree itself; I just happened to stumble upon a free bargain.”
Old Man Wang: “…”
“Show-off! Keep showing off!”
Having said that, Old Man Wang knocked his pipe bowl in annoyance.
It had to be said that in just one sentence, Old Man Su pulled a ton of resentment toward himself.
If he had said he went through hardship and risked his life to hunt a boar weighing hundreds of pounds, others might feel envious while secretly feeling a bit sour inside.
But by putting it like that, wasn’t Old Man Su explicitly making people feel unbalanced?
Why couldn’t their own families ever stumble upon such a lucky bargain?
Sitting on the kang bed holding Little Tangbao, Old Lady Su heard the conversation out in the yard and couldn’t help shaking her head with a chuckle.
Her old man was playing humble on the outside, but bursting with pride on the inside.
Little Tangbao blinked her big eyes, secretly thinking to herself: So that’s the kind of father he really is.