He's been busy in the kitchen since he sent off Wang Pozi, and when Ziqing went in, she found her grandmother holding an old hen and not knowing what to do with it. Seeing Ziqing, she said, "Let's go ask Zeng Ruiyu to come and kill it."

  Ziying didn't care about anything else, took Xiaohai and went out the door, running into Grandpa and Grandma. Ziying thought, Grandpa killing a chicken is the same as anyone else, why bother asking San Shu again. So Ziying asked: "Grandpa, do you know how to kill a chicken?"

  "Killing a chicken is no big deal."

  "Your mother gave birth to a child who doesn't even know how to come and report, not knowing we're all waiting, only knows how to rush around killing chickens." Tian Shi said discontentedly.

  "Grandma, my mother has given birth to a younger sister. She was born at 1 o'clock in the afternoon today." Tian's face suddenly looked unpleasant.

  After entering the small courtyard gate, Mrs. He saw Old Master Zeng and they hurriedly greeted each other, inviting Mr. Tian to enter the house. Zi Qing handed the chicken over to Old Master and went to boil hot water herself.

  Tian's family didn't come out to call Lao Yezi away, saw Zi Qing ironing chicken feathers and said: "Children can't do this clean, I'll collect it."

  Ziying was lazy and didn't think twice, handing the chicken to Tian Shi. Unexpectedly, Tian Shi took it and said: "This big chicken, your mother can't finish eating it alone, I'll take half to give to your wife to eat, just right. Your wife has only been back for three or four months and hasn't raised chickens yet." Tian Shi had already cut the chicken in half with a knife before Ziying could say anything, thinking to himself: "No wonder he was so eager to help, it turns out he had planned it all along." No one expected that because of this half chicken, the originally improving brotherly relationship would again become estranged.

  After He came out, Tian had already taken half a chicken and left. Zi Qing told Shen as a joke, but unexpectedly Shen said: "This is not good, it's going to be bad luck. Your grandfather is usually very particular about these rules. Why didn't you come in and tell me, or even your grandmother? You could have just grabbed another chicken. What kind of logic is there in giving someone half a chicken?"

  "Girl, it's not like I asked her to take it, she took it herself. What can I say? Besides, if there's anything wrong, it's grandma's fault." Zi Qing still didn't believe it was a big deal.

  Shen didn't say anything, letting Zi Shou go first to find San Tang uncle to send a message to Da Jiu and Er Jiu. Only then did Zi Qing know that San Aunt and her mother were from the same village. Then she asked Zi Qing to find a donkey cart master on the street, give him ten cents, and when going to the county town, ask someone to bring a message to Zeng Rui Xiang, just saying that the mother and daughter are safe.

  Back home, Ziqing only knew then. Her father might not be able to take leave and come back because October 8th was the day of her younger sister's wedding, and Father would definitely have to ask for leave again, plus there were still more than ten days before he should return home on vacation.

  Zi Qing saw that her mother's face always had a depressed look, and she suspected that it was because Father was not at home, and Mother also suffered from postpartum depression. So she tried hard to think of ways to comfort her, but the effect was not great.

  Zi Qing went to discuss with He Shi, only then did he realize that it was because his own younger sister and the child of the Zhou family had the same birthday, which was considered inauspicious according to local superstition. It was said that children born on the same day would be incompatible, and it was a matter of who was stronger. Although his own child was born later but came out first, they were still afraid that if the Zhou child fell ill, they would be blamed.

  Ziying was stunned. No wonder after she finished speaking, she saw Ah Po's face turn ugly, and she thought Ah Po was biased towards boys over girls, blaming her for half a day. Ziying asked: "Grandma, having children isn't something you can decide when to have, it's all arranged by heaven, so how can you blame others? If you want to blame someone, blame Damao for giving birth too slowly, or else their child would be one day older. Besides, if my mother hadn't been worried about Damao and gotten a shock, maybe the baby wouldn't have come out until several days later."

  "Foolish child, you don't understand, you're still young and inexperienced, how can you comprehend these things?" He sighed after saying that.

  On the nineteenth of September, both Eldest Auntie Xu and Second Auntie Zhao came to pay their respects with gifts of eggs and cloth. When Shen saw them, she thought for a moment before calling over Zi Qing and instructing her to fetch a piece of fine cotton fabric, five feet in length, as well as a full basket of eggs - at least fifty in number - and a hen, which were then sent to Zhou as gifts.

  Zi Qing couldn't carry that many things, so she called Zi Shou to follow her. When they arrived at the old house, Chun Yu's family had also come to give birth gifts to Zhou Shi. Yan Ren Da stared straight at Zi Qing and Zi Shou's hands.

  Chun Yu looked at it and said, "These eggs, aren't there fifty?" After finishing speaking, she took the fabric from Zi Shou's hand again, opened it to take a look, and said, "This fabric isn't five feet. My second aunt is really generous today, even grabbed the chicken feathers. I gave birth to so many children, but didn't see any chicken feathers."

  Zi Qing smiled and said, "Elder sister, you also know that you have given birth to so many children, it's not easy for the old lady to give birth, of course we should be more generous. My mother has given birth to so many children, I don't know if she has seen the eggshells in your house?"

  "Hmph, this isn't even delivered yet, hasn't it just arrived? There's always a big or small order to things." After saying that, they angrily left. Zi Qing handed the things over to her aunt again, directly giving them to her older sister, without seeing her father.

  Ziying returned home to see her eldest sister-in-law and the whole family sitting in the hall, with the eldest sister-in-law still holding onto two-month-old Wuma. It seemed like they were all waiting for dinner. Ziying was speechless - the situation at home was already like this, yet nine people big and small were still waiting to eat. Helpless, Ziying could only enter the kitchen to help prepare lunch, and found out that her eldest sister-in-law had only brought over twenty eggs and two bolts of coarse cloth.

  Fortunately, there was still plenty of food at home, and with the help of two aunts, dinner was ready soon. He Shi brought up the chicken soup that was originally made for Shen Shi, and Zi Qing sent a bowl to Shen Shi.

  Not even waiting for Zi Qing and the others to sit down, the dishes on the table were almost all eaten up. The Xus and Zhaos didn't take much either. Zi Qing simply took her two younger brothers out of the dining hall. When they came back after seeing off the guests, she went into the kitchen and saw that there was no food left, so she had to knead some flour herself and make a few bowls of wonton soup to eat. Even the two aunts hadn't eaten their fill, but just looked full, saying they'd never seen anyone eat so much before.

  After dinner, everything was cleaned up. The doorbell suddenly rang, and both Zi Qing and He Shi were puzzled as to who it could be. Zi Qing went out to the courtyard gate and asked, only to find that it was her grandfather who had arrived, holding the things she had brought over in the morning. He said: "Tell your mother, no matter how poor I am, I won't shortchange you or your mother's chicken feed and eggs. We're not beggars, so first take half a chicken to send us off. What's with this sudden show of generosity?" After finishing speaking, he threw down the things and left, without even giving Zi Qing a chance to speak.

  Zi Qing had no choice but to pick up the things and go back home, saying to Shen Shi: "Mother, that half chicken is still causing trouble, Father has returned all the things."

  "It's also my fault," said Mrs. He. "I should have chased him out at the time."

  "Grandma, no one can be blamed for this matter, my aunt is also kind-hearted, what's the point of making a fuss about it in our family?"

  At the end of the month, after Zeng Rui Xiang and his family returned, Shen's wife told her husband about what had happened. After she finished speaking, she burst into tears again, probably because she had been suppressing her emotions for too long. Rui Xiang sat at the head of the bed, constantly patting his wife's back, saying: "It's okay, I'm here, don't worry." Zi Fu and Zi Lu stood on one side, tightly pursing their lips.