Not long after, two women came with a needle and thread. One of them was Wang Lianqi's wife, Zhao Er'ni. Her third son had just turned one month old, thus he's had enough milk. Her son couldn't finish his milk anymore, thus Zhao Er'ni had promised to feed it to Xiao Tian.
The other woman was slightly younger. She was the wife of Wang Lianfa, Zheng Xiaotian.
When the two of them walked in and saw Ling Chengyan, they smiled.
Zheng Xiaotian looked at Xiao Tian. She immediately smiled and said, "My child is always hungry for milk, so I fed him some milk this morning. It's been almost two hours, so I have just enough for one round of feeding."
Zhao Er'ni smiled. "That's fine. I can feed Xiao Tian again before we leave."
Ling Chengyan knew that the two of them were here to feed Xiao Tian, so she was naturally polite. She stood up and poured water for them.
"Have a seat, both of you. Xiao Tian is asleep. We'll discuss this once he wakes up." The two women naturally had no objections as their attentions were redirected when they saw the fabric on the bed. They were pleasantly surprised when they found out that the fabric was made by Ling Chengyan and Xiao Xing.
The plain cotton pattern and material on clothing was just something ordinary in Ling Chengyan's eyes. After all, the worst fabric she had worn in her previous life was the best silk in her current life.
However, the fine-printed cotton fabric was something very rare for the two wives, who were rural women that didn't have much fabric to begin with.
"This fabric is really soft and thick, it must feel very nice to wear if it was made into clothes."
"Exactly, it's soft and smooth to the touch..."
Ling Chengyan looked at the rather coarse textile the two were obsessing over and realized the rarity of fabric in this era.
Zhao Er'ni and Zheng Xiaotian were both quick-witted people. Not only were they experts in fieldwork, their hands were also nimble in sewing clothes at home. With the two of them joining in, the fabric was quickly cut, and the two old clothes Ling Chengyan had brought in were turned into the inside part of the double-layered jacket.
The four of them worked together diligently. Before noon arrived, they managed to make two jackets.
In the meantime, Ling Chengyan had received some milk from Zheng Xiaotian. Zhao Er'ni also wanted to feed Xiao Tian before they left, but Ling Chengyan stopped her. "Your children are still waiting at home. Zhao Er'ni, you should go back quickly. Besides, Xiao Tian was just fed, so he's not that hungry."
Before Zhao Er'ni could come back to her senses, Ling Chengyan had already pulled her out of the door. Zheng Xiaotian took the needle and thread and quickly followed Zhao Er'ni, talking with her all the way back.
Ling Chengyan returned to her room and met Qu Cui's approving gaze. "Zheng Xiaotian seems sharp, but she has quite narrow thoughts..."
Ling Chengyan smiled and shook her head while saying, "Nevermind. It's normal for a mother to prioritize her child first."
Changing the topic, Ling Chengyan didn't spare a moment to ask, "Eldest Aunt, I think the river has been opened to the public. I've been wondering if we have any fishing nets, because I want to try..."
Her sister-in-law, Zhao Erni, was shocked. "You know how to cast a net? I've never seen you do that before."
"My husband used to cast nets..." Ling Chengyan smiled.
No more words needed to be said. In the past, she had a husband to rely on, but now that he's gone, she'd have to do everything to fend for her two children.
Qu Cui was open-minded. She smiled and said, "Ask to borrow one from your cousin brother, Lianfa. He loved to play with these things during his childhood. It won't be difficult to borrow one from him."
At noon, Ling Chengyan did not stay for lunch and brought her children home.
Wang Lianxiang cried at home the whole morning. When Ling Chengyan came back, she was so frightened that she didn't dare to cry anymore.
"Lianxiang..." Ling Chengyan simply called out.
Without waiting for instructions, Wang Lianxiang hurriedly wiped away the tears on her face and took out four eggs. She stammered, "I don't think we have many eggs left..."
"Hmm, I've been thinking of killing a chicken this time to nourish my body, I feel like I'm too weak..." Ling Chengyan said lightly. That one sentence was enough to frighten Wang Lianxiang.
"Ah, I'll go steam the eggs and make egg soup." Wang Lianxiang quickly interrupted Ling Chengyan and added. "There aren't many eggs left, only around twenty to thirty of them. It'll only be enough to last for a few days."
After that, she walked around Ling Chengyan and sped to the kitchen.
After a moment of silence, Ling Chengyan brought the two children into the house.
After Xiao Tian had eaten a few good meals, the usual paleness on his face seemed to have lessened. Although he didn't seem to have gained weight, his little face was no longer wrinkled. He was sleeping soundly without a care.
Unsurprisingly, the diapers were being used up very quickly. Xiao Tian's diapers had been changed three to four times already.
Ling Chengyan glanced around the house. Unfortunately, there was no extra cloth to make diapers at the moment.
Thus, after instructing Xiao Xing to look after her brother, Ling Chengyan went straight to the main house.
"There are not enough diapers for the child, so I came here to look for cloth..." Ling Chengyan greeted the old couple lying on the bed and then went straight to the cabinet in the corner.
"What are you doing? Is this daylight robbery?" Zhou Xiuying suddenly came back to life. She jumped up and wanted to shake Ling Chengyan.
Wang Guitang roared, "Does nobody respect family rules anymore? Lianming!"
Unfortunately, no one came in even after he shouted a few times.
Ling Chengyan nimbly dodged Zhou Xiuying's advances, causing her to miss. Then, she waved the two pieces of paper in front of Zhou Xiuying. "When I entered the city yesterday, I happened to run into the police station's Superintendent Zhang. I asked him about it, and he said that the crime of human trafficking is at least ten years!"
Zhou Xiuying plopped to the ground and burst into tears. Wang Guitang was also baffled and didn't dare to shout anymore.
Ling Chengyan ignored the two and went straight to open the cabinet.
Zhou Xiuying's crying stopped abruptly and she rushed in front of Ling Chengyan. "You probably don't know where I put the cloth, let me get it for you myself!"
Ha! With that panicked look, was she afraid that people would find out she hid something in the cabinet?
Ling Chengyan didn't force the old woman. She took a step back and waited for Zhou Xiuying to take the things out.
"Here, take this old coat that belongs to your father-in-law!" Zhou Xiuying threw out a white cotton coat with several patches on it.
Ling Chengyan crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.
This kind of worn-out coat, it wasn't even suitable to be Xiao Tian's diaper!
Zhou Xiuying looked at Ling Chengyan, gritting her teeth as she took out an old sheet. "This bed sheet will be soft again after washing, it's perfect for a diaper... We're not a well-off family. We don't even have new clothes to wear, let alone new material for diapers. Besides, the new fabric is not as soft and moisture-absorbing like the old ones..."
Ling Chengyan looked at the rough, striped bed sheet. Although it was very old, it was still clean. She reached out to take it and turned around to leave.
Coincidentally, Wang Lianxiang had just finished preparing the dishes Ling Chengyan had ordered and brought them to the East Wing. Ling Chengyan gave her the fabric sheets and told her to wash it along with the dirty diapers from this morning.
This time, before she could even return to her mother, Wang Lianxiang had to carry a basin of dirty laundry and sheets. She squatted down at the gate of the East Wing as she cried.
Xiao Xing heard the crying and looked out the door. Ling Chengyan placed a bowl of egg soup in front of Xiao Xing, taking her attention away from the woeful Lianxiang. "Eat up. It's going to get cold."
Despite crying, Wang Lianxiang still washed the dirty diapers and the bed sheets. Then, she hung them on the clothesline in the courtyard.
After dinner, Ling Chengyan brought the two children outside.