Half a month passed, and the days went on as usual.
During this time, Julie visited Liu Ying twice and gave her a hundred taels of silver each time. She showed no emotion when she handed over the money, her face calm. But after turning around to leave, she let out a quiet sigh in her heart.
Julie also went to the grain store and bought a large amount of food. Besides fifty jin of broken rice, she bought two hundred jin each of yellow and black flour. She had it all delivered to her home. She planned to come back and buy more before the New Year to last them until after the holiday.
She also bought two new stoves and a big bag of silver charcoal from the blacksmith.
The new stoves were placed in the main hall. As the weather turned colder, it became uncomfortable to eat or sit and chat there—especially for the men, who often shivered with cold feet. They had hand warmers, but nothing to keep their feet warm.
Julie didn't feel as cold. As a woman with strong yang energy and someone who practiced martial arts, she could handle the chill better. Still, she realized she had only focused on warming the rooms and had forgotten about the main hall where they ate meals.
After buying everything and placing it in the carriage, she passed a jade shop. She remembered that during lunch, Lorrie had mumbled something about his birthday being tomorrow. She had also learned that Bailee's birthday was on the fifth day of the first lunar month and Haven's on the fifth of the fifth lunar month. Since their birthdays were still far away, she would think about gifts for them later.
Thinking that birthdays only come once a year, and now that she knew about it, she decided to get Lorrie a gift.
As the carriage stopped outside the jade shop, a shop assistant offered to look after it for free. Julie paused with her hand in her sleeve, thanked him, and walked inside.
As soon as she entered, the shop owner greeted her with a smile and asked, "Are you buying something for yourself or for your husband? Please take your time. We have all kinds of jade items—rings, hairpins, earrings, bracelets, and pendants."
Following his lead, she looked around and stopped at the counter with jade pendants.
One pendant caught her eye. It was clear, smooth, and had a rich green color. It looked warm to the eye and was carved with a sheep, very lifelike.
Julie thought it looked nice and asked, "How much is this pendant?" She remembered that Lorrie's zodiac was the sheep.
The shop owner's eyes lit up. That was one of their best pieces: "Miss, you have a great eye. This pendant is one of our top ones—good luster, high-quality jade, fine carving. It's not cheap, but well worth it. It's priced at thirty-six taels of silver."
Julie pulled out a fifty-tael note and paid. It was expensive, but the pendant was indeed very nice.
The shop owner quickly gave her fourteen taels in change, carefully packed the pendant in a box, and handed it to her. Julie took it, thanked him, and left.
…
On the 22nd day of the 11th lunar month, Lorrie woke up early while it was still dark.
He dressed up carefully, putting on a pearl hairpin he had chosen the last time the four of them went out. He wore a new thick robe made of green satin and cloth shoes made by his second brother. The shoes were stuffed with cotton and very warm.
He wasn't the only one with such shoes—everyone had a pair.
Before noon, Lorrie went to knock on Julie's door.
As soon as she opened the door, she noticed he looked different today—he had clearly dressed up. It made sense though; it was his birthday.
Lorrie blushed and looked at her with hopeful eyes: "Wife, do I look good today?" He stared straight at her, waiting for her answer.
Julie didn't brush him off. "Yes, you do." He looked quite cute.
Lorrie smiled like a silly child. Seeing her give him an odd look, he shyly said, "I'm going to help in the kitchen now," and walked away still smiling.
Getting a compliment from Julie on his birthday was better than eating extra meat.
He still planned to eat well.
He had measured himself a few days ago—he was already 1.72 meters tall.
His eldest brother had said he was still growing. By next year, he would be taller than Julie and no longer the shortest in the house.
Julie: "…"
Lunch that day was a feast.
There were fried meatballs, braised eggplant, scrambled eggs with cucumber, pork with bok choy, and yam pork rib soup.
Julie loved the meatballs Bailee made. They were springy, tasty, and full of flavor—especially fresh out of the pot, still hot and crispy. She couldn't stop herself and ate seven in a row.
The meatballs weren't small—each bigger than a coin. They weren't as big as lion's head meatballs but were all meat and very filling.
After eating them, she couldn't finish her rice, so she only had half a bowl, picked at a few other dishes, and drank a bowl of soup at the end.
She usually liked to mix soup with rice or drink soup after eating.
Before leaving the table, she took the jade pendant out of her sleeve and handed it to Lorrie. "Happy birthday. Gift." Then she looked at Haven and Bailee. "You'll get something on your birthdays too."
She went back to her room.
Lorrie held the pendant she gave him, smiling wide.
This was the first time she gave him a gift—on his birthday.
He had conveniently forgotten the time they all went out and bought clothes, hairpins, and makeup together. That had been a group activity.
This gift was just for him. The sheep carving on it looked beautiful—and it matched his zodiac.
Haven and Bailee saw it too.
They looked a little envious but not jealous.
Both were calm and mature, not ones to fuss with their youngest brother.
Julie had already said they would get gifts when the time came.
The three brothers finished eating and divided the chores.
Bailee washed the dishes, bowls, chopsticks, and the pot.
Haven wiped the table, and Lorrie swept the floor.
In the afternoon, they added two stoves to the main room, so it was nice and warm.
Bailee remembered they still had plenty of flour, pork, and vegetables at home, so he had the two younger brothers help him prepare food. This time, they planned to make more dumplings and also some buns. That way, they could steam a few buns in the morning and eat them with a couple of side dishes—pretty convenient.
Since the weather was cooler now, they didn't have to worry about the food going bad. They could cook only as much as they wanted to eat each time.
Haven rolled the dumpling wrappers, Lorrie chopped the meat, and Bailee cut the vegetables. Once Lorrie had chopped enough meat, Bailee began mixing the filling.
This time, he made two kinds: one with cabbage and pork, and another with mushrooms, eggs, and pork.
Lorrie made his "gold ingot" dumplings, shaping each one nicely—they looked full and cute.
Haven and Bailee worked together to make the buns. Each one was about the size of a fist.
They mixed both types of fillings into the buns so they could enjoy a variety of flavors.
By the time they finished, it was almost evening.
They had made 103 buns and 286 dumplings in total.
Haven cleaned up the table while Bailee and Lorrie took everything to the kitchen. Bailee started cooking the dumplings for dinner.
Now Lorrie had nothing to do, so he sat in the main room, swinging his legs for fun.
Suddenly, he remembered that he forgot to collect the eggs this morning because he had been busy getting dressed up.
He quickly jumped up and ran to the backyard.
The chickens: "..."
Before Lorrie arrived, the chickens were calmly eating vegetables and sometimes pecking each other gently—just playful, nothing serious.
But their eyes were alert, always watching in one direction, ready for a surprise attack from the "troublemaker."
He usually showed up every morning like clockwork, but today he hadn't come.
They weren't sure if he'd finally stopped coming or had just forgotten.
As soon as Lorrie stepped into the backyard, one chicken—who seemed to be the lookout—widened its eyes and clucked loudly to warn the others. Then it quickly ran away to hide.
Lorrie was used to this reaction. Every time he went into the chicken yard, the chickens welcomed him this way. He was actually in a good mood today and thought about playing with them a bit.
But then he looked down at his new clothes and shoes, hesitated for a second, and decided to wait until the day after tomorrow to play.
Why not tomorrow? Because he was worried he'd be too sore to get out of bed.
In the end, he ran off happily, as excited as when he arrived.
A little while later, Haven came to collect the eggs.
The chickens were still scared and stayed on the sides, but they didn't panic as much as they did with Lorrie.
Maybe because the weather was cold, they only laid four eggs today.
Still, four was better than none.
Haven wiped the eggs clean and put them in the kitchen with the others.
After a short while, Bailee finished cooking the dumplings—170 in total.
Julie ate 40, and the rest of them had around 30 each.
When Julie came out and saw the dumplings, she was pleasantly surprised. She really liked dumplings.
They added chili to the dipping sauce.
She ate one dumpling after another.
Even though Lorrie's dumplings weren't that big, there was enough sauce, and even if they were hot, she didn't stop eating.
In weather like this, a hot dumpling meal was really satisfying.