He chatted and laughed as he accompanied his eldest aunt's family to the Old House. He had barely sat down before Mother Ye sent him back to fetch his two sisters-in-law to help cook, and to ask his eldest and second brothers over to keep his aunt's husband company.
That was how the New Year went: relatives coming and going, eating and drinking, playing cards, chatting...
The New Year wasn't over until the fifteenth had passed.
But barely had the third day passed when the weather turned against them. A fine drizzle began falling, and the skies stayed overcast and rainy until almost the end of the first lunar month.
The children never even got to visit their maternal grandparents, something they had been eagerly looking forward to, nor did they get to see the Lantern Festival lanterns they had been thinking about for so long. Both boys felt terribly frustrated.
Actually, the bad weather was one reason. Another important reason was that Lin Xiuqing's pregnancy was already showing quite clearly, though they had previously thought they could keep it hidden.
The Lantern Festival fell on February 27 on the solar calendar. By then, she was seven months along. Her loose padded jacket concealed her belly, but her walk still gave away her pregnancy.
People had sharp eyes these days. They didn't necessarily need to see her belly to tell. If someone reported them, all those months of keeping it secret would have been for nothing.
He had also sent word through someone. Father Lin and Lin Mother already knew the situation and had simply told them to come hide at their place whenever they needed to.
Ye Yaodong looked at the two boys, who stood sulking with their arms folded across their chests, giving him sidelong looks. He reached