Chapter 193 – Zhuang Hongmei Has Given Birth
The afternoon passed like this.
After work, when Jiang Junmo returned home, he went to cook. Lu Xia wanted to help, but he sternly refused and ordered her to sit and not move.
Faced with Jiang Junmo’s rare show of dominance, Lu Xia’s resistance was ineffective, and she had no choice but to accept it.
So, when Sun Shengnan came over, she saw Jiang Junmo busy in the kitchen, while Lu Xia was sitting in the courtyard lost in thought.
She couldn’t help but envy the way they interacted as a couple.
But she quickly snapped out of it and greeted Lu Xia, “I heard you’re pregnant, so I came to see you. Congratulations.”
As she spoke, she handed Lu Xia a bundle of green plant stems and leaves.
“This is sorrel; it tastes sour. I heard that pregnant women like to eat sour things, so I brought some for you. Don’t worry, I asked the doctor, and they said it’s good for the eyes and the spleen, and it won’t affect the baby. But don’t eat too much; you can have it as a snack.”
Lu Xia was pleasantly surprised and took the sorrel, saying, “Thank you! I didn’t expect to find such a thing in the countryside. Can I eat it directly?”
Sun Shengnan nodded, taking one herself and peeling off the thin outer skin for Lu Xia.
“You can eat it as it is. The kids in the village love it. Every year, when it grows, they pick a lot. It’s a bit sour when eaten directly. They say it’s best to mix it with white sugar, but sugar is precious, and no one wants to use it on sorrel.”
While Sun Shengnan was talking, Lu Xia took a bite and her whole mouth puckered up from the sour taste. It was indeed sour!
No wonder it was called sorrel.
But she could try mixing it with white sugar.
Sun Shengnan had come primarily to see Lu Xia after hearing about her pregnancy. They chatted about the child for a while, and then she mentioned Zhuang Hongmei’s situation.
“Do you know that Zhuang Hongmei gave birth yesterday?”
Lu Xia shook her head, “I didn’t know. She gave birth last night?”
Sun Shengnan nodded, “I heard that after she went back home last time after the incident, her mother-in-law scolded her for several days, but seeing that she was about to give birth, thinking of her grandson, she held back and gave her a good face.”
“Did she give birth to a grandson?”
Sun Shengnan’s expression turned complicated. “She gave birth to a granddaughter. I heard her mother-in-law’s scolding could be heard from several houses away. I guess her days won’t be easy from now on.”
Saying this, Sun Shengnan felt a bit conflicted. For some reason, even though she didn’t like Zhuang Hongmei, she still felt a bit sorry for her after hearing about this.
Lu Xia understood her thoughts and patted her shoulder. “Don’t think too much about it. You asked her about it before, and marrying someone was her own decision. Whatever good or bad comes from it, she has to bear it herself. She’s not your responsibility.”
Sun Shengnan also knew that she was thinking too much and smiled, saying, “I know, I understand.”
After a few more words, as it was time for dinner, Sun Shengnan left.
After she left, Lu Xia asked Jiang Junmo to cut up the sorrel and mix it with sugar to eat.
As the villagers said, it was indeed delicious when mixed with sugar, sweet and sour. But it would be a waste of sugar, so they probably would only eat it like this once.
But thinking about Zhuang Hongmei’s situation, Lu Xia couldn’t help but ask Jiang Junmo, “Did you know that Zhuang Hongmei gave birth to a girl?”
Jiang Junmo shook his head, “I didn’t know.”
Lu Xia sighed, “I guess the Chen family won’t be pleased.”
Jiang Junmo thought she was worried that he wouldn’t like it if she gave birth to a daughter, so he hurriedly reassured her, “Don’t worry, I like both girls and boys.”
Lu Xia knew he was overthinking and gave him a look, then said, “I just think that the villagers are quite contradictory. They clearly look down on educated youths, but they still want to marry them. What are they aiming for?”
*
Chapter 194 – Villagers’ Calculations
.
Only then did Jiang Junmo understand what she meant. So he thought for a moment and said:
“In fact, it’s not that they look down on the educated youths. They probably want to deliberately suppress them, enjoying the sense of accomplishment when they see these city people being oppressed in the countryside and having to flatter the villagers.
But deep down, they should envy the educated youths. After all, rural people want to enter the city, and we educated youths are all city kids. Marrying an educated youth might give them a chance to go to the city or establish connections with the city, making them feel superior.”
Upon hearing Jiang Junmo’s analysis, Lu Xia suddenly saw things more clearly.
Exactly! Why didn’t she notice this before?
Thinking about it, she agreed with Jiang Junmo’s words. It’s no wonder the villagers always said that educated youths were unstable, couldn’t do farm work, and were not as good as rural people. Still, there were so many families willing to let their children marry educated youths.
They probably hoped to have a chance to go to the city in the future.
Realizing this, Lu Xia felt a bit emotional. Who said that rural people were simple?
Of course, there were simple people among them, and maybe in the eyes of city people, they might not have as many schemes, but surely, they had their own little calculations.
Ah, now that she understood all this, Lu Xia saw things more clearly.
Of course, she had no intention of doing anything. Now she had another identity; she was about to become a mother. She just wanted to peacefully pass the remaining years.
Other people’s matters had nothing to do with her.
…
Jiang Junmo’s letter quickly arrived at the Jiang family’s residence in Beijing.
Uncle Jiang was delighted when he received the news of Lu Xia’s pregnancy in the letter. He hurriedly went to tell Grandpa Jiang, and soon, Jiang Junmo’s sisters and brothers-in-law also received the news.
The whole family prepared a bunch of things and sent them over.
When the postal worker informed Lu Xia and Jiang Junmo that they had a package to pick up, Lu Xia wanted to go, but Jiang Junmo directly refused.
She was only a little over two months pregnant, and the pregnancy was still unstable. Jiang Junmo had been very careful recently, afraid that something might happen to her. So he told her to stay home and went alone.
This made Lu Xia quite upset.
But she thought Jiang Junmo would be concerned about her, so she expected him to come back soon. However, she waited for two hours and was getting annoyed when she finally heard voices in the courtyard.
Going out to check, she saw Jiang Junmo pushing the bicycle.
Seeing that the backseat was empty, she asked, “Where’s the package?”
“It’s in the back.”
Jiang Junmo said as he put down the bicycle and went to help. Then she saw a cart waiting outside, and Li Hongjun and Jiang Junmo were carrying a huge package into the courtyard.
Because the package was too big to fit through the door, they had to place it in the courtyard.
After exchanging greetings, Li Hongjun intended to leave.
Jiang Junmo went out to see him off, and when he came back, he found Lu Xia still in the courtyard lost in thought.
“What’s wrong?”
Lu Xia seemed like she hadn’t come back to her senses. “Is this the package you went to pick up today? It’s so big.”
Jiang Junmo helplessly nodded, obviously not expecting this. “It couldn’t fit on the bike, so I tied it up as best as I could, but it was still inconvenient to push it. Fortunately, I ran into Comrade Li on his way back from errands, and he helped me by using his cart to deliver it.”
“Well, we should be really grateful to him. Otherwise, how would you bring back something this big?”
Saying that, she looked at the package curiously. “What’s inside such a big package?”
“Let’s open it and see,” Jiang Junmo said as he began to unwrap it.
Thank you for the chapter (♡˙︶˙♡)