Chapter 217 – The Joy of Eating Melons
In the first month of the lunar calendar, the routine New Year’s greetings went on as usual. However, due to Lu Xia’s advanced pregnancy, she had to stay at home and couldn’t go anywhere.
The female educated youths came over to check on her, and even Aunt Cui, who got along well with her in the village, paid a visit.
Seeing how well Jiang Junmo was taking care of Lu Xia, they couldn’t help but envy her.
However, since Lu Xia couldn’t sit for long due to her condition, everyone didn’t stay for too long. After a brief chat, they left.
It could be said that Lu Xia had a rather uneventful New Year this year.
Even the card games from last year couldn’t be organized this time.
Thankfully, Jiang Junmo was there to keep her company at home.
On the sixth day of the first lunar month, Su Man returned.
She had left with Gu Xiangnan and Cheng Yujiao, but she returned alone unexpectedly.
Her complexion was quite bad upon her return, indicating that something had happened. However, because they didn’t have a deep relationship with her, no one asked about it.
On the second day after Su Man’s return, Gu Xiangnan and Cheng Yujiao also came back.
Gu Xiangnan’s complexion was equally grim. In contrast, Cheng Yujiao seemed to have regained the spirit she had when she first arrived in the countryside…
It was as if she had visited home and returned with renewed energy.
Lu Xia didn’t know what had transpired between them. However, after they all came back, she overheard Gu Xiangnan and Su Man arguing in the next house.
Curious, she thought about listening through the wall, but Jiang Junmo’s stern gaze stopped her. Regrettably, she had to abandon the idea.
Still, she pondered what might have happened to the two main characters in the novel.
If her guesses were correct, Su Man probably went to meet Gu Xiangnan’s family. The outcome was obvious, especially considering the twists and turns in the original story. They would likely have to go through several trials and tribulations before ending up together.
As for Cheng Yujiao’s change, Lu Xia thought about the original text and easily inferred the reason.
She remembered that the book mentioned that Gu Xiangnan’s family had a particular interest in Cheng Yujiao becoming their daughter-in-law. This was not only due to her family’s good background but also because the Cheng family had gained the support of a powerful figure.
With that person’s help, the Cheng family’s position had been rising steadily, surpassing even the Gu family.
So, the Gu family had wanted to benefit from this marriage.
As the story progressed, it was evident that Su Man had managed to connect with an even more influential person. With a little maneuvering, the Cheng family was abandoned, and Su Man successfully ascended.
Of course, all this was yet to come.
Currently, it seemed that the Gu family was still stronger than the Cheng family. Considering this, when comparing Cheng Yujiao, who came from a decent family, and Su Man, who had severed ties with her family, it was easy to guess which one the Gu family would choose.
Thus, what had transpired during their visit home became quite clear.
No wonder Cheng Yujiao’s spirits were lifted again.
Lu Xia sighed. Well, this was a novel after all. The plot had its ups and downs, and the protagonists had to endure various challenges.
Lu Xia didn’t want to get too involved with the characters from the novel, but that didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy some gossip.
In this boring countryside, it was her only source of entertainment.
However, her source of entertainment was short-lived.
Because she was no longer in the mood to pay attention to others’ affairs.
Being close to nine months pregnant, her discomfort was growing day by day. She couldn’t sleep well, and eating wasn’t enjoyable either. She was getting tired of all the discomfort and wanted to deliver the baby as soon as possible.
Seeing her condition, Jiang Junmo was also feeling helpless. He wanted to take her to the hospital for admission, but he had inquired before, and they wouldn’t admit her too early.
He had also considered renting a place near the hospital or staying at an inn as they had discussed earlier, but Lu Xia rejected the idea. She felt it wasn’t necessary to go through all that trouble, especially when she could stay at home conveniently.
She calculated her pregnancy timeline, confirmed the due date, and decided that going a couple of days early would be sufficient.
Seeing her determined, Jiang Junmo had no choice but to agree.
*
Chapter 218 – Heading to the Hospital Early
.
As February approached, the due date drew nearer, and Jiang Junmo became increasingly vigilant. Even when Lu Xia turned in her sleep, he would wake up in a start…
After a few days of this, Lu Xia hadn’t experienced much, but Jiang Junmo had visibly lost weight.
Lu Xia felt that if things continued like this, he would make himself sick worrying about her.
Seeing the due date approaching, Lu Xia also sensed that her belly was dropping. She thought it was about time, so she asked Jiang Junmo to go to the village committee and get a letter of introduction, intending to go to the hospital ahead of schedule.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Junmo quickly rushed out. He not only obtained the introduction letters for both of them but also got one for Sun Shengnan.
He was concerned that the hospital might be chaotic when the time came, and he alone wouldn’t be able to manage, so he sought Sun Shengnan’s help in advance.
Lu Xia also had in mind various scenarios from different eras where babies were mistakenly swapped, so she agreed after some thought.
On the day of departure, when Sun Shengnan arrived, she saw Jiang Junmo carrying a large bag and carefully helping Lu Xia onto the ox cart. She couldn’t help but feel envious.
“Your Educated Youth Jiang really pampers you. Not only are you going to the hospital early, but he’s also prepared so many things, even arranging for the ox cart in advance.”
Lu Xia hadn’t expected Jiang Junmo to actually borrow an ox cart from the village.
She felt a bit embarrassed. “Sorry to trouble you with all this.”
Sun Shengnan laughed heartily. “No problem. I’m not busy recently anyway. Educated Youth Jiang told me days in advance.”
“Really? I didn’t know.” Although Lu Xia wasn’t surprised. After all, Jiang Junmo always meticulously organized everything ahead of time.
Sun Shengnan smiled. “So, he treats you really well.”
Even Old Liu, who was driving the cart, said that Jiang Junmo had borrowed the ox cart from the village days ahead, fearing that it might not be available later.
Originally, Li Hongjun was responsible for driving the cart, but later, Su Man secured a spot for a tractor driver in the village. In the end, the village chose Li Hongjun.
This vacancy for a cart driver opened up, and many were interested.
However, the village prioritized families with poorer conditions.
The Liu family wasn’t well-off, being considered an impoverished household in the village. Since Old Liu was related to the new village chief, Village Chief Liu, he had been suppressed by the former village chief, Village Chief Li, before and hadn’t received any favors. Now that Village Chief Liu was in power, he was selected as the cart driver, and no one had any objections. So, Old Liu became the village’s designated cart driver.
Due to her discomfort, Lu Xia didn’t say much. When the ox cart swayed its way to the town, Jiang Junmo helped her onto the public bus.
There weren’t many passengers on the bus, but the smell inside wasn’t pleasant. Fortunately, Jiang Junmo had prepared masks in advance, which allowed Lu Xia to endure the journey to the county without getting sick.
Once they arrived in the county, they wasted no time and headed straight to the hospital.
Upon hearing that they were there for childbirth, the doctor immediately arranged for their hospitalization. Only later did they find out that they weren’t about to deliver immediately but had come early.
Now, even the hospital didn’t know what to say. Nowadays, people usually came to the hospital when they were about to deliver. It was rare for anyone to come ahead of time. Wasn’t this wasting the hospital’s resources?
In the end, it was Lu Xia who assured them that she would deliver within the next couple of days. Plus, they had come from the countryside, so making this trip wasn’t easy. Reluctantly, the doctor agreed to admit them.
It was a good thing they came early. That same night, Lu Xia began to feel something was amiss. She experienced contractions, which were different from the ones she had a few days ago.
She quickly consulted a doctor and got the answer: she was in labor.
Lu Xia immediately felt a bit nervous. No matter how well she had imagined things at home, she was still a bit worried when the time actually came.
Fortunately, Jiang Junmo and Sun Shengnan were there, accompanying her all the way.
**TN
Eating Melons – watching something entertaining/gossip live, it’s like eating popcorn while watching a movie
Thank you for the chapter (♡˙︶˙♡)