Chapter 442 – The Difficult Late Stages of Pregnancy
Even though Xu Jinning was in Beijing, she couldn’t stop thinking about the supermarket.
She wondered about the opening day—how it went, how many people came, whether her brother could handle everything, and if everyone liked the items inside…
Xu Jinning thought about it a lot.
She knew about the supermarket opening day.
Initially, she planned to call her brother to check in, but considering he might be very busy in the first few days, she decided against it, fearing she might disturb him.
She planned to wait until he was done with the initial rush and then call her to update her on the situation.
However, a few days later, she received a letter from her brother.
When she opened the letter, she found several photos inside.
The color photos captured the grand opening of the supermarket.
Xu Jinning looked through each photo, her eyes filled with joy.
The last photo was of her brother with the supermarket, making a peace sign—an iconic gesture she had taught him earlier.
Xu Jinning smiled again.
It seemed the supermarket opening had gone well, which put her mind at ease.
She hadn’t expected her brother to be so thoughtful, capturing the grandeur of the supermarket with a camera and sending the photos to her.
Perhaps he wanted to make up for her inability to attend and see it for herself.
Xu Fanghua was also concerned about her younger brother’s supermarket, so after Xu Jinning finished looking at the photos, she quickly showed them to her elder sister.
After seeing the photos, Xu Fanghua felt a great sense of satisfaction for her younger brother.
She was very pleased to see her younger siblings developing in their respective fields and doing increasingly well.
At that moment, the phone in the small courtyard rang.
“It must be second brother,” Xu Jinning said, hurrying to answer the call.
“Ningning!” A cheerful male voice came through the phone, and Xu Jinning knew immediately it was her second brother.
“Ningning, did you get the letter? Did you see the photos?”
“Yes, yes…”
“That’s good.”
On the phone, Xu Xiangbei updated Xu Jinning about the current stable operations of the supermarket, which were still very promising.
Now, Xu Xiangbei’s top priority was the supermarket. He had even moved the clothes that were originally sold at the county market stalls into the supermarket.
However, even with the clothes moved to the supermarket, the enthusiasm of the buyers remained high.
As for the stalls in the county, Xu Xiangbei rented them all out to others.
Of course, he prioritized renting his original large stall to one of his former employees.
With the market conditions being so favorable, it was hard to find a stall, and his younger brother’s stall would likely do well as long as the goods weren’t subpar.
Xu Xiangbei’s current situation could be said to be the best among the Xu family.
On the market stall side, he could simply wait for the monthly rental income.
On the supermarket side, he was the owner. Although he had to oversee everything, which kept him busy, it wasn’t as labor-intensive as being an employee, and the supermarket’s monthly profits were quite impressive.
When Xu Xiangbei saw the first month’s net profit from the supermarket, he was amazed.
However, he only shared this net profit information with one person—Xu Jinning, since she was also one of the supermarket’s owners.
He hadn’t mentioned it to anyone else.
After all, Xu Xiangbei understood the principle of keeping financial matters discreet.
The more success one had, the less one should boast about it.
In Anren County and the surrounding areas, some commercially savvy people noticed the benefits of running a supermarket after seeing Xu Xiangbei’s success.
As a result, many others also wanted to open supermarkets.
However, most of them ultimately failed.
Either the local leaders in their counties did not approve, as they were still cautious about the supermarket model, or the supermarkets they tried to open were poorly managed and scaled, full of flaws, and even suffered losses.
In any case, for the next three years, it seemed that Xiangning Supermarket in Anren County and the surrounding areas would have no real competition.
By the time summer ended and Xu Fanghua returned to Beijing, she was already eight months pregnant.
With a ten-month pregnancy, she was approaching her due date in about two months.
Xu Fanghua was now in the late stages of pregnancy, her belly was large, and doing many things had become quite inconvenient.
Xu Jinning moved into her sister’s room to sleep alongside her.
Xu Jinning understood how challenging the late stages of pregnancy could be, such as dealing with nighttime cramps and frequent trips to the bathroom.
She thought that by sharing the same room and bed with her sister, she could assist with any needs that arose.
Initially, both Xu Fanghua and Mother Song disagreed.
Xu Fanghua was concerned that if her younger sister came to help, she might not sleep well at night, but Xu Jinning had daytime classes and sometimes needed to intern at the National Translation Department. Xu Fanghua feared that Xu Jinning might not have enough energy during the day.
If it was Song Yi, then it would be natural for him to take care of and help her, after all, he was the father of the child and she was his wife.
But Xu Jinning didn’t have that obligation.
Mother Song considered that since her son wasn’t with his wife, she, as the mother, should take on the responsibilities that her son was supposed to handle.
Moreover, Ningning was indeed busy during the day, so it was not appropriate to burden her.
However, this time, Xu Jinning was very insistent.
After all, Xu Fanghua was her elder sister, and she was carrying either her niece or nephew. Since she was there, she felt it was her duty to take good care of her sister.
She could manage her daytime commitments, whether it was attending classes or working.
She knew that caring for her sister at night would mean she wouldn’t sleep as well as before, but Xu Jinning was willing to accept that.
It was only for two months, and then her sister would give birth.
Moreover, Xu Fanghua had always been so good to her. When she went to Hong Kong to see Lin Wangshu, her biggest concern had been Xu Fanghua.
With her sister showing so much concern for her, Xu Jinning felt she had no choice but to be there for Xu Fanghua now that she needed help.
Xu Jinning’s persistence eventually won out, and Xu Fanghua and Mother Song couldn’t refuse her.
So Xu Jinning successfully moved into Xu Fanghua’s room and shared the same bed.
In the following two months, Xu Jinning took excellent care of Xu Fanghua at night.
During the late stages of her pregnancy, Xu Fanghua did experience leg cramps from time to time. As soon as Xu Jinning sensed any discomfort, even if she was asleep, she would quickly wake up.
She would immediately get up and massage Xu Fanghua’s legs.
Often, Xu Fanghua was aware of the cramps, but sometimes she wasn’t, especially when she was in a deep sleep and suddenly experienced cramps.
Xu Jinning would notice immediately and start massaging her legs.
The massage provided relief, and the discomfort would gradually subside.
Xu Fanghua would often drift back to sleep before fully waking up.
Such occurrences happened frequently during the two months.
In the late stages of pregnancy, Xu Fanghua also had to get up more frequently at night to use the bathroom.
