In the evening, Xu Hongshan was soaking his feet when he saw his wife sighing and groaning, which gave him a headache.

"Why are you sighing like that? You're ruining a perfectly good day with all this sighing."

Granny Liu put down the trousers she was holding, frowning. "I think the third son's wife is probably carrying another girl. This is her second child, how come it's still a girl!"

Thinking about how I gave birth to five sons in a row before finally having a daughter, why is it so difficult for the third son's family to have a son?

Xu Hongshan took his feet out of the foot basin, poured the water into the pool in front of the door, and then slowly went back into the house under the moonlight.

"Hey, I'm talking to you! Why aren't you saying anything?" Granny Liu nudged Xu Hongshan. She hadn't received a response after speaking to him, so it seemed only she cared!

Xu Hongshan lay down on the bed. "What can I do? Let's see what happens after the baby is born! I've already chosen a family for her. If it's a girl, then she's not meant to be with us."

"Are you really going to send him away?" Granny Liu looked up at her husband. It's not like they can't afford to raise him themselves, so why give him away?

"If we don't send the third child away, are we even going to have another one? Things are so strict now, how are you going to raise this child?"

Do you really think he's inherently hard-hearted? It's all for the sake of his third son and his wife. In the village, not having a son would make people gossip about them.

Granny Liu paused, then said softly, "Let's talk about it after the baby is born! Maybe it'll be a son!"

Over there, Zhang Xuemei is cuddling her daughter and coaxing her to sleep!

"Panpan, go to sleep! Mommy will stay with you."

"Mommy, you won't disappear after I fall asleep, will you?" Xu Panpan is already two and a half years old. She speaks quite early and very fluently.

Zhang Xuemei's eyes welled up with tears. She sniffed and assured her, "No, Mom won't leave. You'll see Mom again tomorrow."

But Mom wants to let you know in advance that we might be going out with Dad in a few days, and we'll bring back another baby then.

"Is it a little brother?" Xu Panpan looked at her mother curiously. Her grandmother always asked her if her mother was carrying a little brother. Although she didn't know, her grandmother would be very happy when she said it was a little brother, so she hoped her mother would be happy too.

Zhang Xuemei shook her head. "I don't know! It could be her younger sister. Does Panpan like her younger sister?"

Xu Panpan clapped her hands happily, "I love it! I love my little sister the most. I can give my favorite toy to my little sister to play with."

"Wow, then Panpan must be a good older sister. Go to sleep now, your little sister likes you very much too!"

Zhang Xuemei looked at her eldest daughter's small face and her heart softened. Her daughter was so cute when she was little.

She turned to her side and touched her belly, wondering when her husband would be back!

In my past life, around this time, I seemed to be hiding at a relative's house again, and I would run away whenever there was any disturbance. I really can't bear to think about those heartbreaking days.

And so, a few days passed peacefully, and Zhang Xuemei stayed indoors for several days as well.

That night, Zhang Xuemei had just lain down in bed to go to sleep when she heard a noise at the door. A little scared, she quickly got up and hid in the corner of the bed.

Xu Minghan gently knocked on the door and called out, "Xuemei, are you asleep? It's me, Minghan."

Upon hearing her husband's voice, Zhang Xuemei quickly climbed out of bed, carefully walked to the door with a flashlight, and unlatched it.

"Why are you back so late? Have you eaten yet? Do you want me to go to Mom's and cook you a bowl of noodles?"

Xu Minghan put down the small bag he was carrying, turned around and helped Zhang Xuemei up, "Why didn't you turn on the light? What if you fell?"

Zhang Xuemei rolled her eyes at him. "Can you turn on the light? Are you trying to make sure people know you're home?"

For safety reasons, she hasn't dared to turn on the lights after dark for the past few days, and she relies on a flashlight to get up at night.

For this reason, even Panpan was put to sleep by her grandma to avoid bedwetting at night, since she couldn't lift her up to pee herself.

"Come on, go back to bed and lie down first. I'll go wash my face and feet and be right back."

Xu Minghan quickly washed his face in the courtyard by the moonlight and rinsed his feet as well.

"Come in and lie down!" Zhang Xuemei made way for her husband to come up.

Xu Minghan took a towel from the cabinet, wiped his face, then stepped on the foot pedal before finally lying down on the bed.

"Shh~, it's still more comfortable at home."

"Where have you been sleeping these past few days? You haven't been staying at the train station, have you?"

"How could I! I had money on me, how could I dare to sleep at the train station? I found a hotel near the police station and stayed there for a few nights, but it was too noisy."

"You've worked hard," Zhang Xuemei said, pinching her husband's arm. "And then, did you get everything done?"

"I bought it, but I was too late. I bought a unit on the first floor, which was cheaper at 33,000, more than 5,000 cheaper than the second and third floors! But I can't expand it later."

Xu Minghan originally wanted to buy a unit on the second floor, which was just the right height, but when he went there, only the corner units on the first floor were left.

Zhang Xuemei frowned, "The first floor is more humid, and the house feels damp when the weather is humid."

However, there's a silver lining: with my belly so big, I don't have to climb the stairs to the first floor anymore.

Xu Minghan nodded, "That's what I thought too, and people are still scrambling to buy it! By the way, they say you can transfer your household registration if you buy a house! Do you think we should transfer it?"

"Let's not do it yet. If you move, everyone will know, right? What if people ask you why you're moving? Did you buy a house? How are you going to answer that?"

Although the household registration transfer is done in the township, everyone is related by blood or marriage, and who knows when everyone will find out.

Xu Minghan thought about it and realized it made sense. He still had tens of thousands of yuan in debt! What if people found out he had bought a house? Would they immediately demand that he pay them back?

Zhang Xuemei nudged her husband, "When are you going to take me to Tianshui City? I always feel uneasy at home."

Xu Minghan reached out and put his arm around Zhang Xuemei's head, hugging her tightly. "In the next few days, I'm thinking about whether to return some of the money to Granny Liu."

Xu Minghan borrowed 30,000 from Granny Liu, and the annual interest is 3,600, which is too high. He should pay back part of it while he still has the money.

Zhang Xuemei thought for a moment and asked, "How much money do you have left? What kind of business are you planning to do next? We need to think about our capital first."

"Besides selling the house, there are other expenses totaling around 16,000 yuan." Xu Minghan has already tried his best to save money, not spending a single penny on anything unnecessary.

"Yes, I'll pay back 10,000 first." Zhang Xuemei made the decision immediately. The money had only been borrowed for about a month, and the monthly interest on 10,000 would be 100. Paying it back sooner would save some money.

"Okay, I'll return it tomorrow. Also, I've observed that there are several small factories not far from our house, and there are quite a lot of people there. I'm thinking of going there to sell breakfast."