It was not until the next morning that Gao Mingcheng learned that Wang Xiuxiu had given birth to a daughter in the middle of the night.

When he arrived at the clothing store with Xuanmei and Xiao Xuxu, Gao Mingli had already gone to work in the factory, and Zhang Jinling was cooking porridge and brown sugar eggs at home, preparing to send them to the hospital later.

As for Hu Yinchen, she arrived at the clothing store earlier than Gao Mingcheng. After hearing the news, she went to the hospital to take charge of the task of taking care of the mother and child.

Gao Mingcheng knew that Zhang Jinling and Gao Shufang had been busy for most of the night and must be tired now, so he said, "Jinling, go upstairs and take a nap. When you have enough sleep, come down to work. I will go to the hospital to deliver porridge. When Shufang comes back, let her take a nap too."

Zhang Jinling was indeed tired. After hearing what Gao Mingcheng said, she did not agree. Instead, she said, "I just had porridge and I can't fall asleep all of a sudden. I'll help watch the store first. When you come back, I'll go upstairs with Shufang to sleep."

Zhang Jinling was very thoughtful. If she went to sleep now, when Gao Mingcheng went to the hospital to deliver porridge, Xuanyuemei and Xiaoxuxu would be the only ones left in the store.

If a customer comes to the store, Xuanyimei won’t be able to sell goods and watch Xiaoxuxu at the same time.

It would be nice for her to stay here and help look after Xiao Xuxu.

Gao Mingcheng nodded and thought that this was a good idea, so after talking to Xuanyuemei, he took the porridge and brown sugar eggs and drove the tractor towards the hospital.

Gao Mingli drove the tractor back in the morning, and Zhang Jinling came back with him. Gao Mingli did not stay at home to eat porridge, but bought two buns outside and then rode his bicycle to work at the factory.

Since the hospital was not far away, Gao Mingcheng arrived at the hospital ten minutes later. At this time, the food in the lunch box was still warm.

He had already asked which ward Wang Xiuxiu was in, so he could just go there directly.

When he went over, the baby who was just a few hours old had just pooped. Hu Yinchen changed the child's diaper skillfully and temporarily threw the dirty diaper on the ground. When Gao Mingcheng went in, he took a look and saw, dark green poop!

When a baby is born, its first bowel movement is dark green and smelly. This is the excrement formed by the fetus in the uterus, medically known as meconium.

But the question is, babies absorb nutrients through the umbilical cord in the womb, so why is there meconium?

The reason is that babies also swallow and urinate while in the womb!

But amniotic fluid is not a clean thing. There are many impurities floating in it, such as skin dandruff, nail clippings and urine that fall off the baby's body!

So, meconium will be formed naturally.

Gao Mingcheng only took a glance and quickly looked away. Although he had taken care of Xiao Xuxu's hygiene since he had him, there was still a difference between his own child's poop and that of other children's!

"Second brother, you're here!" Gao Shufang was making milk powder skillfully. When she saw Gao Mingcheng coming in, she greeted him happily.

Wang Xiuxiu had just given birth and did not have any breast milk yet. When the baby was hungry, she had to feed him some milk powder first.

Fortunately, the milk powder and bottles were prepared in advance.

Because the child was crying, Wang Xiuxiu was awake at this moment. She was lying on the bed, covered with a quilt, but it was obvious that she was sweating and her hair was wet.

"I'll bring porridge and brown sugar eggs to Xiuxiu." Gao Mingcheng put the lunch box he brought on the table beside the bed, and asked Wang Xiuxiu if she could get up and eat.

"I can." Wang Xiuxiu said, and then she struggled to support her upper body. Gao Shufang next to her reached out and helped her at the right time.

After Wang Xiuxiu sat down, she started eating.

It is popular here to feed brown sugar eggs to postpartum women, believing that this is good for the body.

Generally speaking, if Wang Xiuxiu did not have a sudden attack in the middle of the night, her family would have fed her a meal of brown sugar eggs before giving birth, for fear that she would not have enough strength to give birth.

Gao Mingcheng said to Gao Shufang: "I didn't bring you any food. Let's go to the store and buy some food later."

Gao Shufang said, "No need to buy it, I can eat it at home."

After Hu Yinchen arrived, Gao Shufang could go back first.

After Wang Xiuxiu finished eating, Gao Mingcheng picked up the empty lunch box and prepared to take Gao Shufang back home.

Hu Yinchen said: "Don't worry, I'm here!"

Gao Mingcheng was still very confident in her. Hu Yinchen had taken good care of Xuanyuemei and Xiaoxuxu. He looked back at Wang Xiuxiu and said, "When Mingwan comes back, I will ask him to come to the hospital as soon as possible."

When Wang Xiuxiu heard this, a smile appeared on her weak face.

Giving birth is a big deal for a woman, and she will always feel unhappy when her husband is not around.

But that's life. When you're running for money, you always have to give up something.

Gao Mingcheng took Gao Shufang back to the clothing store. He wanted to take Gao Shufang to the breakfast shop to have a bowl of rice noodles, but Gao Shufang refused and only bought a meat bun to eat with the porridge.

After she finished eating, Gao Mingcheng urged her and Zhang Jinling to go upstairs to sleep.

"You've been tired for half the night, so go to bed!"

After they went upstairs, Gao Mingcheng, Xuanyuemei and Xiao Xuxu were the only ones left in the store.

Originally, the store hired Luo Li, but Luo Li went to give birth to a child. Although Luo Li was missing, there were still Gao Shufang and Zhang Jinling, as well as Hu Yinchen, who could help take care of the children and assist. But who knew that Wang Xiuxiu abducted Hu Yinchen when she gave birth to a child!

Gao Mingcheng thought that Wang Xiuxiu would have a second child, and Xuanyuemei would also have a second child, and he couldn't help but sigh that being a woman really has a hard life.

Pregnancy, childbirth and raising children take several years in a flash. If you give birth to a second or third child, you will not have time to do anything else for five or six years.

Just as I was sighing, I saw Gao Mingwan hurried over.

"Second brother, second sister-in-law." Gao Mingwan's face was filled with smiles, and he was holding two bags of local specialties in his hands. He handed one bag to Gao Mingcheng, and as for the other bag, it must be for Wang Xiuxiu.

He stood in the store and looked around, but there was no sign of Wang Xiuxiu. Just as he was about to ask, Gao Mingcheng told him that Wang Xiuxiu had labor in the middle of the night and had been sent to the hospital to give birth.

Gao Mingcheng said: "Xiu Xiu gave birth to a daughter, both mother and daughter are safe. Aunt Hu is taking care of her in the hospital, you can just go to the hospital now."

When Gao Mingwan heard this, his face changed. He tried his best to rush but still missed the birth in time for Wang Xiuxiu. At this time, he didn't bother to say anything to Gao Mingcheng. He turned around and ran to the hospital without saying a word.

Gao Mingcheng ignored him because soon a customer came to choose clothes.

…

Gao Shufang and Zhang Jinling woke up at around 1:00 p.m., or to be more precise, they woke up because they were hungry.

The two went downstairs, but found that there was no food in the kitchen. Xuanyuemei and Xiaoxuxu were not in the store. Only Gao Mingcheng was watching the store alone.

Seeing that they woke up, Gao Mingcheng said, "Business is good today. We don't have time to cook. You can go to a restaurant outside to eat!"

Originally Xuan Duomei was planning to cook, but Gao Mingcheng didn't want to be so tired. Since he had money in his pocket, he could do whatever was convenient for him. Besides, the food in the restaurant nowadays was made with real ingredients, without all the high-tech and hard work.

Not having to cook is indeed a lot easier and saves time. After dinner, Xuanyuemei went upstairs to accompany Xiaoxuxu for a nap, so Gao Mingcheng was the only one in the store.

There was no food at home, and there was no time to buy vegetables in the morning, so Gao Shufang and Zhang Jinling had to go out to eat at a restaurant. They ordered one meat dish and one vegetable dish, accompanied by a large bowl of white rice, and ate them all up.

In the afternoon, Gao Mingcheng felt a lot more relaxed with the two of them looking after the store. He was a person who liked to travel around and could not stay in one place. Therefore, most of the business he did in his previous life was speculation, and even wandered in the gray area. He did not do business seriously until he returned to the county to develop real estate.

He was forced to watch the store for most of the day today and felt uncomfortable all over. Now that he saw someone had taken over the business of the store, he immediately found an excuse to go out for a walk.

He wasn't just wandering around like an idle scoundrel, but was preparing to go to the Russians.

During the Chinese New Year, he decided to open a billiard room in the county. He opened a shop and didn't like to rent a house, thinking that rented houses were unstable. If he didn't have the money to build a house himself, he would have to rent a house, but he was rich!

So after much thought, he decided to cooperate with Maozi. Maozi would provide the foundation and he would pay for building the house. After the house was built, he and Maozi would each take a floor. He would use the first floor to open a shop, while Maozi would live on the second floor.

Before going to the capital, he went to find Maozi and gave him two thousand yuan as the initial money for building the house. After that, he was only responsible for paying the money and reconciling the accounts, leaving Maozi in charge of supervising the progress of the construction.

I don’t know whether the Russians have started building houses. Gao Mingcheng muttered to himself on the way there.

He walked quickly, as fast as the wind, and he never forgot to observe the situation on the roadside and assess the flow of people and the mental state of the pedestrians.

In the 1990s, from the overall environment, everything was thriving, but from the specific environment, there were many unemployed young people.

In the past few years, cities such as Guangzhou have welcomed a wave of migrant workers, and people have flocked to Guangzhou from all directions, but the vast majority of people have not found suitable jobs in Guangzhou.

These people can either move to other places to work or return to their hometowns.

There are not enough jobs in the county, and in recent years some factories with poor performance have gone bankrupt and stopped production one after another.

In order to seek opportunities for survival, some laid-off workers flocked to other places, while others started to do business.

Suddenly, Gao Mingcheng heard the sound of playing billiards. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a simple billiard table in a spacious yard. A group of young people were playing billiards with great interest. As there was only one billiard table, others could not play together, so most people could only stand by and watch.

Some people watched in silence, while others gave advice to their friends holding sticks.

After getting away from the hustle and bustle, Gao Mingcheng passed by a small video hall, which played movies from Hong Kong. If he wanted to go in and watch them, he needed to buy a ticket.

Gao Mingcheng would never go to such a place, as it is often crowded with people, has a foul smell, and is full of idle young men who are prone to fighting.

But his not going in doesn't mean that no one else will go in. The business of this kind of video hall is actually quite good, because even in the county, the penetration rate of color TVs is not high.

People with nothing to do always need entertainment. Watching movies and playing billiards are good ways to do it.

Gao Mingcheng continued walking while observing, and soon arrived at Maozi's home.

From a distance, you can see that it is quite lively over there. A group of construction workers are busy working. Some are mixing cement, some are transporting cement, and some are concentrating on laying bricks.

Gao Mingcheng was surprised when he saw that the walls of the new house were two meters high. He didn't expect that the Russians were so efficient!

Because the house is being built on the original foundation, the old house has to be demolished first before the foundation can be laid and the walls can be built.

Gao Mingcheng took a look at the house and wanted to look for Maozi. He searched the crowd and soon locked on his target.

Maozi was sifting river sand in the open space next to him.

After you buy river sand, you cannot use it directly because it contains some larger impurities, such as small shells and large pebbles.

Therefore, river sand must be sieved before mixing with cement.

On the open space, there was a pile of river sand that had not yet been sifted, and on the other side there was a sieve as big as a door.

Maozi held a shovel, scooped up river sand and poured it into the sieve. The fine river sand would pass through the small holes on the sieve and fall on the other side of the sieve, while the coarser impurities would slide down the sieve and fall to the ground.

Perhaps it has been a while since I started working here, so the coarse and fine river sand on both sides of the sieve are clearly distinguished.

Maozi's younger brother Yangyang also followed him, but the mentally retarded boy was unable to help with the work and instead squatted there playing with sand.

He was rummaging in the sand with one hand and clenching the other hand. Only when he opened his palm did Gao Mingcheng see a few beautiful pebbles placed in the clenched palm.

In addition to Yangyang, there were several other children playing with sand, but they were real children, and the oldest was only five or six years old.

It was not until Gao Mingcheng stood next to the sand pile that Maozi saw him. The moment he saw him for the first time, his eyes lit up.

"Brother Mingcheng, you're back from the capital!" Maozi put down the shovel in his hand and was about to take Gao Mingcheng to see the new house that was under construction.

After arriving at the construction site, the contractor also got to know Gao Mingcheng, so they greeted each other, and the contractor even enthusiastically handed Gao Mingcheng a cigarette.

It was not until Gao Mingcheng refused that he handed the cigarette to Maozi beside him.

The contractors who had dealt with Gao Mingcheng naturally knew that he did not smoke, but the social behavior of passing cigarettes had been imprinted in his mind.

Gao Mingcheng checked the progress of the new house. To be honest, it was hard to tell now. After all, the wall was only about two meters high, and except for the load-bearing columns and the toilet, the rest of the first floor was empty.

For this house, Gao Mingcheng did not ask professionals to draw the architectural design for him. Instead, he found a familiar contractor and told him his requirements for the house. Then the contractor knew how to build it.

These skilled construction workers may not have high educational qualifications, but they are very good at building houses, especially those that follow the trend.

Most houses nowadays are only two stories high, so as long as the building materials are good, they are relatively safe. (End of this chapter)