Chapter 78 Pain Relief.

On the morning that Cheng's mother returned, Cheng Shi took a morning off and borrowed a car from Li Yang to take his mother to the train station.

He Susu rummaged around the house trying to find something to take back for her mother-in-law, but the only food at home was some common food. The only thing she had exchanged for milk lumps at home was about one pound left.

She packed it up and gave it to her mother-in-law: "Mom, I don't have much to bring back home for you. You said these milk lumps were delicious last time, so I'll give you this pound to take back and eat. My friend can send it to me later, and I'll send it to Shanghai for you."

Mother Cheng smiled and refused: "Don't be so polite, I brought some things to see you, why do I need to bring anything back? Shanghai has everything, don't worry. This milk lump is a nutritious snack, you can keep it for yourself."

He Susu insisted: "Just take it, Mom. I haven't eaten this milk curd much since I got pregnant. Drinking a cup of milk powder every day is enough nutrition. You can take it home and eat it as a snack when you are tired at work. If I want it, just write to my friend and ask him to buy it and send it to me."

Cheng's mother accepted it and said, "Okay, I'll take the milk lump home and eat it slowly. You should also take good care of yourself, and leave the housework for Cheng Shi to do when he comes back. Erbao will come to accompany you at ordinary times, and I will feel relieved to have a child at home to call."

Although the child is small, he can serve tea and water. If Susu feels unwell and her son is not at home, he can go out and call for help in time.

He Susu smiled and replied: "Mom, I know, don't worry."

Only then did Cheng's mother feel relieved. She picked up the bag containing her own clothes, changed her clothes, and followed her son to the train station.

Before leaving, Cheng Shilin said, "Susu, you don't have to rush to prepare food for lunch. When I come back later, you can just pack some food from the state-owned restaurant and eat it."

My mother's train wasn't early, so after sending her off I drove back to the county town. After a while the state-owned restaurant opened for business.

He Susu smiled and agreed.

After seeing her mother-in-law off, she continued her daily walk in the yard, basking in the sun and breathing fresh air. After finishing her exercise, she sat in the living room to cool down, then returned to her room to write.

At noon, Cheng Shi came back and packed up some sour plum pork ribs, braised fish fillets, and stir-fried cabbage with garlic from the state-owned restaurant, plus eight taels of white rice, filling two aluminum lunch boxes.

The couple sat at the dining table and ate.

He Susu's favorite food is sour plum spareribs, even her favorite braised fish fillets have to take a backseat.

The ribs are stewed until they are soft and rotten, with a sauce-colored surface. They are salty and delicious, with the fragrance of sour plums. The little bit of sourness is the finishing touch, which enhances the fragrance of the ribs. The ribs are stewed to produce a thick layer of fat, which is sauce-colored and is particularly tasty when poured over white rice.

In the end, she couldn't help but pick up a piece of sour plum to eat. Even though most of the flavor of the sour plum drifted into the ribs and sauce during the stewing process, the sour plum now tasted sour with a hint of sweetness, which was both refreshing and appetizing.

She nodded repeatedly: "This sour plum pork ribs tastes really good, delicious!"

Cheng Shi also agreed: "It is indeed delicious. If you like it, I will try to cook it later. We also have spare ribs and sour plums at home."

"Okay, then I'll wait." He Susu replied with a smile.

After eating and washing the dishes, Cheng Shi and Susu went back to their room and lay down on the bed for a nap.

When He Susu woke up, Cheng Shi had already gone to the army for training.

She was not bored either. When she walked out of the room, she saw Erbao sitting on a chair in the living room learning to read. She greeted him and went to get a glass of water. Then the aunt and nephew went about their own business.

To be honest, since her belly was getting bigger, He Susu was a little scared, afraid that something might happen to her when she was alone at home. With Erbao coming home, it was more like Erbao was accompanying her and helping her eliminate the fear of being alone.

When He Susu was tired of writing stories and took a break, she would chat with Erbao.

Erbao is a lively child who loves to talk to his aunt. He is usually very quiet when learning words or playing in the living room, but now he is talking non-stop, even telling her what he had for dinner at home last night and what time he went to bed.

He Susu listened patiently, then went to the kitchen to get some pastries and gave him a piece.

Erbao loves this part the most. He holds the pastry and chews it carefully, with a smile on his face all the time.

He Susu did not forget to instruct, "After you eat the cakes, remember to run thirty laps in the yard for exercise. Look at your little belly. Your mother will scold you later."

The idea of ​​eating pastries was approved by sister-in-law Su Yu, and the idea of ​​running laps was also suggested by He Susu and Su Yu agreed to, to prevent the child from eating too much and getting fat.

Erbao nodded heavily and assured: "Don't worry, aunt, I will go running after I finish eating the cakes."

As he spoke, he took small bites of the cake. He ate that piece of cake for several minutes. If you didn't know, you would think he had eaten a very big piece.

While Erbao was running circles in the yard, He Susu stood by the door and watched with a smile on her face.

Ever since the younger sister became ill, even though Su Yu could only see her when she came to pick up Erbao in the morning and evening, she would go to the county town to buy meat and vegetables in the morning during her rest time, and in the afternoon she would take time to come to the younger sister's place to sit and chat, and to show concern for her physical condition.

This is also what my husband said.

There was no other way. He Lianzhou had to go to the army for training during the day, so he could only occasionally come to my younger sister's house at night. Besides, my younger sister was pregnant now, so I guess she would have more topics to talk about with her sister-in-law.

Just like now, when He Susu talked about how she was always woken up by sudden leg cramps in the middle of the night, Su Yu suggested, "There's nothing you can do about it. This is what happens in the late stages of pregnancy. Drink more milk powder to supplement calcium, and if you have leg cramps at night, ask Cheng Shi to massage them more. Try to relieve them and just get through it."

Thinking of what the family has been discussing recently, Su Yu said, "By the way, your brother and I are thinking that if mom comes to take care of you during your confinement, we will spend the New Year in the army, so we might as well not go back home for the New Year. Your brother is thinking of using his vacation next month to go back home to accompany mom and dad. He can also help with some work during the autumn harvest, and bring mom over when he comes back."

Su Yu and He Lianzhou knew that their mother-in-law was coming to the army to take care of their younger sister-in-law during her confinement after Cheng's mother left.

Su Yu didn't have any thoughts. Considering how much her in-laws loved her sister-in-law, it would be strange if her mother-in-law didn't come to take care of her during her confinement.

He Lianzhou was happy. It would be the best if his mother could come and take care of his younger sister. He was also filial and wanted his parents to come and live with the army for a while, but his parents were worried about working to earn money and taking care of the family, so they were unwilling to leave easily. They only let his mother come when his younger sister needed to recuperate after childbirth.

He Susu nodded after hearing this: "Sure, we will also celebrate the New Year in the army this year. If you don't go back, it will be more fun for everyone in the army. Mother said last time that she was worried that I couldn't take care of myself when I was over eight months pregnant, so she wanted to come over when I was more than eight months pregnant. If you go back, you can bring mother back with you. I would be worried if she came here by train alone."

Su Yu smiled and said, "Your brother and I think so too."

Then they talked about the next arrangements. Su Yu said worriedly, "Now I am mainly worried about Cheng Shi's mission. No one can be sure of the time of the mission. It may come at any time. I am afraid that Cheng Shi will not be home when you give birth. But it will be okay with mother and us. We will be back in our hometown for ten days. I am afraid that Cheng Shi will suddenly go out for a mission during this period, and you will be alone at home without anyone to take care of you."

He Susu smiled. She had thought about this before. At this moment, she could only comfort him, "It's not such a coincidence. If it really happened, there would be nothing we can do. Fortunately, there is Sister Shao. Political Commissar Zhang and Cheng Shi have a good relationship. She also cares about me. There are also Sister Wu and the other three. They should be able to take care of each other without any problems."

She said optimistically, "If we don't worry about things that haven't happened yet, maybe they won't be as bad as we think."

Su Yu smiled and suddenly understood: "Yes, you are right, little sister. It is useless for us to worry now. Anyway, we will find a way to solve it."

He Susu nodded: "That's the truth."

At night, after the couple washed up, He Susu went to bed first, while Cheng Shi went to hang out the clothes, and then checked that the doors and windows were closed before returning to the room. He opened the desk drawer familiarly and took out a bottle of olive oil from the first cabinet, then sat on the bed: "Come on, I'll give you a massage."

He Susu consciously went to bed, lifted the quilt covering her body, and lifted her shirt to reveal her bulging belly.

Cheng Shize opened the olive oil and poured some into his palms, screwed on the cap and put it aside, then rubbed his palms together. When his palms were slightly warm, he placed his hands on Susu's abdomen and massaged it with controlled strength.

This is what he must do before going to bed in the past two or three months. Susu said that massaging the abdomen with this olive oil can prevent stretch marks on the abdomen. She said that stretch marks are ugly and she doesn't want her belly to be covered with them.

Cheng Shi also saw related content when he was watching "Two or Three Things About Pregnancy". He knew that Susu loved beauty and how could she accept ugly stretch marks on her originally fair and smooth belly.

He knew before that giving birth is very hard and requires a lot of sacrifice for women. During the time he accompanied Susu during her pregnancy, he understood a lot more and felt even more sorry for her.

All these were the sufferings she endured because of being pregnant with his child. He took on the job of massaging her belly with olive oil, trying his best to do as much as he could for Susu.

He Susu felt Cheng Shi's warm hands massaging her abdomen. The moderate force allowed her to relax her tense stomach. She gradually felt comfortable, as if all the fatigue from carrying a big belly for a day was relieved.

She told Cheng Shi what her sister-in-law had said in the afternoon.

Cheng Shi nodded: "Third brother's arrangement is very good. He can go back to help the family before the autumn harvest, so that parents don't have to be so tired. When he comes back, he brings mother with him, so we can feel more at ease. It really helps us a lot."

He was originally thinking about how to bring his mother-in-law over. This place was not far from Susu's hometown. He thought about taking a day and a half off, taking a bus back in the afternoon, and then bringing his mother-in-law to the army the next day.

On the one hand, he was worried about his mother-in-law because she had never traveled far. On the other hand, he also wanted to be polite. He was naturally very grateful that his mother-in-law came to help take care of Susu during her confinement.

Now that's good, my third uncle and his family went back to stay for a few days and brought my mother-in-law over, which solved the problem perfectly.

After massaging Susu's abdomen, Cheng Shi went to the bathroom to wash the oil off his palms before returning to the room and hugging Susu to sleep.

Soon it was time to go to the county town for shopping, and He Susu planned to go with them this time.

She is now more than seven months pregnant and her movements are becoming increasingly clumsy. If nothing unexpected happens, this will be her last time to go to the county town before giving birth. She wants to take this opportunity to take out some other necessary things from the shopping system and bring them home.

Cheng Shi disagreed at first because Susu was in poor health and there were many people away from home. The group was organizing key confrontation training recently and he couldn't get leave.

But in the end, he was still persuaded by Susu, and he only said: "Then you should be careful on the road, try to avoid crowds when you see them, follow sister-in-law closely so that she can take care of you, and ask sister-in-law Wu and others to help carry the things you bought, and I will come to thank you later."

He Susu smiled and agreed: "Don't worry, my sister-in-law will definitely take good care of me, and Sister Wu and the others will also help carry things, nothing will happen."

On the day of going to the county town, Cheng Shi repeatedly told others to do it before he went to the army for training.

He Susu prepared the backpack and the package. Mrs. Wu and the other two came over to call her out. They took the backpack and the package without hesitation and said, "Although they are empty now, it's not convenient for you to carry the backpack and the package. We can take them. It won't be in the way."

"Thank you very much, sisters-in-law." He Susu said with a smile, and went to the boarding point with them to wait for the bus.

When the car arrived, He Susu got in and sat next to Su Yu, and Mrs. Wu also handed the backpack and package to Su Yu.

Su Yu asked with concern: "Little sister, are you feeling uncomfortable?"

He Susu shook her head: "Don't worry, sister-in-law, I'm fine. I usually walk in the yard in the morning, so it won't be a problem for me to go to the county town."

"That's good. Follow me closely when we get to the county town." Su Yu said with a smile.

The two sisters-in-law chatted and soon arrived at the county town. They went to the grocery store together. There were many people inside, so Su Yu said, "Little sister, you should wait outside. I will go in and buy whatever you want, so as not to bump into the crowd."

At this time, the grocery store was the busiest. He Susu didn't dare to go in and join in the fun, so she nodded in agreement. She roughly said a few things she wanted to buy, and let her sister-in-law help make the decision for the rest.

Su Yu carried a basket on her back and a basket on her back into the grocery store to make a selection, and then lined up to pay. Her younger sister was still outside alone, so she didn't dare to delay.

After a while, Su Yu walked out of the store: "Little sister, I have bought everything. You should not go to the slaughterhouse. Just find a place to rest. I will accompany you to the department store to buy things when I come back."

He Susu said, "The road to the slaughterhouse is not easy to get to, so I'm sorry to bother you to buy meat. There shouldn't be many people in the department store at this time, so I'll go buy things first, which will save some time. I'll come back after buying some things, and then we'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy things, which will save some time."

Su Yu hesitated: "Little sister, can you do it alone?"

He Susu nodded heavily: "Sure, I've walked the road to the department store so many times, no problem."

"Okay, then you just be careful on the road." Su Yu finally agreed.

He Susu smiled and told her sister-in-law how many pounds of lean meat and pork belly she wanted to buy. Then she waved goodbye to her sister-in-law and walked to the department store with the package.

There were indeed not many people in the department store at this time. The workers from the county town had all gone to work in the factories. Only the wives of soldiers who had come by bus together and some women from the county town who did not have to work were picking out things.

He Susu walked past each counter, paying special attention to the counters selling milk powder and malted milk.

Milk powder is a rare commodity here, and is often pre-ordered as soon as it arrives, so there is no chance to sell it to the public. There are still a few cans of malted milk, and they look hot, and one was sold in just a short time.

She was not interested in malted milk, as she had some at home, so she just asked the salesperson, "Hello, comrade, is there anything suitable for newborn babies?"

Seeing that the woman was pretty and elegant, and that the clothes she wore were still very nice even with a big belly, and the fabrics were very comfortable, the saleswoman did not dare to be arrogant. She thought carefully and said, "We are out of milk powder here, but we do have milk bottles, which are usually used with milk powder for babies to drink. You can buy a milk bottle first. Even if you don't use it to mix milk powder, it is easier to feed your baby by filling it with water."

He Susu thought the bottle was good. She had seen the bottle before in the shopping system, but she had never thought of exchanging it.

Since she was going to feed her baby herself, she naturally didn't need a bottle. But the salesperson's words reminded her that a bottle could also be filled with water to feed the baby, which was better than feeding the baby one spoonful at a time.

Since they were already in the department store, they had to buy something. He Susu simply bought the milk bottle, which looked of good quality.

She went to the ready-made wardrobe counter again and looked at the fabrics on sale. None of them were as soft and comfortable as the ones she had exchanged in the shopping system, so she didn't buy anything.

She walked out of the department store, found an empty alley and went in, then transferred the items that she had redeemed in advance and put into the shopping system and put them into the package.

There was cotton yarn that she exchanged for, which she cut and used to make diapers for her baby. Then there were sets of small clothes for newborn babies, eight sets in total, from birth to three months old. There were also quilts for the baby and large handkerchiefs to wrap the baby. She also exchanged some wool so that she could crochet a small hat and socks for the baby to keep warm in winter.

There were also some things she used herself. During the confinement period, she couldn't wash her hair, and He Susu felt that she probably couldn't stand the days of having greasy hair. Fortunately, when she was browsing the shopping system, she saw that there was dry hair powder that could be exchanged. This powder could be roughly applied to the hair to make the greasy hair clean again.

In addition, she learned from the book "Two or Three Things About Pregnancy" that the body will discharge lochia after giving birth, and at this time, something needs to be placed under the body to prevent the sheets and mattress from getting dirty.

Fortunately, she saw related things when she was browsing the shopping system recently. The maternity pad can be placed on the bed sheet and can be thrown away directly when it is dirty. It is also convenient to replace them one by one.

Another type of sanitary napkin is sleeping pants, which are safer than sanitary napkins. They are similar in shape to underwear and can wrap better. No matter how you toss and turn when sleeping, there is no need to worry about leakage. You can also replace them with new ones when they get dirty.

He Susu remembered that she had never seen these sleeping pants for sale in the Overseas Chinese Stores in Shanghai before, which meant that the sleeping pants might not have been available yet and were an advanced item provided by the shopping system.

Fortunately, this is a personal item. Apart from myself, only my mother knows about it, so Cheng Shi doesn’t need to know about it.

There was also some wool for her to crochet a hat and socks. During the confinement period, one cannot be exposed to the wind, and the weather is cold in the twelfth lunar month, so hats and socks are essential.

The last and most important thing, God knows how happy He Susu was when she found it in the shopping system.

According to the product details in the shopping system, pain relievers, when taken orally during labor pains before delivery, can relieve 95% of the pain from labor pains to the delivery process and up to three days after delivery, helping you get through the difficulties of delivery easily.

Even though she was mentally prepared, He Susu was still afraid of the upcoming labor pain.

At this point, he saw the painkillers as a treasure and exchanged them without hesitation even though it required 100 points of diligence.

After all, you can accumulate diligence points by working harder, but the suffering during production is real, and there will be no regrets after that point.

She first took this precious pain-relieving medicine home and kept it away. When she was about to give birth and had contractions, she could take it and suffer 95% less pain. It was simply a miracle medicine.

It was worthy of the price of 100 points of diligence. When it was transferred out of the storage compartment, it turned out to be a small square wooden box. He Susu opened it and saw a brown round pill the size of a soybean inside, emitting a faint fragrance.

Fearing that the effect of the medicine would dissipate if it was opened for too long, she took a quick look and quickly closed the small box and put it away in her package.

All these things were packed into the package, which was bulging. He Susu felt it was heavy even when she slung it over her shoulders, but fortunately it was still bearable. She walked back to the supply and marketing cooperative.

After Su Yu bought pork from the slaughterhouse, she returned to the supply and marketing cooperative to wait for her sister-in-law. She felt uneasy in her heart and was worried about her sister's safety.

When she looked up and saw that someone had returned, she breathed a sigh of relief and hurried over to take the package: "This package is really not light. If I had known that you bought so many things, I would have come directly to pick you up."

"Sister-in-law, it's okay. I felt a little tired just carrying this package here. Now it's much easier with your help." He Susu said with a smile.

Su Yu nodded: "That's good, let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative to take a look."

The aunt and the sister-in-law were just about to carry their things to the supply and marketing cooperative when Wu's wife and the other two came back and said, "You are going to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy things. Just leave these two baskets and packages for us to help look after them so that you don't have to carry too much."

He Susu thought this was a good idea, so she smiled and thanked him, "Okay, I'll give more to my sisters-in-law."

Su Yu also thanked them, handed the two backpacks and a package to Mrs. Wu and the others to look after, and then entered the supply and marketing cooperative.

Su Yu wanted to buy some cotton to replace the cotton-padded jackets of her two children so that they would be warmer. She also wanted to buy a piece of cloth to make a pair of underwear for her husband. She then bought some daily necessities.

He Susu didn't have much to buy, so she only bought a pound of egg cake and a pound of peach cake at the pastry counter.

On the way back, Su Yu, Mrs. Wu and the other two helped carry the things that He Susu bought.

Because Su Yu got off at the second family quarters, Mrs. Wu and the other two took the initiative to help carry the things and thoughtfully sent He Susu home before leaving with peace of mind.

He Susu carried the backpack into the kitchen and put the food she had bought into place.

Then I carried the package into the room and put it away. Except for the gauze fabric that needed to be cut into rectangular diapers and the wool yarn that I would use to crochet when I had time, I put the rest in the package for now.

Cheng Shi usually wouldn't touch her things, so that if she wanted to take something out of the shopping system later, she could pretend that it was something she had bought before and had just been placed in the package.

She poured a glass of water and sat on a chair in the living room to rest for a while. She didn't feel tired at all and had plenty of energy, so she went back to the kitchen to prepare food.

Preparing food was not difficult. Even though Cheng Shi told her to wait until he came back, He Susu still felt that she could do it. Cheng Shi was tired from training in the army, so she didn't want him to suffer alone.

Moreover, preparing food can earn her 1 diligence point. After saving more, she will have more freedom to exchange things in the shopping system.