Xia Minmin sat in the KFC, idly eating fries to kill time. The surrounding fast food restaurants were packed, and only occasionally would parents with children come into the KFC.
Xia Minmin thought to herself that this little brother or sister was probably a gluttonous little one, as she was born around mealtimes.
After 1 p.m., fewer and fewer people were eating at the nearby fast food restaurants, and the waiters wearing aprons began to clean up the various food containers in the restaurant, washing and rinsing the food.
Outside the delivery room of the Second Hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department, only Xia Jianguo and his family were waiting for the mother and baby.
Xia Xiaomei had been in the delivery room for almost two hours, and the women who went in after her had already come out.
Xiao Wu was squatting next to the delivery room, her head buried in her knees.
"Big sister, are you hungry? How about we have Xiaomin pack some food and bring it up?" Li Chunmei patted Xia Damei, who was clenching her fists anxiously.
"Second sister-in-law, I'm fine, not very hungry." Xia Damei said she wasn't hungry, but her stomach kept growling.
Li Chunmei looked at the clock outside the delivery room and said, "Jianguo, how about we have Xiaomin pack twenty meals and bring them up? It's already past one o'clock, and the doctors and nurses in the operating room haven't eaten yet. The hospital cafeteria probably doesn't have any food either. Sixteen meals should be enough for the doctors. Also, have Xiaomin pack a serving of millet porridge."
"Um."
Xia Jianguo dialed the familiar number. The call connected in less than ten seconds, and his daughter's joyful voice came from the other end, "Hello, Dad! Did Auntie give birth?"
"Not yet, have you had lunch?"
"Dad, are you hungry after eating the hamburgers? Should I get some takeout to take upstairs?"
"Xiaomin, find a fast food restaurant nearby and pack twenty boxed meals and millet porridge. Have the restaurant owner deliver sixteen of them to the nurses' station, specifying that they are for the doctors and nurses in the delivery room. Take the other four meals and the millet porridge outside the delivery room."
"I understand, I'll be right there."
Xia Minmin hung up the phone and put the physics workbook on the table into her backpack. She had thought that giving birth would take at most half an hour after entering the delivery room and that she would finish eating fries, so she hadn't planned to do the workbook. She didn't expect that she would wait until 1 p.m.
Xia Xia and Minmin looked around at the fast food restaurants and chose the one that was the cleanest. There were four rectangular tables on the left and right sides of the fast food restaurant’s main hall.
"Hello, is the boss there? Is there any food left?"
The fast food restaurant owner ran out of the kitchen when he heard Xia Minmin's voice.
"Yes, we can still order. What would you like to eat?"
"I'd like to order twenty boxed meals, two meat dishes and one vegetable dish. Could you help me decide on the combination of the meat dishes, and also a serving of millet porridge?"
The shop owner rubbed his ears in disbelief and said, "Are you kidding me? These twenty boxed meals aren't cheap. Do you even have the money to pay for them?"
Xia Minmin sighed silently; it was another day of discrimination because of her height and age.
Xia Minmin glanced at the menu in the store, took out her wallet from her backpack, pulled out four hundred-yuan bills, and handed them to the fast food restaurant owner. "Boss, I'm not joking. My aunt is giving birth at the Second Hospital, and I helped deliver sixteen portions to the maternity ward nurses' station. The remaining four portions are for us to eat ourselves, so just give them to me."
The fast food restaurant owner took the money, crumpled the banknotes to make sure they were real, and gave Xia Minmin 90 yuan in change. "Pretty girl, 20 boxed meals, 15 yuan each, and a serving of millet porridge, 10 yuan each, that's 310 yuan in total, here's 90 yuan back, please count it."
Xia Minmin counted the money and stuffed it into her bag.
The fast food restaurant owner was overjoyed to receive such a large order so close to his lunch break, and felt a surge of excitement, wanting to chat. "I'm an expert at delivering to the hospital," he said. "Customers frequently order from my restaurant and have it delivered there. I guarantee I'll handle it perfectly."
Seeing that the fast food restaurant owner was about to start chatting, Xia Minmin interrupted, "Boss, it's getting late, can we get started? I'm in a hurry."
The fast food restaurant owner said as he walked back, "I'll get everything done for you in thirty minutes."
Xia Minmin has a vocabulary notebook, which she takes out to memorize words when she's waiting in line or has nothing else to do.
Just as he said, the fast food restaurant owner packed up 20 boxed meals and a bowl of millet porridge in 25 minutes.
"Hey pretty girl, why don't you take my pedicab?" The fast food restaurant owner pointed to the pedicabs outside.
Seeing the same pedicab reminded Xia Minmin of the financial hardship she faced when buying a house in Beijing, but... she gave in.
It's about a kilometer away from the building where the maternity ward is located. It takes about ten minutes to walk there quickly, about fifteen minutes to carry all this stuff, and at least twenty minutes including the elevator time.
"Okay, thank you, boss!" Xia Minmin thought to herself that she had done so much for everyone.
The fast food restaurant owner's rickshaw was as clean and tidy as his restaurant, not at all like something a restaurant would use. Xia Minmin originally thought there would be vegetable leaves or something, but there was nothing there.
And so, Xia Minmin and the fast food were packed up by the fast food restaurant owner and sent to the hospital downstairs.
Xia Minmin and the fast food restaurant owner squeezed into the elevator with their boxed lunches. Xia Minmin, being shorter, left the elevator first and headed towards the delivery room.
After getting away from the shop owner, Xia Minmin finally breathed a sigh of relief. In just over ten minutes, the shop owner had told her no less than ten pieces of gossip, including gossip about patients and doctors in the hospital. He actually knew all of these things.
Xia Minmin suddenly remembered the TV dramas she used to watch. There were always some scenes where the protagonists gathered information in places like restaurants. It's true that art imitates life.
Xia Minmin had mentally prepared herself before going to the maternity ward, and was much better than before.
"Mom and Dad, Aunt and Uncle, hurry up and eat!"
Xia Minmin placed the boxed lunches on the chair. Everyone except Xiao Wu took one, and they all did so quickly, clearly quite hungry.
Seeing that Xiao Wu was distracted, Li Chunmei, Xia Damei, and Xia Jianguo took turns trying to persuade him.
Li Chunmei said, "Xiao Wu, you should eat something too! Your little sister will have a lot to do when she comes out later. How can you help her run errands if you haven't eaten enough?"
Xia Damei said, "Second sister-in-law is right. Your main task is to take good care of yourself before your younger sister is born. Only when she is born will you be able to take better care of her."
Xia Jianguo, having been through this himself, has a lot to say about it. “My second sister-in-law and eldest sister are right. I was there the whole time when Xiaomin was born. There used to be cases of babies being stolen from hospitals. Taking care of the mother and baby is very hard work. I didn’t have time to sleep for the first two days. If you don’t eat or drink like this, you’ll collapse before your little sister has even recovered.”
Xia Minmin brought the boxed lunch to Xiao Wu, who then slowly reached out to take it.
Xiao Wu's voice was hoarse. "It's all my fault for not caring. She said her stomach hurt a little around midnight last night, but I thought it was Braxton Hicks contractions and didn't pay attention. I didn't expect it to be real this time."
Everyone knows about the Braxton Hicks contractions that Xiaowu mentioned. They've been happening frequently in the last week or two. The first few times, Xiaowu rushed him to the hospital in a panic, only to find that everything was fine. But then, with a little carelessness, he would actually give birth.
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