The next day, Zhao Jingwen and Wu Xiufang brought Zhao Chengjun. The two of them specially swapped shifts with their colleagues to come and see Xu Qingning and the child.
Zhao Jingyu took Xiaotianbao out to show her to them. Zhao Jingwen and Wu Xiufang both said that Xiaotianbao looked like Zhao Jingyu. Xiaotianbao was full and didn't cry or fuss, letting them hold her and look at her back and forth.
Zhao Chengjun also wanted to hold his little brother, but Yang Yuelan quickly took the child away and said that he was too young to be held.
"Have you named it yet?" Zhao Jingwen asked.
“His nickname is Tianbao,” Zhao Jingyu said, then looked at Zhao Futang. “It means Qingning. His formal name is for his father to choose. He said the name his father chose is grand and sounds nice.”
"Okay, I'll think about it carefully these next couple of days." Zhao Futang readily agreed. He had thought that Zhao Jingyu didn't want him to name the child, so he didn't feel comfortable bringing it up himself.
"Sweetie, sweetie." Zhao Chengjun stood in front of the kang (a heated brick bed), jumped up to look at him, and insisted on hugging him.
"You can't hold him." Zhao Jingyu took the child from Yang Yuelan and sat down on the edge of the kang (heated brick bed) to chat with Zhao Jingwen. "When do you get your holidays?"
“We’ll get off at the end of the year.” Zhao Jingwen looked at Zhao Futang and Yang Yuelan. “We won’t get many days off for the New Year either, only six or seven days.”
Neither Zhao Futang nor Yang Yuelan said a word.
The elderly couple lived with Zhao Jingyu to take care of their daughter-in-law and grandson, and they didn't want to ask them to come and celebrate the New Year with them.
"Come over for the baby's one-month celebration when Tianbao turns one month old." Zhao Jingyu didn't mention the New Year. They're all adults, with their own lives, and where they spend the New Year is their business.
Zhao Jingwen agreed without saying anything.
Wu Xiufang sat on the edge of the bed and said to Xu Qingning, "I didn't expect you to come back so soon. We were thinking of going to the hospital to see you."
She gave Xu Qingning a small blanket.
They said they bought it at a department store.
Xu Qingning thanked him, took the small blanket, looked at it, and placed it on the writing desk: "I came back without any trouble."
People who came to see her said she gave birth quickly, but actually she started having abdominal pain at five in the morning, and after arriving at the hospital, she stayed in the labor room until two in the afternoon before going into the delivery room, and finally gave birth at around four o'clock.
Of course, she had no relationship with her two sisters-in-law, no intention of associating with them, and no desire to discuss these matters with Wu Xiufang.
“Your eldest brother and second brother had a falling out over work. But think about it, instead of your second brother coming to work in the city, it would be better if I came here. That way, your eldest brother and I can look after each other, and your second brother and sister-in-law can spend the New Year together in the village.”
Wu Xiufang couldn't help but bring up the conflict between them and Zhao Jingwu, "Anyway, things have already come to this, no matter how much they complain, it's no use. We'll just give it to him when there are job openings later."
Xu Qingning smiled but said nothing.
She didn't want to know about their family affairs.
Moreover, Wu Xiufang and Zhou Chunyan are not easy to get along with; they are like weather vanes. Although the two families are at odds now, they may make up soon.
Putting everything else aside, just the fact that they had attended Tang Wenya's wedding made her feel uneasy.
One can imagine how they and Tang Wenya must have gossiped about her back in the village!
Although she doesn't care, it doesn't mean she can forgive them.
Seeing that Xu Qingning didn't speak, Wu Xiufang didn't continue. She praised the child and the warmth of the room.
She noticed a green curtain hanging in the corner, pulled it open, and saw a large bathtub. She was quite surprised: "You can actually take a bath inside?"
There was a wooden shelf next to the bathtub with towels and soap on it, and a bucket next to it.
The couple is really particular.
"It's for bathing the baby." Xu Qingning was very annoyed that Wu Xiufang was looking into her bathtub. What kind of sister-in-law is looking around in her brother-in-law's room? Everyone has some privacy...
Wu Xiufang was shocked by the bathtub incident and asked Xu Qingning how much it cost. Xu Qingning said she didn't know and told her to ask Zhao Jingyu.
Wu Xiufang actually went to ask Zhao Jingyu, and Zhao Jingyu said fifty. Wu Xiufang was stunned: "So expensive?"
She doesn't even earn fifty yuan a month.
Zhao Jingyu really knows how to spend money.
"Yes, it's that expensive." Zhao Jingyu didn't want to discuss the price of the bathtub with his sister-in-law, so he picked up the child and went back into the house.
Wu Xiufang, feeling awkward, offered to help Yang Yuelan cook. Yang Yuelan didn't refuse and told her to go to the kang (heated brick bed) to prepare vegetables, saying they would make dumplings.
Making dumplings is actually very easy, and you don't even need to cook any other dishes.
When Wu Xiufang saw the chicken stewing in the small clay pot, she knew it was for Xu Qingning. When Xu Qingning was in confinement after childbirth, she didn't have a single chicken, only a few eggs.
It's fair to say that neither she nor Zhou Chunyan received the same treatment during their postpartum confinement period.
Her parents-in-law and Zhao Jingyu, the three of them, took care of her during her postpartum period; I've never seen anything like it.
During the meal, Zhao Jingyu brought in a bowl of chicken soup and a plate of dumplings for Xu Qingning.
The chicken soup was quite white, with egg drop soup floating on top.
Xu Qingning thought the chicken soup tasted bland yesterday, but she assumed Zhao Futang had forgotten to add salt and didn't say anything. However, the chicken soup still tasted bland today, very weak.
She asked Zhao Jingyu to go to the kitchen and get her some salt, saying the chicken soup was bland.
Zhao Jingyu took a bite and found it indeed had little flavor. He carried it to the stove, found the salt jar, and Yang Yuelan saw it and immediately stopped him: "You can't put salt in it. The food during postpartum confinement should be light, otherwise the mother and child will get a sore throat."
“That’s right, we didn’t eat any salt back then,” Wu Xiufang said, peeking over from the kang (a heated brick bed).
Zhao Jingyu hesitated for a moment, then took it back: "They didn't put salt in it, saying you can't eat it."
Xu Qingning was stunned.
She knew that the diet should be light during postpartum confinement, but she had never heard of not being able to eat any salt at all, which was too unscientific.
Seeing the plate of dumplings, she picked one up and tasted it, almost spitting it out. There was no salt in it, and it didn't taste good at all.
"Go quietly and get some salt, but don't put in too much," Xu Qingning whispered to Zhao Jingyu. "Then bring your dumplings over and eat them here."
Zhao Jingyu understood, went to the kang (heated brick bed) and brought over a plate of dumplings. He also grabbed a little salt and put it in her chicken soup: "Mom doesn't allow you to eat them, so you shouldn't eat them. I'll put less salt in for you."
"Who eats rice without salt?" Xu Qingning took his plate of dumplings and ate them with relish, pointing to her plate, "You eat mine."
Zhao Jingyu, unaware of what was going on, took a bite and was stunned. It was so bland, and there was no salt in it.
"Now you know my situation, right?" Xu Qingning lifted her foot and rubbed it against his leg, picked out the fatty meat from the dumpling and put it on his plate, and said coquettishly, "Look at my food, it doesn't even have any salt. But I'm too embarrassed to say anything. If I did, they would think I'm hard to please."
She knew that Yang Yuelan was very kind to her; the dumplings she made for her were filled with lean meat.
They ate pork belly and cabbage filling.
"My mom said that if you eat salt, both adults and children will get a sore throat." Zhao Jingyu didn't really understand these things, but if it was bad for his health, he felt it was better not to eat it.
"If you don't believe me, go ask Director Chen if I can eat salt." Xu Qingning continued to rub against his leg. "Go ask her after you finish eating."
"I'll go ask right now." Zhao Jingyu took the opportunity to pinch her foot, picked up his military overcoat, and went out.
Chen Qiaodi wasn't at the clinic, so he asked He Jiying whether it was okay to eat salt during postpartum confinement.
He Jiying said it's okay to eat. Generally speaking, a normal diet is fine, just don't eat anything too salty.
Zhao Jingyu understood the situation.
He didn't tell Zhao Futang and Yang Yuelan about being able to eat salt, but quietly said to Xu Qingning, "I'll make you a dumpling sauce that I guarantee you'll love. It's our secret."
His parents are very traditional and have old-fashioned ideas. The idea that a woman cannot eat salt during her postpartum period is deeply ingrained and cannot be changed in a short time.
His goal was to ensure his wife had a delicious meal, not to change his parents' minds.
It's only a month anyway, there's no need to make a big deal out of it.
When Yang Yuelan saw him come out to pour vinegar, she assumed he had made it himself and didn't ask. She just told him, "Don't let Qingning touch these. She can't eat them."
Zhao Jingyu agreed, took the bowl back into the house, and closed the door.
Thank you maymay-bE, a fellow reader and an old child who never grows up, for the monthly ticket.
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