After so many busy days, Yan Qingqing was exhausted, both physically and mentally. In addition, she was pregnant, so she felt uncomfortable all over when she relaxed.
Yan Qingqing dared not be careless and asked Li Xiangping to go to the next village to fetch a doctor. Although the barefoot doctor's medical skills were not as good as those in the county town, it was already getting dark and it was not convenient to go back and forth to the county town.
Upon hearing that Yan Qingqing was unwell, Li Xiangping didn't dare to delay for a moment and sped off on the oxcart.
The rest of the family was also terrified and surrounded Yan Qingqing's room, refusing to leave. Yan Qingqing knew that her children were filial, but having so many people in the room made her feel like she was suffocating.
So Yan Qingqing said, "Mother is fine, you don't all need to stand here, you're disturbing my rest."
Seeing her mother-in-law's exhausted face, Yuan Huiniang said, "Xinniang and I will stay here to take care of Mother. You can all go out."
The children all nodded obediently, but none of them went far after leaving Yan Qingqing's room. They all squatted at the door, guarding her, afraid that something might happen to Yan Qingqing.
Li Xiangkang was still shedding tears when Li Xiang'an slapped him and said, "What are you doing? Mother is just feeling unwell, nothing serious."
Li Xiangkang, who dared not speak out, tugged at Li Xiangan's clothes and sobbed, "I didn't say anything was wrong with Mother. Mother is just working hard to earn my tuition fees."
Li Xiang'an scoffed, "Stop trying to glorify yourself."
Li Xiangkang snorted arrogantly and said, "I'm telling the truth. My mother told me herself that we're selling mooncakes to earn tuition fees for me."
Li Xiang'an: ...
He really didn't understand what he had to be proud of, even if his mother was doing it for his fourth brother.
Soon Li Xiangping arrived with a doctor. The old doctor, surnamed Zhang, was over seventy years old and was the first to diagnose Yan Qingqing's pregnancy.
Before Dr. Zhang could even catch his breath after getting out of the car, Li Xiang'an and Li Xiangjian helped him into the house.
Dr. Zhang glared at the two men fiercely and said, "I'm so old and my bones are so thin, how can I withstand this kind of torment? Your older brother was so jostled all the way that I almost ate my dinner. You two brats, do you think you can't walk a few more steps? Can't I walk by myself?"
Seeing that the two were really behaving inappropriately, Yuan Huiniang quickly apologized, saying, "Dr. Zhang, I'm sorry. My two younger brothers are ignorant. Please don't take it to heart."
They're worried about my mother's condition; please take a look at her.
Since they were all from neighboring villages, Doctor Zhang knew a little about Yan Qingqing's family situation. He snorted and said, "I'll let it slide for the sake of your filial piety."
Yuan Huiniang thanked him repeatedly and led Doctor Zhang to Yan Qingqing's bedside.
Yan Qingqing smiled at Doctor Zhang. Under the dim candlelight, Doctor Zhang noticed that Yan Qingqing's complexion wasn't very good. He took her pulse and said, "There's nothing seriously wrong, she's just overworked and there are signs of premature labor."
I'll prescribe you some medication to help maintain the pregnancy; we'll see how long it lasts.
Li Xiangjian, who was standing nearby, exclaimed, "My mother is about to have a premature birth, and you still say there's nothing seriously wrong? Dr. Zhang, are you sure you can handle this? Or should we go to the city and ask another doctor to take a look?"
Upon hearing Li Xiangjian say that he was no good, Dr. Zhang immediately became angry and retorted, "I'm seventy years old, do you think I'm no good?"
Yan Qingqing chuckled upon hearing Dr. Zhang's words; the old man was quite interesting.
Seeing Yan Qingqing's sneer, Doctor Zhang realized what he had just said and said, somewhat embarrassed and angry, "Look at the kind of people your family is!"
With Yuan Huiniang's help, Yan Qingqing sat up and said seriously, "Dr. Zhang, please don't get angry with the children. It's not worth ruining your health. I apologize to you."
Doctor Zhang, puffing out his beard and glaring, said, "At my age, how could I possibly argue with a few juniors?"
Seeing that the old man was saying one thing and meaning another, Yan Qingqing quickly changed the subject, saying, "Can my child be delivered at full term?"
Although an eight-month-old baby can survive, ancient medical equipment was so poor that there was no such thing as an incubator, so the chances of danger were still very high.
Yan Qingqing didn't want anything to happen to her after all the hard work of carrying her pregnancy for so long.
When asked about Yan Qingqing's condition, Dr. Zhang replied seriously, "No one can guarantee anything, but her pulse appears to be relatively stable."
If you cooperate fully, getting another half month of treatment should be no problem.
Yan Qingqing nodded knowingly. There was no other way; she could take her along for as many days as possible.
After prescribing medication to prevent miscarriage for Yan Qingqing, Dr. Zhang explained the precautions to her and then asked Li Xiangping to take her home.
Yan Qingqing instructed Yuan Huiniang to give Dr. Zhang a box of mooncakes in addition to the consultation fee as an apology.
Dr. Zhang knew that Yan Qingqing's family's mooncakes were selling like hotcakes, so he happily accepted them.
Yan Qingqing sighed. She would have to stay in bed starting today.
Yuan Huiniang was worried about leaving her mother-in-law alone, so she discussed with Li Xinniang that the two of them would take turns taking care of her mother-in-law in her room.
Li Xiangping and the others also wanted to stay with Yan Qingqing, but it wasn't very convenient. However, they made sure that at least one of the brothers was at home most of the time, in case of any unexpected situations.
The news that Yan Qingqing had "fallen ill" somehow spread throughout Canghe Village.
The first person to visit Yan Qingqing was Aunt Wang from next door. She brought twenty eggs and a piece of meat. Looking at Yan Qingqing lying in bed, she said with heartache, "You just worry too much. Look at you, you've fallen ill from exhaustion. If you ask me, your children are all grown up now, you should let go of what you should let go of."
Yan Qingqing leaned against the headboard and replied with a smile, "Auntie, they say that raising a child means worrying for ninety-nine years."
Your fifth son isn't young anymore, and your aunt still worries about him. Besides, none of my younger children are even married yet.”
At this moment, Yan Qingqing perfectly portrayed the role of a loving mother.
Aunt Wang sighed and said, "You're right. Every mother worries about her child. I've tried to persuade you, but I'm the same way. Look how worried I am, my hair has turned white."
Seeing Aunt Wang's worried look, Yan Qingqing couldn't help but ask, "Why hasn't Wu Gang's marriage been finalized yet?"
As soon as Yan Qingqing asked, Aunt Wang seemed to have found someone to confide in and said, "Oh dear, Qingqing, you don't know how realistic people are these days. I had already found a girl from Wangjia Village to date."
The girl was quite beautiful, and Wu Gang was also interested in her. They had initially agreed on a dowry of one tael of silver.
But somehow they found out that my Da Gang and his family had made a lot of money doing a batch of work for your family, and they actually asked for a dowry of five taels of silver.
To be honest, it's not like our family can't afford to be stingy, but I have to treat all my daughters-in-law equally.
Besides, who wants to spend five taels of silver to get a wife these days?
I've been so worried these past few days, afraid I'll end up marrying someone as short-sighted as my eldest daughter.
Wang Dagang made gift boxes for Yan Qingqing's family. The father and son worked day and night until their eyes were bloodshot, and they even hired some people to barely finish making the gift boxes.
Of course, they did earn quite a bit of silver, at least forty or fifty taels after deducting labor and material costs.
Originally, Aunt Wang didn't need to worry about Wu Gang's betrothal gifts, but who would have thought that a new problem would arise.
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