"This guy is great!"
"Luckily, this girl has such a capable older brother. Otherwise, if she had married into such a family, she would have been eaten alive, leaving not even bones behind."
The onlookers were buzzing with discussion, and some of the bride's family members who had come to be with her during childbirth even spoke out defiantly:
“This mother and son are just too cruel. It’s not that they can’t afford a C-section. The wife is almost dying, but they still can’t bear to part with that money. If this were my daughter, I would tell her to divorce him after the baby is born. Now that ordinary people are getting richer, even if there are two more mouths to feed, we can still have enough to eat.”
It's unclear whether those who said these things genuinely meant them or were deliberately saying them to intimidate their daughters' in-laws.
Regardless of the other party's purpose, these comments made Zheng Weidong blush and turn pale with embarrassment.
Even though Ma Donghua was somewhat unconvinced and wanted to fight with everyone, Zheng Weidong immediately stopped her, saying, "Mom, stop making a scene, it's so embarrassing!"
Although Zheng Weidong repeatedly told Zhou Xiaoying to be considerate and take care of his mother, saying that his mother had a hard life.
But now, when he speaks, it's clear that Ma Donghua is afraid of him.
With nothing exciting left to watch, Yang Qiaoqiao suddenly remembered that Huo Beixiao was still holding her and lifting her up. She quickly looked down at the man and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Brother Xiao, I'm sorry, I was just too engrossed in watching."
Are you tired of carrying me? Put me down first.
Huo Beixiao obediently loosened his grip, but did not put her down. Instead, he changed his position and held her horizontally in his arms.
He even had a smug look on his face, raising an eyebrow at her, "Wife, are you looking down on me, or are you overestimating yourself? You think you're so light that you can make me tired?"
As Huo Beixiao spoke, he carried her back to the ward, carefully placed her back on the bed, and tucked her in.
Lin Xiaohui, however, asked her anxiously about the situation outside.
After Yang Qiaoqiao recounted what had happened, Lin Xiaohui couldn't help but sigh, "Luckily, that girl has a good brother!"
Although there was no more gossip to be had at this point, the crowd watching the commotion outside didn't disperse. They were all discussing it while waiting for the operating room door to open.
About half an hour later, Yang Qiaoqiao heard a commotion in the crowd outside.
She was also worried about whether Zhou Xiaoying and the child would be safe and sound, and wanted to go out and check on them again.
Huo Beixiao seemed to have anticipated her thoughts. As soon as she moved, he picked her up and carried her to the door.
They lifted her up high so she could see the situation ahead more clearly.
Yang Qiaoqiao skillfully and steadily hugged Huo Beixiao's neck, craning her neck to look ahead.
Then a nurse came out carrying a child and asked who was Zhou Xiaoying's family member.
Zheng Weidong and Ma Donghua quickly tried to go forward to hug the child, but Zhou Jiakang stopped them behind him first, saying, "I am Zhou Xiaoying's brother."
The nurse recognized all three of them during the earlier commotion, ignored Zheng Weidong and Ma Donghua's anxious reactions, and handed the child over to Zhou Jiakang.
"The mother is out of danger and the baby is healthy. However, the mother was malnourished during pregnancy, and the baby is small, weighing only 3.7 pounds."
Upon hearing this number, the onlookers couldn't help but exclaim angrily, "The baby only weighs three pounds and seven ounces! If the mother could eat her fill at her husband's house, even if it was just coarse grains, the baby wouldn't be this small!"
"In this day and age, they won't even let a pregnant woman have enough to eat. Are these in-laws animals?"
...
Ma Donghua, having failed to snatch the child and being insulted by the crowd, could no longer contain herself and jumped out, angrily shouting, "Pah! What do you know!"
"Was it because I didn't give her any food? She couldn't eat it, and she threw up after eating. Why blame me?"
Ma Donghua wasn't lying. Although she was reluctant to feed Zhou Xiaoying too well, she wouldn't go so far as to deprive Zhou Xiaoying of her full meal.
However, ever since Zhou Xiaoying became pregnant, she has been vomiting after eating the food that Zhou Xiaoying ate, which was mostly coarse grains and mostly refined grains.
Zhou Xiaoying did mention wanting to eat chicken, duck, fish, meat, fruit, canned food, etc., but she said that she would throw up anyway, and that eating those expensive things would be a waste, so she didn't give Zhou Xiaoying any of them.
Zhou Xiaoying stopped vomiting when she was eight months pregnant, but Ma Donghua still couldn't bear to feed her, so she only ate coarse grains and vegetables every day.
This is what caused the child to be smaller than average.
Although Ma Donghua was telling the truth, nobody believed her anymore.
Some people even directly retorted: "If a pregnant woman has morning sickness and can't eat, don't you know how to cook different things for her? Make her whatever she wants to eat, and if she throws up, just make her more. Why did you let the pregnant woman starve so much that the baby only weighs a little over three pounds?"
“Fine, if your family is going to spend like this, then you have to pay for it!” Ma Donghua shamelessly reached out her hand to the person who had spoken.
The man probably hadn't expected Ma Donghua to be so shameless. He took two steps back, looking somewhat embarrassed, and spat, "Pah! And she's a family member of a stonemason, yet she's so shameless!"
Zheng Weidong was most proud of his identity as an oil worker, and now that someone was using that identity to insult him, his face immediately darkened. He grabbed his mother and said fiercely, "Mom, go back right now, don't cause any more trouble here, okay?"
Ma Donghua was probably embarrassed by her son's public reprimand and wanted to argue with Zheng Weidong on the spot.
Zheng Weidong knew his mother well, and frowned, saying even more impatiently, "If you keep causing trouble here, don't blame me for sending you back to your hometown."
Ma Donghua immediately swallowed back the words that were on the tip of her tongue and dared not make a fuss anymore.
She shrank back and said, "Son, Mom will go back now."
With Ma Donghua gone, the scene became much quieter.
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