Chapter 143
At the end of the month, Xu Huaisheng, Miao Cuini, and other students studying in the city returned in military vehicles.
To make it easier for students studying away from home to come home for holidays, the logistics procurement vehicle will wait a little longer to pick up the students before leaving.
With the National Day holiday being two days long and the Mid-Autumn Festival falling on the day before, the school specially adjusted the curriculum to give students make-up classes in advance. As a result, the holiday started on the Mid-Autumn Festival, giving students a full three-day break.
Back at the family compound, Xu Huaisheng hurried home.
For more than a month, she counted down the days until the end of the month when she would have her holiday. She wished she could grow wings and fly home in an instant.
It would be a lie to say that it wasn't painful to leave my family and study in another city for the first time.
Moreover, my older sister is about to give birth, and I don't know how she is doing. For the past month, I've been constantly worried about home, afraid of hearing any bad news.
Of course, she dared not think the worst; she tried her best to think the best, wondering whether her older sister's child was a boy or a girl, whether the child would look like her older sister or her brother-in-law, and that the child would surely be very beautiful.
As I entered, I saw a strange woman picking vegetables in the yard.
Xu Huaisheng was stunned for a moment.
"Oh, is this Huaisheng?" Feng Min, holding a handful of ginger she had just pulled from the ground, saw the girl entering and said, "I am Feng Min, Mingzheng's mother. I met you back then."
When she took Gu Xi away from Xujiatun, she met Gu Xi's two younger sisters whom she missed the most.
As expected, girls change a lot as they grow up. The three girls who looked like little potatoes back then are now all very beautiful.
Xu Huaisheng blinked, shyly called out "Aunt Feng," and said apologetically, "I was young at the time and don't remember much." Actually, she was so reluctant to see her older sister leave that she cried until her eyes were swollen, and she didn't even notice what Aunt Feng, who was taking her sister away, looked like.
Although I know that it's a good thing for my older sister to leave with Aunt Feng, I still feel reluctant to let her go.
Xu Huaisheng said sweetly, "Aunt Feng still looks so young, she doesn't look like she has a child as old as her brother-in-law at all."
Feng Min was amused and laughed heartily.
Xu Huaisheng, concerned about his elder sister and child, followed Feng Min into the main room, asking, "Aunt Feng, how is my elder sister now? Are she and the child alright? By the way, is the child a younger brother or sister?"
In Xujiatun, when a newborn child hasn't been named by his parents, the elders call him "brother" or "sister," which sounds like a nickname. They only start calling him that after the name has been chosen.
“It’s my younger brother,” Feng Min said, going along with her words. “He looks a lot like Xixi.”
Xu Huaisheng exclaimed in surprise, somewhat bewildered, "Didn't my sisters-in-law say my sister was having a girl this time? How come it's a boy?"
Feng Min sighed, "Because our Shen family is destined not to have daughters."
Xu Huaisheng: "..." She didn't know how to respond to that.
Hearing the commotion, Xu Yuansheng, who was in the kitchen, came out and was very happy to see Xu Huaisheng return.
She said happily, "Huaisheng is back! It's almost time to eat. Go put your things away first, then come and wash your hands."
As she spoke, she looked closely at her younger sister and noticed that she seemed to have changed a lot in the month or so she hadn't seen her. She looked more mature, probably because she had become more composed while she was away from home for the past month.
Xu Huaisheng put down his luggage, went to fetch water to wash his hands, and after thinking for a moment, ran back to his room to change into clean clothes.
I was covered in dust and filth on the way back.
After finishing all that, she greeted her second sister and Feng Min, then ran to the master bedroom to see Gu Xi and the child.
When I entered, I saw her sister sitting on the bed in her autumn/winter pajamas, her hair loose, holding the baby who had just finished feeding and patting him to burp.
Seeing her, Gu Xi smiled and said, "Huaisheng, you're back."
Xu Huaisheng walked quickly over to the bedside, his eyes darting between his sister and the hiccuping baby in her arms, as if he couldn't take it all in.
She pulled up a stool and sat down on the edge of the bed, saying, "Big sister, I'm back! The baby looks so tiny, have you named him yet?"
Gu Xi smiled and said, "It's not ready yet. They said the child's great-grandfather will come to pick it up."
The most senior member of the Shen family is Old Master Shen. Usually, when a child is born, Old Master Shen is asked to name the child. Since Old Master Shen is now retired and has nothing to do, we let him name the great-grandchildren, which is a way to keep him busy.
Seeing her sister staring at the child, Gu Xi handed the child to her, and Xu Huaisheng stiffly took it.
She hadn't held such a small baby in a long time. She carefully adjusted her position, not daring to move around unnecessarily. She stared at the baby's face for a moment and said happily, "Big sister, Aunt Feng was right. The baby really does look like you. He'll definitely be a handsome boy when he grows up."
Gu Xi looked at the child. "Really? I think he looks more like your brother-in-law."
Although many people say the child looks like her, she doesn't know if it's because she's a mother or something else, but she just feels the child looks more like Shen Mingzheng.
Perhaps it's because the child hasn't fully developed yet. I've heard that all babies look the same at birth, and it's impossible to tell who they resemble.
“She looks more like you, and of course a bit like your brother-in-law.” Xu Huaisheng said, looking at her older sister’s face, and said with heartache, “Big sister, childbirth must be very hard, right? You look thinner… but not by much.”
Although she hadn't lost much weight, she knew how hard it was for women to give birth. Her sister used to be in poor health, and she didn't know how much she suffered. Just thinking about it made her heart ache.
Gu Xi touched her face. "Actually, I haven't lost weight. In fact, I've gained weight."
Although there's no scale for her to weigh herself, she can feel it herself to tell if she's fat or not. Now she's gained weight in many places, and her waistline has thickened, making her quite fleshy.
“It’s good to be a little chubby, it’s healthier!” Xu Huaisheng said. “You used to be too thin, big sister.”
That's true!
Gu Xi nodded. She also hoped to gain some weight and become a woman with a bit of curves, because that would be healthier.
Xu Huaisheng asked if the child was easy to take care of and if he was too noisy.
"He's easy to take care of. He just eats and sleeps, grows up quickly, and doesn't cause any trouble at all," Gu Xi said with a smile. "Your Aunt Feng said that this child is like someone who came to repay a debt of gratitude."
Feng Min said that such a well-behaved child must be like his mother, because when his father was born, he was a loud and boisterous child who could shake the ceiling when he cried. If he didn't get milk when he woke up, he would cry very loudly as if he hadn't been hungry for ten or eight days.
Hearing her say that, Xu Huaisheng couldn't stop laughing: "I don't think so, right? Brother-in-law seems quite quiet, he probably wasn't too troublesome when he was little, was he?"
"I don't know about that," Gu Xi said, shrugging, then lowering her voice, "but I heard he was quite the fighter when he was young..."
Xu Huaisheng was dumbfounded. He never knew that his brother-in-law, who was so upright and meticulous, had ever been so impetuous in his youth.
Indeed, appearances can be deceiving.
-
A little later, Shen Mingzheng returned, and dinner was ready.
Gu Xi continued to eat inside, mainly because it was windy outside. Feng Min didn't want her to leave the room casually, worried that the wind would blow on her, so she let her stay inside as long as possible. This also made Gu Xi finally realize how boring Qiao Hui was when she was in postpartum confinement.
Shen Mingzheng brought the food back to eat with her, while the others ate outside.
After finishing her meal, feeding her child, and putting him to sleep, Gu Xi began to take care of herself.
Shen Mingzheng brought in a basin of hot water and used it to wipe her body.
You can't take a bath during postpartum confinement, but you can wipe your body. Fortunately, the weather has turned cooler now, otherwise Gu Xi doesn't know if she could have made it through.
She hadn't washed her hair for over half a month, and she felt like it was stale.
"It's not bad." Shen Mingzheng took the towel she handed him, bent down to roll up her trouser legs, and washed her feet. "It doesn't smell."
Gu Xi looked at him and said, "Look at me and don't look away."
Shen Mingzheng looked up at her and repeated what he had just said.
Gu Xi finally understood that this man was blatantly lying, able to lie without batting an eye. She could even smell an unusual odor in her hair, yet he claimed it had no smell.
She said meaningfully, "Commander Shen, lying is wrong. You can't betray the organization's trust in you!"
After washing her feet, Shen Mingzheng dried them with a towel, pulled down his trouser leg, and said, "I really didn't smell anything!"
As he spoke, he picked her up, carried her to the bed, and then scooped up her hair and sniffed it lightly, indicating that he really couldn't smell anything; it clearly didn't smell bad at all.
Gu Xi: "..."
Gu Xi picked up a strand of her hair, put it to her nose, and smelled it; she still found it had a odor.
“It’s not that I can’t smell it, it’s that your nose is too sensitive,” Shen Mingzheng said. “Mom and Yuansheng both said they couldn’t smell it.”
Gu Xi decided to trust him for the time being. Her nose was indeed quite sensitive. What might seem like a tiny smell to others was magnified several times over to her.
Gu Xi sighed, lay down on the bed, and asked weakly, "How much longer do I have to endure before I can wash my hair and take a shower?"
Shen Mingzheng gently patted her back, "Sweetie, Mom said you should stay in the postpartum period for a full month, it's better for your health. You can wash your hair and take a bath after a month."
Gu Xi felt that a month was quite difficult to get through, and there were still about ten days left.
**
The day after Xu Huaisheng returned was the Mid-Autumn Festival.
After asking Xu Yuansheng, Feng Min invited Gu Yuanyang and his family of three, as well as Xiang Changchuan and his nephew, to come over so that everyone could celebrate a lively Mid-Autumn Festival together.
Shen Mingzheng, Xiang Changchuan, and Gu Yuanyang all came back early that day to help with cooking, while Ji Ya had to work overtime and came back later.
After school, the three children, Gu Tuantuan, Xiang Zhao, and Xiang Yun, ran towards Gu Xi.
The three children entered the room, first greeting Feng Min in their cheerful voices, calling her "Grandma," and then going inside to see Gu Xi and her younger brother.
Although Gu Tuantuan was somewhat disappointed that her "little sister" had become a "little brother," as her little brother grew up day by day and was no longer like a bright red little monkey, she began to like her fair-skinned little brother. She felt that since her little brother was so small, she, as the older sister, would still have to take care of him in the future, and there was no difference between him and her little sister.
Xiang Zhao was a little adult, and he always wanted to help. Every time he came over, he would do what he could to help.
He felt quite disappointed that the housework was done by adults and he didn't need to take care of the children.
Gu Xi chatted with the three children for a while and then smiled and said, "Have you finished your homework? Xiao Zhao, take your two younger sisters to do their homework. If you've finished, you can read books with them. There are some new picture books sent by the publisher in the study."
Xiang Zhao obediently agreed and took his two younger sisters to do their homework.
Xu Yuansheng brought over a plate of sliced autumn pears to help them fill their stomachs. Seeing Xiang Zhao teaching his two younger sisters, he patted his head and praised, "Xiao Zhao is really great."
Xiang Zhao blushed slightly, feeling that her tone was like coaxing a child, and that she was no longer a child.
Seeing his stern face, she understood the little man's feelings and smiled, "In my heart, Xiao Zhao is still a child."
There were many people in the kitchen, so she didn't need to help and was free.
She came over and saw the three children sitting at their desks doing their homework obediently. A smile appeared on her face. Her gaze lingered on Xiang Zhao and Xiang Yun, and she was very pleased to see how lively and healthy they had been these past few days.
Xiang Changchuan was able to be transferred here not only because he was ambitious, but also because his husband, Lao Shen, helped him.
Sure enough, with their son here and Commander Chang, who had some personal ties with the Xiang family, protecting them, they could stay away from the troubles outside.
When Feng Min returned to the kitchen, she saw Xu Yuansheng and Xiang Changchuan sitting at the door peeling potatoes. The two chatted casually as they worked, creating an atmosphere that made it difficult for others to intrude.
She was a little stunned and couldn't help but glance at the two of them.
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