Downstairs, in the darkness, Xiao Hei's ears twitched, then it stood up, scratched around in its nest a few times with its paws in frustration, then lay down again helplessly, its ears drooping down.
Li Chu was woken up early by the sound of firecrackers outside. Before he even opened his eyes, he felt his wife moving in his arms. He quickly reached out and gently patted her a few times, and the girl fell asleep again under his comfort.
After waiting a while, Li Chu carefully placed his wife's head on the pillow, then slowly got out of bed, turned around to tuck her in, and got dressed. He had been a bit too rough with her last night, and he didn't know what time she had finally fallen asleep; he'd let her sleep a little longer.
When he arrived in the living room, Xiao Hei just glanced up at him from its bed, then got up, circled around in its bed, turned its rear end towards Li Chu, and lay down again. It was utterly devastated. It had passively listened to symphonies all night, slept for only two hours, and was now so sleepy that all it wanted to do was sleep.
Li Chu glanced at Xiao Hei strangely, wondering what was wrong with the silly dog again. He opened the door; it was just dawn. He stepped out of the house, stood at the doorway, and took a deep breath. Hmm, the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder.
Just as he stood at the door, he saw several children run in from outside the yard. Upon closer inspection, there were about seven or eight of them, all children from the yard. Li Chu thought to himself, "These kids are really energetic. They ran out to play so early in the morning." Then he saw the children run up to him and shout in unison, "Uncle Li, Happy New Year! We wish you a Happy New Year!" After saying that, they all bowed to Li Chu.
"Alright, alright, Happy New Year to you all too, get up now." Li Chu smiled as he looked at the children, then noticed that they were all staring at him expectantly. He suddenly realized what was going on, took out the change he had prepared beforehand from his pocket, and gave each child a 10-cent New Year's gift. "Here you go, go play now."
The children took the money and shouted together, "Thank you, Uncle Li!" before running away.
Looking at this group of energetic children, Li Chu suddenly felt that having a child of his own wouldn't be so bad.
He noticed that the chosen one, Bang Geng, was also among them. So far, the kid seemed quite polite; at least he would call him "uncle" from afar whenever he saw him. He wondered when the kid had started to turn evil.
Lost in thought, I went out of the yard to take care of my personal hygiene. When I came back, I saw Uncle San standing at the gate.
Li Chu stepped forward, clasped his hands in a fist and bowed to the Third Uncle: "Third Uncle, Happy New Year! I wish you all your dreams come true and everything goes well in the new year."
Yan Bugui also cheerfully said auspicious words to Li Chu, and even took out a cigarette and offered it to him, but Li Chu did not take it and said, "Third Uncle, I've quit, I won't smoke anymore."
The old man stared at him in astonishment: "I saw you smoking yesterday, how come you've quit today?"
Li Chu sighed helplessly: "Sigh, last night I went to an elder's house and was pressured to have a baby, so I quit smoking."
The old man had just put a cigarette in his mouth, but hadn't even lit it yet, when he heard Li Chu's words and froze: "What does having a baby have to do with smoking?"
Li Chu wanted to explain it to him properly, but felt that it was something that couldn't be explained in a short time, so she said vaguely, "This is just my personal opinion. I think it's better to quit smoking if you're planning to have a child. It's nothing, you can smoke."
Yan Bugui shook his head. He felt that Li Chu was making a mountain out of a molehill, but since it was someone else's business, he couldn't say anything. So he changed the subject and said, "Xiao Chu, my family's Jiefang and Jiedi just came back and told me that you gave them New Year's money. You gave all the kids in the yard money, but you gave too much. Goodness, you gave each of them a dime."
"Hey, it's Chinese New Year, and a few kids came over to wish me a Happy New Year, so I just gave them a little something to have some fun," Li Chu said nonchalantly.
The old man opened his mouth, unsure what to say. He couldn't very well say, "If you give me so much, how am I supposed to give anything back when the children come to wish me a Happy New Year?" So he could only lower his head, take out a pair of matches, light his cigarette, and start smoking.
At this moment, Yi Zhonghai came out, and the three of them exchanged New Year's greetings. An older man said to Li Chu, "Little Chu, when should I take your aunt to the hospital? I'm a little worried." His aunt's due date was only a few days away, and he was getting anxious.
Li Chu thought for a moment and said, "Uncle, if you're really worried, you can take Aunt to the hospital today." There's no set time for a woman to give birth; who knows when it will happen? Li Chu didn't dare tell her to stay home any longer.
These days, many women give birth at home, with experienced women from the neighborhood helping them. However, this older woman was having her first child, and no one dared to help her, fearing there might be some problems. In addition, the older man himself was also worried, so he had already decided to give birth in the hospital.
After listening to Li Chu's explanation, the old man thought about it for a moment and decided to send his wife to the hospital today. He couldn't take care of her at home, and the old lady in the backyard had also told him to send her to the hospital as soon as possible.
"Xiao Chu, you're not going out today, are you?" Yi Zhonghai asked Li Chu.
"My wife and I are going to my sister's house in a bit. We've been spending the first day of the Lunar New Year there." Li Chu understood what the old man meant, paused for a moment, and then said, "Uncle, could you borrow a cart and take my wife there later? I'll go to the hospital to see her when I come back this afternoon."
"Alright, I'll go borrow a cart and take your aunt over right away." Yi Zhonghai was relieved when he heard Li Chu say that he would be there in the afternoon. He greeted the third uncle and went to borrow a cart.
Yan Bugui watched the old man's retreating figure and said, "Old Yi can finally put his mind at ease."
"The old man can only truly relax once he holds the child in his arms. The third uncle, I'm going back now, I'm going to make some dumplings."
Back home, Xiao Hei was still lying in its den. When it saw him come in, it only opened its eyes and didn't do anything else. Li Chu walked to Xiao Hei's den, picked it up, and petted it a few times. This made Xiao Hei bark at him in anger, which startled Li Chu. Afraid that its barking would wake his wife, he let it go. Xiao Hei escaped the clutches and scurried back to its den with its tail between its legs.
Listening carefully, but still no sound from upstairs, Li Chu felt relieved. He quietly went up to check and saw Ding Qiunan sleeping soundly, with a trace of drool at the corner of her mouth. Li Chu smiled at his wife and went back downstairs.
As soon as he came down, he heard an old man's voice coming from the courtyard. It turned out that the cart had been borrowed. Li Chu thought for a moment that Ding Qiunan might still be sleeping for a while before waking up, so he might as well accompany her to the hospital now, so he wouldn't have to run around in the afternoon. So he quickly washed up, tidied his clothes, and went to the old man's house.
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