On Aunt Wang's first day on the island, the news that Grandma Su Ting came to take care of her while she gave birth spread throughout the family compound.
By the time Su Ting heard about this, the rumor had already spread with details and evidence. Su Ting took a lot of effort to explain clearly that Aunt Wang was not her mother-in-law, but a relative from He's father's side.
Of course, Aunt Wang did come to take care of her while she was about to give birth.
After listening to Su Ting's explanation, Yu Xiaofang said, "That's it. Your old He is thoughtful and has specially arranged for the elders in the family to take care of you. Unlike the Han family, Duan Xiaoying is about to give birth. Yesterday, I passed by their yard and saw her sitting there washing clothes for the whole family."
If the person who came to the He family was He Dongchuan's biological mother, Yu Xiaofang would not have such feelings. He knew that Han Bin's parents had passed away, and he had no way to let anyone come even if he wanted to.
But now she knows that Aunt Wang is not He Dongchuan's biological mother, but his father's cousin and a relative from his hometown.
She inevitably compared He Dongchuan and Han Bin together. She felt that the former's mother couldn't come, so she knew to ask other elders in her hometown to take care of Su Ting, but the latter didn't respond at all and even let his daughter-in-law who was about to give birth busy taking care of the whole family.
After this comparison, Yu Xiaofang felt that Han Bin was not a very good husband and did not care about his wife at all.
Su Ting didn't think about whether Han Bin was okay or not, she just followed Yu Xiaofang's words and thought about Duan Xiaoying's belly.
She got pregnant at the end of June or the beginning of July, so it was almost eight months by the end of the month. Duan Xiaoying was pregnant more than a month earlier than her, so it is more than nine months now.
According to common sense, Duan Xiaoying's belly should be bigger than hers. In fact, the belly grows faster as pregnancy progresses, but now their bellies seem to be almost the same size.
When she first discovered this, Su Ting was very worried that she was eating too well and the baby would grow too big and suffer during birth.
She was originally a writer and was good at imagining things. She had been dreaming about difficult labor for a few days. One night, she was awakened by a nightmare and had a quarrel with He Dongchuan because in her dream, when she was having a difficult labor, the doctor asked him whether to save the older or younger child, and he chose to save the younger child without hesitation.
After waking up, she couldn't tell reality from dreams for a moment. She just felt that the man in front of her was hateful, so she slapped He Dongchuan twice.
He Dongchuan was beaten, and he held her and coaxed her for most of the day before he realized why she was mad. However, he didn't care about her grievance at the time, so he could only cheer up and comfort her, and concentrate on dealing with the tricky questions that suddenly popped up in her mind.
After finally calming her down, Su Ting fell asleep immediately because she was sleepy. However, He Dongchuan kept his eyes open and thought about her for most of the night. Before leaving the house the next morning, he woke Su Ting up and told her that if he really had to save either the adult or the child, he would only want her.
At that time, Su Ting had long forgotten what happened that night. She was woken up from her sound sleep and heard him say a bunch of incomprehensible words. She was not moved, but just wondered what was wrong with him.
It was not until she woke up from a deep sleep that Su Ting remembered the whole story.
She was quite satisfied with He Dongchuan's answer, but she did not dare to gamble on having a child, so she specifically consulted Yu Xiaofang, Chen Shaomei and other people who had given birth, asking her whether she should reduce her food intake.
After hearing their answers, Su Ting realized that hers was not big, at most it was normal size. Her and Duan Xiaoying's stomachs looked about the same size, because Duan Xiaoying's stomach was too small and she probably didn't get enough nutrition.
After realizing that her shock was futile, Su Ting breathed a sigh of relief and stopped paying attention to Duan Xiaoying.
Now that I think about it, Duan Xiaoying has been pregnant for about nine and a half months now.
Although it is said that pregnancy lasts for ten months, the medical gestation period is actually calculated based on four weeks and twenty-eight days, so pregnancy is not a full ten months. Counting by natural months, the baby is usually born in more than nine months.
Su Ting asked: "She could have a seizure at any time, right? Why is she still staying at home and not going to the hospital earlier?"
Transportation on the island is inconvenient. If you have a seizure at home, it is not easy to get to the hospital. Especially at night, when the boats are stopped, if you have a seizure, you can basically only give birth at home.
The medical level at that time was far behind that of later generations. Even if Su Ting went to the hospital to give birth, she was very nervous. She felt terrible just thinking about giving birth at home.
But Duan Xiaoying didn't seem to be in a hurry at all. She was still living at home just a few days after giving birth.
Yu Xiaofang said: "Who knows when she will give birth? If she has to stay in the hospital for half a month, how much money will it cost?"
"If she doesn't go to the hospital and stay there, what if she has a seizure at home?" Su Ting felt that as long as the mother and child were safe, it was worth spending a little more money.
Yu Xiaofang said indifferently: "Then just give birth at home!"
She didn't think there was anything wrong with giving birth at home. She had given birth to three children and still didn't know which way the hospital door opened, but she came here anyway.
Su Ting: “…”
…
Although what Yu Xiaofang said seemed to make sense, Su Ting still felt that it was safer to give birth in a hospital, so when she met Duan Xiaoying on the road the next day, she briefly mentioned going to the hospital.
Su Ting was not acting like a saint and had to worry about Duan Xiaoying giving birth to a child, but she already had a child, so she hoped that Duan Xiaoying could give birth to the child safely.
In her mind, going to the hospital to give birth can greatly increase the probability of a safe birth.
But Su Ting felt that her estimate was in vain. Duan Xiaoying didn't take her words to heart at all, because she saw Duan Xiaoying sitting in the yard washing clothes the next day.
Duan Xiaoying did not go to the hospital.
Su Ting stopped meddling in other people's business. Considering the relationship between her and Duan Xiaoying, it was good enough for her to mention that. Should she persuade Duan Xiaoying to go to the hospital? She was not Duan Xiaoying's mother, so she would not do such a thing. She put Duan Xiaoying's matter behind her.
But Su Ting didn't expect that Duan Xiaoying would take action that night.
At that time, their family members had not yet completely rested, and He Dongchuan was still washing clothes in the bathroom. Although Aunt Wang said that she could do the housework, he was embarrassed to let the old lady wash clothes for the whole family. When he had nothing to do, he would wash the clothes after taking a shower.
Su Ting half-leaned on the pillow, waiting for He Dongchuan to return to the room while dozing off.
In a daze, she heard a noisy sound coming from outside. She opened her eyes with difficulty and saw He Dongchuan entering the room and asked, "What happened? Why is there so much noise outside?"
He Dongchuan had just returned from hanging up the clothes and knew something was going on. He said, "It's Building 65. Something seems to have happened."
Su Ting was very sleepy and her brain was slow to react, so she didn't realize which family lived in Building 65, so she just said "oh" and closed her eyes again.
Aunt Wang, who woke up from the second bedroom after hearing the noise, came out in her coat and heard what He Dongchuan said. She raised her voice and said, "Building 65? Isn't that the Han family? Could it be that Comrade Duan has started the movement?"
In this regard, men are indeed more thoughtful than women. For example, He Dongchuan is well-known for his meticulousness in the army, but if Aunt Wang hadn't said that, based solely on the movements in Building 65, he would definitely not have thought that Duan Xiaoying had initiated the incident.
Now that Auntie Wang mentioned it, he thought it was the case and frowned: "Move now? Han Bin doesn't seem to be at home yet."
Han Bin was in the fleet and had to go out to sea from time to time, sometimes for ten days or half a month. He Dongchuan remembered that he went out to sea after the Chinese New Year and he probably hasn't come back yet.
"If it really happens, what does it matter whether Han Bin is at home or not? Can he still give birth to a child for his wife?"
Aunt Wang has better social skills than Su Ting. Within ten days of arriving on the island, she got to know everyone on the island and had a good relationship with them, except for the Han family.
It wasn't that Su Ting had gone to Aunt Wang to tell her not to associate with Duan Xiaoying, she wasn't that naive. But she didn't say anything, many people in the family compound would gossip in front of Aunt Wang, so Aunt Wang knew that there was a conflict between the Han family and her own family.
However, Aunt Wang's average relationship with Duan Xiaoying had nothing to do with this. She was not the kind of person who would not associate with you if you had a conflict with my family. It was just that Duan Xiaoying had always been a little distant when interacting with her because of the previous incident. Aunt Wang didn't want to do something that would only make her feel cold, so their relationship had always been indifferent.
But no matter how ordinary their relationship was, when it came to a matter of life and death, Aunt Wang couldn't just sit there and watch. She buttoned her shirt while saying, "I'll go to Han's house to see what's going on."
He Dongchuan nodded: "Okay, call me if you need anything."
"How can you help?" Aunt Wang said. Although she had not been on the island for long, she had a clear understanding of the basic situation on the island.
Pingchuan Island is not far from the coast, less than 10 nautical miles away, but there is no bridge connecting the two islands, so the only way to get there is by ferry. However, the ferry has stopped at this point. The earliest ferry usually leaves at 6 o'clock, and it is from the city to the island. It takes another half an hour from the island to the city.
Even if Duan Xiaoying had just started, he probably wouldn't be able to delay until that time. If someone else's wife really gave birth at home, He Dongchuan wouldn't have time to avoid suspicion, so how could he possibly go over to help.
If the situation really comes to the point where He Dongchuan's help is needed, then there is only one possibility: Duan Xiaoying will be in trouble.
"You stay at home and take good care of your wife." Aunt Wang said, fastened the last button, and hurried out of the house.
After Aunt Wang left, He Dongchuan followed her to close the door. He didn't know when she would come back, so he left the door unlocked. After closing the door and returning to the master bedroom, Su Ting was completely awake. When she saw him come in, she asked, "Is Duan Xiaoying going to give birth?"
"I only heard some noise at their house. I don't know what happened exactly." He Dongchuan sat down next to Su Ting and wrapped his hands around her soft right hand.
Although it was not Su Ting who initiated the attack tonight, he could not help but think about the predicament Duan Xiaoying was facing now. This kind of skin contact made him feel at ease.
Noticing He Dongchuan's unusual attitude, Su Ting thought that Duan Xiaoying must have started something.
She felt helpless. If Duan Xiaoying had listened to her, she would have asked someone to take her to the hospital during the day and would not have had an attack at home at night.
At this point, I guess she can only give birth at home.
This is the real gate of hell.
Su Ting thought about it and leaned her head into He Dongchuan's arms.
…
When He Dongchuan heard the noise, Duan Xiaoying and Chen Lin were crying at each other in the master bedroom of the Han family, and the other military wives were looking at each other, not knowing what to do.
Before they came, they had not imagined the scene to be like this. Although they had never delivered a baby before, they had given birth to many children and had a lot of experience. Before they came in, they felt that they could help.
But when they entered the room and saw Duan Xiaoying crying breathlessly, they were stunned. After all, they only had experience in giving birth, and none of them had ever delivered a baby.
The helpless people stood around the bed, and Duan Xiaoying howled even louder.
She regrets it now.
In fact, it's not that she didn't listen to Su Ting's words. After all, she was living a new life, and she was aware of basic common sense. She had never thought about having a baby at home.
There was no movement these few days because she didn't want to give birth alone in the hospital.
She had calculated in her mind that Han Bin had gone out to sea after the Chinese New Year, and if nothing unexpected happened, he would be back in the next few days. She had no signs of labor yet, so if everything went well, she would have time to go to the hospital after he came back.
Who knows that man proposes, God disposes? She had just made up her mind to wait for Han Bin to come back, and she started the plan at home in the evening.
She's not prepared for anything yet!
Duan Xiaoying felt that her life was over and she lay on the bed crying her heart out.
Chen Lin was the first to rush over after hearing the noise. She had experience with childbirth and shouldn't have been frightened. But she had the best relationship with Duan Xiaoying, and when she saw her crying like that, she couldn't hold back her tears and started crying right in front of the pregnant woman.
So every time an army wife came, she was suppressed. By the time Aunt Wang arrived at Han's house, it was already a mess.
However, Aunt Wang had seen a lot of things before, so she didn't panic after entering the room. She was very clear-headed and rushed everyone into the room, "Get out, don't crowd around here. The room is so small, and if you keep standing here with the pregnant woman, she'll have trouble breathing."
After saying that, he pointed at Chen Lin and said, "Someone come and pull her out. A pregnant woman needs strength to give birth. You're crying in front of her because you're afraid that she won't lose her strength, right?"
After Chen Lin was dragged out, he asked someone to bring in a cup of brown sugar water, put it to Duan Xiaoying's lips and said, "If you don't want to end up with two lives, hold back your tears and cheer up. It's not time to cry yet!"
The military wives who gathered at Han's house were all quick and agile people, but they lacked a backbone. When they entered the house and saw the chaotic scene, they also became chaotic.
Now that an organized person has come and arranged things one by one, everyone gradually calms down and starts working in an orderly manner.
Duan Xiaoying, who was crying non-stop, saw this scene and heard Aunt Wang's words. Her heart finally burst into a desire to live. She clenched her fists to stop her tears and drank brown sugar water in big gulps.
Aunt Wang saw it and said, "That's right. You just started, it's too early for you to give birth. If you cry and scream now, what will you do when the time comes? You should try to eat and drink more now, save some strength, and try to give birth smoothly."
If she were to tell it, these young people just can't handle things. They panic before the critical moment comes and none of them can handle it.
I thought of Su Ting again. I learned from her previous experience and I must not be so unprepared when her baby is born.
…
Aunt Wang came back around five o'clock.
Su Ting had just fallen asleep at that time. Because of the commotion at the Han family, she basically didn't sleep a wink that night. She didn't fall into a deep sleep until four or five o'clock when the Han family quieted down.
Su Ting fell asleep, but He Dongchuan couldn't continue sleeping. It was time for him to get up and go to the camp.
He Dongchuan tiptoed out of the room and closed the door of the master bedroom. He heard the sound of the door being pushed open. He stood there and waited for a while, then saw a figure walking in from outside.
He Dongchuan turned on the light and shouted, "Auntie Wang, Han Bin's wife gave birth?"
Aunt Wang jumped in fright. She squinted her eyes and saw clearly that the person standing in the living room was He Dongchuan. Then she breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's born. It's a big fat boy! Oh, what a tormenting night... Duan Xiaoying and his wife are really careless. One daughter-in-law went out to sea before giving birth, and the other didn't prepare anything and had no plan at all. If it weren't for me, she would have been pregnant."
He Dongchuan also felt that Han Bin was too careless to leave his wife alone at home when she was about to give birth. But after all, this was someone else's business, and she couldn't say anything as an outsider, so she just asked, "Did you help her deliver the baby?"
"What else?" Aunt Wang asked, "Do you know what happened when I went to her house last night? Seven or eight military wives surrounded her, watching her crying. There were so many people, and no one could help. I have experience in delivering babies before, otherwise I don't know what would happen. Xiaochuan, I'm telling you, when your wife gives birth, you have to make plans early, and you can't be so muddleheaded as they are."
He Dongchuan nodded and said, "Xiao Su and I were discussing this last night. We plan to move into the hospital in mid-April."
Although Aunt Wang was from the countryside and had given birth at home and successfully delivered babies, she still felt that it was better to give birth in a hospital and suffer less. After hearing what He Dongchuan said, she said, "It's better to live there in advance."
After the two finished talking, they went their separate ways.
He Dongchuan went into the bathroom to brush his teeth, while Aunt Wang went back to the second bedroom, took off her coat, lifted the quilt, and fell asleep.
…
Even though Aunt Wang took all the credit for Duan Xiaoying's safe birth in front of He Dongchuan, she is really not the kind of person who would show off.
After waking up, she no longer worried about the matter. When Su Ting asked her how she went last night, she just said that everything went well and Duan Xiaoying gave birth to a big fat boy.
Su Ting heard from Yu Xiaofang that Aunt Wang helped with the delivery.
At that time, Yu Xiaofang had just come out of Han's house and was about to go home. On the way, she thought of Su Ting, a pregnant woman, so she limped over to chat with her.
Seeing Su Ting sitting at home peacefully, Yu Xiaofang asked, "Duan Xiaoying just gave birth to a baby today, and many military wives in the compound went to congratulate her. Why don't you go and take a look?"
Su Ting is very self-aware: "With my relationship with her, there's no need for me to come over and cause trouble for her, right?"
"What are you talking about? We live in the same compound, we're neighbors. And if it weren't for your Aunt Wang, Duan Xiaoying wouldn't have been able to give birth to this child. She can't help but be happy to see you."
Su Ting was stunned for a moment and asked, "Auntie Wang? What happened to her?"
Hearing her question, Yu Xiaofang was also stunned: "You don't know yet, do you? Didn't Aunt Wang tell you about what happened last night?"
"She just told me that everything went well and Duan Xiaoying gave birth to a son."
"What do you mean by smooth sailing? Last night, Duan Xiaoying panicked as soon as she got angry. She was crying and gasping for breath. There were seven or eight military wives surrounding her, and we didn't know what to do."
Yu Xiaofang's home was far away, so she heard the noise late. When she went to Han's house, Aunt Wang had already arrived, so she had no pressure to talk about these things. "You said these people, usually talking about things like having children, one is more powerful than the other, but when it comes to the critical moment, none of them can help. It's all thanks to Aunt Wang, otherwise it's not certain whether the Han family will hold a wedding or a funeral today."
Aunt Wang said it so easily that Su Ting really thought that Duan Xiaoying's birth was smooth. She just went to join in the fun, but she didn't expect there were so many things behind it. She murmured, "It's good that mother and child are safe."
"It was your Aunt Wang who gave us the blessing of keeping the mother and child safe. Wait, Han Bin will definitely come to your house with the child to formally thank you when he comes back." Yu Xiaofang said, feeling something was wrong. "Why don't I see Aunt Wang? Is she not at home?"
"She went to Captain Li's house." Su Ting said.
Yu Xiaofang asked in wonder, "Auntie Wang is very familiar with Captain Li's wife?"
Su Ting thought for a moment and said, "It should be considered cooked."
She thought Aunt Wang was an amazing person. She looked old-fashioned in her dress, but perhaps because she had lived in the capital for many years and met progressive people, she had an open mind.
Judging from her appearance, she didn't seem like a social savvy, but within ten days of arriving on the island, she had already gotten to know all the military wives and had established pretty good relationships with many of them.
Just like Captain Li's wife, Su Ting has some background with her. Their family has an electric fan, which she bought with the fan ticket she exchanged from Captain Li by sewing the plane ticket.
But this little connection did not make Su Ting and Captain Li's wife familiar with each other. Until now, the two of them have only greeted each other when they meet, unlike Aunt Wang who gets along well with others.
"What did Aunt Wang do at their house?" Yu Xiaofang asked.
Su Ting replied: "I borrowed their sewing machine to make diapers."
This was Su Ting's mistake.
After finding out she was pregnant, Su Ting would buy something for her baby every time she went to the department store in the city, maybe clothes, shoes, or toys. Over the months, she had saved up a lot of things, which seemed to be enough to cover the baby's clothing for the first few months after birth. But she forgot the most important thing - diapers.
In fact, Su Ting knew that newborn babies needed to use diapers, and that diapers needed to be changed frequently, so she had to prepare a few more.
But Su Ting felt that there was no rush. There was still one or two months before the baby was born, so she had plenty of time to prepare.
It was not until Aunt Wang asked about it two days ago and the two of them started chatting about it that Su Ting realized that preparing only a few diapers was not enough. In Aunt Wang's words, when it comes to diapers, twenty or thirty pieces are not a small number, but forty or fifty pieces are not too many.
So in the past two days, Su Ting and Aunt Wang started to make diapers frantically.
Although the diapers were made from old clothes, it was still too slow to sew them by hand. The two of them could only sew four diapers in a whole day.
Well, Aunt Wang sewed three and Su Ting sewed one.
And this was when Su Ting put down her work and concentrated on sewing diapers, and the seams of the diapers were crooked.
Although there is still some time before Su Ting gives birth, they can't just do this one thing without doing anything else. After some consideration, Aunt Wang thought of the sewing machine in Captain Li's house. While Captain Li's wife didn't need the sewing machine in the morning, she took the old clothes to Li's house to work.
Yu Xiaofang understood and said with emotion: "You are lucky to have Aunt Wang to help you. Otherwise, you will be very busy when the baby is born."
"I'm feeling lucky too." Su Ting said with a smile.
Before Aunt Wang came, Su Ting actually didn't feel that she needed anyone to take care of her. Although her belly had grown bigger and she wasn't as mobile as before, she didn't have to do anything. He Dongchuan swept the floor, washed her clothes, and she could eat in the cafeteria. She just had to take care of herself.
After Aunt Wang came, Su Ting realized that having someone to take care of her really made a difference. She felt much more comfortable during this period than before.
There are also things that need to be prepared for having a baby. Su Ting thought she was quite prepared before, but after talking with Aunt Wang, she realized that there is a difference between having experience and having no experience.
It's been less than half a month, and Su Ting feels more confident about having a baby.
Just as Su Ting was thinking, she heard Yu Xiaofang say, "And from what I saw last night, Auntie Wang is quite experienced in delivering babies. You won't be afraid even if you have a seizure at home."
Su Ting: "...I went to the hospital half a month in advance."
She is terrified, she is afraid of death, she doesn't want to give birth to the baby at home!