"Yuwei, is Yuwei home?"
Jiang Yuwei went outside when she heard the noise in the courtyard:
"I'm at home, Aunt Zhang, what brings you here?"
When Aunt Zhang saw Jiang Yuwei come out, she happily took her hand and smiled, saying:
"My daughter Xiaoman is having her 100-day celebration today, and I've come especially to invite you to dinner. You're a great benefactor to my daughter, so you absolutely must be there!"
Jiang Yuwei smiled:
"What benefactor or not? We live next door to each other. Anyone who sees this should lend a hand."
Aunt Zhang quickly waved her hand and said:
"Hey, you can't say that. Even if someone else saw it, they wouldn't dare to help deliver the baby. Our whole family will remember your kindness for the rest of our lives. You must come over at noon. If the people in your courtyard don't mind, they can come along and have some fun. The more people, the merrier."
Jiang Yuwei nodded and smiled:
"Okay, we'll come over to help you as soon as we've finished our work in the yard."
Aunt Zhang was very happy to see that Jiang Yuwei had agreed. She said goodbye to her and went to deliver the letter to someone else's house.
Jiang Yuwei found a new set of clothes for Ning Wan to change into, and then told Ning Huaizhi to go back to his room to change as well.
“Huaizhi, we’re going to Aunt Zhang’s house for a feast later. We won’t be cooking lunch at home. Let’s take the idiot with us. Wash his face; it’s not good to bring him there all dirty.”
Ning Huai reluctantly grunted an "Mmm" and went inside to change his clothes.
Jiang Yuwei went to the backyard again to tell Ning Daya and the others that Tiezhu and Ning Wu were also going over for lunch, so Daya wouldn't be left out.
"Da Ya, once you've finished with what you need to do in the backyard, head over there first. Remember to feed the cattle and sheep some grass before you leave."
After giving her instructions, Jiang Yuwei returned to the front yard, changed her clothes, and took out a piece of new gray-blue fabric from the trunk. She planned to give it to Xiaoyun so that she could make clothes for Xiaoman. Jiang Yuwei thought that with so many people visiting her home, giving just one piece of fabric would be too little. So she took out two large rabbit skins from the cabinet where she kept animal skins, wrapped them up, and prepared to send them to Aunt Zhang's house.
Now the chickens, ducks, and geese in the backyard have all started laying eggs. Jiang Yuwei took a basket to the backyard and collected all the eggs laid that day before calling Ning Huaizhi over:
"Huaizhi, are you all ready? There are a lot of people from Aunt Zhang's family today, let's go over and help them out as soon as possible."
Then, the fool pushed Ning Huaizhi's wheelchair out of the side room. Jiang Yuwei didn't know what method Ning Huaizhi had used to make this arrogant fool listen to him so obediently.
Jiang Yuwei carefully examined the cleaned-up fool and found that his eyebrows and eyes were somewhat similar to Ning Huaizhi's. When she picked him up from the hillside that day, she felt that he looked familiar, which was why she decided to save him. Now that he was standing next to Ning Huaizhi, the two did look quite alike.
“Huaizhi, have you noticed that this idiot looks a bit like you?”
Ning Huaizhi frowned, looked back at the fool pushing his wheelchair, pondered for a moment, and nodded:
"They do look somewhat alike, except he's not as good-looking as me."
Jiang Yuwei sighed, "Men..."
Ning Wan had been itching to go see her little brother at Aunt Zhang's house today, and she couldn't wait any longer. She tugged at Jiang Yuwei's sleeve and said anxiously:
"Mother, are you ready? Let's hurry over there."
Jiang Yuwei looked at Ning Wan standing at her feet and smiled:
"Alright, alright, let's go now."
Having said that, he picked up Ning Wan and gestured for the fool to come with him. But the fool turned his head away, refusing to even look at him. Seeing this, Ning Huaizhi said in a deep voice:
"Idiot, push me out."
Upon hearing Ning Huaizhi's words, the fool acted as if a puppet had received a command, immediately pushing his wheelchair out.
Jiang Yuwei shook her head helplessly, locked the courtyard gate behind her, and then led Ning Wan to Aunt Zhang's house.
The group quickly arrived at Aunt Zhang's courtyard, which was already crowded with people. Jiang Yuwei first settled Ning Huaizhi and Ning Wan's group before going inside to find Xiao Yun, who was looking after the children.
"Xiaoyun, this is some fabric I brought for Xiaoman. Your needlework is better than mine, so you can make him some clothes later. There are also rabbit furs. I specially picked out two large ones for you. You can keep them to make winter clothes for the child, which can be worn for several years. These eggs are for you. Even though you've finished your confinement period, you should take good care of yourself. Taking care of a child is not easy, so don't neglect yourself."
Xiao Yun held Jiang Yuwei's hand, her eyes reddening:
"Sister Yuwei, I'm so glad you could come today. Why did you bring so much stuff? The other day, Tianhe spoke so carelessly, I thought... I thought you wouldn't be associated with us anymore."
Jiang Yuwei patted Xiaoyun's hand and smiled:
"Don't think too much about it. I didn't take that day to heart at all. As the saying goes, a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. We live next door to each other, so it's only right that we help each other out when needed. Just relax."
As the two were talking, they heard a commotion in the courtyard:
"Where's my daughter? My daughter! Xiaoyun! Mother's here!"
Jiang Yuwei turned to look at Xiaoyun, only to see that she had heard the shouts outside the courtyard and immediately became tense, her hands holding the child tightening unconsciously. Jiang Yuwei was about to ask Xiaoyun what was wrong.
Then a short, plump old woman rushed in from outside the courtyard. She was wearing patched clothes and had her hair tied up in a round bun on top of her head. Half of her hair was white, but she had an inappropriate bright red peony flower stuck behind her ear.
Jiang Yuwei frowned as she looked at the woman in front of her. Her outfit was really quite shocking. As soon as the old woman entered the house, she went straight to Xiaoyun.
“My dear daughter, you’re quite something. You gave birth to a boy right away. Why didn’t you tell your mother first? I could have come and helped you during your postpartum period.”
Xiaoyun glanced warily at her mother and stammered:
"No, no need. My mother-in-law is taking good care of me, so there's no need to trouble you."
At this moment, Aunt Zhang followed nervously into the house. Upon seeing Xiaoyun's mother, she rushed forward, grabbed her arm, and said with a forced smile:
"Grandma Xu, look how anxious you are. There will be plenty of time to look after the child later. Come on, let's go outside and sit down. We'll be having a feast soon."
When Granny Xu saw Aunt Zhang, her face immediately turned cold. She flung her hand away and said coldly:
"Hmph, you all kept it a secret from me when my daughter gave birth to a big, healthy boy, without asking anyone to tell me. If it weren't for Xu's wife, Ning Yunyun, telling me today that her mother was coming to our house for the baby's 100-day celebration, I wouldn't have known about this at all!"
Jiang Yuwei frowned. Why was Ning Yunyun always getting involved? Thinking this, she glanced outside the courtyard and saw Chen Guixiang sitting next to Ning Huaizhi with Sun Shi, whispering something to him.
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