Just then, as if sensing something, the little baby on the kang (a heated brick bed) started crying loudly.
Li Shuhe was heavily pregnant and couldn't easily hold the baby, so she was anxiously scrambling around.
"This...this was fine just a moment ago, why did it suddenly start crying?"
Perhaps because of her pregnancy, she was more excited than usual when she saw the baby.
Although Wang Xiuxiu is already a mother, she has never personally raised such a small baby.
When Li Shuhe got anxious, she got anxious too.
But she reacted faster than Li Shuhe, carefully picking up the child on the kang (a heated brick bed) and gently rocking him to soothe him.
"Sweetie, don't cry."
The more she tried to soothe the child, the louder he cried.
At first, Sister Juan remained calm, but as the child's crying grew louder, she wheeled herself forward.
"What's wrong? Are you hungry?"
Sister Juan reached out to hug the child.
Wang Xiuxiu frowned and replied, "You just ate, and you're already hungry?"
Xu Ruantang pursed her lips. "Check if the baby has pooped."
When I put it down and looked at it, it really was true.
After wiping his bottom clean and changing his diaper, the fair-skinned little baby on the kang (heated brick bed) stopped crying.
The people surrounding them visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
Xu Ruantang found it amusing and chuckled softly.
Li Shuhe stood beside her and playfully punched her, "What are you laughing at? We just don't have any experience."
The four people sat around the kang (a heated brick bed). Just as Xu Ruantang was about to ask a question, another relative of the Qiu family came in.
Only women are allowed in.
Some genuinely congratulated Sister Juan, while others looked at her with blatant suspicion, and still others were sarcastic, just like Xu Ruantang had when she saw the two of them at the door.
However, no matter what they said, Sister Juan always deflected their criticisms gently.
They don't care at all.
After everyone had left, Sister Juan finally spoke.
Xu Ruantang finally understood the whole story.
On her way home, she told Chen Ji about it.
"Sister Juan and Brother Qiu have been shuttling between the hospital and the shop for the past two months."
One day, just as she arrived at the hospital entrance, Sister Juan saw a heavily pregnant woman crying. She almost fell over with tears in her eyes, so she asked Brother Qiu to help her up.
It turned out that the woman already had three daughters, and this was her fourth pregnancy. After using connections, they found out it was another girl, so her in-laws made her abort it.
As Xu Ruantang spoke, she unconsciously clenched her fist.
Her face was full of indignation. "That woman's belly is so big, if she doesn't have it now, she might lose both her baby and her child. She cried because she was unlucky to be able to give birth to a boy, and she also cried because if she died, what would happen to her three poor daughters?"
Xu Ruantang glared angrily at Chen Ji, clenching her fist as if to punch her own leg.
Chen Ji stretched out his large hand to block, and Xu Ruantang slammed her fist heavily into Chen Ji's palm, then her entire hand was enveloped by his large hand.
"Then what?"
Chen Ji had already guessed the outcome, but still asked softly.
Xu Ruantang took a breath and continued, "Then Sister Juan made a deal with the woman."
Although if it were her, she definitely wouldn't have done that.
But everyone has their own choices, and Sister Juan chose to save the child and the woman.
"She discussed it with Brother Qiu and asked the family if they could wait a few months since the baby was due to be born, and then they would take the baby after it was born."
Of course, the family demanded money.
Sister Juan only made one request: she would give the money to that woman.
The baby was born a month premature. When the baby was born, the family notified Sister Juan and Qiu Liang, and the two of them went to pick up the baby.
The family didn't even glance at the child before handing him over to Sister Juan.
Sister Juan had always said she wanted to adopt a child, but she never expected the child to come into her life in this way.
She is very happy and has been much more active in her leg rehabilitation recently.
Qiu Liang was also very happy.
It's not that no one makes sarcastic remarks; they simply think that since the child isn't their own, how could they be close to them?
Or perhaps they feel that their biological parents are still around, and maybe they will go back to their biological parents when they grow up.
I feel that Sister Juan and Qiu Liang have spent money and effort, but in the end they will only be happy for nothing.
Xu Ruantang knew very well that this might be the reality.
Many children raised by adoptive parents later traveled thousands of miles to find their biological parents.
What those people said wasn't entirely unreasonable.
But she couldn't persuade Sister Juan; she just felt indignant.
"If it were me, I would recognize whoever is good to me and who raised me. Does blood relation really matter that much?"
She didn't understand those who insisted on tracing their roots and muttered to herself while clinging to Chen Ji's arm.
“I would never go looking for my biological parents. They don’t want me anymore and even tried to abort me. They don’t deserve my recognition.”
Xu Ruantang didn't understand those people's thought processes.
Chen Ji naturally didn't understand either.
Because they are the same type of people, both of them have strong likes and dislikes, otherwise they wouldn't be sleeping in the same bed.
Regardless, Sister Juan and Brother Qiu have decided to raise the child as their own, and Xu Ruantang is only happy for them.
Sister Juan's life has gained some more hope.
Isn't life all about moving forward with a series of hopes and expectations?
After Xu Ruantang quit her job at the dessert shop, she had more free time.
With Li Shuhe's cousin Wang Qiuhong looking after the clothing store, business is getting better and better.
Despite being heavily pregnant, Li Shuhe frequently visited the store and hired several employees.
This was her first time doing business, and she was so engrossed in it that she couldn't stop, putting more effort into it than she had ever done anything before.
Gradually, Xu Ruantang stopped interfering and let Li Shuhe do it.
She spends most of her time at home reading, or writing and drawing.
On one occasion, he wrote a short story on a whim, showed it to Chen Ji, and then sent it to the newspaper.
She didn't have high hopes; she just wrote it because she felt like it.
To my surprise, not long after, I received a reply from the newspaper, along with the payment for the article.
Although it wasn't much, it was enough to make her happy for a while.
During that period, Wang Xiuxiu and the others often came over.
When the weather isn't too cold, we'll have barbecue in the yard.
Several men were busy with their tasks, while the women gathered together to play with the children and gossip.
As the weather got colder, the battleground shifted to the main room, where they ate hot pot.
Life was exceptionally comfortable.
Since Li Shuyang became Huan Molin's master, this strange combination of Li Shuyang, Huan Molin, and Huan Yuanliang has often come to Xu Ruantang's courtyard.
Huan Yuanliang's mood visibly improved.
Every time he comes, he spends half a day looking at Huan Molin's paintings, and like an old father, he repeatedly asks those around him to appreciate his son's paintings as well.
"Teacher Li said that this child is a rare talent, one in a hundred, and may become a master of calligraphy and painting in the future!"
In this way, Huan Yuanliang could repeat it more than ten times a day, and everyone was tired of hearing it.
"Is there no lamb today?"
As he spoke, Huan Yuanliang glanced at the meat on the table. "How can we have hot pot without mutton?! Wait here, I'll go buy some now!"
He tried to get up, but Chen Ji stopped him.
"No, there can't be anything with a fishy smell on the table."
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