Chapter 51
The development of events last night deviated seriously from expectations. After Jiang Yao woke up the next day, she did not forget to pull Lu Che to discuss the child's physical development.
"Every child develops differently. You said Changchang is stupid because he still can't speak. But Xiaolu is slower than him in learning to walk. Are you going to scold your daughter too?" Jiang Yao asked.
"Of course not. Girls aren't that strong, and that's understandable," Lu Che said hurriedly.
"Look at yourself. You are a world-famous double standardist. You are lenient with your daughter, but extremely harsh with your son." Jiang Yao rolled her eyes at him. "If you can be half as patient with Changchang as you are with Xiaolu, I will be thankful."
"..." Lu Che also knew that he was biased, and said guiltily, "Changchang is the older brother, he should walk in front, otherwise how can he protect his younger sister in the future."
"He's still a baby, okay?" Jiang Yao was speechless. "When he grows up, at least when he's in elementary school, you can tell him to protect his sister. But now he can't even protect himself, and he's always bullied by his dad. How can you ask him to protect others?"
Boss Lu was completely speechless now, and could only quietly admit his mistake, "I will pay attention next time, but sometimes I just can't help it, wife, remember to remind me more often."
As he said that, he took advantage of the situation and hugged her again, "From now on, I'll rely on you to supervise me."
Jiang Yao pushed him in disdain. "You don't have to act like a good kid here. If you really want to change your ways, you should start by treating both sides equally. Not to mention that you are too strict with Changchang, but your endless doting on Xiaolu will spoil her in the future. You will regret it."
"If I don't love my daughter, am I waiting for some other brat to love her and snatch her away?" Lu Che said halfway as a matter of course, but when he saw Jiang Yao's sharp eyes, he immediately stopped talking and lowered his voice by half, "I will adjust, but you have to give me some time."
“……”Forget it, this crazy girl-loving man is beyond help.
After breakfast, Jiang Yao and Lu Che went to the hospital first to check on Zhu Xia's condition.
When they walked into the ward, Zhang Dong was holding a baby in his arms, smiling so hard that his eyes became a line.
It turned out that Zhu Xia successfully unloaded the cargo at five in the morning.
At this moment, she was lying weakly on the bed, but her pale face could not hide the joy of being a mother for the first time.
"How do you feel now?" Jiang Yao walked over and asked Zhu Xia.
"I still feel a little uncomfortable, but it's much better than when I gave birth." Zhu Xia smiled slightly.
"It will be much better after the uterus finishes contracting." Jiang Yao wanted to see the baby after she finished speaking. Upon hearing this, Zhang Dong immediately handed the baby in his arms to her like a treasure and said proudly, "Jiang Yao, my daughter is beautiful. Others are wrinkled like old men, but she is chubby and cute."
As soon as the voice fell, Zhang's mother, who had been silent in the background, suddenly spoke up, "You can't praise a child. How can she be pretty? She is just an ugly girl."
In many places, there is a custom that children cannot be praised, but Zhang's mother's tone and expression clearly showed that she was using this as an excuse to express her dislike for the new granddaughter.
Even though she had prepared herself mentally, Zhu Xia was still heartbroken when her mother-in-law expressed her disgust towards her daughter mercilessly.
Her face also darkened. Seeing this, Zhang Dong immediately said to Zhang's mother, "Mom, go home and cook some food and bring it over. Zhu Xia and I are hungry."
"I understand." Zhang's mother stood up reluctantly.
Having given birth to a loss-making baby, she really had no intention of taking care of Zhu Xia during her confinement. However, instead of sulking here over such a loss-making baby, it would be better to go home and pretend that she didn't see anything.
"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you." As soon as Zhang's mother left, Zhang Dong said to Jiang Yao and Lu Che with a little embarrassment.
"It's okay." Jiang Yao waved her hands and didn't bother to look after the child. She held Zhu Xia's hand and said, "Don't think too much, and don't get angry. It's not worth it to get yourself upset."
"Yeah." Zhu Xia nodded slightly.
"It's getting late. Lu Che and I will go back to work first." Jiang Yao stood up and said to Zhang Dong, "If you can't help, tell me. I'll come and help after get off work."
"Don't worry, I'm fine. You guys should leave quickly, or you'll be late."
After leaving the hospital, Jiang Yao said, "It looks like Zhu Xia will have a hard time in the future. Zhang Dong's mother's face has changed 180 degrees."
"There's nothing wrong with having a daughter, and it's not Zhu Xia's fault either." Lu Che said, "I don't know why you have to have a son. It's not like the family has a mountain of gold and silver to inherit."
When Jiang Yao heard this, he thought of his future business empire and asked, "If you have mountains of gold and silver, do you have to let your son inherit it?"
"certainly."
"Heh... you're still talking about Zhang Dong's mother. I think you're also a son-in-law at heart, and loving Xiaolu is just a superficial act."
"What superficial effort?" Lu Che was a little unhappy. "If there is a real gold mountain, someone has to guard it. The person guarding it must be Chang Chang. Are we going to let Xiaolu guard it? Xiaolu is so delicate. She should just stay at home and enjoy herself."
"..." Oh, she really misunderstood him. Changchang was really pitiful. In his father's eyes, he was nothing more than a tool.
As they were talking, they had already returned to the Lu family to pick up the brother and sister to go to the nursery.
The old lady led Changchang and Xiaolu out. Lu Che picked up Changchang and let him sit on the chair tied to the bicycle pole, while Jiang Yao sat behind him holding Xiaolu.
Lu Che pushed his foot and the bicycle slowly moved forward.
Changchang was the happiest at this time. He sat in the front seat, enjoying the "speed and passion" of this era.
"Do you think we should buy another bicycle?" Jiang Yao asked, "This one is almost not big enough for us."
It is very common to have two adults and two children on one bicycle these days, but she still feels unsafe.
With Boss Lu's current financial ability, it is certainly not a problem to buy another bicycle. Even if there is no ticket, he can get one through special channels in the provincial capital. He just lets Jiang Yao ride a bicycle to and from the city by herself. It's okay once or twice, but he is not very reassured if it happens frequently. "Can you ride it out by yourself?"
"Of course." Jiang Yao wanted to say that she knew how to ride a bicycle when she was five years old. She was a real "experienced driver". Nowadays, most bicycles are 28 inches, which is a bit high, but with her height of 1.7 meters, it is not a problem for her to control it flexibly.
"Don't worry, my driving skills are definitely fine." Jiang Yao knew he wouldn't agree easily, and added, "Changchang and Xiaolu are in the nursery now, and we don't plan to have another child. Nai is alone at home all day and isn't familiar with the neighbors. She's actually very bored, but she doesn't dare to say it in front of us."
"If we had two bicycles, we could take grandma with us and go play with the kids nearby during the holidays." Jiang Yao said, "Even if we don't mention this, we can just go once when we go back to Qingyuan Village, and you don't have to make two trips."
"That seems to be the case." Lu Che was persuaded. "Next time I go to the provincial capital, I'll see if there are any 26-inch ones. 28 inches is too high and not safe."
"Okay!"
Half a month later, Lu Che had a holiday. In the morning, he took the earliest bus to the provincial capital, and when he came back in the evening, he rode back a brand new 26-inch bicycle.
Because he basically takes a car to go to the provincial capital now, and he did not reveal in advance that he had found the source of bicycles, Jiang Yao was still very surprised when she saw this new bicycle.
Changchang and Xiaolu were equally curious and were circling around the bicycle. Lu Che carried the brother and sister to the back seat, making them laugh. Xiaolu kept yelling "go, go, go", just wanting dad to go out for a ride on the bicycle.
"You guys go out and have some fun and come back. The dinner isn't ready yet." The old lady was happy to see that the family had a new car.
"Okay, let's go for a walk along the river and come back." Lu Che said.
After placing the two children in place one in front and one in the back, Jiang Yao sat in the back seat and Lu Che pedaled off.
The bike was a little short for Lu Che, but it was just right for Jiang Yao. Lu Che didn't have to worry about her toes touching the ground because the bike was too high, so he said, "Next week is your day off, so you can take your baby and the other two back to Qingyuan on your bike."
In fact, they had hardly been back to Qingyuan since they moved to the county town. The original idea was very beautiful, saying that they would go back to stay overnight on Saturday, but in reality, Lu Che had been waiting for a day off, and he went to the provincial capital to pick up the goods without stopping, so he had no time to go back.
"Okay, I'll take grandma back home on holiday next week. She must be missing the old house." Jiang Yao said.
"Wife, thank you for your hard work." Lu Che said, "I will try to get more goods in the next two months. When the weather turns cooler in September, our family of five will go on an outing together."
"Maybe not." Jiang Yao said, "When the seasons change, children are most likely to get sick. There are many infants and young children in the nursery, and they are very young. I think it will be very busy by then."
What Jiang Yao said was really spot on. As soon as the eighth month of the lunar calendar arrived, the scorching heat faded away, the weather became cool in the morning and evening and hot at noon. The temperature difference was large, and many children in the nursery fell ill.
It is ideal for sick children not to go to school.
But ideals are full of hope and reality is very skinny. Not to mention the 1970s, even in the 2020s, there are many cases where children are still sent to kindergarten when they are sick, because parents have to go to work and there is no one at home. Where else can the children be sent to kindergarten? Parents can't take leave every few days, unless they don't want to do it anymore.
However, Jiang Yao had anticipated this situation, so she cleared out two small classrooms in advance, gathered the sick children together, and assigned several caregivers to take care of them.
In addition, the nursery will be disinfected every day after school, and parents will be informed that their children must take a bath and change into clean clothes every day. If this cannot be done, they should not send their children to the nursery.
With the joint efforts of many parties, when the weather entered late autumn, the children's bodies also successfully changed seasons. However, as it gets colder day by day, children need to be careful to keep warm.
If the child is the eldest in the family, their clothes are usually new, but if they are the second, third, or youngest, their clothes are usually handed down from the eldest.
Jiang Yao does not make any requirements on the style of their clothes or whether they have patches, but if the children's clothes are too old and not warm enough, she will talk to their parents and ask them to buy them new clothes.
Her request seemed a bit harsh. After all, this was an era when people were not well fed and clothed. For those who went to nurseries, at least one of their parents was an employee of a mechanical and electrical factory. No matter how poor they were, they were not poorer than the farmers working in the fields. In most cases, people were used to saving money and thought their children grew up fast, so they were reluctant to buy new ones.
"Let's eat less meat for two meals and make new clothes for the children. They will be warm and will get sick less often."
"If there are fewer illnesses, less money will be sent to the hospital. This money must be spent, but it depends on where to spend it."
“Instead of saving money, why not make the child more comfortable?”
Lawyer Jiang has used this well-traveled tongue of his and has defeated countless colleagues in the past. Now, facing a few young parents, how could he not be convinced?
Of course, after the children are dressed in warm clothes, she also strictly requires the nursery teachers to add or remove clothes for the children according to the temperature at different times of the day and night. They should not be lazy just because they have to do it a few more times, otherwise the children will catch a cold due to overheating or overcooling.
Thanks to her efforts and those of the childcare workers, the physical condition of many children in the nursery has improved a lot compared to when they first entered the nursery. At the end of this semester, many parents wrote letters to Director Li to praise Jiang Yao and the childcare workers.
Although the nursery's opening hours are basically the same as those of the electromechanical factory, after being busy for half a year, as the Spring Festival is approaching, the nursery will be closed on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month and will reopen on the 6th day of the first lunar month.
After finally waiting for the ten-day holiday, Jiang Yao wanted to prepare for the Spring Festival with her two children. However, Director Li "would not let her go" and called her back.
"Director Li, do you have something to talk to me about?" Jiang Yao asked as she walked into Director Li's office.
"Please sit down first." Director Li said with a smile.
Jiang Yao sat down as she was told, and then she heard Director Li say, "Jiang Yao, I am very satisfied with your performance in the nursery over the past six months. My husband, Mr. Wu, even said last night that I have a sharp eye and picked you right away."
"Thank you for the compliments, Director and Factory Manager. However, the smooth progress of my work still relies on your support." Jiang Yao said the truth. Director Li really trusted her and let her do her job freely. At the same time, he was very supportive of her and tried his best to meet any requests she made.
"This is also part of our job, so I don't want to take credit for it." Director Li waved his hand and said, "Actually, I came here today because I have something else to discuss with you."
"What is it? Tell me."
Director Li: "Our nursery is very successful and was commended at the county's year-end summary meeting. The leaders above intend to continue the pilot program in our factory and plan to set up a factory-run kindergarten in the spring of next year."
"That's great." Jiang Yao said with a smile, "Now the nursery only accepts children under 3 years old. Many parents asked me when they can accept children over 3 years old. After all, they are still too young. If possible, of course they don't want to leave them at home."
"You think it's a good idea, right?" Director Li said with a sly look in his eyes, "Then how about I give the task of organizing it to you?"
"Me?" Jiang Yao was surprised.
"Is it so strange?" Director Li said, "You have set up our nursery little by little. You have experience and courage. Now, running a kindergarten should be no problem for you."
"That's true." Jiang Yao smiled, "I'm just a little flattered that you and Director Wu trust me so much."
"You are a little young, but your actual ability shows that you can be trusted." Director Li said: "Preparing for a kindergarten is only the first step. Once the kindergarten is on track, I plan to hand over the nursery and kindergarten to you for unified management. By then, you can train a few people and take full control."
From being the head of a nursery team to managing an entire nursery and kindergarten, this is undoubtedly a huge achievement in career. Although Jiang Yao felt that the pressure on her shoulders was a bit heavy, she still accepted it without hesitation.
"Since Director Li thinks highly of me, I will obey your orders." Jiang Yao said, "I will do my best to live up to your trust."
"Okay." Director Li patted her shoulder and said with some emotion: "In the past six months, the electromechanical factory has developed very fast. Fortunately, you are my 'logistics minister', otherwise I can't take care of it. Next year, the electromechanical factory will develop faster and better. In order to allow our employees to better devote themselves to production work, I'm troubled by you."
"No trouble, it's my duty."
Lu Che was still at work when Jiang Yao left. She ran to the workshop to dig him out and told him the news.
Taking care of the nursery and setting up a kindergarten at the same time, her work next year will definitely be extremely busy. He has to work overtime for his research, so he will have less time to take care of the family. She is not sure whether he supports her decision.
She asked nervously, "Will you agree?"
She was always confident in front of him most of the time, and rarely was she uncertain. He couldn't help teasing her, "If I don't agree, you won't go?"
"..." Jiang Yao was 80% sure that he would support her unconditionally. She didn't expect that the question would be thrown back to her now. She was speechless for a moment. It was not right to go, and it was not right not to go.
Seeing her smiling face, Lu Che couldn't bear to tease her any more, so he said, "Don't worry, Changchang and Xiaolu will go to work with you anyway. Besides, in the long run, it's a good thing to set up a kindergarten. The little ones will be two years old in a few months, and going to kindergarten is just around the corner. Setting up a kindergarten is also a way for us to prepare for a rainy day."
Jiang Yao heard this and a big smile appeared on her face. "Thank you for supporting me so much."
"Silly girl!" Jiang Yao touched her head and said, "Do we still need to say thank you to each other? Also, I've said before that I will always support you, and I will keep my promise and will not regret it."
"I know!" He didn't say a word of love, but this sentence was more touching than love words. Jiang Yao was moved. In order to hide her strangeness, she changed the subject and said, "Don't touch my head anymore. I'm a small leader after all. If others see me, they will laugh at me."
Lu Che took his hand back and whispered in her ear, "I want to kiss you more than touch your head."
"..." Jiang Yao blushed in shame and glared at him angrily, "Pay attention to your influence. I'm leaving now. I plan to buy some food and invite Zhu Xia and the others to dinner tonight. You should be in charge, Comrade Zhang Dong."
"Okay." Lu Che agreed with a smile, "Be careful when riding your bike."
"I know, you still treat me as a child."
"You are more worrying to me than a child."
"..." Good boy, now you don't need to draft your words when you're telling sweet stories.
Jiang Yao stopped talking nonsense with him and turned to the bicycle shed. Then she rode her bicycle to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought some meat, bones and offal, planning to treat Zhang Dong and Zhu Xia to a good feast tonight.
After buying the ingredients, she rode her bike home and stopped by Zhu Xia's house on the way to inform her to come over for dinner that night.
Zhu Xia now lives not far from Jiang Yao, because she and Zhang Dong rented a house and moved out after the confinement period.
Originally, they still held out a glimmer of hope for Zhang's mother, but she disappointed them. Not only did she not pay any attention to Zhu Xia and her daughter Tongtong during the confinement period, she was also sarcastic and mocking at everything.
Zhang Dong didn't know about it at first because Zhu Xia didn't want to tell him for fear that she would be accused of alienating the relationship between them. Until one time when he left something at work and came back to get it, he heard Zhang's mother insulting Zhu Xia, and it was extremely ugly.
He felt sorry for Zhu Xia, had a big fight with Zhang's mother, and then decided to move out.
Of course Zhang's mother was unwilling. Zhang Dong was her youngest and most beloved son. Now he refused to live with her for the sake of a woman, a daughter who was a loss. She made all kinds of trouble, but Zhang Dong was determined. His brothers and sisters-in-law also hoped that they would move out, and finally they succeeded in renting a house.
Although they lived separately, Zhang Dong and Zhu Xia did not dare to make things too ugly. They would still go back to Zhang's house during holidays and festivals.
Zhang's mother later thought this was a good idea and stopped making a fuss, but she would always urge the baby to give birth every time they went back.
When Zhu Xia heard that Jiang Yao was inviting her to dinner tonight, her first reaction was, "To celebrate your Lu Che's promotion, right?"
"He got promoted? When did it happen? Why haven't I heard about it?" Jiang Yao asked puzzled.
"You don't know?" Now it was Zhu Xia's turn to be puzzled. "Zhang Dong told me last night that Lu Che will be promoted from a small group leader to a big group leader after the new year, responsible for leading several small groups. At that time, his salary and subsidies will also increase accordingly."
"I really don't know." Jiang Yao said: "I just came back from the electromechanical factory and met with him, but he didn't tell me."
"Maybe your Lu Che wants to give you a big surprise!" Zhu Xia said.
"... Maybe." Jiang Yao knew this man too well. A surprise was a surprise, but he would definitely use it to get some benefits for himself. Of course, she couldn't tell Zhu Xia this.
Zhu Xia: "Since you didn't know Lu Che was going to be promoted, why did you invite us to dinner tonight?"
"Of course I have a request for you." Jiang Yao said with a smile, "The electromechanical factory is going to set up a kindergarten next year. Director Li said that this task should be given to me. I will have less time and energy to devote to the nursery. I plan to let you be the leader of the childcare team."
"Can I... do it?" Zhu Xia was surprised and happy.
"Of course you can, but everyone knows that you and I have a good relationship, so we have to compete fairly, otherwise it will be easy for people to gossip about you, and it will be difficult for you to convince others in the future. You have to work hard, I am rooting for you."
"Okay, I will work hard and won't let you down." Zhu Xia's eyes were filled with excitement. "If I become the team leader, I will be able to stand up straight in my mother-in-law's house in the future."
"Yes, only when a woman is financially independent can she avoid being bullied."
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