Chapter 291: Chapter 291: All About Having Babies

Gu Qinghuan asked the doctor a few more questions about what she should pay attention to, and when she could go home.

The doctor said that although she had a premature birth, she was sent in on time and didn’t suffer too much during labor. After a few IV drips, she could go home to rest and recover the next morning.

But since the weather was still hot, she needed to keep the wound ventilated and not cover it up. In ten days to half a month, she could start cleaning with mugwort water.

When Gu Qinghuan returned to the ward, Yan Lijun was already awake. Under Lin Xiaomeng’s guidance, she was breastfeeding her baby for the first time.

Xu Huaiyu had just finished paying the hospital fees and came back muttering that it would’ve been cheaper to listen to his mother and get a midwife from the village. Having a baby in the hospital was so expensive.

Actually, it wasn’t that expensive, just pricier than hiring a midwife. But he kept grumbling on and on.

Xu Huaizhi simply dragged him outside for a lecture.

Gu Qinghuan wanted to comfort Yan Lijun, but seeing how unfazed she looked, she decided not to say anything.

Yan Lijun’s whole heart was focused on her son. She didn’t spare Xu Huaiyu a single extra glance—he didn’t deserve it.

She and her child had just survived a brush with death. From now on, she would never pin her hopes on anyone else.

If Xu Huaiyu wanted to leave, so be it. She could raise the child on her own.

People always say that motherhood makes women strong. She didn’t even know where her courage and determination came from.

By the time everything was tidied up, it was already past ten at night.

Gu Qinghuan reminded Xu Huaiyu about the things to watch out for when caring for a new mother, not caring whether he listened or not—it was his responsibility, after all.

She arranged for Xu Huaiyu to stay and look after Yan Lijun and the baby, and left the handcart for them to use to bring mother and child home the next day.

Xu Huaizhi took Lin Xiaomeng and Gu Qinghuan back home.

The commune hospital was small and couldn’t accommodate so many people overnight. Besides, there were children at home—they had to go back.

On the way, Gu Qinghuan was absent-minded and even tripped over a stone, falling flat on her face. Luckily, it was nighttime and no one saw, or it would have been embarrassing.

Lin Xiaomeng noticed something was on her mind and tentatively asked, “What’s wrong? Are you thinking about what happened with the third brother’s family?”

“Yes, but not just that,” Gu Qinghuan replied vaguely.

“Sister-in-law, after you gave birth to Dacheng, did you have issues like incontinence or uterine prolapse?”

Lin Xiaomeng immediately understood why she’d been so distracted.

“Of course I did. The Xu family was so inconsiderate. After I gave birth to Dacheng, my husband stayed home to help for a few days, and things were okay then.

But as soon as he left, his mother insisted I get up and cook, as if the family had never eaten before I married in.

It wasn’t just incontinence. I had to hold the baby all night, my back ached, my hair fell out in clumps—I thought I was going bald, but thankfully it grew back.

As a new mom, I didn’t know anything. My mother-in-law never told me a thing; I had to figure it all out myself. Any hardship she’d suffered, she made sure I suffered ten times over.

I had plenty of milk, and when the baby was just born, he didn’t drink much, so it built up.

I didn’t know you had to express the extra milk, so I just let it sit there. After one night, my breasts were as hard as rocks, swollen all the way to my armpits, with a huge lump that wouldn’t budge.

When the baby was hungry, he couldn’t get any milk out no matter how hard he tried.

I asked other women in the village who’d given birth, and they said it was engorgement—I had to massage it out and express the extra milk, or else my breasts would get inflamed and infected.

Massaging my breasts was excruciating. I still remember it—I was crying my eyes out as I massaged, and the pain was almost as bad as giving birth.

After childbirth, you’re weak and depleted, sweating all the time if you’re not careful.

On the surface, everything seems the same, but only you know how much you’ve changed.”

As Lin Xiaomeng spoke, Xu Huaizhi listened intently. Hearing about the suffering his wife had endured, he looked at her with a hint of guilt and affection.

Back then, he was young and focused on work, not realizing how hard it was for Lin Xiaomeng to be home alone.

He’d also trusted his mother too much, never imagining she’d make things so hard for her daughter-in-law.

Thankfully, things were slowly getting better now.

Gu Qinghuan looked horrified.

“It’s really that bad? Then why do so many women still have children? And not just one, but several?”

Isn’t that just risking your life for nothing?

“Do women here have any choice? Everyone believes the more children, the better. You need sons to carry on the family line and to look after you in old age.

No one ever thinks about how much pain the woman who bears the child has to endure.

But I don’t regret having Dacheng. When you have your own child one day, you’ll understand.

A life that comes from you, yet is completely different—you watch them grow, and because of them, you become braver and stronger. That’s how you transform from a girl into a mother.

When I was just a girl, I’d cry over the smallest things. But after becoming a mother, I feel like there’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Gu Qinghuan understood, but not completely.

Just like Yan Lijun, who had just given birth—only a few months ago, when she married in, she was still a somewhat naive girl.

Now, for her child, she was incredibly strong.

Her actions today had made everyone see her in a new light.

Motherhood makes women strong. The journey from girl to mother is destined to be hard, but it’s also filled with happiness.

Gu Qinghuan couldn’t fully grasp it yet, but she thought that if one day she and Xu Huaian could have a child together, she’d probably be very happy too.

With Yan Lijun’s situation settled, there wasn’t much more they could do to help.

They’d only stepped in yesterday because it was a matter of life and death.

After all, it was someone else’s family business. They could help for a while, but not forever. The road ahead was one Yan Lijun would have to walk herself.

No one in this world is obligated to help anyone else—it all comes down to conscience.

The next day, Xu Huaiyu pushed Yan Lijun and the baby home, happily telling everyone along the way that he had a son now.

The newborn was a bit weak, but since he was a boy, Xu Mingshan and Liu Guifang were delighted and treated mother and child much better.

Though they kept complaining that the baby was too skinny.

“You call me lazy for eating two pounds of cornmeal—how am I supposed to put on weight? Easy for you to say!” Yan Lijun shot back.

She wasn’t afraid of Liu Guifang anymore. At worst, they could go their separate ways—she’d already given birth, so what was there to fear?

For the sake of her grandson, Liu Guifang didn’t say much, happily going off to cook red eggs. The eggs they’d prepared before had been given to Xu Meiling, so there were only a few left.

She even went to the village to buy more eggs. Adding a new member to the family was a big event.

Because the baby was so frail, Grandpa Xu Mingshan named him Xu Jian (“Healthy”).

Yan Lijun also hoped her child would be healthy and safe, so she didn’t object to the name.

She gave the baby a nickname too—Zhuangzhuang (“Strong”).

Liu Guifang sent Xu Huaiyu with red eggs to Yan Lijun’s parents’ house to share the good news. Only then did the Yan family find out their daughter had given birth.

Yan Lijun hadn’t had much contact with her family for over half a year. She felt awkward, and with no time to visit, she hadn’t even gone to see her sister-in-law when she had a son, afraid it would upset her.

This time, after she gave birth, she didn’t expect anyone from her family to come. But in the end, the whole family showed up, even her sister-in-law with her baby.

They brought plenty of gifts, and Yan’s mother even bought a pigeon to make nourishing soup for her daughter.

Their attitude couldn’t be faulted.

They’d come partly to mend the relationship. After all, they’d raised their daughter—she couldn’t be treated like an enemy forever.

Liu Guifang certainly wasn’t going to turn away gifts, so she played the gracious host.

Even if she was a bit cold, the Yan family knew they were in the wrong and could only put up with it.

Yan’s mother saw her daughter so thin she was just skin and bones, and her little grandson just as frail. She burst into tears, crying that her daughter had suffered.

In the past, Yan Lijun might have been moved, but now that she was a mother herself, she realized her own mother didn’t really love her—or at least, not enough.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have forced her into this situation just to raise money for her younger brother’s wedding.

Before leaving, Yan’s mother repeatedly told Liu Guifang to make sure Yan Lijun got all the nourishing food she’d brought.

That night, Liu Guifang cooked the pigeon, but all Yan Lijun got was a bowl of watery soup. The meat and broth were taken to Xu Meiling.

She even took a bag of malted milk powder that the Yan family had brought.

When Yan Lijun went to get some meat, the pot was cleaner than her face—she was so angry she wanted to explode.

Liu Guifang claimed that Yan Lijun couldn’t finish it all herself, so she gave the leftovers to Xu Meiling.

She also said Xu Meiling didn’t have much milk and her baby was always crying from hunger, so she took the malted milk powder over as well.

Yan Lijun was so furious she nearly fought with Liu Guifang. She told Xu Huaiyu to get the malted milk powder back, or she’d take the baby and go back to her parents’ house.

She didn’t have much milk herself, and her baby was so weak—she’d need the malted milk powder later.

Liu Guifang refused, saying there were two bags, so why couldn’t Xu Meiling have one?

Yan Lijun shot back, asking if Liu Guifang would split her own money in half. Liu Guifang had nothing to say.

Xu Huaiyu, selfish as ever, naturally put his own son first and immediately went to get the malted milk powder back from Xu Meiling’s house.

In short, there was never a shortage of drama in this family."

"Chapter 292: Harvest