Chapter 390: Chapter 389: You Know?
"What a smart kid. He must know that’s his grandfather."
Yang Wenxiu nodded. "We’ve told him all about it."
"Shitou’s father was a martyr. It hasn’t been easy for your mother-in-law all these years, but it’s a good thing she has you now."
Yang Wenxiu was deeply moved. "Yes, my mother-in-law is a wonderful person. Thanks to her help all these years in Beijing City, we’ve been able to work without any worries."
"I never knew before that my mother-in-law was literate. She can even tell the kids stories."
Xue Yue was also a little surprised. "Really?"
"Mhm, I only heard about it from Shitou. His grandmother was the daughter of a wealthy family, but the war destroyed her home, and only then did she marry his grandfather."
"No wonder she’s literate, then."
The conversation then turned to work. Xue Yue asked her, "I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to stop by the store. Are you settling in as the store manager?"
Yang Wenxiu smiled and said, "It’s going okay. I used to see everything Guan Wenwen did, so I’m just following her routine."
Speaking of Guan Wenwen, Yang Wenxiu’s eyes flickered. "Sister Xue, I heard from Guan Wenwen that she resigned because she’s getting married. Did you know?"
Xue Yue nodded.
"Then—" Yang Wenxiu bit her lip, hesitating, unsure if she should say anything to Xue Yue.
Seeing her expression, Xue Yue had a pretty good idea what was on her mind.
"You also know she has a crush on He Lang?"
Yang Wenxiu looked at Xue Yue in surprise. "You knew?"
Xue Yue nodded. "She came to me."
"Huh? She actually went and told you?"
They were women, after all, working together every day. Yang Wenxiu had gradually figured it out, but she never expected Guan Wenwen to actually go and tell Xue Yue herself.
Xue Yue smiled. "She did, but it’s all right. It just goes to show how outstanding He Lang is."
Seeing Xue Yue’s calm tone and lack of any other reaction, Yang Wenxiu felt relieved.
"That’s true. You and your husband are both very impressive and good-looking. It’s only normal that someone would develop a crush."
Xue Yue smiled. She had already let it go. In the end, Guan Wenwen hadn’t caused her any real trouble.
There’s nothing wrong with liking someone. The smart thing to do is to cut your losses in time, which is undoubtedly what Guan Wenwen had done.
After the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, it was time for them to head back. Tie Dan was going with them this time. For the past two days, Li Gaihua had been bringing Xue Yue all sorts of things—hazelnuts, pine nuts, mushrooms, dried wood ear fungus—all local mountain products.
Xue Yue kept trying to refuse, but Li Gaihua, perhaps out of a sense of unease or something similar, left the items for her whether she accepted them or not.
"Just accept them. You like this kind of food, and it’s hard to buy these things in Beijing City. Even if you can find them, the quality won’t be as good as what we have here," He Lang said.
Xue Yue nodded. It had indeed been a few years since she’d had these mountain delicacies.
Fortunately, with so many of them traveling together, it wouldn’t be difficult to bring everything back to Beijing City.
The day before they left, He Lang went to visit his mother again and spoke with her for a long time.
「On the eighth day of the New Year, they arrived in Beijing City.」
After getting off the train, Tie Dan stuck close behind He Lang and the others, terrified he would get lost in the blink of an eye. He had never traveled so far from home, especially not to such a huge place teeming with people everywhere.
Xue Xingjun was a social butterfly who could make friends with anyone in just a few sentences. He was less than two years older than Tie Dan, so they had plenty to talk about and had quickly become like brothers. As they walked, he pointed things out and explained them to Tie Dan.
He followed Xue Yue and the others home, while Xue Xingjun went back to Xue Xingzhou’s place.
Zhang Yunlei had also gone home for the New Year but hadn’t returned yet.
Zhang Qian and Xue Xingzhou had taken Tun Tun to Zheng Guofeng’s for the holiday and weren’t home. Xue Xingjun went back for a bit, found the house empty, and ran back over.
The house had been empty for about ten days, so Xue Yue and Daya gave it a thorough cleaning and got a fire going.
The food on the train had been terrible. He Lang took Xue Xingjun out to buy groceries, and when they returned, they finally got to eat a hot meal at home.
Their house had plenty of rooms, so He Lang found a guest room for Tie Dan. Noticing his shyness, He Lang told him, "You can stay here for a couple of days first. Once you start work, there’s a place for you to live over there, so you can move then."
Tie Dan nodded.
The supermarket didn’t originally have dormitories, but they had set aside a few rooms when it was built. Little Chen was living in one, and two others were vacant.
The first thing Daya did when she got back was check the mailbox by the door. It was empty.
She was a little disappointed. It had been two months since Gu Kai Zhi last sent a letter.
She couldn’t help but wonder, ’Did something happen to Gu Kai Zhi? Or... does he not want to be friends with me anymore?’
Her heart had been filled with anxiety. She had sent Gu Kai Zhi a letter, but there had been no reply.
A few days after they returned, He Ziqing and Qi Mingyang came over, carrying lots of things.
"Look at that belly! You must be about to give birth, right?" He Ziqing’s stomach was huge.
He Ziqing nodded. "My due date is this month."
"Why does your belly look so big? You aren’t carrying twins, are you?" Xue Yue said.
He Ziqing smiled and shook her head. "No, the doctor checked. It’s just one. I have a lot of amniotic fluid, and the baby is growing big, so my belly just looks huge."
Xue Yue frowned. "If the baby is too big, it’s really hard on the mother during labor. Haven’t you been watching your diet?"
He Ziqing shook her head. "My work is very demanding, so I thought it would be fine even if I ate a lot. I didn’t expect this to happen."
Xue Yue said worriedly, "When my sister-in-law was pregnant, her baby was big too. She couldn’t deliver naturally and ended up having a C-section."
He Ziqing said, "The doctor told us there’s a high chance I’ll need a C-section. Mingyang looked into it, and a lot of people have them now, so it shouldn’t be a big problem."
"That’s good. Make sure to let us know when you go into labor."
Xue Yue never expected that He Ziqing would go into labor the very next day after returning home.
Qi Mingyang called, and Xue Yue and He Lang rushed over. In the end, she did have a C-section.
"Eight pounds, eleven ounces. It’s a boy. Mother and son are both safe and sound."
The moment the nurse came out and announced the news, the Qi Family burst into happy applause.
Grandma Qi, in particular, was beaming, muttering constantly, "My great-grandson! I have a great-grandson! Ziqing is the hero of our Qi family!"
Standing in the back, Xue Yue and He Lang also breathed a sigh of relief.
When He Ziqing was wheeled out of the operating room, she was still asleep.
The family gathered around to look at the baby. Qi Mingyang held He Ziqing’s hand, gazing at her affectionately.
Xue Yue was very gratified.
When they got home from the hospital, He Lang immediately called He Nan.
"She gave birth. Mhm, a boy. Eight pounds, eleven ounces. Ziqing is fine. It was a C-section."
"Don’t worry, lots of people have C-sections nowadays. She’s awake now. Yes, don’t worry. We just got back from the hospital."
He Lang hung up and said to Xue Yue, "He Nan is thrilled. If he weren’t so far away, he probably would have rushed right over."
"Of course he is. It wasn’t easy for He Nan to raise her, so naturally he’d be worried."
One day at the end of the first lunar month, as Daya was leaving work, she walked right out the door and bumped head-on into someone’s arms.
