novelraw Chapter 251 - 248: Pregnant
Chapter 251 - 248: Pregnant
Yang Liying caressed her stomach, her eyes shining with a mother’s love. "I know this isn’t the right time, but I want to have this baby. Boy or girl, it’s still my child."
She carried a shoulder pole over such long distances every day, yet the baby in her womb remained safe. She felt a special connection to this child and wanted to give birth to him.
Lin Lan looked at her with complicated feelings, not knowing what to say.
Yang Liying looked up at Lin Lan. "Lin Lan, I want to go to your mom’s place to hide and have the baby there." In her heart, she didn’t really care if it was a boy or a girl, but it hurt to think about how the child’s grandmother had cursed their family to have no male heirs.
Lin Lan looked at her. "Liying, have you and Dehai discussed this?"
’Ten months of pregnancy, hiding alone in someone else’s house like a mouse, unable to look after her children or her business. For a woman, giving birth is like having one foot in the grave. If something went wrong...’ Lin Lan couldn’t bear to imagine it.
"Dehai is worried. He told me to just get an abortion." Tears suddenly streamed down Yang Liying’s face. "For years, I couldn’t get pregnant, probably because of poor nutrition. Now that I finally am, it’s not allowed..."
Seeing Yang Liying crying, Lin Lan felt a sting in her nose. She patted her hand. "Liying, you have to be mentally prepared. If you go into hiding, you won’t be able to come home for about ten months, and you won’t be able to look after Little Li and Xiaoyun."
"You’ll be cooped up inside, unable to see anyone. Think it through carefully, then discuss it with Dehai. If you both agree and decide to have the baby, then I’ll help you."
Yang Liying took a deep breath. "I’ll talk it over with Dehai before we decide." ’She wanted to ask the heavens, why is life so hard?’
Lin Lan looked at her worriedly. "Are you still going to run your stall for the next few days?"
"I have to. The people in the team are sharp-eyed. If I don’t go, they’ll get suspicious right away." Yang Liying gritted her teeth. "Especially the Women’s Director. She’s a real lackey. The day before yesterday, her neighbor threw night soil on her."
"What!" Lin Lan looked at Yang Liying in surprise. "Her neighbor also...?"
Yang Liying looked vindicated. "Yep! She just got back from the hospital yesterday. The Women’s Director took her home, and as soon as she came out of the room, her mother-in-law was waiting at the door of the main hall. She poured a ladleful of night soil over her from head to toe,
pointed right at the Women’s Director’s nose, and cursed her for doing things that would sever her family line, damning her to the eighteenth level of hell when she died. Everyone just stood and watched; no one even offered her a cup of water. The director threw up all over the floor and scurried away in disgrace, not daring to talk back."
Lin Lan thought about how things would only get stricter from now on and sighed. "Sigh. When you do such despicable things, it’s inevitable you’ll be cursed." ’She and her sister had even thrown rocks at the Women’s Director before!’
Thinking about all this soured Yang Liying’s mood. "Just keep it in mind. I’ll let you know once I’ve talked it over with Dehai."
"Okay!" Lin Lan checked her watch. "I should head back. The kids will be out of school soon."
"Alright!" Yang Liying got up and saw Lin Lan to the courtyard gate. She watched her pedal away on her bike before turning listlessly and heading to the kitchen.
When Lin Lan got home, Lin Yuezhen and Qiaohui had already finished frying the spiced broad beans.
Lin Yuezhen was cooking while Qiaohui was bagging the snacks. When she saw Lin Lan return, Qiaohui said, "Cousin, Sister Li next door said you need to go to a team meeting this afternoon about raising the ox."
"Okay!" Lin Lan said to Lin Yuezhen, "Sister, are the ingredients ready?"
Lin Yuezhen pointed to a basin and gestured. "I chopped up a large green vegetable, boiled a piece of pork belly, and picked some garlic sprouts for twice-cooked pork."
Lin Lan nodded. "We still have some dried long beans. Let’s braise them with the pork belly this afternoon."
Li Xiangyang took Woodworker Li and his two brothers to first buy lumber, having it delivered to the storefront next to Zhou Xiaohong’s place, before going to the glass factory to buy glass.
After they picked up the glass, they went to a hardware company to buy nails and handles. By the time they got back to the storefront on Limin Road, it was already noon.
Li Xiangyang treated the three brothers to lunch at Limin Restaurant and gave them the keys to the storefront and the blueprints Lin Lan had drawn.
"Master Li, please make the low counters and tall cabinets exactly as Lin Lan drew them. I’ll have to ask you to hurry it up a bit."
Woodworker Li took the drawings, glanced at them, and nodded. "Don’t worry, we won’t delay your grand opening."
"Great. I’ll let you get to work, then. I’m heading back."
Li Xiangyang left, tied the cart’s shafts to his bicycle, and dragged it back to the Lexing Team. He said a quick hello to Lin Lan and then went to the woodworker’s house.
Lin Lan returned the cart to Yang Meihua, and just as she came out, Li Guizhi arrived to get her for the team meeting.
Accountant Jin, Liu Guozhi, and the heads of the other ten households had all arrived. Zhang Yazhen shot Lin Lan a smug glance.
"Guizhi, Little Lin, come sit with me." Zhang Rongqing’s wife smiled and pulled the two of them over to sit next to her.
Liu Guozhi gave Lin Lan a complicated look, then turned to Accountant Jin. "What did you tell them that day?"
Accountant Jin frowned. "After we divided the groups that day, I called them all together. Lin Lan said on the spot that since no one in her family knows how to plow a field, she wouldn’t be joining the ox-raising group."
Accountant Jin paused. "Everyone agreed at the time. I handed the ox over to Zhang Ronghai and left."
Zhang Ronghai nodded. "That’s right. I took the ox, raised it for a full week, and then led it to my second brother Rongqing’s house for them to take over."
Zhang Rongqing stood up and said, "I raised it for a full week and then took it to Xiong Jianjun’s house. His wife said it wasn’t their turn yet, that it was Lin Lan’s turn to raise it, so they wouldn’t take it."
Zhang Yazhen glanced at Li Guizhi. "That’s right, that’s what I said. It wasn’t my family’s turn yet, so I wouldn’t take it."
Liu Guozhi glanced at Lin Lan. "Lin Lan, what do you have to say?"
Lin Lan looked at Liu Guozhi. "I already said it. No one in my family knows how to plow, so we’re not raising the ox."
Zhang Yazhen sneered from her seat, "It’s a task assigned by the team. What makes your family so special that you get an exception?"
Lin Lan gave her a cool glance. "Because my family only has four mu of land. If you’re not happy about it, you can quit too!"
’Our family only has four mu of land. During the busy season, we can just hire a few people and finish in two days. The smallest plots the other families have are eight or nine mu, and some have ten. Besides, I’ve been terrified of oxen ever since I was gored by one. I wouldn’t dare raise it even if they begged me!’
"You..." Zhang Yazhen was choked speechless.
Xiong Jianjun shot Zhang Yazhen an angry glare. ’I told you not to cause trouble, but you just had to. Now look, you’ve embarrassed us in front of the whole team.’
Li Guizhi said, "That’s right. Little Lin only has four mu of land, and she has many brothers from her parents’ home. During the busy season, a few of them can come over and get the planting done in a few days."
’She hadn’t understood it before. Other groups would be thrilled to have fewer people so their turn with the ox would come around faster during the busy season. Why was Zhang Yazhen so against Lin Lan backing out?’
’After hearing Lin Lan’s explanation, she finally understood. It was because Lin Lan’s family had the least amount of land, but they were expected to raise the ox for the same number of days as everyone else!’
Liu Guozhi asked the other families, "What do you all think about Lin Lan backing out?"
The head of a household from the back stood up and said, "When Accountant Jin brought the ox over, we all agreed to let Lin Lan withdraw. I think coming to the team to discuss this today is just making trouble for no reason."