Chapter 67: Wanting to Have a Second Child

“Guoqiang, how do you feel today?” Xie’s father asked Xie Guoqiang.

Xie Guoqiang looked travel-worn, but exceptionally spirited. “Uncle, I think I can do it!”

“That’s good, that’s good. Then you can just follow Ah Xiao and the others to do business,” Xie’s mother said with a smile, very happy for her nephew.

Lin Xiangyi helped Xie Qingxiao unload the pot and asked him if he was tired. Hearing this, she also smiled and looked at Xie Guoqiang, “Are you tired? We’ve made dinner. Guoqiang, will you have some before you go back?”

Xie Guoqiang smelled the strong aroma of meat as soon as he entered the house. His appetite was already whetted, but he felt that he had already troubled Xie Qingxiao and Lin Xiangyi enough today. Lin Xiangyi couldn’t even go out to do business because of him. How could he stay and take advantage of them?

He hurriedly said, “No need, my family must have left food for me. I’ll go back and eat. It would be a waste to stay here. My mother and my wife must be anxiously waiting for me to come back.”

Lin Xiangyi thought that made sense and said, “Okay, then you go back first. Come back tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Xie Guoqiang smiled. Seeing Sun Lanjun in the main room, he greeted her and went back.

Sun Lanjun had already coaxed Xiao Ni. She had overheard Xie’s father, Xie’s mother, and Xie Guoqiang’s conversation, and was quite surprised.

Business? What business?

Xie Qingxiao and the others were doing business?

When Xie’s father, Xie’s mother, Xie Qingxiao, and Lin Xiangyi returned to the main room, she couldn’t wait to ask.

This matter couldn’t be hidden, and there was no need to hide it. Xie’s mother simply told Sun Lanjun about Xie Qingxiao and Lin Xiangyi’s current business in the county town.

After hearing this, Sun Lanjun was stunned, then overjoyed.

They went out to do business, they should be able to support themselves, right? They wouldn’t come to their house to mooch off them anymore, right?

Thinking about the possibility of Xie Qingxiao and Lin Xiangyi mooching off them being reduced, Sun Lanjun’s face towards Xie Qingxiao and Lin Xiangyi softened a bit, and she no longer cared about Lin Xiangyi’s harsh reprimand of Xiao Ni earlier.

But Xiao Ni was a bit afraid of Lin Xiangyi because of her earlier scolding.

Xie’s mother put some vegetables she didn’t like on her plate. She wanted to throw them away, but Lin Xiangyi glanced at her, and she dared not throw them away.

Lin Xiangyi: “…” Was she too harsh just now?

After dinner and a shower, Xie’s mother rarely found Sun Lanjun sitting in the courtyard enjoying the cool air. In the past, she would have been eager to stay in the house 24 hours a day.

Sun Lanjun also wanted to hide back in the house, but she couldn’t help it. It was too hot in the house, unlike in the city where they had bought an electric fan. She could only sit in the courtyard.

So it’s still better in the city, this broken countryside has nothing!

Lin Xiangyi usually sits in the courtyard with Xie’s father and Xie’s mother to chat for a while. Today, seeing Sun Lanjun there, she went back to the house.

Xie’s mother knew that Lin Xiangyi was someone who liked and disliked clearly, and she probably didn’t want to deal with Sun Lanjun, so she didn’t call her back.

Xie’s mother played with Xiao Ni for a while, then remembered what Lin Xiangyi had said this morning about the country possibly taking measures to control the population.

She looked at Sun Lanjun, hesitated for a moment, and said, “Oldest daughter-in-law, don’t you still want a son?”

Sun Lanjun looked at Xie’s mother in surprise, while feeling overjoyed at the same time.

The old woman finally couldn’t sit still anymore, she was finally going to ask her to give birth to a grandson, right?

Sun Lanjun did want a son. Although she was a city person, at this time, whether in the city or in the countryside, most people still had a strong desire to have a son.

Sun Lanjun was no exception, and she thought Xie’s mother was no exception either.

She had been married to Xie’s eldest brother for more than five years, and only gave birth to Xiao Ni, a daughter. Xiao Ni was almost four years old now, and logically, she still wanted a son. Now, she should start preparing for pregnancy.

But Sun Lanjun wouldn’t take the initiative to have a child. She had to wait for Xie’s father and Xie’s mother to speak up!

The reason was a bit complicated.

When she was pregnant with Xiao Ni, she and Xie’s eldest brother both had jobs. She was a teacher, and her work was relatively relaxed, but Xie’s eldest brother was a postman. Although his salary and benefits were good, he had to run around all the time and never had any free time.

So when she was in her later months of pregnancy, Xie’s mother took the initiative to put down her work in the fields and went to the county town to take care of her during childbirth. From then on, she stayed in the county town until Xiao Ni was two years old.

Besides taking care of Xiao Ni, she also had to be responsible for the daily meals of the three of them.

Living together for a long time, the ideological conflicts between Sun Lanjun and Xie’s mother gradually emerged, but they could still tolerate it, because Xie’s mother would usually give in in the end.

But she found Xie’s mother increasingly unpleasant to her eyes, mainly because Xie Qingxiao had dropped out of school at that time and couldn’t find a job… or he didn’t even look for a job, and he didn’t want to work in the fields, just hanging around in the city all day.

And coincidentally, Xie’s mother asked her for living expenses at that time, which had never happened before. So she assumed that Xie’s mother wanted the living expenses to support Xie Qingxiao—

She didn’t think about it at all that Xie’s mother had taken care of her for two and a half years in the county town, and they hadn’t given her any living expenses, even the money for vegetables was paid by Xie’s mother. Xie’s mother had endured for two and a half years, and she really had no money left, so she asked her for it.

She was afraid of having to support Xie Qingxiao in the future, so she asked Xie’s mother to go back to the village.

From then on, she entrusted Xiao Ni to her own mother during the day, and went to pick her up in the evening, but her mother also had to take care of her own grandson, so she couldn’t keep an eye on Xiao Ni all the time.

Xiao Ni was at the age where she loved to move around, and she often bumped and bruised herself, which made Sun Lanjun feel very distressed.

Once, Xiao Ni’s forehead was cut, and Sun Lanjun had a big fight with her mother, making her mother angry and saying that she wouldn’t help take care of her anymore.

She took Xiao Ni to school, which delayed a lot of her teaching work. The school leaders called her in and criticized her.

Xie’s eldest brother said that she should quit her job and take care of Xiao Ni, and his salary could support them.

She didn’t want to either. Jobs were so scarce in the city now, people were looking for them but couldn’t find them. How could she just say no to a job?

So she just overworked herself and fainted, directly falling down. She didn’t know that she was already pregnant at that time, and this fall caused her to lose the baby in her belly.

She didn’t blame herself for losing the baby, only blamed Xie’s mother.

If Xie’s mother hadn’t wanted to support Xie Qingxiao, she wouldn’t have asked Xie’s mother to go back, then she wouldn’t have entrusted Xiao Ni to her mother, her mother wouldn’t have been unable to keep an eye on Xiao Ni, and she wouldn’t have had to work while taking care of Xiao Ni, leading to her miscarriage.

Anyway, it was all Xie’s mother’s fault.

So even though she had always wanted to have another child, she had not taken any action, because she had to wait, wait for Xie’s eldest brother to mention it, wait for Xie’s father and Xie’s mother to mention it.

Wait until they dared not ask for living expenses to support Xie Qingxiao.

She thought they would definitely want a son/grandson.

But what she never expected was that Xie’s eldest brother didn’t mention it, and even Xie’s father and Xie’s mother didn’t mention it. She even began to doubt whether she was really wrong, whether the Xie family really didn’t want to have a son/grandson to carry on the family line?

Unexpectedly, they mentioned it today.

Sun Lanjun was secretly pleased. Now that Xie Qingxiao had gone out to do business, Xie’s mother shouldn’t ask her for living expenses to support Xie Qingxiao this time, so she would have a child.

Of course, she wouldn’t say it directly. After all, it was she who had asked Xie’s mother to go home. She had to make Xie’s mother take the initiative to offer to take care of her when she had a second child.

So she said, “Have a child? Qingrong is busy with work now, and I’m busy with work too. We’ve finally reached the point where Xiao Ni is about to go to school, and I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. If I have another child, who will take care of it?”

She thought that after she said this, Xie’s mother would say that she would help take care of the child.