Chapter 20.3

After Zhou Jian left, Li Xiao was about to take the fish home to cook, and then Aunt Wang came.

Aunt Wang told him not to bother, as she had brought the meal.

Li Xiao, not wanting to be polite, let her sit and took his daughter to the side.

Aunt Wang took out the food, bringing two portions—one without salt for Jiang Rou and one for Li Xiao—in a large enamel jar with rice at the bottom and a mix of meat and vegetables on top.

The aroma of Li Xiao’s portion made Jiang Rou’s eyes widen.

Aunt Wang, seeing this, smiled and said to Li Xiao, “Give me the child, and you go eat.”

Li Xiao hesitated. “She hasn’t burped yet.”

Aunt Wang glared at him and asked, “Am I not better at taking care of her than you?”

Li Xiao thought about it and gave the baby to her, then took his portion outside to eat.

After eating tasteless food with Jiang Rou for the past few days, he was quite craving something better.

Aunt Wang sat down with the child, gently patting her back to help her burp, then cradled her in her arms and looked at her. Aunt Wang couldn’t stop herself from smiling: “I always thought that since you two were good-looking, your child would definitely be exceptional. Now, it’s clear that it’s not just exceptional—when she grows up, she’ll definitely be a beauty.”

She had learned this morning from Li Xiao that it was a girl. Worried that he might not like it, she had used her own daughter as an example to reassure him, saying that having a daughter wasn’t bad and that she could still go to college and be successful.

However, seeing Li Xiao’s reaction, she felt he didn’t need much convincing, as he kept repeating “An’an” with an affectionate tone, looking happier than anyone.

Since Li Xiao went out and Aunt Wang was experienced, Jiang Rou couldn’t help but tell her about her lack of milk while eating. After that, she whispered worriedly, “Formula isn’t as good as breast milk. It’s fine for one or two meals, but if she has too much, I’m afraid the nutrition won’t be sufficient.”

Aunt Wang frowned upon hearing this and asked, “Didn’t your mother-in-law come?”

Jiang Rou shrugged. “She did.”

And right away, she was disappointed that it was a girl.

Jiang Rou didn’t say much more, but Aunt Wang could tell what Lin Meiru was like from her reaction. She couldn’t help but spit to the side, “I wonder if she will enjoy the benefits of raising that stepson when she’s old.”

Jiang Rou nodded in agreement. She was also waiting to see the show.

Aunt Wang didn’t ask about Jiang Rou’s biological mother; she could only think about how both children were pitiful. “I didn’t expect this. It’s okay; I’ll come by tomorrow morning to help you with breastfeeding. It might be a bit painful, so be prepared. Tonight, if you have time, massage that area more.”

Hearing this, Jiang Rou felt relieved and gratefully looked at Aunt Wang. “Thank you so much.”

She meant it sincerely. Although she had encountered many peculiarities since coming here, she had also met many people who made her feel warm.

Aunt Wang smiled and shook her head. “No need to be polite. I like you, child. You don’t hold grudges against anyone, and you’re straightforward in your actions.”

Jiang Rou’s smile deepened.

After Li Xiao finished eating, he washed the enamel cup. When Aunt Wang was leaving, Jiang Rou asked him to see her off. When he returned, he told her that he had given Aunt Wang one of the five crucian carp and shared some dried goods with her. The rest, he asked Aunt Wang to take home with her.

Jiang Rou nodded and complimented him with a smile. “You’re becoming more and more considerate in your actions. That’s right. Aunt Wang is good to us because she is a good person, but we shouldn’t just take advantage of her.”

Li Xiao responded with a soft “mm.” He had grown up with Zhou Jian and a few other brothers, and they always treated each other equally. He had learned this from Jiang Rou.

It was getting late, and the old woman in the middle bed had left long ago. She was replaced by the older child, who came during the day. Before leaving, the old woman had sternly warned the girl to stay awake at night and take good care of her brother, looking as if everyone was eyeing her grandson.

The girl lowered her head and dared not speak.

After the old woman left, she really moved a stool and sat beside the baby bed, as if she were going to watch over her younger brother all night.

Meanwhile, the pregnant woman in the first bed had no visitors all day. The nurse had helped her buy lunch and dinner.

Jiang Rou didn’t ask much, only asking Li Xiao to bring a bottle of hot water when he was getting some for himself.

At night, Li Xiao also helped Jiang Rou with her bath. He had heard from Aunt Wang that postpartum women should use mugwort leaves, so he had brought a lot of dried mugwort leaves from home, all obtained through connections from a nearby village. He soaked the leaves in boiling water until the water turned dark and used it to wash her face and brush her teeth.

He also needed to wipe down her body, as Jiang Rou was sweating from pain during childbirth.

However, her body was still very weak, and she couldn’t exert much strength.

At this point, she didn’t bother with politeness and didn’t make him leave. She just stood in the bathroom and let him wring out the towel for her.

Li Xiao was afraid she would catch a cold, so he made sure that the water was still very hot. As he wrung out the water from the towel, Jiang Rou shivered when it touched her neck and let out a hissing sound.

She turned her head to glance at his hands. He had his back slightly bent, his hands resting on the edge of the wooden basin, and his hands were already red.

He said nothing.

Hearing her reaction, he commented, “Hot water is better. Aunt Wang said not to catch a cold.”

He almost took Aunt Wang’s words as an imperial decree.

Jiang Rou didn’t understand, so she obediently used the towel.

After wiping herself, she handed the towel to him and changed into loose, clean clothes.

Having wiped the front, her back was still left. After Li Xiao finished wringing out the towel, she asked him to turn around and say, “Help me wipe my back. I can’t reach it.”

The man responded with a gentle “mm,” lifted the hem of her shirt, and used the hot towel to wipe her back directly.

As soon as it touched her skin, she anxiously said, “Be gentle, be gentle!”

It was too hot.

Li Xiao behind her chuckled, “Okay.”

Thinking of the water temperature she usually uses for bathing, he didn’t expect that she was also afraid of heat.

After Jiang Rou wiped her body, she went out directly, leaving the rest to Li Xiao.

Li Xiao cleaned the bathroom and carried a basin of changed clothes out, taking his own clothes to the water room outside to wash.

When Jiang Rou moved back to sit on the bed, the woman in the middle bed had woken up. After a long sleep, her complexion had improved a lot, though it still looked poor compared to others.

She sat up from the bed with great effort, and as soon as she opened her mouth, she asked her eldest daughter to bring her son to her. 

When the eldest daughter went to hold the younger son, she kept asking her daughter to be gentle. Once the baby was in her arms, she immediately lifted her clothes to take a look. Seeing that it was a boy, she cried and laughed at the same time. Then, she directed her daughter to go buy food and fetch water.

She also turned to Jiang Rou and asked about the situation during the day. Jiang Rou explained everything, and when the woman heard there was no breast milk, she didn’t get angry but showed a look of guilt. “It’s because I’m useless that you’re hungry.”

She wasn’t as stern as the old woman, but she wasn’t much better. She immediately complained, “It’s because the previous girls drank all my milk. Sigh.”

After saying that, she wiped away her tears. “My poor son.”

Hearing her say this, Jiang Rou didn’t want to talk to her anymore.

The woman seemed to remember something and asked, “Did you have a boy or a girl? ”

Jiang Rou: “Girl.”

“Oh,”

A hint of joy flashed across the woman’s face, but she comforted Jiang Rou with words. “It’s nothing. You’re still young; you can have more. I only got this after having four.”

Jiang Rou took a deep breath and then said, “I think girls are good; her father and I don’t care about gender, as long as she is healthy.”

“And girls can also have a bright future. My aunt next door has only one daughter, who is now studying in another city. She is the most capable child in our place. Everyone envies her.”

The woman was full of disbelief when she heard it, thinking that she was just saying it for the sake of her face.

However, the woman feeding her baby in the first bed couldn’t help but lean over and ask, “Is that true? ”

Seeing her reaction, Jiang Rou smiled and nodded. “Of course, it’s true. Aunt Wang will come by again tomorrow morning. If you don’t believe it, you can ask her. Her daughter is very successful and plans to bring her parents to live in the big city after graduation.”

She was sure Aunt Wang would be happy to talk about her daughter’s university success.

The woman pursed her lips and looked at her baby with a hint of light in her eyes.

Only the woman in the middle bed curled her lips, thinking that they comforted themselves like this because they could not give birth to a son. 

No matter how successful a daughter is, she will belong to someone else’s family, so sons are better.

Li Xiao will come back soon. He had also taken a shower and washed both of their clothes. Although there was no balcony in the hospital room, there were a few iron rods outside the window for hanging clothes. He secured the clothes with clips and hung them out to dry.

After hanging the clothes, he picked up the child and asked Jiang Rou to change the diaper, then took the diaper out to rinse and got a basin of hot water for Jiang Rou to soak her feet in.

He was busy, making the other two women on the neighboring beds a bit envious.

Li Xiao didn’t feel much about it.

Jiang Rou felt grateful for such a capable Li Xiao. If it were the husbands of the other two women in the room—one who was absent and the other cold and selfish—she would have probably gone crazy.

So, when Li Xiao brought her the foot-soaking water, she couldn’t help but quietly say, “Don’t sleep on the floor tonight. We can fit two people on the bed.”

Now the weather was a bit colder, and Li Xiao had brought a worn blanket from home. Even though he was a big man, sleeping on the floor would be uncomfortable. Li Xiao paused in his action of taking off her socks, looked up at her, raised an eyebrow, and smiled meaningfully. “Alright.”