Chapter 37: Craving Meat

◎Solving the Urgent Problem!◎

The next morning, she still couldn’t eat breakfast. Strangely enough, as soon as she arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, she magically felt better, and she was especially hungry.

In the end, she had no choice but to prepare portable pastries or pancakes at home every morning and bring them to the cooperative as her breakfast.

It wasn’t until Wei’s younger brother finished his college entrance exams that Wei Xuan’s strange morning sickness completely disappeared. Over the past half month, Wei Xuan hadn’t lost weight, but had actually gained a few pounds. Poor Jiang Che, though, had lost quite a bit of weight from worrying about her, and his face had nearly lost all its flesh.

He deliberately acted pitiful, telling Wei Xuan that he had lost weight, but to his surprise, Wei Xuan didn’t feel sorry for him. Instead, she held his face and said with envy, “How did you lose weight from your face first? My face is about to turn round from eating!”

Jiang Che swatted her hand away from his face, “Do you have no conscience? I’ve been so worried about you, I couldn’t eat or sleep properly, and you don’t even care about me.”

Wei Xuan thought his angry look was pretty cute, and couldn’t resist leaning in to give him a kiss, “You look even more handsome now.”

Wei Xuan wasn’t lying. The thinner Jiang Che looked, the more resolute he seemed. He looked more mature too.

Jiang Che, rarely embarrassed, quickly stood up and said stubbornly, “Alright, I’m going to see if the meal’s ready.”

He left Wei Xuan alone in the room, laughing and holding her belly, falling back onto the bed.

July 7th was the day of the college entrance exam, and the Wei family had some early activity in the yard even before dawn.

Wei’s mother got up in the dark, washed her face, and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for her youngest son.

Before breakfast was even ready, the Wei family members had started waking up, and Wei’s older brother rubbed his eyes as he entered the kitchen.

“Mom, why are you up so early?”

While Wei’s mother fished the boiled eggs out of the pot and soaked them in cold water, she instructed her eldest son, “Go take the steamed buns out of the pot and put them in the living room. Then check if your brother’s awake. If not, wake him up for breakfast. He’s going to the county town later, so don’t let him be late.”

“Okay, got it.”

The three-day exam ended, and Wei’s younger brother felt confident that he had done well. When Wei Xuan called home, the atmosphere in the house was more upbeat.

As soon as Wei Xuan heard her mother’s voice, she had a feeling, “Mom, it sounds like Xiaolong did really well!”

“Don’t jump to conclusions. The results haven’t come out yet, so it’s too early to say. But Xiaolong himself said he’s pretty confident.”

Wei’s mother was cautious, as usual. She didn’t want to jinx it by saying too much before the results were in, just in case he didn’t do as well and people would laugh at them.

Wei Xuan understood her feelings, so she dropped the topic for now and asked something else: “Has Xiaolong decided which school he wants to apply to?”

“He did,” Wei’s mother thought carefully before continuing, “I think he said something about a teacher’s college. He wants to be a teacher.”

A teacher, huh? That’s great. It’s a stable job, with holidays every year, especially now when teaching is considered a good career. No wonder Wei’s mother sounded so happy.

Wei Xuan had just finished getting the updates on the family and was about to hang up when her mother suddenly asked, “Your younger brother has finished the college entrance exam, and now we’re just waiting for the results. I can’t really help with that, but you’re pregnant and still have to work. How about I come over to your place to cook and help with the housework?”

Wei Xuan didn’t mind, but since it was the busy season on the farm, she worried that her mother-in-law’s arrival might cause some issues with her sisters-in-law.

After thinking for a moment, she replied, “Mom, how about you wait until Xiaolong’s results come out, and then Xiaolong can bring you here? He can also check out the school while he’s at it.”

“That works. But you need to be careful, pregnancy isn’t the same as before.”

“Okay, I know.”

After hanging up, Wei Xuan went home and told Jiang Che about the situation.

With her mother-in-law and brother-in-law coming, they’d need to tidy up the house.

The next day, when Wei Xuan came home after work, she saw Jiang Che and a few people carrying things into the house.

“What’s going on here?”

Jiang Che directed everyone to place the items in the living room, and once they were done, he turned to Wei Xuan and said, “Yesterday you mentioned that Mom and Xiaolong are coming, so we need to arrange a place for them to sleep.”

He walked to the main room, pointing at the things they had just brought in, “Look, this is a bed I asked a friend to help me find today. Not bad, right? We’ll clean up the main room, put the bed there, and hang a curtain to make a small room for them.”

The main room was actually quite spacious, and even with a small room partitioned off, it wouldn’t feel cramped. Since it was usually just Wei Xuan and Jiang Che at home, and they didn’t entertain many guests, the main room only had a few things in it. Following Jiang Che’s plan, they just needed to move the round table and chairs, which were originally in the center, to the right a bit—it wouldn’t be difficult.

Wei Xuan gave him a thumbs up, “Not bad, this was a good job. You’ve earned a point.”

Jiang Che immediately climbed on the compliment, “What’s my reward?”

Wei Xuan knew she shouldn’t make it too easy on him. She wiped the smile off her face and turned to leave, “Your reward is to put up the curtain as soon as possible!”

“Hey, don’t!” Seeing Wei Xuan walk away without any mercy, Jiang Che had to swallow his complaint and diligently get to work on the task his wife had assigned.

Hanging the curtain was simple—just put a nail in each side of the wall and string up the wire.

Wei Xuan returned to her room, opened the cupboard, and looked inside. She sighed and closed it again.

Where was she supposed to find fabric to make the curtain? Even if it was old fabric, the house didn’t have enough!

Jiang Che nailed the hooks in place and returned to the room, only to find his wife, who had been smiling just moments ago, now sitting on the bed with a worried expression. He teasingly said, “Wife, you can’t look so upset right now. What if the baby learns to frown from you? If something’s bothering you, just tell me, and I’ll figure it out for you.”

Wei Xuan wasn’t in the mood to joke around. She lazily lifted her eyelids to glance at him and said, “We don’t have enough fabric at home.”

As soon as Jiang Che heard that, he became concerned. There was no way he’d let his wife or child be without clothes! That was impossible!

He immediately asked, “How much are we short? I’ll figure something out for you. You can make your clothes first with the fabric we bought earlier, and the baby’s clothes aren’t urgent. There’s still some time before the baby is born, and I’ll make sure we have fabric for the baby’s clothes by then.”

Realizing he misunderstood, Wei Xuan had to explain the situation again.

“Sigh, wife, are you being a bit silly? You don’t need fabric for the curtain at home, that would be such a waste! I’ve already spent ten yuan asking someone to buy some plastic sheets, and they’ll be back tomorrow. We can just hang them up.”

“Oh, look at my brain,” Wei Xuan said, annoyed, as she tapped her head.

It seemed that “pregnancy brain” was real—Wei Xuan had clearly noticed that her memory hadn’t been as sharp lately. Sometimes, things she had just been thinking about a moment ago slipped her mind as soon as she turned around.

And with today’s issue, when Jiang Che mentioned hanging a curtain, she immediately thought of fabric curtains and didn’t think about other ways to handle it. Luckily, Jiang Che had reminded her, or she didn’t know how long she would’ve kept thinking in circles.

With the problem solved, Wei Xuan was no longer upset. When Jiang Che saw his wife finally smile, he sighed in relief. He wasn’t afraid of anything anymore—he was only afraid of his wife not being happy.

Not long after the living room was arranged, Wei Xuan received a letter from her younger brother. The letter said that her younger brother had received his college acceptance notice, and the family was planning to hold a celebratory banquet for him and invite the villagers to celebrate his admission to college.

After the banquet, he would bring Wei Mother to the capital and asked Wei Xuan to send a letter or call with their address so the family could contact them.

Wei Xuan saw that the letter mentioned the banquet would take place in August, just a few days away, so she didn’t rush to call. Instead, she bought a few pounds of candy from the supply and marketing cooperative, wrote a letter, and sent it back with the candy. She also enclosed twenty yuan and a few meat coupons as a reward for her younger brother’s success in getting into college.

When the Wei family received her letter, they were discussing how to handle the banquet. In the summer, the family didn’t lack vegetables, but it was really difficult for rural people to buy meat. Apart from getting a small share at the end of the year, they rarely had meat, and it didn’t feel right to have a banquet without at least one meat dish.

The chickens at home were all egg-layers, and once they were killed, Wei Mother was reluctant to part with them.

Seeing how difficult things were for the family because of him, and realizing he couldn’t help, Wei Xiaolong suggested not holding a banquet.

Not only Wei Father and Wei Mother, but even the three daughters-in-law of the Wei family disagreed with him. After all, it was a rare occasion—he was the first in their village to get into college. How could they not celebrate?

But how could they manage to hold a banquet without anything to serve?

Just when they were worrying, Wei Xuan’s money and tickets arrived, which was truly a timely blessing for the Wei family and resolved their urgent problems.

Seeing her son and daughter-in-law focused on the tickets she was holding, Wei Mother let out a relieved sigh and smiled. She immediately warned them, “Your little sister is still pregnant. This money is what she saved by cutting back on her own food. You all need to remember how good your sister is, especially you, Xiaolong. Your sister did all this for you. When you succeed in the future, don’t forget her.”

Wei Xiaolong was so moved by his mother’s words that his eyes were brimming with tears. He nodded firmly, “Yes, Mom, I know. I’ll be good to my sister in the future.” But in his mind, all he could think of was the sad image of Wei Xuan, pregnant, sacrificing her food and drink to save money.

In reality, at that very moment, Wei Xuan was instructing Jiang Che to wash and chop vegetables while also drooling over the braised pork in the pot.

Knowing that the Wei family was holding a banquet, Wei Xuan thought it would be more convenient for them to buy meat from Wu Yun, so she gathered all the leftover meat tickets and sent them to the Wei family.

Seeing the meat tickets, Wei Xuan suddenly craved braised pork. Since she became pregnant, her family had been preparing light meals for her, worried about her appetite. Even when they had meat, it was mostly lean meat or soups like chicken and fish broth. She hadn’t had rich, flavorful dishes in a long time.

However, since she had mentioned it late yesterday, she only got to enjoy the braised pork she had been craving for two days by tonight.

After eating three or four pieces, Wei Xuan felt satisfied and her craving was satisfied. Jiang Che, seeing how much she enjoyed it, also developed an appetite. The two of them finished the whole plate of braised pork before setting down their bowls and chopsticks in contentment.

Cleaning up the dishes was Jiang Che’s job. After he finished washing up and took a shower, he returned to the room and started doing prenatal education for the baby in Wei Xuan’s belly, something Wei Xuan had taught him.

Wei Xuan told Jiang Che that the baby could hear them while still in the womb. If they frequently talked to him, he would recognize their voices and become attached to them once he was born.

Jiang Che believed this, and now, whenever he had time, he would lean his ear against Wei Xuan’s belly and talk to the baby inside. When he ran out of things to say, Wei Xuan would ask him to tell a story. For this purpose, Jiang Che even went to a secondhand store to buy a storybook, and every night, he would read it aloud to Wei Xuan’s belly.

Whether the baby was actually listening, they didn’t know, but every night, Wei Xuan fell asleep to the sound of Jiang Che telling stories, and she slept soundly.