country bumpkin

Chapter 434 Pregnancy

After lunch, Liu Shuai went to the central street to help Zhang Haiying with her resignation. The landlady generously settled her wages in full and even congratulated Liu Shuai on becoming a father soon. Liu Shuai thanked her and happily went home with his wages.

When Mr. Liu came home from get off work that evening and learned that his daughter-in-law was pregnant, he was overjoyed. He generously gave his daughter-in-law the small color television set in his room.

Liu Shuai placed the small TV on his bedside table, found a TV series his wife liked to watch, and then spoke highly of his parents.

"Honey, look how good your parents are to you. They were worried you'd be bored at night, so they gave you their beloved little TV."

You know, I asked my dad for this little TV several times before, but he wouldn't give it to me.

Zhang Haiying smiled sweetly, "Hehe! That's right, I remember how good my parents are to me, and I'll be good to them in the future."

The two snuggled together sweetly, watching TV against the headboard. Around 10 PM, Zhang Haiying's eyelids began to droop with sleep. Liu Shuai turned off the TV and cuddled his wife before going to sleep.

Silent all night.

The next morning, Liu Shuai quietly got up, afraid of making any noise that might disturb his wife's rest. Liu's mother prepared breakfast for her son and then busied herself with chores.

Liu Shuai and his father went to work, leaving his mother and daughter-in-law at home. Liu's mother wisely refrained from waking her daughter-in-law or urging her to get up.

At 10 a.m., Zhang Haiying slightly opened her eyes, glanced at the time and realized it was already late. At that moment, her stomach rumbled with hunger, so she got dressed and prepared to go eat.

Hearing the sound of her daughter-in-law getting dressed coming from her son's bedroom, Liu's mother quietly went to prepare breakfast.

After Zhang Haiying finished washing up, her mother-in-law brought a steaming hot meal to the living room.

Zhang Haiying sweetly called out, "Mom, have you eaten?" Liu's mother replied with a warm feeling in her heart, "Yes, yes, I've eaten. Please sit down quickly. Are you feeling unwell after being hungry for so long?"

Zhang Haiying looked at her mother-in-law and said, "It's nothing, I just feel empty, my stomach feels empty."

Liu's mother said, "That's normal. You should eat more in the future, since you're eating for one person now and four people are digesting it."

Zhang Haiying gave a soft "Mmm!" and stopped talking, then began to eat heartily.

Seeing her daughter-in-law wolfing down her food, Liu's mother said worriedly, "Eat slowly, eat slowly, don't choke."

Zhang Haiying took a sip of soup, smoothed the rice in her mouth, and after swallowing, replied, "Hmm, I finally feel a little better."

Liu's mother suddenly remembered that she was just as hungry when she was pregnant, but she didn't get hungry this late back then.

Back then, she was so busy with chores that she didn't have time to eat. Compared to that, her daughter-in-law is much happier now.

Liu's mother snapped out of her reverie and said, "From now on, keep plenty of food in the bedroom. Don't hold back your hunger; eat whenever you're hungry, understand?"

Zhang Haiying nodded. "Okay, thank you, Mom."

"Silly child, no need to thank me, it's all my pleasure," Liu's mother said, but she was even happier inside.

Her daughter-in-law is grateful, polite, and filial; she should treat her even better.

The relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law improved after the arrival of the child.

After Zhang Haiying finished eating, Liu's mother started preparing to go to the market to buy groceries.

People who work at noon don't come home for lunch, and my daughter-in-law eats breakfast late, so she doesn't cook lunch and waits to eat it all together in the afternoon.

Thinking this, Liu's mother began to clean up the mess on the table. Zhang Haiying snatched the bowls and chopsticks from her mother-in-law's hands and said, "Mom, let me clean up! You've worked hard cooking, take a break."

Liu's mother paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "That's fine, a little exercise is good. But you can't do heavy work, don't tire yourself out."

Zhang Haiying firmly assured her, "Yes, don't worry, Mom, I know what I'm doing."

With that assurance in hand, Liu's mother finally felt at ease and sat down on a stool to rest. Her eyes, however, remained fixed on her daughter-in-law as she went into the kitchen.

There was only one set of bowls and chopsticks, which was washed quickly. Zhang Haiying took a rag and walked out of the kitchen, wiped the dining table, and then slowly sat down next to her mother-in-law.

The mother and daughter chatted warmly for a while, then Liu's mother got up and said, "It's getting late, I'm going to the market to buy groceries, you go back to your room and rest!"

Zhang Haiying wanted to go to the market with Liu's mother, but she stopped her. She said, "School's about to let out, there will be a lot of people and cars, it's safer for you to stay at home. Besides, you should move around less for the first three months, you can go out more later."

Zhang Haiying thought her mother-in-law made sense and nodded seriously, "Okay, I'll listen to you!"

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law smiled at each other, and Liu's mother went out with her basket.

Bored, Zhang Haiying went to the bedroom, turned on the small TV, leaned against the bed, and started watching a TV series.

The courtyard was quiet, save for the noise of people and cars outside. But all of that was kept out by a lock on the gate.

When Liu's mother left, she was still worried. After thinking it over, she locked the front door so that no one would disturb her daughter-in-law's rest.

Zhang Haiying, who was engrossed in watching the movie, suddenly heard a series of urgent knocks on the door.

She got up and went into the yard, asking through the door who it was. A strange woman's voice came from outside: "Sister, I'm your neighbor. I have something urgent and need your mother-in-law's help."

Zhang Haiying recognized the voice; it sounded like someone from the village. But she still said somewhat awkwardly, "My mother-in-law went to the market and hasn't come back yet."

Upon hearing this, the woman's tone became even more anxious: "What should we do? My water pipe burst, and the water is almost flooding. I'd like to borrow some tools from your mother-in-law's house."

Zhang Haiying hesitated for a moment, thinking that neighbors should help each other, but the door was locked.

She had a sudden inspiration and said, "Big sister, wait for me a moment, I'll throw the tools over the wall for you."

Zhang Haiying hurriedly went back into the house to find tools and threw them over the wall in the yard.

The woman thanked her repeatedly and left in a hurry. After the woman left, Zhang Haiying went back to bed and continued watching TV, thinking about telling her mother-in-law about it when she returned.

Unexpectedly, after a while, another commotion came from outside the courtyard, as if people were arguing, which made the originally quiet courtyard restless.

Zhang Haiying never expected so many things to happen while her mother-in-law was away. She couldn't handle it all herself, so she decided to pretend she hadn't heard anything.

So Zhang Haiying stayed in the bedroom, occasionally listening to the sounds outside the yard.

After an unknown amount of time, the courtyard became quiet. The noise had disappeared at some point.

Zhang Haiying wanted to go to the main gate to investigate, but when she came into the courtyard and was about to reach the main gate, she stopped.

Remembering her mother-in-law's words, she went back inside. What did the noise of outsiders have to do with her? Her own pregnancy was the most important thing right now.

So she sat back on the bed and continued watching TV while half-lying down.