“Who is Shen Jiao’s family member?”
The operating-room doors finally opened, and a nurse emerged carrying a swaddled infant while calling for the family.
Gu Xinguo immediately strode forward. Without even looking at his child, he anxiously asked the nurse:
“I’m Shen Jiao’s husband. How is my wife?”
“Both mother and son are safe. Once she delivers the placenta, she can return to the ward.”
The nurse’s words finally allowed Gu Xinguo’s heart, which had been hanging in suspense, to settle back into his chest.
Only then did he think to look at his child.
However, by that point, the baby had already been transferred into Gu Xinmin’s arms.
“Oh my, look at this little face! He looks exactly like his father.”
Gu Xinmin was smiling so widely that she could hardly close her mouth.
The Gu family finally had a descendant.
Jiaojiao had truly done well. Her first child was a healthy baby boy weighing six jin and eight liang.
“Sister, let me hold him.”
Gu Xinguo gazed eagerly at the freshly steamed little bun that belonged to his family, but Gu Xinmin rejected him without hesitation.
“With your rough hands, do you even know how to hold a baby? Don’t frighten our precious little darling.”
Gu Xinguo looked down at his hands.
They could not exactly be called delicate, but compared with his older sister’s hands, roughened by years of agricultural work, he did not have that many calluses.
Since he was not allowed to hold his son, he might as well wait for his wife.
He returned to the doors of the operating room and craned his neck as he waited.
Jiaojiao had truly suffered greatly this time.
Still, when he thought about how his little family was now complete, he could not stop himself from grinning.
“Jiaojiao, how do you feel? Is anything uncomfortable?”
Shen Jiao was finally wheeled out.
Gu Xinguo hurried forward to check on her.
When he saw her pale, bloodless face, his heart ached beyond description, and the love he felt for her seemed ready to overflow from his chest.
“Brother Gu, have you seen our child? We’re a mother and father now.”
“Yes, I saw him. He’s very cute. You’ve worked hard.”
After returning to the ward, Shen Jiao finally saw the child she had worked so hard to deliver.
At last, she understood the existence of a parental filter.
This wrinkled little old man could probably only be called cute by his biological father.
The baby seemed to realise that his own mother found him ugly and opened his tiny mouth to cry.
Despite disliking his appearance a little, Shen Jiao’s heart immediately tightened when he cried.
She was about to reach out and hold him, but Gu Xinmin beat her to it.
At that moment, Gu Xinmin cherished her nephew beyond measure.
She probably had not doted on either of her own sons this much when they were first born.
“Oh, it turns out our little Dandan has wet himself. Auntie will change your nappy right away.”
Hearing the nickname Dandan, Shen Jiao nearly laughed.
She did not understand what was wrong with people in this region.
Every newborn boy was called Dandan.
There were especially many children in the countryside, so there would be an entire crowd of Dandans. To distinguish them, people simply added a word in front—Stinky Egg, Dog Egg, Shit Egg…
There was no name too ridiculous for them to invent.
Holding the little bun after his nappy was changed and he was returned to her arms, Shen Jiao decided that her son absolutely would not be called Dandan.
She had to give him a cute nickname.
As for his formal name, was that not the child’s father’s responsibility?
“Brother Gu, have you chosen the baby’s name?”
A name?
Only then did Gu Xinguo remember the task his wife had given him after they discovered she was pregnant.
He was supposed to name the baby.
He seemed to have forgotten.
Previously, he had always thought there was plenty of time.
Who would have expected this brat to suddenly come out without giving him any time to prepare?
That excuse was ridiculous.
The baby had grown inside his mother for nearly ten months. How much more time did Gu Xinguo need?
Still, forgotten was forgotten.
The baby could not blame him.
After all, he was currently only a tiny person who knew how to drink milk. Even if he wanted to complain, he was incapable of doing so.
“I’ve thought of several names. I was waiting for the child to be born so you could choose one. Once you’re discharged and we return home, I’ll show them to you.”
At the earliest, his wife would be discharged the day after tomorrow.
Surely, before then, he could come up with several names for this brat and present them to his wife.
After speaking to her, the fatherly affection that had filled Gu Xinguo’s chest after the little bun’s birth finally cooled slightly.
This brat had already created work for him immediately after being born.
He truly was a troublesome little enemy.
After Shen Jiao gave birth, Gu Xinmin also needed to care for her during postpartum confinement.
As a result, they could no longer manage the tailoring shop at all.
They left Wang Juying and Wang Meili to watch over it.
The arrangement remained the same as during the first lunar month. After deducting rent and utilities, the two women would divide the income equally.
As long as the shop remained open, they would not lose their customers.
Gu Xinmin and the other two had already found properties where they could open their own shops.
However, the landlords demanded nearly an entire year’s rent in advance.
Since they did not have much spare money, they had not opened their shops yet. They planned to save more first.
It was not that they had never considered borrowing money from Shen Jiao.
However, several other people in the village were also waiting to open shops.
If these women borrowed money, the others would undoubtedly ask to borrow as well.
Shen Jiao had earned some money from her tailoring shop, but she could not withstand so many people asking for loans.
Fortunately, Shen Jiao was generous enough to allow them to use her shop to earn money.
After calculating their recent income, they realised that by the time Shen Jiao completed her postpartum confinement, they still would not have quite enough, but the shortfall would not be large.
They could then borrow a little from relatives and friends and open their shops.
Shen Jiao was discharged on the third day after giving birth and returned to their home in Shuanma Village.
They had not purchased property in the county town.
Linqing County was not particularly large. Although buying property there could eventually bring an increase in value, it still could not compare with purchasing property in Zhangcheng City.
Shen Jiao already had an idea.
Once she finished her postpartum confinement, she wanted to move her tailoring business to Zhangcheng.
She had never considered doing so before because she had feared being a stranger in an unfamiliar place and being bullied by the locals.
Now, however, everything was different.
She had never expected Gu Xinguo to know the deputy director of the municipal Public Security Bureau.
He had never mentioned it before.
Had he told her earlier, she would have opened her shop in the city from the beginning.
The city had far more people than the county town, so earning money there would naturally be easier.
She wanted to accumulate capital quickly and enter the ready-made clothing business.
As for the shop in the county town, she intended to leave it to Gu Xinmin.
Gu Xinguo had only one biological older sister.
Who else should Shen Jiao leave it to, if not her?
However, she had not yet discussed this plan with Gu Xinguo.
Presumably, he would not object.
Although opening a shop in the city meant the couple would have to live apart much of the time, Zhangcheng was not particularly far from Linqing County.
Still, it would never be as convenient as travelling between Shuanma Village and Linqing County.
For the sake of her career, she would simply have to trouble Gu Xinguo to travel back and forth.
People might say love alone was enough to survive on, but it was also true that poverty brought endless sorrow to married couples.
Therefore, women still needed ambition and careers of their own.
Shen Jiao’s ability to act was as strong as ever.
That very evening, she brought the matter up with Gu Xinguo.
He froze for a moment before recovering his thoughts.
Having an overly capable wife truly was a sweet burden.
“Brother Gu, what do you think of my idea?”
“Do you absolutely have to open the shop in Zhangcheng?”
To tell the truth, Gu Xinguo did not want Shen Jiao to work so hard.
He might not possess any extraordinary abilities, but he was capable of supporting the family and ensuring that his wife and child never lacked food or clothing.
His wife was simply too ambitious.
Compared with her, it made him appear as though he lacked motivation.
In reality, he was not inferior to others.
Plenty of people working in state-owned units had no ambition and merely collected their salaries while passing the time.
Gu Xinguo was fairly hardworking.
He drove diligently and had never been lazy, apart from applying for internal duties because of Grandma’s illness and Shen Jiao’s pregnancy.
Whenever he travelled outside the county for work, he also conducted a little private trade on the side.
Unfortunately, even with all that, he still could not keep pace with his wife’s ability to earn money.
Just look at her.
Linqing County was already too small to contain her ambitions.
He sighed.
“Since you want to go, then go. But we’ll agree on one thing first. Even if you want to move there, you must wait until the child is a little older.”
Seeing that he agreed, Shen Jiao immediately blossomed into a smile.
After giving birth, her facial features seemed to have suddenly matured and opened up.
When she smiled like a blooming flower, she was extraordinarily captivating.
Gu Xinguo’s throat moved as he swallowed.
Then his gaze shifted towards the little bun sleeping soundly in the cot.
Because of this brat, he had already lived like a monk for several months.
There were still another one or two months of abstinence ahead of him.
He sighed.
What had possessed him to be so eager for his wife to have a child?
“Thank you for supporting me, Brother Gu. How did I become so fortunate that I married such a wonderful husband?”
Seeing that Gu Xinguo’s expression improved considerably after her flattery, Shen Jiao immediately took advantage of the opportunity and assigned him the task of finding a suitable shop.
What else could Gu Xinguo do?
Naturally, he accepted.
He would not feel at ease if his wife entrusted the task to someone else anyway.
In truth, he had already formed a plan.
He would find a shop near the municipal Public Security Bureau.
Public security would naturally be better beside the bureau, and his old comrade would be nearby to look out for her.
Then Gu Xinguo would not need to worry about his wife being bullied.
After settling the matter with Gu Xinguo, Shen Jiao told Gu Xinmin about her plan.
Gu Xinmin had never imagined that such wonderful fortune would fall upon her.
“Jiaojiao, do you truly intend to open a tailoring shop in the city?”
“Of course. When I first opened the tailoring shop, I actually wanted to open directly in Zhangcheng.
“But the city was unfamiliar territory. I was afraid the locals would bully an outsider, so I opened the shop in Linqing County instead.
“If the old tailor hadn’t caused all that trouble, I wouldn’t have discovered that Brother Gu knew the deputy director of the municipal bureau.
“Now that we have an acquaintance who can look out for us, naturally, I should go to the city. There are more people there than in the county town, so I’ll certainly earn more money.”
Seeing that Shen Jiao had genuinely made up her mind to develop her business in the city, Gu Xinmin happily agreed to take over the county shop.
The business there was already well established.
If she opened a completely new shop, she would have to find ways to attract customers from the beginning.
Gu Xinmin had already been caring for Shen Jiao very attentively during her postpartum confinement.
Now, she became even more meticulous.
It saved Shen Jiao an enormous amount of trouble.
Seeing her behave this way also warmed Shen Jiao’s heart.
Was that not what living as a family meant?
You helped me, and I helped you.
Fortunately, she had devised this plan.
Over the following period, she used it as a reason to refuse many villagers who came to borrow money.
Everyone knew that Shen Jiao’s tailoring shop had earned a great deal, so certain shameless people came looking to make their presence known.
Shen Jiao had no intention of indulging them.
She had accumulated some money, but it had not blown into her hands with the wind.
Life with a child was always busy and fulfilling.
In the blink of an eye, the little fellow reached his hundred-day celebration.
As for the baby’s name, it had finally been decided.
He was called Gu Zheng.
His father hoped that he would follow the righteous path in the future.
Shen Jiao still remembered how she felt upon hearing the name.
What had her precious baby possibly done to offend his father enough to receive such a name?
Even her objection was useless.
Therefore, she gave the child the nickname Yanyan.
She hoped he would learn to speak early and express his own thoughts.
Otherwise, his father would make every decision for him.
After the baby’s hundred-day celebration, Gu Xinguo finally managed to rent a suitable shop beside the Zhangcheng Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Properties near the bureau were difficult to rent.
He had only secured it by relying on his former comrade’s connections.
Shen Jiao did not care about any of those details.
All she knew was that she could finally go to the city and open her shop.
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