Everyone soon sat down together for a meal.
Yang PeiMin didn’t know if she had overslept or if her body hadn’t adjusted to the schedule, but she had little appetite. After a few sips of chicken soup, she felt full, and everyone at the table looked at her. Chen Guizhi was particularly anxious, "Is the food not to your taste?"
"No, I’m just eating slowly." Not wanting to worry everyone, Yang PeiMin forced herself to eat a few more bites, because it wasn’t just about her anymore.
Shen Yidong then joked with a smile, "Sister-in-law, with all this trouble, I’m sure it’s going to be a hefty little boy. Everyone says girls are considerate, but when I was pregnant with my daughters, I never had trouble eating. Looking at your loss of complexion which used to be smooth, it must be a boy."
Chen Guizhi was very pleased by this remark and kept urging Yang PeiMin to eat more.
Yang PeiMin’s face grew somber. She didn’t want to bear the burden of having to produce a boy, "Boy or girl, both are surprises to me. These kinds of talks—since the child isn’t born yet—can’t confirm if it’s a boy or girl. So I don’t want to discuss the gender so early. Mentioning it too much, even the baby can sense it. If it turns out to be a girl, she would feel so sad because everyone was expecting otherwise."
Shen Yiguang served her a chicken wing and nodded in agreement, "My wife is right, boy or girl, they are all our children, whatever happens naturally is best."
Shen Yidong glanced at Chen Guizhi, she was just trying to make Yang PeiMin feel good; now it really does seem hard to be a good person.
Chen Guizhi paused, then smiled as well, "Right, Ah Guang is right. Whether it’s a boy or girl, they’re both our children. To first have flowers and then fruits is also good."
Shen Yidong immediately lost interest and turned to ask Shen Yixiang, "So your job was taken over, what do you plan to do?"
Shen Yixiang also hesitated, her mind hadn’t been on this issue for a long time, and she wasn’t as angry as when she first found out, she said indifferently, "Forget it, even if it wasn’t taken over by someone else, I was planning to quit anyway."
Everyone looked at her surprised.
Shen Erniu frowned deeply, "What are you saying? What do you mean ’planning to quit’? What do you want to do, if not this? Is your family running the company?"
"After the New Year, I’m actually planning to go back with my brother-in-law and sister to the army, find a job there, and take care of my sister too. It’s a perfect solution."
This decision startled everyone once again.
When did this girl become so sensible?
Yang PeiMin wondered if this girl was still thinking about Lu Haijun.
Chen Guizhi and Shen Erniu exchanged glances, uncertain of what to say. Initially, they had asked their daughter to go look after their daughter-in-law due to her lack of experience and lack of caretakers. After her pregnancy stabilized, she was to come back and continue her previous job. The job wasn’t easy to come by. Not wanting their youngest daughter to lose her job, they didn’t mind compensating her more if indeed the sister-in-law needed someone to take care of her until she gave birth.
Now, with their daughter volunteering to take care of her sister-in-law, they felt a mix of happiness, relief, and heartache.
"All right, sweet child, to think you’d consider this," Chen Guizhi finally grasped the situation and happily spoke to Shen Yixiang, also serving her more meat with her chopsticks, "We were initially thinking of letting you accompany your sister-in-law until the first three months of stabilization, but since she had a fall before, I’m worried she might not recover well. Having you there gives us peace of mind."
Shen Erniu also nodded, "It looks like she has grown up. Families should support each other, help each other out, and siblings shouldn’t really fuss over things."
Shen Yixiang sat up straighter, her face brimming with proud satisfaction.
Shen Yidong, however, couldn’t believe her eyes as she looked at her sister, "Yixiang, what job will you do? What job allows you to both take care of someone and get paid? Or is your sister-in-law going to pay you a salary?"
She wondered if her little sister had been sweet-talked by Yang Peimin, considering she had never been quite satisfied with this nephew and niece. Such a sudden change made her think this might be the case. Between the two, she naturally sided with her own sister and wanted to remind her. She also didn’t believe a pregnant woman after the first three months needed much looking after, she hadn’t had such bad habits herself, and it seemed like their parents and brother had spoiled them.
Shen Yixiang nodded, "My sister-in-law does give me a salary, she calls it pocket money. But I only dare to take 5 yuan a month. I just help with cooking and tidying up the house; I’ll look for a job later. It’s not that hard, I might just be a bit shameless, or I could do some handicrafts at home. Don’t worry about me; I will definitely find a job. When I earn money, I’ll buy you guys nice things."
"You dare to take your sister-in-law’s money, I’m going to hit you!"
Chen Guizhi picked up her chopsticks to hit her, but Shen Yiguang stopped her, "Mom, our little sister has become sensible. This isn’t a salary, as her sister-in-law said, it’s just pocket money. She has come to help us; giving her a little pocket money is appropriate. As for her returning to T city with us, I’ll let her think it over."
"That’s too much, don’t we also need money? We’re renting a house and need food and drink. Even a cabbage in the city costs money, and childcare will be another expense. We need to save for emergencies. How can we afford to spend ?" Chen Guizhi was getting anxious. She knew exactly how little her son earned, and her daughter-in-law was still studying and wasn’t working yet. Relying on her son’s salary alone was hardly enough, and this kind of spending would make it difficult in the future. Was her grandson also supposed to suffer? No, she would have her daughter return the money to her son.
She was going to add more, but Yang Peimin hurriedly said, "Mom, don’t worry about me. I have money, rest assured, I can manage this amount and won’t let myself be short."
Shen Yixiang casually took over the conversation, "My sister-in-law gets paid for designing clothes for others too..."
Speaking of this, Shen Yixiang seemed invigorated, not letting anyone else reply before quickly finishing her food and grabbing the clothes brought from T city. "Look what we’ve brought for you all."
The action was unprecedented.
The meal thus concluded, to look at Shen Yixiang’s gifts.
Shen Yiyue picked up a woolen coat and tried it on, immensely pleased, "It’s beautiful; the clothes from there are much nicer than what we have here."
"That’s what, we had it made. You can’t buy these here," Shen Yixiang said proudly.
Shen Yiyue noticed her sister had grown rather cocky from one trip; it seemed she had really broadened her horizons and become more confident.
Shen Yidong also looked enviously, "Let me try one too."
Initially, they hadn’t planned to bring anything back for Shen Yidong, but felt bad about leaving her out now. Shen Yixiang quickly took out her own coat and handed it to her, "Here, Fourth Sister, this is yours. The blue one is different from Yiyue’s, see if you like it?"
Shen Yidong was ecstatic, hurriedly putting it on.