The small island also needed them to transform it themselves, the first step naturally being to build houses—not only enough for themselves, but also family dormitories.
This point had everyone very proactive, after all, once they brought their wives along with the troops, they’d also have separate dorms to live in.
In the blink of an eye, Xia Xiao was already three months pregnant, and at this time, it was impossible to keep concealing the pregnancy, so once this news came out, the first and biggest reactions came from Li Shengmei and Dong Meihua. This content belongs to novel✦fire.net
"Three months already, Zheng Xianghong kept it hidden very well indeed," Li Shengmei said, her face flushed with anger.
Dong Meihua felt extremely frustrated. Xia Xiao was pregnant while she wasn’t. Li Shengmei would definitely not let her off, as expected, she turned to Dong Meihua, "Is there something wrong with you? Why is it that you married so early, yet Sun Yuhua, Wang Aihua, Feng Ying, Xia Xiao, all of whom shared a dorm with you, married after you but they are all pregnant now, yet there’s not even a sign from you?"
"Mom, my body is fine, and my periods are regular too," Dong Meihua felt incredibly wronged.
"There must be something wrong, let’s go, we need to see someone about this," Li Shengmei said as she prepared to take Dong Meihua out the door.
"Mom," Dong Meihua was very angry. Sometimes the bitter medicine Li Shengmei forced on her was tolerable, but now she was being forced to see a doctor, despite feeling perfectly healthy.
"Come on, don’t dally," Li Shengmei headed inside to grab some money, then readied to leave.
Dong Meihua followed sullenly behind, being hurried constantly by Li Shengmei. Even after they left the production team, Li Shengmei continued to berate Dong Meihua, "Look at you, how can your belly be so uncooperative? I always had high hopes for you, back in the day I said you were blessed and would have an easy time giving birth, but now even Xia Xiao, who is less fortunate, is pregnant and you are still not. Aren’t you just slapping me in the face? The whole village is probably laughing at me now. You’ve dragged my face through the mud."
Dong Meihua was very unhappy; it wasn’t like she had made Li Shengmei talk about Xia Xiao, and yet all the blame was being shoveled onto her. Didn’t she also long to be pregnant and have a child? With He Xuexiang returning only once a year, having a child would have saved her from loneliness and constant nagging from Li Shengmei.
Remembering that Xia Xiao was now pregnant and already three months along, the pressure inside Dong Meihua felt like a massive stone weighing her down, leaving her breathless.
While continuing to listen to Li Shengmei’s berating, Dong Meihua couldn’t help but say, "Mom, it’s not certain that Xia Xiao will give birth to a son."
"Whether it’s a son or not is one thing, but she got pregnant, what about you? It’s been years and not even a hint from your belly," Li Shengmei stared at Dong Meihua’s belly, almost as if trying to bore a hole into it.
Dong Meihua felt incredibly uncomfortable, filled with resentment and anger, now she could only hope that Xia Xiao would have a daughter, otherwise, if it were a son, she’d never have peaceful days ahead.
When they arrived at the county hospital for a check-up, the doctor happened to be Tang Jiao. Despite being in her thirties, Li Shengmei was somewhat doubtful of such a young doctor’s capabilities.
The check-up results showed that Dong Meihua was completely healthy, greatly relieving her, but Li Shengmei was somewhat incredulous and quickly questioned Tang Jiao,
"Doctor, if my daughter-in-law is healthy, then why hasn’t she gotten pregnant despite being married for years?"
"You have to ask your son about that, I wouldn’t know. Your daughter-in-law is perfectly healthy, sometimes not getting pregnant isn’t her fault," Tang Jiao said.
"How could you say my son has problems? My son is a soldier!" Li Shengmei exclaimed loudly.
Tang Jiao, feeling helpless, replied, "You misunderstood, I didn’t say your son has problems. You even said your son is a soldier; it’s normal for couples who spend a lot of time apart to have difficulty conceiving."
"But others managed it in one go, and my son was home for ten days during the New Year..." Li Shengmei countered discontentedly, her voice loud enough that everyone turned to look as if she wanted to tell them exactly how many times He Xuexiang and Dong Meihua had been together.
Dong Meihua’s face turned red with anger and her eyes reddened, she couldn’t help but want to cry, feeling immensely wronged.
Tang Jiao looked at Dong Meihua with some sympathy. With such a mother-in-law, life as a daughter-in-law was truly miserable. Thinking of her own mother-in-law, Tang Jiao breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, she wasn’t like the one right in front of her.
In the end, Dong Meihua left the scene wiping her tears, following Li Shengmei out of the hospital. At the entrance, Li Shengmei even said, "What are you crying about? You still have the face to cry, making it look like I’m the bad mother-in-law."
"Mom, how could you say those things in the hospital?" This time, Dong Meihua genuinely wanted to argue with Li Shengmei.
"What did I say that wasn’t true? When Gangzi came back for ten days last time, you were almost always together. On the first day he returned, Gangzi went to the Red Star Production Team to find us. Wuzi and I were walking ahead, and we couldn’t even see you two behind us—you must have been rolling in the grass. My son is a soldier and very robust; I could hear you two at night. After so many times, how could you not be pregnant?" Li Shengmei continued.
Then she added, "That doctor is too young, completely incompetent, not even a match for Zheng Xianghong."
At this point, Dong Meihua felt like she might as well jump into the river. She followed Li Shengmei home absent-mindedly, her vision unfocused, a river of sorrow threatening to overflow inside her.
Thinking of how Zheng Xianghong treated Sun Yuhua and Xia Xiao, and then considering Li Shengmei right in front of her... They were both mother-in-laws, so why was there such a huge difference? Why couldn’t Li Shengmei just be a bit quieter, a bit more peaceful?
And to think such words could even be said aloud. Dong Meihua recalled the looks from everyone when Li Shengmei spoke, feeling so embarrassed she wanted to crawl into a hole. She felt she could no longer face the hospital, let alone ever step foot in there again.
"And you, you can’t even match Sun Yuhua or Wang Aihua, let alone Xia Xiao," Li Shengmei kept talking.
On the way, Dong Meihua couldn’t help but yell at Li Shengmei, "Why don’t you compare yourself to Zheng Xianghong then? You always compare me to Sun Yuhua and Xia Xiao. Why don’t you see how Zheng Xianghong treats her daughter-in-law? How do you treat your daughter-in-law? From the moment I married into this family, there hasn’t been a day you haven’t nagged me. Can you just give my ears some rest, can you just shut up?"
This was the first time Dong Meihua had raised her voice at Li Shengmei, and also the first time she had spoken to her in such a manner.
Li Shengmei was stunned, never expecting Dong Meihua to dare speak to her that way, she immediately said angrily, "What did you say, you’re saying I’m not as good as Zheng Xianghong?"
Dong Meihua stiffened her neck and retorted, "Exactly, you’re not as good. The whole production team can see that. Zheng Xianghong treats her daughter-in-law like her own daughter. And you? You treat your daughter-in-law like a maid, constantly bossing me around or fixating on my womb, criticizing me. How am I supposed to feel okay?"