Chapter 183: Arrangements
Chapter 183: Arrangements
Noon.
When Deng Shirong returned home, his children and their spouses were having lunch, enjoying sweet yam congee.
As he greeted them, his nephew, Bu Dashishi, had already served him a bowl.
Deng Shirong took a couple of bites before saying, "Ping, I’ve made the arrangements in the county town. You should go there to prepare for the birth in the next couple of days."
Zhang Xiuping, surprised, replied, "Dad, I still have at least half a month before the baby is due. Do I really need to go up so early?"
Deng Shirong said, "We’ll have to go eventually, so it’s better to go early for peace of mind."
Deng Yunzhen chimed in, "Dad, I want to go with her to help. I can assist with the baby once it’s born."
"Of course, we’ll all go."
Deng Shirong then looked at his nephew and said, "Dashishi, the kids will be in your care. For the next few days, you’ll be responsible for cooking for them, your sister, and your brother-in-law. Can you handle that?"
Bu Dashishi replied, "Of course, no problem."
Bu Dafang quickly added, "Uncle, why don’t I go up to help too? Cousin Yunzhen might not know how to take care of a newborn. I already have two kids, so I have plenty of experience in this area."
Zhang Xiuping smiled and said, "Thank you, Cousin, but my mother has already said she’ll come to help when I’m ready to give birth. So, it won’t be necessary to trouble you."
Bu Dafang took a bite of the yam and said with a smile, "We’re family, so it’s no trouble. Your mother might have thought the birth would happen at home, and she’d only need to stay for a week or two. Now that you’re going to the county town early, I’m not sure if she has that much free time."
"My mother is at home taking care of the kids and cooking. There are so many people in my family, so her absence won’t make much of a difference."
Zhang Xiuping then looked at her father-in-law and asked, "Dad, will there be enough room for all of us in the county town?"
"Don’t worry, I’ve already taken care of it."
Turning to his eldest son, Deng Shirong said, "Yuntao, you should visit your in-laws tomorrow and check on your mother-in-law. If she has the time and wants to spend some time in the county town, bring her over, and we’ll all go to Bobai the day after tomorrow.
If she’s busy and can’t take that much time off, please reassure her that we have everything under control and will take good care of your wife and the baby."
Deng Yuntao nodded. "Sure, I’ll talk to her tomorrow."
Deng Shirong then looked at the younger children who were still in school and said, "We’ll be away from home for a while, so don’t slack off in your studies. Keep working hard, got it?"
"Got it, Dad!"
Deng Yunsong and Deng Yunheng, who were good students, responded loudly, while Deng Yunzhu and Deng Yunhua, who were not so academically inclined, answered more weakly.
Deng Shirong had already given up on the latter two and didn’t bother to say more.
...
Meanwhile.
In the Zhang family home in Poxin Village, Zhang’s parents were discussing their daughter’s upcoming birth during lunch.
Zhang’s mother, peeling a yam, said, "Calculating the dates, Xiuping should be giving birth next month. Her mother-in-law is no longer around, and her sister-in-law has no experience. I definitely need to go early to help."
"Then the cooking and taking care of the kids will be up to you."
Mr. Zhang nodded. "No problem. Usually, the eldest and second daughters-in-law take turns carrying the two younger ones to the store. It's not usually busy, so on market days, one of them can stay home to take care of the kids while I help out at the store."
Mrs. Zhang agreed. "Then we'll mention this to them when they come back this afternoon."
...
That afternoon.
When all the sons and daughters-in-law returned for dinner, Mrs. Zhang brought up the matter again at the table.
Both daughters-in-law had no objections. They knew that their current comfortable life was largely thanks to their younger sister-in-law. It was only natural that they help her when her mother-in-law was unavailable to care for her during childbirth.
So, as soon as Mrs. Zhang finished speaking, the eldest daughter-in-law immediately responded, "Mom, that's what we should do. Don't worry about the house; we'll take care of everything."
The second daughter-in-law also nodded. "Eldest sister-in-law is right. We're all familiar with the business now. We can take turns staying home to cook and look after the kids. You can rest assured and focus on taking care of Ping."
Seeing how understanding her daughters-in-law were, Mrs. Zhang was very pleased. She said hopefully, "I hope Xiu Ping’s first child will be a son for the Deng family. That would really be something to look forward to."
Mr. Zhang, of course, also hoped his daughter would have a son first, but he knew it was a matter of fate. He added, "This is just the first child. It doesn’t matter if it’s a boy or a girl. Having a son would be best, but even if it’s a daughter, the in-laws wouldn’t have anything to say. It’s not like they’ll stop having children after one."
The eldest daughter-in-law smiled. "Dad, Mom, don’t worry about that. When we went to celebrate Ping’s younger brother’s university admission, I talked to Ping about this. She said her father-in-law doesn’t care whether it’s a boy or a girl. He’ll throw a grand full moon party either way!"
The second daughter-in-law also chimed in, smiling. "Ping’s father-in-law is very open-minded. I heard from Ping that he once publicly said that having a boy or a girl isn’t the woman’s fault, but the man’s. So, you don’t have to worry about Ping being criticized for having a daughter."
Mrs. Zhang looked at her second daughter-in-law in surprise. "Xiu Ping really said that?"
The second daughter-in-law nodded. "Yes, that’s exactly what she said. She mentioned that in their village, a woman had five daughters in a row. When she had her fifth daughter, her mother-in-law was so angry that she didn’t even cook for her."
Mr. and Mrs. Zhang, as well as their sons, all frowned, finding the mother-in-law’s behavior extremely unreasonable.
The second daughter-in-law continued, "When Ping’s father-in-law heard about this, he went to scold the mother-in-law. He said that having a boy or a girl isn’t the woman’s problem; she just provides the land. The man sows the seed, and whatever he sows is what grows.
Since Ping’s father-in-law can say such things, we don’t have to worry about him being unhappy whether Ping has a son or a daughter."
Hearing this, Mr. and Mrs. Zhang finally felt at ease.
No matter whether their daughter had a boy or a girl, her status in the Deng family wouldn’t be affected!
(End of Chapter)
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