Chapter 114: Unmarried and Pregnant
Seeing her like this, Grandma Chen continued, “Yuzhi, you must not be confused. What’s all this talk about people gossiping? Life is for living yourself. Living well yourself is more important than anything else. We two widows have had people gossip about us for half our lives, but look at us now, aren’t we living well?”
“Don’t be stubborn. Think carefully about what I said. Since your daughter-in-law will remarry sooner or later, you might as well ask her. I reckon Qinghuan can’t bear to leave An An. Who she marries is who she marries. Your Naihan is also a good person. If she wants to remarry, she probably won’t find anyone better than Naihan around here. Don’t let good water flow into someone else’s field. Think about it carefully yourself.
“Don’t be confused!
“This is also for the good of your grandson An An.”
Grandma Chen’s tone was quite earnest as she finished speaking.
If she didn’t have a good relationship with Liu Yuzhi, she definitely wouldn’t have said these things, as it could easily offend people.
In the end, Liu Yuzhi somewhat dazedly entered the courtyard. Bai Naihan even looked up at her, asking strangely, “Mom, what are you doing?”
She was sorting vegetables, giving the good leaves to the chickens and ducks, while putting the vegetable stalks in a basin, clearly not all there.
“Ah?” Liu Yuzhi came back to her senses and realized the foolish thing she was doing. She quickly threw the vegetable stalks into the chicken coop and then put the leaves in the basin. “I was thinking about something just now and got a little distracted.”
When Yun Qinghuan returned after taking the child to see the village doctor and getting medicine, she found the house unusually quiet.
Her mother-in-law, who usually cared deeply about An An, didn’t ask how An An was doing. She just looked at her several times, a thoughtful expression on her face.
Bai Naihan, on the other hand, was constantly working, and it was unclear whether the wooden planks he was sanding were for a cabinet or a box.
It was also strange that two days ago, Gu Mingliang had suddenly come to the Bai family, saying that he had heard Bai Naihan was also a carpenter and wanted Bai Naihan to help him make a wooden box, painted red, and a wardrobe. He even acted as if he wouldn’t have thought of asking Bai Naihan to make the furniture if he and Yun Qinghuan hadn’t come from the same educated youth point.
He also said that since he needed furniture anyway, paying someone else would cost money, so he might as well do Yun Qinghuan a favor and give Bai Naihan a chance to earn some money. Otherwise, sitting in a wheelchair all day and doing nothing would probably make him feel bad.
At that time, Gu Mingliang’s attitude was quite condescending, almost like he was doing them a favor. Yun Qinghuan found it a bit off-putting and directly wanted to refuse.
Unexpectedly, Bai Naihan happened to hear these words. It was as if Gu Mingliang’s contempt wasn’t directed at him. He calmly accepted the offer and even asked Gu Mingliang about the specific time frame for the furniture and quoted a rather high price. At that point, Gu Mingliang’s expression changed. He probably thought Bai Naihan’s price was too high, but he couldn’t bring himself to refuse, so he could only grit his teeth and agree. After giving the requested time, he left in a hurry.
Yun Qinghuan was still a bit puzzled as to why Gu Mingliang would come to have furniture made. The educated youth point wasn’t big, so where would he put such large pieces?
It was Qiao Yue who later mentioned that Gu Mingliang was preparing to propose marriage to Xia Yuhua. Originally, Gu Mingliang had wanted to delay, but the Xia family was impatient, and Xia Yuhua’s father had put some pressure on Gu Mingliang.
Yun Qinghuan didn’t think much of it, just assuming that Gu Mingliang and Xia Yuhua’s relationship was too flamboyant, and everyone in the village knew they were together. Moreover, Xia Yuhua wasn’t young anymore; she was considered an old maiden. Her family definitely wanted the two of them to settle down quickly.
It wasn’t until they were eating dinner that evening that Liu Yuzhi asked Bai Naihan about it. Upon learning that he was making furniture for Gu Mingliang, she cursed, “They are really disgusting! Doesn’t he know what your relationship with Xia Yuhua used to be? Now that Xia Yuhua is getting married, he comes to you to make furniture. He really has no good intentions!”
“Naihan, you don’t have to force yourself to make furniture for them. We don’t need to earn that bit of money.” Afraid that her son would feel resentful, Liu Yuzhi comforted him.
Bai Naihan smiled and said a number. Liu Yuzhi’s eyes widened. “That much money?”
“That’s right. Anyway, I have nothing else to do. Isn’t it just making furniture? Simple. Why refuse money that’s offered?” Bai Naihan raised an eyebrow. He naturally knew that Gu Mingliang was coming to provoke him, but he also made him suffer a silent loss. The furniture he was making was even more expensive than buying it in town.
Liu Yuzhi laughed. “Then it’s better to earn this money.”
Speaking of Xia Yuhua, Liu Yuzhi continued, saying that she had heard from the villagers that they had seen Xia Yuhua secretly going to the village doctor with her mother. Then, the next day, news spread that Xia Yuhua was going to marry Gu Mingliang.
Moreover, the date was set very quickly. Usually, a wedding would take at least two or three months to prepare, but they had set the wedding date for just over a month later.
They were really in a hurry.
They were getting married in early August, after the unlucky month of July. If it hadn’t been for avoiding July, they probably would have set the date even sooner.
Some people speculated that Xia Yuhua was pregnant before marriage. After all, she and Gu Mingliang didn’t try to hide anything. Many villagers had seen her coming out of the small woods with the man, their mouths swollen from kissing. As for more intimate things, a single man and a single woman, both young and full of vigor, it wouldn’t be surprising if things happened easily.
So, pregnancy was only a matter of time.
However, no one expected Xia Yuhua to be so impatient, getting pregnant before marriage. With her being unmarried and pregnant, and Gu Mingliang being an educated youth from the city, it was really hard to say whether her mother-in-law would look down on her as a daughter-in-law.
She heard that city people were very particular about such things. Wouldn’t this make her look down on her?
Yun Qinghuan’s eyes widened in surprise when she heard her mother-in-law say this, but in reality, she wasn’t too surprised. After all, looking at Xia Yuhua’s personality, she really wasn’t a conventional girl.
To be honest, Yun Qinghuan quite admired this girl for being so bold. She knew that even in modern times, where the social atmosphere was more open than in this era, if a girl got pregnant before marriage, people would still gossip about her.
At this moment, Yun Qinghuan snapped out of her reverie. She watched Bai Naihan carving the wooden planks. Even though the man’s price was high, his carpentry skills were indeed worth the price. He even added some patterns to it, although these patterns were much simpler than those on the desk he had made for her.
She took the child’s hand and walked up to her mother-in-law, calling out to her. The older woman seemed to only notice An An then, asking her, “How is it? Did the village doctor say An An’s injuries were serious?”
“Not serious, just some bruises. Applying some medicine for a few days will be fine.”
Liu Yuzhi breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted to take An An’s hand, but who knew that the child would suddenly shake off Yun Qinghuan’s hand, lower his head, and walk into the house without saying a word, then “bang” the door shut.
“What’s wrong with An An?”
Yun Qinghuan shook her head helplessly. “I don’t know either. He’s been like this since he saw Fatty’s mother this morning. He won’t say anything when I ask him. I suspect he must be feeling upset.”
Seeing her grandson like this, Liu Yuzhi’s heart also ached. She suddenly thought of what Grandma Chen had said: even if it’s just for the sake of your grandson, think about it.
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Translated with love by _ ꕤ🌼Yourheartbeat🌼ꕤ
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