Sensing that he couldn't hide it anymore, Zhou Chengkang sighed and helped her into the house, "I was told that it's going to be like this. I haven't visited the town to see mother-in-law, so I don't know if she's leaving or not."
In their previous life, such a thing didn’t happen which implied that there was no absolute in the matter. Even if they revived their lives again, it wasn't necessary that everything would go according to their previous life. She also didn't think that Zhao Wanwan would go to her father.
"If she wants to leave, she should have come and told me, right?" Li Qinghe asked in a sad voice.
After asking, she thought communication might have been highly impossible because of the recent harsh weather that even made going outside difficult.
"I will always stay with you." He replied.
When the two entered the room, Li Qinghe remembered something and asked, "Would you like to go and visit your third brother?"
"No." Zhou Chengkang shook his head, "He can handle it himself."
Since he refused, Li Qinghe did not no persuade him any longer. She picked up the needle and thread to make cloth diapers. She made a few sets already, but Mrs. Zhou said she would need more sets as the baby was due to be born in winter and clothes would not dry quickly after use.
So, these days she has been struggling to finish making the diapers soon.
Mrs. Zhou returned late at night, with a very exhausted face, "She didn’t leave yet, but I can tell that there will be a lot of fights after the family leaves. If she leaves, the child will have no mother and if she stays, she will probably live in regret. Those two are still quarreling."
She sighed, "I'm going to rest."
It rained every day this autumn and it never stopped which made it impossible to chop the firewood. Some people went to the mountains to chop the firewood in light rain as they didn't have any left at home. Because of this, there were quite a lot of people in the village who suffered from the cold winds. Every three days someone would demand to bring a doctor, even if the doctor didn’t live in the village. Many people came to Zhou Chengkang to ask him to go to the town to bring the doctor.
When Zhou Chengkang went to the county last time, he brought a lot of things that they needed, and now when he helped the villagers to bring back the doctor, he bought some things along the way too.
This time when he returned from the town, he didn't bring any ‘things’ but rather, Mrs. Xu.
Mrs. Xu had a blank expression. After greeting Mrs. Zhou she walked around the courtyard.
Mrs. Zhou went to the kitchen to cook. Mrs. Xu looked over the kitchen and then patted Li Qinghe's belly, "How have you been feeling recently? Have you been wronged by anyone?"
"I'm fine, and there's nothing to worry about." When Mrs. Xu came over, Li Qinghe was very happy, "Mother, why did you come in such a harsh weather?"
Mrs. Xu tapped her nose, "Don't you already know the reason? Your third sister-in-law has been having a few disagreements, and I don't believe you don't know about this matter. The two brothers of the Zhang family are going to move back to the county town. After all, the family’s main land is situated there."
Li Qinghe smiled, "Then, do you also want to leave?"
Mrs. Xu looked at her, "Do you want me to leave? Or do you want me to stay?"
If her opinion was countable, then she would like her mother to stay here. Even if her mother lived in another region and they didn't meet each other often, she would feel very nostalgic thinking about it. But she couldn't be selfish, "Mother, you can live wherever you think is better."
She had her own life, and it was too much to insist on keeping Mrs. Xu here.
Mrs.Xu hugged her, her eyes were red, but her face was smiling, "I have decided to leave in the spring of next year. I also have to see my grandchild after all."
Li Qinghe felt warmth in her heart, "Really?"
Seeing that she was happy, Mrs. Xu poked her belly, "I just said that I will follow you."
"After they leave in a few days, I will come back and bring Bin'er to live with you." She swept her eyes around the courtyard, "You won't say no, will you?"
Of course, she wouldn't refuse. There were many empty rooms in the house. After dinner, Zhou Chengkang escorted her back to town again.
Knowing that Mrs. Xu would come back to live with her, she was very happy all day long. In a blink of an eye, it was mid-September. While they were eating dinner, Mrs. Zhou said in a low voice, "I heard that there was a quarrel in the Zhao family last night."
Because of Li Qinghe's relationship with the Zhao family, the Zhou family will inevitably pay more attention to them. Hearing this, Li Qinghe was also quite curious and asked, "Why?"
As far as she knew, the Zhao family was now left with only Zhao Tianfu, and a woman whom he brought back from town. It was said that he bought the woman from a brothel. She was much younger than him, she was in her early twenties, and was good-looking too.
Mrs. Zhou said casually, "It seems as though the woman is pregnant, and she is trying to get him to marry her as well as to drive away Wanwan and her husband. So, WanWan argued with her when she heard to them talk about it. The woman said that Wanwan was raising a little white boy by herself, and Wanwan argued that the child in that woman's belly was not her father's. It just so happened that Mrs. Qian also went there at that time, and she also had a fight with that woman. This morning many people were talking about the ruckus."
Mrs. Qian's identity was in a tight position but she still dared to meddle in such a situation.
As she thought about it, given with Wanwan's little courage, if she had argued with the woman, it would have been her who suffered the most.
"The villagers are talking very badly about this." Mrs. Zhou gave her a look and said, "Don't get excited over this."
Li Qinghe couldn't help laughing, "I promise i won’t."
Mrs. Zhou lowered her voice, "It's being said that Zhao Tianfu had both a wife and a mistress and he couldn't argue with either of them when they got into a fight."
Hearing this, Zhou Chengkang frowned, "Mother, don't talk such nonsense."
"It's better for me to say it right now than for Qinghe to hear it from people talking about it outside, right?" Mrs. Zhou didn't care, "Besides, I don't think Qinghe would affected because of unrelated people to the point that it would harm the child."
Though Mrs. Zhou was talking to Zhou Chengkang, she intended to let Li Qinghe hear it. She was indirectly suggesting Li Qinghe to relax and not worry about such nonsense.
"Mother is right." Li Qinghe agreed. As long as her father was not involved, Mrs. Qian's and her daughter's affairs had nothing to do with her. She didn't have any attachments for them.
Mrs. Zhou changed the topic and asked, "By the way, i heard your mother say that she would come over and stay here to take care of you during the month?"
Li Qinghe didn't notice any meaning of her words and casually replied, "She said she would come to stay for a few days."
Mrs. Zhou put down her chopsticks. Li Qinghe and Zhou Chengkang both looked at each other and then at Mrs. Zhou.
"Actually, I should not be saying these words." Mrs. Zhou looked at her, "But your father still did not separate from his wife completely.. You will give birth while your mother is staying over. After the child is born, won’t your father come to visit you? It would be quite troubling for him to get along with your mother. Wanwan’s parents are still creating more trouble.. Won’t all of this collectively give the villagers more topics to gossip about?"
Li Qinghe also put down her chopsticks, "so, what do you want me to do?"
"Tell your mother to not stay here, I'll take good care of you." Mrs. Zhou picked up her chopsticks and began to eat again.
Mrs. Xu intentionally decided to stay here to take care of her daughter and if she was denied to do that then she would become sad. Besides, her daughter was about to give birth, and if she won’t stay here, how could she even see her?
She didn't say anything, but Zhou Chengkang hurriedly said, "It's better to let mother-in-law come over and stay. When the time comes, I will go and have a talk with father-in-law, and after a few days have passed, he will come and see the child."
Mrs. Zhou couldn’t help but nod when she saw Li Qinghe's wronged expression, " It’s okay. It’s better if she stays here for a few days or less.”
Li Qinghe still felt a little wrong. She never played with the emotions of people close to her, and asked directly, “Mother, do you have something to say? Please tell me directly and don't beat around the bush like this. I'm tired of listening to such things. Since I'm pregnant, I can't even bother to think about it deeply."
Mrs. Zhou looked embarrassed, "I heard that your mother is not going to the county? She ......"
After talking around for half a day, it turned out that she was afraid that Mrs. Xu would live here for a long time. Perhaps Mrs. Zhou was afraid that her son's life would become similar to that of the eldest son, with Mrs. Liu in the middle of their relationship..
Li Qinghe said directly, "She will move there in spring, and she won't stay in my house for too long. Besides, that's my mother, she won't be like Aunt Liu."
Hearing her blunt answer, Mrs. Zhou was a little embarrassed, "Qinghe, please don't be angry. I was overthinking about it this time."
She wasn't angry, but she was in a really bad mood. Mrs. Zhou treated her well these days but it was also at this time that Li Qinghe suddenly discovered that Mrs. Zhou can be selfish as well. She thought about it and said, "My mother has a younger brother, and besides, she is living a good life in Zhang's family, so shouldn’t I take care of her as well?. My father only has me as a daughter. Although sometimes he can be a bit muddleheaded he has never treated me wrongly. As a dowry, he gave us two taels of silver, which most people in our village can't afford. In the future, when he is older, I will have to take care of him."
Whether Mrs. Zhou liked it or not, this was something she had to do. Li Qinghe looked at the pale-faced Mrs. Zhou and said, " And we will also look after you when you are old. We will not leave you alone and there would be no shortage of food and clothes for you."
Hearing the last sentence, Mrs. Zhou's expression softened, and then she laughed, "It's my fault."
A child who knew the importance of filial piety was better than one who doesn't even pay attention to his parents. In the case where Li Qinghe didn't care about Li Fu, she would have had to worry about her future and not have been able to rely on them.
Since it had been raining for a while now, it felt as if the winter had just begun by the end of September. Recently, Zhou Chengkang often stared at her belly in a daze. He would finish feeding the chickens and pigs early, and usually accompany her without doing anything.
There were some expectations and some fear, but the child in the stomach didn't really care about his mood. On the last day of September, Li Qinghe just moved in the morning, and a stream of water flowed from her lower body, as she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Her face paled instantly.
Zhou Chengkang was beside her handing her the clothes. Seeing that she wasn't moving, he gripped the bedpost tightly until the tips of his fingers turned white. He dropped the clothes and hurriedly held her, "Does your stomach hurt?"
Li Qinghe nodded, "Hurry up ...... call mother ......"
Mrs. Zhou would occasionally go back to stay for a night at the Zhou house. This morning, she got up early and returned to Li Qinghe's house and was already in the kitchen cooking breakfast. When she heard Zhou Chengkang shouting, and his voice a little panicked, she ran over. Seeing the situation, she hurried over and took Li Qinghe from his arms and held her steady. She then urged him, "Go and bring granny Wen."