CTF 0024

When Xu Zhinian received the letter and the package that Xu Yin sent, he felt moved.

It was normal for soldiers, like many of his comrades, to receive packages from home after they married. However, this was the first time that Xu Zhinian had received a package from home.

There was a point in his life when he believed his parents only loved his little sister, and not him. He always sent back his monthly salary, but his parents only ever wanted to make new clothes for his little sister. They never sent him anything, even if it was just the peppers that they grew at home. They dried chilli and boiled chilli sauce and grew and dried vegetables at home, but he never received any of them.

It wasn’t that he wanted to wear new clothes or eat dried radish with chilli sauce that badly. It was just… How should he put it? He also wanted to receive something from his family, regardless of how much what they sent was worth. 

Finally, though, his package was here!

His parents cared about him, and his wife also still thought about him. His little sister, too, actually treated him quite well.

Everything that had happened, happened in the past. He was younger back then and still had a lot to learn. Now that he was grown up, he had become much more sensible.

In his heart, he began calculating how many days of family leave he could save up before the end of the year.

It’d be best if he could rush back home to be by his wife’s side and cheer her on when she was going to give birth.

His sister was right. Giving birth was the most dangerous thing that a woman could go through. It’d be one thing if he couldn’t get back in time due to a mission, but if he could, he should make the trip.

As they entered their third year of high school, students’ goals regarding their future tended to become clearer.

Although the mock exams hadn’t even started yet, they already had some idea about what they needed to work on after undergoing the end-of-term exams last semester. 

“Yinyin, have you decided on which university that you want to apply to?”

After the morning reading session, Tong Guihua tapped Xu Yin’s elbow and asked her a question. 

Xu Yin shook her head. “Not yet. I’ll decide after I see my scores in the official mock exams.”

“There are several universities that I think you should consider. If you don’t count Russian, your total score is the highest in our class. You’ve also made it to the top ten rank in our grade. Remember what our principal said? If you’re in the top ten rank in our school, while it’s not a given that you’ll be accepted to Peking or Tsinghua, you’ll get into Hainan!”

Xu Yin hadn’t decided which university she’d like to apply to yet. Right now, she was much more concerned about the plot striking back again at her since she wasn’t at home to take care of things anymore.

“Let’s talk about it later,” she told Tong Guihua.

“Right. There are still ten months left, the same amount of time as a full-term pregnancy. We still have a lot of time. Maybe if you work hard, you might even get a higher rank! If you manage to squeeze into the top five or top three ranks of the grade, you might be able to go to Peking University.”

Xu Yin absent-mindedly laughed. Her deskmate was quite confident in her, wasn’t she?

One of their female classmates, who sat in the front row, approached Xu Yin after their class ended. She said, “Yinyin, my cousin is getting married soon. I heard that your sister-in-law makes good clothes, so she asked me to bring a piece of cloth to see what kind of dress you can make out of it.”

Xu Yin shook her head. “I’m sorry, but my sister-in-law is about to give birth. I’m afraid she won’t have the time to make anything for now.” 

As her sister-in-law entered the late stages of her pregnancy, her legs had begun to swell. She couldn’t wear her shoes anymore, and could only step on the collar padding behind the heels of her shoes, turning them into slippers instead.

Xu Yin didn’t plan to take any orders home anytime soon.

However, to ease her sister-in-law’s mind, she showed the new design sketches she had created, all of which were new styles not available in the market, to her sister-in-law.

“Sister-in-law, after the confinement period, you can choose any design for a piece of clothing, and I’ll start promoting it for you. Now, listen to me, focus on taking care of the pregnancy. I’ve inquired at the maternity department of the county hospital, and during the late stages of pregnancy, you shouldn’t sit all the time; you need to move around more, or your giving birth process might be harder.”

“That’s simple. She just needs to work in the fields, then,” Mother Xu said. “Back in our time, women gave birth quickly even while working in the fields.”

“Mom, you can’t generalise like that. Everyone’s situation is different. According to your logic, how can there still be cases of severe bleeding and difficult births? Giving birth is like going to the front lines in a battle. We need to despise the enemy, but also pay attention to the enemy tactically to win,” Xu Yin firmly replied.

Mother Xu: “…”

Wasn’t it just giving birth to a baby? What was all this talk about strategy and tactics? Did Xu Yin forget that Mother Xu had given birth herself?

Xu Yin’s attitude this time was exceptionally firm. 

“Anyway, I’ve already booked a hospital bed. Three days before your due date, we’ll go to the hospital. Of course, if labour starts earlier, we’ll move in immediately, no delays!”

“What? Go to the hospital?” Mother Xu’s eyes widened as if she’d heard something incredible. “Isn’t that a waste of money? Doesn’t every family have a midwife come to their house for deliveries?”

Xu Yin pulled her mom into the room, massaging her shoulders, and said, “Mom, listen to me. I’m not doing this just for kicks. There’s a classmate at our school; her cousin-in-law gave birth to twins during the summer break. Because she didn’t pay attention to these things during her pregnancy, not only did she give birth prematurely, but she also had a difficult labour.

“Poor kids, they lost their mother right after birth, and they didn’t even get a drop of breast milk. My classmate was running around trying to get formula but couldn’t find any, so they had to feed those babies rice porridge. After the confinement period, they looked as frail as a newborn kitten, all skin and bones. It was really sad.”

She wasn’t lying. The incident she was telling them did happen, only not to someone from her school, but someone from No. 3 High School. Tong Guihua had told her about it, and she didn’t know any other specifics about the story.

Mother Xu’s expression softened upon hearing this.

Xu Yin continued to convince her. “Since my sister-in-law married into our family, hasn’t she been diligent and dedicated? Hasn’t she treated me, you, and Dad well? Now her skills are even adding to our family’s income. I’m not bragging, but with her earning speed, by the latest, we’ll have a new house by next year’s Spring Festival. 

“What if something bad happens to her during childbirth? Brother can’t possibly stay single at his age, right? He should stay married to someone as hardworking as my sister-in-law. If he marries a wicked stepmother type who disrespects the elderly and abuses children, what then…”

Mother Xu imagined that scenario and shuddered. “Alright, alright, do whatever you want.”

Worst case, she’d ask her son to send a bit more money next time. Surely her daughter-in-law wouldn’t expect to use her money.

Xu Yin couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. 

Every time her mother couldn’t argue with her anymore, she would always tell her that phrase!

During the autumn harvest, Xu Yin visited her grandmother’s house.

At the beginning of the month, her uncle came to her house carrying a sack of mountain goods. In addition to dried fungus and mushrooms, there were also several kilograms of wild chestnuts.

Among them, the red mushrooms had been separated, and alone, they weighed about six or seven kilograms.

Her uncle didn’t ask her to sell it. He only said, “I heard from your aunt that you like red mushrooms, so I saved a bag for you. Can your school cook with them? If so, take them to make soup.”

Xu Yin thanked her uncle and, after returning to school, made a trip to a traditional Chinese medicine shop in the southern part of the city. The shop assistant said that while red mushrooms were considered a type of medicinal herb, the demand was not significant. At least, they rarely used red mushrooms for traditional Chinese medicine in their shop. They could buy them, but the purchase price might not be very high.

The store employee suggested she visit the dried goods market in the new district. Many merchants came and went there, which led to higher competition, and she might get a better price there. 

However, after she went there to check, she found that the red mushrooms sold in the dried goods market were far inferior to the ones from her uncle’s house. She suddenly couldn’t bear to sell them.

Her uncle’s red mushrooms were truly natural and free of pollution!

In the future, one might not be able to buy wild red mushrooms with such great quality no matter how much money they have.

Even though the purchase price at the dried goods market was indeed higher than the traditional Chinese medicine shop, she didn’t plan to sell them. Instead, she stored them all in her system inventory, keeping them for later consumption. 

Who knew how many small worlds that she would have to go through in the future? it’d be wise for her to stock up to avoid suffering any disadvantages.