When Lu Cheng returned to the family compound, it was time for dinner. Some people saw Lu Cheng coming back with a few fish and asked hurriedly, "Captain Lu, has Comrade Lin given birth?"
After an afternoon, everyone in the family compound knew that Lin Qingqing had fetal movement in the afternoon, so when Lu Cheng came back, everyone thought that Lin Qingqing was most likely in labor.
Lu Cheng smiled and said, "It's born." He rarely smiled at others. He was usually polite and calm when he spoke, but he rarely smiled. But now, the smile on his face clearly revealed his joy. The kind of joy that emanated from his heart, which could not be suppressed no matter what.
Everyone was also infected by his smile. "Look how happy Captain Lu is, is it because he gave birth to a daughter?" This was not meant to "curse" someone to give birth to a daughter. In the eyes of ordinary people, asking someone whether they gave birth to a daughter might mean this, because in this era, men are valued over girls, but it is not the case in the Lu family. After more than half a year of propaganda by Lin's mother, everyone knows that the Lu family likes daughters. That's why this question was asked.
Lu Cheng said, "Yes, a daughter was born." He was a man of few words, and would only answer one question when asked. And because he was in a hurry to go back and make porridge for Lin Qingqing, he did not stop while answering.
"First you have a son and then you have a daughter. Congratulations to Captain Lu for having both a son and a daughter."
"That's right. Others bloom first and then bear fruit, but Captain Lu bears fruit first and then blooms."
"Brother first, with brother backing up his sister, who dares to bully his sister?"
This is true. If there is a big age gap between the younger brother and the older sister, the younger brother cannot support the older sister. But it is different for the older brother. The older brother is older than the younger sister. If the younger sister is bullied by her in-laws, the older brother will go to their house and fight.
Someone laughed and said, "If anyone dares to bully Captain Lu's daughter, we won't allow it."
"That's right. If anyone dares to bully us, our entire family compound will not agree."
Then everyone started laughing.
When Lu Cheng arrived at the door of his house, he saw smoke coming out of the chimney. He thought that it must be Lu Haici coming back from school. "Haici?"
When Lu Haici heard his father's voice, he ran out of the kitchen excitedly: "Dad, has Mom given birth? Is it a brother or a sister?"
Lu Cheng looked at his forehead sweating, his eyes were bright, and he couldn't help but touch his head: "It's born, it's a sister." Maybe he didn't see Lu Haici being born before, and Lu Haici was raised by his aunt when he was a child. So Lu Cheng loved him like a father does his son, has the hope for his son, and educates him like a father does his son. However, he didn't have the excitement of watching Lin Qingqing give birth to a child, nor did he have the uncontrollable emotion that rose from his heart after the child in Lin Qingqing's belly was born.
But now, when he saw Lu Haici again, he had this feeling, as if his son had grown up.
When Lu Haici heard it was his sister, he jumped up happily: "Great." Compared to his brother, he liked his sister more. His sister was pretty and cute, while his brother was naughty. "Dad, I cooked porridge for Mom." He naggled, "When I came back from school, everyone said that Mom went to the hospital to give birth to her brother and sister, so I asked Aunt Qin how to cook for Mom. Aunt Qin said that Mom had just given birth and needed rice soup." He washed the rice himself and Aunt Qin added water for him. When he was cooking porridge, he was so excited that he couldn't calm down for a long time. "Dad, can I go to the hospital to see Mom and sister later?" He had a lot of money in his piggy bank. He was going to the county town on Sunday to buy a gift for his sister.
"Of course, go do your homework first. Dad will add the fish meat to the porridge you cooked, and we will bring food to Mom later." Lu Cheng said.
"Hey." Lu Haici hurried back to his room to do his homework. While doing his homework, he always had a smile on his face.
Lu Cheng went into the kitchen and took a look at the porridge that Lu Haici had cooked. Just as his mother-in-law had said, there was a lot of water in it. Then, he went to deal with the fish. After dealing with the fish, he began to cut the fish meat into minced meat and poured it into the porridge.
Lu Cheng's cooking skills are pretty good now. In the past six months, he has been learning how to cook from his mother-in-law whenever he has time. He knows that his mother-in-law can't live here forever, so when his mother-in-law returns to her hometown, his wife will have to take care of the children, and he will have to do the cooking, so he learned very hard. But maybe he doesn't have a good talent for cooking, and he can only cook the food.
After the porridge was ready, Lu Cheng called Lu Haici over, and the father and son ate some at home. There was a lot of porridge, so even if they ate it, there was still a lot left. Then, Lu Cheng put the porridge into a lunch box. Then he took his son and rode his bicycle to the hospital.
On the way, Lu Haici asked nervously: "Dad, do you think my sister will like me?"
"Yes." Lu Cheng said firmly.
"Really?" Lu Haici sat on the back of the bicycle, hugging his father's waist, "But my sister has never seen me, Dad, how do you know that my sister will like me?"
Lu Cheng: "Because you are the older brother and she is the younger sister, you are brother and sister, so she will definitely like you. Just like Dad has never seen you, but after knowing that your mother was pregnant with you, he knew that he would like you." This is something Lu Cheng would not say before, but after Lin Qingqing became pregnant, he understood this kind of love. It is natural to like relatives. After this unborn child knew her existence, he liked her.
Lu Haici was a thoughtful child. Hearing his father's words, he felt even happier. His father liked him before he was born. He liked his sister before she was born. So, even if his sister hadn't met him yet, she would still like him because they were siblings. "Dad, I want to go to the department store on Sunday."
"What are you going to the department store for?" Lu Cheng asked.
Lu Haici: "I want to buy a gift for your sister. A brother should give his sister a meeting gift. When I was young, my grandmother and great-grandmother gave me a meeting gift. A meeting gift is a gift given to someone when you meet them for the first time."
Lu Cheng thought to himself that he hadn't prepared a gift for his daughter, but when he first met Lu Haici, he bought a lot of things for Lu Haici because he hadn't been home for a few years. "So what gift are you going to prepare for your sister?"
Lu Haici said: "I don't know either. Dad, when I was little, did you prepare a gift for me?"
Lu Cheng said: "Are you ready?"
Lu Haici was curious: "What did you prepare? Why don't I remember it?"
"..." Lu Cheng thought, it's strange that you can remember, "You were only one year old at that time. I came back from a mission and asked for a long vacation to go back to my hometown to see you. I bought milk powder and malted milk." Thinking about it carefully, that's all. Because a one-year-old cub can only eat these things.
When Lu Haici heard that his father had also prepared a gift for him, he was so happy that his mouth curled up. "Then I'll buy milk powder and malted milk for my sister too."
Lu Cheng: “We have some at home.” There are several cans of milk powder at home.
"Ah... I know what to buy for my sister." Lu Haici suddenly thought, "I will buy a pretty hairband for my sister. Little girls like pretty hairbands."
Lu Cheng thought of his daughter wrapped in swaddling clothes that he saw today: "Your sister doesn't have any hair yet." The few strands of hair could be ignored.
Lu Haici said: "Then my sister will have long hair, Dad, you can't say that my sister has no hair, my sister will be unhappy if she hears it. Little girls like to be beautiful the most. If you say she is not beautiful, she will not like you."
Lu Cheng: “…”
While the father and son were talking, they arrived at the hospital. Lu Cheng first parked his bicycle, and Lu Haici ran towards the hospital carrying the lunch box.
It was getting slightly dark.
Lin Qingqing was still sleeping in the hospital. While watching her daughter and granddaughter, Lin's mother chatted with the mother of the woman next door. When they first came, the woman next door was alone. At dinner time, the mother of the woman next door came to bring her dinner.
"As a mother-in-law, you are not as good as a mother. Look, sister-in-law, my daughter gave birth yesterday. Her in-laws sent her to the hospital. After knowing that she gave birth to a girl, they left. They have not come since yesterday. When they wanted to marry my daughter, they said all kinds of nice things. Now, their human nature is exposed." The old lady's mouth was full of foam, and her anger was obvious. She also saw that Lin Qingqing gave birth to a daughter, and it was Lin's mother who took care of her. She thought that she was like her own daughter, and her in-laws didn't like her because she gave birth to a girl. So she started to nag Lin's mother.
Lin's mother sighed: "That's right. In the countryside where we come from, many girls don't even have the chance to go to school, and that's not the worst. The girls suffer the most because they don't have enough to eat or wear warm clothes every day, and they are also beaten and scolded. Oh, what a miserable life." Lin's mother sighed.
"Are you from the country?" The old lady was a little surprised. "You don't look like you are from the country." She saw that the clothes Lin's mother wore had no patches on them. She looked very energetic and did not have any country airs. She did not look like a country girl at all.
Lin's mother said, "Our family lives in the countryside, and my son-in-law's family lives in the county town." Although their family bought a house in the county town, Lin's mother did not look down on country people. In many cases, she also called herself a country person, unless in front of those arrogant people, she would say that she was from the county town.
"Then it must be very hard for you?" asked the old lady. "People in the county town look down on people from the country." Although she was also from the county town.
Mother Lin said: "That's not the case. My son-in-law's family treats my daughter very well."
The old lady didn't believe this. She saw that there was no one from Lin Qingqing's in-laws in the ward, and thought that Lin's mother was just trying to save face, but she didn't say anything. We are all poor people, why should we save face for others? The old lady sighed, "Just treat your daughter well, our family..."
"Grandma..." Just at this moment, a crisp voice sounded. It turned out that Lu Haici came with a bag.