Chapter 317: Visiting the Wang Family
The next morning!
After the rooster crowed three times, Li Yi slowly opened his eyes.
Reluctantly, he removed his hand from his wife’s body, then got dressed and got out of bed.
Tang Xue was fast asleep, so Li Yi didn’t disturb her.
Last night, the two little ones in her belly had been a bit restless, keeping her up until past 1:00 a.m. before finally settling down. As a result, Tang Xue kept dozing off and waking up, and she hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep at all.
Since there was still some time before dawn, he let her sleep a little longer.
After getting dressed, Li Yi immediately stoked the nearly extinguished stove and added some more charcoal.
Then he poured a few ladles of water into the large iron teapot, set it on the stove to boil, and planned to wash his face once it was hot.
After all, washing with cold water in the dead of winter was a real test of willpower and not good for one’s health.
After finishing these tasks, Li Yi put on his cotton hat and gloves, intending to go to the well to fetch some water and fill the family’s water jar.
However, when he opened the door and stepped outside, just as he was about to look for a bucket and a carrying pole,
he saw his father already walking in from outside, swaying slightly under the weight of two buckets of water.
Li Yi immediately went to meet him and said, “Father, let me do that!”
“No need. If you’re free, just lead the red mule and the black horse out and tie them up. I’ll take them out for a walk in a bit!” Li Shankui said, exhaling a puff of white breath.
“Alright!”
Li Yi went straight to the stable, untied the reins of the big red mule and the black horse from the post next to the trough.
Then, leading one in each hand, he walked out of the pen.
Once Li Yi had led the mule and horse outside and tied them up, he saw his father come out again carrying a shoulder pole—it looked like he was heading out to fetch water.
Li Yi immediately stepped forward, took the pole from him, and headed toward the well.
Watching his son’s receding figure, Li Shankui couldn’t help but let a faint smile cross his usually stern face.
His son had finally grown up—not only had he become capable, but he had also learned to be dutiful. Nothing could make him, as a father, happier.
Li Yi carried two loads of water before stopping. Not only had he filled the water jar, but he had also set aside a bucket in the main hall for later use.
Once Li Yi had finished fetching water, Li Na began preparing breakfast: she cooked millet porridge and warmed up the steamed buns left over from the night before.
Only then did Li Yi go back to the room to wake Tang Xue. He himself used hot water from the iron teapot to begin his morning ablutions.
After all that hustle and bustle, it was nearly nine o’clock by the time they were ready to leave!
Fortunately, they had a jeep to get them around, so they weren’t worried about being late!
By the time the two arrived at the county hospital, it was nearly 9:30.
After parking the car, Li Yi helped Tang Xue into the hospital and made their way to the obstetrics and gynecology department.
Since this was Tang Xue’s third prenatal checkup, she was quite familiar with the process and wasn’t as nervous as she had been the first two times.
Most importantly, prenatal checkups these days are incredibly simple—it was all over in less than 15 minutes.
After confirming that the fetus was developing well, the two, in high spirits, headed straight to the nearby ward to visit his older sister and her child, before heading to Wang An’s home.
As soon as they arrived at the ward, Li Yi saw his sister’s husband, Yang Wenguang, walking out of the room, holding a washbasin in his hand.
As they drew closer, they saw several dirty, tattered rags in the basin—presumably the so-called baby diapers.
Upon seeing Li Yi and Tang Xue, Yang Wenguang looked a bit surprised and asked immediately, “Hey, why did you two come over so early?”
Li Yi smiled and said, “I brought Xue here for her prenatal checkup, and I’m planning to take my sister back to the village while I’m at it!”
“Then I’ll go check out of the hospital in a minute!”
“No rush. We’ve got a few things to take care of first, so we’ll probably be back around lunchtime!”
“Alright! You and Xue go ahead inside. I’ll wash these diapers and be right back!”
“Alright!”
Then, Li Yi took Tang Xue by the hand and pushed open the door to the ward.
where Li Mei had just finished breastfeeding the baby and was patting her son’s back to help him burp!
When she looked up and saw her younger brother and sister-in-law walk in, she immediately asked with a look of surprise, “Hey, what are you two doing here?”
“Hehe, we came to see my little nephew!”
Li Yi then looked around the room but didn’t see his mother, so he asked right away, “Where’s Mom?”
“She’s at the sugar factory. Your brother-in-law saw that Mom hadn’t been getting much rest these past few days, so he took her shift last night!”
“I see.”
With that, Li Yi stepped forward and took the little one from his eldest sister’s arms.
He’d been in a bit of a rush that day, and since he was worried about his older sister, Li Yi had only given the little one a quick glance.
At the time, he’d thought the little one was a bit ugly, but he hadn’t expected that in just four or five days, the baby had actually become quite cute—and he could even clearly see traces of his eldest sister’s features in the child’s face.
“Sis, my nephew looks more like you!”
“Really? I feel like he looks more like your husband!” his older sister said with a laugh.
“I still think he looks more like you!” Li Yi said.
Tang Xue couldn’t help but chime in, “It’s true. Look at the baby’s eyes and chin—but his nose and ears are a bit like my husband’s!”
“Hehe, I told you so. In some ways, this kid really does look a lot like your brother-in-law!” my older sister said with a laugh.
After chatting for a while, Li Yi immediately told his older sister about their plans to return to the village.
At this, the eldest sister glanced at Tang Xue with some concern. After all, Tang Xue was a married woman, and if she were to return to her parents’ home for the postpartum confinement period, she would first have to get her sister-in-law’s approval.
Their mother had already discussed this with her after her brother left that day.
Tang Xue had also heard Li Yi explain the ins and outs of the situation that day, so she understood her older sister’s concerns. She immediately said, “Big Sister, we already moved back to the new house yesterday. Just follow his plan and go back to the old house to recover after childbirth!”
Li Mei knew that the sugar factory dorms really weren’t suitable for postpartum recovery, so she nodded gratefully and said, “Alright, I’ll do as you say!”
“That’s the spirit, ha ha ha!”
After that, Li Yi and Tang Xue stayed in the hospital room for over an hour, and it wasn’t until nearly 10:30 that they left the county hospital.
However, Li Yi didn’t head straight to Wang An’s house; instead, he stopped by the supply and marketing cooperative first to buy some formula, sponge cakes, canned goods, and other essentials.
After all, he was going to someone’s home as a guest—he couldn’t possibly show up empty-handed, especially since there were children in the house!
But when Li Yi drove up to Wang An’s house, even before he could enter, he noticed that several cars were already parked outside the gate.
He recognized all of them: one was the Jeep Li Gang had driven yesterday, and the other belonged to Liang Yukui.
Clearly, these two had come today as well!
Li Yi had barely parked his car and hadn’t even had a chance to help Tang Xue out when the Wang family’s gate suddenly swung open.
Next, he saw Wang Anguo and his wife, along with Li Gang and Liang Yukui, all coming out—clearly they had come out specifically to greet the couple.
Li Yi immediately helped Tang Xue, whose belly was as big as a basket, out of the passenger seat, then walked over to the group.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the group immediately entered Wang Guo’an’s home!
Once inside, Li Yi realized just how many people were in the Wang household!