The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

On the afternoon of the sixth day of October, Chuchu suddenly went into labor.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Meng quickly borrowed a horse cart from the Jiang Family and went to town to bring Nurse Zhang to assist with the childbirth.

Yingbao and Chunniang came over to help, first boiling a large pot of water, then washing all the large and small basins in the house, before finally putting a postpartum cushion for Chuchu to lay on.

Seeing that Chuchu was in terrible pain from her contractions, Yingbao worried she might faint, so she quickly had her drink a bowl of juice fortified with Mood Stamina mushrooms.

Chunniang made a bowl of brown sugar poached eggs, forcing Chuchu to eat two of them to prevent her from experiencing physical exhaustion during childbirth.

Nurse Zhang finally arrived. Upon seeing that everything was prepared, she didn’t hesitate to help Chuchu give birth immediately.

At this point, Chuchu’s cervix was already four centimeters dilated, so Nurse Zhang helped her walk a few rounds.

Afterwards, the birth progressed smoothly. Not long after Chuchu’s water broke, as per Nurse Zhang’s instruction, she pushed along with her contractions. The baby slid out smoothly, letting out a loud cry.

“Oh! It’s a precious baby girl!”

Nurse Zhang chuckled as she spoke, then quickly cleaned out the placenta, gently cleaned the baby’s mouth with gauze, turned her over and lightly patted her back and buttocks to facilitate her breathing, causing her to cry even louder.

Picking up the baby and gently bathing her in warm water, Nurse Zhang then dried her properly with the soft cotton cloth prepared in advance.

Nurse Zhang then, with a piece of cotton cloth, tied a knot in the baby’s umbilical cord about a finger’s length from the belly, bit through the cord across the cloth, and secured it with a cotton string.

Yingbao watched Nurse Zhang’s delivery process in awe, finding it magical.

After wrapping up the baby, Zhang massaged Chuchu’s abdomen and gently pressed to expel the remaining blood from her uterus.

Only after her lower abdomen no longer had any hardened lumps did she stop pressing.

“Start breastfeeding the baby soon, otherwise, there’ll be risk of inflammation due to milk engorgement.” Nurse Zhang instructed, “Also, remember to use the toilet soon, okay?”

Chuchu nodded, her gaze softening as she looked at the baby in Chunniang’s arms.

After Nurse Zhang had cleaned up Chuchu, she changed her birthing pad and then sat down to rest. “You can come in,” she called out to the door.

Zhang Meng lifted the curtain and walked in, touching his wife’s face and heart aching with sympathy, he was unable to speak.

Pointing to the fleshy lotus leaf bundle on the stool, Nurse Zhang said, “This is the placenta. Find a place to bury it, and bury it deep.”

Zhang Meng answered, took up the leaf bundle, and went out.

Chunniang put the baby next to Chuchu and went to help dispose of the bloody water.

She then went to the kitchen to cook a big bowl of pigs’ feet noodles for Nurse Zhang.

As Chuchu had just given birth, she could only have some soft and light egg noodles.

Only on the second day, once the breastfeeding got facilitated, would it be suitable to feed the mother fish soup for lactation support, or else she risked developing mastitis.

Early the next morning, Zhang Meng took red eggs to the Yue family to share the good news, and Jiang Sanlang also helped to deliver red eggs to every household in the village.

Since Chuchu was Chunniang’s goddaughter and considered half a child of the Jiang family, the villagers also brought eggs or brown sugar to congratulate them after receiving the good news.

For a while, Zhang Meng’s house was bustling with people coming and going.

Not to disturb Chuchu and the baby’s rest, Chunniang received the guests in the living room and had Yingbao jot down the congratulatory gifts.

When Zhang Meng returned from the Yue family, he took over these tasks.

Accompanying Zhang Meng was Chuchu’s younger brother, Chu Qing.

As it turned out, after the Clan Leader found out the village school was not taking students from other villages, he sent Chu Qing to his sister’s place, asking his brother-in-law for a favor in arranging Chu Qing’s studies under the Scholar’s tutelage.

Because the Scholar’s knowledge, was no doubt superior to those repeatedly failed child students.

If one of Chu’s descendants became a scholar, it would be an honor to their lineage, offering a chance for their family to transcend their social class from farmer to scholar.

Upon seeing her brother arrive, Chuchu was happy, eagerly arranging a room in her husband’s home for him to live in.

Sitting by the bed, Chu Qing touched his baby niece’s soft face and said to his sister, “Sister, the old lady asked me to bring our cousin, Chu Man, to take care of you. But I didn’t agree.”

Considering Chu Man’s spoiled attitude, Chu Qing figured she wouldn’t be of any help. Instead, he would rather take care of his sister himself rather than having Chu Man come over.

Moreover, the siblings were not exactly close with Chu Man. They barely exchanged words when crossing paths. Her presence in their home would be seen as extremely suspicious.

Chuchu gave a small approving smile. “You did the right thing; I don’t need their care.”

Chu Qing scratched his head and said, “I told grandma I would take care of you and the niece, and she got angry.”

Chuchu softly sighed, “Let her be angry. In the future, we won’t go back to the village; we’ll just live here with my sister.”

Her brother, whom she had raised since he was a child, was closest to her. Naturally, it was her strongest desire that they could live together.

“Mm.” Chu Qing pursed his lips in a small smile.

He’d wanted to live with his sister for a long time, but father wouldn’t allow it.

Now that their father has remarried and doesn’t care about him as much, he can finally avoid going home.

At this moment, Zhang Meng came in and said to Chuchu, “The village head of Jiang agreed that Chu Qing can study under Scholar Li. Tomorrow morning, he will go to pay respects to his new master.”

“That’s great.” Chuchu was very happy.

Being able to study under Scholar Li, even for just three years, was an extraordinarily lucky opportunity for her brother.

That was because Scholar Li had announced that he was going to take the imperial examination in three years and, given his limited energy, he couldn’t accept more than twenty students.

But the applicants for the remaining spots were far more than twenty. The children from Chen’s family in East Village alone took up more than ten spots.

Who would not vie for these remaining few positions, chosen from among thousands?

Even if the tuition fee amounted to twenty taels a year, there were people clamoring for it.

It was said that this amount of tuition was set by Yingbao.

First, it was to prevent people from making unreasonable demands to Scholar Li. Second, Scholar Li has a lot of debt, and he can’t pay it off without the tuition fee.

Days passed, and it was soon the end of October.

One day, Chu Qing told her sister when he returned from school that he had seen Chu Man and Sun’s Second Wife. They were living in West Village.

It seemed they’ve rented a place in a villager’s house in West Village, but he didn’t know what they were planning.

Chuchu certainly knew what they were up to, but how could she explain it to her brother?

“You ignore them. If you see them, avoid them, and don’t deal with them!”

She reminded her brother: “Just focus on your studies. Ignore everything else. Understand?”

Chu Qing nodded, puzzled.

He did not tell his sister that he had seen Chu Man peeking at their teacher’s house several times through the school gate.

No, she was not peeking at the teacher, but at the teacher’s friend.

The friend of the teacher lived near West Village. He came to visit the teacher every other day to discuss scholarly issues. They often recited poems and painted pictures, spending the entire afternoon together.

When he came, Chu Man and her mother would come in and chat with the teacher’s wife.

However, the teacher’s wife was very polite but distant to them, often saying she was tired and needed to rest.

But once Chu Man and her mother left, the teacher’s wife would come out and go to the backyard to pick vegetables or sit in the yard to sew clothes.

The other students might not have noticed, but since Chu Qing knew Chu Man, whenever she and her mother came, he couldn’t help but take a few more glances to see what they were up to.

Soon it was December 6, the day of Chuchu’s daughter’s first-month celebration.

Zhang Meng held a banquet for his daughter’s first-month celebration, inviting all the villagers to attend.

Of course, as a sign of respect for scholars, Scholar Chen Changping from West Village and Village Head Chen Changsheng were also invited.

The weather that day was not good, gloomy and cold, with delicate snowflakes drifting down.

Jiang Sanlang led several villagers to help set up two celebration tents, under which several banquet tables were arranged.

The sisters-in-law of the Jiang family helped cook, while several older women from the neighboring households sat outside the kitchen picking vegetables and washing dishes.

Before the banquet could begin, Chuchu’s father arrived. With him were the Clan Leader of the Chu family and the village head of Chu Village.

They braved the snow, arriving in an old horse-drawn cart, and stopped in front of Chuchu’s house.