CHAPTER 449: CHAPTER 447: EFFECT

"There was a car going to the hospital from the team, so I came back with the car," Han Yi said, closing the door behind them and walking into the yard with his arm around her. "Where’s Little Star?"

"Sleeping in Mom’s room... Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet." As soon as Han Yi entered the house, he planned to see his precious daughter, but instead saw his mother-in-law getting an IV drip.

"What’s wrong with Mom?"

"Xiao Yi’s back... come and sit down to cool off," said Liang Hongmei, then continued, "Oh, who knew? Just a few days ago, I was gloating that the woman had no good outcome, and now I’ve fallen sick. We just can’t be bad people. Secretly cursing others, but end up making ourselves ill."

Lin Wan, who was on the side picking at noodles, blowing the steam under the fan, also explained to Han Yi, "It’s the woman who deliberately pushed me in winter. She lost her child a few days ago due to heavy bleeding, and probably won’t be able to have children anymore."

Han Yi raised an eyebrow and laughed, "This is what they call a bad person gets bad karma. It’s quite good."

"Sigh."

With Han Yi watching over the child, Lin Wan went to the kitchen and made a bowl of noodle soup. In the afternoon, Han Yi caught a chicken from the chicken coop and killed it. Little Star was unusually energetic, with Lin Wan holding her and watching Dad busy.

In the evening, Lin Yinghui came back with a black-bone chicken from outside, made some black-bone chicken soup to help Liang Hongmei recover.

The young couple stayed until past ten o’clock, and Mom and brother asked them to go back.

Little Star had just been excited for a while and was now sleeping soundly. Back in their room, just laid her on the bed, and she opened her eyes again.

"Don’t tell me you want to pee again," said Lin Wan, quickly picking her up to help her urinate.

When Lin Wan was at home, during the day, as soon as the child woke up, she would help Little Star urinate, letting her develop the habit.

Now, except for irregular bowel movements, she could usually predict when to pee. With this, she won’t wet her pants in the winter.

Han Yi watched from the side, feeling soft-hearted seeing his daughter who had grown so much in a month.

"Our daughter is much prettier than the little girls in the yard," he said.

Lin Wan laughed and gave Han Yi a sideways glance; this new father certainly knew how to boast.

"By the way, how come I didn’t see your cousin today?" Han Yi asked puzzled.

"I took her to the apartment we rented with Mom a while back," Lin Wan paused and recounted the day’s events to Han Yi.

Han Yi didn’t have much reaction. When he first saw that girl, her eyes wandered dishonestly; it was normal for such things to happen.

"Let her stay over there. It wouldn’t be great if Ye Qing found out we secretly took pictures of her when they get to know each other."

"Don’t worry about that. No one knew that the apartment was rented out back then. I seldom go there, even Yang Erni didn’t know. When I let Zhang Dandan move in, I told her it was just newly rented by Mom. Even if she finds out, it’d just be a coincidence." Letting Zhang Dandan live there was just to avoid wasting the rent. She really had no time to bother with Ye Qing now.

Moreover, Ye Qing was also pregnant, with no energy to care over here.

"Your cousin isn’t a good one either; better let Mom pay attention in the future. I originally came to take you and the child back today. But now Mom needs care after surgery, so I won’t be taking you back this time. I’ll come to get you after Mom’s wound has healed."

"Okay, fine. Things happened suddenly; I didn’t have time to call you, making you come in vain."

Han Yi raised an eyebrow, rested for a while, and then got up to wash outside. He returned with a basin of water and gently wiped Lin Wan clean.

The daughter was indeed considerate. She was awake now, cried a little, waking Lin Wan who was just about to fall asleep.

Lin Wan moved a bit, about to get up, but Han Yi pulled her back to lie down.

"You sleep, I’ll take care of Little Star," said Han Yi, hurriedly and skillfully changing the child’s diaper and rocking her in the cradle until she stopped crying.

Without missing a beat, he skillfully prepared milk and fed the child.

Lin Wan was too tired, barely having a good night’s sleep since the baby was born. With her mom being ill and her juggling between chores and taking care of the little one, she hadn’t really rested. As she saw Han Yi deftly manage the child, she closed her eyes in peace.

After a whole night of caring for the child, Han Yi didn’t feel tired. Early the next morning, he went to his mother-in-law’s place to prepare for the morning market items.

Unexpectedly, the elder brother was already up.

The people around knew about their morning market stall, with many households coming over at fixed times. Skipping it for a day or two wasn’t an issue. But it had been stopped for three days already; if it stopped for a week, people would think that you quit. Some might have already been planning to take over your stall and start their own business.

Han Yi and his brother-in-law, one kneading dough, the other preparing vegetables, finished everything in an hour. They pushed the tricycle to South Street.

When Lin Wan woke up in the morning and didn’t see Han Yi, she carried Little Star to the front yard.

At this time, Mom was already awake and had gotten up to go to the toilet.

"Mom, why are you up? There’s no one home; you could have just stayed in the room."

"It’s not some major surgery, and the doctor even said I should move around more."

Lin Wan helped her mom back to the room. It was just past six, and she didn’t see her brother or Han Yi, feeling puzzled. Then she heard Mom say, "No need to look for them, those two have gone to the morning market."

Lin Wan smiled knowingly, "Mom, see, not only do you have a good son, I also brought you a good son-in-law."

These words hit the spot for Liang Hongmei, who smiled proudly, "I guess I’m living the good life now. With Han Yi as your good son-in-law, I’m not worried anymore. Now that your brother has got a formal job, earning thirty bucks a month, and having work, I just hope he can find me a virtuous daughter-in-law."

Liang Hongmei knew a bit about her son’s situation with Mu Qing. Her son was holding a breath now, trying to make a name for himself so that Mu Qing’s parents would respect their family.

"He will, Mom. Brother and Sister Mu Qing are both working hard for it."

"Let’s hope so. Mu Qing is a good girl, but our family is from the countryside, with no status, your brother is kind of aiming high."

"Mom, what’s wrong with being from the countryside? Ambitious rural people aren’t worse off than those in the city. Besides, we are city folks now," her brother being smart, responsible, a good man who can handle both household and external affairs, cooks, and does laundry; a perfect quality man. Sister Mu Qing really got a good eye. I hope she can seize the opportunity with my brother, or else she’ll miss out."

"Right, right, we are city folks now too," Liang Hongmei chuckled, thinking about their current residence status.

Lin Wan placed the child next to her mom and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the two.

Millet porridge and pancakes stuffed with vegetables have been the unchanging breakfast of their family since Mom started the morning market.

Luckily, the dishes always change, so it never feels boring.

While the mother and daughter were eating, Little Star was beside them, busily playing with the pig’s shock bone on her wrist, unusually spirited this early morning.

"Our little Star is thoughtful, being lively during the day and sleeping well at night, so you won’t have to get up as often at night," Liang Hongmei smiled, teasing her granddaughter.

What her mom said made sense. Last year, she saw how her cousin-in-law handled their kid Da Ming. That boy slept all day and was lively at night, keeping the whole family up.

Around eight, Han Yi and her brother returned. They sold everything. It happened to be Sunday, so her brother didn’t need to go to work. Han Yi even bought a chicken and a few yams to make soup for lunch.

As Lin Wan needed to breastfeed, she had to eat lightly, avoiding spicy or salty foods to prevent the baby from getting irritated.

But that’s okay; eating lightly also helps her slowly slim down.

Around ten, the old Chinese medicine doctor came to change Mom’s IV drip and checked her wound, which was healing well.

She could move around, didn’t need the IV anymore, and just needed to continue the meds for a couple more days to stabilize.