CHAPTER 346: CHAPTER 348 AWKWARD AGAIN

The next day, as soon as the dawn broke, Gao Jiazhi suggested to Gao Guoqiang and Zheng Xianghong that he would take Sun Yuhua and Weilin to the county for a stroll, but he did not explicitly state it was to have Sun Yuhua checked up.

Gao Jiazhi borrowed a bullock cart from the team headquarters, and took his wife and child to the county. Some from the production team who wanted to go to the county joined them for the ride.

Xia Jing hurriedly came to find Xia Xiao and said, "Sister, Yan Hao and I want to go to town, do you need anything? I’ll bring it back for you."

Xia Xiao shook her head, "No, you go ahead, but be careful in town."

Xia Jing nodded her head and then ran off.

Xia Xiao smiled to herself, thinking that it was also time to write a letter of good news to her family, so she prepared to head back to her room.

Zheng Xianghong then spoke, "Xia Xiao, are you going back to sleep?"

"Not yet, Mom, I am planning to write a letter home," replied Xia Xiao.

"It’s a good idea to write to your family, but first, drink some soup. I didn’t make breakfast this morning, the sweet potatoes are all from the cafeteria; after drinking the soup, take some back to your room to eat. Your dad and I are going to the fields soon, and you’ll be alone at home. Jiazhi and Yuhua won’t be back so soon either, so you should bolt the door," Zheng Xianghong said as she handed over a bowl of corn fish soup made the night before.

Xia Xiao nodded obediently, finished her soup, and then watched as Zheng Xianghong took a hoe and left home. Before leaving, she reminded Xia Xiao to bolt the door.

Thinking that she might still enter "the space" and leave, Xia Xiao bolted the door and took some sweet potatoes back to her room.

After sending a joyous letter home, Xia Xiao then went to Black Bear Cave to see Ge Liang, and only after returning did she fall asleep for a while.

In the county town, once everyone stepped off the bullock cart and started shopping, Gao Jiazhi took Sun Yuhua and Weilin to the hospital.

"Jiazhi, I feel discomfort in my stomach; it’s a bit painful. I hope nothing is wrong with the baby. Let’s hurry to the hospital."

Unexpectedly, just as Sun Yuhua reached the hospital entrance, even before entering, she felt something flowing out.

Panicked, Sun Yuhua told Gao Jiazhi, "Jiazhi, I feel something flowing out; could it be a miscarriage?"

Contrary to what was said, Gao Jiazhi was also panic-stricken and quickly carried Weilin while assisting Sun Yuhua to find a doctor.

Soon after, the couple came out looking flushed and then pale. Then, Sun Yuhua stayed in the hospital restroom while Gao Jiazhi took his daughter to buy sanitary products.

After much trouble, Gao Jiazhi and Sun Yuhua left with their child, looking pale-faced.

On the way back, Sun Yuhua did not speak, but she cried.

Gao Jiazhi sighed helplessly, "Don’t cry; as long as you are healthy, we can have children. The doctor also said that you should not drink cold water during your period, take cold showers, or wash your hair. Mom had told you about this before, and sometimes you don’t listen. Just be more careful when we get back. I’ll buy some brown sugar and make you some ginger sugar water."

"Jiazhi, my stomach is uncomfortable; can we go back first?" Sun Yuhua really didn’t want to stay in the county anymore and particularly wanted to go home. She had been looking forward to this child for a while, feeling very tired and irritable recently, and her period was late; she thought she was pregnant, but it turned out not to be.

"We still have to wait for them, just hang on a little longer, another hour or so, and we can leave," said Gao Jiazhi.

Generally, when they went to the county town, they stayed for just an hour or two before returning. Sometimes, if they hadn’t seen someone after two hours, they would just leave with the ox cart without waiting any longer.

Sun Yuhua wasn’t too happy, but she had no choice but to wait.

Gao Jiazhi had to secure the ox cart and then took Sun Yuhua and Weilin to a restaurant to eat and sit there waiting for everyone to come back.

Meanwhile, Xia Jing and Yan Hao ran into Fang Yuan at the supply and marketing cooperative. Yan Hao greeted him enthusiastically, "Mr. Fang, I didn’t expect to run into you here."

"It’s you guys, you’re also in the county town, what a coincidence," Fang Yuan said as he put his arm around Yan Hao’s shoulder. "Come on, let’s go to my place."

Checking the time, Xia Jing and Yan Hao nodded. Fang Yuan was their benefactor after all. Despite passing by the vegetable market with the intent to stop them, Xia Jing and Yan Hao still bought some vegetables and took them to Fang Yuan’s house.

Fang Yuan was the youngest child at home, with an older brother and sister. His family were officials—his parents were retired, but his brother worked at the commune and his sister worked at the supply and marketing cooperative.

So, Fang Yuan was actually there to find his sister and unexpectedly ran into Xia Jing and Yan Hao. He was very pleased and even asked about Xia Xiao’s situation.

Xia Jing said everything was fine, but since Xia Xiao was newly pregnant, she didn’t mention it.

After sitting for a while and eating at Fang Yuan’s house, Xia Jing and Yan Hao saw that it was getting late and decided to leave.

When they returned to the ox cart, Gao Jiazhi and Sun Yuhua with her daughter were already waiting. Xia Jing and Yan Hao were early; some people hadn’t come back yet.

Seeing that not everyone had returned, Xia Jing thought about buying something for Xia Xiao to eat and said, "Brother Gao, I want to buy something for my sister to eat."

Gao Jiazhi nodded and pointed down a street, "Go ahead, check over there."

"Come back quickly, otherwise if the others come back, we won’t wait," Sun Yuhua said.

Xia Jing and Yan Hao nodded and left. Gao Jiazhi said, "Yuhua, your tone isn’t right."

"I’m not in a good mood," replied Sun Yuhua unhappily.

Gao Jiazhi knew that Sun Yuhua had been upset by something today and said nothing more. He was equally disappointed, having thought that they were having another child. But he wasn’t worried; their daughter was still young, and they would have more children eventually.

Twenty minutes passed, and still, no one else had returned. Sun Yuhua became impatient, complaining, "Why are they taking so long? What’s there to wander around for? It’s really annoying, don’t they know people are waiting?"

Gao Jiazhi said, "It’s about time." Seeing Sun Yuhua growing more impatient, he added, "This ox cart isn’t ours; it belongs to the local team, and we just borrowed it. Waiting for everyone to come back together is only normal, otherwise walking here would be even more tiring."

Sun Yuhua suddenly fell silent, not saying another word, but she felt increasingly irritated and everything seemed to bother her.

Soon, everyone gradually came back. Xia Jing and Yan Hao also returned, carrying meat buns they had bought after not knowing what else to get.

Seeing Weilin, Xia Jing was tempted to give her a meat bun, but there were other children from the production team around, and giving it to Weilin while other children watched wouldn’t be nice. Thinking that she’d give some to her sister later, and her sister would share with Weilin, Xia Jing decided against it.

Sun Yuhua saw Xia Jing’s gesture, thinking she was going to give Weilin a bun, but was surprised when Xia Jing took it back, feeling that Xia Jing was being stingy.

Xia Jing, of course, had no idea, otherwise she would have been at a loss for words. Although she was close to the Gao family because of Xia Xiao, she didn’t really like Sun Yuhua, so she didn’t interact with her much.