Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 205
Zao’er
The midwife took the money, and a wide grin split her face. When Zhong Cheng said he should’ve given that money, Mo Yan said, “You give your own money, this is the additional gift of gratitude I’m giving the midwife.”
Zhong Cheng could only give an extra silver tael or two to the midwife, who smiled even happier and repeatedly thanked her.
Mo Yan called Chuzi and Zhao’er in to eat, then went inside the house to rest.
While Zhong Cheng sent the midwife away, Mo Yan entered the room to watch over her sister. The swaddled infant kept babbling from time to time, his little mouth moving towards the left or the right from time to time like he’s trying to find something to eat.
The infant was still swollen, so looked like a miniature old person, and Mo Yan leaned by the side of the bed to whisper towards him, “Why do you look so ugly, like a miniature old person, who do you look like? Definitely not my sister, my sister is a beautiful woman!”
“She looks like me! I’m ugly.” Zhong Cheng had returned, and also leaned by the side of the bed to look at his son with a face full of bliss, “He was over half a month early and still seven pounds and two ounces! If he was delivered at full term, he would’ve weighed eight pounds.”
“Aren’t you afraid…”
Before she could say anything unauspicious, she was cut off with Zhong Cheng, “I’m afraid, I’m really afraid. I was the one who didn’t properly protect your sister, you can yell at me, beat me up, whatever you want.”
“If my sister wasn’t pregnant, that woman wouldn’t be able to get an advantage on her. If they have any conflict in the future, you aren’t allowed to spinelessly try to reach a compromise again. Otherwise, I’ll take both of them away and prevent you from ever seeing them again.” [1]
“Yan’er, I know my wrongdoings! Look at how cute your nephew is, how about you give him a nickname!”
“We need to think long and hard about a good name, so let’s give him a nickname to be called first! Since his birth was premature, let’s call him Zao’er, what do you think?” [2]
“Zao’er, good, Yan’er, you’re really good at thinking of names. Your sister will like it too. We aren’t in a hurry to think of an official name, as long as he’s been named before he starts school.”
“Alright! Then I’ll have to look through more books and think carefully when I get back, so I can think of a good name for my nephew…” Mo Yan fell asleep leaning by the side of the bed. Zhong Cheng covered her with her cloak properly, then went to stoke the fire of the fireplace.
Early in the morning, Mrs. Jiang went over to make breakfast. As Zhao’er’s cries had caused the people inside the delivery room to be awoken, Mrs. Jiang handed millet porridge and cooked chicken eggs inside for Mo Ling, “The child should be hungry, I’ll have the second daughter-in-law of the Wong family to come over to breastfeed him. I’ll kill an old hen later, so you can eat it to produce milk!”
In the past, before new mothers could produce milk, newborn children didn’t have any milk to drink, so they asked other mothers who had given birth not too long ago and still had milk to come over and breastfeed.
Zhong Cheng said, “I’ll go to the river to catch a few fish, they’re the best for producing milk.”
Mo Yan said, “To induce milk, it’s still best to ask the physician for two doses of medicine, it’ll be fine for eldest sister-in-law to just make dishes my sister likes. If she really can’t produce milk, just hire a nursemaid.”
Mo Ling looked at her swaddled son and said, “We aren’t any prominent family, what’s the use of hiring a nursemaid? Whether or not he gets milk will depend on his fortune!”
“Sis, I gave him a nickname last night, what do you think about calling him Zao’er?”
“It’s good! It sounds appropriate.”
“Sis, just prioritise taking care of yourself. If you’re missing something or need something, find something to send me a message, and I’ll send it over immediately,” After saying this, she went to take out money, but Mo Ling said, “There’s no need, I’m not lacking money right now, and I’m still earning money from the workshop! If I need money, I’ll naturally tell you.”
After having breakfast, Zhong Cheng went to Chenzhong Village to announce the good news to Ms. Liang. Mo Yan called Chuzi and Zao’er over to accompany him.
When Zhong Cheng came over to announce the good news, Mrs. Liang was very surprised, “Wasn’t there still more than half a month left? Why did she go into labour early?”
Zhong Cheng didn’t want to talk about what happened yesterday in detail, and just vaguely said, “It just happened early, but the child is chubby, seven pounds and two ounces, and it’s a boy.”
According to common convention, when a grandson is born and a son-in-law comes over to deliver the good news, the mother-in-law should give celebratory money and follow her son-in-law back to help her daughter during the confinement period.
Mrs. Liang went into the house to hand two taels of silver to Zhong Cheng, “I have a lot of things to do at home so can’t step away, and these two silver taels are for Ling’er to take care of her body. I’ll come over when the child is twelve days old.”
Everybody knew that the first month of the year was the most idle, and what things would she need to attend to at home? She was just worried about leaving her son at home alone and afraid he wouldn’t be able to feed himself.
Zhong Cheng knew the relationship between the mother and daughter wasn’t good, and didn’t plan for her to come over and help out during the confinement period. If she ended up displeasing Mo Ling, it’d be even harder for her to produce milk.
After sitting there for a short while, Zhong Cheng was about to go back, and Mo Yan said, “Brother-in-law, give those two silver taels to eldest sister-in-law for her salary. It’s been really burdensome for her to take care of sister and Zao’er.”
Ms. Liang creased her brow, “Who’s ever heard of people from farming households serving other farmers? It’s not like there’s anything to do during the first month of the new year, and you still want to pay someone to specifically come over to take care of her during her confinement period.”
Zhong Cheng said, “Yan’er was just being courteous, my eldest sister-in-law won’t accept the money.”
From when Zhong Cheng entered to when he left, Ms. Liang didn’t ask about how Mo Ling was doing, nor how the child was doing.
Mo Yan called Chuzi and Zhao’er to go back to town together. After exhausting herself all night, she didn’t want to manage the business of the storefront, and ran to the back to take a nap.
Her nap lasted until noon, and she was awoken by the sound of Lu Junming speaking, “Why is she still sleeping, is she unwell?”
Mo Yan woozily got up, “No, it’s because sis went into labour prematurely. But it’s fine, both the mother and the child are safe, I have a nephew now, he’s called Zhao’er.”
Lu Junming criticised himself, “I shouldn’t have stayed in the village yesterday.”
“Even if you went over, you wouldn’t have been of any help, do you know how to give birth?”
After thinking that she hadn’t paid New Year’s greetings to Ms. Jiao, Mo Yan decided to go to Jiaolan Courtyard with Lu Junming. When they walked on the main road, they saw a few horses galloping to and through.
As they approached the post office, another horse sprinted over from the north, and came to a halt right in front of the post office. The postman on the horse yelled towards the post office, “I need a new horse, on the double!”
An employee of the post office led a horse out, and the postman jumped off to exchange horses before he went off again. The employee leashed the horse that had just been switched out, and sighed in front of the post office, “I’ve had to exchange five horses this morning alone!”
Lu Junming went over to ask, “Excuse me brother, but why have there been so many urgent messages? Has something happened?”
The employee shook his head, “A postman who went in for some water said something about Prince Yi rebelling. All of these urgent messages are about relocating soldiers.”
Prince Yi, wasn’t that the person who took Lu Hong to the capital! If he was rebelling, what about Lu Hong? How was he involved?
The two entered the post office, and asked Liu Si about the situation, but he was also clueless about the matter. However, he said that when a postman who came past went to use the toilet, he shamelessly asked what was going on, and he was only willing to say ‘The sky was changing,’ refusing to say anything else.
“The sky was changing,” Didn’t that mean the current dynasty was about to be changed?! Did Prince Yi successfully overthrow the emperor?
Lu Junming’s heart became uneasy, but as he had no place to learn more news about the situation, he spent his days moody and ill-at-ease. As the employees of the storefront were all at work, Mo Yan wasn’t busy today and went to Jiaolan Courtyard to talk to Ms. Jiao and for tea.
Lu Junming sat by the side without saying anything, and Mo yan said, “Lu Junming, there aren’t many goods left in the storefront, let’s go to Jizhou for a trip!”
Lu Junming creased his brow, “Who goes out on the first month of the year, I’m not going?”
Mo Yan turned her head towards him slightly, “Do you really not want to go?”
“I’m not going!”
“I remember Jiangqi and Liuba…”
This time, he jumped up from his chair without letting Mo Yan finish, “Let’s go tomorrow!”
P.S. Nothing to say here. As always, thanks for reading!
[1] I found it strange that Mo Yan forgave him so easily.
[2] Nickname is a…not entirely faithful translation of ‘milk-name’, but close enough I’m going for it. Zao means ‘early’, and it should be fairly obvious why that’s a good name for the kid.
EDIT: I MESSED UP THE NAME OF THE KID FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU- (it’s Zao’er, I misread it)
You saw nothing~