This event served as a warning to Zhou Xiaozheng. To avoid any activities or tasks being assigned during the sumr vacation, he prepared everything early and planned to take the children to the seaside as soon as the ti ca.
As for whether his son-in-law would plan to return to his hotown, Zhou Xiaozheng was not worried at all. The boy’s soft spot is his wife and son; as long as he places the soft, tender little guy in front of his son-in-law, can he be at ease?
Zhang Guoqing had no idea about his father-in-law’s sches. At this mont, he received a letter from his parents and family, and was happily reading it with Zhou Jiao in their dormitory.
"My second brother must be overjoyed this ti."
Zhang Guoqing said with disdain, "Such an old-fashioned mindset. What’s wrong with having a daughter? With the birth of a son, his burden will increase again."
"Having many children and grandchildren is always good."
Zhang Guoqing hurriedly replied, "Don’t be silly, it’s dangerous to have children nowadays without a safety net. You should at least get your health back before having another. We’ll have at most one more child."
Zhou Jiao smiled and nodded. Seeing his relaxed expression, she said, "Let’s talk about our parents’ arrangents first."
Zhang Guoqing flicked the letter paper and sighed, "Both the palm and the back of the hand are flesh. With Lin Juhua having a son, our parents’ feet are tied."
Looking at Zhou Jiao’s smiling face, he said thoughtfully, "You guessed it right again."
"It’s quite a normal thing. After Lin Juhua finishes her confinent, she has to go back to work, and second brother can’t let his mother-in-law take care of the child, so what do they do?
Our parents are the kind of people who enjoy life; they wouldn’t be at ease. Neither of the daughters-in-law’s families are reliable. What if the grandsons go hungry? Plus, our second sister is about to give birth too. This way, they can’t just leave."
Zhang Guoqing, seeing her look of certainty, laughed, "Then why are you tidying up the room? Aren’t you tired?"
"You don’t understand; there’s always a ’just in case.’ Whether they co or not, we need to be prepared."
"When the vacation cos, I’ll go back. This ti you and our son don’t need to go. As for arrangents, there really isn’t much to do. Providing supplies is the least we can do. For them to co stay long-term in the Big Courtyard isn’t suitable."
Could Zhou Jiao have not anticipated this problem? She gave Zhang Guoqing a sideways glance.
"I know you prepared a room in the quadrangle courtyard, but it’s not suitable! That place is even less suitable for a long-term stay. I’m a country girl; I’m timid."
Zhou Jiao burst out laughing, as if realizing she was just taking precautions. She didn’t plan for the whole family to live outside the Big Courtyard; she was even more timid. Besides, how could she bear to leave her dad?
At this point, both of them understood that Mr. Zhang and Mother Zhang probably thought the sa, especially concerning provisions; given their personalities, it’s possible for them to visit for a month, but staying long-term in Beijing is absolutely impossible.
So what can be done?
"Forget it, we’ll take it one step at a ti before the baby turns one. What do you think about naming the child Zhang Mingtao, following his brother Zhang Minghao?"
Zhou Jiao looked at him speechlessly. Zhang the Second and his wife wrote so solemnly to ask him to choose a good na; is it okay to be so casual?
Zhang Guoqing rubbed his chin and chuckled, "There’s a drought back ho this year, let this little one carry a bit of water. Putting him in the genealogy will make Old Captain happy."
"Whatever you say." Zhou Jiao thought of Zhang the Second specifically ntioning the drought, feeling sowhat stifled.
Even though Zhang the Second said in the letter that the village opened more mountain lands and planted many fruits and vegetables, it’s clear how much they could harvest with a lack of water.
The couple discussed the hotown issues here, while at the sa ti, in the Zhang Family Village’s production team, Old Captain looked happily at the bag on the table and patted Mr. Zhang’s shoulder.
Everyone in the office watched them excitedly, waiting for Old Captain to give the order.
Old Captain saw this and smiled with joy, "Rember to tell Xiao Wu in the letter that Old Zhang’s family thanks him on behalf of hundreds. With these seeds, we’ll plant anywhere we can in the village; I don’t believe we can’t outsmart the weather. This kid is great; every team nearby appreciates him, especially with how carefully he marked the water sources in the mountains."
Mr. Zhang smiled modestly, feeling very emotional. His youngest son really brought glory to Old Zhang’s family, sothing even his father probably didn’t expect from the grandson he raised.
Since receiving the map from Zhang Guoqing after Qingming, Mr. Zhang felt both heartache and excitent. The child, so far away, still thinks of ho; truly worthy of his upbringing, truly loyal.
Now, even the pond in front of the shed has dried up, and the three water sources he mapped even impressed Mr. Wang. It’s clear how much effort his youngest son put in, no wonder he always took his wife up the mountain; it seems the couple had long-term plans.
With a bag full of seeds, Mr. Zhang also felt happy for his clan; he just wasn’t sure how much goodwill his youngest son had gone through. From spring until now, sending packages every ten days or so; who knows if the money on hand is still enough.
"We’re all family, what he does is nothing. Third Uncle, when you have ti, see if we can use bamboo tubes to divert water. Carrying water like this all the ti isn’t a solution."
Old Captain sighed and shook his head, "The team still needs people to watch the fields, there aren’t enough hands. It’s tiring, but after a month when it gets cold, everything will freeze, useless."
Finishing, Old Captain gave Mr. Zhang a aningful look.
Mr. Zhang understood instantly, knowing that Old Captain kept the dense forest area as a backup. His younger son suspected there was a hot spring there but hasn’t found it yet.
Once the village matters were settled, Mr. Zhang didn’t stay long in the village; he chatted briefly with his older and younger brothers and returned to the county town.
Before reaching the house, he saw his wife chatting with the neighbor and raised the letter in his hand when she spotted him.
Aunt Wang noticed and laughed, "Old brother, Xiao Wu is urging you to visit Beijing again. You two really don’t know how fortunate you are and still don’t visit your youngest son."
Mr. Zhang laughed heartily, "Our second son’s family just gave us a grandson, we can’t leave for a while. Why don’t you co inside to chat?"
Huang Juan waved her hand, smiled, and said, "I need to prepare dinner soon. Big Sister, you and your husband have a good chat, if there’s anything you don’t understand, I can help later."
Mother Zhang chuckled and shook her head, "Thank you, sister, I’m lucky to have you since I’m practically blind."
Everyone dispersed, and Mr. Zhang followed his wife into the living room, complaining, "How could you let outsiders see the letter? What if Xiao Wu ntioned sothing in there and others find out?"
Mother Zhang gave him a look, "Don’t you know our own son? Every ti he writes a letter, I morize it, and anything important is penned by Jiao Jiao. I saw the pen strokes were Xiao Wu’s, so I looked for others."
Mr. Zhang was speechless, pointing at his wife, then burst out laughing. Remarkable! The older she gets, the more childlike she becos, flaunting everywhere.
Mother Zhang, realizing her intentions had been seen through by her husband, smoothed her hair awkwardly, turned to leave, instructing him, "Kids’ dad, I’m heading to the second son’s place, having dinner there tonight."
"Walk slowly," Mr. Zhang said, though his wife was already out of sight, and he shook his head, chuckling.
Mother Zhang closed the door tightly and quickly made her way to Zhang Guoqiang’s house. Hearing sounds from the kitchen, she went inside and sure enough saw Lin Juhua busy at work.
"You child, didn’t I tell you to rest and recover?"
Lin Juhua smiled and said, "Mom, I’m about to finish my confinent; I can’t still have you waiting on ? Only our family lives well; who else is as lucky as I am?"
Mother Zhang gave her a glance and then laughed, "You kids are really silly, like when Jiao Jiao couldn’t sit still, you’re the sa. We won have a tough life; having a child takes half a life away. Before, we had no options, but now life’s better, make up for past losses, so you won’t have back issues when you’re older."
Lin Juhua nodded gratefully. She truly felt like she’d fallen into a blessing pit, as her family said. Her in-laws were reasonable and kind-hearted, her husband cared for the family, truly leaving her with no worries.
Since Mother Zhang listened to her husband’s words and thought carefully, she beca more and more satisfied with this second daughter-in-law. This child indeed had good sense. You can’t compare her to their Jiao Jiao, no, you can’t compare to the younger daughter-in-law.
"Mom, what do I do with all the things Jiao Jiao sent? How should I return the favor?"
Mother Zhang laughed heartily, "What to return? Didn’t you see she prepared a lot for i Hao too? When life gets better, give a heavy gift later. Right now, just accept it on behalf of the children without being polite."
Though she said so, Mother Zhang was very pleased with her attitude; a feeling of gratitude is good enough. Talking about that younger daughter-in-law really irked her; no matter how long she taught, still didn’t know how to reserve. Luckily, the child was smart enough to send things for her to arrange.
Thinking about this, Mother Zhang decided to have her eldest daughter write a letter, to get a feel of things, making sure not to show any slip-ups.
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