Lijuan rolled her eyes, gave a forced smile, and used her chopsticks to push a small handful of dried shrimp in front of her towards Yuxi, saying, "All the nutrition is yours. You can eat it!" She continued peeling shrimp.
Yu happy couldn't keep up the pretense any longer and forced herself to eat her rice.
Yaping's mother stared straight at Yaping.
Yaping put down her chopsticks and said, "Lijuan, how can you talk like that? I was just trying to be kind and felt sorry for you. Why are you saying that?"
Lijuan still gave me a forced smile. I meant well, she said shrimp shells are nutritious and have calcium, and I wouldn't even eat them myself, but I gave them to her! How come she said it was because she cared about me, but I said it wasn't because I cared about her?
Yaping suppressed his anger and said, "Is there a place where people eat shrimp shells?"
Lijuan laughed loudly a few times, then replied in a sarcastic tone, "Yeah, do you ever let people eat shrimp shells?"
Yaping remained silent. Yaping's mother quietly ate her rice, and Yuxi sat for a while before also eating in silence.
Lijuan couldn't contain her smugness any longer; she couldn't stop smiling even though she was trying to keep her mouth shut. Without looking at anyone else, she swaggered over and placed the whole plate of shrimp in front of her, peeling and devouring them one by one without any hesitation. The shrimp shells piled up on half the table.
After dinner, Lijuan was surfing the internet in the study. Yaping pushed the door open, then closed it behind her, saying, "Lijuan, don't you like Yuxi? Yuxi is so good to you. She ties your shoelaces for you when you go out in the morning, helps you take a bath at night, and puts your clean clothes by your bedside. Only a close relative would do that. Would a nanny outside treat you like that? Don't hurt her feelings!"
Lijuan didn't even turn around, saying, "What does it matter whether I like it or not? I don't make any decisions about this family anyway. As long as your mother likes it, that's all that matters."
Yaping said, "You're about to give birth, and it's too late to change nannies now! Can't you be nicer to her? She's older than you and she's only saying this for your own good. Can't you be more polite to her? Our child will depend on her in the future."
"Pshaw! In this family, who isn't older than me? Who can't talk back to me? Who can I rely on? I don't rely on anyone, I rely on myself."
"You're not being honest with yourself. In this family, who would dare to do anything to you? You just mentioned Yuxi, who is my mother's niece. My mother was heartbroken, but she never said anything to you. Yet you can do whatever you want at home, can't you?"
"That was in front of you. I can't act. Even if I could, I have no audience. I'm all alone most of the time, who am I supposed to act for? Wouldn't I just be at everyone's mercy?"
“Who bullied you? I don’t believe it. With my mom’s temper and Yu Xi’s honesty, they would never do that. Besides, you’re family too. How can family members bully each other? You’re being too petty.”
"I knew you wouldn't believe me. Did I tell you? I can't be bothered with you. From now on, speak openly and honestly. Why act like a thief? Outsiders won't know, they'll think I'm secretly reporting you!"
Lijuan gave birth to a baby boy naturally at the end of July, and three days later the whole family was discharged from the hospital with bags and packages. The mother-in-law held the baby in her arms, Yuxi carried the things, and Yaping helped Lijuan.
When they got home, Lijuan's bedroom doors and windows were tightly closed, the curtains were drawn, and no sunlight could be seen. A sheet was laid out on the bed. Yuxi helped Lijuan lie down, then took the child to her grandmother's room.
Lijuan said, "Leave the baby with me! It'll be convenient for breastfeeding."
Yu Xi disagreed, saying that a woman in her postpartum period wouldn't be able to sleep if she was with a whimpering nursing baby! You just need to rest, and you can send the baby over to nurse later. You need to take good care of yourself this month; if you don't rest well, you'll develop postpartum illnesses, which can be a lifelong problem.
In the sweltering summer, and with the bedroom on the seventh-floor rooftop, that kang (heated brick bed) was so hot that Lijuan soaked the sheets in less than three minutes.
"Yaping, turn on the air conditioner for me," Lijuan instructed.
"Nonsense! How can you be exposed to drafts during postpartum confinement? Especially cold drafts! Can't you see I've kept all the windows closed? Forget about air conditioning, you can't even have a fan. Just bear with it. This isn't up to you." Yu happy said decisively, leaving no room for negotiation.
Lijuan felt disgusted, believing that Yuxi was torturing her in a roundabout way to vent her anger. Meanwhile, with her son in her arms, she watched as she went back and forth to her mother-in-law's room. The two women grinned foolishly at the baby, whose eyes were still closed, their praises drifting over: "Look at this child, such a broad forehead, just like his father!" "Indeed! Even with his eyes closed, you can see his double eyelids and big eyes, just like his aunt! Thank goodness he doesn't look like his mother." "How come this child is so handsome? The more I look at him, the more he looks like a future movie star." "Movie stars can be ugly too. Even if Ge You is famous, he can't look like him! I think he looks more like Tang Guoqiang."
Lijuan hadn't had a chance to examine the baby closely since it was born. She was so eager to see it, she just wanted to bring it over and have a closer look.
"Sister Yuxi, bring it over here so I can see it. I haven't even seen it clearly yet!" Lijuan couldn't help but ask.
"No way! It's so hot in your room, you'll make the baby get heat rash. We use hand fans here, it's a natural breeze, it's cool and you won't catch a cold. Don't worry about it, just go to sleep! I'll take the baby over to breastfeed when it's time."
The child cried loudly. Yu happy carried the child and bounced back and forth along the corridor, trying different methods to soothe him.
"Is he hungry? Let me hold him." Lijuan called from the bed. "I just ate, I'm not hungry, he's just sleepy!" "Close the door, don't disturb me." Yuxi continued to soothe him. After finally getting him to sleep, she put him on the pillow, and he started crying loudly again. So they continued to toss and turn. Twenty-four hours a day, Yaping's mother and Yuxi took turns holding him, and when they got tired, they would just sit on the sofa and doze off, refusing to let go.
Lijuan tried to hold the baby several times, but the baby cried as soon as she put him down. Yaping's mother hurriedly snatched the baby back. "You smell of milk on you, and you're keeping him awake. The little guy is sleepy and wants to sleep. You're just making him suffer!"
Lijuan felt dejected, realizing she was merely a wet nurse.
During the hottest days of summer, Lijuan was drenched in sweat, and because she didn't move around much, she developed heat rash all over her body, making her extremely itchy. Several times she couldn't resist turning on the air conditioner, but Yuxi scared her away each time.
“I’m telling you, you never listen. You take my good intentions for granted. Fine, if you really want to change your mind, I can’t stop you. But I can’t send the baby in; the temperature difference will make him catch a cold. I’ll buy you a pump so you can pump the milk yourself, and I’ll feed him with a bottle.” Lijuan could only endure it.
"What? Why is Bao'er's poop sausage-like today? Yesterday it was jam! Could there be something wrong with the breast milk?" The mother-in-law and Yu Xi examined the baby's poop closely, smelling it and even looking at it in the sun.
"Oh no, she's having diarrhea again today! This is terrible! Is it because my breast milk is too oily?"
Yaping's mom and Yuxi made accurate judgments based on the different colors of the stools and finally decided on a recipe that was most suitable for the baby's stomach: crucian carp and white mushroom soup, and no salt was added.
"I really can't drink anymore. Can I have something else to eat? There's no salt at all, how am I supposed to eat this? I don't have kidney disease." "Too much salt is bad for the baby. If you eat too much salt, you need to drink more water, and if you drink more water, your milk will be thinner. He'll need to eat three times a day and still not be full. You're the mother, can't you just bear with it for your child's sake?"
Lijuan was furious! She once sneaked downstairs in the middle of the night while everyone else was asleep to steal some pickles.
Lijuan thought bitterly, "I'll endure it! I'll endure it for a month. Once my postpartum period is over, let's see what you say. The first thing I'll do is take the child back!"
The morning after the baby's one-month celebration, Lijuan got up to go downstairs for a drink of water. She saw Yuxi holding the baby, half-lying on the sofa, sleeping with her mouth open. Drooling was dripping from the corner of her mouth, growing longer and longer, and it looked like it was about to fall onto the baby's face. The son, on the other hand, was sleeping soundly, neither crying nor fussing.
Lijuan walked over, intending to gently pick up the child. The moment her hand touched the baby, Yuxi instinctively pulled her arm away, opened her eyes, and, drooling, asked, "What are you doing?"
Lijuan replied, "I see you're sleeping so hard. Who sleeps like this all night long? I'll switch hands with you, and the baby can sleep with me from now on, so I don't have to hold him."
Yu Xi shook her head like a rattle drum: "No, no! This child is so stubborn, he wants to be held to sleep, and he cries as soon as I lie down."
"Then we can't let him have his way. He'll have to sleep on his own eventually, right? Are we going to carry him until he's a baby? The older he gets, the harder it is to wean him off. He's only been a month, it's fine. Just let him sleep in the cradle."
Yu Xi wouldn't let go, trying to take the child from Li Juan. Li Juan got angry, forcefully snatched the child away, and said, "No way! How can you let me have my way?" The child immediately burst into tears. Li Juan ignored her, picked up the child and went back to the room, laid the child in the cradle next to her, and closed the door.
Yaping's mother rushed over from the balcony in a panic: "What happened? What happened? You were sleeping so soundly, why are you making such a fuss?" Yuxi said with a mournful face that the child had been snatched away. Yaping's mother remained silent.
Lijuan's baby was really stubborn; he wouldn't stop crying unless she held him. He wailed for 10 minutes, his toothless little mouth twisted and big tears streaming down his face. During that time, Lijuan tried to hold and comfort him, but no matter how much she rocked him, the baby wouldn't stop.
Yaping's mother couldn't hold back any longer and knocked on the door, saying, "He just likes to be held while sleeping, he only recognizes Yuxi, you should just let Yuxi hold him while sleeping! Stop making a fuss."
"No way! How can we let him have his way? If we don't correct his bad habits now, how will we raise him in the future? Don't protect him, I'll take care of him."
Yaping's mother kept circling the door, while Yuxi stood guard at the door, listening intently.