Chapter 168

"Breaking news, the Ministry of Metallurgy and the Ministry of Agriculture have jointly developed a world-leading incubator that can hatch more than 8,000 chicks at a time."

"Headline: Red Star Steel Rolling Mill hatches 8,000 chicks, setting a national record."

“Shocking: Tens of thousands of chicks hatched from one box, just because one thing was done right!”

The next day, newspapers in the capital were selling like hot cakes.

The radio station also boasts and predicts the stories of chicken trips across the country all day long.

But what is rare is that Li Zhiguo's name was not mentioned, but was simply replaced by the term "Beijing Model Worker".

This was Li Zhiguo's own request. He didn't want to be too high-profile, mainly because he didn't want to have anything to do with chickens. Anyway, his contributions would not be less, and he still had a long life ahead of him.

With the involvement of the Ministry of Agriculture, he is no longer in a hurry to invent anything, as there is nothing much to do for the time being.

……

Summer has arrived in a flash. It’s early July and the school hasn’t had final exams yet.

But the Xu family faced a big test. Tang Chunyan had been in the hospital for a day, but no good news had come yet.

This is normal. The pregnancy period varies by two to three weeks, and the delivery can also be fast or slow. It usually won't exceed two days after the sight of blood, but it is not uncommon for it to take three to five days for the first child.

"Sister Xu, what's Chunyan's situation now?"

Li Zhiguo was washing his face in the yard when he saw Xu's mother coming back from outside.

"Send her to the delivery room. I'll come back to change clothes and go to the hospital. Damao will be there."

Xu's mother has been living in the courtyard for quite a long time. In order to take care of Chunyan, she has sent her daughter to boarding school. She is about to graduate from junior high school and will take the exams in the next few days.

"Okay, I'll go check it out later."

Li Zhiguo thought that Sister Xu had sent things home twice, and Xu Damao had also sent things, which meant that he had received things four times. He had to return the favor at least once. The gift of reciprocity was necessary for having a child.

"okay!"

Xu's mother changed her clothes and left in a hurry.

Li Zhiguo had nothing to do at home today. Dabao was not at home. He was sent to kindergarten and the family could afford to raise him.

You can't wait until your child is six years old to play and then send him to school, or he will become naughty.

The main thing is to see Banggeng playing around in the yard every day, sometimes he would run to Beixinqiao by himself. It shows that he has become a naughty boy at such a young age.

If they could not have given birth now and the city had good security, they might have encountered human traffickers.

After lunch, he lay down in the room and took a nap. It would not be too late to go to the hospital after Xiao Jingru came back from school.

He was half asleep when he heard a commotion outside. When he opened his eyes, he saw the door opened and Xu Damao walked in with a happy look on his face.

"Li Zhiguo, I have a son. Chunyan gave me a big fat boy."

"Da Mao, congratulations, you finally got what you wished for. Raise your son well, and you will have someone to take care of you in your old age."

Li Zhiguo was really happy for Xu Damao. Now that this villain had a son to tie him down, he had a bottom line in what he did. Otherwise, he might have been harboring evil intentions and would do something big someday.

"That's right. I have a son."

Xu Damao was so happy that he ran back to inform the whole hospital.

It was already afternoon and even those who were going to school had not returned yet. Since everyone had nothing to do, they all went to the hospital to visit.

Li Zhiguo couldn't lie still any longer, so he simply closed the door, went to the next room to say hello to his mother-in-law, and left with everyone else.

In the workers' hospital ward, Chunyan suffered a lot to give birth to this child. Perhaps it was because she didn't exercise much and didn't work, which made delivery very difficult.

But at this moment, Chunyan looked at her son lying in her arms and felt that all the suffering she had endured before was worth it.

Suddenly her eyes lit up, and she called out weakly, "Brother Li, you're here."

"Well, let's see you."

Li Zhiguo and the other aunts entered the ward together. As for Xu Damao, there was no sign of him yet and no one knew where he had gone to inform others.

Not only was Xu's mother in the ward, Chunyan's mother also took a special leave to come and accompany her.

The aunties in the yard came forward to look at the child, who was the protagonist of today.

"Look, how good this child is. I think she looks like Chunyan."

"I also think she looks like Chunyan, with delicate features."

"No, do you think this is nothing?"

The second aunt wanted to say something but stopped herself in the end.

The other aunties were also smart. After being reminded, they suddenly realized that this child was a bit like Xiao Guan Xiang and Xiao Chaoyang. It was just a coincidence.

Li Zhiguo also came closer at this time. He took a look and was shocked. This little face, eyebrows and nose were somewhat similar to those of his two children at home.

But it can only be said to be a coincidence. He said with all his conscience that Chunyan's child has nothing to do with him.

The aunties didn't say much. After looking at the children and chatting for a while, they left.

"Chunyan, take a good rest. I'm going back too."

It was naturally impossible for Li Zhiguo to continue staying here.

"Brother Li, take care."

Chunyan breathed a sigh of relief. After the people left, she asked her mother to bring her son over and put him next to her. She couldn't stop looking at him.

After an afternoon, the news that Xu Damao had a son had already spread widely and was extremely high-profile.

After the aunts returned to the compound, they gathered together again at some point.

"Hey, do you think Chunyan's child looks a bit like the two children of the Li family?"

"Yes, they are a bit similar. Xiao Chaoyang and Xiao Guanxiang look alike, but they are brothers and have the same mother. What about Chunyan?"

"It must be a coincidence. Could it be that Xu Damao doesn't know whether it's his or not?"

"I think it's just a coincidence. Li Zhiguo doesn't lack sons, so there's no need to go to the neighbor's house to make one."

The aunties murmured for a while but couldn't make out what was going on. It was only because Li Zhiguo was involved and Xu Damao was not someone who was easy to talk to, otherwise the gossip would have spread a long time ago.

Li Zhiguo is now holding his baby, who just woke up. He is planning to try weaning the baby next month. The baby is already eating complementary food and is quite easy to take care of.

Looking at Xiaobao, I couldn't help but think of Chunyan, that child. For some reason I felt a little less sure.

"Brother-in-law, I'm back. I have an exam tomorrow."

Xiao Jingru came back from outside carrying her schoolbag.

"Well, go to bed early today and do well in the exam tomorrow."

With this interruption, Li Zhiguo didn't think much about it. He just held Xiaobao and lay down for a while waiting for dinner.

In the evening, when people who worked in the hospital came back, they all knew what had happened in advance. Xu Damao went to the steel rolling mill in the afternoon.

Li Zhiguo looked at his watch and thought something was wrong. His wife had not come home yet.

"Jingru, I'm going to be out for a while. You look after my two nephews."

"Okay brother-in-law!"

Xiao Jingru can also take care of children, so the adults don’t have to worry about it.

Li Zhiguo went out of the house and saw that the door of Lao Xu's house was closed. This was normal because they were all in the hospital.

He shook his head and arrived at the middle courtyard just in time to see someone coming back.

"Silly Zhu, have you seen your sister Qin?"

"I haven't seen her. Is Sister Qin not back yet?"

Sha Zhu was confused, but suddenly reacted and said, "Sister Qin must have gone to see Chunyan. Xu Damao went to the factory to inform her this afternoon."

"It should be."

Li Zhiguo looked at his watch again. If he didn't come back soon, he would go to the hospital to look for him.

Seeing that he was about to go back, Sha Zhu hurriedly said, "Li Zhiguo, come to my house and chat for a while?"

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Li Zhiguo had a smile on his face. This kid must have been irritated again. As for the brothers in the courtyard, it doesn’t matter if Lao Cai ran away.

Among the remaining four, three of them have sons. Shazhu must be very upset and probably can't sleep at night!
"Come to my room and talk."

Sha Zhu invited people to his home, put the lunch box on the stove, and was about to get some wine, but he found that there were no peanuts at home.

But it didn't bother him. He found two preserved eggs from under the cupboard, removed the shells, washed them, and brought them to the table.

"Oh, preserved eggs with Erguotou. If you were to entertain foreigners, they would be furious with you."

Li Zhiguo took the preserved egg with a smile, peeled it open and saw that it was crispy inside. The yolk was black, but the core was yellow and tasted great.

"Silly Zhu, if you have something to say, just say it. When did you become so nagging?"

"Hey, it's the same thing as before. I want to find a partner."

Sha Zhu wanted to get married, but half a year had passed and he still hadn't met the right one.

Li Zhiguo thought for a while and said, "It's not difficult to get married. You need the help of the elders in your family."

"Go on, I'm listening."

Sha Zhu thought this made sense, but didn’t you also get married without relying on the elderly? Li Zhiguo said again: “To be honest, Dongxu’s conditions are far worse than yours, but how did he get married? And Xu Damao’s conditions are not better than yours, and he is younger than you, so why did he find someone with such good conditions?
This is all because of the efforts of Jia Zhang and my sister Xu. Otherwise, we would have to look for it on our own, unless it was our destiny, like me and your sister Qin, who met by chance in the vast crowd.

This is too difficult, you probably don’t have that kind of fate, so you can still rely on your elders.”

After a pause and a sip of wine, he continued, "Shazhu, your father is unreliable. Until now, your stepmother doesn't even know that she has a son as old as you.

But there's no problem with your uncle, your aunt is still here.

If you go to them, they will just rely on you. If they don't help you find a wife, you will just go there often to get free food.

As time goes by, I will have to arrange something for you. I can’t say for sure if it will happen soon, but you should be able to find your partner within this year.

As for me, I have only one request. Don’t be like your father and uncle. You have to have a wedding banquet. They had agreed to let me take care of it, but they ran away faster than the other. I didn’t even get a glass of wedding banquet.”

"oops!"

Sha Zhu slapped his thigh, as if he had suddenly realized something, and shouted, "Li Zhiguo, you are absolutely right, I must rely on my uncle and Sister Huizhen.

Don't worry about the wedding banquet. Not only will I treat you to a drink, I will also give you a big red envelope.

Well, I'll leave this lunch box for Yu Shui. I'm going to my uncle's place now and will stay there tonight. I can go to the train station to do some work later."

After saying that, Sha Zhu finished his drink, hurriedly went next door to say hello to Yu Shui, then went straight to the front yard and was ready to leave on his tricycle.

"I go……"

Li Zhiguo speechlessly searched under the cupboard for a preserved egg, took it in his hand, and just as he was about to leave, he saw rain coming in.

"Hello, Brother Li!"

"Well, Yushui, don't eat the leftovers in the lunch box. Come to my house to eat. If you get scared at night, ask Jingru to come over to keep you company."

He was caught on the spot and he wasn't embarrassed at all. It was Shazhu who invited him.

"Ok!"

He Yushui immediately followed Brother Li.

But Sha Zhu rode his tricycle all the way to the Qianmen Tavern. He didn't come there to drink, nor did he like the environment in the tavern because he didn't know anyone there.

Instead, he went directly to Sister Huizhen's house. He was a relative, so there was nothing wrong with him coming here.

"Silly Zhu, why are you here? Come in quickly, have you eaten?"

Xu Huizhen was just about to go out to the pub. She was pregnant and due in September.

"I haven't eaten yet, sister. I came to see you."

Sha Zhu entered the yard and saw his uncle cleaning up the dishes. It was too early to eat.

"Stupid column!"

Cai Quanwu was a little confused, and felt like a bad guest. Could it be that his nephew had not given up and was waiting to take over? But he was in good health, and he could definitely hold on for decades.

"Uncle, I'm here to see you."

Sha Zhu came into the room and sat at the table. Let’s see how you are going to clean up the dishes.

Xu Huizhen called out, "Old Cai, Shazhu hasn't eaten yet, you can drink with him first. There's white flour in the pot. I'll go to the convenience canteen in front to get some food."

Cai Quanwu moved his lips. He didn't want his wife to run back and forth, but he was also worried about his nephew and his wife being alone together.

I had no choice but to reply, "At your command!"

"Hey!" Xu Huizhen followed him out again and went to the cafeteria to get some food.

Cai Quanwu glanced into the inner room and saw Li'er concentrating on painting. Then he turned around and said, "Shazhu, is there something wrong?"

"I have something to say! Uncle, please help me find a wife."

There is nothing for Shazhu to be embarrassed about. It is not shameful. He is the only single man left in the He family.

"I help you find a wife? I don't have that ability!"

Cai Quanwu is now a bartender in a tavern. The rest of the time he stays at home taking care of children and doing housework. He doesn't even know the other widow.

"Then find my sister Huizhen!"

Sha Zhu is stuck with it anyway.

"What? Your sister can't do that. She's my wife."

Cai Quan was at a loss as he knew the visitor had bad intentions, but his wife was pregnant, so he couldn't still think about her.

"Hey, uncle, what are you talking about? I want my sister to help introduce someone."

Sha Zhu was unhappy. Who did they think of him? Unless his uncle ran away, which he probably wouldn't do, look at how good the conditions here are. He has his own house and yard, he already has a wife, and he got a daughter for free.

"That's no problem. I'll definitely introduce you."

Cai Quanwu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly poured wine for Sha Zhu to drink. He found an excuse to leave the house.

As soon as he arrived at the gate, he met his wife coming back. He hurriedly said, "Huizhen, Shazhu is here to ask you to introduce a wife. He is not young anymore and wants to get married."

"Is that so? Shazhu is three to five years old, right? It's time for him to get married, but I don't have anyone suitable for the time being.

You know the situation in the store. There are more than 20 employees, and none of them is alone.

Take Xiao Qiu for example, he looks big and strong but nobody wants him, but he is actually married already. "

Xu Huizhen was also a little troubled. She usually felt that there were many singles around her, but when she really needed someone, there was no one.

Cai Quanwu quickly said, "Huizhen, have you forgotten? In the first month of the year, you said you wanted to introduce your cousin to Shazhu. I think it's okay!"

"What, my cousin? Lao Cai, didn't you say she was immoral?"

Xu Huizhen couldn’t understand. Has Old Cai changed and is no longer kind?
"No, I agreed at the time. You must have remembered it wrongly. Huizhen, I think you really need to think about this matter carefully. I think Shazhu will pester you.

You know my eldest brother, he's unreliable, I don't care about him at all."

Cai Quanwu tried his best to make this happen, and by then He Yongqiang might be so angry that he died. Damn, this idea is too immoral.

"Well, Lao Cai, don't talk about your elder brother. He is a good person. Sha Zhu is also a good person."

Xu Huizhen glared at Lao Cai and said, "It was you three who took me to the hospital together, which allowed Li'er to be born safely."

"Oh, I won't say anything."

Cai Quanwu was a little panicked. He had to find a solution.

Xu Huizhen then went into the house and served Shazhu some food and a pot of good wine, and said, "Shazhu, the room over there is empty. Your father used to live there. If you have time, come and stay for a while. When you come to my place, just treat it as your own home."

"Sister Huizhen, you are so nice to me!"

Shazhu was happy. Even though he didn't succeed in getting the girl at first, their relationship was just like that of brother and sister, without any alienation.

"Hey, you already recognize me as your sister, and you helped me so much in the past, so I have to take care of you.

Come eat quickly. Lao Cai has just told you about your situation. Don’t worry, I will definitely help you find a good wife.”

Xu Huizhen made a promise. She was a reasonable person and she was grateful. Sha Zhu had once pursued her and he was one of her saviors. She couldn't just watch him live alone like this.

"Sister, I'll rely on you. I'll stay here today."

After listening to Li Zhiguo, Sha Zhu became dependent on him. He could not only come every day, but at least once a week.

Cai Quanwu was listening nearby, feeling a strong sense of crisis. That evening, when Xu Huizhen came back from get off work at the tavern, the two of them whispered in the room.

"Huizhen, where does your cousin live? How about asking someone to notify her and ask her to come to the city?"

"Old Cai, let me think about this. Xu Huizhi did me wrong back then, and I'm lucky I didn't strangle her to death.

I'll ask around to see if there's anything else that's suitable, then we'll talk about it later."

Xu Huizhen hesitated, she couldn't bring herself to do that.

"Then you have to pay attention to it. Shazhu is not young anymore."

Cai Quanwu couldn't say much, but he couldn't sleep tonight and didn't fall asleep the whole night.

……

In the courtyard!

Li Zhiguo had already taken a nap when he was woken up by his youngest son's crying. He praised him during the day, but it turned out that he had trouble taking care of him at night.

It was no use for Qin Huairu to get up and breastfeed the baby. She could only carry the baby around the room, but that didn't work. Finally, she had to take out the baby carrier and carry him on her back. Only then did the crying stop.

"Governing the country, I am bothering you!"

"It's okay. I'll take Xiaobao to the hospital tomorrow."

Li Zhiguo yawned and felt a little sleepy, but he was awake, so he went to the outer room to drink some water.

Seeing that the man was still awake, Qin Huairu said, "Today I went to the hospital to see Chunyan and her child. I don't know why, but I think he looks a lot like our sons."

"Really? I don't think so. Children are all the same when they are born."

Li Zhiguo hadn't thought much about it originally, but now he's not so sure anymore.

"I guess so!"

Qin Huairu didn't doubt anything. She would rather believe that her man was having an affair with Chen Xueru than involve Tang Chunyan.

Besides, Chen Xueru never gave birth to a child later. If something really happened, she might come to our house to make trouble.

(End of this chapter)