142 Chapter 142: Big Girl Li Was Pregnant
“We had just confirmed it with Doctor Li. He said it’s been almost two months,” Liu Xiaomei said.
“It’s because of this that we closed our stall early and came here.”
It was also because of this suspicion in her family that Liu Xiaomei had gotten permission to come to town with her sister-in-law.
Qin Xiaoyao’s eyes were filled with disbelief. She reached out, wanting to touch Big Girl Li’s tummy, but ultimately held back.
!!
After that, she asked in surprise and delight, “Are you really pregnant?”
She had only seen little babies before the apocalypse as well as at the beginning of the apocalypse.
After the apocalypse, life was very hard. It was hard for children to survive, not to mention newborn babies.
After the apocalypse, people didn’t dare to have children anymore. Even if they did, they would be dealt with after they were discovered.
Seeing other people get pregnant and give birth was indeed quite novel to her.
“Yep!” Big Girl Li blushed and replied with a contented smile on her face.
Then, she stretched out her hand and placed it on her lower abdomen, gently caressing it.
“This child is very quiet. He came here sneakily.”
“Fortunately, earlier, we only entered the mountain and went through the laborious phase for a short while. Otherwise, I was really afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep him.”
Qin Xiaoyao felt a lingering fear in her heart.
She nodded in agreement.
“Then you have to take good care of your baby. Why don’t you take a break from delivering and selling goods? By the way, does your Daniu know about this?” As Qin Xiaoyao spoke, she looked at Big Girl Li’s tummy again.
“I only went to see the doctor today. How would he know?” Big Girl Li replied shyly.
Following that, she said, “I will definitely not get involved with the delivery henceforth. But I can’t stop setting up the stall and selling my goods.”
Seeing Qin Xiaoyao looking at her, Big Girl Li added, “It’s precisely because I have a baby that I have to think long-term.”
“It hasn’t rained for so long. It’s getting harder and harder for Daniu and Erniu to get their goods. If we can’t harvest the grain this autumn, life will be hard for our family.”
“Now that I’m setting up a stall in the market on South Street, though the business is not as good as before, at least I still have some income.”
“While my body is still able to move nimbly, I have to save some money quickly.”
“Otherwise, when my tummy gets bigger, I won’t be able to do anything. Moreover, after the child is born, I still have to sit through the confinement period and feed the child milk. Without my contribution, if I only rely on Daniu, when can we buy a courtyard house?”
Qin Xiaoyao was shocked.
This girl was still thinking about buying a courtyard dwelling…
Big Girl Li glanced at Qin Xiaoyao and saw through her expression.
“It’ll be easier to send my child to school in the future if we have a courtyard house in town. Otherwise, he’ll end up like his father, depending on his physical strength to make a living.”
Qin Xiaoyao nodded. She was a little impressed by Big Girl Li’s awareness and wisdom.
“That’s true.”
“But you’re pregnant. Even if you don’t do deliveries, can you handle walking back and forth between the village and the town every day?” Moreover, the overhead sun was blazing hot during these hot summer days.
Big Girl Li frowned.
“At most, I’ll just spend money to rent a place!” she continued.
Yes! She would do it this way! In fact, it would be best to stay near Sister Sanya.
In the future, if she had nothing to do, she could go next door and weave straw sandals with Yun’er.
Before Qin Xiaoyao could say anything, Liu Xiaomei’s eyes lit up.
“Sister-in-law! If you are really doing this, bring me along! I’ll take care of you!” she said excitedly.
She also wanted to live in town, learn how to do business from her sister-in-law, and also weave straw sandals.
Anyway, she had mastered the skill of making straw sandals now. Even if she only made four hundred pairs of straw sandals a month, she would still get 800 copper coins.
This was not a small sum.
Before this, Liu Xiaomei didn’t even dare to think that she would be able to follow her sister-in-law to town. This was because her parents would never agree.
However, it was different now. Sister-in-law was pregnant.
In order to run her business without rushing back and forth, it was reasonable for her to rent a place in town.
Big Brother had to stay in the village to take care of the family chores and had no time to take care of Sister-in-law.
Wouldn’t she be the most suitable person to take care of Sister-in-law?
Big Girl Li looked at her little sister-in-law.
“Sure! Then let’s split the rent. You’ll pay 30%!” she said.
Liu Xiaomei’s face fell.
“Ah? I… I haven’t even paid back the one tael of silver I borrowed.”
That was right. The one tael of silver she had paid for learning to weave straw sandals was borrowed from her mother.
They had agreed that when she started weaving straw sandals, she would use the money she earned to pay back the debt.
Moreover, her mother had already agreed that before she paid off her debt, she didn’t need to hand over the money she earned from selling straw sandals.
In that case, she had already calculated she would be able to pay off her debt in just over a month.
However, if Sister-in-law wanted her to pay for the rent as well, she would be under a lot of pressure.
Furthermore, living in town meant she had to use money to buy all the food and necessities, so the expenses would definitely be high.
...
“That’s a different matter. You can slowly return the money you owe mother.”
“Now that you know how to weave straw sandals to earn money, of course you have to pay some rent. At most… I’ll pay for the food and expenses. I’ll just consider it as the fee for you to take care of me,” Big Girl Li said.
She wasn’t going to pay for everything. She still wanted to save some money to buy a courtyard dwelling in the future.
Liu Xiaomei frowned and thought for a while, then nodded.
“Deal! 30% it is!” she said.
If she lived in town, she wouldn’t have to do the housework at home.
She could earn some money by running the stall for her sister-in-law, and she could also earn some money by weaving straw sandals. Why would she be afraid that she wouldn’t be able to earn enough money for 30% of the rent?
“Pfft…” Qin Xiaoyao laughed with amusement.
“Already settled? Renting a room is such a big matter. Surely you should go back first and ask for your family’s opinion, right?”
Big Girl Li glanced at Qin Xiaoyao.
“What opinion can they have? They won’t interfere if we rent our own place.”
...
Qin Xiaoyao thought about it and felt that Big Girl Li’s words made sense.
“Alright. When you’ve confirmed it, I’ll find someone to help you ask around.”
Big Girl Li smiled.
“This place is good. Try to find a family in your alley. Let’s see if they have an empty room for rent.”
“I’m not thinking about renting the whole house. It’s fine as long as I can rent two rooms!” After saying that, she also shot a glance at Liu Xiaomei.
Liu Xiaomei nodded in agreement.
That was what she meant as well. In this way, they could save some money.
“Alright. Then when I’m free, I’ll get Mother to ask Aunt Sun.”
Aunt Sun was more outgoing than her mother-in-law and was familiar with every household in the alley.
If she asked Aunt Sun for help, they would definitely get an answer soon.
Big Girl Li and Liu Xiaomei’s eyes lit up.
They quickly thanked Qin Xiaoyao.
Qin Xiaoyao waved her hand and bade farewell to the two of them before returning to her room.
After taking the silver, she set off to the grain store again.
She still had a lot of food to bring back.
When Qin Xiaoyao returned on the second trip, Big Girl Li and Liu Xiaomei had already left.
Qin Xiaoyao didn’t bother and continued to do the laborious work.
It was almost noon when she finally managed to bring back all the food.
At this moment, Wang Xiaomei had also returned.
She even went to the storeroom to help put the food away with Qin Xiaoyao.
After she was done, Qin Xiaoyao drank a big bowl of water and went to the small alley to get some fresh air.
“It must be hard work for Sister-in-law to bring back so much food today!” Song Yun, who was weaving straw sandals, raised her head and smiled at Qin Xiaoyao.