"Xiao Qiu, with your Uncle Gao not home for these past few months, our eldest daughter-in-law is about to give birth soon, and I can't leave her side. Could you speak with Aunt Zhao and ask her what kind of person Gao Shu's prospective bride is?"
"She's a nice girl, fair and sweet-looking, absolutely a beauty in the making, and her family's situation is pretty good too."
"No matter how good she is, his Elder Uncle and I would never agree."
Jingqiu knew this would be the outcome; in her previous life, Xia Lin brought her child to West City and had suffered no shortage of grievances at the Gao Family's home.
She didn't know what Gao Shu and the Gao family had said, but she had no intention of belittling Xia Lin due to their past issues.
Gao Family's Elder Uncle had four sons and one daughter, and together with his late brother's posthumous child Gao Shu, the household had a total of six children.
Although Big Uncle Gao's position in the military district wasn't low, he could arrange jobs for his children.
But with so many sons, arranging a job for one or two was manageable, but three or four proved difficult, especially since Uncle Gao was an upright man who disliked having to bow and scrape to others for favors.
That year, the family's third and fourth sons as well as Gao Shu all graduated from high school.
With three grown sons idling at home, Uncle Gao and Aunt Gao were busy looking for jobs for their children.
Uncle Gao's idea was to have all the children enlist in the army.
Aunt Gao disagreed; the family's eldest and second sons had become soldiers, and she wouldn't see them even once over a year or two. To have the remaining two sons also enlist was more than she could bear.
Aunt Gao wanted Gao Shu to join the military, as she and Uncle Gao had only been able to secure two job positions after much pleading, one in the municipal government and the other in the transportation team.
The municipal government position was definitely for the third son, who was not in good health and would be less stressed as a civilian clerk there.
With three children and only two jobs, Aunt Gao was determined to favor her own sons, but Uncle Gao was conflicted.
When Gao Shu's mother left her child with him, her only condition was that her son must not become a soldier.
Because of his father's legacy, Gao Shu also had no desire to enlist.
Fourth Brother and Gao Shu were like blood brothers, having grown up together wearing the same pants; he also knew his mother's thoughts.
He didn't want the neighbors to speak ill of his mother for being selfish, nor did he want to make things difficult for his father. He most certainly didn't want to put Gao Shu, his older brother, in an awkward position in this family.
So, he secretly signed up at the Educated Youth Spot.
When Aunt Gao found out, she cried and made a scene, absolutely unwilling to let her son go to the countryside. She insisted that Uncle Gao use his connections to cancel his son's spot.
Uncle Gao naturally disagreed, thinking it was good this way. With many children in the family, it would be proper for one to go and contribute to the country; it wasn't a bad thing, and besides, one couldn't simply cancel after registering.
Aunt Gao became desperate and started arguing with Uncle Gao, even suspecting that it was Uncle Gao who had encouraged his son to go, all for the sake of his nephew.
Uncle Gao certainly didn't take kindly to this accusation, calling Aunt Gao petty and unreasonable. Because of this, there were constant quarrels in the Gao household at that time, leaving plenty of neighbors to gossip.
Gao Shu, who had already been living carefully in his uncle's house, now felt troubled that his presence had caused his Elder Uncle and Aunt to harm their relationship. Being sensible, he secretly told his aunt that he was willing to go to the countryside in place of his Fourth Brother.
Of course, this matter could only be a secret, as Big Uncle Gao would definitely not agree, and Gao Lao Si would be even less likely to agree. He had signed up primarily to free up a job for Lao Wu, not to push Gao Shu into the rural life.
While Aunt Gao was biased towards her own children, she also knew the hardships of rural life; thus, she was not stingy with material support and prepared many necessities and plenty of money for Gao Shu.
Speaking of which, Aunt Gao treated Gao Shu rather well; there was no lack of food and drink at home, fulfilling her duties responsibly. But even with her own children, there were moments of favoritism, let alone with one who wasn't her own.
By the time the Gao Family found out, Gao Shu had already been sent on the train by Aunt Gao.
The name had already been changed, and Gao Lao Si was too late even if he wanted to switch it back.
For this, Gao Family's Elder Uncle still holds a grudge against Aunt Gao to this day.
After parting with Zhao Hong, Zhou Lanping whispered to her daughter, "Qiuqiu, even though not many people know you like Gao Shu, the news isn't airtight. Once he gets married, he will surely bring his bride back home. To avoid gossip, stay away from the Gao Family as much as possible. I know you get along well with Gao Qing, but if it's possible not to meet, then don't."
"Mom, I know." In her previous life, Gao Qing was her best friend, and even when she was in the sanatorium, Gao Qing would visit her without minding her condition. Later, after she got out, she was living in confusion, and Gao Qing was also having troubles with her husband, so they gradually saw each other less often.
"Mom, let's go for your medical check-up at the hospital today; we can go to the department store tomorrow," Jingqiu suggested with a heart full of concern for her mother's illness, discussing with her as soon as they got home.
Zhou Lanping said, "I'm fine, you, just like your dad, you're too nervous."
Seeing that she couldn't convince her, Lu Jingqiu immediately resorted to acting like a spoiled child, hugging Zhou Lanping and saying, "Mom, your daughter hasn't been back for such a long time, and as soon as I come back, you're feeling unwell. How can I not worry? Can't you just let your daughter be at ease?"
Zhou Lanping, unable to handle her daughter's nagging nature, had no choice but to agree, "Okay, okay, you win. Let's go for a check-up today. There's no need to check the bleeding gums, just the stomach. It's been hurting recently. Let's see if there's any inflammation."
"Mom, does your stomach hurt a lot?"
"It's not a constant pain, just intermittent pain, but the medicine helps. It keeps coming back, though."
Upon hearing this, Lu Jingqiu's face was full of worry, but she didn't dare let her mother see.
Lu Jingqiu rode her mother's bicycle to West City First People's Hospital, which was also her mother's workplace.
After arriving, Zhou Lanping, who knew the place well, took her to their surgery department.
Aunt Wei was treating a patient at the moment, and she looked surprised to see them at the door.
Lu Jingqiu smiled and waved at her from the doorway; neither mother nor daughter dared to disturb her.
Zhou Lanping then took her to the internal medicine department. The doctors there were very familiar with her mother and greeted her with a smile, "Head Nurse Zhou isn't working today?"
Zhou Lanping replied, "I'm on the evening shift today. My stomach's been hurting, and my daughter insisted on coming to you for a check-up."
The doctor looked at Lu Jingqiu by her mother's side and smiled, "Oh, Xiao Qiu is back. When did you come back?"
"Uncle Zhang, hello, I just got back yesterday. I'm leaving again next month. Since I've been back, my mom hasn't been feeling well. Uncle Zhang, please make sure to take a good look at her and make her follow the doctor's orders. She doesn't listen to anyone at home."
"Haha, Head Nurse Zhou, did you hear that?"
Zhou Lanping gave Doctor Zhang a helpless smile.
After the joke, Doctor Zhang seriously asked about the mother's condition.
Upon hearing that her stomach hurt intermittently, he asked about her daily routine and then wrote several orders for tests.
Lu Jingqiu accompanied her mother through various tests, and when the results came back, Doctor Zhang, frowning, looked at the lab report for a long time, and said, "Comrade Lanping, these results are not very good. It shows inflammation, but it's not clear. We've gotten some new equipment at our hospital recently. I'll write you an order for a comprehensive test."
Zhou Lanping wanted to decline, but Lu Jingqiu was busy taking the order and readily agreed.
Seeing that the order was written, Zhou Lanping had no choice but to follow her daughter for the tests.
After being busy all morning with the tests, they were done, but the results would not be available until the next day. Zhou Lanping realized it was time for lunch.
She hurriedly took her daughter to see Doctor Wei, and together they went to the hospital's cafeteria to eat.
Aunt Wei was about the same age as her mother; the two had worked together for many years and gone from colleagues to best friends. Aunt Wei married late and had a son and a daughter, both still in high school.
"How were the test results?" After everyone sat down with their food, Aunt Wei asked.
Zhou Lanping replied, "Doctor Zhang said it might be inflammation, nothing serious. I wouldn't have come for a check-up if Qiuqiu wasn't so worried about me."
Aunt Wei knew about her condition; they all worked in the hospital and weren't lacking care. She didn't think Zhou Lanping had any serious issues and turned to the well-mannered Lu Jingqiu, asking, "Qiu, how long will you be back this time? It must be exhausting over there."
"It was indeed hard to get used to at first, but it got better once I settled in. I'm back for a month this time, to spend time with my parents."
"You should indeed spend time with your parents. Your mom talks about her precious daughter the most in our department."
Lu Jingqiu smiled as she served her mother some meat, her voice sugary sweet, "Yeah, my parents love me the most. I know that."
The group chatted while eating their meal. Aunt Wei had been busy all morning and needed to rest at noon, so she and her mother didn't intrude too long.
When they left the hospital at midday, the sun was scorching.
On such a hot day, Zhou Lanping wanted to buy her daughter an electric fan.
She bought Lu Jingqiu a wide-brimmed hat from a roadside vendor and rode the bicycle to the department store.
Lu Jingqiu hadn't visited the familiar department store in two years.
The first floor housed various daily necessities, and appliances like refrigerators and bicycles were also on the first floor, while the second floor sold clothes and fabrics.
Lu Jingqiu wanted to buy a washing machine, but even the cheapest, a single-tub model, was more than two hundred yuan, and the double-tub ones cost over four hundred.
Even if she started working and lived without eating or drinking, she'd still have to save for over a year, not to mention buying a refrigerator or a television.
Lu Jingqiu wanted a ceiling fan, but Zhou Lanping intended to buy her daughter a more expensive pedestal fan, yet in the end, she couldn't win against her daughter's wishes, and they bought the ceiling fan.
If it had been before, she wouldn't have minded spending the money at all, but now, all she wanted was to save it so her mother could eat and drink well during this period.
Zhou Lanping also wanted to take her daughter to buy some clothes, but Lu Jingqiu stopped her, using the hot weather as an excuse to take her home.
Zhou Lanping indeed felt a bit weary and fell asleep on the sofa as soon as they got home.
Lu Jingqiu placed the newly bought electric fan in the living room, covered her with a blanket, and let her sleep in the breeze of the fan.
She then carefully went to the kitchen to chill a watermelon before lying down upstairs to rest.
The mother and daughter slept until after four o'clock. Seeing her mother awake, Lu Jingqiu hurriedly cut up the pre-chilled watermelon.
"Mom, how many days do you have to work the night shift? Can you avoid night shifts in the future?"
"A week. In summer, there are more surgeries, and our department is the busiest. We're short-staffed, so as the head nurse, I need to step in too.
Our department is planning to train a few nurses. Aunt Wei is now the director, in charge of this. I brought you to meet her today because I was hoping you could work at the hospital."
"Mom, please don't ask Aunt Wei about this. Training also requires a medical background, which I completely lack, not to mention that I'm not interested in studying medicine."
"It doesn't matter if you're not interested; our goal right now is to find a unit that will take you in. As long as there's a unit that wants you, let them issue you a job acceptance letter, so you won't have to go back."
"Mom, I want to try looking on my own for a few days. If I really can't find anything, then you and dad can help me worry about it."
Zhou Lanping touched her daughter's head, resigned but smiling, "Okay, we'll do it your way." She then ate a few slices of watermelon with her daughter before cycling off to work.
Lu Jingqiu had her own plans, and she didn't want to be tied down by work at this time.
Since Father Lu usually didn't come home for lunch, he rushed back in the evening with a piece of pork belly, intending to make stir-fried pork for his daughter. However, as soon as he got home, the aroma of food was already wafting from the kitchen.
"You're right on time, Dad. Here, try the toona sinensis noodles I've made."
As Lu Xianrun had just entered the door, Lu Jingqiu heard him and served the noodles, which had just come off the stove.
Seeing the two bowls of noodles his daughter had brought out, Lu Xianrun seemed surprised, holding the pork and saying, "Dad was thinking of making stir-fried pork noodles for my girl. Haha, well, I get to taste the noodles my daughter made for me for the first time."
Talking, Lu Xianrun first went to the kitchen, put the pork inside, and then came out to see the noodles glistening with oil on the table, his appetite immediately stirring, "Did Qiuqiu learn this over there?"
Lu Jingqiu acknowledged, and said with a smile, "Yes, I learned it from a comrade among the Educated Youth. She has the best noodle-making skills in our Educated Youth Spot. I literally had to learn by watching over and over."
She formerly had money and couldn't cook, so every time it was time to prepare food, she would ask Li Qian for help. Although Li Qian's character wasn't great, her noodle-making skills were unquestionable; Jingqiu acquired the technique simply by observing repeatedly. When Li Qian left, that's when she began cooking for herself.
The first time she cooked, Li Yinger accused her of pretense and lying, saying she couldn't cook, and here she was, cooking perfectly well.
Back then, it was really nice. Since her "awakening", she had more than twenty years of cooking experience. She had forgotten when she started to learn cooking in her previous life, but it seemed to be when she was taking care of the children for Gao Shu.
Thinking back to those times, Lu Jingqiu suddenly laughed at herself.
Father Lu thought his daughter was very happy and kept praising her, "The taste is very good, this is the tastiest noodles Dad has ever had."
Lu Jingqiu laughed, "Dad, be careful or mom might hear and get upset."
Father Lu said, "Dad knows your mom went to work, where did you go today?"
"Accompanied mom for a health check-up, and then went to the department store to buy a fan."
Father Lu had noticed the new fan as soon as he entered the house, and now it was truly cool, "Hmm, just bought a fan?"
"Bought some daily necessities too."
"If there's anything you want, just buy it. Did your mom give you any money today?"
"She did, gave me two hundred. Dad, I have money with me, and I still have some that you sent me before, I don't need it."
"If you don't need it, just keep it. The money your mom and I have here is being saved up for you. By the way, how did your mom's check-up go?"
"Doctor Zhang isn't sure, it seems like there might be some issues, he had mom go for an ultrasound or something, the results haven't come out yet."
"She should have had a check-up earlier. Your mom's ailments are residual from before. Your mom suffered quite a bit following me back in the days. When you were born, I wasn't even by her side. It wasn't until you were three years old that Dad came back. Later on, she followed me to the coast when I was in the military, by then you already had memories of everything."
Of course, Lu Jingqiu knew. During those years, her father was on an island by the coast, surrounded by sea. To go to the town for daily necessities took half a day's drive. They stayed in such conditions for four years. Afterwards, her father transferred here, and life gradually improved.
Unfortunately, her mother got sick. Lu Jingqiu knew that with the current medical standards, there was no chance for her mother's illness to be cured.
To live all over again, her mother...
Lu Jingqiu was worried but didn't let it show, not wanting to see her father's expression if he were to lose her mother.
Father Lu stayed at home for a while and contentedly went out for a stroll in the barracks.
Zhou Lanqin got off work and made a special trip to her older sister's house. When Lu Jingqiu saw her, she was taking out a lunchbox from a cloth bag, "Qiuqiu, look what I brought you?"
Lu Jingqiu didn't need to open it, she already smelled the braised pork and quickly smiled, "Aunt, your braised pork is different from others, rich in flavor, especially fragrant."
Zhou Lanqin loved hearing that, and she affectionately tapped Lu Jingqiu on the forehead, "This girl, still so sweet-talking, it's still hot, eat it quickly, your aunt is going back."
Lu Jingqiu took a piece with her hand and directly put it in her mouth, not minding the mess as she sucked on her fingers and said, "Aunt, I especially saved some ice-cold watermelon for you."
She hurriedly put down the lunchbox and went to the kitchen to give Zhou Lanqin the chilled half watermelon, "Aunt, when you go back, you and uncle can eat it together, it's really cool, helps with the heat."
Zhou Lanqin, smiling, received it, "Alright, since my niece saved it for me, your aunt won't stand on ceremony. By the way, did your mom go to work?"
"Mm, night shift."
Zhou Lanqin felt sorry for her sister, "It's been half a month already, right? Why is she still on night shifts?"
"Mom said there are more patients recently, and two people in their department are on leave, so it's busy."