Chapter 189

Zhao's Mother looked at her son, who was pretending to care for her but was actually trying every means to make her leave. No matter how much she objected, it was futile. For the first time, she felt that raising this ungrateful son was a waste.

The saying "a married son is like spilled water" is indeed true. She wondered what was the point of raising a son.

Pei Meng was eavesdropping behind the door. Seeing that Zhao Xin was determined to make his mother leave, she finally felt relieved. If Zhao's Mother stayed any longer, Pei Meng feared she would be depressed to death before even getting through her postpartum confinement month.

When Pei Jing came home, he saw Little Aunt had already prepared dinner. There were 4 dishes on the table - stir-fried pork with chili, steamed fish, sautéed prawns and stir-fried vegetables, along with 4 big homemade steamed buns. Only their family could afford such a spread.

Ever since Little Aunt's space was exposed, she no longer hid anything from Pei Jing. As a result, their family's living standards had greatly improved.

As usual, Pei Jing closed the door as soon as he entered. There was a wash basin by the door where he could wash his hands. After that, he played with the kids briefly before sitting down for dinner.

Little Aunt handed him the thermal lunch boxes. "Send these to Meng Meng first before you eat. And bring two buns for her too."

"Alright, I'll go ahead first. You can start eating first, no need to wait for me." Pei Jing assumed these were extras specially prepared for Pei Meng so he didn't ask further and headed over.

Only after arriving at Zhao Xin’s place did Pei Jing feel something was amiss.

He could see from the living room that the doors of both bedrooms were shut. Smoke was also billowing from the kitchen where Zhao Xin was busy alone.

Pei Jing didn’t bother with all that first. He knocked on Pei Meng's door and heard her voice before entering.

"Your little aunt made this food delivery. Hurry up and eat while it's hot." Pei Jing went over to check on mother and daughter. Seeing they were both doing fine, he was relieved.

"The food is here, great! I was craving little aunt's cooking." Pei Meng quickly got out of bed to eat, "Younger uncle, please thank little aunt for me. She really shouldn't have troubled herself."

"Alright, enjoy your meal. I'm heading out first." Pei Jing said.

When Pei Meng opened the thermal box, she saw there were two layers. The top layer contained ribs and potato soup with red dates and wolfberries. The bottom layer had plain congee. The portions were just right for one person. She was very touched.

It wasn’t like there was no meat at home. It was just that no one cooked for her so she couldn’t eat any. Since Zhao's Mother arrived, the only meat she ate was the eggs shared during meals. She didn’t even get preferential treatment for being a nursing mom.

After leaving, Pei Jing went straight to the kitchen instead of heading out. Only then did Zhao Xin notice him and greeted him.

"Where's sister-in-law? Not home?" Pei Jing asked in puzzlement.

How could Zhao Xin explain that his mother wanted to cause trouble? He could only make excuses to cover up. "My mom wasn't feeling well today. And thanks for sending food over to Meng Meng."

Zhao Xin had never felt so guilty before. He had fallen hard for Pei Meng at first sight and pursued her persistently, expending great effort before Pei Jing helped pave the way.

Yet now, he didn’t even have the face to see Pei Meng’s family when she was enduring such unfair treatment during her confinement month. "Since she's unwell, she should properly rest. I'll leave you be first."

When Pei Jing returned home, he didn’t take too long. The dishes on the table were still steaming.

During their meal, Pei Jing was somewhat distracted. As he listened to Little Aunt talk about Pei Meng, he realized why Zhao Xin acted guiltily before him.

He had wanted to talk to Zhao Xin properly the next day but Zhao Xin applied for leave instead.

When Pei Jing went to deliver food again during lunch, he found out Zhao's Mother had already left. Fortunately Zhao Xin didn’t do anything foolish and Pei Jing felt relieved.

As the weather grew hotter, the two kids slowly learned how to walk and talk.

In April of 73, Pei Meng got pregnant again.

When Little Aunt heard the news, she was shocked. "Little Yueyue is barely over a year old and just learned how to walk. And now you want another child? Can you handle it? What about your body..."

Zhao Yue was Pei Meng and Zhao Xin's daughter.

Normally, it is best to space out births by two to three years. This allows the body to recover properly. But Pei Meng lived close to Little Aunt and often ate nourishing food from her. So physically, she should be fine.

Over the past year, Little Aunt heard her complain frequently about the pains of childcare. Pei Meng even said that seeing Little Aunt handle two kids with such ease, she assumed it was effortless. Only when she had to do it all day herself did she realize the agony.

Little Aunt understood her plight since she had the advantage of her space and nanny robots. So she often comforted Pei Meng.

"Physically, I'm fine. I feel good normally too. I have to get pregnant again anyway and I'm anxious too. Little Yueyue is a girl. I must give birth to a son for her." Pei Meng didn't plan to have another child so soon. But during her last visit back, both her mother-in-law and mother urged her. So she was persuaded.

Pei Meng didn’t have any siblings. When she was young, she often saw how her uncle’s wife would flaunt arrogantly before her mom for having a son. So she developed a conviction that she must bear a son to avoid being bullied.

Now that she was already pregnant, all Little Aunt could do was tell her to take care of her health.

When Pei Jing learned of this matter, he remained very calm.

One look at their residential area showed that those who practiced contraception were rare. Basically, they just gave birth once pregnant. Some families had seven to eight kids.

As for raising them, they wouldn’t starve to death anyway.

Childcare was very crude at this time. Once the kids could walk on their own, the adults would go on with their own matters while the younger ones followed the older ones around. It was hard to find someone as attentive with childcare as Little Aunt.

Even if there were such people, it was only because they had too few kids so they doted on their only darling.

Fortunately, Little Aunt only fussed when the kids couldn't walk yet. Now, she rarely supervised them and even hoped for them to go out and play more.

This was because she discovered that Pei ChenYe had become a homebody. He wasn't keen to go out at all and just lay around reading comic books at home.

On the other hand, Pei Wanqing was a little wild child whom they couldn't call back home.

At times, Little Aunt wondered if her kids' genders got swapped. They weren't like this last year.

Just as she was thinking this, Pei Wanqing came back from outside. She was barefooted and still wearing her brother's clothes, looking like a muddy monkey. Her hair even had clumps of dried mud. Little Aunt instantly got a headache and glared at Pei Jing. "Go discipline your daughter! She's really beyond help."

Pei Jing was also very helpless. As he walked over to take a look, there was no clean spot on her that he could grab.

Just as he was about to ask what happened, Little Firecracker Pei ChenYe charged out from the room. "Pei Wanqing! Who allowed you to wear my clothes? Don't you have your own? "

Pei Wanqing was clearly somewhat guilty. "You can't wear them all anyway. What's wrong with me wearing them occasionally?"

"You still shouldn't randomly wear my clothes. Otherwise people might mistake you for me!" Pei ChenYe yelled angrily. "Look at how dirty you are. You're an eyesore. I don't want you ruining my reputation when you go out."

"Stinky brother! You despise me? Fine, I won't bother with you anymore."

"Don't bother then! I won't bother with you too."

The two kids snapped back and forth at each other, neither willing to back down. They'd get upset over the smallest disagreement and ignore one another.