Chapter 9: Zhang Xiaohua is Pregnant

As for Yan Bugui, once Zhang Ping'an and the others left, he snuck over and managed to mooch a good ten pounds of fish.

"Heh, another day of a full haul. There really are experts among these three brats; they can find the fish schools every single time. Looks like I'll have to learn a trick or two from them in the future."

Besides the 230,000 that Zhang Ping'an sold, the other two also sold about 100,000 each. Added to the 150,000 from the morning, Damao's little treasury was already nearing 500,000.

Returning to the Siheyuan, he ran into Yan Bugui again.

"Old fogey, picked up some more scraps, have you?"

"Ahem, Damao, I am a teacher after all, and I teach you Chinese."

"What? Since when?"

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow I start my position at your school."

"Damn, bad luck." Damao muttered this under his breath; he didn't dare talk back to a teacher.

"Teacher Yan, look at what you're saying. Next time I go fishing, I'll definitely call you." Damao knew how to bend and stretch, though whether he'd actually call him was another matter.

"Hahaha, Damao, that's the spirit. I'll be paying special attention to you from now on." Yan Bugui truly meant nothing else by this, but to a student, it sounded like the wails of hell.

"Don't, please. Just treat me like an ordinary student; no need for special attention."

"Hahaha." Zhang Ping'an couldn't help but laugh; these two clowns were completely on different wavelengths.

"Uncle, the sweet potato is delicious." Yushui and Xiaoling, two little kittens with dirty faces, popped out from somewhere.

"Hahaha, Xiaoling, how did you get such a flowery face?" Xu Damao looked on with schadenfreude.

"Damao, guess if your dad will beat you when he sees Xiaoling like this?"

"Gack!" Xu Damao's laughter stopped abruptly as he recalled the terror of being dominated by Xu Fugui.

"Come on, come on, Xiaoling, Brother will take you to wash your face."

"Yushui, let's go wash up too."

"Okay, Uncle," Yushui said, her mouth still full as she gnawed on the sweet potato.

Zhang Ping'an fetched a basin of water and gave Yushui a proper wash once she finished her sweet potato. Damao also came over with the half-clean Xiaoling.

"Damao, do you even know how to wash a face? Xiaoling, come here, Uncle will wash you again."

"Oh, okay."

"Hehe, Uncle Zhang, I usually just give mine a messy scrub in the morning before going to school. Sometimes I don't even wash it."

"Alright, alright, no need for the details." Zhang Ping'an hurriedly interrupted. He could imagine Damao's slovenly appearance in the morning with eye boogers, and he looked at him with disgust.

In the evening, He Daqing and Zhuzi brought back two big dishes.

"Brother, we've got solid dishes tonight, let's have a drink."

"Good, it just so happens Ping'an sent a bottle of good liquor, let's drink it tonight."

"Done."

"What's wrong with Zhuzi?" Zhang Ping'an saw Shazhu following behind with a dejected look.

"Ping'an, don't mind him, let's eat."

"Oh, okay. Brother He, you go ahead and drink with my brother-in-law, I'll go out and see."

"Go on, Daqing, let's drink."

"Done."

"Zhuzi, tell me, what's the matter?"

"My 150,000 was taken by my dad."

"Is that it? Didn't you earn quite a bit from fishing too? Isn't that enough for you to spend?"

"It's enough, but Xu Damao earned more than me."

"......"

"Ahem, you could also tell his dad."

"Uncle Zhang, you really are wicked."

"Hey, damn."

"But I like it, hehe." Zhuzi's sadness was swept away, and he gave a lewd laugh.

"I didn't say anything."

"Understood, I understand everything."

Zhang Ping'an suspected that Shazhu's big mouth would sell him out sooner or later, so he quickly slipped away. Zhuzi stayed at the door, looking like he was waiting for Xu Fugui to come over so he could snitch.

Sure enough, not long after, Zhang Ping'an, hiding in his room, saw Shazhu greeting Xu Fugui with a smile.

"Ahem, Uncle Xu, I earned 150,000 today with Damao, plus two rabbits and five pounds of Wild Boar Meat."

"Really?"

"Really, really. You can go home and see for yourself."

"Done, I'll go back and check."

"Hehe, good."

Zhang Ping'an listened for a long time in the Middle Courtyard but heard no commotion from the Back Courtyard. He figured Xu Fugui didn't care for that 100,000 or 200,000. Shazhu returned home with a look of disappointment as well.

But who would have thought that the next morning, Damao would be looking at Shazhu with fury? It turned out that while he was sleeping, his dad had emptied his little treasury.

"Damn, that's ruthless." It had to be Comrade Old Xu, doing big things without a sound.

"So, Damao, this time your brother was in the wrong. How about this, I'll do your homework for a week."

"Forget it, your grades are worse than mine."

"You... then what do you want?"

"Two steamed buns every day for a week."

"That's impossible, one at most."

"Fine, one it is."

"Damn, why is my mouth so loose? No, that's not right, yes, sob sob sob."

"Zhuzi, Damao, you two are early today. Come on, since we ran into each other, I'll treat you to steamed buns." Zhang Ping'an stepped out in time to cover Shazhu's big mouth.

"Hehe, deal."

"Sob sob sob." Shazhu was also nodding desperately, so Zhang Ping'an let him go.

"Let's go."

"Phew~ I guess that meal was enough to plug Shazhu's mouth. If he says anything next time we meet, it won't be my business anymore."

What yesterday's Zhang Ping'an did, what does that have to do with me today?

A month later, Zhang Ping'an had already saved over ten million, and the livestock for his space were all gathered; he was just missing a donkey.

That day, Jia Youwei brought a few fish back to the Siheyuan again. While Zhang Xiaohua was cleaning the fish, she felt a wave of nausea, retching.

"What's wrong, San Jie?"

"I don't know, I just felt nauseous for no reason."

"San Jie, could it be that you're pregnant?"

"Go on, go on, what would a child know?"

But deep down, she started to wonder; it seemed she really hadn't had her period this month. She would go to the Hospital to check later.

"Ping'an, you handle this fish, I'm going out to take care of something."

"Oh, alright." Zhang Ping'an knew his San Jie was likely going to see a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor to have her pulse checked.

Zhang Ping'an had finished making lunch by the time Zhang Xiaohua returned. Seeing the look of joy on her face, Zhang Ping'an knew it was confirmed.

"How did it go, San Jie?"

"Ahem, let's eat first, we'll talk when your brother-in-law gets back."

"Deal."

That afternoon, Zhang Xiaohua wasn't in the mood to sew shoe soles; she sat by her house and would occasionally laugh out loud.

"Sister-in-law, you seem to have some happy news."

"Uh, what did you say?"

"I said..."

"San Jie, my clothes have a hole in them, could you help me mend them?"

"Oh, alright. Xiaocui, let's talk later, I'm going to go mend clothes for Ping'an."

"Alright."

Zhang Ping'an had interrupted on purpose. If Zhang Xiaohua were chatting with someone else, he wouldn't care, but with Yi Zhonghai's wife, saying it out loud would only make her more embarrassed.

"Ping'an, have you grown taller again? I see your ankles are showing from your pants."

"Oh, maybe. You've seen how much I eat, it's normal to grow."

"That's true, our father was tall, you definitely won't be short in the future."

"That's for sure."

In the evening, Lao Jia came home from work, and Zhang Xiaohua could no longer contain her joy.

"Lao Jia, I'm pregnant."

"Oh, what? Really?"

"Yes, I went to see Divine Doctor Wang in the neighboring courtyard, and my period didn't come this month either."

"Good, good, good."

Lao Jia paced around the room in excitement. What he wanted most was for his Jia Family to have many descendants, but Zhang Xiaohua hadn't had any more children since giving birth to Jia Dongxu. They had even gone to get checked specifically for that, but neither of them had any problems.

He had already given up in his heart, but surprises always came so suddenly.

"Xiaohua, let's go to the Hospital tomorrow to check again."

"Fine." Zhang Xiaohua was also afraid it might be a false alarm, so she decided to just go to the Hospital to confirm it.

"Alright, I'll go ask Lao Yi to give me time off tomorrow."

"Lao Jia, don't tell anyone about this yet."

"Alright, I know."