LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 33: Having a Baby!
Father Ji and Mother Ji began to work on the barren mountain while everyone in the village were wagging their tongues, especially since a lot of people wanted to fight for the opportunity to work for them. However, they were politely rejected and became silently offended, so a lot of them made sarcastic remarks about them.
This was called too much money to burn and the rich being up to no good. Why were they throwing money at such a place?
But in any case, the matter of hiring people to do the work on the mountain was settled.
The ground was a little hard because it had not completely melted. The six men took two days longer than expected and worked for a total of six days. All the delivered fruit trees were planted.
Father Ji was supposed to help, but Su Danhong didn't agree to it. She let him be the supervisor so that he didn’t have to do the work himself. After all, he had experience and could give instructions on how to plant everything.
Mother Ji also had a task. She was responsible for cooking. She made steamed buns1 and two plates of braised meat2. Even Ji Jianguo and Ji Jianye ate with satisfaction.
Everyone's life was easier during this time, but very few people could eat meat every day. It was considered wonderful if they could eat two or three dishes with meat in a week.
What’s more, the young men in the four villages had just separated from their families and were very pressed for money. That’s why they worked hard to eat the four big steamed buns with stewed meat for every meal.
Although the amount of food the hired workers ate was not small, they worked hard. In Mother Ji’s opinion, that was more important.
The trees sent by Lao Qin were planted in six days, which was still pretty quick. However, more than half of the mountain was left. There was nothing Su Danhong could do about it. She was going to see if she could grow the trees first. If she was successful, then it would not be difficult to plant more later.When the trees were planted, Su Danhong went to look for the two workers who were diligent. One was called Ji Hongjun, who was related to the Ji family, but his relation to them was a bit far away. The other was called Xu Aidang.
Ji Hongjun was the younger one. He was only 23 this year. He and his wife were separated from the family as soon as they got married the year before last. Last year, they gave birth to a son, and their daily livelihood depended on the land they were allocated. They were very short of money, but he was very willing to work and was not lazy at all.
Father Ji praised him as a good one.
The other person was called Xu Aidang. He was 28 this year and relatively older. Yet, he was like Ji Hongjun in that he just got married the year before last, and he separated from his family as soon as he got married.
It was still winter when the separation happened. It was a pity that the couple received nothing during the separation except for some bowls and chopsticks.
They did not receive anything else, not even a wall to keep the wind out.
Nevertheless, an uncle of the Xu family could not bear it and allowed the couple to live in his cowshed. The rest of the village sent some items to the couple one after another, and they began to slowly live through their days.
They had already built a small house to live in right now.
Mother Ji told Su Danhong all of these things.
But Xu Aidang also worked very hard, and Father Ji also said he was good.
So when Su Danhong was preparing the payment, she gave the money to Ji Jianguo and the others, but not to Ji Hongjun and Xu Aidang yet.
“These saplings are planted, but they still need to be watered and fertilized. This requires two men to do it. Will you take the job?” Su Danhong asked.
“Yes! Sister-in-law, I am willing to take it!” Ji Hongjun quickly said as his eyes lit up.
“Yes,” Xu Aidang said after being dumbfounded.
“Even though there are a lot of fruit trees and this work is not light, it is a long-term job. It will be for at least half a year, so the salary will not be too high. Ten yuan a month and it does not include food. After working on the saplings on the mountain, you can do your own family work the rest of the day,” Su Danhong explained.
The two men agreed without any hesitation.
Ten yuan a month was a lot! There were a lot of fruit trees on the mountain, but if they worked hard, then they could do other work when they finish the work with the trees!
“Today is the 20th. Starting from today, you will water the trees every day, fertilize when it is time to apply fertilizer, and the wages will be paid on the 20th of the next month,” Su Danhong continued.
They had no objections and went to carry water to the trees.
As soon as Mother Ji heard that Su Danhong had hired people to water the trees for a salary of ten yuan a month, she was so distressed. She repeatedly said that she could do the atering, so they were not needed at all, and the money didn't need to be spent.
Su Danhong smiled and said, “Mother, it's only 20 yuan a month. It's not expensive at all. I can earn more than 100 yuan a month.”
Mother Ji said, “Mother knows you can make money, but you shouldn’t spend money like this. Your father and I can still do it.”
“By the way, mother, I don’t know where to get fertilizer, so I’ll leave it to you and father. If you find a place with fertilizer, let Ji Hongjun and Xu Aidang pick it up. You and father can go and have a look around when you’re free,” Su Danhong said.
That's what Su Danhong said, but she would go to the mountain by herself in the evening and sprinkle each tree with spiritual spring water.
She didn’t know if she could grow these trees well, but she needed to avoid people to sprinkle some of the beneficial spiritual spring water.
Father Ji and Mother Ji also valued the fruit saplings on the mountain. The fertilizer they found was farm manure. They helped Ji Hongjun and Xu Aidang transport the fertilizer up the mountain for a few trips.
“Old man, if these fruit trees can grow, won't we have to put a fence around this mountain?” As Ji Hongjun and Xu Aidang were spreading the fertilizer, Mother Ji asked Father Ji this question.
The surrounding places around the mountain didn’t have an orchard. If this orchard became a success, then wasn’t there a possibility of being robbed?
Father Ji nodded. “When the saplings have grown, I’ll take a look around the town.”
For some reason, Father Ji also felt that the trees would grow this time. If the saplings grew well, then they really had to consider creating a fence around the mountain.
When that time came, he would go up the mountain and set up a tent to help guard the orchard.
The village was only so big. Every day at dawn, Ji Hongjun and Xu Aidang would carry buckets filled with water up the mountain and water the trees for everyone to see. Mother Ji would also keep the farm manure and plant ashes on her own land, and would frequently send some up the mountain.
These villagers saw it all with their own eyes, but they didn't pay too much attention to it. A few years ago, the old couple from the Lao Ji family struggled so hard, even harder than this because they were doing it all by themselves. Now, they have hired people to help with the work. How was that practical?
But no matter what outsiders said, Father Ji and Mother Ji did what they wanted to do, and so did Su Danhong.
Today, while Su Danhong was working on some embroidery, she realized that her period for this month should have already arrived, but it did not yet.
At first she didn't take it seriously, but it still did not come a few days later. She was slightly surprised and took her own pulse. She showed a blank look for a moment, and then she was delighted.
She knew that this baby would come sooner or later. She and Ji Jianyun were both healthy, so how could they not have a baby?
She thought it would be another year or two, but she didn't expect Ji Jianyun to be right. This baby came so fast!
She examined her pulse. It had been a month and she didn’t have any morning sickness symptoms. No wonder she didn’t think she was pregnant when she realized her period was late.
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