1990s: Spring Water Family

Chapter 281 Da Bao Can Say "Mama" Now

"Grandma has said everything she needed to say."

Grandma looked at her with loving eyes: "From now on, it's up to you."

"no."

Lin Xiyu hugged her arm and said coquettishly, "Grandma, don't leave. Stay here. With your guidance, I won't go astray."

"A distant fragrance lingers, a close proximity reveals a foul odor."

Grandma knew perfectly well: "If Grandma stays here for too long and keeps nagging you, you'll get annoyed."

"No way."

Lin Xiyu instinctively denied it.

"Alright, alright, the banquet is about to begin, let's go out too."

Grandma didn't give her a chance to keep pestering her; she opened the door and went out herself.

-

"I'm late, so I'll punish myself with three drinks."

My cousin was a little late picking up the cake.

The cake was custom-made, with five layers, and on top sat a smiling birthday celebrant and an oversized peach.

"Leilei is here."

"This cake is delicious!"

"scene!"

"Of course, it doesn't matter who bought it. I ordered it a week in advance, and I designed the patterns myself."

My cousin is a lively person, and the atmosphere instantly became lively as soon as she arrived.

"Everyone's here, let's begin."

"Kids, stop playing and eat."

The adults chatted and laughed as they sat down at the table, and the babies each sat in a high chair, happily joining in the fun.

"My dear in-law, come and sit here."

Grandma smiled and waved to Grandma Gu, inviting her to sit in the main seat.

Grandma Gu smiled and declined, saying, "Today is my older sister's birthday. You are the birthday girl, so you should sit in the main seat."

"Let's not argue about it."

Grandma insisted that she sit down: "You are the host, and we are the guests. Xiaobin and Xiyu are filial and invited our whole family to be our guests. We are already very grateful."

"Isn't this what they should be doing?"

Grandma Gu said matter-of-factly, "You are an elder, so they should be filial to you."

"This seat is yours; it wouldn't be right for you not to sit here."

"Normally I wouldn't be so fussy; I'll sit if you tell me to. But today's different. It's your birthday, and it wouldn't be right for me to sit in the head seat."

The two elders continued to decline, and the younger generation remained silent, treating it as a bit of fun.

"It's my treat today, so listen to me."

In the end, Gu Bin couldn't stand it anymore and made a decision for the two elders: "Grandma, please don't be so polite. It's your birthday today, so please take the seat of honor. Next time it's our old lady's birthday, we'll invite you all over, and we'll celebrate her birthday together."

"Come, you must come."

My uncle chuckled and said, "Just because you two are so filial, we have to give you face. Our whole family is coming."

"You just want to freeload, don't you?"

His aunt teased him with a smile, "Don't make it sound so nice."

"Hahaha."

The whole family was amused by Auntie's rare humor and laughed heartily.

"whee."

Da Bao joined in the commotion, grabbing a small spoon with his little hands and banging it hard on the small bowl in front of him.

The small porcelain bowl wasn't tapped lightly; after only a few taps, it cracked with a snap.

"Oh my goodness, my little darling."

Grandma Gu laughed in exasperation. Fearing that her precious little one might get hurt by the broken porcelain, she didn't hesitate any longer and quickly went over to pick him up.

"Don't let them sit on chairs, each of them should hold one, keep an eye on them."

Grandma also directed everyone to remove the chairs.

"I'll hug you, I'll hug you."

My older cousin reacted the fastest, grabbing Xixi first and taking her away.

Gu Bin glanced at her speechlessly. He was about to hug Lele when his mother-in-law intercepted him.

Chen Xiulan picked up Lele, calling her her precious darling, her face beaming with joy.

Lele is quite close to her maternal grandmother and lets her hold her without showing any resistance.

Gu Bin awkwardly withdrew his hand and looked at An An again.

An'an looked at him for a second, then stretched out her little arms, wanting her mother to hug her.

Lin Xiyu was delighted and picked up her son.

Gu Bin: "."

-

"Xiaobin, don't worry about the kids today."

My aunt's husband found it amusing and seized the opportunity to call him over: "Come, come over here, let's men sit together and have a few drinks."

"It's been a long time since I've had a drink with Xiaobin."

The uncle also joined in the fun with a smile: "Since Liu Jian isn't here, my brother-in-law and I will express our gratitude to you and Xiyu on your behalf."

"I can't drink alcohol; I have to go to the newly opened training center this afternoon."

Gu Bin didn't want to drink with them at all, and was about to decline when his uncle forcefully dragged him over.

"Don't just focus on drinking yourself!"

My cousin laughed and teased, "Don't forget who's the birthday boy/girl!"

"Come on, everyone, let's raise our glasses and toast the birthday celebrant!"

My uncle reacted very quickly, immediately followed by a shout and raising his glass.

"Happy birthday!"

Under his leadership, the whole family joined in wishing him a happy birthday.

“good good”

Grandma was in a great mood and couldn't stop smiling.

-

"Xi Yu"

When her aunt heard about the training course, she became interested and, during a break in the meal, leaned close to Lin Xiyu and asked, "Does your newly opened training course need any more people? Could I find a job there?"

"Are you physically capable?"

Lin Xiyu was greatly surprised: "Isn't working tiring? It would be so much better to stay at home and rest."

"Staying at home all the time isn't a good thing."

My aunt chuckled self-deprecatingly, "I'm just a busybody, I can't stand being idle."

"You've only had surgery for a short time!"

Lin Xiyu hesitated, saying, "With a major surgery like this to remove your uterus, it would take at least two or three years to fully recover."

"It won't take that long."

The aunt tried to explain: "The doctor also said that chemotherapy is very effective. As long as you continue to take the medicine, you will be fine if there is no recurrence after five years."

"I think you should rest and recover a bit more."

Lin Xiyu didn't dare to make a decision on her own, and subconsciously glanced in the direction where her uncle was sitting.

The uncle was drinking with Gu Bin and didn't notice what was happening here.

"You don't need to see your uncle."

Her aunt blocked her view with her hand: "I can make this decision myself, there's no need to ask him."

"Your uncle works at a renovation company, he must make a lot of money, right?"

Lin Xiyu gave an awkward laugh and tried to change the subject to cover up her embarrassment.

The subconscious message is that he can support the family on his own, so his aunt doesn't need to go out and work so hard anymore.

"He's not exactly a key employee, how much money could he possibly make?"

Her aunt could easily understand what she meant, and sighed with a hint of helplessness: "If it weren't for the fact that Leilei is her own uncle and didn't mistreat him by letting him be in charge of sourcing materials, so that he could earn a little extra money, he would only make about five thousand yuan a month."

Five thousand is not a small amount!
Lin Xiyu was about to say that she only made five thousand yuan a month by running her own training class, but when she thought about how she and her husband had to raise their child and support Nana's education, she swallowed the words that were about to come out.

"I know I'm not good at teaching, so going to a training course wouldn't be of much use."

My aunt looked guilty: "If you could just arrange a job for me as a doorman or cleaner, earning a thousand yuan or so a month, I'd be satisfied." "How can that be?"

Lin Xiyu became slightly agitated: "You're my own aunt, how can I let you clean the house?"

"I don't do cleaning, and I don't know how to do anything else."

The aunt looked dejected: "Looking back now, I really regret it. If I had studied more when I was in school and had a stable job, I wouldn't be worrying about money at this age."

"alright."

Lin Xiyu couldn't bear to watch, and after thinking for a moment, she agreed: "I'll remember this. I'll tell you when I have accurate information."

"sorry to bother you."

The aunt was extremely grateful.

"What trouble are you talking about?"

Lin Xiyu spoke eloquently: "With the opening of a new store, it's the perfect time to hire people. It doesn't matter who you put in charge. Rather than letting outsiders benefit, we'd rather use our own people. Wu Meng and I have discussed it, and from now on, we'll only hire female employees. Your coming to work here is within the reasonable scope of recruitment and won't cause any controversy."

"You only hire women?"

Her aunt's eyes lit up, her curiosity piqued by her words.

"Yes."

Before she could ask further, Lin Xiyu said, "As women, we naturally have to take care of our fellow women."

"It's so great that you're doing this."

My aunt said with deep feeling, "It's really too hard for women to find a job. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been unable to find a stable job after being laid off. I didn't earn much money working in a phone booth before. At least I made some money selling clothes in the small commodity market. But this illness has wiped out all the savings I had."

"Ugh."

Lin Xiyu felt a pang of sadness and let out a deep sigh.

"I'm not going to talk to you anymore, Gu Bin is looking for you."

When Gu Bin suddenly turned around and glanced at the two of them, his aunt subconsciously pushed Lin Xiyu with her hand.

Lin Xiyu looked in the direction of the sound and saw Gu Bin raise his wine glass and wave it at her.

"Are you kidding me? I can't drink alcohol."

"It's not for you to drink, it's our turn to toast Grandma."

The couple exchanged a glance and both understood each other's deeper meaning.

"Babies, time to go toast!"

Lin Xiyu picked up her wine glass, picked up An'an, and stood up.

Gu Bin seized the opportunity to snatch his daughter back from the child's aunt. With the child as his support, he, as the father, would no longer be forced to drink alcohol.

"Hey, you!"

My cousin wasn't paying attention, and Xixi was snatched away.

The aunt was very unhappy and gave her brother-in-law a very unfriendly look.

Gu Bin ignored her, carrying his daughter around half the table, and picked up Lele as well, carrying one in each arm. His posture was quite eye-catching.

"Hey, he's really getting into it."

My cousin felt even more jealous. She was about to say something sarcastic to him when her own mother glared at her and stopped her.

"If you like children, why don't you have your own? Why are you competing with others for them?"

The aunt also had many complaints about her daughter.

All the children of her relatives and friends have gotten married when they reached the appropriate age, but her family is left with a 33-year-old spinster who can't get married, which makes her, as the mother, feel ashamed.

Even if I wanted to have a child

My cousin muttered indignantly, "It takes one person to be able to give birth to it."

The aunt was even more indignant: "Can't you find a suitable person to marry?"

"If the God of Love doesn't favor me, there's nothing I can do. I can't just take a red thread and tie it to my own foot, can I?"

My cousin answered smoothly, but seeing that my aunt was still glaring at her with dissatisfaction, she had a sudden idea and started to act silly again.

She jumped up from her chair, clasped her hands together, and bowed deeply to the birthday man on the cake: "Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits, gods and bodhisattvas, please grant me a handsome man."

There was a moment of silence at the banquet as the whole family stared at her in disbelief.

"You can do it yourself."

The aunt laughed in exasperation, speechless at her nonsensical behavior.

"Stop pressuring her."

My uncle-in-law came to his senses and laughed, "Look how you've driven your daughter, she's almost become a charlatan."

"Hahaha."

The whole family was amused by the uncle's humorous tone and couldn't stop laughing.

-

"Yeah."

At the other end of the table, Da Bao saw his father holding one of his younger sisters in each arm and, with great envy, broke free from Grandma Gu's embrace and reached out his hand to his mother.

"Pingping wants her mom to hold her too, doesn't she?"

Lin Xiyu looked troubled but couldn't bear to refuse her son. She glared resentfully at the instigator.

It's all the child's father's fault; he suddenly pulled this stunt.

The two sons and two daughters are quite different in weight, especially the older one, who is as strong as a calf. He is so heavy that it makes my arms ache and go numb just holding one of them, let alone holding both of them together.

"Ouch, numb, numb."

When Da Bao saw that her mother didn't want to hold her, she kept babbling in a panic. The last two words sounded quite like a homonym for "mother".

"Oh dear, look how anxious Pingping is, she can even talk now."

Grandma Gu found it amusing, picked up her great-grandson, and gave him a big kiss on his cheek.

"Ma, ma"

Pingping felt encouraged and called for her mother even more enthusiastically.

He couldn't pronounce it properly, he just uttered each word one by one, the first word was drawn out longer, the second was a little shorter, which sounded particularly soft and cute.

"Pingping can really say 'mama' now?"

"Baby, say it again?"

"Call mom."

The whole family laughed and competed to tease him.

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy."

Da Bao got excited too, calling "Mama, Mama" nonstop.

"Oh, my good son."

Lin Xiyu felt as if she had been struck by an electric current, a tingling and numb sensation that had a unique flavor.

"Mummy, Mummy"

Da Bao was even happier to receive his mother's response and excitedly reached out his hand to her again.

This time, Lin Xiyu didn't hesitate. She took a few quick steps and picked up her son.

"whee."

Da Bao was overjoyed, pushed past his younger brother, and snatched a hug from his mother.

With her two sons weighing heavily on her arms, Lin Xiyu had no time to pay attention to her eldest son's mischievous thoughts. Before long, she couldn't hold on any longer and looked to Gu Bin for help.

Gu Bin returned her a helpless look.

It wasn't that he didn't want to help her, it was just that the little one was too difficult to handle, and even if he wanted to hold her, An'an might not be willing.

He stopped shamelessly competing with his wife for her affections.

Lin Xiyu: "."

-

"An'an, come here, let Great-Grandma hold you."

In the crucial moment, it was the maternal grandmother who proved to be the most reliable, taking the initiative to help her granddaughter out of the predicament.

An'an was much more well-behaved than his brother. He glanced at his mother, then at his great-grandmother, and stretched out his little arm toward her.

"Good boy."

Grandma took An'an and hugged her tightly, calling her her precious darling.

"Babies, let's toast Great-Grandma."

As the head of the family, Gu Bin finally felt a sense of purpose, leading his four children to toast the birthday celebrant. He was incredibly proud of himself.

"Grandma."

Lin Xiyu showed her support enthusiastically, raising her glass and saying, "On behalf of the babies, I wish you good health, longevity, and that you grow younger every year."

“good good”

Grandma was beaming with joy.

(End of this chapter)