Back To The 80s

Li Fengmei hesitated a bit, "Sister-in-law, are you sure about this?"

Gu Xiaobei nodded, "It’s settled." Thus, in the ensuing days, the unfortunate student Lu Xiaopang was constantly engaged in efforts to rectify his name.

Li Fengmei gently hugged Xiaopang and asked, "What about his formal name? We have to find a pleasant name for our daughter."

Gu Xiaobei chuckled so hard that her stomach pain came back. She panted before she responded, "The formal name, will be discussed at home."

Just like that, the mother chose the nicknames for both of their children.

Gu Xiaobei’s wound healed quickly as well. She was able to get up and move around after just three days. After a week, she was able to sit up and breastfeed the babies.

The process of starting lactation was emotionally exhausting, as the pain was comparable to that of giving birth. However, once that process was complete, she was able to feed both of her children sufficiently.

After a week’s stay at the hospital, they were ready to leave once her sutures were removed.

During these seven days, Li Fengmei and Lu Zhanguo took turns staying at the hospital. Lu Zhanguo took care of looking after Gu Xiaobei’s diet and hygiene, while Li Fengmei took care of the two children.

After all, both Lu Zhanguo and Gu Xiaobei were novices at childbirth. Plus, with Gu Xiaobei having just undergone surgery, it was definitely not easy for her to manage two kids.

Zhang Lijun drove over to relieve them on the day of discharge. Looking at the two adorable little buns, he couldn’t help but congratulate Gu Xiaobei, "You are truly blessed, Squad Leader. Now you have two kids, one boy, and one girl."

While adjusting Gu Xiaobei’s scarf, Li Fengmei smiled and responded, "I knew my sister-in-law was a lucky person! Sure enough, both of her kids turned out perfectly."

Amused, Gu Xiaobei initially didn’t want to wear the scarf. It was so hot outside in July. But Li Fengmei insisted she wear it, stressing how susceptible she was to falling ill during postpartum recovery since her body was wide open to the elements.

Lu Zhanguo held his daughter. Thanks to the last couple of days’ practice, he had gone from being completely clumsy to handling her with ease.

With Li Fengmei holding Mo Wang, Zhang Lijun carrying their stuff, and Gu Xiaobei all bundled up, they all hopped into the car together and headed back to the residential area.

Lu Zhanguo took the back seat with his daughter and Gu Xiaobei, allowing Gu Xiaobei to lean on him, while Li Fengmei and Mo Wang sat in the front.

As they arrived at the residential area, a group of army wives, including Ge Chunling and Wang Ping, were already waiting for them outside the apartment building.

As soon as Lu Zhanguo, carrying his child and Gu Xiaobei, got out of the car, they were quickly surrounded by everyone.

Ge Chunling happily commented, "The babies are so adorable. It makes us all green with envy."

After examining the babies, Wang Ping couldn’t help but ask, "Which one is the boy and which one is the girl?"

"They both look so alike; they’re both absolutely beautiful."

"Their eyes are filled with such charm; they surely inherited that from their mother." Everyone chimed in with their praises.

Halting a laugh, Gu Xiaobei knew they were just flattering her. How could a newborn’s eyes be sparkling, especially when they could hardly focus yet? They were clearly spinning a tale, but as a new mother, Gu Xiaobei was more than pleased to hear such "white lies".

Holding Mo Wang, Li Fengmei tried to put an end to the chatter, "Alright, my sister-in-law here is still convalescing and can’t be out for too long. Once her recovery period is over, you’ll get plenty of time to dote on the babies." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The wives, realising this, quickly advised Gu Xiaobei to go back to her room and rest, all while continuing to compliment how lucky she was.

Qu Yan watched everything from her window, her face contorted in a twisted sense of jealousy, her eyes seething with envy.

Only after lying down on her own bed did Gu Xiaobei realise how brilliant her past decision had been. Their double bed was big enough for all four of them.

Gu Xiaobei lay in the middle, placing one child on either side of her. She noticed that Xiaopang always made a fuss before eating.

Mo Wang, on the other hand, only made noise when he had soiled his diaper. He patiently waited on the sidelines for his sister to finish feeding before his own turn came.

For this reason, Gu Xiaobei developed a slight fondness for Mo Wang. But Lu Zhanguo was more inclined towards their daughter, always holding her whenever he had spare time.

Every time Li Fengmei saw them constantly clutching their babies without letting go, she would advise, "This could spoil the children. Despite being just a few days old, they are smart. Once they get used to being held all the time, they’ll cry the moment you put them down."

Hearing this, the couple quickly put their babies down. Mo Wang turned his tiny head and kept quiet, while Xiaopang started crying as soon as she was put down.

Seeing his daughter crying, Lu Zhanguo quickly picked her up. The moment he did, Xiaopang stopped crying.

Chuckling, Li Fengmei commented, "I told you, this little girl is sharp."

Li Fengmei then made a porridge dish for Xiaobei – millet porridge with five poached eggs in it and a large spoonful of red sugar added. She handed Gu Xiaobei the bowl. "From now on, eat this every day. It’s nutritious and helps with lactation."

Gu Xiaobei stared at the bowl with a look of mild horror. She had been eating plain white porridge, buns, and drank red sugar water in the hospital for the past few days.

However, hearing Li Fengmei mention that this could help with lactation, Gu Xiaobei swallowed hard and forced it down.

Lu Zhanguo was watching with their daughter in his arms, looking at Gu Xiaobei’s expression of discomfort, and asked Li Fengmei, "What else can she eat?"

Li Fengmei thought for a while, "Chicken soup made from old hens and pig’s feet soup are both good. Just remember to add only a little bit of salt."

After giving her instructions, Li Fengmei left for her own home, leaving the family of four to rest.

Lying in bed staring at the two small beings next to her, Gu Xiaobei suddenly worried, "We need to quickly hire a nanny. When you’re not at home, I won’t be able to handle the children by myself."

Lu Zhanguo, who was lying on the bed while teasing his son and touching his daughter’s hand, said, "I think we should first invite Aunt Wang over. It would be difficult to find a suitable person at the moment."

Gu Xiaobei nodded. With everything that happened with Jiujiu, they were a bit more cautious about hiring someone this time.

Before Lu Zhanguo could go pick up Aunt Wang the next day, Zhuang Shuxian and Jiujiu arrived.

Zhuang Shuxian exclaimed delightfully, "I thought Jiujiu could spend her summer vacation here for a few days. I didn’t expect you’d already given birth." She stroked the faces of the two children fondly.

"That’s fantastic, you are truly blessed. Both boy and girl at once." Zhuang Shuxian felt that touching the babies weren’t enough and took Mo Wang from Gu Xiaobei.

Jiujiu was equally excited and couldn’t resist touching Mo Wang’s tiny hand.

Gu Xiaobei lay there in silence, grinning at the scene before her while Xiaopang, resting by her side, began crying out of jealousy.

Lu Zhanguo was busy preparing the chicken he had killed earlier in the kitchen. Hearing his daughter’s cries, he hurriedly washed his hands, dried them sloppily and ran in. He efficiently checked whether Xiaopang had soiled her diaper or not. Realising it wasn’t the case, he hastily picked her up and started comforting her.

Zhuang Shuxian, with Mo Wang in her arms, looked concerned. "Don’t you have anyone to look after you during your postnatal convalescence? Once Zhanguo goes back to work, you’ll even struggle to get meals."

Gu Xiaobei nodded before saying, "Yes, we plan to invite a friend’s mother over to help us out."

Zhuang Shuxian laughed and said, "No need to trouble her. Now that Jiujiu has her summer vacation, we’ll both stay over and help you in your recovery. Anyway, I had something I needed to ask you about, but wasn’t sure if you would agree."