Back To The 80s-Chapter 240 - 250: Morning Sickness (An extra 400 monthly votes)_1
Gu Xiaobei saw the embarrassed look on Ding Guihua’s face, realizing she must be feeling uncomfortable. He didn’t say much, but just smiled, bid his farewell, and went home with Qin Li and Jiujiu.
On the fifth day of the New Year, Lu Zhanguo and his team received orders to maintain stability in X Province. Gu Xiaobei’s mood sank instantly. She understood this was not the time to be petulant. With teary eyes, she packed Lu Zhanguo’s luggage, adding all the warm clothes, aware that X Province was even colder than here, the snow during winter could block the doors.
Lu Zhanguo looked at Gu Xiaobei, whose mood was visibly low, his heart aching. Sighing, he pulled the busy Gu Xiaobei onto his lap, "Alright, stop packing. Is there anything you want to say?"
Gu Xiaobei pouted, her eyes red, and asked, "Will it be dangerous for you guys this time?"
Lu Zhanguo kissed her pouting lips and said, "The danger is very small." He tried to reassure her with the truth.
"Then be careful, take good care of yourself, don’t get hurt. Remember, you’re going to be a father soon. If you don’t take care of yourself, be careful that I let our son call someone else dad," warned Gu Xiaobei, her words becoming more and more nonsensical as she rambled on.
"How dare you! You have to behave at home too, eat on time, no skipping meals. If I come back and see you’ve lost weight, watch how I deal with you." Lu Zhanguo’s tone was stern, but there was a hint of pampering in it.
Gu Xiaobei pouted but said nothing, feeling distressed. She realized that after becoming pregnant, she had become more and more emotional.
Seeing Gu Xiaobei in this state, Lu Zhanguo helplessly held her face, planting kisses all over. "Alright, stay home obediently. We’ll be back very soon."
Gu Xiaobei nodded, but couldn’t hold back her tears which flowed down.
Lu Zhanguo patted her head, "Alright, I need to go now. If something happens, you can ask Fengmei for help."
"Yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be better soon." Gu Xiaobei knew she couldn’t let Lu Zhanguo depart worried about her, as it might distract him during his mission.
After Lu Zhanguo left, Gu Xiaobei felt like her bones had been drained, she lay down on the bed, feeling a sudden drop in the temperature of the house.
Lost in her thoughts, Gu Xiaobei drifted off to sleep and by the time she woke up, it was already evening.
She stoked the stove, made some porridge and heated up a couple of steamed buns. After eating, with nothing much else to do, she took out the manuscript, planning to translate as much as she could.
But after only writing a few characters, she felt an unbearable heaviness in her stomach that prevented her from writing any further.
She put down her pen, thinking maybe if she moved around, she would feel better. However, barely taking two steps, her stomach began to churn. Not able to hold it in, she clung to the metal trash can, vomiting so much that her throat stung with the heat.
After vomiting, she felt a little bit better, rinsed her mouth with some boiled water. Gu Xiaobei suddenly felt piteous, although she didn’t know why, but she couldn’t stop her tears from falling. Sitting by the stove, she cried for a while, then wiped her tears, put on her cotton jacket, and went to wash the trash can.
For the next two days, Gu Xiaobei vomited everything she ate until her stomach was empty and spasmed with pain. She stopped vomiting when she didn’t eat, but hunger drove her to eat, which then led to vomiting again. This exhausting cycle caused Gu Xiaobei to lose weight quickly.
When Li Fengmei came for a visit and saw Gu Xiaobei, she was shocked, "What happened to you? How come your face looks so pale when it has only been three days since I last saw you?"
With a bitter expression, Gu Xiaobei said pitifully, "I don’t know why, but I vomit everything I eat."
Li Fengmei assessed and said, "You seem to have morning sickness, some people suffer from it until they give birth, some only experience it for a month during the third or fourth month of pregnancy, and some have no reaction at all."
Gu Xiaobei frowned, "Is there any way to treat it?"
"No, the only way is to eat several small meals throughout the day. Otherwise, you won’t be getting enough nutrients."
Feeling helpless, Gu Xiaobei couldn’t understand why the baby that had been behaving so well had suddenly started stirring up trouble.
Morning sickness lasted for almost a month. Every day Gu Xiaobei would eat something, vomit it out, rinse her mouth and try to eat a few bites of dry steamed buns.
Steamed buns and porridge were always kept warm on the stove, and whenever her stomach felt slightly better, she would hastily eat a few bites. Sometimes, while eating, she would glance at her cold empty house, which made her tear up. After crying, she would wipe away her tears and try to eat again for the sake of the baby in her belly.
This period of morning sickness left Gu Xiaobei gaunt and her plump baby-faced cheeks became hollow.
Her belly, on the other hand, had grown the size of half a basketball.
After the second day of the second lunar month, the willow trees in the mainland had begun to sprout, while the ice and snow in the northwest were slowly starting to melt.
Gu Xiaobei calculated the days, Lu Zhanguo had been gone for almost a month, and she seemed to be vomiting less these past few days. But a new symptom appeared. She felt stifled if she stayed inside too long, having to stroll around the yard every day to feel better.
Li Fengmei would also drop by occasionally with some food, her heart aching as she saw Gu Xiaobei getting thinner by the day.
It was time for Dadong and Xiaodong to go back to school, but Chen Gang hadn’t showed up yet. Gu Xiaobei found it strange as he hadn’t come over for New Year’s either and it was unlikely he would forget about that custom.
Dadong came back and told her that Chen Gang hadn’t been attending school either. Gu Xiaobei was a little worried, but her current physical condition prevented her from leaving the house to make enquiries. She could only fret at home.
It wasn’t until mid-March that Chen Gang, looking worn out and with a white cloth strapped around his waist, arrived.
Standing at the entrance of Gu Xiaobei’s house, he refused to step inside, "Auntie, I just came to tell you that I can go to school tomorrow."
Gu Xiaobei nodded, "Then come inside and tell me about it, it’s cold outside."
Chen Gang shook his head, "Auntie, my mom is gone. As per tradition, I cannot enter your house as I’m in mourning, lest I offend your unborn child."
Gu Xiaobei guessed a bit of the situation from the white band around his waist. She said with a hint of heartache, "When did this happen? Why didn’t you let me know?"
With a reddened eye, Chen Gang croaked, "It happened in the first lunar month. We had someone look at it, said it was some evil disease, and she managed to hold on until the second day of the second lunar month."
Gu Xiaobei sighed quietly. Whatever evil disease it was, she suspected it was likely to be cancer or something like that. Village people were reluctant to seek medical attention, curing small illnesses on their own and resorting to prayer for serious illnesses, thus missing the crucial treatment period.
Seeing that Chen Gang insisted on not entering the house, Gu Xiaobei gave him ten yuan, "Your mother’s gone, and I didn’t go to her funeral. This is for you." After saying that, she took out another five yuan and handed it to Chen Gang, "This is your school fee for this semester."
With tearful eyes, Chen Gang took the money. He had no means to support his own education and had to rely on Gu Xiaobei.
After his mother’s death, Li Xianglan proposed a division of property. The house and land belonged to her, and Chen Gang was left penniless.
The village chief and the clan leader were not willing to see this happen. They had been unkind to Jiujiu because she was not Chen’s child, but Chen Gang was, and they could not ignore him.
Only then did Li Xianglan reluctantly agree to take care of Chen Gang until he turned sixteen, but refused to be involved in his future marriage.
Li Xianglan’s idea of taking care of him was to let him sleep in the house and feed him, nothing more.
