1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 314 Liang Ziqiang Becomes a Father
It was time for dinner when we got home. Today's lunch was quite rich, not because we bought a new boat, but because it was Chen Xiangbei's birthday.

At the dinner table, Liang's mother was picking up food and wishing Chen Xiangbei a happy birthday. Liang Ziqiang felt that he had said all the birthday wishes he could to his mother, leaving him at a loss for words.

After lunch, Liang Ziqiang carried a bucket of water and a shrimp fry net with particularly fine mesh and went to the shrimp pond in the east of the village.

Liang's father and Liang Tiancheng did not go out to sea today, and they went to the east of the village together.

According to the normal cycle, it takes more than 40 days from the time the parent shrimps start to carry eggs to the time the eggs mature and leave the mother's body.

It has been almost 40 days since Liang Ziqiang first discovered the eggs. He speculated that it was close to the date when the shrimp fry would be produced, so every time he went to the shrimp pond in recent days, he would bring the shrimp fry net with him.

This time, when I was about to feed Artemia into the broodstock pond, I squatted down and took a closer look, and suddenly found some extra things in the pond.

They are dotted like sesame seeds, or more accurately, like fleas floating in the water.

The water in the shrimp pond has always been well controlled, so there is no possibility of water fleas. These so-called fleas should be tiny shrimp fry!

"It looks like shrimp fry have appeared!" Liang Ziqiang shouted loudly to his father, and immediately scooped up a net with a fine mesh net.

I scooped it up and took a closer look, and sure enough, it was a small shrimp that had just fallen off from its mother!

Shrimp fry are also divided into several stages. The first stage is when they have just fallen off. They are extremely fine and small, and they don’t even have mouthparts. They are a bit like fleas.

"It's true, the shrimp fry are finally out!" Liang's father also became excited and took out a fine-mesh net from the bucket.

Liang Ziqiang placed his fine-mesh net at the drain outlet of the shrimp pond. After it was securely placed, he began to open the sluice gate at the drainage location.

It is impossible to pick the shrimp fry from the pond little by little. A more realistic way is to drain the shrimp fry out in large quantities along with the pond water, and then filter them with a fine-mesh net at the drain outlet to intercept the shrimp fry in the net.

At this time, as the pond water continued to be discharged, the first conventional shrimp net at the sluice gate first blocked all the parent shrimps in the shrimp pond, preventing them from being discharged with the water.

However, conventional nets cannot stop the shrimp fry, so all the shrimp fry are discharged outward with the flow of water until they are stopped by the second interception tool - the fine mesh net.

The shrimp pond was replaced with new water, and all the shrimp fry in the original water were caught in the fine-mesh net.

Liang Ziqiang turned around and put all the shrimp fry in the net into several acres of shrimp pond.

After the shrimp fry fall out, they cannot continue to stay with the parent shrimps, because if they stay there for too long, they will most likely be eaten by the big shrimps as floating food.

They must be transferred from the broodstock pond to the shrimp pond, and from now on, they will begin to transform and grow until they become adult shrimps.

The shrimp fry cannot eat in the first two days, so Liang Ziqiang did not release Artemia into the shrimp pond for the time being.

After I finished my work, my father and elder brother had also transferred the shrimp fry to their respective shrimp ponds.

On the way home from the east of the village, the father and his two sons were in a good mood.

"I didn't spend a penny, but I actually hatched shrimp fry! It seems that shrimp farming is the right step, and it should be able to make money!" The eldest brother Liang Tiancheng kept talking happily all the way.

"That's definitely the right way. For you, raising shrimps is better than going out to sea!" Liang's father still didn't forget to blame Liang Tiancheng for his poor skills in going out to sea.

When they reached the intersection, Liang Tiancheng went straight back to his rented house, while Liang's father and Liang Ziqiang continued walking towards Juzipo.

Liang Ziqiang decided to tell Chen Xiangbei about the sprouting when he got home so that she could be happy too.

It is no exaggeration to say that the successful germination of shrimps is half way to success in shrimp farming!

When he walked to the front of the house and saw that his wife was not in the open space, he knew that she must be in the house.

Walking towards his inner room, he shouted with a happy face:
"The seedlings have sprouted! Xiangbei, the seedlings have finally sprouted today!"

As soon as he opened the door, he saw two pairs of eyes looking at him as if he were a monster.

The daughter-in-law was half lying on the bed. Unexpectedly, her mother was also in the inner room, sitting beside the bed, with her hand on Chen Xiangbei's abdomen.

"What do you mean by sprouting? Do you think it means giving birth to piglets? My wife is about to give birth, but you said it means sprouting. You are in your twenties, don't provoke me to beat you!"

Liang's mother had an angry look on her face, and she was looking around for a big broom.

Liang Ziqiang was about to explain a few more words, but suddenly he came to his senses. What did his mother just say, that she was about to give birth?
Now he was very anxious. His calves were shaking and he rushed into the house as if he was staggering. He even tripped over a stool and almost fell.

According to the doctor's prediction, the due date is around the 30th of this month to early July. So he originally planned to send her to the obstetrics department of the county hospital the day after tomorrow to wait for delivery. The hospital beds are tight now, and it is useless to go too early because there will be no bed.

But now she is still in the village and she is suddenly told that she is about to give birth. How can he not panic?
To be honest, he was quite unsure about the village people delivering the baby.

But his mother pulled him back and said strangely:

"If you want to fall, then fall somewhere else, and don't hit my belly!"

Liang Ziqiang, who was despised by his own mother, stood firm and asked his wife anxiously:

"Xiangbei, how do you feel? Can you bear it for a while? I'll take you to the hospital right away!"

As a result, Chen Xiangbei pulled his hand instead:
"Be calm, don't act rashly! How can it be as urgent as you say? I just suddenly felt the urge to pee this afternoon, and I couldn't hold it back for a while..."

Chen Xiangbei was a little embarrassed. She glanced at her mother-in-law and continued, "Then my mother saw me like this and said that this was a sign that I was about to give birth, but it shouldn't be that soon. I don't feel anything else!"

"It won't take too long. The urge to pee will appear in about a day, and then the baby will be born!" Liang's mother concluded with experience.

Liang Ziqiang heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this. Urgency to urinate is indeed a sign, but it has not yet reached the point of obvious abdominal pain, which means there is still enough time, and it should be in time to go to the hospital.

"What about your stomach? Is there anything different from yesterday?" Liang Ziqiang asked again.

The wife looked at him and shook her head: "It's a little swollen, but it doesn't hurt!"

Liang Ziqiang felt that it was certain and there was still plenty of time to fight for.

He turned around and wanted to call his mother, asking her to pack up their things and rush to the hospital together.

There was no one behind him, but his mother was already in the outer room, picking up a washbasin, a face towel, and other things, and turned around and said to him:
"Don't just sit there. If you need to go to the hospital, think about what you need to bring now while there's still time. Pack it up and take it with you. Don't forget to bring this or that when you get to the hospital!"

Liang Ziqiang quickly opened the wardrobe and picked out clothes for himself and his wife to change into, as well as some necessary supplies.

When Liang's father saw his wife's movements in the main room, he also asked:

"Is Xiao Chen about to give birth? What a coincidence, her birthday is today and the baby is coming on the same day!"

Liang's mother said angrily, "Who told you that the baby was born today? It will be tomorrow at least. Don't worry about it. Remember to collect the dried fish and clothes in the house. I will accompany Aqiang and his wife to the hospital!"

Liang Ziqiang had almost finished cleaning up the house, so he immediately supported Chen Xiangbei and slowly walked out of the house.

The lotus-patterned boat was parked at the seaside. In fact, the distance from home to the seaside was not particularly far, but because I tried to slow down my pace, the time I spent on the road was twice as long as usual.

Liang's mother also boarded the boat. Liang Ziqiang put his wife in the cabin and then started the boat as steadily as possible, rushing to the county hospital...

Arriving at the hospital, Chen Xiangbei seemed quite relaxed at first. After sitting in the hospital for a while, Liang Ziqiang saw her holding her stomach and began to cry out in pain.

The obstetrician and gynecologist was the middle-aged woman who had treated Chen Xiangbei several times before. She asked her to have her blood type tested and then took her into the room for another examination.

When he came out, the doctor looked calm and said to them:
"It's still early for you. It will probably be tomorrow. I've arranged beds for you. Go lie down on the bed and rest. I'll check on you every once in a while."

"Will the pain last until tomorrow? I already feel like something is twisting in my stomach..." Chen Xiangbei felt pain and nervous, and subconsciously held his hand tighter.

Liang Ziqiang actually wanted to say that this was just the beginning. According to the experience of having his first child in his previous life, the pain would be even worse later on, and it was simply not comparable to the pain at the beginning.

Of course I didn't say this to avoid making her more nervous. I just comforted her and helped her to the bed.

Liang's mother was also talking to Chen Xiangbei, which distracted her attention to some extent. Fortunately, the pain subsided after a short while, and when it got dark, Chen Xiangbei gradually fell asleep.

Liang Ziqiang and his mother fell asleep on the bed. Liang Ziqiang didn't know how much time had passed in his sleep, but he was awakened by a groan. When he opened his eyes, he found that his wife was tightly pursing her lips and tears were coming out of her eyes.

"Wife, how are you? Is it in pain?" Liang Ziqiang suddenly lost his sleepiness and asked quickly.

"It hurts so much, Aqiang, will I…"

"No way! Don't think too much. I'll go call the nurse right away!" Liang Ziqiang interrupted her before she said that unlucky word, stood up and ran to call the nurse.

After the nurse examined her again, she still said that it was not time for her to give birth yet and she had to endure the pain for the time being.

But Chen Xiangbei was in so much pain that she couldn't lie down or sit still, so Liang Ziqiang had to support her as she fidgeted and took a few steps from time to time.

At this time, walking around properly can be helpful and relieve the pain a little.

The pain came and went throughout the night. At the beginning, the contractions came every two or three hours, but later they came every hour or half an hour.

When the morning light shone through the window, a new day had arrived. Liang Ziqiang hurried to a restaurant near the hospital and bought eggs, steamed buns, and porridge with lean meat.

I almost finished a bowl of lean meat porridge, and tried to eat some buns and boiled eggs.

Not long after finishing breakfast, a more severe pain than before came over her. Then, Chen Xiangbei showed signs of her amniotic fluid rupture and was sent to the delivery room by several nurses.

Liang Ziqiang was just outside the delivery room, neither standing nor sitting, as if all his wife's previous conditions had been transmitted to him.

He either walked back and forth or stopped to stare unconsciously at the slogans on the walls on both sides of the corridor in the dim light.

Although his wife had a relatively smooth birth in the previous life after experiencing labor pains, he was not sure what would happen in this life. After all, everything had changed, and his wife even gave birth earlier.

His heart was hanging until his wife and baby came out of the delivery room safely.

Although Liang's mother had seen this a lot, she could still see that she was a little nervous.

But just because she was nervous didn't mean she could tolerate seeing others looking so panicked!

"Just sit down somewhere. Is there a needle on the stool that's going to prick your butt? Stop swaying around here. I was fine, but you're making me nervous!"

Liang Ziqiang had no choice but to find a narrow and hard wooden bench nearby to sit down, took a deep breath, and tried to calm himself down.

Take a deep breath into your mouth, then open your mouth and exhale, right at this moment.

A few loud cries of "waaaa" came through the door of the delivery room.

This gave Liang Ziqiang the illusion for a second, as if the crying sound came from his own suddenly opened mouth.

"It's born! Your wife has finally given birth!"

Liang's mother's reaction at this time was even quicker than that of the young man Liang Ziqiang. She jumped up from the stool in a second, looked towards the delivery room, and waited for the door to open.

After a while, there was a squeak.

The half-worn wooden door with the red words "No entry, keep quiet" was finally opened from the inside.

There were also beds with pulleys in this era, but they were narrow and very old, and most of the paint on the bed frame had peeled off, revealing the polished black iron pipes.

Chen Xiangbei was pushed out while lying on an iron bed. It seemed that she had used all her strength to look up at him, and she looked extremely weak when she forced a smile at him and her mother-in-law.

The baby came out in the arms of a nurse, who turned her face towards him:
"Congratulations, it's a boy, weighing 6.2 jin!"

Liang Ziqiang's eyes had long been glued to the little ball in her hand. The little guy had a lot of hair, which was quite stylish, but his whole body was red, and his skin was more wrinkled than that of an eighty-year-old man.

It was ugly in a strange way, but it was also familiar. In an instant, the scene overlapped with the firstborn boy in the previous life.

The boy in his memory looked exactly like the one in front of him. There was no difference at all! He couldn't help but feel like he had switched back to his previous life.

But this is not surprising. Not to mention that they are born from the same parents, even if they are two unrelated babies, they will actually look the same when they are born, with no big difference.

He subconsciously stretched his hands towards the nurse's arms, wanting to take the ugly purple old man and hold him himself. But the nurse stared at him directly:
"What are you standing there for? Go get your clothes!"

The baby had been given the simplest wash in the delivery room, and the first thing to do was obviously to find him some covering clothes.

Although he looks like a small ball, he still has to save face!

After dressing him, Liang Ziqiang took out the diaper he had brought from home, and his mother quickly helped him wrap the baby in it.

As soon as the baby was wrapped, Liang's mother rushed to hold the child and enjoyed herself to the fullest.

After holding him, she put him on the bed and let him lie down with his mother. The little guy stopped crying and fell asleep in the blink of an eye.

Chen Xiangbei breathed a sigh of relief, looked at the small lump of flesh that had fallen from her body, and said, "How ugly! How could it be so ugly?" But at the same time, she raised her hand to touch it and couldn't stop.

There was still a thermos in the bucket that Liang Ziqiang brought from home. He now went to get a bottle of warm water that was not too hot, and made a cup of brown sugar water in the ceramic cup he had just bought for her last time.

The three major supplements for mothers after childbirth these days are longan tea, brown sugar water, and malted milk. Longan tea replenishes qi after childbirth, brown sugar water regulates after childbirth, and malted milk supplements nutrition.

But in fact, longan tea is considered inappropriate for promoting blood circulation by later generations; malted milk is too sweet and will also affect milk production.

Only brown sugar water is suitable for drinking after delivery, but in fact it is only good to drink it for the first two days.

Chen Xiangbei had only finished half of a cup of brown sugar water when she heard loud crying on the bed.

Hearing her son crying so urgently, she had no appetite to drink the remaining brown sugar water. She hurriedly tried to hold him and comfort him, but her movements were even more clumsy than Liang Ziqiang's.

After coaxing her several times, she still didn't get the point. Liang's mother kept reminding her, "She's hungry and crying for milk!"

"Ah?!" Chen Xiangbei didn't make any move to breastfeed for a long time. Instead, he looked around embarrassedly, his handsome face even redder than when he had just been pinched.

There were several other beds in the room, with other women who had just given birth lying on them. Their family members, both men and women, were walking around the room.

Liang Ziqiang knew that she was in an awkward situation. She was so shy at home, so how could she be willing to breastfeed in such an occasion?
Fortunately, when I looked up, I saw an iron wire above the bed, and a thin cloth curtain close to the wall.

Although it's very simple, it's pretty good to have this.

After pulling the old curtain over her, she could finally breastfeed in peace.

My son's crying almost stopped abruptly...

After feeding, I opened the curtain again, and soon, my wife and son fell asleep. My wife had been in pain all night and didn't sleep much, and she was really too tired.

In the morning, sunlight was shining into the room through the wooden windows painted dark red, and shining forward inch by inch.

Shining on the lime walls, the peeling interior walls are so old;
It shines on the iron wire and the curtain, but does not reflect a single ray of light.

Everything in this room is old.

Then the sunlight continued to move forward, pouring towards the bed, and a ray of light climbed onto the peaceful faces of the mother and son.

At that moment, Liang Ziqiang suddenly saw his vision completely changed.

The walls are new, the bed is new, and even the toddling sun outside the window is as fresh as if it had just been born...

(End of this chapter)