Courtyard House: Starting as an engineer, crushing a yard full of poultry

Page 196

Lou Xiao'e, who still firmly believed that she was really pregnant, was extremely careful when going up and down stairs, for fear of hurting the baby in her womb.

"Doctor, doctor, the results are in! Please help me check if I'm pregnant. What does a negative result mean?"

...... ........ 0

More than half an hour later, Lou Xiao'e returned to the doctor with the test results, as if awaiting a verdict.

"A negative result means...you are not pregnant..."

The doctor took the test results, shook his head, and said...

"This...how is this possible? Did you see it wrong, or did someone take the wrong form?"

"I threw up a few days ago, and my mom said those symptoms meant I was pregnant!"

"Impossible, impossible! Investigate this thoroughly again!"

Upon hearing from the doctor that she was not pregnant, Lou Xiao'e became agitated and started shouting in the doctor's office.

"I understand how you feel. I can see that you're not young anymore and haven't had children yet, so you must really want one. But... according to the test results, you're not pregnant, and there's nothing we can do about it."

"The nausea and vomiting you mentioned a few days ago could be a gastrointestinal reaction caused by eating something unclean, which is very common. Nausea and vomiting does not necessarily mean you are pregnant."

"If you don't believe us, you can go to another hospital. Please don't delay other patients' appointments. Please leave now."

Chapter 266 The Inspection Results Are Out

The doctor was speechless at the shameless Lou Xiao'e in front of him. In order not to disrupt the normal work order of the hospital, he had no choice but to ask her to leave.

Lou Xiao'e stood up with a sullen face, looking at the rows of heavily pregnant women at the door, feeling extremely disappointed.

Holding the lab report in her hand, she pondered how to explain things to Xu Damao when she got home.

"Hey, where have you been all afternoon? The roads are so slippery outside, what if you slip and fall!"

As soon as Lou Xiao'e, who was in a daze, entered the house, she saw Xu Damao peeking out with his head tucked in, wearing an apron.

"You...didn't you go to work at '680' this afternoon? Why are you home at this hour?"

Lou Xiao'e was taken aback when she saw Xu Damao, then quickly crumpled the test report in her hand into a ball and stuffed it into her pocket. She hadn't figured out how to talk to Xu Damao yet.

"Now you need a work permit to enter the factory, otherwise they won't let you in. Anyway, it's not good to go there in the afternoon to register for work. I'll go to work officially tomorrow morning. I guess I can get the work permit tomorrow."

"Alright, you should rest your feet now. I'll go get you some hot sugar water!"

Xu Damao said with a big smile, then helped Lou Xiao'e sit down and turned back to the kitchen.

Lou Xiao'e, who already didn't know how to bring up the truth, became even more conflicted seeing Xu Damao like this.

"It's a little hot, drink it slowly with a spoon."

In less than a minute, Xu Damao came over again with the hot sugar water.

"What would you like to eat tonight? The stir-fried pork Mom made for lunch was too greasy. I'll try to make you something lighter with meat. My son can't just eat vegetables every day; he's not getting enough nutrition!"

Xu Damao squatted down next to Lou Xiao'e, talking to her while gently stroking her belly.

"Um...anything is fine with me, just make it..."

Lou Xiao'e awkwardly dodged away.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell again?"

"Oh, no... I guess I just react a little when I hear about food..."

"Okay, okay, I won't mention it anymore. You drink your sugar water slowly first, and I'll go to the kitchen to think about what to make to eat!"

Xu Damao is now so humble that he is practically invisible. He immediately avoids Lou Xiao'e when he sees her uncomfortable, for fear of upsetting her and the baby in her womb.

Watching Xu Damao's busy figure and his face, which seemed frozen in a silly grin, Lou Xiao'e was in a daze.

She recalled that in the many years since she married Xu Damao, the two of them had basically spent their time arguing and bickering. Xu Damao was constantly having affairs and didn't take her seriously at all.

Now that she has finally changed Xu Damao's attitude towards her because of the so-called child in her belly, she is afraid that this peaceful and beautiful life will not last long.

Lou Xiao'e put down the sugar water in her hand, leaned against the bedside and closed her eyes. She tried to imagine what would happen if Xu Damao found out.

Xu Damao, a man so eager for a son, would undoubtedly react with rage. Lou Xiao'e wasn't even sure if Xu Damao would harm her in his fury. A strained and broken marital relationship was a minor issue; divorce was not out of the question. Furthermore, Xu Damao would relentlessly pursue the dowry that Lou Shenggang had so happily taken, potentially causing major chaos in the Lou family if the marriage fell through. Most importantly, there was Lou Xiao'e's reputation. She would be the subject of gossip and slander in the courtyard, and people like Qin Huairu would certainly bully her without restraint…

Thinking of all this, Lou Xiao'e suddenly opened her eyes. She was terrified that such a scene would actually come true, so she decided to keep it from Xu Damao for the time being and take it one step at a time.

Just then, Qin Huairu, heavily pregnant, swayed past the window. Lou Xiao'e first rolled her eyes subconsciously, then a plan formed in her mind.

Qin Huairu's repeated pregnancies and births are undoubtedly related to her promiscuous personality. If I could learn from Qin Huairu's seductive charm and seduce Xu Damao, I might actually get pregnant during this time, and then everything would be much easier.

"Here it comes! I bought a fish head on my way home from get off work today, and I made you some fish soup. It's very nourishing!"

"I modified the stir-fried pork I had for lunch a bit more. Stir-frying it with garlic sprouts makes it a little lighter. I also added more garlic, which helps to cut through the greasiness of the pork."

Xu Damao brought the food to the table. If it weren't for their experience living together a few years ago, Lou Xiao'e would have believed that he was a good man who knew how to manage a household.

Don't you eat vegetables?

After Xu Damao served Lou Xiao'e the soup, he sat down alone with a steamed bun in his arms. Lou Xiao'e asked him, puzzled.

"Lou Sheng ate a lot of these dishes at noon, there's practically nothing left... It's okay, I don't mind, as long as I'm full, you can eat!"

Xu Damao laughed, saying that normally, if there was any meat in the house, he would hide it from Lou Xiao'e and then secretly eat it with his wine when she wasn't home. But now he was so noble, saving the best food for Lou Xiao'e.

Chapter 267 Large Chunks of Beef

Lou Xiao'e picked up her chopsticks and thought that Xu Damao hadn't done all this for her, but just to prevent the baby in her womb from suffering. She felt much better after that.

In order not to arouse Xu Damao's suspicion, Lou Xiao'e imitated her stomach discomfort from the past two days, pretending to be unwell while eating.

"Brother Dong, what did you buy with all these bags and packages? Are they heavy? Let me help you carry some!"

Li Xiangdong was seen carrying two large bags of things. He picked up Yu Li at the factory gate and they walked together towards the courtyard house.

"Didn't I promise to cook Western food for you yesterday? Since I'm free today, let me show off my skills!"

"I'd only ever heard people say that foreigners usually eat Western food, which seemed pretty fancy, but I'd never actually eaten it myself..."

"There's nothing fancy about it. Their cooking methods are simple, and their ingredients are relatively limited. It's not as rich and diverse as Chinese food. But it's nice to try it once in a while to change things up."

After saying that, the two returned home together. As usual, Yu Li tidied up the house, and Li Xiangdong began to demonstrate his culinary skills.

"It's steamed buns and porridge again. Now my face isn't oily at all when I wake up in the morning, and my stomach is so dry that there's not a drop of oil in it..."

Meanwhile, at Yan Bugui's house, Yan Jiecheng looked at the food on the table that hadn't changed in eight hundred days, and his pout was almost higher than his forehead.

"You don't know anything. You're not satisfied with being able to eat steamed buns every day. Look at the Rujia Hotel in Qinhuai. They cause trouble every day because they can't get enough to eat."

Yan Bugui slammed his hand on the table and said irritably that even this big white steamed bun was hard for him to swallow.

"This tastes like...beef!"

"Is my mom making stir-fried beef for me in the kitchen?!"

Yan Jiecheng twitched his nose hard, looking delighted.

"Why are you acting so strangely every day? Your mother just came in, there's no stir-fried beef here!"

As soon as Yan Jiecheng finished speaking, the third aunt came in carrying a bowl of porridge.

"It really smells like stir-fried beef! I want to go check it out!"

Yan Jiecheng threw the bowl on the table and ran straight into the yard. He kept sniffing the air, searching for the source of the fragrance.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing? Are you about to reveal your true form?"

Li Xiangdong came out to use the restroom and happened to see Yan Jiecheng peeking out of his window, sniffing the air. His shout startled Yan Jiecheng, who jumped back in fright.

"I...I just wanted to take a look..."

Yan Jiecheng stammered, but his eyes couldn't help but linger on the pan-fried steak inside the window.

"Look? Peeping through other people's windows is something only hooligans do. Should I call the supervisory team and have them teach you what you can and can't do?"

"No, no... I... I'm going home now..."

Yan Jiecheng was one of the few sensible people in the courtyard. He knew he couldn't afford to offend Li Xiangdong, so he didn't dare to argue with him and obediently went home.

Li Xiangdong didn't bother arguing with Yan Jiecheng, after all, he was planning to enjoy a candlelight dinner with Yu Li tonight.

"What's wrong with you? Is there a tiger chasing you? Why are you running so fast?"

Yan Jiecheng rushed home in a panic, only to trip over the door as soon as he entered. Looking at his good-for-nothing son, Yan Bugui was truly exasperated.

"That...that beef flavor...it's from Li Xiangdong's house!"

"So what if he does? It's not the first time Li Xiangdong has glared at us while eating good food in the yard. Besides, he's eating beef, not human flesh. Why are you so scared?"

Yan Bugui glared at his son, then threw the steamed bun in his hand aside. The whole yard smelled of beef, and he had no appetite for this piece of junk.

"The beef from Li Xiangdong's shop is not the kind we've ever seen before!"

"On a big iron plate was a yellow block of beef, which sizzled and dripped oil after melting. The beef was bigger than my face and as thick as my finger, and it was being fried back and forth on the plate!"

As Yan Jiecheng described it, he couldn't help but swallow hard.

"What? There are such big chunks of beef? What do you mean by 'juicy yellow chunks'? 680?"

If it weren't for the fear of provoking Li Xiangdong, Yan Bugui would definitely have gone to see for himself.

"The key question is... will that... will that thing even cook through? I heard it takes an hour to stew veal chunks, how much coal would that use? It's such a waste..."

The three older women who were chewing pickled vegetables next to them smacked their lips twice and asked.