Chapter 217: Mother Sheng Was Shocked
Mother Sheng sighed, her mind already racing with anxieties about her daughter’s upcoming delivery and postpartum recovery.
She knew how incredibly demanding Nurse Pan’s schedule was as a head nurse. When the time came, would her daughter-in-law’s mother even have the bandwidth to properly care for Wanyan during her birth and confinement? She had no idea what kind of arrangements the Gu family intended to make.
Either way, Mother Sheng resolved that if Gu Tingxiao’s mother couldn’t travel down to assist, she would pack her bags and do it herself. A woman absolutely had to be properly nurtured during her confinement period; otherwise, she would suffer from chronic health issues for the rest of her life.
“Mom, don’t worry. I have a strong constitution, and I’ll have safely cleared the first trimester by then,” Wanyan smiled re-assuringly, sensing her distress. “A train ride won’t be an issue.”
At most, the long journey would just be a little tedious. Knowing Gu Tingxiao’s protective personality, he would ensure she didn’t lift a finger or overexert herself.
“Alright. Just make sure to pack light. Your health is the only thing that matters,” Mother Sheng noted softly.
Sheng Wanyan nodded, feeling a deep wave of warmth and security clear through her mother’s fierce devotion.
“Go on then. Head back with Xiao Gu and get some rest.”
Wanyan gathered her gifts and provisions, walking back across the snow-dusted lane with her husband.
Once inside, Gu Tingxiao took the cured sausages and slabs of bacon, burying them deeply within the thick snow bank in the corner of the rear kitchen. Their outdoor cache was already overflowing with a substantial stockpile of meat, mostly comprised of the rich bacon and dried wild game Wanyan had preserved using her traditional techniques.
“Wanyan, come wash your feet,” Gu Tingxiao called out.
He marched into the bedroom carrying a wooden basin brimmed with steaming water, squatting down on the floor to gently massage her feet. He was terrified she might be plagued by the same agonizing midnight leg cramps that were currently torturing Pan Yue.
“Ah, stop, it tickles!” Wanyan giggled, instinctively trying to retract her feet from the water.
But Gu Tingxiao’s large, calloused hands clamped securely around her ankles, pulling them back down into the warmth. “I’ll be gentle, honey. Washing them thoroughly will help you sleep much warmer tonight.”
Wanyan forced herself to endure the ticklish sensation on her soles until he finished drying her skin, before scrambling beneath the quilts. Before long, she fell into a heavy sleep, curling her limbs around Gu Tingxiao like an octopus. He gently adjusted the thick quilt over her shoulders, sealing out the draft to ensure she didn’t catch a chill.
By the time Sheng Wanyan blinked her eyes open the next morning, Gu Tingxiao had already left for the morning drills. Sitting up, she looked over at her desk; she had finally completed the translation of her current manuscript volume.
All that was left was waiting for Gu Tingxiao to return and dispatch it to the post office. Ever since her pregnancy had been confirmed, she had effectively transitioned all external errands to her husband.
When Gu Tingxiao returned home for his lunch break, she handed him the finished pages along with a letter she had drafted to the Capital Newspaper. She explicitly requested that the editors pause sending any new foreign texts for the foreseeable future. Since she was traveling back to the capital for the Lunar New Year, there would be no one at the base to receive the mail or sign for the payment slips. She informed them she would personally stop by their main offices in the Capital to collect her fresh manuscripts and clear her royalties come March.
This arrangement would grant her a well-deserved few months of total rest. If she happened to grow bored lounging around the Gu estate, she could easily take a stroll down to the publishing headquarters to check on their inventory.
“The postal transport arrival is scheduled for tomorrow morning,” Gu Tingxiao said, reviewing the address. “I’ll personally drop it off for you.”
“Perfect. See if the latest payment slips and reference texts have arrived with the morning mail as well.”
Gu Tingxiao nodded, and true to his word, he returned the following afternoon carrying her latest earnings and a final text. Once she completed and dispatched this final piece, her schedule would be entirely clear, leaving them free to board the southbound trains for the holidays.
Wanyan slid the bank slip out of the envelope and checked the figure. This payout was slightly higher than her previous translation fees, totaling a grand twenty-seven hundred yuan.
Curious about her exact net worth, she decided to audit her savings. Combining Gu Tingxiao’s officer salary, her dowry funds, his family’s bride price, her previous black-market liquidations, and their share from the family division, her total capital reached a staggering 42,143 yuan.
Their actual daily household expenses were virtually non-existent, since she systematically extracted every necessity—from fresh grains to household goods—directly from her secret spatial dimension. She only utilized their state-allocated paper coupons whenever the expiration dates were looming.
Gu Tingxiao never queried her about the state of their household assets. He routinely surrendered his entire monthly salary packet directly to her the moment it cleared, content with a mere five yuan of monthly pocket money. His complete financial transparency proved he was an exceptional husband.
During the daylight hours, Wanyan focused on her translation work while resting on the kang. Before heading out for his shift each morning, Gu Tingxiao would meticulously hoist her small writing desk onto the platform, positioning it perfectly over the foot of the bed so she could work without straining her back.
Later that afternoon, Mother Sheng walked across the lane to call her daughter over for dinner. The moment she crossed the threshold and her eyes fell upon the luxurious, foreign-style sofa gracing the living room, her blood pressure spiked.
This absolute, spendthrift girl!
Mother Sheng took a deep, steadying breath to control her temper. Her daughter was pregnant; she couldn’t afford to lose her composure, let alone scold or discipline her.
Forcing a bright, pleasant smile onto her face, she walked into the bedroom to summon Wanyan. Finding her daughter hunched over the writing desk on the kang, her pen flying across the paper in intense focus, Mother Sheng blinked in confusion.
“What on earth are you doing?”
Mother Sheng peered over her shoulder at the dense pages. Wanyan made no attempt to conceal her work, smoothly explaining the nature of her translation contract with the capital newspaper.
As she listened, Mother Sheng’s mouth dropped open, and she stared at her daughter in absolute disbelief. She couldn’t help but feel that Wanyan had transformed into an entirely different person since her marriage. She was growing progressively more brilliant and accomplished by the day.
But as she tracked the thought, Mother Sheng recalled that Wanyan had always maintained flawless, top-tier academic marks throughout her childhood. The singular exception had been that dark period during her sophomore year of high school, when she had been utterly bewitched and manipulated by Sheng Xiuying’s toxic machinations.
Looking at how exceptionally outstanding her daughter was now, Mother Sheng silently cursed Sheng Xiuying a thousand times over in her heart. If that manipulative girl hadn’t actively sabotaged and derailed Wanyan’s intellectual development back then, her daughter would likely be recognized as a premier national academic talent by now.
Even after being derailed for years, Wanyan had managed to reclaim and weaponize her knowledge at twenty-one years old. If her potential hadn’t been suppressed during her youth, her trajectory would have been unimaginable.
Mother Sheng immediately resolved that the next time she crossed paths with Sheng Xiuying, she would deploy the most lethal, dripping sarcasm imaginable to humiliate her. How dare she attempt to ruin her daughter’s future? Fortunately, Wanyan had possessed the clarity to shatter the illusion and cut ties; otherwise, she would never be enjoying such an affluent, secure life today.
“You’re expected to translate five entire volumes this month?” Mother Sheng asked, her heart aching with maternal concern as her eyes drifted to the three heavy texts still stacked on the desk. “Isn’t that layout completely exhausting?”
“I’m managing fine, Mom,” Wanyan smiled. “The publishing house had a backlog of two volumes from before, and they’re facing a tight deadline to secure the technical data for this current batch. Once I clear this specific shipment, I intend to drastically scale back my output.”
“Good. That’s for the best.”
Mother Sheng hesitated for a moment, before curiosity finally got the better of her. She wondered exactly how much a desk-bound career like this could yield. After all, Wanyan had flatly rejected a stable factory position, surrendering the director vacancy to her father without a second thought.
“Exactly how much do they compensate you for a text like this?” Mother Sheng inquired gently. “Is it actually enough to cushion your daily household expenses?” She still privately wished her daughter held a traditional, institutional job, believing it would secure her higher respect within her husband’s family line.
“Mom, a single volume clears this number,” Wanyan said, extending two fingers.
She kept her phrasing deliberately ambiguous. Typically, translating a single highly complex reference text yielded around five hundred yuan. She simply wanted to prevent her parents from worrying over their lavish lifestyle, knowing traditional elders always panicked that an expensive household would earn the disdain of prominent in-laws.
“Twenty yuan?” Mother Sheng guessed, her eyes wide with surprise. If a single text cleared twenty yuan, translating five volumes meant a grand return of one hundred yuan a month! That figure eclipsed Sheng Wanze’s officer salary. Mother Sheng’s chest swelled with an instant wave of profound admiration for her daughter.
Wanyan let out a soft chuckle. “Oh, Mom, think a little higher.”
Mother Sheng’s eyes went completely wide. She stared at her daughter in absolute shock, a dark flush of excitement rushing to her cheeks as her voice involuntarily pitched higher. “Two… Two hundred yuan per book?!”
The moment Wanyan offered a firm nod, Mother Sheng instantly slapped her hands over her own mouth. Whipping her head around to scan the empty hallway, she scrambled across the room to shut the bedroom door tight, sealing out any potential eavesdroppers.
Only when the latch clicked home did she return to the edge of the kang, staring down at the reference text on the desk as if it were a literal chest of solid gold. Though she couldn’t read a single character of the foreign print, she understood the raw purchasing power of two hundred yuan perfectly.
A single book yielded two hundred, meaning a batch of five cleared a staggering one thousand yuan. She and Father Sheng had labored on the backbreaking factory floor for decades, destroying their health just to accumulate a lifetime family savings of roughly five thousand yuan. Yet, her daughter required mere months to generate a sum that took her parents a lifetime to secure.
“This… this text truly commands two hundred yuan?” she whispered, her voice trembling.
“Yes, Mom. It’s the standard rate for specialized engineering data.”
Securing Wanyan’s definitive confirmation sent a violent jolt of pure ecstasy through Mother Sheng’s chest.
Who on earth dared to claim that raising a daughter was a wasted investment?!
Her daughter’s earning power completely outstripped her son’s. What man in their entire residential compound could boast capabilities that matched Wanyan’s brilliance? Not a single one—not even her own son!
In the past, Mother Sheng had naturally harbored a slight, traditional bias toward her son, though she had never mistreated Wanyan. It was simply the product of deep-rooted, systemic generational ideas that automatically favored male heirs. But looking at her daughter now, those old concepts were entirely obliterated, replaced by a fierce, soaring pride.
