Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 53 - 49: It’s a Boy

Chapter 53: Chapter 49: It’s a Boy

At 6:25, sister, holding her child and carrying various bags, arrived on the motorbike of her brother-in-law’s apprentice, Yang Daming.

Han Yu had known Yang Daming for a long time. He greeted him and quickly took his little nephew into his arms.

As soon as Han Ning got off the vehicle, he asked anxiously, "How is your sister-in-law? Has the child been born yet?"

"Not yet, Dr. Zhang said it will take a bit longer."

"What time did she start feeling the pain?"

"..."

Han Yu, who neither understood these matters nor dared to ask, found himself at a loss for words.

Mrs. Ji came forward to help carry the stuff and glanced back at the western room, saying helplessly, "The pain started at 1:30 PM, but it wasn’t this severe initially."

"She’s been in pain for five hours now, she’s suffering greatly." Han Ning, who has had children herself, empathized deeply with her sister-in-law’s agony.

Mrs. Ji was very distressed for her daughter, but felt that childbirth was an inescapable part of being a woman, whispered, "Everyone has to go through this, it’s impossible to only get married without having children."

A car came in the afternoon, and now a motorcycle has arrived; nobody will dare to mock her daughter’s marriage now.

Old Ji was truly delighted, shouting towards the western room, "Xiao Hong, Han Ning is here! She came by motorcycle and brought many things."

With his son being helped by his brother, Han Ning didn’t want to wait outside, walked to the well, drew a bucket of water, and while washing hands instructed, "Dongdong, mommy is going to see your big aunt, you stay here with uncle, be obedient."

Xiao Dongdong, who already liked his little uncle, now liked him even more since Han Yu had become a police officer, clung to Han Yu’s neck and obediently said, "Okay."

Old Ji, learning from the afternoon’s incident when Xu Sanye came without cigarettes, went to the store next to the brigade to buy two packs of Red Plum and offered one to the newly arrived Yang Daming, "Master, how long did it take to come from Binjiang?"

"One hour."

"The motorcycle is fast!"

Old Ji looked at his motorcycle with envy, wanting to ask how much a bike like that would cost.

If it’s not too expensive, he might buy one for his son in the future. Having a motorcycle at home would make finding a bride easier.

Yang Daming, unaware of his thoughts, looked up and said, "Master’s wife, I must leave now."

"Alright, drive safely."

"Don’t worry, I won’t speed."

"It’s already dark, why not eat dinner before leaving," Old Ji quickly tried to retain him.

With work tomorrow, Yang Daming was in a hurry to return and declined the kind offer, smoked his cigarette, put on his helmet, greeted Han Yu, and rode off on his motorcycle.

Although Han Ning only finished elementary school, she had worked at the Sailor Club for several years and seen the world.

Knowing that entering the western room in such a dusty condition could be bad for the woman in labor and the baby, she picked up her bag and first went to change into clean clothes in the eastern room of the Ji Family.

Han Yu, holding his little nephew, asked at the doorway, "Sister, where’s your husband?"

"He’s on duty today and couldn’t get leave, so I had to come first."

"You even brought spare clothes."

"I swapped shifts with someone for three days and also informed the boss; I’ll go back in a few days after helping out here."

She was so busy at work yet managed to swap shifts to help out here for three days before returning, where could you find such a sister...

Mrs. Ji felt moved again, her daughter had made the right choice marrying Han Shen. Though the Han family lived on a boat, the Han Family People were much nicer to deal with than those neighbors from the brigade.

Old Ji then hurried to the brigade store to buy candies, as Dongdong was a child from a big city and must be treated well.

In the western room, Dr. Zhang, who had been watching for hours, was already exhausted.

As a barefoot doctor who had assisted in countless births, she deeply understood the need for family love and encouragement for the woman in labor; thus, she was pleased to let Han Ning come in and help.

"Xiao Hong, just hang on a bit longer, it will be alright once the child is born."

"Hmm...."

"Look how much pain you’re in, let me wipe your sweat."

"Sister..."

"Don’t talk, just push."

...

Han Yu was outside soothing his little nephew, when he suddenly noticed the child fumbling on his body.

"Dongdong, what are you doing?"

"Little Uncle, where’s your gun?"

"What gun?"

"You’re a police uncle, and all police uncles have guns!"

The little guy was born and raised in Binjiang, couldn’t speak the local dialect, only Mandarin, and looked up with wide eyes filled with admiration and anticipation.

Xu Sanye had a gun, and so did the instructor.

Old Zhang could have had a gun too but found it too troublesome and didn’t collect it from the bureau.

Public security police at Bailong Port Police Station all had guns, as did the onboard police on ships.

Thinking it over, as a public security police officer, he certainly should have a gun.

Han Yu subconsciously felt his empty waist and casually answered, "I carry a gun when I’m on duty, no need when I’m off duty."

The little guy thought about it, then asked while tilting his head up, "Little Uncle, why aren’t you wearing your police uncle’s uniform, where’s your large-brimmed hat?"

"I wear my uniform when I’m on duty, there’s no need when I’m off duty."

"Why do others wear it?"

"Others are others, I am me. Tell little uncle what did your teacher teach today?"

Other police uncles wore their uniforms and had guns.

His little uncle had neither, leaving the little guy utterly disappointed.

Han Yu felt a headache coming on, not knowing how to console him, when suddenly a baby’s crying echoed from the western room.

Han Yu got excited, hugged the little one and ran to the window, "Is it born?"

"It’s born, your sister-in-law is amazing, it’s a boy!"

"That’s great."

Han Yu had barely finished speaking when Dr. Zhang called out from inside: "Suxiang, Suxiang!"

"Coming, what is it?"

"Hurry up and grab the steelyard scale. I want to weigh your grandson."

"Okay, right away!"

Mrs. Ji regained her senses and hastily went to find the scale.

Old Ji, who had just returned from a small trading team, confirmed that his daughter had given birth to a big chubby boy, his face splitting with a wide smile. He handed a pack of fruit candies to Xiao Dongdong and hurried to the kitchen to boil eggs.

The reason he hadn’t boiled them in the afternoon was his worry about possibly having a girl.

Now that each family is only allowed one child, it wouldn’t be good not to give out sugar porridge and red eggs, but doing so might invite ridicule.

Now that a boy was born, not only must they hurriedly make sugar porridge and boil eggs, but also make extra!

After about twenty minutes, Dr. Zhang brought the baby out.

Tiny and purple-faced but very cute, especially its little hands.

Right as Han Yu carefully took the baby, he heard a pfft sound.

With Mrs. Ji’s help, when he unwrapped the baby’s swaddling clothes, he was surprised to find such a tiny baby had made a big, very stinky poop.

The chubby legs kicked wildly, making a mess everywhere.

Han Yu hadn’t expected his nephew to deliver such a big ’gift’ right after birth, holding up his poop-stained hand and saying: "Dongdong, didn’t you want to hold your little brother? Come on."

"It stinks to death, I won’t hold him."

His little nephew covered his nose and stayed far away, eliciting laughter from everyone.

After cleaning up the baby with warm water and changing him into clean nappy liners and swaddling clothes, just when they had finished tidying up, he started crying again.

Dr. Zhang said the baby was hungry and his aunt had just given birth and had no milk. Luckily, her sister thought ahead and brought two packs of milk powder and a baby bottle from Binjiang.

After mixing some with warm water, he indeed clutched the nipple and sucked eagerly.

His aunt was too tired, she looked after the baby for a while and then dozed off.

Dr. Zhang left some instructions, ate a few bites of food, and went home.

While her sister stayed home to watch over her sister-in-law and the baby, Han Yu took his little nephew together with Mrs. Ji carrying a heavy basket, going house-to-house in the brigade distributing sugar porridge and red eggs until late at nine o’clock.

Secretary Zhang came over to ask if they wanted to stay at his place for the night. Han Yu didn’t want to trouble anyone and declined their kind offer.

After sending Secretary Zhang off, Mr. Ji talked about official matters.

"The child cannot be without a name, Han Ning, did your father leave any instructions on what to name the child when he was born?"

"None, how about we choose a nickname for now, and wait for Han Shen to return to discuss the formal name?"

"Wait for his return? When will that be? Secretary Zhang just said that now it’s different from before, a child must be registered upon birth. How can you register without a name?"

Mrs. Ji added, "The child’s household registration follows the mother’s, and it can only be registered in our brigade."

It was too big of a decision for Han Ning to make. At that moment, a voice from Ji Xiaohong came from inside the room: "Sister, before I came ashore, I asked Han Shen, and he said to follow the family tradition."

Han Ning stood up and asked: "Xiao Hong, you’re awake?"

"Just woke up."

"Are you hungry?"

"Not hungry, let’s first name the baby."

"It’s not like when our mom had us, taking names on a whim like that is too trivial now. Why don’t you think about it and see if you can come up with something nice?"

"That’s okay, just like how we were named when we were kids is fine."

Sister was born while mom was passing through Jiangcheng, hence she was named Han Ning.

Brother was born as the ship passed through East Sea, hence named Han Shen.

As for herself, born in Mountain City, and thus named Han Yu.

Han Yu hadn’t expected her brother and sister-in-law to treat this as a tradition of the Han family and chuckled, "Sister-in-law, where is my brother now?"

"At Jiujiang waiting to load cargo."

"Jiujiang, abbreviated as Xun, would the name Han Xun be suitable?"

"Which Xun?"

"Three-drop-water radical plus the ’searching’ Xun."

"That Xun sounds nice."

Han Yu felt this name was too frivolous, exchanged a glance with her smiling sister, and joked: "But we are named Han Ning, Han Shen, Han Yu; if the baby is called Han Xun, wouldn’t that mess up the seniority?"

This was a matter for the Han family, Mr. and Mrs. Ji had no opinion to express. They could barely read, let alone offer a suggestion.

Han Ning then said with a smile, "Xiao Hong, it’s your child, you decide the name."

Ji Xiaohong looked back at the baby blissfully sleeping in her arms and said joyfully, "Then let’s call him Han Xiaoxun."

"Okay, as long as you like it."

"Han Xiaoxun, sounds alright."

Mr. Ji chuckled, asking Han Yu to write down the name, then brought up the real business.

"Han Ning, Sanye, I almost forgot to tell you something. Last year your dad asked me if we could get a residential plot in the brigade. Xiao Hong’s household registration isn’t moved yet, now with a child, and they are all people from our brigade.

I asked Secretary Zhang while distributing sugar porridge. Secretary Zhang said lands were already contracted to households a long time ago, and Xiao Hong was too young at that time to have got land allotted. Now obtaining land is not likely, but getting a residential plot shouldn’t be a big problem."

The parents can’t always stay on the boat, and they can’t always lack a house on land.

In fact, many old neighbors from the shipping company had come ashore in this manner.

In short, having a residential plot means they can build a house, creating a home on shore.

For the Han family, this was a significant matter, and Han Ning said without hesitation, "If we can apply, let’s apply as soon as possible. Not having money to build now doesn’t mean we won’t have it later."

Old Ji was keen on having his daughter and son-in-law live nearby, smiling and saying, "I’ve actually already picked out a place, in a few days trade with someone for that field by the river bank in front, then go to the brigade and help Xiao Hong apply for a residential plot."

Mrs. Ji, equally not wanting her daughter and grandson to leave her side, seized the opportunity to say, "If the house could be built by the river bank, then when the time comes, we can drive the boat directly to home, parking it right by our river bank. How convenient."

...

PS: I’m curious if anyone else has ever had the experience of visiting relatives during childhood, and the relatives’ house was too small, so they ended up staying at a neighbor’s house.