The nursery work began, and it wasn't yet busy at the hot spring valley scenic area, so Chen Fu and Lin Hua'er were taking care of the four children.
Five days later, the nursery planting concluded. During this planting, the large greenhouse next to the duty room was still managed solely by the team leader.
Yesterday, Song Tianzhu had returned. He and Ding Zhaogui had split up to investigate.
His investigation hadn't found any pregnant women with recent due dates. He had also had the pregnancy check-up reports reviewed, and they indeed indicated female fetuses at five and seven months.
Tian Jing asked him to investigate the contacts on Niu Xiao's wife's phone for the past three months and to identify any suspicious leads.
One lead was about a "kidnapping and substituting" scheme, and the other was a lead concerning Lin Wan.
Song Tianzhu had participated in the outer perimeter arrest and interrogation at the Jin Rose KTV in the capital and was familiar with Lin Wan.
Since Lin Wan had contact with the target person in Vice-Captain Tian's personal matter, this personal matter of Vice-Captain Tian was no longer purely personal.
He took the car keys given by Vice-Captain Tian and drove to the county town.
This evening, Song Tianzhu and Ding Zhaogui returned together.
Ding Zhaogui's investigation had found that all three pregnant women were due this month.
Not only were the due dates close, but all three had also booked beds in the obstetrics and gynecology department of the county hospital.
Ding Zhaogui found this suspicious and went on to investigate the doctors and midwives in the county hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department.
The doctors and midwives showed no signs of suspicion, but one midwife was a distant relative of one of the pregnant women, and they maintained frequent contact.
Tian Jing asked, "Were the three pregnant women carrying boys or girls?"
Ding Zhaogui shook his head, "I couldn't find out. To avoid alerting them, I didn't show my badge to investigate inside the hospital. Also, the families of the three pregnant women didn't seem to care whether they had boys or girls."
Tian Jing nodded, "Then keep an eye on all three."
After speaking, she looked at Song Tianzhu.
Song Tianzhu had retrieved Niu Da's wife's call records for the past three months. He had filtered out several frequently contacted local numbers and two numbers from out of town.
The two out-of-town numbers were landlines. Song Tianzhu's investigation revealed one was from a public phone booth, and the other was a private home landline.
There was a juvenile detention center near the location of the public phone booth, and the private home landline number was on the juvenile detention center's contact list.
Among the frequently contacted local numbers, there were landlines and mobile phones. The addresses for the landlines could be traced, but the mobile numbers, because the SIM cards were purchased and used without registration, could not identify the owners.
The addresses of the landlines were on the list they possessed.
Tian Jing nodded, "Keep an eye on the addresses of the landlines, and make a call to the juvenile detention center to tell them to pay extra attention to Lin Wan. She's not a peaceful person."
Song Tianzhu and Ding Zhaogui then went about their respective tasks.
...
Tian Jing began to cultivate the seedlings needed for this year's greenhouses in Kushan.
The number of seedlings required for the greenhouses in Kushan this year was the same as in previous years.
Upon receiving this quantity, she began to doubt her own suspicion, thinking she had imagined Zeng Jingchu to be too bad.
However, in her heart, she still felt a lingering sense of unease.
Once the seedlings sprouted and had a couple of days to stabilize before accelerating their growth, Tian Jing found herself with free time. She then retreated to the kitchen to work on things.
Li Weibao had been busy with kitchen chores for a few days. Although he was clumsy, under his mother's guidance, he had made some progress.
Seeing that his mother had time to come into the kitchen, he seized the opportunity to ask her to teach him, so that when his mother was busy again, he could take over all the kitchen work.
Tian Jing was happy to teach. If her sons could take care of their wives, she, as a mother-in-law, would have an easier time.
These days, Shen Jianrong had also come to help in the kitchen. She handed her sleeping grandson to her daughter and came into the kitchen. Seeing Tian Jing there, she smiled and asked, "Are you finished with your work?"
Tian Jing nodded, "I'm temporarily finished. When is the in-laws' father coming?"
Shen Jianrong smiled and shook her head, "He can't put down the work he has. Recently, the higher-ups issued a practical exercise mission, so he probably can't come. It's good he's not coming; it saves him from competing with me for Si Ji."
Despite her words, Tian Jing could sense Shen Jianrong's disappointment. She suddenly felt that it was quite good that her three sons were in the special forces team.
Although there were always missions, they also had ample holidays after completing them, unless there was a super S-class emergency mission that would recall all members.
In recent years, her three sons had tried their best to take on more missions during weekdays, leaving the Lunar New Year period free to come home for the celebrations.
Tian Jing changed the subject to talk about Si Ji's full moon banquet.
Shen Jianrong looked at her son-in-law.
Li Weibao pondered, "Mom, has Xuan Xuan had her full moon banquet yet?"
"No," Tian Jing shook her head. "At first, it was because of the cold weather. Later, as Xuan Xuan grew a bit more presentable, I decided not to have her make an appearance. We won't be having a hundred-day banquet or a first birthday banquet either."
Li Weibao then looked at his mother-in-law, "Mom, let's not have Si Ji's full moon banquet either, then? We can have the hundred-day banquet when we get back."
Shen Jianrong nodded, "That's fine. I heard that the villagers in Kushan gave gifts of ten thousand yuan to your family. It's best to skip these baby banquets if we can. The gift money is too heavy."
Tian Jing also nodded, "That's what I was planning. Although I would reciprocate with ten thousand yuan, the meaning of returning it is different, and who knows if it would be accepted. It would only lead to more gossip."
"In the future, none of our children will have these banquets. For those who come to give gifts, I will remember them."
Mother Li, hearing her youngest daughter-in-law's words, also agreed, "If Xuan Xuan's banquet isn't held, it's difficult to hold them for the subsequent children."
"The first banquet for this generation of children will start with their graduation banquets, when they are eighteen and adults."
...
Tian Jing was now at leisure. To ease Niu Da's wife's difficult situation, she specifically assigned the task of watering and caring for the seedlings to Niu Da's elder brother and Niu Da's wife.
Niu Xiao's wife mockingly told Niu Da's wife that she was being treated like a fool and didn't care about her own labor.
Niu Da's wife inwardly resented her sister-in-law, but outwardly, she didn't show it, saying, "Watering and caring for the seedlings is done on a monthly rotation."
Niu Xiao's wife let out a heavy snort and then told Niu Da's wife to go to the kitchen to help her mother-in-law prepare lunch, as she was hungry.
Seeing Niu Da's wife obediently go to the kitchen, a cold smile appeared on Niu Xiao's wife's lips. Trying to appease her now?
Too late!
What was hers, she would get back.
When the family property was divided back then, they were directly separated. Later, when she was buying land and building a small Western-style house, she asked her mother-in-law and elder sister-in-law for a loan, but neither was willing to lend her money.
She had to borrow money from her own family.
Later, the profits from the greenhouses and the scenic area were divided per household. She dragged her husband back to make trouble several times.
Her mother-in-law then agreed to give them half of the profits. However, because she hadn't given birth to a son, she had no share in the scenic area store or the new village store.
Soon, very soon, she would be able to step on those who had bullied her...
Her phone ringing interrupted her thoughts. After answering, her brows furrowed.
Niu Da's wife, who was sorting vegetables at the kitchen door, listened carefully when she heard the phone ring, but couldn't make out anything.
She only knew that after her sister-in-law took the call, she made two more outgoing calls.
Not long after, she grumbled that her stomach was aching faintly and she needed to go to the hospital to give birth.
Niu Da's mother quickly put down her work and told her elder daughter-in-law to look after the kitchen while she accompanied her younger daughter-in-law to the hospital.
Niu Da's wife grabbed her mother-in-law's arm, "She's just starting to ache faintly, there's still a long way to go."
Niu Da's mother shook her head, "Doctor Yang said that for a fetus being preserved, once it starts to ache, it will be very quick. You, hurry up and stew a chicken soup. When I call you, you and Niu Da's father can come and bring the soup."
Watching her mother-in-law's agile steps, Niu Da's wife sneered. Was she even going to order around Niu Da's father, the elder brother?
Heh, I'll wait and see how you all will wrap things up in the end.