The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead-Chapter 369 - 358: Just Three Months

Lu Jingqiu had drawn two sets of maternity pants in the past couple of days. One made of corduroy, and the other of poplin.

She also drew two maternity tops for outer wear, as well as base shirts.

And included were wide maternity dresses for the summer.

Luo Xinyue thought they were quite good, so on Sunday, they went to the department store and chose several types of fabric.

The pants were the same, but the fabrics and patterns for the tops were different.

Lu Jingqiu chose solid colors, one a subdued white cotton piece of clothing, and the other a light blue velvety material, adorned with a white collar, which still looked very attractive.

Luo Xinyue chose a fabric with black background and white polka dots, and another with a green subtle floral pattern.

After leaving the department store, the two went straight to the old tailor.

In about a week, the clothes were made and looked pretty good on them.

Luo Xinyue also wanted to make dresses, but Lu Jingqiu stopped her, reminding her that fabric trends change quickly each year, and they had no idea what colors would be in fashion by summer.

Luo Xinyue agreed and temporarily suppressed her excitement.

Once February rolled around, Xue Jianian started to get busy, hiring many farmers and city dwellers without jobs to help plant fruit trees.

Lu Jingqiu and Luo Xinyue also got fruit trees from Xue Jianian and planted them in their backyards.

Not just fruit trees, but also vegetable seeds and seedlings.

Potatoes, eggplants, chili peppers, green beans, bok choy, leeks, cucumbers, scallions—everything they liked to eat.

On Sunday, Yiyi and Ah Mu helped plant them for the whole day.

Lu Jingqiu had also been busy these two weeks.

The school’s painting competition had started, with spring landscapes as the theme.

There were twelve students from her class who signed up, including Lu Jingqiu and Luo Xinyue.

Additionally, they had also received tasks from their work unit since the workload was high in the first half of the year.

Lu Jingqiu’s assignment was to illustrate a picture book.

The story was about a young hero from the resistance war, who was very famous among the people.

Lu Jingqiu planned to use the traditional Hua Country ink painting style to portray the character.

With time being short and the task demanding, they both spent their noontime break at school drawing.

Chen Qinghe had also signed up for the competition, but she recently took on an assignment illustrating comic books, which was also very stressful.

The only one with free time was He Yu.

Last year, He Yu’s architectural draft submitted to the Urban Construction Bureau was not accepted, and she felt discouraged.

Recently, she hadn’t been submitting any more proposals, and seeing everyone working so hard during the break aroused her competitive spirit, and she started redesigning her architecture.

Lu Jingqiu said, "Ah Yu, I think that the house layout you previously submitted to Shanghai was quite good. You could try submitting it here. Most of the houses here have similar layouts. I heard from my uncle that the city is planning to build a new cinema, and the location has already been chosen. You could design the cinema."

He Yu was stunned, "A cinema? I’ve never designed one before."

Luo Xinyue said, "I talked to Shang Ze about it, and they’re in charge of the project at the moment, running around with the leaders all the time. Haven’t you designed or even visited one before? Whenever we go, if there’s something inconvenient, that’s something you could improve upon."

Chen Qingru said, "I think the current movie theaters are pretty good. It’s just that the ticket sellers and snack vendors have such bad attitudes. They’re not as good as the small street vendors outside."

Lu Jingqiu said, "There are many people running their own businesses nowadays, and what they lack the most are storefronts. Ah Yu, when designing, you could include a few storefronts around the theater. Although the cinema itself is profitable, renting out shops nearby could also generate a good income. With storefronts, individuals could enter the market, and we wouldn’t have to worry about poor service when buying things at the cinema."

He Yu said, "That’s true."

"Also, the cinema could use just two or three floors, and the fourth floor could be used for a staff lounge or even as a conference hall for the cinema’s management. There are many departments in the city that have lots of meetings and often don’t have enough space, so they could use the cinema’s conference hall."

He Yu said with a smile, "Jingqiu, that’s a great idea! Such a big space, it would be a shame to use it just for a lounge for the management. A conference hall is better. I’ve got some ideas now; I’ll think about it."

With the new semester, the people in the dormitory began to work hard again.

Time flew, and by March, the weather slowly warmed up. During this time, she received a lot of attention from her elders.

Her aunt wrote her letters, her mother-in-law made phone calls, and when talking to Jiang Nanzhou, her grandfather often expressed concern for her and the baby.

Whenever her father wasn’t busy, he would find time to send her a telegram. Even Shen Manman sent her a very large parcel.

Inside were clothes for the baby, along with a feeding bottle. The baby was already over six months along, and this month, her belly had suddenly grown a lot.

Lu Jingqiu could clearly feel the clumsiness.

It was also this month that the installation of phone booths finally began in their alley.

It was located to the left of the alley, making phone calls much more convenient. Lu Jingqiu was very much looking forward to it, and whenever she passed by, she would specifically ask the workers installing the phone booth when it would be ready.

After all, she planned to use this phone to call Nanzhou.

Having been apart for several months, she really missed him.

Every time she went for a prenatal checkup, seeing husbands accompany their wives, she would feel a momentary sense of loss.

"Sister-in-law, I might not be home this Sunday, so can you go to the checkup alone?"

"It’s okay, I’m not sick. I’ve done it many times, I know the procedure, it won’t take an hour and then I’ll be back. Will you come back at night?"

"Not necessarily at night, I’m going with Shang Ze and a leader to a township below. We’ll run around and learn some things."

"Go ahead. Remember to bring more money, it’s more convenient when you’re away. I’ve put some money on your desk for you."

"Sister-in-law, I have my own money, I don’t need it."

"Just take it, I’m not short of money now."

Shen Mu said, "Sister, when you have a project and need investment, count me in too. I want to earn some money as well."

Lu Jingqiu raised an eyebrow and said, "Ah Mu, you have savings?"

Shen Mu showed rare pride as he said, "Not much, just over two thousand. It’s what I’ve saved over the years."

"What? That much? Aren’t you unpaid while working with Shang Ze?"

"True, but sometimes a leader’s secretary needs documents or speech drafts, and they occasionally come to us. A piece doesn’t bring in much, just a yuan or two, and we don’t take it. It’s all about relationships. Later, if there are good projects, they also share the information with us in advance.

Last year, when the yard was acquiring a place in South City to reconstruct roads, we didn’t have much money, so we each put in three hundred yuan and bought a small plot of land there. In the end, we got six thousand yuan for it, three thousand each."

Lu Jingqiu blinked in surprise. There was such a thing? In the blink of an eye, they had made several times more?

"Ah Mu, don’t follow me in investing; I should follow you instead. Next time you have such a project, bring me in on it."

"We would have told you about that agricultural market project if we had known about it earlier. We just found out too late."

"Isn’t there a plan to build a cinema? Do you know where it might be?"

"Definitely in the city, but they haven’t said where. It might be at the junction of Erqi Road and West Taikang Road, but there’s a grain silo there, and individuals can’t buy it."

"Oh."