It’s a Stepmother, Not a Sister [70s] - Chapter 14

Not long after Xiao Zhang walked out of the courtyard, several military wives waved to him, calling him over curiously to inquire about the situation.

“Has the new wife of Captain Qi’s camp moved in?”

“Did the son also come?”

“Doesn’t he have two children?”

“I heard she’s a girl from the countryside. What does she look like?”

Xiao Zhang was surrounded by several people bombarding him with questions, and he could hardly keep up. He boasted, “Captain Qi’s beloved is really beautiful.”

One of the military wives, seeing him say this, joked, “Oh? Beautiful? How beautiful can she be? How does she compare to the one from Captain He’s family?”

Xiao Zhang said earnestly, “I think our camp leader’s wife is prettier.”

Several military wives didn’t quite believe it and instead teased him, laughing and calling him a “flatterer.”

“I think this new sister-in-law is good-looking, gentle, and generous. Her voice is even sweeter, like an oriole. Even I, a rough old man, feel that she matches our camp leader very well… Speaking of which, it’s still Teacher Yao who has good taste, introducing such a good match to our camp leader.”

“You flatterer, you really know how to sweet-talk. Even the Teacher’s family next door is praising you.”

Next door, at Captain He’s house.

A woman wearing a light-colored shirt on the upper body and a wrinkled skirt on the lower body sat in front of the mirror, lifting her hand to remove a hair tie.

She exuded a dancer’s temperament.

A square-faced, middle-aged man in a green military uniform stood behind her drinking water, “Did you hear any noise next door? Did someone move in?”

“I really don’t want to be neighbors with that brat Qi Heng.”

“What are you talking about, Captain He? Did Captain Qi offend or provoke you?” The woman chuckled, tucking her hair behind her ear, “I heard he married a girl from the countryside.”

“You find this surprising too?”

“It’s quite surprising. Several pretty girls in our cultural troupe all fancy him.”

“If you hadn’t met me first, would you fancy him too?”

“Captain He, you’re quite self-aware. He’s young, handsome, and talented. Girls with good taste naturally fall for him.”

Captain He clicked his tongue a few times, hands on his hips, and pointed to the woman in front of him, “This shows that you women lack insight. Let me tell you, in marriage and in life, it’s not about being so picky with your choices.”

“In a marriage, a woman should find someone who understands her, who cares for her, like me. You see how witty I am normally? How do I make you happy? Being able to marry someone like you, it’s all thanks to my silver tongue.”

The woman sneered, “I was deceived by your silver tongue into marrying a widower like you to be the stepmother of three children.”

“Don’t say it like that. At least I’m someone who cares, not just in words but in actions too. I’m much better than that brat Qi Heng.”

In response, the woman shot him a look that could kill.

Captain He took a sharp breath, “I’ll leave it at that for today. If he knows how to treat a woman well, pigs will fly.”

“I’m starting to be glad this kid lives next door. With him as a comparison, you’ll know what kind of considerate and good man I am.”

“But don’t be blind to your blessings.”

The leftovers from lunch weren’t finished, and Jiang Shuangling didn’t have someone bring dinner over at night. Instead, she said she would cook herself.

She molded the unfinished sticky rice into round cakes and fried them in hot oil. The originally softened white glutinous rice grains became even softer in the oil, and the bean paste and sour radish wrapped in the sticky rice had melted into the grains, sizzling together in the oil.

White smoke rose, and a layer of light golden brown crust formed in the pan.

Jiang Shuangling flipped it over.

The aroma emanating from the kitchen was particularly strong. Jiang Che stood at the doorway, unable to resist swallowing saliva, while Qi Yue, who had been flipping through comic books alone in the living room, couldn’t restrain himself either and kept peeking into the kitchen.

While frying, Jiang Shuangling was also cooking century egg congee in another pot. In the white rice grains were pieces of chopped century eggs, producing a fragrant scent unique to rice.

After everything was fried, she arranged the glutinous rice cakes neatly on a plate, stacking them into a small mountain shape, and then served three bowls of century egg congee, calling the two kids to dinner.

Jiang Shuangling originally thought that the proud and stubborn Qi Yue would throw a tantrum and refuse to eat, but to her surprise, he sat obediently on a small stool with Jiang Che, waiting patiently for dinner.

“Be careful not to burn yourselves,” she warned them both.

Fortunately, children these days are all enthusiastic eaters compared to those from decades ago. They don’t need to be fed or persuaded.

The two kids couldn’t wait to eat the glutinous rice cakes. The oil-fried glutinous rice was particularly sticky and chewy, and as they chewed, the minced radish mixed inside made a crunchy sound.

It was delicious.

Both kids ended up with oil on their hands and mouths.

Jiang Shuangling didn’t let the two little ones eat too much. Glutinous rice isn’t easily digestible, and the fried glutinous rice cakes were too greasy. Eating too much could lead to internal heat. She made sure they finished their porridge to clear away the greasiness.

“Sister, it’s delicious! The congee is delicious too!” exclaimed Jiang Che.

Qi Yue kept his head down, grunting and not looking at her.

Although Qi Yue was the same age as Jiang Che, his appetite seemed to take after his father’s, eating about half more than Jiang Che.

“You two little rascals…”

Perhaps before long, they would be able to eat more than her, which would be a blow to her adult pride.

Jiang Shuangling pinched Jiang Che’s little face, thinking to herself, no wonder they say, “Half-sized kids eat their poor fathers.” If the family had five of them, how much rice would they need?

But at the moment, the two little ones, along with her, weren’t very big eaters. The three of them combined couldn’t eat as much as Qi Heng alone.

After dinner, the sky had completely darkened.

Jiang Shuangling lit a lamp and looked at the leftover food with worry. She had cooked Qi Heng’s portion for dinner earlier, just in case he came back. Of course, she didn’t cook too much, but there were still leftovers.

She glanced outside at the pitch-black sky, unable to see anything. The only light came from the dim lamps in the neighboring houses.

Half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. Qi Heng had returned.

As soon as Qi Yue saw his father at the door, he immediately ran over on his little legs. Jiang Shuangling, who was quicker to act than to think, immediately hugged the little guy’s waist. “Wait for your dad to finish showering before you jump on him.”

It wasn’t for any other reason; she just felt sorry for herself for the difficulty of giving the little one a bath.

Seeing someone who had already washed clean pounce on someone dirty, even if it was someone else, she couldn’t bear to watch.

Qi Heng glanced at the children, took off his hat, and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt. “Hold on.”

Qi Yue tugged at Jiang Shuangling’s hair, signaling her to let him go. Jiang Shuangling put the proud little guy down, unable to resist one last reminder, “Wait a bit before you go hug your dad.”

It was just a final helpful reminder; she wouldn’t stop him if he really wanted to.

Qi Yue grunted a few times, then went back to sit on the small stool.

Qi Heng was about to go take a shower when Jiang Shuangling suddenly spoke in a mysterious tone, as if she had remembered something important. “Captain Qi, I’ve discovered a secret here…”

Her tone caught the attention of both children, and Qi Heng turned his calm eyes to her.

“That room—” Jiang Shuangling nodded towards a door, “the one connected to that room. You can see the stars at night from there.”

Qi Heng: “…”

Jiang Shuangling was sure she saw a hint of coldness in the man’s eyes, even a desire to roll his eyes at her.

He raised an eyebrow, giving her a look that said, “Speak plainly.”

Alright, let’s speak plainly.

“There’s a hole in the roof, some tiles are broken, and you can see the stars from there. Though I don’t think it’ll rain these days, just in case, if it does rain, it’ll definitely leak. So… could you find someone to fix it?”

“I understand.”

After saying that, Qi Heng, who had just entered the house, turned and walked out. Jiang Shuangling was surprised. “Are you going to find someone to fix it now?”

“It’s too late for that.”

Jiang Shuangling wanted to dissuade him, and followed him out, only to find that he had disappeared in an instant.

The courtyard was empty, devoid of anyone.

She looked up at the roof, wondering if this man was a monkey. How did he suddenly jump up to the roof without even using a ladder?

Jiang Shuangling touched the wall a few times and glanced at the eaves, unable to understand how he managed to climb up.

Could this cheap husband of hers be a climber?

In just a few minutes, he came back down, and there were no stars to be seen from the room anymore.

The bathroom was located behind the kitchen, and behind the kitchen wall, there was an outdoor drainage ditch. The small partition connected to the drainage ditch was the bathroom, which could also be used for washing things.

Qi Heng finished his bath in just a few minutes.

Jiang Shuangling admired him for taking a cold shower in this weather and kindly said, “Have you eaten? There’s some leftover food and porridge…”

— Please help dispose of it.

In this era, without a refrigerator, the food might spoil by the next day.

Even Jiang Shuangling didn’t want to waste food in times when many people couldn’t eat enough.

Speaking of which, she could raise some chickens and ducks. After processing the leftovers that hadn’t been touched by oil or salt, she could feed them to the poultry.

Qi Heng finished the remaining food without even heating it up, and Jiang Shuangling truly admired how he could stomach it.

She thought his eating habits weren’t very good.

Could his stomach handle this kind of eating?

Was he really that resilient?

“Dad, I want to sleep with you!”

When it was time to sleep at night, Qi Yue tugged at Qi Heng’s pants leg, and with a wary, wolf-like gaze, he watched Jiang Shuangling.

“You’re not allowed in, I don’t want to sleep with you!”

Jiang Shuangling thought to herself: I don’t want to sleep with you either.

She held Jiang Che’s hand and took the initiative to say to Qi Heng, “I’ll take little brother to sleep in that room.”

Jiang Shuangling was quite self-aware. She was referring to the small room, while the adjacent larger room was connected to another room.

Inside, there were beds and blankets, which were passable.

Qi Heng nodded.

Jiang Shuangling held her brother’s hand and walked into the small room. Qi Yue grabbed Qi Heng’s pants leg, watching the woman without saying a word, then disappeared from view without looking back, and clicked the door shut.

Qi Heng looked down at him. “Come on, let’s go to bed.”

Qi Yue: “…”