It’s a Stepmother, Not a Sister [70s] - Chapter 17

At noon, Jiang Shuangling cooked a pot of rice with two children and casually stir-fried two vegetables to make a meal. Although the combination of vegetables and rice sounded simple, the oil Jiang Shuangling used to stir-fry the vegetables was plentiful, and the two little ones enjoyed the meal very much.

The rice was also white and fluffy, without any added sweet potato cubes.

After finishing lunch, the two little ones played for a while and then took a nap. Jiang Shuangling squinted her eyes for a moment and then got up to tidy up her clothes. She pushed open the yard gate and, following the instructions given by Teacher Yao, went to find the supplementary food shop.

On the way, she met a couple of other military wives. Meeting for the first time, they were all very enthusiastic and invited her to come over to their homes.

Jiang Shuangling rubbed her already stiffened smile and thought that the people in this era were too warm-hearted. However, regardless of whether the words from the other party’s mouth were sincere or just casual courtesy, as a newcomer, she still felt a warmth in her heart.

Arriving at the supplementary food shop, there were indeed not many things here. There was only a small piece of meat left, and a big sister surnamed Song came to ask for something too. She cut two pounds of meat in one go, leaving only a small lump of meat.

She had three children gathered around her legs, staring fixedly at that piece of meat.

The salesperson smiled and said, “Why not take the rest at the back too? It might not even add up to a pound.”

“Yeah, mom, just this little bit, let’s buy it all.” The children clamored along.

Big Sister Song gritted her teeth and said firmly, “No, it’s two pounds as promised.”

“Isn’t this meat enough for you little rascals to eat???”

“We still have Fourth Brother and Fifth Sister, how much can one person get? Our dad eats so much…”

“It’s already good enough to have meat for you.”

The children sighed disappointedly.

Just then, Jiang Shuangling arrived and bought the remaining few ounces of pork. Big Sister Song immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at the beautiful young stranger in front of her and curiously asked who she was.

“I am… uh… Qi.” Jiang Shuangling still couldn’t bring herself to casually reveal who her man was like the two military wives she met before.

Fortunately, Big Sister Song was sharp-witted. Upon hearing her words, she immediately understood and smiled, saying, “From Captain Qi’s family, right? You just arrived yesterday. Girl, you’re really pretty.”

“Just a bit thin-skinned, have you had an education?”

“I graduated from high school.”

“Wow, that’s impressive! No wonder you look different from the usual village girls.”

After buying the meat, Jiang Shuangling also asked for some carrots and potatoes. The carrots and potatoes were buried in a kind of gray-black soil, and Big Sister Song gave her a bamboo basket to carry them in.

Together with Big Sister Song and her children, they walked towards the military family housing area. Big Sister Song was very enthusiastic towards her. When they arrived at her own house, Big Sister Song insisted on taking her in and gave her a small bottle of douban sauce.

“This is a good thing from our hometown, made by myself. Take it and taste it. It’s really delicious. I wouldn’t give it to just anyone.”

“Thank you, thank you, Big Sister Song…”

Jiang Shuangling took the things and went back. The two four or five-year-old boys at home were awake. Jiang Che, this little guy, always followed his sister closely. When he saw Jiang Shuangling’s figure, he immediately ran up eagerly and followed behind his sister.

Qi Yue stood silently in the yard, secretly despising Jiang Che’s behavior as a little follower.

He snorted. Whether this woman came back or not had nothing to do with him.

The two children continued to play with the paints from the morning. Jiang Shuangling looked at the paint stains on their cuffs and felt a bit worried. She decided that next time they played with these, they must wear aprons to prevent getting dirty.

Qi Yue, this proud little guy, probably cared about his appearance. His clothes weren’t stained much, but her silly little brother…

“Oh well.” What needed to be washed still had to be washed.

Jiang Shuangling called her dirty little brother over and, with amusement, picked up a paintbrush and painted a little white rabbit on his face.

“Be as clean as a white rabbit, or you’ll turn into a black rabbit.”

—Or maybe a rainbow-colored rabbit.

Jiang Shuangling glanced at the two types of paint on the other’s cuffs.

Little guy Jiang Che didn’t care about anything else. He happily took a small mirror and looked at the little rabbit on his face. His eyes were bright and shiny, both shy and happy.

Big Sister’s rabbit painting was so pretty.

Qi Yue stood in front of Jiang Shuangling and pointed to his face. “I want to paint a tiger.”

“A fierce tiger.”

Jiang Shuangling: “…”

Granting his wish, Jiang Shuangling painted a roaring “tiger,” or rather, a cute little meowing one with its mouth wide open.

“Alright, little Mr. Tiger.”

Qi Yue snorted lightly and leaned over to Jiang Che’s side, trying to grab the small mirror from him.

“I’m a tiger, roar, I’ll eat you, give it to me.”

“No…”

“Aren’t you afraid of tigers?”

“But you’re not a tiger…”

“You’re a rabbit.”

…

Jiang Shuangling let the two little ones enjoy admiring themselves in the mirror. She put the newly bought carrots and potatoes in a clay pot, took out two carrots, and covered the rest, placing them in a corner for later use.

After washing off the dry dirt from the surface of the carrots, Jiang Shuangling curiously picked up the douban sauce that Big Sister Song had given her earlier.

Even through the bottle cap, an enticing aroma wafted out, making her sneeze involuntarily.

The taste should be good, right…

Jiang Shuangling dipped a chopstick into the douban sauce and tentatively tasted it. In the next second, as the sauce-coated chopstick tip touched her lips and tongue, the salty and spicy flavor immediately exploded on her taste buds.

This douban sauce was actually spicy!

After a moment of stinging sensation, Jiang Shuangling felt like her mouth was on fire. She coughed several times in succession, tears and snot streaming out.

She was just an ordinary woman who could only handle Cantonese-style spice.

Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, feeling a bit itchy. Jiang Shuangling couldn’t help but rub her eyes with the back of her hand, only to find that the hand that had held the sauce bottle was also covered in the spicy flavor, causing a sharp stinging sensation in her eyes.

She quickly drank a few sips of honey-sweetened warm water, then washed her hands and eyes. After washing, her eyes were still red and teary.

Jiang Shuangling blinked her eyes, trying to force out tears, using the physiological tears to flush out the discomfort from her eyes.

Jiang Che, who heard the movement, hurriedly ran to Jiang Shuangling’s side, only to see his big sister with red and teary eyes.

He opened his mouth, the little white rabbit on his cheek frozen in place. “Sister, are you crying…”

Qi Yue stood beside him, his stubborn little face suddenly feeling awkward upon seeing Jiang Shuangling’s eyes.

“Sister…” Little Jiang Che was anxious.

Qi Yue opened his mouth, intending to call out to Jiang Che, but the word stuck in his throat. Finally, with a tense expression, his tiger head on his cheek also seemed to swell as he blurted out dryly, “My grandma says, men of our Qi family don’t shed tears.”

“My sister isn’t from your family…” Jiang Che retorted on the side, his voice low and childish.

“But she clearly already…” 

Jiang Shuangling wiped her tears, pulled the two children over, pinched their little faces one by one, and smiled gently. “It’s okay, I’m not crying. I just got some douban sauce in my eyes and it stung.”

Big Sister Song’s douban sauce has such strong combat power!

…I hope she won’t send me Mapo Tofu next time, will she?

Jiang Shuangling swallowed nervously.

Meanwhile, at Big Sister Song’s house.

“Mom, that sister from earlier was so pretty!”

“Mom, add more douban sauce when cooking meat next time!”

“Mom, can you make some Mapo Tofu for us? With minced meat in it, it’ll be delicious poured over rice.”

Just as her husband returned home, he caught a whiff of the overwhelming spicy smell. “If I hadn’t come back, I wouldn’t have known you ladies were having a party.”

“Who were you talking about just now? Who came over?”

Big Sister Song smiled. “The one from Captain Qi’s family, the newcomer. She’s really pretty, and she’s a high school student.”

Her husband was surprised. “Really? A high school student?”

“What’s her personality like?”

“She seems quite gentle and elegant, as beautiful as those girls from the cultural troupe.”

“Really?” Her husband was the political commissar of the Third Division and was usually involved in ideological work. He had heard quite a few interesting stories and couldn’t help but wonder, “Qi Heng likes someone like her?”

“Young and beautiful girls, who wouldn’t men like?”

“I’m different from them. I like someone who cooks well.”

Commander Zhou and Political Commissar Song returned home together. As soon as they arrived, they noticed that some items were missing from their vegetable garden.

“Has someone been to our place?”

“I called Jiang’s girl over and gave her some vegetable seeds and seedlings. After all, she just moved in and didn’t prepare anything. The land in front of her house was all deserted…”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xianyong, who had been busy for most of the day, remembered. Jiang’s girl, wasn’t she Qi Heng’s newlywed wife? He stared at the woman in front of him and scolded her repeatedly, “Look at what you’ve done.”

He rubbed his temples. “Making trouble for no reason. How am I going to face the old leader?”

Yao Pinglang waved his hand, looking smug. “Lao Zhou, stop being sarcastic. I think the young couple are doing just fine.”

“If you want to introduce him to the Lin family’s girl, that would be disrespectful to the old leader. That girl has a fiery temper. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up fighting.”

“If those two get together, it’ll be like dynamite meeting a spark, causing chaos. I think Jiang’s girl is more suitable.” Yao Pinglang nodded satisfactorily, thinking of Jiang Shuangling he saw earlier.

Zhou Xianyong dragged a chair and sat down boldly in front of his wife. “Alright, then I want to hear what you have to say about Jiang’s girl’s personality.”

“She’s beautiful, I think she’s a gentle and polite girl, also educated, having gone to high school. She’s cultured, not like ordinary village girls.”

“Looks pretty? Gentle and weak? Does she have a sweet voice?”

“Sweet, very sweet. Her voice is extremely pleasant, even I, as a woman, find it delightful. If she sings, it would be like a nightingale.”

Commander Zhou gave a disdainful glance. “Doesn’t that sound like those girls from the cultural troupe?”

Yao Pinglang: “…”

“Do you really think Qi Heng would like someone like that?”

Yao Pinglang: “…”

“I remember that Xiao Chen from before, wasn’t she a singer too? Many soldiers praised her for her good singing voice?”

Yao Pinglang: “…”

That Xiao Chen was the one who was trained until she cried at the camp gate.

Now it was Commander Zhou’s turn to gain the upper hand. He snorted a few times. “Looks like you have nothing to say. I bet you’re just waiting to see that Jiang girl show up tomorrow with swollen eyes.”