It’s a Stepmother, Not a Sister [70s] - Chapter 2

Jiang Shuangling was saved, but the opportunity to attend university slipped away. Anyone in her shoes would feel discontented.

After all, the quotas for the Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers University were too crucial. Study for a couple of years, then you’d be guaranteed a government job, able to move to the city, no longer having to toil in the fields—it was a chance to change one’s life.

Everyone in the village, including the production team leader, thought Jiang Shuangling would cause a scene. But to their surprise, she accepted the reality silently. No big deal, they thought, there would be opportunities next year. However, just a few days later, news spread that she was going to marry a military officer and become a stepmother.

The entire village was in an uproar. Why would such a pretty girl make such an irrational decision to marry a divorced man?

According to Li Erhua, that officer named Qi was a company commander, good-looking, but he had a four or five-year-old son. However, his family was very well-off. His father had passed away, and his mother was supported by his brother and sister-in-law. His own brother was also a military officer, a battalion commander.

Setting aside other matters, with the monthly salary subsidy alone, supporting a whole family was more than enough. If Jiang Shuangling married him, she would live a life of comfort and never have to worry about food or clothing.

Well… Although it sounded good on the surface, after a while, the villagers started to reconsider. There were people from their village who joined the military too. Zhang’s second son, for example, had been in the army for seven or eight years and was only a company commander. This Qi, who was a battalion commander, must be in his thirties or forties by now.

An 18-year-old beautiful girl with the opportunity to attend the Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers University had no need to wade into such murky waters.

So, some people spoke to Li Erhua, saying, “Are you mistreating your niece? Arranging such a marriage for her.”

Li Erhua sighed, “I’m not too keen on it either. If word gets out, people will think poorly of me as her aunt. But Shuangling is willing herself. I advised her against it, but she wouldn’t listen… The conditions offered by Captain Qi are indeed favorable…”

In her words, she implied that Jiang Shuangling was willingly pursuing the good conditions offered by Captain Qi to become a stepmother.

Through Li Erhua’s gossip, within a few days, rumors about Jiang Shuangling’s desire for wealth and luxury spread far and wide.

When a woman from a poor family, plain-looking and illiterate, made such a choice, it was somewhat understandable in the eyes of many.

But for someone like Jiang Shuangling, who was good at studying, beautiful, and even had many male educated youths pursuing her, to make such a choice, in the eyes of the public, it turned into a perceived act of self-degradation.

With her family background and her father’s involvement in water conservancy projects… even if her name wasn’t on this year’s roster for the Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers University, they would probably include her next year.

There was no need for her to make such an irrational decision to become a stepmother.

Jiang Shuangling had her reasons for making this choice.

Firstly, she wasn’t the Jiang Shuangling native to this era, nor did she want to attend some Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers University. As an art student, she had struggled with her academic subjects before the college entrance exam, and now she had no interest in studying math, physics, or chemistry. Besides, she had graduated seven or eight years ago and had no desire to return to school.

If she were to study anything, it should be art.

Secondly, she wanted to take Jiang Che out of the village. This was her opportunity. After all, she wasn’t the original Jiang Shuangling; her behavior had changed, drawing suspicion. She was reluctant to be restrained in her actions.

Moreover, with an overbearing aunt around, all sorts of elders would suppress her. It was uncomfortable to stay in the village. And then there were rumors about the “inauspicious star,” which had made the previously introverted and insecure Jiang Che even more withdrawn. Jiang Shuangling needed to change his environment. Since she had become his sister, she should take care of him in place of the original Jiang Shuangling.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the man was a military officer, a graduate of a regular military academy, and a bona fide university student. Likewise, marrying a military officer meant a more peaceful environment within the military than outside.

Jiang Shuangling believed in the discipline and integrity of the military and its personnel in this era. Regardless of whether the man was as good-looking as the matchmaker claimed, at least after military training, his behavior would be disciplined and orderly, and his demeanor wouldn’t be sleazy.

Since childhood, she had liked watching righteous heroes in TV dramas, preferring upright characters.

There were several educated youths in the village who liked Jiang Shuangling, even considering themselves talented and charming as they recited love poems in front of her. Jiang Shuangling genuinely didn’t know what expression to make, as if she should have had the “subway grandpa looking at his phone” expression.

Talking about ideals, life, stars, and moons…

Manually waving goodbye.

Jiang Shuangling didn’t have a good impression of them, with their obvious sleazy and flirtatious qualities. But… it seemed that the girls of this era were quite taken with that.

But she wasn’t taken, she refused.

Although Captain Qi came with a “dragging the oil bottle” son, he was fortunate to not have outrageous in-laws or a bunch of weird relatives. To Jiang Shuangling, this was much better than dealing with a bunch of troublesome relatives.

She had only been here for half a month, and she had already heard a lot of gossip in the village—how this mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were quarreling, how several daughters-in-law were bickering… and then there was the story of the eldest daughter-in-law and the second daughter-in-law both getting pregnant at the same time, each giving birth to a boy and a girl, causing disharmony in the family. One daughter-in-law faced ridicule and insults from her mother-in-law while she was in confinement, while the other daughter-in-law, feeling aggrieved, contemplated suicide by drinking pesticide.

Listening to the village gossip, Jiang Shuangling clicked her tongue in disapproval…

Given the current circumstances, Jiang Shuangling had made some plans. She wasn’t particularly concerned about marriage. If she got along well with Captain Qi, they would live together. If not, it wouldn’t be too bad either. After all, he was a soldier with a lot of work and training time. If things didn’t work out, she could wait until the more liberal atmosphere of seven or eight years later to divorce. With her painting skills, Jiang Shuangling wouldn’t have to live a miserable life, and she could even take her brother to Peng City to make something of themselves. She wasn’t the kind of woman who couldn’t live without a man.

Looking at the two pink pigs in the pigpen, Jiang Shuangling sighed again at finding herself in an era of scarcity and deprivation.

Fortunately, she was naturally optimistic. After a short while, she adjusted her mindset. Complaining and getting caught up in trivial matters wouldn’t help. No matter where she was, she should live her life well.

She wasn’t at a loss either. She had become ten years younger, so if the Jiang Shuangling of this era became her, she hoped she would live well over there.

She would take care of her brother, and she hoped she would support her parents as well.

“Little brother, come, eat an egg.” Jiang Shuangling placed a native egg into Jiang Che’s palm.

It was a hard-boiled native egg, deep brown, oval-shaped, and small enough for Jiang Che’s tiny hand to hold it securely.

Jiang Shuangling pinched the chubby face of her little brother, who had a pair of beautiful and deeply contoured phoenix eyes. She loved Jiang Che’s eyes the most, with their classical and restrained charm. When he grew up and his facial features developed, those eyes would surely become even more stunning.

When she first arrived, Jiang Che, like the other children in the village, was covered in dirt, with messy hair, black grime in the creases of his fingers and on his cheeks. But it was those eyes that particularly caught people’s attention.

Jiang Shuangling had spent a lot of effort cleaning him up, turning him into a handsome little boy, albeit still a bit malnourished and timid.

With meat being scarce in their daily meals, Jiang Shuangling planned to supplement his protein intake with eggs.

“Big sister?” Jiang Che held the egg in his hand and looked up at her. “Big sister, do you want to eat—”

He was about to offer the egg to Jiang Shuangling.

Even for a simple boiled chicken egg, it was a cherished delicacy for them. Jiang Che wanted his sister to have it.

Jiang Shuangling shook her right fist in front of Jiang Che’s eyes and revealed the outline of the brown egg between her fingers. “Of course, Big sister will eat too.”

“Let’s eat together, but don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Jiang Che nodded earnestly. “But Auntie—”

“It’s not like we took it from home. Just eat in peace. After you finish, give the eggshell to Big sister.”

These past few days, Jiang Shuangling had been feeding him eggs, and Jiang Che didn’t know where she got them from. She said she exchanged things with others and hid them at home, cooking one for him every day.

Auntie had a nose sharper than a dog’s. She was the only one allowed to hide things in the house. If someone else did, they’d surely be found out by her.

Jiang Che was afraid his sister would be scolded if Auntie found out, but days went by, and Auntie hadn’t discovered Jiang Shuangling’s eggs.

Because they were worried about gossip from outsiders, the Jiang family ate simple meals together, but Li Erhua often cooked secretly in a small stove, just to avoid them. Jiang Che knew about it before, and so did his sister, but she always shook her head at him.

“Alright, give the eggshell to Big sister.”

Jiang Shuangling wrapped the eggshell in scraps of old paper, clenching it in her palm. In a place where Jiang Che couldn’t see, the bundle of waste paper in her hand vanished into thin air.

On the first day she traveled back to the 1970s, Jiang Shuangling discovered that she had brought along the rental house she lived in—a two-story building with a courtyard.

At first, Jiang Shuangling was overjoyed. This meant she could at least grow vegetables and raise pigs and chickens in her portable house, ensuring she wouldn’t starve in this era. However…

Her joy was premature.

Because her portable house was one of those that would “reset” itself. Every midnight, it would revert to its original state.

At first, Jiang Shuangling didn’t know. She toiled in the courtyard during the day, loosening soil and digging holes to plant rows of vegetables, only to be dumbfounded the next day.

Everything reverted to its original state.

The things she had planted were all gone.

It was like the eggshell she had just thrown in—it would be automatically eliminated by the portable house, just like clearing garbage, every midnight.

The portable house she brought along couldn’t grow anything, raise chickens or ducks, or even store things.

Jiang Shuangling felt like crying, but no tears came.

However, every situation has its pros and cons. Although the portable house reset every day and she couldn’t grow vegetables inside, it also meant that if she took something from the portable house, it would be automatically replenished by the next midnight.

When she arrived, it happened to be the day she moved into the portable house. It was empty inside, and the courtyard was desolate, with only her simple luggage.

“If I had known I would be traveling to the 1970s with it, I should have moved to a supermarket first…”

“At the very least, I should have bought some meat!”

—Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a regret pill.

Most of her luggage consisted of painting supplies such as sketchbooks, brushes, and paints. Jiang Shuangling had been painting for over twenty years, and to her, she could make do with anything, except for her beloved collection of paints, which she couldn’t bear to lose.

But paints couldn’t be eaten.

The only comforting thing was that there was still some food in the portable house:

Inside the portable house, there were a few items of food left: a small jar of wild honey given by the host, a small bowl of pork oil and two home-raised chicken eggs received from the neighbor when moving in, a pound of rice and a leftover century egg from her move.

She planned to cook lean pork congee with the century egg.

But before she could buy the meat, she had already traveled back in time.