Chapter 4: Becoming a Mom Painlessly — With Baggage

Chu Yue’s second demand may have seemed like just a matter of household registration at the time, but in another ten-plus years, it would be directly tied to urban redevelopment and allocation of commercial housing.

The welfare housing provided by the steel factory would, by the 1990s, inevitably be torn down and replaced by commodity housing.

And when that happened, compensation and property rights would be based on the number of people listed on the household registration.

As long as Li Amei and Chu Yaoyao’s names weren’t on that document, they wouldn’t have any claim to the house—not a single bit of ownership, not even a sliver of benefit.

There would come a day when Li Amei would be the one crying.

From the three hundred yuan to the household registration issue, Li Amei had gone through an emotional rollercoaster. Her heart condition was practically about to flare up. She rubbed her chest, trying to soothe her pounding heart.

“Say it, Chu Yue! What’s your third condition? Just spit it all out at once!”

Compared to the first two demands, Chu Yue’s third one was much simpler.

She pointed to one of the rooms in the house.

“Before I get on that train tomorrow, I want to sleep in that room.”

Chu Yaoyao immediately jumped up.

“Chu Yue! That’s my room, not yours!”

The whole place was barely fifty square meters.

At first, there were only two rooms — one for Chu Nanshan and Li Amei, and one for the three kids to squeeze into.

But as the children grew older, gender boundaries became more important. Chu Yue and Chu Yaoyao were girls, and Chu Jianjun was a boy.

So the children’s room was split in two with a wooden board nailed in the middle — boys on the left, girls on the right.

Chu Yaoyao and the original Chu Yue shared a makeshift bunk bed. It wasn’t ideal, but it was doable.

However, they hadn’t lived together for long before Chu Yaoyao started creating chaos — accusing the original Chu Yue of being unhygienic, of stealing her things, of being a nuisance. She whined and cried constantly.

And with a stepmother who loved to fan the flames…

The original Chu Yue was quickly kicked out of that room.

In this entire home, there was no space for her.

She ended up sleeping in the kitchen, which was shared with the neighbors.

Every night, she’d lay down a wooden board and a mattress. That’s how a teenage girl endured five whole years.

For those five years, the only peace she had was when she was reading and studying.

That’s why the college entrance exam meant so much to her.

It wasn’t just about test scores or a university spot — it was about a bright future that had been stolen from her.

All she wanted was something small — to not have to sleep in the kitchen anymore.

Chu Yue lifted her chin and spoke to Chu Yaoyao, who was seething with rage:

“Chu Yaoyao, did you not hear me clearly? The room I want is yours. So—are you giving it up, or not?”

Chu Yaoyao’s cheek still burned from the slap earlier, but she seemed to have forgotten just how ruthlessly Chu Yue had struck her.

She actually tried to lunge forward again — just like she always used to bully Chu Yue.

But Li Amei was quick to react, immediately grabbing her back and stopping Chu Yue in her tracks.

“She can have it! We’ll give it to her! Yueyue, as long as you’re home, that room is yours.”

“Mom! That’s my room! Mine!”

“Yaoyao, be good, don’t make a scene. Mama bought Chu Yue’s train ticket for tomorrow. She’s leaving — it’s just one night. Just one night!”

“If she sleeps in my room, where do I sleep tonight?”

“Go bunk with Xiaoling next door, just for one night. I’ll give you some money — you two can go watch a movie this afternoon and then have a sleepover.”

Once Chu Yaoyao heard that she’d get to go see a movie, she finally calmed down and stopped fussing about the room.

Hmph.

It’s just for one night.

Chu Yaoyao would endure it.

Off to the side, Li Amei finally managed to pacify both daughters and meet all three of Chu Yue’s demands.

She bent her back slightly, adopting a submissive posture, though her calculating eyes were still fixed sharply on Chu Yue.

“Yueyue… your father and I have agreed to everything you asked. So, the marriage with Lu Zhanlin is settled then, right?”

Chu Yue responded cleanly:

“Mm, settled.”

“Good! That’s wonderful! Then it’s all decided! Our Yueyue is getting married — starting a family! What a joyous occasion! Such good news deserves even more celebration!”

Li Amei, who’d been crying and wailing before, suddenly beamed with joy, all smiles.

She was absolutely overjoyed.

It was as if her own daughter was getting married—she could hardly resist stepping outside and shouting the good news for the whole village to hear.

Rubbing her hands together gleefully, Li Amei happily headed out the door.

Not long after—

Li Amei came back, still wearing that same beaming expression.

Only this time, she had a child in her arms.

It was a little boy, just over a meter tall, no older than five or six. He wore tattered old clothes patched up many times, and his shoes were full of holes. In the dead of winter, his toes were sticking out.

His whole body was filthy. His tiny face was dark and thin.

The boy had clearly been out in the cold too long. By the time Li Amei dragged him inside, he was completely frozen stiff, standing there dazed and unresponsive.

Meanwhile, Li Amei smiled as brightly as a blooming flower. She shoved the boy toward Chu Yue.

“Child, go on—call her Mom! She’s your mother now.”

…Mom?

One second she’s married, and the next she’s a mom—all without warning.

Even a rocket launch doesn’t move this fast.

Chu Yue frowned as she looked at Li Amei.

Li Amei had been holding back her frustration all day, and now she was hitting back with a sneaky counterattack.

A little girl like Chu Yue thought she could manipulate her? Too naïve.

This little boy was Li Amei’s hidden ace—her last move.

“Yueyue, he’s such a pitiful child…” Li Amei began, voice full of fake emotion.
“His mother was Lu Zhanlin’s older sister. A few years ago, she married a farmer from a neighboring village. Life should’ve been good, but fate was cruel… Not long after marrying, she went insane. Her in-laws kicked her out and sent her back to her family…”

“She’s been wandering around the village like a madwoman for years. Then somehow, she got pregnant and gave birth to this child.”

“He’s had a hard life… A crazy mother, and no one knows who the father is. None of the elders wanted him. He’s grown up eating scraps from whoever would feed him, never knowing if he’d eat that day or not.”

“Lu Zhanlin is a good man. When he found out, he worked with the village head to officially adopt the boy. So now Lu Zhanlin is the child’s father—which makes you the mother. When you go to join the military with him, you’ll be taking the child too.”

“Come on now! Call her ‘Mom’! Once you have a mom, someone will finally love you.”

As she spoke, Li Amei gave the little boy a hard shove on the shoulder.

The boy stumbled, nearly falling flat in front of Chu Yue.

Chu Yue quickly reached out to steady him.

Li Amei seized the opportunity to shove the boy directly into Chu Yue’s arms, then shouted enthusiastically:

“How lovely! Look, everyone! What a heartwarming sight—mother and son, so affectionate!”

Everyone in the room watched as Li Amei put on her little one-woman play, fully immersed in her performance.

She didn’t even care that Chu Yue’s face was blank.

When Chu Yue touched the little boy’s clothes, she realized they were paper-thin—completely inadequate for winter weather.

And his body temperature was shockingly low.

Who knows where Li Amei had hidden him before this. If she had kept him out in the cold any longer, forget sending him off to the southwest with the army—he might not have survived the night.

In the apocalypse, Chu Yue had seen more than her fair share of human cruelty. She had become ruthless, indifferent, unshakable.

But…

This poor child, like a stray puppy—somehow managed to stir a faint ripple in her heart.

Chu Yue looked down at the dirty little boy in front of her and asked softly:

“What’s your name?”

The boy’s chin trembled, and he struggled to get two words out:

“…Yuanbao.”

Yuanbao.

Lu Yuanbao.

“That’s actually a pretty good name. From now on, you’re mine.”

Chu Yue’s lips curled into a smile—the first she had shown since arriving in this new world.

She grabbed the boy by the collar, like an eagle snatching up a chick, and swaggered off straight into Chu Yaoyao’s room.

As she walked, she barked a command over her shoulder to Li Amei:

“What are you standing there for? Go boil some water—I’m giving my son a bath!”

Li Amei’s jaw dropped in shock.

She had saved Lu Yuanbao for last, expecting to see Chu Yue shamed, furious, and forced into a corner with no way out of the marriage.

Who would’ve thought—Chu Yue just went along with it, calling him “my son” without hesitation!