Chapter 88: Uninhibited

Captain Wang had personally experienced that Lin Xiangnan was not a person who understood others’ feelings. Seeing that Lin Xiangnan didn’t give him face, he snorted softly and led Wang Hu away.

As they walked, he continued to lecture his son.

“Eat, eat, eat, all day long you just know how to eat. When your mother comes home in a couple of days, I’ll have her make you some meat, okay?”

Wang Hu had already calmed down, but when he heard Captain Wang say this, he started to act like a spoiled brat again, “I don’t want a stepmother, I don’t want a stepmother, I don’t want a stepmother!”

“You say you don’t want one, so you don’t want one? Without a stepmother, you’ll only be able to wear dirty clothes and go hungry, you little rascal.” Captain Wang patted his son’s head.

Which man doesn’t love a beautiful woman? But for the sake of himself and his son, he deliberately chose a kind and honest woman for his second marriage, afraid that his new wife would be bad to his child.

In the past six months since they came to the family compound, Luo Caixia had indeed been quite good to the child, and her lifestyle was frugal. But the families who came to join the army were a mixed bag, and Luo Caixia had also learned bad habits. She actually knew to ask him for living expenses.

Captain Wang didn’t mean to stop Luo Caixia from touching money, but he just wanted to wait until Luo Caixia gave him a son before he was willing to give her a portion of his salary to manage.

Who knew that Luo Caixia hadn’t given birth yet, but she was already making a fuss about her pregnancy.

The child in Luo Caixia’s belly was indeed his, and the family couldn’t do without her. Captain Wang secretly gritted his teeth and decided to wait another two days before bringing Luo Caixia home.

Although he was prepared to compromise on this matter, he also wanted Luo Caixia to understand who was the head of the household.

Chen Xiulan worked at the hospital, and every night after work, she would specifically run over to Lin Xiangnan to give her the latest updates.

“Captain Wang will have to give the family 30 yuan in food allowance every month. Their yard can grow vegetables, so if Luo Caixia is thrifty, she can save about 10 yuan a month, which is not bad…”

As Chen Xiulan spoke, she secretly sniffed. She seemed to vaguely smell the aroma of fish soup wafting from the kitchen.

She didn’t say much at Lin Xiangnan’s house, but after returning to her own home, she silently stood behind Aunt Hua and asked in a low voice, “Mom, did Xiao Lin’s family have fish soup tonight?”

Aunt Hua sighed regretfully, “They had fish. Big Yellow even went to Xiao Lin’s house to mooch a meal.”

“Have we already spent all our meat tickets? Should I try to find a way to exchange some for you?” Chen Xiulan hinted frantically.

As soon as she said this, Political Commissar Xu also looked up, staring at his own mother with anticipation.

They both had to go to work during the day, so it was difficult to mooch food. This task could only be handled by Aunt Hua.

Aunt Hua looked at Political Commissar Xu and Chen Xiulan, sighed, and said helplessly, “That child is a little too smart. I still prefer you roughnecks.”

Her bowl had been left in the house for so long, and no one had noticed the trick. Lin Xiangnan came and immediately saw the trick, which showed that she was a discerning person.

“Me? A roughneck?” Political Commissar Xu pointed at himself incredulously.

He was the most refined and cultured man in their entire division. He usually compared himself to Zhuge Liang. If he was a roughneck, what were Gu Zhenhua and the others? Stable boys?

Aunt Hua looked at her son, chuckled, and said disdainfully, “If your grandfather was still alive, he would probably scold you and me together. It’s all my fault for spoiling you too much when you were young.”

Aunt Hua had been radical in her youth, feeling that she came from a capitalist family and had picked up many bad habits. She should have tried to correct those bad habits, but of course, she didn’t dare to teach her children.

Later, after experiencing more, she saw through it. Instead of reflecting on herself, it was better to criticize others. She was already very excellent, so why change anything?

It was just that by then, her son’s personality had already been formed. At that time, the whole society was playing Landlord, if she had taught him to play Mahjong, it wouldn’t have been appropriate, and he wouldn’t have been able to learn it anyway.

When the revolution first started, many hot-headed young people not only reported their teachers and classmates, but also their own parents, trying to “help them make progress.”

So Aunt Hua remained steady and didn’t do anything, not even telling Political Commissar Xu about her family’s assets.

Even her own son didn’t recognize the goods, but Lin Xiangnan knew. Aunt Hua curiously asked Political Commissar Xu, “Have you seen Xiao Lin’s political review materials?”

Political Commissar Xu replied, “I have, there’s no problem. Her family are all workers, and she just graduated from high school this year. Her background is clean.”

Aunt Hua nodded and didn’t say anything else. She secretly muttered to herself, Lin Xiangnan’s family is proper, but she must have improper friends outside.

Lin Xiangnan really couldn’t identify antiques. She had just read too much news from her past life, and her knowledge was quite broad.

Before she crossed over, her grandfather was a nouveau riche, her father was a rich second generation, and she was a third-generation eater. It wasn’t possible for their family to have much background.

Moreover, 200 million yuan was only enough for Lin Xiangnan to be financially free, to lie flat and eat and drink, but not more.

If she went into collecting or started a business, she would be sleeping on the streets in less than a year.

Money in the future would be worthless, but money now was still quite valuable. Lin Xiangnan had already made up her mind that when the reform and opening up came, she would buy a few  courtyards houses and a few buildings, and continue to collect rent to make a living.

Her plan to lie flat was clear and concise. Knowing that Aunt Hua’s family had treasures, Lin Xiangnan didn’t react at all and calmly lived her own little life.

She was so calm that Aunt Hua couldn’t sit still and took the initiative to approach her.

“Big Yellow brought back two small dried fish today. Did you give them to him?”

“Big Yellow lay on his back and let me pet him for half an hour.” Lin Xiangnan said seriously, “It’s his selling price, I can’t shortchange him.”

“Are you frying dried fish today? This stuff uses a lot of oil. Won’t your family’s oil run out?” Aunt Hua took the initiative to say, “If it’s not enough, tell me, I can spare some for you.”

She took the initiative, and Lin Xiangnan didn’t refuse. “Alright. Aunt Hua, you can trade oil for dried fish.”

After eating Lin Xiangnan’s dried fish, Aunt Hua was once again captivated by Lin Xiangnan’s cooking skills.

She said to herself, Lin Xiangnan eats good food and drinks every day, how could she be an honest person?

Since everyone was not honest, what was she afraid of?

Anyway, Lin Xiangnan was almost touching her bottom line. Aunt Hua also became uninhibited.

When Lin Xiangnan lifted the curtain beads at her house, Aunt Hua directly instructed, “Be careful, don’t break it for me.”

Lin Xiangnan took a closer look and saw tourmaline and jade among the various colored glass beads.

“Alright.” She consciously lightened her grip.

Lin Xiangnan accidentally bumped into a chair, and Aunt Hua didn’t even bother to help her up. Instead, she quickly went to check if her chair was damaged.

“Aunt Hua, I bumped my hand!”

“You bumped it, so you bumped it. What’s all the fuss about? You’re so big, you can’t even watch where you’re going.”

Lin Xiangnan rolled her eyes. She didn’t know much about wood, so she directly patted the chair and asked, “What kind of wood is this?”

“I won’t tell you.” Aunt Hua glanced at her and said tentatively, “Unless you treat me to that secret recipe for braised beef ribs again.”