Chapter 32

Sister Zhao noticed the dazed expression on Jiang Chunzao’s face and became even more eager to gossip.

She rambled on about many things regarding Fang Man, saying that Fang Man not only had bad relationships with people in the military district, but also wasn’t liked at school.

She went on to say that a few years ago, Fang Man was arrogant and looked down on everyone, and in the end, she ended up marrying while pregnant. It was really embarrassing.

Sister Zhao chatted with Jiang Chunzao for quite a while, drinking up all the tea at the Lu family’s house. When she left, she still seemed to have more to say and headed home with a smile.

Before leaving, Jiang Chunzao gave her some snacks and candies from her home. Sister Zhao had a ten-year-old son named Qiangqiang, who loved sweet candies.

Recently, Qiangqiang had been playing with the two little ones at Jiang Chunzao’s home, and Jiang Chunzao also liked Qiangqiang. Every time Sister Zhao came to visit, she would always bring something tasty for Qiangqiang.

Sister Zhao knew that Jiang Chunzao treated her son well and appreciated the kindness, so she didn’t refuse and happily took the basket home.

Jiang Chunzao sent her to the door, watched Sister Zhao leave, and then returned to her own home. She went to the kitchen, found the sweet potatoes she had brought from her hometown, washed them clean, and planned to make candied sweet potatoes for the two little ones that evening.

The autumn air was crisp, the wind was gentle, and the sun was warm. After a busy day, by the time Lu Lin returned home from the army, Shitou and Moli had already eaten the sweet and sticky candied sweet potatoes.

While the two little ones were enjoying their sweet treats, Captain Lu also had his little happiness. His young wife knew he liked fish, so she had specially cleaned and cooked a big carp she had caught from the river earlier, making a creamy white fish soup.

Captain Lu sipped the milky fish soup, ate the steamed white buns his wife had made, and listened to the chattering voices of the children. A smile never left his face. His life was truly a picture of happiness—wife, children, and a warm stove.

At the same time, life in the Fang family was much tenser.

Colonel Fang’s mother, Mother Fang, sat on the kang, looking like a landowner, chattering non-stop:

“Jianshe, today I need to talk to you. Your sister is getting married for the first time, and this is the first time our Fang family is marrying off a daughter. As the eldest son and a proper battalion commander, you need to be generous with her bride price!

Let’s not talk about anything else, but your sister needs everything that a military family should have when marrying off a daughter. Things like new bed sheets, new blankets, new thermos pots, washbasins, and towels—those are all essential. And you need to prepare 66 yuan for her dowry, as the old saying goes, ‘Sixty-six for the dowry, smooth life ahead.’ And with her belly getting big, you should also buy her a good bicycle, a Phoenix brand one, so she can use it to go to work when she gets married.”

Mother Fang went on and on, even asking her son to buy a new set of furniture as part of the dowry. Colonel Fang felt his head spin. My goodness, did his mother think he was a rich landowner? The new bed sheets and blankets were still acceptable, but the 66 yuan, the bicycle, and the new furniture were just too much.

Colonel Fang was feeling a headache but managed to restrain himself from interrupting his mother’s words. After all, she was his mother, and his younger sister was involved—what could he possibly say?

However, Sister Fang, who had been listening to her mother-in-law’s words, couldn’t hold back a series of sneers. Fang Man, who had been sitting proudly on the kang, cradling her belly and smiling, suddenly noticed her sister-in-law’s sneering expression. Her temper flared, and she jumped up, glaring at her sister-in-law.

“What are you laughing at?!”

“What am I laughing at? If I’m not laughing, should I cry? What’s the matter? Does Fang Man control the heavens, the earth, and even people’s bowel movements?” Sister-in-law Fang, since returning from her family’s house, had become more and more fierce. Several times, Fang Man had provoked her, and Sister-in-law Fang had managed to make her cry.

This time, Fang Man didn’t get the upper hand. She could only clutch her stomach and cry out to her mother.

“Mother! My stomach hurts!”

“Eldest daughter-in-law what are you doing! Are you trying to turn things upside down? Are you rebelling or something?”

Mother Fang hurried over to help her angry daughter sit down, and then she turned to Sister-in-law Fang and scolded her.

“Is this how you act as a sister-in-law? Little Man is your sister-in-law. This is our Fang family’s first time marrying off a daughter, and as the eldest daughter-in-law, this is your attitude?”

Sister-in-law Fang clicked her tongue, sounding surprised.

“Mother, we only have one daughter in our family. Isn’t this our first time marrying off a daughter? How many times do you expect to marry off a daughter? Besides, we live in the mountains. Are we supposed to buy Fang Man a bicycle so she can ride it back and forth every day?”

“You!”

Mother Fang was so furious that her head nearly steamed. She slapped Colonel Fang on the head, stomping her feet as she cursed him.

“Fang Jianshe! You bastard! Is this the good wife you’ve brought home? Are you just going to sit there and watch your mother and sister get bullied? What a useless fool you are!”

Colonel Fang, stung by the slap from his mother, gritted his teeth in pain but could only say defensively:

“Mother, what are you doing? Your daughter-in-law is carrying our Fang family’s child!”

What?!

His daughter-in-law was pregnant?

Mother Fang’s eyes went wide, and the next second, her face broke into a beaming smile. Oh, this was great news! Ever since the eldest son had given birth to Mingming, there had been no other children in the family for years.

The grandson she had been waiting for was finally on the way! Mother Fang immediately transformed into a completely different person, squinting her old eyes and becoming warm and affectionate toward Sister-in-law Fang, asking after her health. Fang Man, standing by the side, was so angry she could hardly stand it. She tugged at her mother a couple of times, wanting to talk to her about the dowry issue.

In the end, after Mother Fang had said everything she wanted, Fang Man could only hold her stomach and leave in a huff.

It wasn’t clear how the Fang family had discussed things, but in the end, Fang Man’s dowry ended up being like most other military families marrying off their daughters. It consisted of a new set of clothes, a new pair of shoes, two new blankets, a new thermos, a new washbasin, towels, and the like. Colonel Fang also prepared 20 yuan in dowry money for his younger sister.

To be fair, this dowry was actually considered quite good in the military district. In those days, this was considered decent, especially for a military family. Everyone depended on the army allowances to put together a respectable dowry. If this had been in a mountain village, though, forget about new clothes and blankets—when a girl in the mountains got married, she’d be lucky to get a new cotton coat as part of her dowry, and that was about it.

The military wives would often talk about Sister-in-law Fang and her husband, praising them for being good people, and they all said the dowry was quite well-prepared. But even though it was decent by military standards, Fang Man was still dissatisfied. As she looked at the two new blankets on the kang, she couldn’t help but feel resentment.

What is this? How can this be called a dowry? So shabby!

Fang Man was angry with her family. As she glanced at her foolish husband, her disdain grew. In fact, she had always been thinking of Lu Lin. If it weren’t for the fact that she had acted recklessly after drinking and ended up in bed with her husband, getting pregnant and having to marry him, she would never have looked at this dumb, poor husband in the first place!

Originally, Fang Man had thought about finding a chance to flirt with Lu Lin and claim that the baby in her belly was his, but every time she tried to find an opportunity to visit the army, she couldn’t find him. After asking around, she found out that Lu Lin’s wife had come, and every day, after being at the army, Lu Lin would hurry home early to spend time with his wife and children.

Where was she supposed to go to find him?

Fang Man was already in a bad mood about getting married, and when she went back to her parental home, she had hoped to walk around the Lu family’s front door with her belly showing. However, on that day, Sister-in-law Fang kept a tight watch on her. Not only did she not get to leave the house, but she wasn’t even allowed out of the room!

Thinking about this made Fang Man even more upset.

Meanwhile, over at the Lu family’s house, because of Jiang Chunzao’s creative idea to make candied sweet potatoes for the two little ones and send some over to Sister Zhao’s house, after the little foodie Qiangqiang had eaten them, all the little foodies from the military district came running to the Lu house.

The little ones didn’t say a word when they arrived at the Lu family’s house. They just stood there, eagerly eyeing Jiang Chunzao. At first, Jiang Chunzao didn’t understand why they were all staring at her. But when she heard Sister Zhao’s words, she realized that the little foodies had all come specifically for the candied sweet potatoes she had made.

Jiang Chunzao, both amused and exasperated, told Lu Lin about the situation, and he couldn’t help but laugh too. The next day, the couple took out the sweet potatoes they had brought from their hometown, washed them clean, and coated them with sugar to make candied sweet potatoes. They waited for the little foodies to come knocking.

When the little foodies came over again, they couldn’t get enough of the candied sweet potatoes at the Lu family’s house. Afterward, they all went home demanding more.

The military district’s wives, who had lived in the mountains for years, had no idea how to make candied sweet potatoes. So, with no other choice, they carried baskets to Jiang Chunzao’s house to ask her for the recipe.

Jiang Chunzao immediately shared the method of making candied sweet potatoes with the wives, who promised to try making them at home.

The wives were all skilled, and when they followed Jiang Chunzao’s instructions at home, they managed to make delicious candied sweet potatoes.

This delighted the little foodies in their households.

While the wives were rewarding their little ones with the sweet treats at home, Lu Lin and his wife weren’t idle either. The military district had allocated a piece of land to them, about one and a half acres. Although the land wasn’t large, their family of four didn’t need a huge supply of food, especially since they also had Lu Lin’s allowance. As long as they grew enough food to feed themselves, that was all that mattered.

For the past few days, Lu Lin’s family had been working from dawn until dusk, trying to get the last batch of wheat planted before the end of autumn.

Jiang Chunzao spent her evenings in the yard, hoping the weather would cooperate. She prayed that it wouldn’t rain during these crucial days. Fortunately, the weather was kind, and after they finally finished planting the wheat, the autumn rains began to fall lightly.

Once the fieldwork was done, Jiang Chunzao had more free time.

In addition to tending to the vegetables in the garden and caring for the chickens at home, Lu Lin had also moved some fruit trees from the mountains—pear, peach, and apple trees.

Although they were wild, the wives had told her that the fruit from these trees tasted really good.

One morning, as light rain fell outside, Jiang Chunzao was bringing out three pounds of meat that Lu Lin had bought for her when she suddenly felt a wave of discomfort in her stomach.

She quickly ran to the yard and began dry heaving.

Lu Lin rushed out of the house when he saw his wife in distress. He was incredibly worried and quickly called for a doctor from the military district to check on her. The military doctor took her pulse and smiled.

“Congratulations, Captain Lu’s wife. It looks like the family will be welcoming another child.”

Lu Lin had just been promoted from company commander to battalion commander. Jiang Chunzao had been planning to celebrate his promotion, and now, as if on cue, this “promotion gift” had arrived on its own.