Chapter 5

“Nianming, Nianyue, don’t bother your mother, come over and eat.” Wang Qinghe said, scooping the two children out of his wife’s arms.

He didn’t know why, but he felt his wife’s gaze was not friendly.

Bai Xiuxiu stared at Wang Qinghe for a moment, looking at his face that met her aesthetic standards, and his affection for her, she barely held back!

This unlucky man! Couldn’t he be a little nicer to their children?

What? His wife was his, but the children weren’t?

What was going on in his head!

Wang Qinghe didn’t know what she was thinking. He was in a great mood, surrounded by his beloved wife and the two children she had given him.

“Go get the food, did Mom say anything else?” Bai Xiuxiu took the rice bowl.

This was 1966. Although they had passed the time of starvation, the conditions were not much better.

Every household didn’t have enough to eat, and the Wang family had many mouths to feed.

Plus, the two old people at home were partial, saving all the money to subsidize their beloved youngest son and second son, so their food and drink were even worse!

Even though there was food from the fifth son Wang Qingqi’s wedding, the food wasn’t much better.

A bowl of buckwheat porridge, with a sticky pancake, was one person’s portion.

As for the dish, it was the meat dishes from the wedding, mixed with the cabbage leaves from their private plot that were prepared for drying, all cooked in one pot.

Apart from being meaty, it had almost no relation to being delicious!

Bai Xiuxiu had been a ghost for decades, and she had seen all the prosperity of the future. Although she couldn’t eat good food, she could at least see it! Looking at the food in front of her, she desperately wanted to eat something decent!

Wang Qinghe sat opposite his wife, feeding the children while watching her.

He saw her staring at the stewed dish with eyes that were almost like knives. He was completely baffled. “Wife, what’s wrong with the food?”

“I want to eat good food.” Bai Xiuxiu blurted out her thoughts!

“Mingming wants to eat good food too!”

“Yueyue wants to eat good food too!”

Looking at his wife and two children, Wang Qinghe felt a surge of pressure. “The village is busy with the harvest right now, so hunting will have to wait until winter. How about… after we finish lunch, I go to the commune and buy you some ‘caozi’ cake?

Do we have enough ration coupons?”

Bai Xiuxiu hadn’t eaten anything good in decades. Hearing “caozi” cake, her eyes lit up, and she quickly opened her box to check their supplies.

She was all about enjoying life!

She wouldn’t cheat anyone, but she wouldn’t cheat herself either. So, over the years, she had eaten most of the good things her sister and mother had sent her. As for money, she hadn’t been stingy with that either.

Counting the money her mother had brought as a dowry and kept in the bottom of the box, they had a total of three hundred twenty-seven yuan and two cents left.

They still had two hundred pounds of ration coupons, but they would go quickly if they actually used them.

They didn’t have many other coupons that were useful.

This was only because Wang Qinghe could go hunting in the mountains every winter, and he could secretly stash away some game or medicinal herbs he found in the mountains and sell them for money. That’s how they had saved up.

Seeing her in a daze, Wang Qinghe thought she was worried about running out of money, so he quickly comforted her. “Wife, we have enough ration coupons. After the autumn harvest, I’ll find a way to get you some meat coupons. Tomorrow, I’ll go buy you some ‘caozi’ cake first!”

At home, Wang Qinghe never had more than one yuan in his pocket!

Bai Xiuxiu remembered this clearly, so she took out a ten-yuan bill from her box and gave it to him. “Don’t spend it recklessly. Save it until the end of the year!”

Then she gave him ten pounds of ration coupons.

After Wang Qinghe put them away, the four of them quickly finished the rest of their meal.

This was considered good food, even if they didn’t like it, they finished it all!

The Wang family had the habit of taking a nap after lunch, but Wang Qinghe didn’t!

He took the money and went out.

“Where are you going?” Zhao Guifen was already waiting at the door, wanting to talk to her eldest son first and get the room for the fifth son.

She quickly stopped him.

But it was too late!

Wang Qinghe didn’t listen to a word and ran quickly.

“Stop! Where are you running to!” Zhao Guifen scolded and chased after him for a while, but she couldn’t catch him. She was so angry that she turned around and went back to the courtyard.

Zhou Jiaojiao, who had been hiding in the room watching the situation, became anxious too. She gave her husband a hard pinch.

The fifth son, Wang Qingqi, winced in pain and came out of the room. “Mom, why don’t you talk to sister-in-law first? Isn’t this something that will eventually have to go through sister-in-law? Besides, if sister-in-law doesn’t agree, big brother…”

Zhao Guifen was speechless.

Her eldest son, besides having a handsome face, was completely useless!

He was so afraid of his wife!

Zhao Guifen thought for a moment and knocked on the door of the western room.

Inside, Bai Xiuxiu was organizing the cloth she had. She was going to make a piece of clothing for herself, her two children, and… her unlucky husband.

It was a waste to let the cloth sit there unused!

Hearing the knock, Bai Xiuxiu put everything back in her big box and opened the door latch.

She immediately met her mother-in-law’s old face.

Her good mood vanished.

Zhao Guifen entered the room, seeing the white walls, the good mat on the kang, and the brick floor, she was furious.

They lived in the same house, but after this unlucky Bai family entered, she only bothered to decorate her own room.

Compared to this room, the other rooms were like dog kennels.

She was greedy and lazy, how could she deserve this good room?

“Eldest daughter-in-law, are you feeling better? I saw the eldest son running out in a hurry just now, what was he doing?” Zhao Guifen forced a smile and squeezed into the room.

Zhou Jiaojiao quickly followed her.

Bai Xiuxiu saw the gleam in their eyes, and she knew that they were trying to switch rooms with her, just like in her previous life.

Don’t even dream about it!

Thinking about her husband’s final guesses in her previous life, Bai Xiuxiu decided to test them.

This matter of switching rooms wasn’t just about switching with her.

In her previous life, the second son’s family were all Zhou Jiaojiao’s lackeys. If Bai Xiuxiu offended the second son’s family from the beginning?

Thinking about it, Bai Xiuxiu smiled. “Thank you, Mom, for caring about me. My head still hurts a lot. I asked my husband to go to the commune to buy something. The fifth sister-in-law just got married, and I thought I’d buy her two paintings to decorate the room for good luck.”

Was she really so kind?

Zhao Guifen was stunned. Zhou Jiaojiao was also delighted.

Sure enough, no matter where she went, no one would dislike her! This was a blessing from heaven!

It seemed like this matter of the room would be settled!

“Speaking of the room, Xiuxiu, Mom wants to talk to you about something.” Zhao Guifen immediately seized the opportunity.

“Mom, I have something to say too.” Bai Xiuxiu quickly took the conversation, not giving her a chance to continue. “Mom, I think the fifth brother and his wife are really inconvenient living in the partition in your room.

They’re a young couple, why don’t they move to the eastern room?”