As soon as Li Chengze heard they were having chicken, he immediately lost interest in going out.

He dashed into the kitchen to grab a knife. “Donghai, Xiling, come look, which one are we eating today?”

Gou Dan and Lu Dan didn’t bother with their homework anymore.

They rushed out, opened the chicken coop, and the three of them ran around the yard, ready to kill the chicken.

“Brother, you can’t kill the chicken. You’ll get dizzy. Let me do it today,” Lu Dan said.

Gou Dan was also grabbing a kitchen knife. “No, no, I’ll kill it. I want to kill the chicken too.”

Li Chengze acted like the big brother. “You guys don’t know anything. This chicken, I have to kill it today,” he said, determined to redeem himself from the last time.

He tied a red scarf over his eyes and said, “Got it? I’m about to kill it.”

“Go ahead, go ahead. You’re awesome, brother,” Lu Dan and Gou Dan admired him without limits.

Li Chengze tied the scarf over his eyes and expertly cut the chicken’s neck, successfully killing it this time.

Gou Dan rushed over to report, “Mom, Chengze brother didn’t get dizzy today!”

“Great, today mom will make you a special chicken dish, but there are only two legs per chicken. Xiling, do you want a leg?” Su Xiangwan asked.

Gou Dan answered promptly, “I’ll give my chicken leg to Zhi Zhi. I don’t need it.”

The bribery didn’t work.

Su Xiangwan then said, “How about this: If you tell me what Chengze has been doing outside lately, I’ll give you a belt, okay?”

The belt Lu Dan had was one Su Xiangwan had taken from Li Chengze.

Lu Dan tied his belt more formally than Li Chengze. Unlike him, who wore it low on his waist, Lu Dan wore it high up on his stomach, like the leaders in photos.

He walked proudly with his chest puffed out.

Li Chengze, meanwhile, had recently gotten himself a new belt, a child’s version, and he wore it with pride.

Gou Dan, each time he saw their belts, couldn’t help but envy them, which led to Su Xiangwan bargaining with him.

“I know, Chengze brother has been going to the county art troupe a lot. He says he’s helping them paint and they give him money,” Gou Dan said quietly. “He also said that the art troupe has a lot of beautiful women.”

Beautiful women?

Such a fashionable and sophisticated term was something kids wouldn’t usually say.

Su Xiangwan took note of this and sent the three kids off to play with the neighbors’ children.

She then began preparing the chicken.

She boiled the chicken, plucked its feathers, and roasted it over a coal stove.

She chopped it into small pieces for a hotpot.

She also added some vegetables from the supply store, preparing a hearty meal.

Soon, Song Tingxiu arrived.

But just as he was about to enter, a woman in black with her hair spiked high came out from the neighbor’s house.

This was Li Yifan, the woman who made all the men in the entire Qing Shui County terrified.

Song Tingxiu, who had been reprimanded multiple times for his poor handling of public security, quickly turned around and bumped into a tall young woman.

“Uncle?” Su Xianghong, holding a braised pig’s trotter, helped steady him.

“This is Xianghong. I heard you’ve taken in an elderly woman. How’s it going? Is it troublesome?” Song Tingxiu asked.

Su Xianghong replied, “Aunt Wang’s legs aren’t great, but she’s still strong elsewhere. She can cook for me with a cane, so it’s fine.”

Since her mother wasn’t around, and her sister lived far away, Su Xianghong felt lucky to have found a surrogate mother in Aunt Wang, who made her dinner every night.

Also, she had opened the first registered clinic in the entire Qing Shui County.

Though it only operated for two hours each evening, the business was booming.

In just a few days, she had already earned dozens of yuan.

She lifted the pig’s trotters and said, “Look, this is what I braised today. Not bad, right?”

Song Tingxiu replied, “If Aunt Wang’s health is poor, it’s probably nothing, but if she gets better, I’m afraid Gao Bin won’t just let it go. If that happens, remember to report it. I’ll teach him a lesson for you.”

When Gao Bin was Aunt Wang’s adopted son, he had bullied her.

That kind of dispute was considered a family matter and couldn’t be dealt with by the police.

But now that they were no longer related, if Gao Bin dared to bully Aunt Wang again, Song Tingxiu could give him a good beating.

As a member of the police, that was their job.

Today was Saturday, the day that Song Qingshan had specifically asked Song Tingxiu to come home for dinner.

Su Xianghong and Song Tingxiu entered the courtyard, smelling a strong chicken soup aroma mixed with an odd smell that was hard to describe—was it stinky or fragrant?

Immediately, they both went into the kitchen.

“There are so many dishes, sis. Can we eat all of this?” Su Xianghong was shocked to see a large basin full of food.

She also added, “Sis, it smells a bit stinky. Are you sure you didn’t put anything rotten in the food?”

Su Xiangwan lifted the lid and said, “It’s spicy hotpot. It might smell a bit, but it tastes great. You’ve never had it before, so just wait outside.”

Song Tingxiu went outside, and Su Xianghong washed her hands, then looked around, asking, “Sis, where’s Zhi Zhi?”

“In the next door. There’s an old lady who really likes looking after children, so recently, Zhi Zhi has been with her,” Su Xiangwan explained.

“I’ll go get Zhi Zhi,” Su Xianghong offered.

Su Xiangwan quickly stopped her, “No, the next door is the county magistrate’s house. You’d better not let her see you.”

If Li Yifan saw Su Xianghong was her sister, he would likely judge her, thinking she was using family connections to gain favors at work.

“Tingxiu, come here. I need to ask you something.” Seeing Song Tingxiu standing in the yard, Su Xiangwan called him over.

“Does our county still have a cultural troupe? I never knew about it before,” Su Xiangwan asked.

Song Tingxiu replied, “It was recently established to entertain the cadres and soldiers at the reservoir. They brought in people from the provincial cultural troupe, but the girls are quite arrogant and rarely come out. On weekends, they all go back to Qinzhou. Why do you ask about this, sis?”

Su Xiangwan said, “Can you check if any of them are direct relatives of Li Chengze, or if anyone knows his direct family members?”

“No problem. I’ll help you look into it, big sis,” Song Tingxiu said.

Before long, the three children came rushing back.

“Mom, is the hotpot ready?” Li Chengze shouted.

This child loved spicy hotpot, especially the bean paste, which was his favorite thing in the northern diet that he wasn’t used to.

Just a moment ago, he had called her Aunt Su, but as soon as he smelled the bean paste, Su Xiangwan instantly became his mom.

“It’ll be ready soon. Wait outside for now.”

The hotpot was ready, and by the time it was almost 7 PM, Song Qingshan returned.

When these two brothers met, of course, they had to talk about work.

But neither of them let the other get a word in, and they ate quickly—one large rooster was devoured in no time, leaving only bones, which became the “main course” for Daxian.

After they sent off Song Tingxiu and Su Xianghong, Song Qingshan made sure to remind Song Tingxiu to take Su Xianghong home and bring Zhi Zhi back from next door, then it would be bedtime.

Now, every night, Song Qingshan had to make sure that Su Xiangwan’s underwear was washed and hung up, ready for the next day.

After all, fabric coupons were limited, and no matter how many fabric coupons they had, the children came first.

Su Xiangwan only had two pairs of underwear.

If she didn’t wash them for a day, she wouldn’t have any clean ones the next day.

“Don’t you think Tingxiu and Xianghong would make a good pair?” Song Qingshan suddenly asked while washing the underwear on the floor.

Su Xiangwan had already guessed that Song Qingshan was trying to matchmake Song Tingxiu and Xianghong.

“My sister is only 18, still young. We can talk about this later,” Su Xiangwan replied, holding Zhi Zhi in her arms and closing her eyes.

She probably had hurt Zhi Zhi a little the other day, as today, Song Qingshan, very consciously, just lay on the bed.

But as he was almost asleep, Su Xiangwan suddenly asked, “I’ve been here for a while. Can I visit the reservoir tomorrow?”

Song Qingshan hesitated a moment before answering, “Sure, now the entire reservoir is open, except for the dam area. If you want to go, the kids won’t be able to stay home. You can take them along if you want.”

Su Xiangwan hummed lightly, thinking that it seemed a bit tricky.

She had originally planned to deal with the matter with Li Chengze.

According to the original story, the woman involved with Li Chengze in the cultural troupe had a big problem.

But after a quick calculation, she realized that Song Qingshan had something important to do tomorrow, and she needed to visit the reservoir to find out more.

Holding soft little Zhi Zhi in her arms, Su Xiangwan thought about how in her past life, her daughter had only lived to six.

She felt that there were many things she couldn’t ignore anymore.

She had to provide Zhi Zhi with a good environment to grow up happily and safely.

As for Song Qingshan…

“I wrote a letter a few days ago asking Qingyue to send you a few more sets of underwear from Beijing. She replied saying she has a few Su-style bras, but they’re probably too small, so she didn’t…”

“Didn’t send them to me?” Su Xiangwan slapped him on the head. “Are you dumb? Didn’t you realize that if I don’t take care of myself, my chest is going to sag?”

“Your chest looks really good, truly,” Song Qingshan said, feeling dry-mouthed.

Before Su Xiangwan could slap him, Song Qingshan hurriedly pulled out a bra. “It’s been sent. She said, once you see this, you’ll definitely decide to go vegetarian. But I think, if there’s meat, why go vegetarian?”

Su Xiangwan sat up, turned on the light, and sure enough, it was the standard Su-style bra from fifty or sixty years ago.

Her body had given birth to three children, and honestly, if she didn’t take care of it soon, it would succumb to gravity.

She had to admit, Hou Qingyue was truly a good comrade and a good judge.

After a moment of hesitation, Su Xiangwan, as a mother, a civil servant, and a military spouse, decided to pull herself together again.