There were still a few rotten apricots on the tree, falling down one after another, making a sharp sound as they hit the ground.

They landed on her head, looking mushy and disgusting, like something gross.

Su Xiangwan, holding a crumpled magazine, shoved it straight into the woman’s mouth, smearing her lipstick and turning her into an ugly mess.

“Yes, I’m a shrew, but my son is only eleven. He has some talent in painting, but he’s still just a child. What he’s painting is just pictures like this, which are obscene. You’re teaching minors inappropriately, don’t you understand?” Su Xiangwan raised another magazine, speaking loudly.

This was a poster for “The Red Guard of Honghu,” but the woman in the poster, who was Liu Minli, was drawn with exaggerated curves—her chest was large, and her waist was thin.

It deliberately emphasized a certain kind of female beauty, and the woman in the poster was Liu Minli herself.

Could Su Xiangwan not understand?

Liu Minli had coaxed Li Chengze into drawing a poster for her, specifically instructing him to make the body look as beautiful as possible.

Most of the time, this was just to satisfy her own vanity.

But a child like Li Chengze was at an age where he was beginning to develop sexual awareness.

For him, this kind of thing was like pornography—poisonous and damaging.

It could corrupt children.

“If you keep chattering, just wait. I’ll take this poster to the province and report you,” Su Xiangwan said.

Liu Minli wiped the lipstick mess off her lips, but instead of being intimidated by Su Xiangwan’s warning, she defiantly said, “You, you dare slap me again!”

Su Xiangwan shrugged and said, “I’m a civilized person, I don’t hit people.”

But I enjoy humiliating sneaky people who try to manipulate other people’s kids.

To be honest, if you’re really going to care, you should learn from Secretary Deng.

To this day, Secretary Deng has never met Li Chengze, but he sent 50 pounds of food stamps and often had Sister Chen deliver vegetables.

That’s real assistance, do you understand?

Liu Minli turned and went out. Just then, she ran into Song Qingshan coming back from work.

They locked eyes, but she didn’t say anything.

She just covered her mouth and ran off crying.

Li Yifan said, “Wasn’t Xiao Liu so fierce just now? Why is she suddenly crying?”

Su Xiangwan replied, “You’re always so fierce. If you want to scold someone, you scold them. But when it’s a woman, you can’t argue back?”

Li Yifan didn’t want to say that the woman had hit her sore spot, but for the first time, he softened in front of Su Xiangwan. “I can’t argue with her. Also, is your file really problematic?”

Su Xiangwan calmly said, “Yes.”

“I’ll protect you. Don’t worry, go home with the kids now,” Li Yifan said briefly.

From her, Su Xiangwan felt the real sense of justice from a government official. And now, she didn’t look like a black goat anymore.

With her messy hair, she actually resembled a big black cat.

After returning from Li Yifan’s house, both kids were doing their homework.

Li Chengze was even more well-behaved, tutoring both Gou Dan and Lu Dan, generously sharing everything he knew.

Today, Su Xiangwan was making soy flour dough.

She couldn’t mix it herself, so she handed the rolling pin to Song Qingshan to mix it.

There was also some salted pork at home. She fried some green chilies she bought on her way back from mediating a family dispute today.

They were spicy and appetizing, and they were the favorite of the mischievous little wild boar cubs.

“By the way, we all took a bath yesterday. Why are you boiling water again today?” Song Qingshan asked as he saw the water boiling on the stove.

Su Xiangwan said, “What, is it wrong for me to take a bath?”

Song Qingshan, sweating from the steam in the pot, suddenly paused, “It shouldn’t be, but didn’t you ask me to do something yesterday? Now you’re taking a bath again, isn’t this tempting me to make a mistake?”

“If I take a bath, what does it have to do with you making a mistake?” Su Xiangwan asked in return.

Song Qingshan gave her a meaningful look, “It has everything to do with it.”

In the end, he couldn’t control himself.

He had been a good boy for half a year, not feeling anything wrong, but now, about once a week, they had intimate moments.

Of course, no matter how uncomfortable Su Xiangwan felt, she still allowed him once a week.

She called it “solving physiological needs.” But clearly, just solving the needs didn’t solve everything.

Song Qingshan felt that if this kept going on, he would soon become a quick shot.

After all, people in the north don’t take baths every day.

If Xiao Su takes another bath and smells all nice, it’s going to be even harder for him that night.

“Did you know Liu Minli before? Or in what kind of situation would you have met her? Let’s talk about it tonight, okay?” Su Xiangwan said.

“We can talk about anything, but can we do it my way tonight?” Song Qingshan asked.

When Liu Minli came to their door today, he knew she was in trouble.

Su Xiangwan didn’t speak but smiled, which meant she agreed.

Song Qingshan hurriedly boiled another pot of water for her.

Xiao Su also felt that she should be honest with Song Qingshan about Liu Minli.

After all, honesty is the way of marriage.

It was impossible for her to investigate a spy while being so busy.

This was something Song Qingshan should investigate, and he should nip Liu Minli’s trouble in the bud.

If she was involved in the explosion at the reservoir, could they deal with her in advance?

This troublesome child, when he gets married in the future, will make a good husband.

Whenever he makes a mistake, he cleans up, and he’s always aware of the work that needs to be done.

How happy would his future spouse be? I bet they’d be urging him to make mistakes every day.

“When I’m busy, Lu Dan fetches water, Gou Dan sweeps the yard. They do everything within their ability. If you’re eating at my house, you’ll have to do your part too. I won’t spare you from doing your share of the chores. But don’t treat housework as a punishment or a way to please me. You don’t need to please me—I will provide you with food, clothing, and shelter just as I should. Even if you try to please me, I can’t give you more because I don’t have much myself. Understand?” Su Xiangwan said calmly.

In her heart, Zhi Zhi would always come first, then Gou Dan and Lu Dan, and finally, Song Qingshan and Li Chengze.

Li Chengze murmured and turned to go into his room.

When he saw his two mischievous little brothers huddled together, he lay down, only to start snoring almost immediately.

Clearly, he was a clean child, and should have kept his distance when sleeping.

But no, he insisted on squeezing between them, surrounding himself with his two smelly little brothers to sleep soundly.

It was still the nightmare from three years ago that had been too terrifying.

That experience had left the child in need of more love and security.

However, after lying down for a while, Li Chengze felt he shouldn’t stay in bed any longer.

He hadn’t expected that the once gentle Liu Aunt would come over with such aggression, even using Su Xiangwan’s background against her.

Fortunately, Su Xiangwan was tough enough to send her away beforehand.

But this was the County Party Committee compound—if others found out about Su Xiangwan’s background, what would they do?

Would they kick Su Xiangwan out?

Li Chengze felt that he couldn’t just lie there.

He had to do something.

He was the kind of person who was good at settling scores and preferred taking unconventional routes.

So, he got up and sneaked out.

Meanwhile, Su Xiangwan and Song Qingshan were lying on the kang discussing Liu Minli.

Of course, Song Qingshan knew Liu Minli. After all, they were in the same system.

When Song Qingshan was thirteen, he was specially recruited into the military by Commander Li.

He had been active in the Qinzhuo Military District for a long time, and he knew everyone there.

Liu Minli had made a strong impression on Song Qingshan during a fire in Dongfeng City, but Song Qingshan didn’t have a deep impression of her.

In the book, it was mentioned that she had taken in Lu Dan when Song Qingshan was in trouble.

Out of humanitarian gratitude, Song Qingshan had planned to marry her.

However, he later found out she was a spy, and that put an end to their potential marriage.

As for Liu Minli’s background, the reason why even someone like Li Yifan, known for his explosive temper, was afraid of her was because her brother, Liu Zaiye, was currently the most influential revolutionary general in all of Qinzhuo.

It was said that when Liu Zaiye was five years old, he was kidnapped by the village protection team during the liberation, along with many other Communist Party members, and was about to be killed.

At that time, a group of party members protected him by hiding him beneath their bodies until they were all killed, allowing him to survive.

Since then, Liu Zaiye had grown up to become a fanatical revolutionary figure, a key leader who had retired from his position as regimental commander after the purge of landowners, rich people, and bad elements.

He was known as one of the most ardent revolutionaries and the most iconic “red warrior” in Qinzhuo.

Of course, this was just the surface story. Song Qingshan felt that there was no such thing as a true red warrior in the world. People were only motivated by interests.

“Is Liu Zaiye particularly handsome?” Su Xiangwan asked with a bit of schadenfreude.

Song Qingshan, the type of man who had no concept of what handsome was, replied, “He has fair skin, a stubborn and leftist personality. When we were in the same system, we competed in shooting and obstacle courses. He was never my match.”

Su Xiangwan pouted, seemingly disappointed.

“The book also says that you and Liu Minli might marry in the future, and that she might be a spy. Song Qingshan, haven’t you been looking for spies hiding in Qingshui County? Have you found any? Could it be her?” Su Xiangwan asked.

Song Qingshan answered, “It could be, but it might not be. I’ll have to go out tonight to confirm.”

“Then why are you still lying here?” Su Xiangwan asked.

Song Qingshan suddenly flipped over, moved little Zhi Zhi to one side, and got up from the bed.

He was usually reserved and shy around strangers.

But in front of his family, he was much more relaxed.

When he was happy, he’d toss the kids up in the air; when he wasn’t, he wouldn’t get angry at them.

As soon as he got onto the bed, he was both shy and nervous.

Except for necessary movements, he wouldn’t do much else, even feeling awkward about sharing a meal with his family.

With stubble on his face and his breath heavy, he wore only a tank top, his six-pack abs clearly visible.

…

“Be careful when you go out tonight,” Su Xiangwan said with an uncontainable smile.

“How was it? Was it comfortable just now?” Song Qingshan was getting dressed.

He only had military uniforms and didn’t have regular clothes.

He didn’t want to wear a military uniform to go out at night, so he searched through the wardrobe and found a navy blue liberation outfit sent by Hou Qingyue from Beijing, which he put on.

Su Xiangwan didn’t reply and covered her face with her hands.

A woman who wasn’t shy at all and could casually make inappropriate jokes could still feel shy—that meant she had enjoyed herself.

Song Qingshan finished dressing and left, almost at the same time as Li Chengze.

At that moment, Liu Minli was at the County Committee guest house, calling her brother: “Brother, I faced some resistance today.”

“What’s wrong? Is it that Song’s group is unwilling to let the child go?” Liu Zaiye’s voice sounded rugged, even over the phone.

How should she explain it? In truth, Liu Minli had no deep emotional ties to Song’s group at the moment.

She was here because of a task assigned by her brother.

And her brother’s task was simple: at any cost, she was to win over Li Chengze from Song Qingshan.

The reason, of course, lay in the enormous wealth in Li Chengze’s possession.

It wasn’t Liu Zaiye who took down Commander Li—it was a direct order from Beijing because he was part of the opposing faction.

But now it was 1970, and last year, before Vice Chairman Liu passed away, he fought hard to overturn Commander Li’s charges.

His name would soon be cleared.

Once his name was cleared, the organization would have to return the fixed assets belonging to his family.

That was an astronomical fortune.

People are self-interested by nature—survival of the fittest.

Liu Zaiye had his eyes on Commander Li’s wealth and wanted to pull Li Chengze into his camp.

This was the mission he had given his sister.

Liu Minli said, “Do you remember Song Qingshan? His family, right…”

Suddenly, there was silence on the other end of the phone.

When Liu Minli looked up, Li Chengze was standing right in front of her.

The call had been cut off by the little rascal.

Don’t be fooled by how he acts all sweet and vulnerable at home; outside, Li Chengze was cunning. “Aunt Liu, are you trying to adopt me?”