Chapter 18.1

In her past life, Su Ting had worked as an office worker for many years. She had to handle bosses and clients, so her mental resilience was quite strong.

Although she had revealed two small flaws, they weren’t a big deal, and she could easily explain them. So, she quickly composed herself and replied: “I also think calling you Mom feels closer.”

Chen Xiaoman laughed happily: “Then, from now on, just call me that.”

Su Ting acted shy on the surface, but inwardly she sighed with relief and responded: “Okay.”

“Xiao Yan said you went to the city today?”

“Mm-hmm, the Military primary school held a midterm exam a few days ago, and He… Dongchuan and I thought he did well. He’s been working really hard lately, so we decided to bring him to the city to take a look around and buy a toy as a reward.”

“Military primary school had an exam? Xiao Yan is in primary school now?”

Su Ting froze for a moment, looking up at He Dongchuan.

He Dongchuan replied: “I haven’t had the chance to tell my parents yet.”

From his tone, Su Ting guessed that the original person probably didn’t know that he hadn’t told his parents about it. She briefly explained the situation to Chen Xiaoman on the phone and informed her of He Yan’s score.

Chen Xiaoman responded with surprise: “So Xiao Yan did well in the exam.”

“Xiao Yan is very smart.”

No grandmother would dislike hearing praise for their grandchild’s intelligence. Chen Xiaoman was in a good mood, repeating “good” three times. Then, she asked: “So, will Xiao Yan move up to second grade next semester, or will he repeat the year?”

Su Ting answered: “Dongchuan originally planned to have him repeat the year, but he wanted to move up. I told him that I’d help him with extra lessons during this time, and we’ll see how he does in the final exam.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the line, and then Chen Xiaoman sighed: “Tingting, you’re a good girl. I didn’t misjudge you.”

Although she had encouraged He Dongchuan to marry Su Ting partly for her reputation, the main reason was that she wanted someone she could trust to take care of He Yan.

Although she didn’t know Su Ting very well, she was close friends with Su’s mother for many years and trusted her character. She believed that a child raised by Su Ting wouldn’t be bad. During her visit home, the only thing Su Ting couldn’t hide was her love for He Dongchuan, but her overall personality also seemed to be quite good.

Her affection for He Dongchuan was seen as a plus in Chen Xiaoman’s eyes. She hoped that Su Ting would love He Yan as well, because of her feelings for He Dongchuan.

Chen Xiaoman’s thoughts weren’t entirely wrong. When the original person loved He Dongchuan, she had indeed been kind to He Yan. However, that love had ultimately turned into hatred, and her affection for He Dongchuan had transformed into a dislike for everything related to him.

After Su Ting finished talking to Chen Xiaoman, the phone was handed back to He Dongchuan. However, the conversation between the mother and son was brief, and within three minutes, the call was ended.

When they went to pay, Su Ting realized that the brevity of the call was a good thing. Phone calls were incredibly expensive at the time; it cost a whole yuan per minute!

The call lasted seventeen minutes, which was enough to pay for an entire month’s salary of an apprentice at a state-run factory!

…

By the time they left the post office, it was already lunchtime. The three of them didn’t go too far and entered a century-old shop selling rouyan (meat dumplings) along the street.

Rouyan, also known as taipingyan, is made with a delicate meat skin combined with sweet potato flour, hand-made into thin skins. Inside, it is filled with a stuffing. The shape resembles wontons, but the skin is much thinner. Once boiled, the skin becomes transparent like jade, and it’s soft, tender, and chewy to eat.

The shop didn’t only sell rouyan; it also offered fish balls and yanshi (meat dumpling skins). The fish balls were made by grinding fish meat into a skin and stuffing it with minced meat, while yanshi was made from the skin of rouyan, giving it a smooth and tender texture.

They ordered four liang (a traditional Chinese weight measure, about 50 grams) of each.

He Dongchuan originally wanted to order half a kilogram of each, but Su Ting stopped him. She couldn’t eat that much and didn’t want to waste food. However, He Dongchuan’s measure of portion size was different from hers. He thought half a kilogram wasn’t that much, so after some back and forth, they ended up ordering only one liang less of each.

Su Ting: … Alright, he’ll finish whatever’s left anyway.

Though the shop was busy, the food came out quickly. Soon, three large bowls were brought to their table, along with small bowls, chopsticks, and soup spoons.

He Dongchuan took a soup spoon and served a bowl of rouyan each to Su Ting and He Yan.

Su Ting had to admit, he did a good job in this regard. Even in her past life, very few of her friends’ husbands or boyfriends knew to serve their wives or girlfriends the first bowl of soup.

Su Ting thought to herself as she took a sip of the soup.

The broth was salty and savory, not bad.

When she ate the rouyan, its texture was somewhat like wontons, but still different. It was hard to decide which tasted better; food was subjective, and the same dish could taste different when made by different people, so it wasn’t really something to compare.

But the taste was certainly good, and Su Ting found herself finishing an entire bowl without realizing it.

Su Ting looked up at the father and son across from her. He Dongchuan didn’t need to be mentioned; he had been here before, and if he didn’t like it, he wouldn’t have brought them here this time.

He Yan ate slowly, leaving more than half of his bowl of meat-filled dumplings. This wasn’t because he didn’t like them, but because he found the texture of the dumplings quite novel, and each one required a lot of chewing. When he saw Su Ting looking over, he deliberately exaggerated his chewing motion, saying: “Mom, this is so fun to eat!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, his dad gave him a tap on the head and said: “Eat properly, don’t mess around.”

He Yan froze for a moment, then let out a heavy “Oh” and reduced the extent of his chewing.

After they were full and had drunk enough, they prepared to leave. However, on their way back, they passed a shop that sold sugar paintings. The dragons, horses, monkeys, and other animals painted with sugar on sticks caught He Yan’s attention immediately, making him unable to move his feet.

Seeing how much he liked it and that it was still early, Su Ting and He Dongchuan discussed briefly and then decided to take him to join the line.

After standing in line for more than half an hour, it was finally He Yan’s turn. Looking at the vivid animals on the table, he waved his hand grandly and said he wanted them all.

The elderly man selling the sugar paintings was stunned for a moment and asked: “These don’t last long. It’s best to eat them today. Are you sure you want them all?”

Before He Yan could answer, He Dongchuan said: “You can only choose one.”

He Yan had actually been prepared for this, but as a child, he liked testing the boundaries of adults. So after a sigh, he quickly made his decision, saying: “Then I want the dragon.”

“What else do you want?” Su Ting asked.

He Yan looked up in confusion and said: “Huh?”

“I’ll also buy one, and you can choose another pattern.” Su Ting said, then looked at He Dongchuan. “Do you want one?”

He Dongchuan shook his head, saying: “I don’t need one.”

Although his dad didn’t want one, He Yan was already happy that he could choose another pattern. He loudly declared: “Then I want a big tiger!”

“Alright! A dragon and a tiger.” the elderly man said, then scooped a ladle of syrup from the pot and started drawing on the board.

He had been making sugar figures for decades, and animals were the most common ones to draw. He was quick, and in just a few minutes, he had finished the dragon, picked it up, and handed it to He Yan.

He Yan took the stick, raised it high, and began waving his arms, mimicking the dragon’s soaring posture. He shouted: “It’s flying, it’s flying!”

He was having so much fun, but the parents around him, with children in tow, were starting to feel a headache. Little kids were always intrigued by such strange and unique things, and they began crying and whining, wanting a sugar figure too.

Some parents even asked Su Ting for the price.

After hearing this, Su Ting glanced at the shop owner, puzzled as to why they were asking her when the owner was right in front of them, but she still gave the price.

After hearing the price, some parents decided to buy one for their children, while others thought it was too expensive and dragged their crying kids away.

Amidst the noise, the tiger was also finished.

Su Ting took the stick from the shopkeeper’s hand and, holding it, headed straight for He Yan, deliberately making tiger growling sounds.

He Yan immediately became excited, holding up the dragon and rushing toward Su Ting, who was holding the tiger. When he got closer, he asked: “How does the dragon roar?”

This question really touched on a gap in Su Ting’s knowledge. She only knew about the dragon’s roar, but she wasn’t sure exactly how it was supposed to sound. With some uncertainty, she said: “You can make it up?”

Upon hearing this, He Yan began roaring while charging forward with the dragon in his hand.

Su Ting roared back, then tapped the dragon’s tail with the tiger’s head and said: “I’ve eaten your dragon’s tail. Now, you have to bite your dragon’s tail for me.”

“Can it really be like that?” He Yan asked, stunned.

“Of course! Otherwise, how would we know who wins?” Su Ting said calmly, convincing the little one. “If my tiger’s head touches the part below your dragon’s head, you have to bite a piece of your sugar dragon. If your dragon’s head touches the part below my tiger’s head, I’ll bite a piece of yours. Whoever has more sugar left at the end, wins.”

He Yan thought for a moment and decided to accept Su Ting’s suggestion. He brought the dragon’s tail to her mouth and said: “You can only take a small bite.”

Su Ting agreed while taking a large bite of the dragon’s tail.

“You’re lying!” He Yan cried out: “You said you’d take a small bite!”

“I did take a small bite. Who told me I have a big mouth?” Su Ting said without changing her expression. “If you’re upset, you can come and fight me.”

He Yan raised his sugar figure and shouted: “Charge!”

So, on their way to the bus stop, the mother and son took turns charging at each other, stopping now and then for a bite of the dragon or a big bite of the tiger.

It was… very childish.

To the point where He Dongchuan got the feeling that today he wasn’t out with his wife and child but rather with Dad taking the kids out.

It must have been an illusion.

…

On the way back, the wind picked up on the sea, and the waves grew rough. The ferry was no longer as smooth as it had been in the morning. He Yan was swayed and felt a bit dizzy, curling up weakly in He Dongchuan’s arms.

Although he didn’t get seasick enough to throw up, once they got off the ferry, He Dongchuan had to carry him home. When they got back, He Yan was still too dazed to recover immediately and fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed. He was only woken up for dinner in the evening.

After eating and drinking his fill, He Yan became full of energy again, grabbed the toy car he had unpacked, and headed outside.

He was going to show off his new toy!

When he reached the playground, He Yan went straight to find his deskmate, Zhang Xiaokai.

Zhang Xiaokai was seven years old, a little older than He Yan, though they were about the same height. He was a bit dark-skinned and thin, but his hair was thick, and he had just recently gotten a buzz cut, which felt a little prickly when touched.

When He Yan found Zhang Xiaokai, he was lying on the ground, watching others play marbles.

He had lost all of his marbles earlier, and since he hadn’t done well on his midterm exams, his mom wouldn’t give him any pocket money. So now, he could only watch others play.

As he was absorbed in watching, Zhang Xiaokai’s shoulder was suddenly tapped. He almost jumped up in surprise, turning his head and asking: “Who is it?” When he saw who it was, his expression changed from annoyance to excitement. “You’re back? What’s this?” he asked, pointing at the big toy in He Yan’s arms.

He Yan grabbed both sides of the toy and raised his chin, saying: “It’s a toy car!”

Not just Zhang Xiaokai, but the kids gathered around to watch the marble game all turned their attention to the toy car in He Yan’s hands and threw him envious looks. “Wow, what a big toy car!”

Someone else asked: “Where did you get such a big toy car?”

“I bought it!” He Yan proudly announced. “My dad and mom got it for me!” After boasting, he turned to Zhang Xiaokai and said: “Let me tell you, this is a military truck, you know, the kind of big truck that my dad and the others drive in the Military Unit? And look, the wheels of this truck can move! Watch.” He Yan slid the toy car in his hands: “But to make it run, we need to find a smooth surface.”

Zhang Xiaokai looked around, pointing to the open space by the door. “That place is flatter.”

“Then let’s go there.” He Yan nodded and led Zhang Xiaokai to the open space.

Although He Yan didn’t invite the other kids, quite a few followed him to the open space. A large group of them walked over and found a flat, slightly sloped area to set the toy car down. Then they reached forward and gave it a gentle push.

The toy car slowly but steadily slid down.

The surrounding kids all gasped in surprise.

In fact, there were other toy cars in the compound, and not just the wheels of this one could move, but this was the only one that was so big, so cool, and could actually slide.

He Yan went on to show off other features, such as the doors that could open, the driver sitting in the driver’s seat, and the cargo area at the back.

The more the kids looked, the more they loved it and couldn’t get enough of it. The more they watched, the more they envied He Yan.

Someone couldn’t help but ask: “Xiao Yan, why did your dad and mom buy you this toy car?”

The question struck a chord with everyone, and they all turned their gaze to He Yan. They, too, wanted a toy car.

He Yan, holding the toy car, answered: “Because I did well on my midterm exam, and my mom said I worked hard, so she’s rewarding me.”

The reactions from the others varied. The students with good grades silently took note of his words, planning to ask their parents for a reward when they got home. The ones with poor grades sighed, thinking that with their poor scores, they would be lucky just not to get scolded, let alone receive a reward. As for those who hadn’t started school yet, they clenched their fists, determined to go to school too, aiming for their own rewards!

Only Zhang Xiaokai looked confused. Had He Yan really done well on his exams?

His gaze slowly shifted from He Yan’s face down to the toy car He Yan was holding.

He Yan had ranked third-to-last in the exams, but his parents had still rewarded him with a toy military truck. If he went to ask for a toy car from his parents, it should… be reasonable, right?

That night, as expected, the sound of Lady Huang’s furious shouting filled the Zhang household: “Out of 52 students, you ranked sixth-to-last, and you still want a reward?! Do you want me to reward you with a stir-fried bamboo shoots and pork dish instead?!”

Zhang Xiaokai: “…wuwuwu!”

…