Chapter 25: Blushing and Heart Racing (Part 2)

For now, Chen Yufeng waited for Han Chao’s bonus, hoping it would come soon so she could rent the restaurant.

But another week passed, and not only was Han Chao still working overtime, but even Bao’s wife came home that evening looking grim. Seeing Wu’s wife and Chen Yufeng, she shook her head and said, “Postponed another week.”

“What’s postponed?” Chen Yufeng, still new to this, asked.

“The allowances. I heard they’re allocating funds to support the Hong Kong garrison, so all military allowances are delayed by a week,” Bao’s wife sighed. “I was planning to buy a bottle of Rejoice shampoo this week, but I guess I’ll have to wait.”

There was no shortage of food staples, but with new consumer products on the market, people wanted more—Rejoice shampoo, Dabao SOD lotion, Avon cosmetics. And, of course, permed curls, which needed to be touched up every month.

“If allowances are delayed, the battlefield bonuses are even less likely to come through,” Wu’s wife said, reminding Chen Yufeng of her own situation. She had been counting on Han Chao’s bonus, but if the military wasn’t issuing payments, what could she do?

“Battlefield bonuses? Forget about it,” Bao’s wife said. “I heard there’s going to be a massive military downsizing. The money will go toward severance pay for retiring soldiers.”

Their husbands had all served in battle.

By right, they should each receive a yearly bonus of 1,000 yuan. Han Chao had accumulated six years’ worth—6,000 yuan.

But that money was just an empty promise now—delayed indefinitely.

After much thought, Chen Yufeng decided she had to ask Chen Fanshi again. If 20,000 wasn’t possible, 10,000 would do. Even 5,000.

She called his home, and to her surprise, he picked up. But his voice was hushed.

“Feng’er, are you doing okay? Are the girls well?”

“We’re fine, but Dad, didn’t you promise me—”

Before she could finish, Chen Fanshi cut her off, lowering his voice further.

“A young woman like you shouldn’t be thinking about business. Just stay home quietly. I’m busy right now, but I’ll visit you when I can. Also, stop calling. Your Aunt Zhang isn’t in a good mood lately.”

With Ma Shangbei arrested, of course Zhang Yanli was in a foul mood.

But if the stepmother was in a bad mood, then the daughter from the first marriage shouldn’t call. That’s just how men are. That’s just how fathers are.

Yet he completely forgot that the only reason he could still make money now was because the antiques he was dealing with had been given to him by his ex-wife.

Could Chen Yufeng really let this slide without suing him?

Back home, she hesitated—should she wait a little longer for her father’s money, or just go ahead and take legal action?

Then, when she went to pick up the kids from the preschool, she found that there was another issue to deal with.

Teacher Sun had caught Mimi and spoke in a displeased tone: “Sister-in-law, Han Mi hit someone—she hit Wang Jiajia. You’ll need to visit his parents and apologize.”

Mimi had a boyish personality. Even back in their old town, she liked to get physical.

But Wang Jiajia was a little boy, and they actually got along quite well. Recently, Mimi had even been talking about him often.

So why did she suddenly hit him?

“What happened? Did you start it?” Chen Yufeng asked.

Both Teacher Sun and Mimi rushed to answer at the same time.

Mimi said, “Wang Jiajia started it! And he’s just ignorant—he said that ‘pork su bao’ only has savory fillings and no sweet ones. But that’s not true! It clearly has sweet fillings too. He couldn’t argue back, so—ugh, a big boy like him—he grabbed me!”

Teacher Sun, however, said, “Sister-in-law, Han Mi is naturally stubborn. Wang Jiajia just grabbed her once, and she immediately pushed him down. You should go apologize. He cried for a long time just now, and I’m afraid he’ll complain to his mother tonight. His mom works at our Bayi Elementary School, and Mimi will be going there soon too.”

The old Chen Yufeng, already stressed with other worries, would have just given her daughter a scolding, dragged her to apologize, and been done with it.

But this time, she noticed several red scratch marks on Mimi’s forehead. She asked, “What happened to your forehead?”

“Wang Jiajia scratched me,” Mimi replied, shrugging with an innocent face. “He grabbed me, so I pushed him.”

Because Chen Yufeng had disciplined her often, Mimi could be mischievous and pick on boys, but she usually didn’t outright hit people.

And to Chen Yufeng, arguments between children weren’t always about absolute right or wrong.

But Teacher Sun insisted, repeating, “Sister-in-law, Minister Wang’s wife used to be a military law officer before she retired. It’s best if you go and apologize.”

Minister Wang—Wang Ming from the Political Department. Chen Yufeng had met him before.

Back when Zhang Yanli tried to give Mimi away, it was Wang Ming who mediated the situation at her house and took Zhang Yanli away.

His wife had been a military law officer. So yes, both husband and wife were high-ranking figures.

Inside the military compound, leadership came with an aura of influence. And in school, the children of leaders naturally received more attention from teachers.

Chen Yufeng also remembered that a parent had once told her that Teacher Sun’s daughter was currently attending elementary school—in the same class as Wang Jiajia’s mother taught.

So the real reason Teacher Sun was making a big deal out of this was that she was afraid Wang Jiajia’s mother might hold a grudge against her daughter.

It was such a small issue, and frankly, Wang Jiajia was more at fault than Mimi.

But Teacher Sun insisted on an apology.

Mimi had to go to school, and Chen Yufeng’s husband was just a mid-ranking officer. She herself had no job. Transferring schools was out of the question, and offending the teacher wasn’t a good idea either.

What was she supposed to do?

“Mom, let’s go. I’ll apologize. I can handle it. But I’m still going to hit Wang Jiajia again in the future,” Mimi said, standing on her toes with clenched fists. “Because I hate him. And if he can’t win in a fight, he just runs to the teacher. That’s cheating!”

This was Mimi’s worst habit—playing dirty behind people’s backs.

In the book, that was exactly what she liked to do.

But she also liked to race motorcycles, and someone had once tampered with her bike. That time, she crashed and lost her life.

This was something Chen Yufeng had to correct.

She tried reasoning, “Pork su bao has both sweet and savory fillings, so Wang Jiajia was wrong, and Han Mi was right.”

Mimi nodded.

Chen Yufeng continued, “So if Wang Jiajia apologizes, Han Mi won’t secretly attack him anymore, right?”

Sure enough, the child hesitated, then shook her head. “Nope.”

Chen Yufeng crouched down to meet her daughter’s eyes and took her hand. “We’re not going to apologize. Instead, I just made some dough, so we’ll steam a batch of sweet pork su bao and bring them to Wang Jiajia’s house. And I’ll make sure he apologizes to you. But you have to promise—no more sneaky hits from behind, okay?”

Mimi frowned in doubt. “Mom, Teacher Sun is totally biased toward Wang Jiajia. He won’t apologize.”

Chen Yufeng smiled. “Let’s try. If he does apologize, then you have to promise me—unless someone deliberately hits you or your sister first, you won’t start fights anymore. Deal?”

The apology itself didn’t matter much to Chen Yufeng.

What she really wanted was to set boundaries for Mimi and help her break her bad habit of sneak attacks.

Like the time she burned Zhao Wu’s hair—it might have felt satisfying at the moment, but what if Zhao Wu had retaliated and hit her? She would’ve been the one to suffer.

“…Alright.” Mimi blinked.

She didn’t really believe her mom could make Wang Jiajia apologize.

After all, Teacher Sun always favored him. Even when he did something wrong, she rarely scolded him.

Over time, Wang Jiajia had become the class tyrant.

Maybe he wasn’t a bad kid, but he had been spoiled into one by Teacher Sun.

Still, Mimi was eager to prove to Wang Jiajia that pork su bao did have sweet fillings.

So when they got home, she immediately pushed Chen Yufeng to get started.

Last time, the pork su bao had been hastily made since it was just for their family.

But this time, Chen Yufeng followed every step meticulously. Each wrapper was rolled thin—seven delicate layers stacked into one before being filled.

And the filling? Only the finest—sweet red bean paste mixed with purple perilla seeds.

Pork su bao was best eaten cold rather than hot. And between the two flavors, sweet was undeniably superior to savory.

Perilla seeds were usually used for oil pressing or tossed into porridge, but their best use was in red bean paste for pork su bao. That was their true calling.

With the address Teacher Sun had provided, Chen Yufeng packed the buns into a net bag, took Mimi by the hand, and together they boarded a bus.

Their destination—a high-rise building in the officers’ family compound.

Since no one was available to escort them, it wasn’t until the security department personnel came to check that Chen Yufeng and Mimi were finally allowed inside.

As the saying goes, “It’s easier to see the King of Hell than to deal with his minions.” From the way Teacher Sun and Teacher Wang Liyuan reacted, one would think this was a major issue. Even Mimi assumed that Wang Jiajia’s parents would be particularly strict. But to their surprise, when they arrived in the evening, Wang Jiajia’s parents weren’t home—only his grandmother was there.

She was an elderly woman with protruding goldfish-like eyes, completely unaware of what had happened. Only after Chen Yufeng explained their visit did she respond, “Kids squabble all the time. What’s the point of an apology?”

As it turned out, Wang Jiajia hadn’t even tattled. The moment he got home, he had gone straight to watching TV, already having forgotten his argument with Mimi.

But since he had been the one to start the fight and had scratched Mimi, Chen Yufeng was determined to make things clear to his family.

So, she said, “Aunt Wang, the kids had a dispute, and I wanted to come by and talk to you about it…”

Madam Wang remained polite but responded, “That can’t be. The teacher says my Jiajia is always well-behaved at school.”

Chen Yufeng smiled and pointed out, “But Wang Jiajia scratched my daughter’s forehead.” She gently pushed Mimi forward and gestured toward the red scratch marks on her forehead. “These were made by Wang Jiajia.”

No parent, no matter how high-ranking, would intentionally allow their child to bully others.

Besides, Madam Wang had been a military judge before retiring. She understood better than most the importance of teaching children not to resort to violence.

Her tone immediately turned stern as she looked over at Wang Jiajia, who was still watching TV. “Jiajia, did you scratch this young girl’s forehead?”

Only then did Wang Jiajia notice Mimi. To his surprise, he seemed delighted and greeted her, “Han Mimi, what are you doing here?”

Mimi, still fuming, crossed her arms and huffed, “Don’t call my name. We are not friends.”

Madam Wang pulled Wang Jiajia toward her and said firmly, “Jiajia, scratching a girl’s face is not right. Have I not taught you better? A real man does not bully girls. Turn off the TV and apologize to Han Mimi, or I’ll ban you from watching TV for three days.”

A child’s attitude often depends on how the adults handle the situation—especially when it comes to TV privileges.

The moment Wang Jiajia saw his grandmother reaching to turn off the TV, he jumped up and quickly said to Mimi, “I’m sorry.”

As soon as he apologized, Mimi’s mood improved instantly. Children may argue easily, but they also reconcile just as quickly.

She pulled a steamed pastry from the netted bag they brought, pouted, and said, “See? Puff pastries do have sweet fillings. Here, take one, you frog stuck at the bottom of a well.”

Madam Wang was momentarily stunned. “Han Mimi’s mother, I was once part of a cadre school during the Cultural Revolution. I was stationed in Mengzi and have eaten puff pastries before, but they only had savory fillings.”

Chen Yufeng calmly broke one open and said, “There are sweet ones too. Would you like to try one?”

The dispute between the children had originally started because Minister Wang had eaten a puff pastry at work and mentioned it to his wife. Madam Wang, who had been stationed in Mengzi, recalled how delicious the fresh meat-filled puff pastries were and insisted that they only came with savory fillings. Since both parents were so sure, Wang Jiajia had confidently argued with Mimi at daycare, escalating their disagreement into personal insults.

It was nothing more than a childish quarrel—one that wouldn’t have become a big deal if not for Teacher Sun. Because Teacher Sun’s daughter was in the same class as Minister Wang’s daughter-in-law, she was worried that Minister Wang’s daughter-in-law might make things difficult for her child. That’s why she insisted Han Mimi come and apologize.

Chen Yufeng’s initial goal had simply been to have Wang Jiajia apologize and use the situation as a lesson to teach Mimi not to resort to sneak attacks.

But unexpectedly, Madam Wang took a bite of the pastry and suddenly said, “Oh, so you’re Han Chao’s wife? I’ve heard about you before. What a coincidence! Wait here—I have something to show you.”

She turned and went into the bedroom. When she returned, she was holding a stack of old photographs.

Smiling, she said, “I was stationed in Mengzi back then. You’re from Yunnan, aren’t you? I remember my husband mentioning you last time. Come, take a look at these pictures from that time.”

Mengzi’s cadre school had been a place where military leaders were sent for re-education and training.

Once they completed their time there and returned to the military, they became key figures in various departments.

Although life during re-education was tough, only those with real potential were sent there in the first place.

Both children, still clutching their puff pastries, eagerly leaned in to look at the photos. Chen Yufeng joined them and saw that in the pile, at least three or four pictures featured Wang Guoguo and Madam Wang. Several also had Commander Xu. One particular photo caught her attention—it showed Commander Xu, another young woman, and Wang Guoguo all smiling brightly.

The two young women stood on either side of him, beaming with joy.

“This here is Director Ma Lin from our Military Affairs Department. This is Commander Xu, and this…” As she nibbled on the pastry, Madam Wang enthusiastically pointed to each person in the photos. But when she got to Wang Guoguo, she sighed. “She was once our little savior. What a pity, really!”

The way she said “what a pity” piqued Chen Yufeng’s curiosity.

“What do you mean? She was a local girl, right?” Chen Yufeng asked as casually as possible.

“Her name was Xiao A’mi, a Yi ethnic girl. When we first arrived in Mengzi, we were just a bunch of young people—given rice and flour but clueless about cooking. This girl lived near the cadre school and became close to me, Ma Lin, and a few others. You wouldn’t believe it, but she could single-handedly kill a wild boar. She was the one who made us our first puff pastries, stuffed with wild boar meat. Oh, they were amazing!” Madam Wang reminisced.

Yes, Wang Guoguo could kill a wild boar single-handedly, just like Han Chao could subdue a wild donkey with one hand.

That mother and son were naturally strong.

“So, what happened to her? Didn’t she go to the capital with you all later?” Chen Yufeng asked.

“She was a local—how could she have gone with us to the capital?” Madam Wang sighed. “It’s been thirty years. So much has changed. Back then, we all hated Mengzi—the cold, the hunger, the lack of warm clothes. But we never hated the people there. That girl… she was special. We taught her a lot, but in the end…” Madam Wang shook her head, then turned to Chen Yufeng and asked, “Your family is from Yunnan too?”

“No,” Chen Yufeng shook her head, but she still wanted to ask one more question. So she pressed on, “What exactly happened to her?”

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T/N: dear my lovely readers, please check out my other translation too <3