Chapter 9

Of course, Yan Xiang wanted his mother to sleep with him, but Qiao Wei refused.

On one hand, she inherited the previous owner’s life, taking over the husband and son. To maintain this family, it wouldn’t work if the husband and wife continued to sleep separately.

On the other hand, coming from a different world, her educational beliefs differed from those of the previous owner. She didn’t agree with behaviors such as a mother and son sharing a bed or a boy entering the women’s bath or restroom.

She sighed intentionally. “When will Xiao Xiang become a brave man who can sleep alone?”

Yan Xiang, provoked, patted his chest and assured, “I’m already very brave now, Mom; you go and sleep with Dad.”

She praised him harshly, kissed his little apple-like face, lit a mosquito coil, and quietly returned to her and Yan Lei’s bedroom.

Of course, she couldn’t sleep in a shirt; the stiff collar was uncomfortable. She took off the shirt and laid down in just the vest.

There was no sense of shame.

In her past life, her dignity meant nothing as a patient. In the hospital room, men and women mingled, including family members. With deteriorating bodily functions, she lost control of her bladder and bowels. Nurses would casually pull a curtain and remove her pants for cleaning.

That curtain wasn’t drawn tightly, and there was a large gap. People passing by, patients, and family members, regardless of gender, could see inside.

She had seen other patients naked, and others had seen her naked.

The word “dignity” had no meaning for patients.

The terrible quality of life before death allowed her to face the dry toilet of this era with indifference and lie down next to Yan Lei without hesitation.

Moreover, in the memories inherited by Qiao Wei, there were scenes of intimate moments with Yan Lei.

Rhythm, muscles, heavy breathing—it was practically an intimate scene from a first-person perspective.

It just lacked a bit of realism.

Now, lying beside him, feeling the warmth emanating from his body, it had a touch of reality.

Qiao Wei recalled touching a man’s chest and arms at the kitchen door in the evening, feeling a firm and elastic feeling. It made the scenes in her mind more vivid.

She longed for that vitality, the stirring of life, and wanted to have an intimate moment with him. However, Yan Lei turned over, facing away from her.

Qiao Wei could only regretfully give up.

Thinking about it, it was somewhat ridiculous and pitiful. This man had not had intimate moments with his wife for a long time, and physiologically, he must have needs, perhaps enduring great discomfort.

But he held a grudge.

The posture of turning his back to her exuded strong resentment.

Qiao Wei stared at the dim ceiling.

There was no ceiling in the room, and the large beams could be vaguely seen.

She broke the silence in the bedroom and asked, “Does anyone know about my absence these past few days?”

Yan Lei’s voice answered in the dim light, “Xiao Zhang may have some suspicions. But he is clever, looks talkative, but is actually very discreet; he won’t speak carelessly.”

His tone was cold, obviously because this matter did not please him.

“Oh, that’s good then,” Qiao Wei said. “And what about old Zhao’s family?”

When she left, she entrusted Yan Xiang to the loveable wife of Captain Zhao, Sister Yang.

“I told her it’s a family visit, and I also told her it’s a family wedding,” Yan Lei said. “I told her you married a distant relative.”

The two of them unexpectedly came up with the same fabricated story. On the way back, Qiao Wei did the same to fool Xiao Zhang.

Qiao Wei was reassured now.

In this era, rumors could be deadly. Although she wasn’t afraid, her family would surely be affected. It was best to avoid it.

She continued, “I want to thank Sister Yang tomorrow. What would be a suitable gift?”

The memory of the previous owner regarding social etiquette and customs was blank. It was something the original owner was not good at, so she directly consulted Yan Lei.

Yan Lei genuinely felt that Qiao Wei had changed.

She thought of giving cigarettes to the driver and even considered giving a thank-you gift to Sister Yang. These were not characteristics of the previous Qiao Wei.

Military family culture was generally not highly cultured, and she looked down on it, feeling out of place. Handling social matters and maintaining relationships were tasks Yan Lei usually took care of outside to prevent others from being dissatisfied with her.

People indeed need to stumble and fall, with heads bruised and blood flowing, to change in a better direction.

After some thought, Yan Lei said, “Don’t make it too formal; it might seem too formal and out of place. Just go to the market tomorrow and buy a piece of pork.”

He reminded her, “Be careful to check the expiration date when getting the meat ticket.”

All certificates had an expiration date. Families of cadres often had surplus tickets, and sometimes there were leftovers that hadn’t been used. Of course, they should use the ones with shorter validity first.

Fortunately, he reminded her; otherwise, tomorrow, Qiao Wei would have definitely forgotten to bring the meat ticket, only remembering to bring money. Without the ticket, she wouldn’t be able to buy anything, wasting a trip.

Qiao Wei replied, “Alright.”

The two fell silent, but Yan Lei couldn’t sleep.

He faced away from Qiao Wei, but he could still feel the warmth behind him, greatly affecting him and making him restless.

After a while, Qiao Wei made no more sounds, and Yan Lei began to waver—did she come back to the room and share the bed voluntarily?

Was that what it meant?

Yan Lei did harbor resentment, but he had indeed been living without companionship for a long time. Normally, he relied on intense physical training to dissipate excess energy. When he came home and saw his wife coldly ignoring him, he couldn’t summon any interest.

But now, Qiao Wei, wearing a white shirt with her fair legs exposed, was swaying in front of him.

She had already made amends; he should forgive her.

Haven’t they said they would continue living together?

She said to treat her as if the person from before was already dead.

Arguments between couples often ended in reconciliation in bed.

These messy thoughts battled in Yan Lei’s mind for a long time, and he finally decided to accept Qiao Wei’s “olive branch” and decisively turn over!

…

Qiao Wei had already fallen asleep.

Yan Lei propped himself up and looked at her for a long time. She was genuinely asleep, breathing evenly and peacefully.

She was only wearing a little vest. The vests women wore were usually short, exposing their waist and abdomen. It seemed like she had lost more weight in the past few days; her waist looked even slimmer. When she lay on her side, the contour of her waist resembled a valley.

Yan Lei reluctantly laid back down.

After a long time, the heat from his body dissipated, and he finally closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He didn’t know that Qiao Wei was sleeping deeply.

Although the bed was a mud kang instead of a spring mattress, it was still a real bed. Hospital beds were narrow and hard. The mattress had been used by many people for a long time, and it felt lumpy. After lying down for a long time, it could cause bedsores, making it extremely uncomfortable.

Qiao Wei hadn’t slept so soundly in a very long time.

A dreamless night.

She slept so deeply that she didn’t even know when Yan Lei had left the next day. Qiao Wei got up, put on a white shirt, and saw Yan Xiang sitting in the living room, playing.

“Mom.” Yan Xiang saw her waking up and called out, “What’s for breakfast?”

Deciding what to eat was indeed a problem. After all, there wasn’t a world where you could order takeout while lying in bed with your phone.

After checking her memories, Qiao Wei immediately decided, “Let’s go to the canteen in the compound!”

The residential compound had an internal canteen, similar to a public bathhouse, that was not open to the public. However, its supplies came from the military, ensuring better quality than outside. During shortages, state-owned canteens might not necessarily be better than military canteens.

Yesterday, she had eaten dumplings at the hospital, which were considered a delicacy in this era.

Upon hearing that they were going to the canteen, Yan Xiang stood up happily. “Let’s go!”

Qiao Wei held him back. “Have you brushed your teeth and washed your face?”

She watched the little guy freshen up while she went to the bedroom to change. After flipping through the clothes, she found that half of the clothes belonged to the previous owner. She casually pushed those aside and picked out a pair of cotton shorts.

Cotton shorts were a short-sleeved dress. This style was brought over from Big Brother’s era and later became a common style in the country.

Fashion was indeed cyclical; the cotton shorts in this era looked almost identical to the dresses of the future. It was hot, so Qiao Wei chose light blue round-neck cotton shorts. After putting it on and looking in the mirror, she felt healthy, youthful, and beautiful.

This body was only twenty-two years old, an age when one might still be in college in the future, but here, children could already go out and buy soy sauce.

Anyway, Qiao Wei was genuinely happy to see herself so healthy in the mirror.

She went outside and took a plastic woven basket off the wall, then went back to change clothes. After changing, she took another look in the mirror.

This kind of basket, or whether to call it a bag or a basket, was a standard for aunties shopping in the vegetable market in costume dramas. Later, plastic bags became popular, and these gradually disappeared.

Then, the fashion circle imitated these, using them as fashion accessories.

Qiao Wei looked in the mirror, feeling a bit of a retro beach vibe, delighted. “Xiang Xiang, let’s go!”

However, Yan Xiang asked, “Mom, why didn’t you bring your wallet?”

Thank goodness he reminded her. Qiao Wei’s modern world wallet had long been phased out of history, and she had completely forgotten to bring it.

She remembered there was a handbag when she came back yesterday, and Yan Lei brought it back, rolled up in his hand. She went to the handbag and found the wallet inside.

Upon opening it and taking a look, there were still two yuan and seven cent inside, as well as a few coins.

Although she knew that the quantity and value of money in this era were different from the future, bringing only two or three yuan still made Qiao Wei feel very uncomfortable.

After a mental search, she walked into the study outside the bedroom and opened the drawer.

The drawer was messy, with many open sheets of paper hastily folded without being put back into envelopes, just thrown inside.

Qiao Wei paused for a moment. The serving of meals in the canteen had a fixed time. She initially didn’t care about these matters and opened the letter. She took out an iron biscuit tin from the drawer, and indeed, there was money and tickets inside.

Yan Lei gave a monthly allowance for household expenses, which was usually placed in this tin box. The family’s financial situation was better, and Qiao Wei could use it as needed.

There were bills of various denominations; Qiao Wei took a ten-yuan bill, two five-yuan bills, and several one-yuan and cent bills. She neatly folded them and put them into her wallet.

Just having money was not enough; this was the planned economic era.

Qiao Wei looked at those bills, still remembering Yan Lei’s advice to use the ones with earlier expiration dates first. She stuffed various bills into her wallet and said, “Let’s go.”

Yan Xiang wore a shirt paired with shorts. Rather than calling it children’s clothing, it was more like a miniature version of adult clothing. He looked like a pocket-sized old cadre, which was especially adorable.

Qiao Wei carried a plastic woven basket, held Yan Xiang’s hand, and the mother and son happily set out.

“Mommy, mommy, I want to eat wontons.” Yan Xiang’s eyes were full of anticipation.

Unlike the reserved young man described in the original novel, children dared to make any requests when holding hands with their own mothers and even knew how to act cute.

“Alright, let’s have wontons.” Qiao Wei readily agreed.

Hearing his mother’s immediate agreement, the child’s eyes were filled with joy.

“Let’s go! Let’s go eat wontons!”