Chapter 8 — They Fought

Although Chu An was indeed satisfied with Huo Zeye’s good looks, for a young woman who had been single since birth for more than twenty years, suddenly having to share a bed with a handsome man was still far too stimulating.

Just then, after tiring herself out playing with the two cubs, Chu An pushed the two children’s small beds together and decided to make do with them for the night.

Huo Ran and Huo Mian had been forced to become independent early on. Usually, when they were afraid of the dark, Huo Ran had to muster up the courage to flip the paddle-style switch by the door, and after the unstable electric current of the incandescent bulb flickered out, he would dart under the covers in one breath.

But today, they had Sister-in-law with them.

Sister-in-law had long arms; after turning off the switch, she pulled them both into her embrace.

It was the first time the two cubs had slept with an adult, and the feeling was strange. Nestled obediently in Sister-in-law’s arms, they no longer had to fear the strange noises carried in by the night wind outside the window, nor worry about lurking ghosts in the silent darkness.

Huo Ran had thought he and his sister wouldn’t be able to sleep, but before long, he heard the steady, matching breathing of Huo Mian and Sister-in-law.

Huo Ran: “…”

They had fallen asleep way too fast!

He pursed his lips, but soon, lulled by the rhythmic breathing, he, too, drifted slowly into slumber.

The next morning, the family, as usual, had breakfast in the canteen.

Huo Zeye had finished his mission, but he still needed to go to the warship’s anchorage for routine training. Since it was currently the nursery class’s holiday, Chu An did not want to keep the two cubs cooped up at home every day. After giving them a few safety reminders, she let them go out to play.

Chu An returned home herself, fetched a bamboo chair with a backrest, and placed it in the shade of the backyard to enjoy the sea view at leisure.

The backyard had been left untended, and the weeds had grown to nearly half a person’s height. As she let the sea breeze wash over her, Chu An began to plan to clear out the weeds at some point in the future, and perhaps even plant some flowers.

Now that she had freed herself from the so-called blessing of the 996 work schedule, it was the perfect time to enjoy life and cultivate hobbies.

Well, if she could manage to develop a hobby that also made money, that would be even better.

After all, when it came to money, the more, the merrier.

Leaning back in the bamboo chair, Chu An mulled it over, and a flash of inspiration came to her.

The 1980s had already moved past previous historical upheavals, and in the process of ideological liberation, the social environment had become relatively more relaxed. However, compared to the cultural and entertainment boom of the 1990s and especially the 2000s, the current entertainment sector was still rather lacking.

From what Chu An remembered, most works at the time were dominated by serious literature such as rural realism, scar literature, and reflective literature. Yet, with the full-scale advancement of the reform and opening-up policy and literacy campaigns, people were gradually developing a greater demand for cultural and entertainment products.

Where there was demand, there was a market.

She could not write the kind of profound, serious literature that others did, but perhaps those simple, easy-to-read, plot-twist-filled melodramatic novels were worth a try.

Hong Kong and Taiwan had already seen the rise of the romance novel market in the 1960s and 1970s, and the mainland in the 1980s and 1990s happened to be when popular literature was beginning to flourish.

Still, it was only the seed of an idea for Chu An; whether it could work or not would require more research.

While Chu An was letting her imagination run wild with plans, Huo Ran and Huo Mian each held a small stick of maltose candy and ran to play in the open space in the middle of the family compound.

In one corner of the open space stood stone benches made of green slabs, where adults sat, chatting idly. In the center grew a huge banyan tree, and around it, children played hide-and-seek.

Huo Ran and Huo Mian watched for a while but did not join in. Instead, they squatted in a corner to watch a group of ants moving house.

It was not that Huo Ran and Huo Mian were unsociable, but that these children often disliked them, saying they were dirty and smelled bad, and thus did not want to play with them.

Of course, Huo Ran also thought they were childish and boring, and he had no interest in dealing with that bunch of little brats.

Huo Mian, too, did not want to play with those mean children who laughed at them. She broke off a tiny piece of maltose for the ants, dimples appearing as she smiled. “Big Brother, the maltose Sister-in-law bought is so sweet.”

“Mm.” Huo Ran replied coolly.

Huo Mian added: “Sister-in-law also tied my hair into little braids today. I think… I might kind of like her.”

Huo Ran’s lips moved slightly.

If it had been before, he would certainly have warned his sister to be wary of the bad Sister-in-law’s trap, to never be fooled so easily.

But now, Huo Ran could no longer bring himself to say it.

Although the bad Sister-in-law would laugh at his missing baby tooth and would mercilessly ruffle his and his sister’s hair, the bad Sister-in-law would also play games with them and give them warm, steaming milk.

Huo Mian covered her mouth with her hand and whispered to her big brother: “I think… Sister-in-law isn’t the same Sister-in-law as before. Now Sister-in-law is a good person.”

A child’s intuition was frighteningly accurate, especially for someone like Huo Mian, who, in the original book, had been a sharp, alert antagonist.

Huo Ran blinked and reluctantly agreed with his sister’s opinion. “Then… I’ll also like her a little bit.”

“Just a little bit.” he said awkwardly, pinching a narrow gap between his fingers to show how little.

Huo Ran and Huo Mian had not joined in the children’s hide-and-seek, but among that group of kids, someone had already set their sights on them.

“Isn’t that the messy ghost and his bean-sprout sister?” a boy pointed at the two in the corner, slurping as he spoke. “I saw them holding maltose candy!”

A dime could buy two to three small pieces of maltose candy, but thrifty parents generally weren’t willing to spend on such treats.

Hearing that Huo Ran and Huo Mian had maltose, the children playing immediately stopped and began staring at the candy in their hands with envy.

The boy who had spoken first ran up to Huo Mian and shouted: “Messy ghost! Bean sprout! I’m going to tell the adults you stole something!”

“Mei Qiukuai, stop lying! We didn’t steal anything!” Huo Ran stood up and glared fiercely at the boy.

Mei Qiukuai, startled by his fierce gaze, took a step back.

But when he saw so many friends behind him, his courage returned. “If you didn’t steal it, then where did that maltose in your hands come from?”

Huo Mian hurried to explain: “It was… Sister-in-law… who gave it to us!”

“Liar!” Mei Qiukuai seized on the flaw in her statement, smugly shaking his head. “My grandma said, you two are burdens. No one would buy candy for burdens.”

With that, he snatched the maltose from Huo Mian’s hand. “Hurry and hand over the stolen stuff!”

Huo Mian looked down at her now empty hands, then at the candy Mei Qiukuai had taken. Her lips trembled, but she didn’t cry.

Anger surged in Huo Ran’s chest. He suddenly grabbed Mei Qiukuai by the collar and punched him hard. “Give Mian Mian’s candy back!”

Mei Qiukuai was stunned by the blow, reacting only after a moment and trying to fight back.

But Huo Ran was fierce and relentless. His fists rained down like drops of a sudden storm, making Mei Qiukuai yowl in pain. Huo Mian, glancing at the two on the ground, quietly scooped up a handful of sand and, avoiding her big brother’s face, threw it straight at Mei Qiukuai and at another child who was about to step in and help.

The other children, seeing how ruthless and silent the siblings were, turned and began wailing for their parents.

Mei Qiukuai desperately tried to dodge the punches, his tears and snot mixing into a messy smear.

Usually, when Huo Ran and Huo Mian were bullied, they would just watch coldly without saying a word. What was going on today? They were actually fighting back!

The adults chatting on the green stone benches soon gathered around.

Mei Qiukuai’s grandmother was none other than Aunt Wu, Wu Danhong—the most notorious gossip in the compound. Her son was an ordinary technician on the warship, and her daughter-in-law worked at the county street office, with no time to watch the child. Aunt Wu had no husband, and because she was always meddling and pointing fingers in others’ affairs, she was on bad terms with her daughter-in-law and often clashed with the neighbors.

Seeing her grandson’s face covered in snot after being beaten, she hurriedly pulled him up and began wailing, slapping her thigh.

“What a sin, what a sin this is! These children with no one to discipline them are wild—look at what they’ve done to my grandson!”

Unaware of all this, Chu An was in the backyard tidying up the weeds.

She had wrapped her hands in cloth strips and was pulling the weeds out by the roots. When she tossed them onto the open ground nearby, she spotted an old, worn notebook lying there.

Puzzled, Chu An picked it up and opened it. On the very first page, written in crooked pencil characters, were the words “Revenge Book.”

The signature in the lower right corner, however, was surprisingly neat—“Huo Ran.” two complex characters, both written correctly.

Chu An raised her eyebrows.

Had she… stumbled upon Huo Ran’s revenge book?

Flipping to the second page, she found, sure enough, that it recorded the many misdeeds of her as “Sister-in-law”:

“Bad Sistah-in-law eats fan, hit me one eight zhang, and used zhen to poke Mian Mian…”

The boy had not only misspelled the pinyin for “Sister-in-law.” but his writing was littered with errors.

To more vividly record the bad deeds of “bad Sistah-in-law.” whenever he came across a word he couldn’t write, he replaced it with a drawing.

Looking at the crude sketch of a long needle and a crying stick figure on the rough paper, Chu An’s eyelashes trembled.

The following several pages were all similar, filled with both drawings and pinyin notes.

Chu An had originally intended to put the notebook back exactly where she found it, but when her eyes fell on the last few lines, she froze.

Because in those final lines, Huo Ran’s record was no longer filled with hatred, but with—

“Bad Sistah-in-law bought us sea li biscuits, tasty.”

“Bad Sistah-in-law helps Mian Mian comb her hair.”

“Bad Sistah-in-law laughed at my missing tooth, but she taught us to brush teeth.”

“She’s not bad Sistah-in-law anymore.”

Chu An closed the revenge book with a complicated expression.

The things the original owner had done were countless and unforgivable, yet she had merely given the two children a shred of care, and it had been enough to remove the label of “bad Sister-in-law.”

In the original book, the two cubs became antagonists because their path of growth had been far too harsh. They might hold grudges, but they also knew how to be grateful.

Just as she was thinking this, a sudden knocking came from the front yard.

Chu An opened the door to see neighbor Li Xia standing there, looking anxious. “Chu An, you’d better go check on the kids. They’re fighting with Aunt Wu’s grandson!”