Chapter 27.2: Mother-In-Law

When Dabao shouted “Grandma,” the military wives close to Tian Xiaofeng were so excited that they barely slept that night. The next morning, whether they were buying groceries, fetching water, or going to the toilet — near or far — they all made sure to take a detour past Ye Fan’s house.

Yu Wentao and Tao Chunlan, having gone to bed early and woken up late, hadn’t been seen by anyone except Commissar Liao. This only deepened the disappointment of those secretly hoping for drama.

After breakfast, Ye Fan headed to the food factory, and Geng Zhiyé went to the army base, leaving only Tao Chunlan, Yu Wentao, and the two kids at home. That’s when Liu Qing showed up at the Geng family’s door, carrying a shoulder pole and buckets.

Yu Wentao was in the yard washing clothes for herself, Dabao, and Erbao. She had asked Tao Chunlan to wash her own clothes along with Ye Fan and Geng Zhiyé’s, justifying it by saying, “Old Third is practically a live-in son-in-law at this point — what’s the big deal about washing his clothes?”

Tao Chunlan was speechless. She let Yu Wentao do her thing while she kept an eye on Dabao and Erbao playing nearby.

It was then that Liu Qing stepped in. “Are you using the water pump? If not, I can fetch some water.”

Without hesitation, Yu Wentao picked up the buckets and moved them aside. “Not for now.”

Liu Qing smiled and stepped forward — but just then, Liao Miaomiao came out of the house. “Auntie Liu, what are you doing here?”

Liu Qing’s smile froze.

Yu Wentao, skilled in gossip and once part of the cultural troupe, was quick to read the room. Realizing something was off, she immediately placed the freshly washed clothes under the hand pump. “Oh, I forgot — let me use it again.”

Liu Qing turned her head, only to see Yu Wentao already pumping water. Meanwhile, Liao Miaomiao skipped over to Ye Fan’s house. Out of the corner of her eye, Liu Qing noticed the girl entering and hastily grabbed her buckets. “I’ll just fetch water from the well instead — it’s not far from here.” She didn’t wait for anyone to respond before heading out.

Liao Miaomiao deliberately asked, “Not using the pump anymore?”

Cursing the “damn brat” in her head, Liu Qing forced a smile. “It’s all the same.” With that, she left.

Hands on her hips like an old lady scolding someone in the street, Liao Miaomiao shouted, “Hmph!”

The older women exchanged glances. Tao Chunlan then asked, “Are you Commissar Liao’s daughter?”

Liao Miaomiao dropped her hands and walked over with a grin. “Hello, Grandma. I’m Miaomiao.”

Tao Chunlan nodded. “Nice to meet you. Who was that just now?”

Liao Miaomiao, having overheard bits of conversation between her mother and Liu Guihua, recalled only a few scattered words. “Anyway, she’s not a good person. Don’t talk to her. She never comes to Auntie Ye’s house to pump water. This pump is usually used by Auntie Ye’s family, my family, the Chief of Staff’s family, and Deputy Commander Niu’s family — just the four of us.”

Tao Chunlan asked, “Dabao, has she ever come here before?”

Dabao shook his head. “No.”

Yu Wentao grew curious. “Is she not on good terms with Fan—Dabao’s mom?”

Liao Miaomiao, not daring to speak recklessly, replied, “I only know she’s close with Tian Xiaofeng. Tian Xiaofeng is the driver’s wife. Her husband transferred to civilian work. It was Tian Xiaofeng who said Auntie Ye isn’t Ye family’s biological child. She even saw Dabao eating bread once and said he’d die young from eating too much of that ‘Western stuff.’”

Dabao nodded furiously. “She’s the worst.”

Liao Miaomiao added, “She even made Dabao cry.”

Dabao glared at her — stop talking!

Yu Wentao, both angry and amused, said, “Our Dabao is embarrassed? Don’t worry, Grandma’s here now — I’ll get revenge for you!”

Liao Miaomiao’s face went pale. “Grandma, if Auntie Ye finds out—”

Yu Wentao smiled. “It has nothing to do with you. What happened today is just between us — if we don’t tell, who will know?”

Liao Miaomiao still looked uneasy. “But fighting is bad.”

Yu Wentao shook her head. “No need to fight. I definitely can’t beat her. I’ll just deliberately annoy her.”

Relieved, Liao Miaomiao grew curious. “How will you do that?”

These days, having wealthy or powerful ancestors isn’t something to brag about. Yu Wentao didn’t have time to compete over hardships either. In times of material scarcity, people cared most about food and clothing. Sometimes, a 10-yuan note wasn’t as useful as a national grain coupon.

After washing the clothes, Yu Wentao went inside to rest for a bit. When she noticed the sun’s position, she realized it was time to cook. She rummaged through the kitchen but couldn’t find any seafood or vegetables. Then she remembered Ye Fan saying the weather here was warm, with fresh vegetables available year-round and seafood sold daily — they usually bought food as needed.

Grabbing a small bamboo basket for groceries, Yu Wentao called out, “Dabao, Grandma’s going to buy you something tasty.”

Dabao replied eagerly, “Grandma, I want to go too.”

Tao Chunlan wiped his hands clean and, noticing Erbao waking up, said, “Erbao, we’re not going. Grandma can’t carry you.”

Erbao whined, “Mom, I want Mom.”

Yu Wentao waved him over. “Grandma will take you to find Mom.”

As soon as they stepped outside, Yu Wentao noticed the rose bushes lining the fence, their buds either blooming or about to burst open in a variety of colors. The road was smooth and well-maintained — nothing like the desolate island she had imagined. Judging by the color of the stones and the size of the plants, it looked like the landscaping had been done just last year or earlier this year.

According to what the Political Commissar Liao’s daughter said, it seemed there hadn’t even been a water pump here in the past.

Yu Wentao felt a surge of pride — her daughter-in-law truly knew how to manage a household.

Feeling quite pleased, she didn’t mind when someone deliberately asked where Dabao was going. She stopped and replied cheerfully, “We’re off to buy groceries. I heard seafood here is cheap — I want to see just how cheap it really is.”

She gave the same answer no matter who asked, until even those who weren’t particularly curious about Ye Fan’s family couldn’t help but linger at the street corner, waiting to see what she’d come back with.

An hour later, Yu Wentao and Dabao walked ahead, while Ye Fan followed behind, carrying Erbao in one arm and a bag full of shrimp in the other. Dabao proudly held a string of crabs.

Hengshan Island was rich in seafood, but the local fishermen couldn’t be bothered with crabs — too much effort for too little meat.

When someone spotted the crabs, they couldn’t help but think, Typical northerners — must not have eaten much good seafood before. Then, pretending to be casual, they asked, “Having crab for lunch?”

Having worked in a performing arts troupe before, Yu Wentao was somewhat sharp-eyed and immediately sensed something was off. She smiled and said, “We’re keeping them for now — let Dabao play with the crabs first. Once he’s had enough fun, we’ll cook them tonight.”

The person who had asked didn’t let it go and casually followed up, “So what are you having for lunch?”

Ye Fan, wanting to welcome her mother properly, hadn’t touched her meat coupons all month. Yu Wentao, however, didn’t mention the two pounds of pork belly she’d just bought. Instead, she pretended to be troubled by the overwhelming choices. “There’s so much good food here — lots of things I don’t even recognize. I picked up a big yellow croaker and two pounds of baby abalone. I’ll stew the abalone with the pork belly.”

She went on, “I’ve heard crab roe buns and grilled eel are delicious too — we’ll try those another day. Dabao, do you like Grandma’s braised abalone and pork belly?” Without waiting for an answer, she continued, “Even if you don’t like it, that’s fine. Grandma will fry some luncheon meat for you and sandwich it in bread. I even bought you a cola. Isn’t Grandma great? Not like your mom — always nagging about how eating too many snacks will ruin your appetite. How much can you really eat, anyway?”

She shot a deliberate, dissatisfied glance at Ye Fan and added, “She even says milk isn’t as nutritious as soy milk. Does she even know what she’s talking about?”

Ye Fan was stunned. What was her mom even talking about? When had she ever said milk was less nutritious than soy milk?

And now Comrade Tao Chunlan was scolding her again? Seriously? They still had to live under the same roof for the next ten days — was there really a need for this?

Since it was her own mother stirring things up, Ye Fan couldn’t exactly argue with her mother-in-law about it. She could only sigh and say, “Let’s go home first.”

Yu Wentao, pleased by her daughter-in-law’s restraint, felt as refreshed as drinking an ice-cold cola on a sweltering summer day. She cheerfully announced, “Dabao, let’s go home and make braised abalone with pork belly!”

Ye Fan often bickered with Yu Wentao, so Dabao was used to it. Since his mom didn’t talk back this time, he knew it wasn’t a real fight. Carefree and unbothered, he bolted ahead, shouting, “We’re having braised pork belly at home!”

In less than half an hour, the whole military family compound’s children knew that Geng Dabao was having braised pork belly for lunch.

Even Liao Xiaomei started begging for braised pork belly. Zhuang Qiuyue explained that Dabao’s grandma and maternal grandma had just arrived yesterday, so his mom bought meat to treat them. She promised they’d cook the same when they had guests over.

Ye Fan rarely made a big show of what her family was eating. Sensing something was off, Liao Miaomiao went to check out what was going on at Ye Fan’s house. She overheard Geng Dabao proudly telling his friends, “Yep! We’re having braised pork belly. Tell your mom to buy some too.”

iao Miaomiao was speechless — so this was the plan?

Tao Chunlan felt the same, sitting under the eaves to cool off. She leaned her head toward the house and said, “You’re so childish.”

Dabao had clearly repeated exactly what Yu Wentao had taught him.

Busy feeding Erbao formula, Yu Wentao didn’t even look up. “I’m happy to do it. It’s not like I spent your money.”

Ye Fan was about to go clean the abalone. “Mom, wasn’t this all because of you?”

Tao Chunlan raised an eyebrow. “Because of me what? Did she buy it just for me?”

Ye Fan turned to her mother-in-law. “Who’s gotten on your nerves again?”

Seeing that Ye Fan was concerned, Yu Wentao grinned. “It’s nothing — just a small matter. I can handle it. Go cook. I’ve never had fresh abalone before.”

Ye Fan couldn’t help but remind her, “Didn’t you eat the ones I sent home for New Year?”

“That was all frozen.” Yu Wentao waved her off. “Go on, steam the yellow croaker. The fish seller said steaming it is the best way.”

Ye Fan sighed. “You can eat whatever you want, but don’t cause any trouble.”

Yu Wentao shook her head. “I won’t cause trouble.”

With only a month left until the Mid-Autumn Festival, the capital needed four train carriages full of delicacies. Su Yuanhang went around the brigades to make sure no one fought over the goods, while Ye Fan went to the supply and marketing cooperative to collect shipments. After lunch, she headed straight to the food factory.

Yu Wentao didn’t know how to make crab roe buns, so she asked Tao Chunlan. Tao Chunlan had eaten them once years ago and figured it was just stuffing crab meat into a bun. Determined, Yu Wentao took Dabao along to buy two bags of crabs and a large eel.

On the way back, they ran into a fisherman. Without hesitation, Yu Wentao cheerfully asked how to make crab roe buns and cook eel — she wanted to make them for her daughter-in-law.

The fisherman didn’t know the recipes himself but helped ask around, and soon, a small group followed them back to Ye Fan’s house to teach Yu Wentao how to cook. They even helped pick out the crab meat.

Yu Wentao got Tao Chunlan to knead the dough. Though Tao Chunlan wasn’t too keen, she still went along with it, hoping her daughter would have dinner ready as soon as she got off work.

Once the buns were done, Yu Wentao scooped four into a small bowl for Dabao and told him, “It’s hot inside — go eat outside.”

The sun hadn’t set yet, and the weather was cool. A crowd of kids had gathered in front of Ye Fan’s house. Dabao, always drawn to the lively scene, held the bowl in one hand and ate a crab roe bun with the other.

As Ye Fan approached the chief of staff’s house, she heard several children excitedly asking:

“Dabao, is it good?”

“Geng Yanyan, are those really crab roe buns? Your grandma is amazing!”

Ye Fan stopped and sighed.

The chief of staff’s wife, Wan Siqin, stepped out of the courtyard holding a few cucumbers and teased, “Looks like no one’s touching the cucumbers and tomatoes at your house anymore.”

Ye Fan asked, “Did she hear something from someone?”

Wan Siqin, realizing there hadn’t been any recent gossip about the Geng family, shrugged. “Not sure. But your mother-in-law—don’t take this the wrong way—she’s… not someone to mess with.”

It wasn’t like Wan Siqin was trying to stir trouble. Besides, with a hot meal waiting at home, Ye Fan decided to just let it go.

But just because Ye Fan didn’t mind didn’t mean Geng Zhiyé had no opinion.

After dinner, Yu Wentao suggested Ye Fan and Geng Zhiyé take a walk to digest their food while she and her in-law did the dishes.

When Dabao and Erbao got up, Yu Wentao scooped them both into her arms. “Grandma will play with you. Your mom and dad worked hard all day.”

Geng Zhiyé’s brow twitched. Without a word, he took Ye Fan’s hand and led her outside.

Adults and children were gathered by the house, but Geng Zhiyé guided her south, toward the beach.

The military port at night was quiet. The moonlight illuminated the sand, the sea breeze whispered past, and the waves gently rocked against the shore. It was a serene moment, far from dull — if anything, it felt oddly familiar.

Then it hit him.

On his first night on the island, standing at the sentry post and gazing at the vast, mysterious ocean, he’d thought — if only Ye Fan were here.

Geng Zhiyé stopped and, unable to help himself, wrapped his arms around Ye Fan.

At that moment, Ye Fan was absolutely certain — there was no one else in Geng Zhiyé’s heart.

Without thinking, she hugged him back.

Geng Zhiyé’s heart pounded like a drum, but the corners of his mouth lifted into a subtle smile.

So what if she once had to leave for the countryside because of her first love?

In the end, both her heart and her presence belonged to him now.

Luckily, he hadn’t listened to his childhood friend’s nonsense about how “first loves are unforgettable” and “you shouldn’t marry them.”

If he hadn’t married her, he would have gained nothing.

But by marrying her, he at least had a chance.

And even if, in the most distant possibility, he could never fully win her heart — it still wouldn’t be a loss.

Because he had once held her, and they had two bright, beautiful children together.