Chapter 59.1

Qin Qingman was not someone who could be easily bullied like the original owner. She had already dealt with Zhu Hongxia and the others who had harmed the original owner. How could she treat her uncle, Wan Mingxi’s family, any differently? They were no saints either.

“Chuchu, did Uncle move?”

Qin Qingman asked this because she vaguely remembered something like that in the past, though she wasn’t entirely sure.

“Yes, he moved. After Cousin got assigned to the Hongqi Farm, they moved into the family area of the farm. It’s said it’s to find a good man for Big Sis to marry.” Chuchu replied, sounding like he knew all the gossip, as if there was nothing he didn’t know.

Upon hearing this, Qin Qingman was a bit confused. “But Wan Liang only worked for a little over a year; how could he get a house at the farm?”

“He didn’t get a house. Cousin only got a single room, and he still shares it with someone.”

Chuchu seemed quite excited talking about her uncle’s family. Qin Qingman couldn’t tell what excited Chuchu about this. She certainly didn’t see any sign of respect in Chuchu’s tone toward this so-called uncle’s family.

“Then how did Uncle’s family manage to get into the family area of the farm?”

Qin Qingman was really curious about Wan Mingxi’s abilities.

At this time, everything was state-owned, and labor was assigned according to household registration. Since Wan Mingxi’s family wasn’t registered at the farm, how did they end up living there? Unless they had jobs at the farm.

“Didn’t Auntie beg Mom to teach her how to cook? Mom, being soft-hearted, ended up teaching her a little. With those skills, they all managed to get into the farm’s canteen, and Uncle seems to be in charge of purchasing supplies.” Chuchu said, his tone showing a hint of disdain for Aunt Xu Lianhua.

Qin Qingman immediately remembered the whole thing.

It was because the original owner’s mother passed away early, and during her confinement period, this troublesome Auntie Xu came to help out.

At first, it was a kind gesture, an act of goodwill.

But who in the world didn’t have selfish motives? Xu Lianhua had her eye on the original owner’s mother’s cooking skills and deliberately tried to get close to her to curry favor.

During the confinement period, which required rest and should have been free from exertion, Xu Lianhua constantly badgered the original owner’s mother to teach her cooking. She hounded her day and night, driving the original owner’s mother to the point of a splitting headache.

Given that the sister-in-law had come to personally help with the confinement, the original owner’s mother reluctantly agreed and taught her some cooking skills.

With the original owner’s mother’s sincere teaching, Xu Lianhua’s cooking skills, though not extraordinary, had improved significantly. The dishes she made were much better than before, and occasionally, one or two of them even tasted better than those from the town’s State-Owned Restaurant.

Uncle’s family was satisfied, but the original owner’s mother paid a heavy price for it.

She hadn’t properly recovered from her confinement and was left with many health issues. As soon as her confinement ended, she rushed to work at the production team to earn work points.

With two children at home and the need to take care of her in-laws, relying solely on the small amount of grain her husband earned from his work points was far from enough to feed so many mouths. As a result, her health deteriorated, and by the time Chuchu was three years old, he began to fall ill, bedridden and unable to get up. Less than a year later, he passed away.

Thinking of this, a coldness grew in Qin Qingman’s expression.

It wasn’t just the original owner’s mother who had been harmed by Uncle’s family. The original owner’s father couldn’t accept his wife’s death and, one day, after drinking too much, he fell into the river and drowned.

The reason the Qin family had fallen into poverty was because of Uncle’s family.

“Chuchu, tomorrow we’re going to visit Uncle.” Qin Qingman said. She looked at the food in front of her but had no appetite. After inheriting this body, she had also inherited its joys and sorrows. Her soul was able to empathize with this body.

“Big Sis, are we really going to celebrate Uncle’s birthday tomorrow?”

Chuchu, who had been lying on the edge of the kang, carefully glanced at Qin Qingman. No matter how he looked at her, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Big Sis was radiating killing intent.

Qin Qingman was well aware of the child’s subtle look. She shot him a glare and replied harshly, “What do you think?” She could tell that Chuchu had deliberately said all this just now, probably because he saw Wei Ling in the house and, now that Big Sis and the two brothers had someone to rely on, he wanted to slap Uncle’s family in the face. Chuchu had likely brought this up intentionally.

“Heh heh—”

Realizing his plan had been exposed, Chuchu quickly played dumb.

With such a capable brother-in-law, why wouldn’t he want to show off? He despised Uncle’s family. They had gotten rich thanks to Qin’s family, yet when they were struggling, they didn’t offer any help. Instead, they had schemed to sabotage Big Sis’s job opportunities. Otherwise, Big Sis would have long had a stable job by now.

Chuchu harbored a great deal of resentment toward Uncle’s family.

Last year, Chuchu had personally witnessed how Big Sis had bent her back to earn work points.

“Big Sis, I’m sorry.” Chuchu knew his little scheme hadn’t escaped Big Sis’s eyes, so he decided to admit his mistake openly.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s my oversight. As younger ones, we should have gone to wish Uncle a happy birthday.” Qin Qingman said as she walked over to the kang and gently patted the child’s head. She then began to clean up the dishes and head to the main room to wash them.

In the west room, Chuchu saw that Qin Qingman wasn’t angry and immediately began rolling around on the kang with excitement.

Though his body still ached, he couldn’t help but feel happy.

At that moment, the child was already thinking about what to wear the next day, planning to wear something nice to slap Uncle’s family in the face.

The next day, as soon as the sky brightened, Qin Qingman got up. Not only did she get up, but she also dragged the still tangled-up Chuchu out of bed.

It was a beautiful day. Yesterday, she had taken advantage of the good weather to go out and make a trip around the area, to see who was going to town today. She and Chuchu had planned to hitch a ride with someone. As the year-end approached, Aunt Ah Yun’s family was busy preparing for her children’s weddings, and she happened to be going to the town’s Supply and Marketing Cooperative to buy things. She had warmly invited Qin Qingman to go along.

So, as soon as the day broke, Qin Qingman got up and started getting ready.

Though the town wasn’t far from Kaoshan Village, she still planned to have breakfast at home before leaving.

To be honest, the meals at the State-Owned Restaurant in town weren’t even half as good as hers. Why waste money on that?

When Chuchu was pulled out of bed by Qin Qingman, he was still not fully awake.

Normally, according to his biological clock, when Qin Qingman got up, the child would have had enough sleep to get up too, but things were different now. Ever since Wei Ling had assigned Chuchu physical training tasks, the child had stuck to them, no matter how uncomfortable he felt. This exhaustion made it difficult for him to get up in the morning.

“Chuchu, hurry up, get dressed. I’ve made breakfast. After we eat, we’ll go to town with Aunt Ah Yun. She’s using an ox cart today, and she agreed to take us to the Hongqi Farm.”

While helping Chuchu put on his clothes, Qin Qingman explained the situation.

She had seen how the child had trained yesterday and understood his sudden sleepiness and muscle soreness. That’s why she was now helping him get dressed.

“Big Sis, Aunt Ah Yun is really taking us to Hongqi Farm?”

Chuchu was fully awake now because of Qin Qingman’s words. Although Hongqi Farm wasn’t far from town, it was in the completely opposite direction from Kaoshan Village. It could be described as a three-point line. Without a ride, they would have to walk quite a distance from town to reach the farm.

“Yes, she’s taking us to the entrance of the farm with her ox cart.” Qin Qingman gave Chuchu a pat on the bottom. “You’ve got your clothes on, now hurry up and wash up. I’m going to feed the geese.” With that, she left the west room.

Since both she and Chuchu were going out today, she still had to take care of the animals at home.

“Got it, Big Sis.”

Chuchu responded and got out of bed to put on his shoes.

After putting on his shoes, he patted his sweater. The sweater was very warm, bought from the county Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Back then, neither Qin Qingman nor Wei Ling had bought themselves finished clothes, but they had bought this one for him, the youngest.

It was a red sweater, soft and incredibly warm.

Chuchu gently touched the sweater and then happily went to wash up.

Qin Qingman made a hearty breakfast today—big meat buns and two side dishes. Big Sis and the two brothers enjoyed a satisfying meal, leaving no space left in their stomachs.

“Chuchu, pack a few buns in a lunchbox. We’ll be out all day, and if we get hungry, we can eat the buns.” Qin Qingman said as she went to prepare the birthday gift for Uncle, then reminded Chuchu.

“Got it, Big Sis.”

Chuchu went to find a lunchbox to pack the buns.

The lunchbox that had previously been used to deliver food to Wang Chengping and the others had already been sent back by someone on the way. Now, the only thing the child had to do was fill it with the large buns.

The large lunchbox was filled with just three buns.

It was clear just how big Qin Qingman’s buns were—thin dough with plenty of filling, and they tasted unbelievably good. Even a child as small as Chuchu could finish one.

Just as the child closed the lunchbox, he saw Qin Qingman come out of the storage room holding a willow basket covered with a towel.

The contents of the basket were hidden under the towel, so Chuchu couldn’t see what was inside. Curious, he asked, “Big Sis, what did you bring?”

He wasn’t willing to part with their meat and grain for Uncle’s family.

“Take a look for yourself.”

Qin Qingman placed the willow basket on the ground and began sealing the stoves.

The fire needed to be sealed, not extinguished, so that it could continue providing warmth throughout the house. When they returned in the afternoon, the house wouldn’t be as cold as an ice cellar.

For the coal stove, she sealed it with wet coal dust, while for the stove burning wood in the hall, she added a few pieces of charcoal and then sealed it with wood ash.

When they came back in the afternoon, they would simply poke through and add more firewood to get it burning again.

As Qin Qingman was busy sealing the two stoves, Chuchu lifted the towel off the willow basket to see what was inside.

It was a big, full basket!

If one only looked at the quantity, it might seem like Qin Qingman was giving a very expensive gift, but Chuchu grinned when he took a closer look.

It was all kinds of dried vegetables.

Eggplants, green beans, radish strips…

These were things that every household dried and stored during the summer and autumn seasons, just so they could eat them in winter.

As for the dried vegetables, well, they were certainly valuable in their own way.

In their area, heavy snow could fall in the winter and sometimes block off the mountains for an extended period. During this time, fresh vegetables were hard to come by, so people lived off dried vegetables, sauerkraut, and the cabbage and radishes stored in the cellar. These were essentials that people ate daily.

However, because every household had them, these necessary items weren’t considered expensive.

The reason Chuchu was grinning was that compared to these dried vegetables, the mushrooms and wild mountain goods from the hills were far more valuable. Big Sis hadn’t taken any wild produce from the mountains, just dried vegetables.

Chuchu stuffed the big lunchbox into the willow basket and covered it up with the towel again, satisfied.

“Big Sis, for Uncle’s birthday, should we give them these? They won’t get mad, right?” Chuchu asked, his voice dripping with the enjoyment of seeing others in trouble. He was eager to see Uncle’s family get upset. The more upset they got, the happier he would be.

Now that they had Brother-in-law, no one dared to bully them anymore.

By this time, Qin Qingman had finished sealing the fires. Hearing Chuchu’s words, she thought for a moment, then turned around and went back into the storage room. She returned holding the lion’s mane mushrooms that Jiang Linshan’s family had given them and placed them into the willow basket.

“Big Sis!”

The moment Chuchu saw the lion’s mane mushrooms, he couldn’t stay calm.

This thing was very rare. It was something their uncle had sent over, and neither Big Sis nor Brother-in-law had even tasted it yet. Why did it have to be sent to Uncle’s family? Chuchu was not happy. He was very unhappy.

He also couldn’t bear to part with it.

“They have to see the benefits.” Qin Qingman had her own calculations.

Chuchu puffed out his cheeks, but he didn’t dare to defy Qin Qingman’s wishes. He could only watch, sulking, as the willow basket was carried.

“Chuchu, come on, quickly put on your jacket. It’s cold outside. Wrap up well and make sure you’re warm.” Qin Qingman, who was carrying the willow basket to the door, called to the child while putting on her cotton coat.

This military coat was not the one Wei Ling had left behind, but one that originally belonged to the couple who had passed away.

It had been worn by the original owner’s father for many years. The fabric had long faded and worn thin. The strength of the cloth had deteriorated so much that it could easily tear if not handled carefully. Wearing it gave off no sense of beauty.

Chuchu, who had been sulking, widened his eyes when he saw the military coat on Qin Qingman.

Big Sis had a new cotton jacket, one that had come from Second Aunt’s house!

“What are you staring at? Hurry up and put on your clothes.” Qin Qingman knew what Chuchu’s expression meant, so she didn’t explain. Instead, she took Chuchu’s cotton jacket and began to put it on him.

Chuchu was even more confused when he saw the cotton jacket he was about to wear.

This was the jacket he was about to discard. The patches on it had piled up so thickly that you couldn’t even tell what the original jacket had looked like.

“Big Sis… Big Sis…” The child stammered as he looked at Qin Qingman.

His little mind couldn’t figure out what was going on. Weren’t they going to show off to Uncle’s family today? Why were they wearing such worn-out clothes? How could they show off their family’s life in these shabby clothes?

“Is Uncle’s family short of food?”

As Qin Qingman put the jacket on the child, she asked.

Chuchu thought for a moment and shook his head firmly. “No, they’re not.” Uncle’s family had already entered the Hongqi Farm’s dining hall. The Hongqi Farm could accommodate thousands of people in its dining hall, so how could Uncle’s family be lacking food?

Maybe by now, they had already become plump from eating well!

After Qin Qingman finished dressing the child, she took his hat and put it on his head. She said with a hint of helplessness, “They’re not lacking food, and they’re not lacking clothes. Even if they know we’re doing well, there’s no need for them to envy us because they’ve already stopped asking for anything from us.”

“Then… then we won’t go.” Chuchu said, stunned.

“We still have to go. Uncle’s family can now eat and stay warm thanks to Mom’s cooking. Shouldn’t we go help Mom collect some apprentice fees? If we don’t wear shabby clothes, how can they look down on us like that?” Qin Qingman didn’t really want to explain all this to the child, since he was still so young.

But she could tell that Chuchu was very smart, and for a child like him, she couldn’t teach him in the same way she would teach other children.

Hearing Qin Qingman’s explanation, Chuchu’s eyes immediately lit up.

The cheeks that had been puffed out earlier relaxed, and a smile appeared on his face. He even took the initiative to put on his earmuffs and gloves.

“Not angry anymore?”

Qin Qingman smiled as she reached out and gently poked the child’s cheek with her finger.

After a period of good food and care, the child had already put on some weight. His cheeks were fuller, and his face had become a bit more rounded, making his features look even better.

“Big Sis, I’m not angry.”

Chuchu, clinging to Qin Qingman’s arm, acted coquettishly. He wasn’t willing to admit that he had been angry in the first place.

“Mm-hmm, you’re not angry. Your cheeks are just puffed up like a pufferfish.”

Qin Qingman teased Chuchu as she carried the willow basket out the door.

Chuchu’s attention was immediately diverted. “Big Sis, what’s a pufferfish?”

“A pufferfish!” Qin Qingman answered while locking the door. “A pufferfish is a type of fish that inflates its cheeks when it’s angry or feels threatened, turning itself into a ball. This way, it can escape danger.”

“Wow, this fish is so smart.” Chuchu admired the pufferfish.

“Yes, I also think our Chuchu is very smart.” With the door locked, Qin Qingman picked up the willow basket in one hand and held the child’s hand with the other as they walked toward the yard gate. They needed to meet Aunt Ah Yun at the village entrance.

It seemed that they wouldn’t be the only ones taking the ride into town.

“Big Sis, I also think I’m super smart.” Chuchu said, his voice brimming with absolute confidence. He even added cleverly, “Big Sis and Brother-in-law are smart too, but I’m the third smartest.”

“Then who’s the first smartest?” Qin Qingman teased the child on purpose.

“Big Sis, my Big Sis is the first smartest.” Chuchu had learned to flatter girls without any guidance.

Qin Qingman, in a good mood, chatted with Chuchu. The wind in the village had blown for over a day, coating everything with frost. The scenery was beautiful, but the ground was slippery and hard to walk on. The two of them walked slowly and carefully to avoid falling.

---

Lucia: Another Poll! If you want this novel to have 10 bonus updates, vote here!

---