Chapter 18: The Indian Girl (Part 1)

Before Chen Yufeng could get up, Mimi jumped out of bed and unlatched the door.

“Daddy, come sleep with us!”

The damn man walked in, scooped up his little troublemaker, and placed her on the bed. But then he asked, “Han Mi, where did you learn about chili water and tiger benches?”

“From the movies! The Japanese devils always do that stuff, don’t they?” Mimi gestured with her hands. “If I were in the Liberation Army, I’d force-feed that bad grandma some chili water!”

“In the movies, only the Japanese devils torture our revolutionary fighters with chili water and tiger benches. But we, the Liberation Army, don’t treat prisoners like that—because we’re different from those barbaric devils. We’re civilized people,” Han Chao explained patiently.

“So how exactly did you deal with the bad grandma?”

Mimi’s temperament was strikingly similar to Han Chao’s as a child. She was still young, but her impulsiveness, ruthlessness, and fighting spirit were impossible to hide.

The little girl anxiously exclaimed, “Hurry up, stinky Daddy! What did you do to her?”

Han Chao noticed that Chen Yufeng had sat up—clearly, she was curious too.

So he said, “Based on our current investigation, although Zhang Yanli gave royal jelly to all the logistics department leaders, only Qin Xiong’s case constitutes bribery. That’s because her sister works in the logistics department. The rest can only be classified as social favors.”

Chen Yufeng understood this. Zhang Yanli and Chen Fanshi had been able to secure their wholesale market contract thanks in no small part to her sister’s support.

It wasn’t about using connections or pulling strings. Her sister worked in the logistics department and understood the policies. As long as she passed that information to Zhang Yanli, Zhang Yanli could quickly take advantage of the policies and reap the benefits before anyone else.

“So, what was the final decision?” Chen Yufeng asked.

Han Chao replied, “After verification, the organization decided to deduct her ex-husband’s allowance and issue a formal reprimand across the entire military.”

The biggest punishment wasn’t the deduction of the allowance. Zhang Yanli owned a massive market—she couldn’t care less about a few dozen yuan. But a public reprimand across the military? That was serious. As a long-time military spouse, being named and shamed like that was utterly humiliating.

Chen Yufeng was satisfied with this outcome, but Mimi was not. She snorted, “One of these days, I’m going to her house and smear dung all over her walls. Then, I’ll burn her house down.”

Han Chao was immediately displeased. But as a new father who wasn’t entirely familiar with the child yet, he held back his words. Still, as a man, he found Mimi’s words too crude.

The book had mentioned that Mimi’s crudeness was precisely why the other military wives looked down on Chen Yufeng. Even Han Chao, deep down, blamed her, thinking she was a bad influence and an incompetent mother.

He saw her as a little sister, a childhood playmate—there was no romantic love between them. In fact, he even looked down on her.

And another thing—the book had also pointed out that she was wrong to hit the child. Qi Cailing always treated her stepson with patience and warmth. But Chen Yufeng? She was always smacking Mimi’s backside. This wouldn’t teach the child anything good—it would only make her more rebellious.

Fighting the urge to smack Mimi, Chen Yufeng thought quickly and said, “Mimi, do you know why your dad was able to become a soldier?”

“Because he’s like me—he can climb trees, swim, and run really fast!” Mimi answered.

“Wrong. He’s different from you. When he was little, he never used bad words, and he never talked about hitting or killing people.” Chen Yufeng said, “The military wants civilized, well-mannered people. If kids want to become soldiers, they have to be polite and disciplined.”

Mimi immediately declared, “Fine! I won’t use bad words anymore. From now on, anyone who does is a bastard!”

“‘Bastard’ is a bad word too. You can’t say that.” Chen Yufeng patiently corrected her.

“Whoever says ‘bastard’ is a bastard!” Mimi replied earnestly.

Chen Yufeng felt like this kid was beyond saving. She turned to her husband, feeling a little embarrassed.

Mimi also looked at her father, hoping for his approval. Even though things didn’t turn out exactly as she had expected, she was starting to like him. She just wanted his praise and encouragement.

Han Chao glanced at her and said, “Even though Daddy prefers girls with long hair and braids, our Mimi can be a little fierce. You can say ‘bastard,’ but let’s not use any other bad words.” With that, he got up to go to bed.

“See, Mommy! Daddy said I can say ‘bastard’!” Mimi was delighted by her father’s approval. She even reached out to touch Chen Yufeng’s hair and said, “Daddy likes girls with long hair. Mommy, you should grow yours out again.”

There it was—Chen Yufeng knew it. This damn man was going to fight a long battle over this.

After all, he had once spent an entire year growing soybeans just to convince her to keep her braids.

But she remembered the old Han Chao—he was stubborn, silent, and rough, like a wild dog. He barely talked to her.

So when had he changed? When had he become like the person described in the book—capable, strategic, even a little cunning?

Just one sentence, and he had already made Mimi change her opinion of him. He was even using her to persuade Chen Yufeng to grow her hair back.

Too bad for him—this time, she wasn’t going to give in.

“Oh, right, Feng’er,” Han Chao’s deep voice called from the other side of the room. “I’m not locking the door tonight.”

Mimi immediately sat up. “Mommy, why isn’t Daddy locking the door? Isn’t he afraid of the big bad wolf?”

“Go to sleep!” Chen Yufeng pushed her daughter back onto the bed.

…

The next day, the two little girls were set to start their first day at the preschool.

Since it was Chen Yufeng’s first time dropping them off, Teacher Sun, who was in charge of the older kids, took her on a tour of the school. She showed her the classrooms, the kitchen, the playground, and even the sleeping area.

Everything seemed fine—until they got to the kitchen.

There, Chen Yufeng was stunned.

Not only were there neatly arranged trays of drumsticks, bread, and sausages, but even the vegetables were meticulously cleaned and stacked—every leaf was spotless, every root aligned perfectly.

After the tour, Teacher Sun asked, “Sister-in-law, do your daughters have any particular interests? Have you considered enrolling them in an extracurricular class?”

The book had mentioned that city kids all took extracurricular classes. Tiantian and Mimi lagged behind other children precisely because they had never learned any special skills. Other kids were not only good at academics but also took dance, piano, or violin lessons. They had opportunities to perform at school events, win awards, and build confidence.

Tiantian and Mimi, on the other hand, had no skills to show off. They could only sit in the audience, clapping for others, growing more and more self-conscious.

For now, Chen Yufeng wasn’t sure what the girls were interested in. She’d have to observe them for a while.

But whatever they wanted to learn, she would work hard to earn money and support them.

Today, for the first time, Chen Yufeng had a whole day to herself.

She had already planned her schedule—she was going to the Military Museum.

Chen Fanshi had donated three items: a gold cigarette case, a cookbook, and a calligraphy practice sheet.

All three were currently on display. Since they were classified as historical artifacts, each item was locked in its own glass case, accompanied by a description. Just as Han Chao had said, the label read:

“These are the relics of former militia member Chen Erwa, donated to the Military Museum by his son, Chen Fanshi.”

Chen Erwa was indeed Chen Fanshi’s biological father—and also Chen Yufeng’s grandfather.

In reality, he had been just an ordinary man. But since Chen Fanshi was an educated person, he had spun a grand narrative, portraying him as a revolutionary veteran.

A veteran’s son donating historical artifacts to the military? In exchange, the military had granted him a large marketplace. It was a fair trade.

Back when she was a child, these items had been stored in the grain barn of her bedroom. The barn was dry, ventilated, and well-preserved, so the items had remained intact.

When Chen Fanshi had left, she had been too young to understand much. She had only known that she loved those items. And realizing that they would soon be taken away, she had secretly marked each one—leaving small signs that only she would recognize.

Since the items had already been donated, taking them back was, of course, impossible.

Chen Yufeng had only one request now—to change the listed donor and revise the artifact descriptions. She wasn’t sure if Chen Fanshi would agree, but she first wanted to check if the markings she had made on the items were still there.

She approached a staff member and asked, “Comrade, can the glass case be opened? I’d like to take a closer look at the items inside. Is that possible?”

The staff member gave her a respectful salute before responding, “Comrade, these are artifacts. To prevent damage, no one is allowed to touch them. But if you like…” The young man smiled. “Why don’t you just take a good look from here?”

So be it.

Chen Yufeng carefully examined each artifact, bending down, tilting her head, even kneeling on the floor. She scrutinized them for an entire morning.

She couldn’t find her markings on the calligraphy copybook or the cookbook, but when she knelt down to look inside the gold cigarette case, she spotted it—it was still there.

She had assumed that since Chen Fanshi had falsely taken credit for the donation, he would be worried she might report the truth to the military district, causing a scandal. She had expected him to reach out to her as soon as possible to explain himself.

But he didn’t.

Not that day, nor the next.

Chen Yufeng was in a hurry to bring both mothers out of Guihua Town, so she went to check on the military-run restaurant available for lease. She only knew that renting it required a 10,000-yuan deposit to the military district, but beyond that, she had little information. Today, she planned to ask Commander Xu about the details.

She figured that, since it was around the time he got off work, he might pass by the place.

But coincidences like that don’t happen every day. After waiting for a long time, she still didn’t see Commander Xu. Instead, she saw a man walk up to the restaurant door and take out a key—clearly someone in charge of the establishment.