Chapter 15.1

The compound for the soldiers’ family in Su Xiaoxiao’s mind is similar to those modern communities; one gate, a building that is almost identical to silos, and one flat for each family.

However, since the whole town is part of a military base, there is no shortage of land. Due to this, every family was granted an independent courtyard. 

Although they are bungalows and are far less luxurious than the villas where Su Xiaoxiao lived in her previous life, this land is larger. The yard alone was almost 180 square meters. 

Every family has reserved a piece of land as a vegetable garden, with a clothes rack on the side, a water pump pool in the middle, and a place to wash things. 

The other side is the kitchen, and the opposite of the kitchen is the washroom; there are corridors on both sides, which are covered with tiles. With these, you don’t have to worry about getting wet when it rains.

The layout of the house was standard; with the living room in the middle. two symmetrical rooms on the left and right sides. 

There are four rooms in total, and every room had access to sunlight.

Compared with Su Xiaoxiao’s small tube dormitory, which is not even equipped with an independent kitchen and bathroom, this house can be called a paradise.

The yards of every house was specially designed for families with children. 

In this spacious yard, the children can play in it for a half day without leaving their house.

With these living conditions, Su Xiaoxiao couldn’t be more satisfied, and once again, she could say to herself that she doesn’t regret marrying Han Cheng and that she married the right person.

It’s a pity that no one took care of the yard. It’s too bare. 

When Su Xiaoxiao took a glance at their neighbors’ yard, she couldn’t help but feel envious. The only thing that consoled her was the persimmon tree that hung with golden fruits at their yard’s gate. Many persimmons dropped both inside and outside their yard.

Su Xiaoxiao put down Xiao Doubao and let him play with his brother.

After Xiao Doubao left with his brother, Su Xiaoxiao asked Han Cheng, “Han Cheng, is there anything we can eat at home?”
Han Cheng took a vacation leave for a week, and Su Xiaoxiao guessed that there should not be much food left at home.

“We only have a few staple foods such as rice and noodles left in the house, as for the other foods, there are none.”

The truth is, Han Cheng eats in the army canteen all year round, and his family’s kitchen has never come into contact with fire for the whole year.

The few grains in the house were bought by him the day before he left the military base; otherwise, the rats could only starve to death.

“The military canteen should have cooked the meals for lunch. I’ll go to the military canteen, and in the afternoon, I’ll buy some ingredients so we can cook our meal.” 

The pots and pans at home have not been touched for a year, thus, it is also extremely dirty for use now.

After unloading, Zhao Xianfeng came up to Han Cheng and said, “Don’t be so troublesome. Just take the children to my house for lunch. Our Xiao Yu hasn’t seen Fantuan for a year. Every day, he would ask us questions about his brother Fantuan. He must miss him very much.”

Su Xiaoxiao took half of the dry goods prepared for her by Li Yufeng (her mother) to Zhao Xianfeng and said with a smile, “We want to have our first meal at home. We’re not going to keep you today. When everything in the house is settled, bring Xiao Yu with you to play with my sons and taste my skills.”

A few soft words blocked Zhao Xianfeng’s attempt to retort without knowing where to start.

He didn’t pretend to be polite to Su Xiaoxiao either. He took the things she gave him and gave a thumbs up to Han Cheng: “Han Cheng, your wife is too fierce, and you are destined to be a henpecked husband.” ^[1]A henpecked man is controlled by and a little frightened of a woman, especially his wife.

The word “fierce” doesn’t have any derogatory meaning at all. It is a kind of power that can overcome the strong ones with softness. With her sweet and soft smile, Han Cheng couldn’t do much for her.

Su Xiaoxiao redefined Zhao Xianfeng’s view of women. She thought of letting him in contact with her “fierce” side and letting him learn more.

If Zhao Xianfeng lived in the 21st century, he would know that there is a word called “high emotional intelligence”. Su Xiaoxiao does have her own way of dealing with people, and her affinity is also naturally born; others can’t learn it even if they want to.

Before leaving, Zhao Xianfeng picked a bag of persimmons and went home in satisfaction.

Xiao Doubao is short on nutrition; that’s why he developed slowly. When walking, he was unstable. In addition to that, he had an injured arm, his one hand was bandaged, and a cloth supporting his arm was hanging around his neck while his other hand was carrying persimmons. Due to his unstable weight, he fell several times.

Su Xiaoxiao had no idea when Han Cheng’s food from the canteen would arrive, so she simply soaked it in wheat milk and made Xiao Doubao take a nap.

She also made a cup for herself and Fantuan.

Fantuan stopped eating his persimmon and looked at the hot and fragrant milk in the enamel cup.

Fantuan couldn’t help but drool over the fragrant milk in front of him. He opened his eyes wide and stared at it. He was reluctant to blink, but his mouth said: “I don’t want to drink, I’ll leave it to my brother.”

In Fantuan’s opinion, this is an extremely precious thing. He was able to drink it when he was a child, however, in the old witch’s place, only Tiedan can drink it.

Su Xiaoxiao sat on the bench and looked him in the eyes while patting Fantuan’s head: “Our family is democratic. Do you know what democracy is? Everyone has a share of good things. Doubao has some, and Fantuan will have some. You did your best to protect your brother, and Mom thinks that you are a very amazing brother. Come on, drink it.”

Fantuan sniffed and reached out to take the cup. This time, he said the words “thank you” very loudly.

Fantuan sipped the malted milk and looked up at his beautiful stepmother, who always smiled. 

‘How could there be such a good stepmother in the world? She must be the fairy sent by his mother to protect him and his brother.’

Han Cheng came back with three lunch boxes full of food. Su Xiaoxiao didn’t expect that the food in the canteen would taste this good. One box of rice, one box of vegetarian dishes, and one box of braised pork!

God knows that Su Xiaoxiao has never seen white rice since she transmigrated to this world. As a southerner, her favorite staple food is white rice. She likes sweet potatoes, but she doesn’t like them if they are added to rice. 

“Han Cheng, the food in your canteen is really good, and there is even braised pork in the brown sauce!”

“They will cook a meal like this once or twice a month. I was lucky to catch up today.” 

Han Cheng originally thought the braised meat in the canteen was good, but since he had eaten Su Xiaoxiao’s dishes, he felt that the food in the canteen was not that good. It was far from good.

Xiao Fantuan, who had just finished drinking malt, thought that he was the happiest child in the world. He will have a very, very good life with this fairy stepmother.

He decided to be nice to his fairy stepmother in the future. They don’t know where their “always busy” father would send him and his brother if they made her angry and make their fairy stepmother run away from them.

Su Xiaoxiao had no idea what Xiao Fantuan was thinking. She took out the bowl she had just washed and hid the sleeping Xiao Doubao’s share. 

Except for the sleeping Xiao Doubao, all of the members of the Han family ate together.