Chapter 25.1

Lu Nong’s head throbbed painfully, as if it might split open. In her dazed state, someone helped her sit up and forced her to drink a bowl of terrible hangover soup. She kept groaning in discomfort.

In her dream, someone asked her, “Where do you feel uncomfortable?”

It would have been fine if he hadn’t asked. Once he asked, Lu Nong felt even more aggrieved and babbled, “I have a headache and stomachache. Don’t cover me with a blanket. It’s hot…”

She really did feel awful. Her head was pounding, and her stomach felt as if it had an ice lump that chilled her. Meanwhile, her body felt overheated. The cold and hot sensations made her want to cry, and it seemed she really was crying.

The person in her dream tried to soothe her, saying, “Don’t cry.”

This only made Lu Nong cry harder. Why shouldn’t she cry?

At that moment, her forehead suddenly felt cool, which relieved her discomfort. Then a large hand was placed on her stomach, gently rubbing it. The only downside was that this person wouldn’t let her kick off the blanket.

Her headache faded, and her stomach felt better. Lu Nong relaxed her furrowed brow and gradually fell back asleep.

She slept straight through until noon the next day. When she got up, her stomach felt uncomfortably full, and she hurried to the bathroom, only to encounter Pei Zheng right at the door.

They exchanged a glance, and the next second, both suddenly charged forward, unwilling to let the other pass at the bathroom entrance.

Pei Zheng, relying on his height, blocked Lu Nong with his arm, saying, “Let me go first. A stepmother should at least act a bit like one.”

Lu Nong gripped the doorknob tightly, refusing to give Pei Zheng a chance to enter. She retorted angrily, “What? Don’t you understand respect for elders and love for the young? I’m older, so I should go first.”

“I’m still younger, so you should give in to me.”” Pei Zheng insisted confidently.

Lu Nong rolled her eyes at him in disdain, realizing he was becoming increasingly shameless. She couldn’t be bothered to argue, so she relaxed her grip and said, “You go first. Go ahead.”

“See? That’s more like it. As you said, respecting the elders and loving the young is a traditional virtue of our nation…” Pei Zheng said triumphantly.

Lu Nong’s expression darkened. She had already yielded, yet this kid was still pushing his luck. With a quick thought, she took advantage of Pei Zheng’s distraction and nimbly slipped under his arm into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her.

Pei Zheng: “…”

“Lu Nong, you’re cheating!” Pei Zheng exclaimed through gritted teeth as he pounded on the door.

Lu Nong leisurely teased him, “All’s fair in love and war. You follow your father to the army every day and still don’t understand this simple truth.”

“Go away! Come back later or go to the bathroom downstairs. Don’t you feel embarrassed standing at the door?”

Pei Zheng stomped off angrily, but after just a few steps, he dashed downstairs. He really couldn’t hold it anymore.

After finishing her business, Lu Nong was about to wash her hands when she suddenly caught sight of her bright red lips in the mirror. She was shocked. Why were they swollen again?

Did she bite her lip in her sleep again?

That’s right, it seemed she did have a dream last night. What happened in that dream?

Lu Nong knocked on her head in frustration. She had drunk so much that she couldn’t remember anything after getting drunk, not even what she dreamed about.

Looking down at the pajamas she was wearing, she guessed that her godmother must have seen her drunk last night, helped her back to her room, and changed her into pajamas.

Returning to the bedroom, she noticed her little camisole was crumpled up at the head of the bed.

Lu Nong fell silent. What had she done last night? Had she really not acted like a drunk?

Just as she was wondering, Aunt Wu knocked on the door from outside and cheerfully asked, “Nong Nong? Do you need to change the sheets?”

Lu Nong was puzzled. Hadn’t the sheets just been changed yesterday? Could it be that she had thrown up on the bed last night?

Thinking about that possibility, Lu Nong quickly pulled back the blanket to check for any vomit on the sheets.

She carefully inspected the sheets from top to bottom and was relieved to find them clean. The thought of sleeping on sheets stained with vomit would make anyone feel uncomfortable.

Even though there was no vomit, Lu Nong still felt the sheets had a faint smell of alcohol. So she told her godmother, “Let’s change them. There’s a smell of alcohol.”

“Alright, let’s change them.”

Aunt Wu entered the room to help Lu Nong change the sheets. She glanced at Lu Nong and then secretly searched the sheets for something.

Lu Nong: ? ? I really didn’t vomit!

“Godmother, what are you looking for?”

Aunt Wu seemed a bit disappointed that she hadn’t found what she was looking for. She casually replied, “Oh, it’s nothing.”

After a while, she shot Lu Nong a look that seemed to say she was frustrated with her.

Lu Nong was confused. If she hadn’t thrown up on the bed, why did Aunt Wu seem unhappy? What was going on?

At noon, Pei Ji’an didn’t come back for lunch. Lu Nong didn’t mind at all and even sighed with relief. Who knew if she had made a scene last night? She certainly didn’t want anyone telling her what outrageous things she had done while drunk.

After lunch, Lu Nong decided to make some bowl cakes for Gu Huai to enrich his childhood memories.

First, she ground the soaked ordinary and glutinous rice into a paste and filtered out the unground residues.

Then she heated water and added sugar before pouring half of the rice paste into the pot. She quickly stirred the paste in the pot until it thickened into a sticky consistency, mixing the thickened paste with the unheated rice paste.

Finally, she poured the prepared rice paste into small bowls, added fillings like red beans, green beans, and sesame seeds, and steamed them for twenty minutes.

The fragrant and rich bowl cakes were done. Besides the plain rice flour bowl cakes, Lu Nong also made matcha bowl cakes and white rabbit milk candy bowl cakes.

After finishing, Pei Zheng, this greedy boy, followed the delicious smell into the kitchen, with Xiao Gu Huai tagging along behind him like a little tail, both staring eagerly at Lu Nong’s bowl cakes.

The bowl cakes were indeed a popular treat among kids, and Pei Zheng couldn’t stop himself, devouring one after another. Xiao Gu Huai couldn’t have too many, so Lu Nong only let him have one to nibble on. As for Pei Zheng, who could finish one in just two or three bites, Lu Nong had already lost count of how many he had eaten.

“Mama, so yummy…” Xiao Gu Huai said.

“Stepmother, can you make some more tomorrow?” Pei Zheng asked eagerly.

“Mm-hmm!” Gu Huai nodded excitedly.

Lu Nong ignored the two little ones as she tidied up a few plates of bowl cakes and candies to take to the nearby neighbors. They had moved in a few days ago, and as the new mistress of the house, it wouldn’t be appropriate not to greet the neighbors.

Lu Nong asked Pei Zheng, “Can you tell me about the neighbors? It will help me when I deliver the cakes.”

Pei Zheng regretted having to give up most of the information, but after thinking for a moment, he started introducing the neighbors to Lu Nong: “Next door lives Uncle Cui’s family. Uncle Cui is on the same level as my dad, and there are about eight or nine people in their family. You haven’t seen them these past few days because Aunt Huo and Uncle Cui had a fight, and she took the kids back to her parents’ house. Uncle Cui got mad and went to the army, leaving only Grandma Cui and the nanny at home.”

“Oh right, Aunt Huo is the stepmother. The oldest and second children from Uncle Cui’s previous marriage don’t live here. When Aunt Huo comes back, don’t provoke her. She’s really fierce, and you definitely can’t beat her if it comes to a fight.”

Pei Zheng spoke casually, but Lu Nong was filled with questions. So the old lady watering the flowers she saw a few days ago wasn’t the mistress but the mistress’s mother-in-law? She thought the neighbor was easy to get along with. How could she be so fierce that she even fought?

“Do they often argue?” Even though she didn’t want to ask, the houses were too close together. If they fought loudly at night, she would surely hear something. Lu Nong was worried about her future sleep quality.

“Yes, they argue often. They don’t have time to argue during the day because they’re at work, so it usually happens when they come home at night.”

Pei Zheng said it as if it were normal. Honestly, he originally thought his home felt cold and lifeless, but after hearing the neighbors argue frequently enough to rattle the roof, he didn’t feel that way anymore.

Lu Nong found it hard to express herself: “What about the other families? Are there any that are close to your dad or your dad’s superiors?”

The small red building was a residence for high-ranking military officers’ families. There were more than ten red buildings in this area, similar to the Pei family’s, and further ahead were the family-style buildings.

These red buildings were surrounded by a small community. There were soldiers standing guard at the entrance, making entry very strict. It was difficult for outsiders to get in, and non-family members needed a pass to enter.