Chapter 29

After seeing off Zhou Xin, Li Quan slumped into his seat.

The bench was narrow and uncomfortable, so he leaned on the table, cursing silently. He felt incredibly unlucky. He had finally found a job, but now he faced a competitor.

His master has no rival.

The clinic was built, but it was just a single room. It was supposed to have tables, chairs, benches, and medicine cabinets. Now, it only had a medicine cabinet. The table was an old, repaired one from the school, and the bench was even more broken.

The Sixth Battalion was a much more advanced unit compared to the others, so why was it so poorly equipped? It looked extremely poor.

Even so, he had to work hard, or he would be sent back, and his sister-in-law would be furious. He couldn’t carry anything, didn’t pass his high school exams, and ended up working as a laborer.

“Huh——” Li Quan sighed, fanned himself, and held a notebook in his right hand to record what had just happened with Zhou Baoquan.

He decided to wait and see how this person performed in the next two days.

If possible, he would use him. If not, he would find another seriously ill person. The old lady who came two days ago claiming to have had a stroke could be a candidate. It was not clear who told her that strokes could be cured, but she insisted on treatment. He wasn’t a miracle worker, and curing a stroke was beyond him.

_

Haicheng

Post office near the military area

“Okay, then quickly transfer the money. Your father and I will go pick up your grandma. What have your two uncles done? They didn’t even take care of your mother when she had a stroke.” The woman’s voice was clear on the phone.

Qin Yue pursed her lips, feeling a bit annoyed: “Grandma is also your mother. You should take care of her. Don’t rush me so much. I don’t make much money, and the money I send is Lao Lu’s. You need to inform him.”

Mother Qin said helplessly, “She said when I got married that the betrothal gift should stay at her parents’ home as a way of repaying her for raising me. When she gets old, it should be your two uncles’ responsibility. I’ve been supporting her for years, but if you take her home without support, your three sisters-in-law will probably cause trouble. Besides, you’re married now, so send some money first and then tell him later. After all, you’ve been taking care of those three children for a long time.”

Qin Yue felt a pang of frustration. What nanny? She was the stepmother and would benefit from these three promising children in the future. Why did she feel so uncomfortable with her mother’s words?

She said impatiently, “I know, I’ll send it later.”

Mother Qin also felt awkward, so she said, “Then I’ll pick up your grandma later. I must tell Lu Jianguo after sending it. It’s wrong for husband and wife to hide things from each other.”

Qin Yue thought that Lu Jianguo hadn’t returned from his mission yet, but she still replied vaguely, “I know. The phone bill is expensive. I’ll hang up now.”

“Good.”

After hanging up, Qin Yue sighed.

Her grandmother had a stroke six months ago. It wasn’t severe—just some crookedness in her eyes and mouth and trouble with her limbs. She could still live, but with some issues. She was scalded by boiling water two days ago.

Both of Qin Yue’s elder and second uncles were unkind. They insisted that the old lady give up her savings before they would take her home.

The grandmother knew her sons’ characters and was reluctant to give away her money.

The situation was at a standstill until Qin Yue agreed to send money to her parents so they could bring grandma home. Only then was the issue resolved.

Her grandmother had always loved her since childhood.

Qin Yue couldn’t bear to see her grandmother live in misery.

Moreover, she was reborn. People in later generations could recover from strokes with good care. Her grandmother’s stroke was mild now. With the right doctor, she might get better. Before coming, Qin Yue took the chance to call her grandmother and suggest seeing a doctor.

But there had been no improvement; otherwise, her grandmother wouldn’t have burned herself.

As for the money…

On the day Lu Jianguo brought her back, he had an urgent mission. He left her with the children and some money. She had more than 100 yuan now, down from 200 yuan. She spent a lot on the three children this month, ensuring they had good food, clothes, and shelter.

She would have to send at least fifty yuan back.

Lu Jianguo said she could use the money, but she felt uneasy.

Without her husband around, she felt like an outsider and was burdened psychologically.

The three children seemed to form two sides in the family. Lu Jianguo’s eldest was seven years old, the second was five, and the youngest was under one year old. He was clingy to Qin Yue, but the other two were not.

They might cause trouble if they knew she sent fifty yuan home.

Qin Yue rubbed her temples, feeling stressed. Her married life was full of worries and problems because her husband was absent. Although she had struggled in her previous life, they had been happy during their honeymoon.

She had never realized so clearly that Lu Jianguo married her only for stability and to care for his sons.

This lack of a real marital relationship made her struggle with whether to use the money.

Thinking about what her parents said, Qin Yue calmed down and went back into the post office: “Hello, I want to remit money.”

_

The money was transferred quickly. Qin Yue called the brigade again, asking them to inform her mother to go to the post office in two days with her household registration book to withdraw the money.

After handling this, she rode her bike to buy food and returned to please the two children.

The bicycle was bought by Lu Jianguo, but not for her use; it was used by his ex-wife.

Qin Yue didn’t like using it because it reminded her of the three children his ex-wife had. However, the military camp was too far to walk to, so she needed the bicycle.

She first went to buy meat but arrived at a bad time, so only bones were left. Though the meat was gone, the bones were still good for making soup.

Qin Yue was a good cook. She asked the butcher to cut the bones in half, bought some offal, and then went to the supply and marketing cooperative to get some sugar.

She hoped the two naughty boys would be more obedient with this and not cause trouble.

After all her errands, it was getting late, so Qin Yue rushed home on her bicycle. She had to hurry; otherwise, the kids might get hungry and seek food elsewhere, which would lead to complaints from the sisters-in-law who were friendly with Lu Jianguo’s ex-wife.

Thinking about this made Qin Yue feel a bit bitter.

She wasn’t their biological mother and felt she didn’t have the right to discipline them. But Qin Yue took a deep breath and reminded herself that she needed to build a good relationship with them. She hoped that this effort would pay off in the future.

As she rode her bike faster, she reached the military camp and went inside. However, as she arrived at her house, two boys with sticks ran over. They looked at her suspiciously and yelled, “Did you steal my father’s money? Return it immediately!”

How did they know?!

Panic-stricken, Qin Yue was about to explain when a woman came out holding Lu Jianguo’s third son. She looked at Qin Yue disapprovingly and said, “Sister-in-law, you’ve been married for less than two months, and you’re already sending money home? Brother Lu hasn’t come back yet, so he doesn’t know about this. Why don’t you wait and discuss it with him first? Is there a problem at home?”

Qin Yue recognized the woman as Kang Xiuxiu, who was Lu Jianguo’s ex-wife’s younger sister. Kang Xiuxiu had always been jealous of Qin Yue and made trouble for her, which was part of why Qin Yue felt overwhelmed.

Qin Yue wondered why the two boys were now siding with Kang Xiuxiu when they hadn’t liked her before.

Kang Xiuxiu smiled and said, “I saw you sending a large amount of money to the post office—fifty yuan. Have you ever had that much money?”

Seeing Qin Yue’s anger, she shook her head and said, “Why are you upset? Did I say something wrong, or am I lying?”

Qin Yue was speechless. She had indeed sent the money back.

The boys, Songzi and Xiaoshan, became angrier and accused her, “You bad person, give the money back! You only married for money!”

Their shouting drew a crowd of neighbors, who looked at Qin Yue with strange expressions.

People whispered among themselves:

– “It hasn’t been two months, and she’s already sending money home?”

– “How much money did Captain Lu give her? What about Songzi and the others?”

– “I thought Qin Yue was nice, but now it seems otherwise…”

Qin Yue felt unfairly judged. In her previous life, she had been mistreated by her mother-in-law, but she had eventually stood up for herself. She felt wronged and angry at how quickly people forgot her good deeds.

Fuming, Qin Yue shouted, “Be quiet!”

Everyone fell silent and looked at her in surprise. The boys were also taken aback.

Qin Yue said, “What’s wrong with me sending money to my sick grandmother? Lu Jianguo gave me the money and said I could use it. We’re married now, so it’s my right to send money home. It’s none of your business! And Kang Xiuxiu, who are you to criticize me? Do you really think Lu Jianguo will marry you? He’d rather stay single than be with you!”

The crowd was shocked but started to think Qin Yue made some valid points.

“Yeah, what is Kang Xiuxiu doing here?”

“Kang Xiuxiu likes Captain Lu, but he doesn’t like her. If it weren’t for her brother’s influence, she wouldn’t be here.”

Kang Xiuxiu, embarrassed and angry, was stunned. Her brother, Kang Dongfeng, who had been standing next to Lu Jianguo, looked furious. Lu Jianguo himself, who had returned unexpectedly, stood behind the crowd looking exhausted and grim.

Kang Xiuxiu, shaken and her confidence shattered, almost dropped the child she was holding.

“Brother!” Lu Rushong exclaimed.

Qin Yue was also horrified and instinctively rushed forward to catch the child. The child burst into tears after being frightened. Lu Jianguo’s face changed, and he quickly came over, holding his son to check on him.

The people around were shocked and didn’t dare to say anything. Kang Dongfeng also hurried forward, pulled Kang Xiuxiu to his side, and yelled, “Are you crazy? You almost lost the baby!”

Kang Xiuxiu’s face turned pale, and she was about to cry, her eyes still staring at Lu Jianguo’s choked explanation: “I didn’t mean it, I really didn’t mean it…”

Seeing that his son was fine, Lu Jianguo took a deep breath, forced a smile at Qin Yue, who was also terrified, patted her shoulder, turned to look at Kang Xiuxiu, and said in a deep voice: “Please leave, we don’t welcome you.”

Kang Xiuxiu’s body trembled and tears burst out. These words were more devastating than the previous ones.

She wanted to apologize, but before she could open her mouth, she was pulled out by her brother. She stumbled all the way and could only turn back and shout, “I didn’t mean to do that, I swear… I really didn’t mean to do that…”

“Shut up!”

_

The quarreling brother and sister left, and the onlookers left embarrassedly after seeing what happened. Everyone in and out of the yard left, leaving only the four members of the Lu family, father and son, and Qin Yue.

Qin Yue was relieved that the children were not really injured. Although she had put a lot of effort into marrying him, she did not have a bad heart. Moreover, she was still thinking about raising these three children so that they could have a good life in the future. She only wanted to do what was best for the children. She held the third child in her arms and coaxed him gently, giving him candy.

The child stopped crying when he had food.

As soon as she turned around, she heard Lu Jianguo shouting, “Kneel down!”

The two children who were furious just now lowered their heads, about to cry. After being yelled at, they knelt down skillfully and honestly. The ground was concrete, and they knelt down with a thud, which made Qin Yue feel pain.

Lu Jianguo said: “Do you know what happened today was wrong?”

Lu Rusong nodded vigorously: “Got it.”

Lu Rushan also followed: “Got it.”

Lu Jianguo’s face softened, and he was about to use a feather duster to teach the children a lesson. Qin Yue saw this and quickly stepped forward to stop him: “Forget it, forget it, they all know they are wrong, so don’t hit them.”

She looked back at the two children with a gentle expression: “They were also provoked by someone. What happened today can be considered a good thing. Kang Xiuxiu probably doesn’t have the face to come over again, so don’t do it, okay?”

Seeing that she really wanted to stop him, Lu Jianguo hesitated for a moment and did not pick up the feather duster: “Okay, give your mother a favor today, and behave yourself in the future.”

The two children were surprised that they avoided a beating today. Lu Jianguo had always been a strict father, but he did not expect such a sudden turn of events. The two were pleasantly surprised. And considering what happened just now, Qin Yue was not so repulsive. Instead, she grinned and said, “Thank you, mother.”

They called her mom!

Is this recognition of yourself?

Qin Yue was pleasantly surprised and stroked her hair a little embarrassedly: “It’s okay, it’s okay. I bought some pig offal. Lao Lu, you take a rest, I’ll go cook it.”

She walked briskly and looked at the two children as if she saw the dawn of hope.

When these three children become successful in the future, she will be the mother of a group of big men. What will she have to worry about then? It is definitely better than her previous life where she gave birth to a daughter and was despised by her husband’s family, and finally divorced and had to live on the streets with her child.

The more Qin Yue thought about it, the happier she became, with the corners of her mouth curled up.

Until she heard the two kids behind her shouting, “I want to eat braised pork!”

Qin Yue said: “There is no braised pork.”

“Then I don’t care, you have to make it as delicious as the braised pork.”

Qin Yue laughed and replied, “Okay.”

Then the two children ran out to play, leaving their younger brother with their father. As soon as they left the yard, Qin Yue heard the second child, Lu Rushan, whispering, “Brother, aren’t you afraid that your stepmother will find you troublesome?”

“Don’t be afraid, she is our stepmother. She definitely wouldn’t dare to do that. Didn’t you see that she was protecting us just now?”

The smile on Qin Yue’s face disappeared. She pursed her lips and glanced outside. If this was her daughter in her previous life, she would have called her long ago. But now, she could only keep convincing herself that this was the future big boss and she had to endure it!

She was thinking about something and didn’t pay attention to her surroundings. She turned around with the vegetables in her hand and bumped into Lu Jianguo, who had followed her out of nowhere.

Qin Yue took two steps back in panic and asked in surprise: “What are you doing here?”

Lu Jianguo coughed lightly and explained, “For this mission, we just happened to cooperate with the battalion where Pei Hejun was originally. Tomorrow, their instructor will leave with gifts for everyone. Although I am not familiar with him, we are from the same hometown after all, so I want to send some gifts over. What do you think?”

When talking about Pei Hejun, one cannot help but think of Jiang Xi.

Qin Yue has always felt secretly guilty about snatching away Jiang Xi’s blind date. Her family is very poor, and she married Pei Hejun, who is in a vegetative state, so her life must not be easy.

She nodded immediately: “Okay, what do you want to give?”

She thought giving money would be the best way, as it would be more practical. However, this would definitely not work, so she let Lu Jianguo decide directly. In the end, they decided to give some cloth coupons that were valid nationwide. This was what rural areas lacked the most. Pei Hejun, being in a vegetative state, needed it even more.

Thinking of this, Qin Yue shook her head.

Jiang Xi is so stupid. She wants to marry him even though he is in a vegetative state.