However, Su Xiangwan could guess that with Su Xiaonan’s personality, she probably threatened and cried a lot, maybe even trying to make Su Xiangwan apologize.

That Song Tingxiu could stand his ground and not let her apologize showed that he had some backbone.

But Su Xiangwan wasn’t planning to let things go so easily.

Why?

Because, indeed, from the 1970s, Qingshui County would undergo a major transformation.

Just like Xiaozhai and Dazhai, it would prosper ahead of time. But the price of this prosperity was that first, an exemplary model would need to be established.

A few would be punished, and others would be raised to power, but the ones promoted would be a group of truly corrupt and despicable people.

On the other hand, the ones punished would be the ones who were actually doing solid work, like Song Qingshan and Zhao Guodong.

It wasn’t that the leaders’ policies were wrong, but Su Xiaonan, in order to showcase her own ability, had intentionally crafted the fate of the good people in the book to be especially tragic, while making the villains more arrogant, of course, to highlight her own skills. In the end, she would rectify things and make these villains grateful to her.

If Su Xiangwan remembered correctly, Song Qingshan’s troubles would start after his return from Zhenbao Island.

Following his downfall, the conflict between Dogdan and Ludan regarding the girl who resembled Ashe would also begin.

The two brothers would step by step walk into a dead end of mutual resentment.

As for Li Chengze, he would face endless troubles caused by those coveting his family’s wealth, constantly hiding and running.

Even though her husband wasn’t very likable, he was still her husband. Su Xiangwan couldn’t let him suffer.

Her sons were her own flesh and blood. She couldn’t let them turn against each other for a woman at such a young age.

“Tingxiu, do you want to stay for dinner?” Song Qingshan asked.

The family’s meals were enough for one person per bowl, and there was no extra, but since her brother had come, they had to prepare a meal for him.

Song Tingxiu still needed to hurry back to the old house to see the old lady, waving her hand. “I won’t eat, you guys go ahead and eat.”

After Song Tingxiu left, Song Qingshan finally spoke, “Don’t listen to the second one’s nonsense. As for Gu Nan, regardless of whether she has been looking after Chengze, if the child steals a wallet twice and she hasn’t educated him, that’s her fault. That woman is problematic.”

Su Xiangwan’s eyes lit up. “So you’re an expert at judging women, huh, Song Qingshan.”

However, the mood remained chilly. After all, he didn’t discuss anything with her and just brought home a drug dealer.

Li Chengze refused to eat and was sitting in the corner with Big Mountain, both squatting together.

“Chengze, come eat,” Song Qingshan called.

Li Chengze didn’t say anything. His eyes were lowered, squatting at the door, looking as if he wanted to run.

Zhī Zhī ran around, pulling some grass, trying to place it on his head.

Then she pulled a piece of vegetable from the garden and tried to put it on Li Chengze’s head.

Gradually, a little mound formed on his head, topped with a flower. It looked as ridiculous as it sounded.

For a child with such dignity as Li Chengze, he was probably fuming, but he still didn’t move, remaining squatted in place.

Just when it seemed like he was about to explode, Su Xiangwan saw what was happening, picked up Zhī Zhī, and for the first time, scolded her: “If you dare do that again, Mommy will make you sleep with your two brothers. Don’t bully others, got it?”

Zhī Zhī didn’t understand but pouted and said, “No.”

She didn’t want to sleep with her brothers, so she hurried over and started clearing the dirt from Li Chengze’s head.

“You also need to apologize.” Su Xiangwan patiently taught her daughter. “That brother knows he was wrong for stealing the wallet. He knows he made a mistake, or he would’ve run away by now. Do you understand?”

Li Chengze’s legs were quick, and if he really wanted to run, only Song Qingshan could catch him.

Song Qingshan suddenly looked at his wife with new respect. “You’re quite magnanimous.” Although he was angry, she didn’t teach the kids to harbor hatred against Li Chengze, and that was really good.

He called again, “Chengze, come eat!”

“If he doesn’t eat, give his portion to Dashan,” Su Xiangwan said.

At first, she thought raising three kids was already her limit, but then Song Qingshan had brought another one home without asking her.

Now, she didn’t even have a bowl to eat from, so she was eating from her own fermentation pot.

She thought, this child should be left alone for a few days.

When Lu Dan and Gou Dan heard that the thief’s meal would be given to Dashan, they both ran faster than Dashan, grabbed the bowl, and poured Li Chengze’s food into Dashan’s food bowl.

Now Dashan and Song Qingshan shared the same stomach, and his favorite food was sticks made from millet noodles.

He scarfed them down in no time. After finishing, he couldn’t even get his head out of the food bowl, and Lu Dan had to help remove the bowl.

After the meal, Lu Dan and Gou Dan still had to give the little chicks some fresh air.

They took them outside to stroll, tying a piece of yarn to each chick’s wing to keep track of them. This way, when they went out, they could compare whose chickens were growing faster, without worrying about mixing them up with other people’s chickens.

The seven chicks gradually grew up, and none of them turned out to be hens; they were all roosters.

Now, roosters were more valuable than hens because they could be eaten. The two brothers treated the chickens like treasures.

Soon, it was time for bed. Since there was now a brother who was neither a nose nor an eye, Gǒu Dàn, who usually didn’t like to bathe, rushed to get water to wash up. Afterward, he quickly went to bed to take up space.

Li Chengze, however, stayed squatting with Dashan, motionless.

Song Qingshan called the child back, but usually, he couldn’t control Lu Dan and Gou Dan, so it was Su Xiangwan who handled it.

After calling him twice and seeing that Li Chengze wasn’t moving, he came to find Su Xiangwan.

“If you still don’t wash up and go to bed, I’ll send you back to the Hongqi Commune to find your godmother,” Su Xiangwan said, taking out a new towel from the cupboard.

She also got out the foot basins for Lu Dan and Gou Dan and handed them to Li Chengze, asking, “Do you want to go with her? She taught you how to steal wallets when you were little, and now you can rob banks together. The two of you would make a fine pair of notorious criminals.”

Li Chengze wasn’t without principles; he felt deeply ashamed of his theft, which is why he apologized to Su Xiangwan.

Her words hit him directly in his shame, and he bit his lip, took the towel from her hand, and turned to head into the bathroom.

In the main room, Song Qingshan was nervously preparing the bed, taking off Zhī Zhī’s clothes, and comforting her to sleep, trying to show off his good father image.

“For now, let’s keep him here. In a few days, I’ll figure out a way to take him to the reservoir,” Song Qingshan said.

Su Xiangwan didn’t respond and sat on the bed, applying some snowflake ointment.

“After all, it’s a life. It’s really not okay for Gu Nan to be taking care of him. I just took one look and could tell that woman’s no good,” Song Qingshan continued.

Su Xiangwan sat for a moment, adjusting Zhī Zhī’s blanket, and then stared into the mirror for a while.

She then gestured for him to come over. “Come here,” she said.

The bed was first covered with a bamboo mat, then a layer of felt, and finally, a small floral sheet.

Cotton was expensive now, and Su Xiangwan only had two quilts, one of which was taken from the old house.

The only mattress was given to the kids. Her bed was barely softer than a wooden plank.

She was still a young wife, wearing an old sweater.

Her arms were well-proportioned, and though her face was darker, her skin underneath was smooth and fair.

This was the typical look for rural women, as they spent most of their time working outdoors, leaving their face and hands darker than the rest of their bodies.

Song Qingshan of course knew that Su Xiangwan was angry, and if it were him, he would be angry too.

She was already struggling, and now he had brought a child into the family, where food and clothing were scarce. How could she not be angry?

However, what truly caught Song Qingshan off guard was how Su Xiangwan showed her anger. It wasn’t what he expected at all.

Instead of hitting or scolding, she gave him a performance, almost like feeding a condemned prisoner a good meal before the execution.

She demonstrated what it meant to “do it yourself.”

But, at most, this lasted for three minutes before she suddenly said, “No, I can’t, I’ve lost interest just thinking about that little wild boar, Li Chengze.”

Then she rolled over and got off.

At that moment, Song Qingshan felt as if a new door to the world had opened for him, but before he could even take a step, it slammed shut again.

This wasn’t pleasure; it was more like a form of torture.

As a soldier, given the discipline, when a woman wants something, they are supposed to cooperate actively and gently, not roughly. But if a woman doesn’t want it and he forces it, that would be akin to rape.

In military discipline, rape is considered worse than murder—those who commit such acts end up in prison, and people might beat them to death.

Song Qingshan lay there for a long time before sitting up. “If there’s something you want me to do, just say it.”

At that moment, he was willing to face any danger, even jumping off a building, as long as it didn’t violate the rules. If she asked, he would likely jump without hesitation.

“It’s nothing. You sleep, I’m going out for a bit.” Su Xiangwan smiled, running her hand through Song Qingshan’s short, steel-like hair, saying in a casual tone.

His military haircut, each strand stiff like a bayonet, seemed almost unbending.

Su Xiangwan didn’t have the ability to make him bend, but she certainly had the ability to make him feel as if he were dying without being able to act. It was like a bow strung so tight it could not release its arrow.

Song Qingshan felt as if he were carrying a bayonet, eagerly entering a battlefield, only to find that the “enemy” was nothing but straw men. He could only stab the straw but couldn’t fight.

This form of torture was something most men probably wouldn’t endure. It could have suffocated a man.

She got up, dressed, and just as she was about to leave the room, she heard some noise coming from the next room. It wasn’t small.

She pushed open the door and saw two little round heads peeking out of the bed. It was clear that Li Chengze wasn’t there.

But then, the sound of “gulu gulu” betrayed Li Chengze’s hiding place. He was crouching in the corner with Da Shan.

Su Xiangwan turned around and went into the main room, quickly mixed a half bowl of milk powder, and handed it to Li Chengze. “Drink this. Finish it, or your stomach will rumble all night, and it will keep him awake.”

Li Chengze took the bowl, smelling the milk powder.

This wasn’t something he had drunk in a long time.

When he was younger, he hated it, but after losing his grandfather, parents, and everyone else, he hadn’t had it for a while.

Hearing Li Chengze drink the milk powder so quickly, Goudan in the bed was unhappy. “Mom, the milk powder is for Zhi Zhi. My brother and I rarely drink it, and you’re giving it to him?”

Although Song Qingshan had returned and the family’s nutrition tickets were more plentiful, Goudan and Ludan, being poor country children, were used to saving the good things for the younger sister.

The milk powder was fragrant, but Su Xiangwan didn’t push them to drink it.

They would sip it slowly, unlike Li Chengze who gulped it down like a donkey drinking water.

“Just drink it quickly and don’t mind Song Xiling. He only talks, but deep down, he’s happy to have an older brother.” Su Xiangwan added.

At this point, Ludan’s head also popped out. “I just tickled him a little, and he jumped off the bed. Mom, I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Li Chengze continued drinking the milk powder while pulling up his pants.

After watching for a while, Su Xiangwan realized that his original belt was probably just a piece of rag, and it had broken when he had been playing with Goudan and Ludan earlier.

Now he had nothing to keep his pants up.

Fortunately, Song Qingshan had an extra belt.

Su Xiangwan found it and wrapped it around Li Chengze’s waist twice before tying it. “Does it stay up now?”

“It’s fine now,” Li Chengze quickly replied.

The belt gave him a sense of dignity, something he hadn’t felt in a long time, ever since his grandfather and father had passed away. It reminded him of the dignity he had as a child from a well-off family.

“Good. Now go to bed. If you need to pee, do it in the basin, but don’t run around outside,” Su Xiangwan instructed.

As soon as Li Chengze entered the room, Su Xiangwan locked the door and grabbed the handle of Song Qingshan’s tractor. She went out to the yard.

She was worried that if she went to look for Su Xiaonan, this child might come out and cause trouble.

By the time Song Qingshan heard the sound of the tractor’s engine, Su Xiangwan had already left the village.

“Is it over? Did Mom leave because of this troublemaker?” Ludan asked anxiously.

Dogdan didn’t think so. He was considering wetting the bed to make Li Chengze sleep in it, but then he thought, if the bed got wet, Su Xiangwan would have to wash it tomorrow.

“Forget it, I won’t do it,” he muttered.

---

After returning to Hongqi Commune, Su Xiaonan couldn’t stop thinking about what she had done. She regretted provoking Song Tingxiu so soon.

By doing so, she exposed herself, and she didn’t expect her cousin, who used to tolerate everything, to suddenly get angry over a wallet.

Clearly, her cousin had started to treat Goudan and Ludan like her own children.

Since coming to this world, Su Xiaonan had never truly cared about the thoughts or feelings of anyone here. But her cousin’s seriousness made her feel scared—she seemed to no longer love her.

Late that night, she was busy writing a denunciation letter to the provincial military region’s leaders.

Of course, it was about accusing Song Qingshan of hiding his family members and about Song Tingxiu arranging for people to help Su Xiangwan deliberately alter their household registration and identity.

Furthermore, Li Chengze was clearly adopted by her first, but now she had to write a letter accusing Song Qingshan of privately sheltering the descendants of a gangster, which could lead to charges of treason and criminal association.

One really has to admit that whether a person is guilty or not can all depend on the stroke of a pen.

Right now, the military district was in the midst of a revolution, and if the report went through, Song Qingshan, only 27 years old, was already a regiment-level officer.

Many of his peers were still at the platoon or company level, slowly climbing the ranks. They would definitely find a way to remove him.

If Song Qingshan lost his regiment-level position, then her cousin would be nothing more than an ordinary member of the collective.

At that point, Su Xiaonan would definitely help her cousin with living expenses and raising the children, right?

In her past life, it was always Su Xiangwan who helped her cousin, but this time, Su Xiaonan planned to continue helping her cousin, repaying all the help that had been given to her in the past life.

“Xiaonan, open the door.” At that moment, someone suddenly knocked on the door.

Su Xiaonan heard her cousin, Su Xiangwan’s voice, and she immediately felt a chill run through her, from the tips of her ears to the roots of her hair. “Sister, why are you here so late?” Hadn’t they agreed during the day to leave her alone?

She had already given her 200 yuan worth of meat, so what else did she want?

“Xiaonan, I’ve brought you some big radishes. Radishes are good for digestion and energy, and I thought you’ve been feeling a bit off these days. I came to bring you some energy. Hurry up and open the door.”

Su Xiangwan parked the tractor at least three miles away from Hongqi Commune and walked in on foot to the commune herself.

In fact, in her past life, she was not a good person.

It’s just that Su Xiaonan was the only sister she had. She gave all her good qualities to her and used all the bad ones to protect her.

She only believed in one thing: if someone made her unhappy, she would hit them, and it had to be when they least expected it.