While Su Xiangwan counted the money, Song Qingshan rubbed his hands and looked at the ceiling, sitting silently by the hard bed.

“That’s enough. Hurry up and pack it up,” he said, picking up his bag. “I’m going to the reservoir first. You all head home.”

Su Xiangwan finally took 100 yuan from the pile and handed it to Song Qingshan. “Here, give this to Dad and the old lady.”

Song Qingshan’s hands trembled. “Are you really willing to give it?”

“If you have any hidden stash, I’ll take this money back,” Su Xiangwan said, taking the money back.

Song Qingshan grabbed it quickly. “I swear I have nothing hidden. All the money is with you.”

She came to pick him up, but it was clear she came to grab the money.

However, with four people in her hands as hostages, Song Qingshan dared not express his anger.

He had no choice but to hand over all his earnings, and the tribute to his parents would depend entirely on how much this “crocodile” was willing to shed tears.

“By the way, our county is going to have a female county head. She’s Gu Nan’s sister-in-law, named Li Yifan. I heard you’re going to work at the Women’s Federation. If you don’t want to work, you might as well stay home and take care of the kids,” Song Qingshan said, hinting at something.

“Gu Nan’s sister-in-law? Why should Gu Nan’s sister-in-law become the county head, and I should stay home taking care of the kids?” Su Xiangwan was displeased upon hearing this.

Song Qingshan replied, “I’m worried she’ll make things difficult for you. You don’t know, that woman has a bit of an odd temper.”

“Just because the new county head has an odd temper, I should stay home and take care of the kids? What you really want is for me to stay home and raise the children,” Su Xiangwan retorted.

“It’s not that I think her temper is odd, but I’m afraid she’ll make things difficult for you at work. What if she sends you to Haixi County?” Song Qingshan explained.

Su Xiangwan smiled brightly, “Alright, you don’t need to worry about that. I can handle it on my own.”

She didn’t remember the character Li Yifan from the original book, but in the real world, she knew that there would be a female cadre in the future with that name.

If it was truly the Li Yifan from the real world, she was a woman with great vision. How could she bother with such trivial matters and argue with her?

Su Xiangwan took out five bottles of Baique Ling cream, immediately feeling happy again. “You definitely don’t have this awareness. This was brought to me by Hou Qingyue, wasn’t it?”

Song Qingshan honestly admitted, “We had a brief meeting at the airport.”

“Why didn’t you have a meal together? They gave me such good things, shouldn’t you thank them?” Su Xiangwan said as she opened the bottle cap.

Song Qingshan was puzzled because Chen Aidang’s wife, though far away in Sichuan, would often call to check up on him.

Whenever she heard about a female colleague at his workplace, no matter the colleague’s age, she would interrogate Chen Aidang for a long time.

But Su Xiangwan seemed completely unconcerned about his interactions with female colleagues.

Chen Aidang always had a headache from his wife being overly concerned about him, while Song Qingshan didn’t have that problem because Su Xiangwan clearly only cared about money.

As the two younger children finished their candy and ran out to rummage through their bags, Song Qingshan quickly grabbed the bag.

Taking advantage of the moment when his two sons weren’t paying attention, he quietly said, “I’ll definitely come home tonight. Remember to coax Zhi Zhi to sleep early. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything, just wait for you to take the initiative.”

Su Xiangwan felt amused.

Was he really getting bold after she gave him a little attention?

A man who always tells his wife to take the initiative—wasn’t that a bit of a fool?

Before she could even kick him, Song Qingshan had already picked up his bag and left.

Leaving the two sons behind at Song Qingshan’s dormitory, she only took Zhi Zhi with her and went to the credit union.

She withdrew 100 yuan for pocket money and deposited the rest of the money into the bank.

Not only did she deposit money, but Su Xiangwan also needed to find a place to live in the city.

After all, with four children now, she would need to rent a bigger house if she were to live in the city.

However, with the slow movement of the population and the high demand for housing in the city, it wasn’t easy to find a place.

After asking around for a long time, Su Xiangwan specifically sought out areas with many elderly women and inquired about rental properties.

In the end, the only place available for rent was the row of tin houses near the transformer station, where Su Xianghong used to live.

But such houses, cold in winter and hot in summer, weren’t suitable for living.

As she walked next to the county committee courtyard, she noticed a family moving out.

The former courtyard of the Qingshui County Tusi (local chief) had now been divided into separate households.

The walls were painted white, and the gates were neat and clean, looking quite beautiful.

Unfortunately, ordinary people couldn’t afford to live there.

In the evening, when Su Xiangwan returned to Xiaosong Village, she was still troubled.

She was going to work in the city, but where could she live?

“Auntie, do you want me to start a fire?” Li Chengze, having finished bathing the dog and himself, asked.

This boy probably realized that after Song Qingshan returned, he might be sent to the reservoir, so he was trying to make himself useful.

Su Xiangwan said, “Forget the fire. Help us kill a chicken. Your uncle just came back, and we should make something nice for him.”

After all, he was a mine-clearance hero. As soon as he returned to the unit, he got her into trouble, so it was time to show some appreciation.

Li Chengze immediately agreed, “Okay.”

The child was probably trying to impress her, as he was running around the yard catching chickens.

When Lu Dan and Gou Dan entered, they immediately ran out to dig for earthworms, which were also meant for the chickens.

Seeing Li Chengze catching chickens all over the yard, Gou Dan drooled, “Brother, we can finally eat chicken today. We’ve raised them for a year, and now they’re ready.”

Lu Dan couldn’t stop salivating either, “Although we have wild boar meat, I wonder what home-raised chicken tastes like.”

The three of them managed to catch one of the seven roosters after chasing them all over the yard.

Seeing Li Chengze twisting the chicken’s wings, Gou Dan pressed the knife against its neck and handed it to Lu Dan. “Brother, you do it.”

Lu Dan tested the knife on the chicken’s neck, then turned around and handed the knife to Li Chengze, “Brother, you do it.”

Li Chengze took the knife and said, “You guys hold tight, don’t let go.”

But as soon as the knife came down, blood started pouring out, and Gou Dan and Lu Dan realized that Li Chengze had fainted, lying on the ground.

“Mom, Mom, Chengze is a coward! He scared himself to death while killing the chicken!” Gou Dan quickly ran to the kitchen to report.

Su Xiangwan was washing rice in the kitchen, preparing to cook, and hurriedly wiped her hands and rushed out.

“Mom, do you think this brother really scared himself to death?” Lu Dan was frightened, because the chicken, though wounded by a knife, was still running around the yard.

“This is called blood dizziness.” Su Xiangwan pressed Lu Dan’s hand onto Li Chengze’s pressure point, urging him to apply pressure.

Then, she grabbed the chicken that was still running around and, with her eyes closed, struck it with one swift blow.

The rooster’s head separated from its body.

“He’s awake! Mom, he’s awake!” Gou Dan finally managed to wake Li Chengze up.

Gou Dan, ever eager to stir things up, started teasing, “Big brother, you’re a coward. You’re such a coward.”

Li Chengze, rubbing his head, feeling quite embarrassed, walked over, rolled up his sleeves, and was ready to help Su Xiangwan pluck the chicken feathers.

“You’re afraid of blood, don’t you know that?” Su Xiangwan asked him.

The boy nodded and shook his head. “I’ve known since I was little, so I usually avoid looking at blood.”

Although the chicken blood had been drained, there was still some left in the basin. Su Xiangwan said, “Go play with Gou Dan and Lu Dan.”

Li Chengze didn’t say anything.

Instead, he turned around, took some ash from the stove, and wrapped the chicken feathers Su Xiangwan had plucked, sweeping them up and cleaning the whole yard.

Then came the sound of a tractor, followed by the cheers of Gou Dan and Lu Dan. Song Qingshan had entered the house.

“Chengze has changed quite a bit. I see him sweeping the yard. While I wasn’t here, did he help you with a lot of work?” Song Qingshan said.

Su Xiangwan looked out the window. “Isn’t it funny? He’s going to be a drug dealer along the China-Myanmar border in the future, a notorious criminal. But he’s afraid of blood. Imagine, if he’s the one who causes someone’s head to bleed, he’d faint at the sight of it. What would he do then?”

“What do you mean, a notorious drug dealer? What’s this about fainting at the sight of blood?” Song Qingshan was stunned for a moment.

Then, he suddenly said, “You mean this kid is going to go down the wrong path? Become a drug dealer? That’s punishable by death!”

Actually, Su Xiangwan had mentioned this before, but at the time, Song Qingshan didn’t take her “time-travel” talk seriously.

Now, however, he seemed to be taking it more seriously—perhaps even a bit superstitiously. He started to think that, depending on what these kids would do in the future, it might be a good idea to guide them carefully.

Su Xiangwan quickly said, “It’s fine. If anyone dares to lead him down the wrong path, I’ll just deal with them.”

She had heard that if her nephew ever went astray, one pack of explosives could send him to the skies.

Su Xiangwan was genuinely worried that Song Qingshan might start harboring prejudice against Li Chengze.

“Su Xiangwan, lucky for you, you’re a woman,” Song Qingshan said helplessly.

“If you were a man, you’d probably kill anyone you didn’t like on the spot.”

“Are you upset?” Su Xiangwan asked.

With the kids outside, no one could hear them. Song Qingshan said, “If you can hold out for ten minutes, I’ll admit defeat. At least there will be some fireworks.”

“Song Qingshan, this time I’m not cracking any dirty jokes, right?” Su Xiangwan responded.

Song Qingshan saw Gou Dan running back and forth and immediately shut his mouth, saying nothing.

Of course, unlike Su Xiaonan, who was spared at the time, she had to endure hardship in Haixi County, a place with strong winds and a lack of food and clothing. Song Qingshan had spent a winter there and almost froze to death.

Su Xiaonan, with her small frame, had no idea how she survived.

However, with Song Qingshan’s return, surprises kept coming.

The next morning, not only did Su Xiangwan receive a transfer order from the county’s Women’s Federation, but she was also surprised when the new county mayor, Li Yifan, invited her to stay at the dormitory where he was living.

The place where Li Yifan lived was the very building Su Xiangwan had been drooling over from the outside. It was spacious and vast, a place ordinary people couldn’t afford to live.

The reason the county committee was offering her the house was clear: it was because Song Qingshan had earned a first-class merit during the war.

People like him were truly irreplaceable in times of war.

Moreover, the transfer order from the county also bore the county mayor’s signature: “Move immediately.”

Su Xiangwan didn’t expect the new mayor to be so eager for her to move into her dream home.

Regardless of whether it was a show of power or a trap, moving was the order of the day!

Su Xiangwan put down the letter and immediately reported to County Head Han before heading home to pack.