Su Xiangwan shot him a glance. “You’re like the wolf of Zhongshan—arrogant when things go your way. I don’t want to talk to a wolf of Zhongshan.”

It was clear. Li Chengze had observed the neighborhood for a day and found himself some allies.

This kid was a proper troublemaker, unlike little Gou Dan, who was always righteous, sincere, and only loved his mom.

“The wolf of Zhongshan is just a metaphor for an ingrate. Don’t think I don’t understand. I read the story of the Zhongshan wolf as a child,” Li Chengze countered. “I just want to go to school, and I’m right about that. Besides, you definitely won’t make it as a cadre because I know our county secretary and the mayor. I know all of them.”

“Tell me, who’s going to help you?” Su Xiangwan asked.

Li Chengze proudly replied, “The county secretary who lives next door, Deng Gaoming, is my dad’s classmate.”

Oh, it turned out to be a big shot.

No wonder he was so confident, with his tail practically wagging sky-high.

“If Deng Gaoming really is your dad’s classmate, why didn’t he help you earlier when you were wandering around?” Su Xiangwan questioned.

Li Chengze pouted. “Well, he’s a good person, unlike the mayor, Li Yifan, who’s just a weirdo.”

Just as Su Xiangwan was about to ask more about why people said Li Yifan was strange, a woman walked in.

“Are you Comrade Su?” It was the wife of Deng Gaoming, the county secretary next door, Sister Chen.

Smiling, she walked in and said, “My name is Chen Ming, but just call me Sister Chen. Since we’re new neighbors, I brought some fermented bean paste. Can you eat it?”

Seeing the bean paste, Su Xiangwan almost drooled. “Sister Chen, you don’t know how much I love fermented bean paste hot pot.”

“Smells terrible, tastes great—fermented bean paste hot pot is truly delicious,” Sister Chen said, finding a kindred spirit.

She whispered, “The previous mayor’s family didn’t like the smell, and now there’s a female mayor who also can’t stand it. If I ever make hot pot, she avoids the house, so I haven’t dared to make it lately.”

From behind her, she pulled out a piece of green onion. “This is how we’ve been eating it recently.”

Fresh green onion dipped in paste was a strong flavor and definitely an acquired taste.

Su Xiangwan usually wouldn’t eat it, but to be polite, she broke off a piece and took a bite.

The paste was incredibly flavorful, and the onion was spicy—surprisingly delicious.

As they chatted inside, Sister Chen pulled out fifty yuan worth of ration tickets and stuffed them into Su Xiangwan’s hand. “Take this to help with your household expenses.”

“Our family has enough food coupons, Sister Chen. Why would you do this for no reason…”

“That child, Li Chengze, right? To be honest, we recognized you as soon as you came in. My husband, Lao Deng, used to be classmates with Chengze’s father. We haven’t dared to step forward and help the child because things have been tense lately,” Chen Ming said, holding Su Xiangwan’s hand tightly, afraid she might refuse. “Commander Song is not an ordinary person to have taken in this child. Anyway, no matter what happens, we’ll always support you.”

Su Xiangwan didn’t stand on ceremony and accepted the food coupons.

After all, with so many relatives, friends, and colleagues in Li Chengze’s family, none of them were willing to raise the child—but she did.

Since someone was willing to help, she had to accept it.

In these times, nothing was more important than food coupons.

Chen Ming looked around carefully, then whispered, “By the way, County Magistrate Li is not like us. If she invites us for dinner tonight and you don’t want to eat, let’s just leave together.”

Another person warning about Li Yifan’s peculiar temper.

“What does County Magistrate Li like? Should I prepare something for her?” Su Xiangwan asked Chen Ming.

She had high hopes for County Magistrate Li Yifan and didn’t want to hear others dampen her spirits.

Chen Ming thought for a moment and said, “She likes cleanliness. Very much.”

After a pause, she added, “And one more thing—she absolutely hates children.”

Su Xiangwan glanced at her yard, cluttered with firewood and sticks scattered everywhere, and thought to herself, What luck! Everything the new magistrate dislikes is in my yard.

“Alright then, see you tonight,” Su Xiangwan said.

“Mom, Mom!” Zhizi, who had just gone out for a bit, ran back inside, handing Su Xiangwan a piece of candy. “Here, Mommy, eat this.”

“Red shrimp candy?” Su Xiangwan asked. “Where did you get this candy?”

Zizi pointed outside. “An old lady gave it to me.”

Mother He had been keeping an eye on Zhizi but couldn’t catch up in time.

She followed behind and came in with a sheepish smile. “Oh, this little girl is yours? She’s absolutely adorable.”

Yesterday, she had gotten into a spat with Su Xiangwan, yet today she was giving Zhizi candy.

What a funny turn of events.

Still, Mother He grumbled, “Let’s agree that the apricots on the tree belong to both of us—half for your family and half for mine. How’s that?”

She was the kind of person who insisted on splitting everything clearly and fairly.

Though she’d been quite unpleasant earlier, Zhizi had poked her head into Mother He’s yard, and somehow that won her over.

Su Xiangwan, having dealt with such people before, replied, “Apricots are a favorite when they just ripen, but after a few days, your teeth will ache and your stomach will turn sour, and nobody will bother picking them up even if they fall on the ground. Never mind whose tree it is. Tomorrow, I’ll harvest half of them, lay them out to dry, and use them to steam yellow rice cakes in the fall and winter. Add a couple of dried apricots in there—it’s delicious.”

Mother He, clearly a foodie, was intrigued. “Dried apricots in yellow rice cakes? That’s tasty?”

“Steamed dried apricots pair perfectly with yellow rice cakes. Want me to climb up now and harvest some so we can dry them today?” Su Xiangwan offered.

Mother He reconsidered and declined. “Forget it, I’m busy. By the way, your little girl is really cute. County Magistrate Li is great at everything, but she doesn’t like children. Tonight, when she invites everyone for dinner, just bring this one. The others—don’t bother. I figure she might be able to tolerate her for two minutes.”

Turns out, the old lady came by just to say this.

She seemed quite attuned to her host’s preferences.

As for Gou Dan and Lu Dan, the two boys came home like a whirlwind after school.

“Brother, the neighbor is inviting us to dinner!” Zhizi quickly reported to her brothers as soon as they walked in.

Before Lu Dan could say anything, Gou Dan had already climbed the apricot tree to peek at the neighbor’s yard. “Mom, Mom, is it that family that’s inviting us to dinner?”

Mother He and the maid Xiaofang were busy cooking, frying, and steaming in the kitchen.

Lu Dan also climbed the tree. “We’ve never eaten at someone else’s house before. It smells like they’re stir-frying vegetables.”

Although their own food was delicious, kids always enjoyed the novelty of eating someone else’s cooking.

“Mom, if we’re going to the neighbors, should I change clothes?” Lu Dan eagerly rummaged through his things and found a fairly new collared jacket to try on. “How’s this one?”

Su Xiangwan thought to herself, The neighbors aren’t exactly thrilled to have you over.

But since the kids were so excited, she didn’t want to dampen their enthusiasm.

She said, “Alright, let’s do this. Boil a big pot of water first. Each of you takes a bath, then stay clean and don’t run around. That way, we’ll be ready to visit as guests. How about that?”

Gou Dan was the quickest to respond. He leapt off the tree and ran to the kitchen to boil water.

Meanwhile, Li Chengze, with a mischievous grin, alternated between helping Lu Dan with homework and peeking outside.

Occasionally, he would come back to Su Xiangwan and say, “Li Yifan is going to eat kids, you know.”

Su Xiangwan chose to let him play around for a couple of days without paying much attention, busy mending Lu Dan’s torn pants.

Li Chengze, his eyes bright with mischief, said again with a bit of schadenfreude, “You arrested my godmother, so County Magistrate Li will definitely punish you. Auntie Su, be careful!”

Su Xiangwan said, “You ungrateful little thing. You sound like you’d enjoy watching me get into trouble.”

Li Chengze stuck out his tongue. “You’re the scariest one at home. But outside, that’s not necessarily the case. Li Yifan is super scary, you know? She only wears black clothes, her hair looks like big horns, her eyes are as big as lanterns, and she’s super fierce. I’ve seen her at the provincial military district before. Even soldiers are afraid of her. Some people even say she secretly eats kids she doesn’t like.”

No matter how mature he tried to act, he was still a kid at heart.

Clearly, he had suffered enough and now wanted to see her face some challenges of her own.

“Even if she’s the county chief, so what if she’s fierce?” Su Xiangwan deliberately said, “I haven’t broken the law or made any mistakes. Can she just throw me into prison?”

“But my godmother told you to get rid of her. I’ve already found out—she’s in Haixi, my hometown,” Li Chengze said.

Although he didn’t particularly like his former godmother, Li Chengze was still shocked to hear that she had been sent to a place like Haixi.

Yes, his father was born there, one of the eighteen Tusi families.

But he also knew how poor and harsh life was in that region.

The labor reform farms there were infamous throughout the entire republic, enough to make anyone’s legs tremble just thinking about them.

Su Xiangwan pointed at herself and said, “You can report me too if you want. As long as you can prove I’ve done something wrong, the Revolutionary Committee isn’t far from here. Let them send me away too.”

“You don’t seem to dislike County Chief Li that much,” Li Chengze remarked, starting to catch on.

Su Xiangwan wouldn’t even mention Gu Nan’s name, but she didn’t seem to have that same aversion toward County Chief Li.

Su Xiangwan replied, “Because it’s easier to deal with noble people than petty ones. Didn’t all those books you’ve read teach you anything, or has it all gone to the dogs?”

“Anyway, now that I have ration coupons, I’m eating at home tonight. I’m not going over there to let Li Yifan eat me alive,” Li Chengze declared, carefree and smug.

He wasn’t sweeping the courtyard properly anymore, nor was he taking care of the chicks.

Instead, he twirled a broom around, drawing figure eights in the dirt.

Su Xiangwan frowned slightly and suddenly called out, “Song Donghai, come here.”

“Mom, what’s up?” Lu Dan darted over, snapped to attention, and asked.

Su Xiangwan pointed at Li Chengze and said, “He doesn’t seem to want his belt anymore. He says he’s giving it to you. Do you want it?”

“Of course I do! Thank you, brother,” Lu Dan said enthusiastically.

He quickly unfastened Li Chengze’s belt and tossed his own worn-out waistband to him. “Brother, you’re such a good person.”

“You—!” Li Chengze was fuming. “Aunt Su, this is retaliation!”

“Gou Dan…” Su Xiangwan began, but before she could finish, Li Chengze quickly interjected, “Alright, alright! I won’t argue with you anymore, okay? This little blazer is mine, and I’m not giving it to anyone.”

Clearly, he knew that when Su Xiangwan got angry, she would give away his nice clothes to the two little brothers.

Su Xiangwan mended Lu Dan’s pants, stretched them out, and then stood up from the doorframe. “If you dare say tomorrow that Li Yifan eats kids or anything like that, not only will your blazer go to Gou Dan, but you can forget about me ever mending your clothes again.”

This little rascal?

Su Xiangwan, with thirty years of life experience across two lifetimes, wasn’t about to be bested by a mischievous kid.

If she couldn’t handle this, she might as well forget about making it in the political arena.