Chapter 12 Hiding is Not an Option to Be Fooled

“That’s wishful thinking.” Zhang Chenghai didn’t expect his youngest son to think that way. He looked at his son and said, “If you had a mother like that, you wouldn’t be able to eat at home. You’d have to go to the cafeteria to eat.”

"I'm willing, I'm willing." Zhang Xiaohu's eyes lit up when he heard about eating in the cafeteria.

"..." Zhang Chenghai was speechless. His youngest son was actually so happy. "Isn't it good to eat your mother's cooking?"

"Eat in the cafeteria, eat in the cafeteria," Zhang Xiaohu said.

Zhang Xiaohu often ate the food cooked by Fatty's wife. He only ate at the cafeteria once in a while, and he thought the cafeteria food was incredibly delicious, wishing he could eat it every day. The cafeteria also offered a wide variety of dishes, unlike Fatty's wife's limited selection.

Children are like that; they all like eating out. If they eat home-cooked meals every day, they won't find them as delicious.

"Where did we get so much money to eat in the cafeteria?" the fat woman said. "Do you think our money grows on trees? Eat your own food, don't even think about eating in the cafeteria."

"But the food in the cafeteria is really delicious." Zhang Xiaohu pouted. "Mom, you don't have to cook."

Zhang Chenghai wondered if Qin Tuan's son next door was like Zhang Xiaohu, so he decided to eat in the cafeteria.

Qin Yizhou played with the child, glancing at Song Fenglan every now and then.

"Dad, you're looking at Mom again." Qin Zihang noticed his father's little action and raised his voice.

Song Fenglan was cutting clothes and didn't go to see Qin Yizhou and his son.

Qin Yizhou heard his son's words and then looked at Song Fenglan. Seeing that his wife wasn't looking at him, he felt a little uneasy and disappointed. Of course, his wife was making clothes for them; she couldn't possibly be staring at them the whole time.

"Shh, keep your voice down," Qin Yizhou said.

“Mom said that if you have something to say, you should say it out loud,” Qin Zihang said. “If you don’t speak up, others won’t understand.”

"I have nothing to say," Qin Yizhou said. "Nothing right now."

Qin Yizhou was relieved that his wife and son had come. He didn't think about anything else for the time being; he and his wife could slowly cultivate their relationship, there was no rush.

"Really not?" Qin Zihang tilted his head. "Dad, you're not just saying that, are you?"

"You even know how to say one thing and mean another?" Qin Yizhou asked in confusion.

“Mom said that being hypocritical is unacceptable,” Qin Zihang said. “At home, you can’t do that to Mom.”

"Is it okay to just face the people outside?" Qin Yizhou asked.

“Those people aren’t your mother,” Qin Zihang said. “Don’t be silly.”

Qin Yizhou didn't know how Song Fenglan raised her son, but he thought his son was quite cute.

Song Fenglan cut out the clothes and sewed them a bit more with the sewing machine. Without embroidery or other embellishments, some clothes were finished quickly. Simple and plain, without any other embellishments, they didn't look very nice; they were a bit too monotonous. Fortunately, Song Fenglan had bought a lot of silk thread today, so she wouldn't have to go to the city again tomorrow.

"Is this finished?" Qin Yizhou asked, seeing Song Fenglan holding a shirt. "Is this how it is?"

"You should try it," Song Fenglan said. She thought her husband's clothes shouldn't need any animal embroidery; Qin Yizhou always wore different outerwear in the army, and his summer clothes were always matching sets. It was just that Qin Yizhou could wear something different when he went out.

This was the first time Qin Yizhou had worn clothes made by Song Fenglan. When he put them on, he felt that the clothes were exceptionally good.

"I made you a short-sleeved shirt, but it's hot," Song Fenglan said. "I'll make two more long-sleeved shirts later."

"Okay." Qin Yizhou was a little reluctant to take off his clothes; they were made for him by his wife, handmade by her.

"Take it off," Song Fenglan said. "These fabrics have been touched by countless people, so they need to be washed."

"Mom, mine, mine?" Qin Zihang asked excitedly, circling around his mother. He wanted to wear new clothes too.

"Your new clothes will arrive in two days," Song Fenglan said.

"Why?" Qin Zihang didn't understand.

"Didn't you want some small patterns added?" Song Fenglan reached out and gently pinched her son's cheek. "Your clothes are more delicate, so they'll take a little longer. Beautiful clothes require more patience."

"Yeah, my clothes aren't as ugly as Dad's." Qin Zihang said, then quickly covered his mouth. "Mom's clothes are all pretty, not ugly."

"Of course it's not ugly." Qin Yizhou was speechless. What nonsense was his son talking about? His clothes were clearly very nice and fit him perfectly.

“It’s Dad who’s ugly, not the clothes,” Qin Zihang added.

"..." Qin Yizhou thought to himself that his son should have not added that sentence. What was there to add? Where was he ugly?

“Your father isn’t ugly,” Song Fenglan explained to her son. “He’s quite good-looking.”

Song Fenglan turned to look at Qin Yizhou, and seeing that he was standing up straight, she looked down at her son and said, "You look just like your father."

“Then Dad isn’t ugly,” Qin Zihang said. Otherwise, if his dad was ugly, wouldn’t he be ugly too? Neither of them was ugly, neither of them was ugly.

Qin Zihang played for a while, then got sleepy. Qin Yizhou carried the child to the bed in the room and let him lie down first. Qin Yizhou was thinking that tomorrow he would not only need to get some bricks, but also some planks. He would need to build a shelf next to the bed next to the other one, since there was a railing on one side, but not the other.

Children tend to move around a lot while sleeping, and if they are not properly supervised, they can fall.

Qin Yizhou thought that with the railing, his son wouldn't fall so easily. He could put the railing up when his son was sleeping, and lower it when he wasn't asleep, which would be more convenient. He needed to let his child sleep alone eventually; he couldn't let the child sleep with him and his wife for long.

When Song Fenglan finished packing her things and was about to rest, she found that Qin Zihang had already fallen asleep. Her son's sleeping posture was indeed not good, with both his arms and legs spread out.

"Did he always sleep like this?" Qin Yizhou asked Song Fenglan in a low voice.

“He’s still young,” Song Fenglan said. “He won’t take up much of a bed.”

When Song Fenglan puts her son to sleep, he doesn't always stretch out his arms and legs like this. Sometimes he sleeps on his side, and sometimes he bends his legs.

"Get some rest." Song Fenglan lay down next to Qin Zihang, who was between her and Qin Yizhou.

Qin Yizhou looked at his son, then at his wife. He would go and make the bed next door tomorrow.

Let my son sleep next door for at least a month, or rather, at least half a month. He's around three years old, not that young, and with the rooms so close together, I don't need to worry about child traffickers coming to my house to abduct him.

Early in the morning, Zhang Chenghai was blocking the dog hole with bricks and other things. He originally wanted to wait a while, but his wife urged him to hurry up. She said that if they were slow, they would have to wait for the neighbors to come and fix it, which was not good.

Although the dog hole had existed before and wasn't built by Fatty's family, Zhang Xiaohu frequently used it. Fatty believed that her family should fix the dog hole themselves, rather than waiting for Qin Yizhou and his wife to do it. Besides, Qin Yizhou was Zhang Chenghai's superior; even though the two seemed to get along well and no one seemed to know his rank, a superior was still a superior.

Qin Yizhou and his wife were not pretentious, unlike Shi Guilan's side, which always put on airs.

The plump woman thought that both Song Fenglan and Shi Guilan's names contained the character "Lan" (orchid). She thought Song Fenglan was far superior to Shi Guilan; Song Fenglan was truly intelligent and kind-hearted, while Shi Guilan was just pretending. Even if a country bumpkin tried her best to act, people could still see how unsophisticated Shi Guilan was.

When Song Fenglan took the clothes outside to hang them out to dry, she happened to see the fat couple repairing a dog hole.

"You guys fixed the dog hole so quickly?" Song Fenglan asked as soon as she saw it.

"It should have been fixed a long time ago, but it's been delayed until now," the plump woman said with a smile. "Have you had breakfast yet?"

"Not yet, we'll eat in a bit," Song Fenglan said. "Let's take the clothes out and hang them up to dry first."

At night, there were many spiders and insects outside, so Song Fenglan didn't dare hang her clothes in the yard. She was afraid that the little insects would urinate on her clothes. Adult clothes were fine, but children's clothes were prone to allergies if they came into contact with those things.

Once, Song Fenglan was a pampered young girl who was always the one being considerate of others, not the other way around. At most, she would save up some things to send to her parents. Now, Song Fenglan is very considerate of her son, paying attention to even the smallest issues.

"The weather's nice, it's better to bring the clothes out to dry early," said the plump woman.

"Yes," Song Fenglan said. "The clothes that were put in my luggage earlier have all been washed and need to be dried."

"You're so diligent," said the plump woman.

"I didn't wash them all; Yizhou washed some." Song Fenglan was in a good mood, and without her saying anything, Qin Yizhou knew to go wash the clothes.

Song Fenglan didn't want to speak up every time. If she spoke up too often, Qin Yizhou would think she was forcing him to do those things. Men generally don't like women talking to them; many men are chauvinistic.

Calling it a few times is fine, but calling it too often gets boring.

"Your husband washed it?" the plump woman asked in shock.

“Yes, he washes some,” Song Fenglan said. “He wasn’t there when I gave birth, and he rarely came home. The baby doesn’t even recognize him. If he doesn’t wash his son’s clothes now, when will he?”

Regardless of what other families do, Song Fenglan believes her man must do these things; she cannot indulge him. If nothing unexpected happens, they will be together for life, and Song Fenglan doesn't want to endure it forever, nor can she imagine them living apart forever, as this would greatly affect their child's mental and physical well-being.

"..." Sister-in-law Pang really didn't know what to say. She knew before that Song Fenglan's cooking skills were not good, but now she also learned that Song Fenglan made Qin Yizhou do the laundry. She was very surprised.

In this residential compound, how many men do their own laundry?

When couples have minor disagreements, and someone comes to offer advice, it's usually to tell the women to be more understanding of their husbands and not to make a mountain out of a molehill, emphasizing how hard their husbands work. Any woman with a modicum of self-respect would be too embarrassed to continue criticizing her husband; she would try to be understanding.

Fat Sister had lived here for quite a while and had experienced those things. She had never seen anyone like Song Fenglan before, and she could hardly believe her ears, as if everything Song Fenglan said was a lie. But Fat Sister knew that Song Fenglan had no reason to lie. She also thought that perhaps it was because Song Fenglan had just arrived that Commander Qin was helping his wife a little more. After a while, Commander Qin would let Song Fenglan do those things instead of doing them himself.

Men are all like that; they can help with housework for a while, but not forever. If Commander Qin always does housework, people will talk, and he'll feel ashamed. Since his wife is with him at the military base, she should do those things, not the other way around. And not only should he do them, he should do even more.

Song Fenglan didn't stay in the yard the whole time. After she finished hanging the clothes to dry, she went inside.

Qin Zihang had already woken up, and Song Fenglan told her son to brush his teeth and wash his face.

"Brush more, don't just do it half-heartedly." Song Fenglan saw her son brushing his teeth only twice before rinsing and spitting out water. This perfunctory brushing was unacceptable. Children eat irregularly, and eating small meals frequently only makes their teeth accumulate more food residue. "Quietly watching won't help."

"Oh." Qin Zihang could only obediently brush his teeth, not daring to fool his mother anymore; his mother wasn't so easily fooled.

The family didn't go out today. Qin Yizhou cooked some porridge and made fried eggs. He also went to the cafeteria early to buy three meat buns. When Qin Yizhou finished serving the porridge, Song Fenglan and her son sat down in their chairs.

“They’re repairing a dog hole next door.” Song Fenglan picked up her chopsticks.

"Let them fix it," Qin Yizhou said. "It's not good for the child to always crawl through the dog hole."

"Did you hear that?" Song Fenglan looked at her son. "If you crawl through a dog hole, you'll stunt your growth."

"I'm not going to crawl through," Qin Zihang said. "There's clearly a door; I'll use the door."

Qin Zihang thought it was fine to watch others crawl through dog holes, but he didn't want to crawl in himself.

“Yes, you go through the door,” Song Fenglan said. “Aren’t you afraid of turning into a dwarf?”

"I want to be as tall as my dad," Qin Zihang said. He really wanted to grow tall.

"Yes, you can." Song Fenglan put a fried egg on her son's plate. "Eat your fill so you can grow taller."

Qin Zihang has a decent appetite; one meat bun, some porridge, and a fried egg are enough for him. Any more than that, and he can't eat.

After finishing his meal, Qin Zihang rubbed his tummy and said, "It's so nice to be at home. There's so much delicious food. I don't have to hide it away anymore, and I don't have to eat it under the table."

Hearing her son say this, Song Fenglan felt a pang of sadness. This was what it meant to live under someone else's roof. They had so little money; they couldn't buy much, so they had to hide it and eat it secretly. It wasn't just them; her aunt's son and daughter-in-law were the same. They would bring any good food they had to their room, afraid that others would eat it.

But the house wasn't particularly big, and it was located very close to the street, so even a slight fragrance could be easily detected. If you didn't wipe your mouth clean and someone noticed your greasy lips, they might say something.

"Did Zihang used to eat hiding under the table?" Qin Yizhou's expression changed slightly, worried that his wife and children had suffered a great injustice.

"Hide! If you don't hide, you won't get any food!" Qin Zihang didn't understand his father's thinking. "They'll cry, they'll yell for food, they'll try to take it from us, and I won't give it to them!"

"They even stole your food?" Qin Yizhou asked.

“Yeah, I don’t steal food from them when they have it,” Qin Zihang said.

“My cousin’s child is spoiled,” Song Fenglan said. “That’s their home, how can our son compete with them? My aunt has already done a great job. We’re not their family, we can’t keep taking advantage of them.”

Song Fenglan was a sensible person. She did not treat her aunt's things as her own just because she was living in her aunt's house.

At this moment, Song Fenglan's aunt was clearing away the dishes and couldn't help but say, "Yesterday, Fenglan called to say she had arrived. I wonder if she will be able to get used to it."

"Is she a rich heiress? How could she not be used to it?" Song Fenglan's cousin said coldly.