Chapter 3: Cutting in line is so bad it's practically growing mushrooms!

"Dad's going back to wash." Qin Yizhou coughed lightly. He and Song Fenglan had only been intimate once. After that night, even when Qin Yizhou and Song Fenglan lay together, it was always just them chatting under the covers.

Qin Yizhou didn't not want to develop a relationship with Song Fenglan; he really wanted to. However, he was afraid of hurting her. He knew Song Fenglan had no feelings for him, so he planned to take things slowly. Unfortunately, he had few holidays and was always busy with various tasks. Sometimes, before his vacation was even over, he had to come back to do missions.

"Dad, you smell bad, you..."

"You only have one dad, your only dad, and I can't replace him." Qin Yizhou interrupted his son, urging him not to talk about changing his dad again.

"Can't you change your dad?" Qin Zihang tilted his head. "Some people change their dads. They don't have a dad before they are two years old, but they have a dad after they are two years old. Old dad, new dad, biological dad, step dad... You can have many dads."

Qin Zihang was still counting on his fingers, "I'm three years old, I..."

"You only have one father." Qin Yizhou was speechless, wondering where his son had learned all this.

Song Fenglan chuckled. Children are like that; they say the darndest things. Near Song Fenglan's aunt's house, there was a family where the mother had remarried, and the child didn't have a father until he was two. The neighbors loved to gossip, and Qin Zihang overheard some of it. He even asked her when she would wear bright red clothes, whether she wanted to wear flowers, that he wanted a father, and that if a father wasn't good, he could just throw him away.

"Are you sleepy?" Qin Yizhou helped Qin Zihang get dressed, then turned to Song Fenglan. "Even without changing trains, it still takes a long time to get here from the capital."

"Yes, it will take a long time," Song Fenglan said.

"We're about to grow mushrooms," Qin Zihang said, fiddling with his fingers. "Dad, why is it that everyone else's dad looks for their mom, but your mom looks for you?"

"I……"

"Because your father has very important things to do, to protect the country." Song Fenglan squatted down slightly to explain to her son, she couldn't let her son think that his father was a bad person.

Even though Song Fenglan didn't have much affection for Qin Yizhou, she never spoke ill of him in front of her son. Qin Yizhou was a soldier; he was often on duty and didn't have many holidays. He might have felt guilty towards his family, but he had never failed his country.

Song Fenglan couldn't criticize Qin Yizhou just because he wasn't by her side; that would corrupt her son.

“Then Dad is really amazing,” Qin Zihang said.

"Are you sleepy? Go lie down first," Song Fenglan said. "I want to talk to your father for a few minutes."

"I'm not sleepy." Qin Zihang didn't want to lie down; he wanted to hear what his parents had to say.

Song Fenglan got up and sat down next to the bed. Qin Zihang immediately climbed onto the bed, wanting to sit next to his mother. He didn't want to sit with his father because he smelled bad. Song Fenglan had washed her hair but hadn't had time to shower yet. She planned to bathe Qin Zihang first, and then take a shower herself.

Just then, Qin Yizhou came over, and Song Fenglan thought she should talk about other things first.

"What kind of family housing are people applying for here?" Song Fenglan asked. "Are there any bungalows with yards?"

"Yes," Qin Yizhou said. "It's just that many people prefer to live in tenement buildings, where the houses are newly built and there are still empty rooms."

Song Fenglan couldn't help but glance at Qin Yizhou again, "You know quite a lot."

"I heard it, I heard it." Qin Yizhou was a little nervous. He had thought that Song Fenglan would never come to the army with him, but he still had a small hope in his heart. He wondered what kind of house Song Fenglan would like if she did come to the army one day.

When others talked about family housing, Qin Yizhou would write it down.

Previously, Qin Yizhou and Song Fenglan hadn't seen each other for a long time. He still missed his wife, but thought that since she didn't like him, he could let go. However, after meeting her, Qin Yizhou realized that he could never let go. The moment he saw Song Fenglan, his heart changed, pounding as if it weren't his own.

“Apply for a bungalow with a yard,” Song Fenglan said. “It would be best if it were a detached house with its own yard, which would be much more convenient. You can put some toys for your son in the yard, and you can also grow some garlic sprouts and ginger.”

Song Fenglan isn't good at growing leafy greens and beans, but garlic sprouts and ginger are easy to grow; she can plant some as seasonings. If there's still land, she can sow some easy-to-grow flower seeds. If all else fails, she can see if Qin Yizhou knows how to grow them. If Qin Yizhou tills the soil and plants them, and Song Fenglan just sets up a tap to water them, that would be fine.

“Okay,” Qin Yizhou said. “There are houses like this, but some people don’t want to live in them and would rather move into a newly built tenement building.”

If Song Fenglan wants to live in a tenement building, that's not impossible. Qin Yizhou's rank isn't low, and there are still vacant rooms in the tenement building, just not many. It's estimated that many people will apply, and how to allocate them will be a big problem.

During that turbulent era, Song Fenglan experienced many things. Her parents were sent to the countryside, and her older siblings were also sent there. She was the youngest and stayed in the city. Song Fenglan didn't want to share a courtyard with other people, but if there was no other way and she had to, that wasn't impossible.

“It’s getting late today, I’ll go to the political commissar to apply tomorrow,” Qin Yizhou said.

"Okay, sure," Song Fenglan said.

"..." Qin Yizhou stared at Song Fenglan. The two biscuits he ate hadn't helped much, and his stomach was growling again.

"Hurry back and get something to eat, and take a shower." Song Fenglan didn't intend to give the remaining food to Qin Yizhou; it was for her son. They had been on the train for so many days, and there wasn't much food left.

"It's nothing." Qin Yizhou looked around and then asked, "Do you...do you want to take a shower?"

"Yes, I want it," Song Fenglan said.

"You go take a shower first, I'll watch our son," Qin Yizhou said. "I'll leave after you've finished showering."

“I’m not that fast,” Song Fenglan said.

"Take your time," Qin Yizhou said.

Song Fenglan looked at her son and finally nodded. She went to take a shower and would come back later. Song Fenglan felt that the clothes in her bag also had a bit of an odor. Mainly, there were all sorts of people on the train, and the smells were mixed, so the clothes on her body easily picked up unpleasant odors. The clothes in her bag were slightly better.

When Zhang Chenghai returned home, he described Qin Yizhou's expression when he went to the guesthouse to his wife, Pang Sao: "He was running like he was on fire. Before I could even finish speaking, he was already far away. Who said he didn't care about his wife? I think he cared about her a lot. He was in such a hurry, as if he wanted to be in front of her in a flash.

"Who wouldn't want such a beautiful wife?" the plump woman said. "If it were me, I'd want one too. Are you envious of him for having such a beautiful wife?"

"this……"

"You all used to laugh at him, saying his wife wasn't pretty," the plump woman said bitterly. She had initially thought that since Commander Qin's wife wasn't good-looking, she and Commander Qin's wife were about the same. Now, she was the only one left to be laughed at.

The chubby woman looked down at her figure and wondered if she should consider losing weight.

Just as the fat woman was thinking about whether she should eat less, her children got into a fight.

"Mom, my brother hit me!"

"He hit me too."

"He started it."

He tore up my homework.

"he……"

...

The fat woman has two sons who are very naughty and like to fight. The two boys are close in age, one is seven years old and the other is five years old. When they are getting along, they sleep together, but when they are not, they get up and pull each other's hair and fight.

Summer vacation has started, and the two kids are staying at home. They keep calling "Mommy" all the time, like a tight headband. They're both a handful, and the mother has no choice but to coax them.

"How old are you? Still arguing," said the plump woman. "As the older brother, give way to your younger brother; he's younger."

The fat woman always said that the older brother should give way to the younger brother. That's how it is in her hometown. In families with daughters, the daughters always dote on the sons. In families with several sons, the older one always gives way to the younger one. The fat woman is a very traditional rural woman. Her way of raising children is very simple. She has two sons, and the older one gives way to the younger one. If the children are disobedient, she will beat them. She will beat both the older and the younger one, but the older one will get beaten more often.

After finally managing to soothe the two children, the chubby woman was exhausted.

“Zhang Chenghai.” The plump woman looked at her husband again.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Chenghai asked. His wife always liked to call him by his full name, and he would get a little nervous whenever he heard it, as if he were being called out by his boss.

“You know, Commander Qin’s wife… she’s so gentle and frail…” The fat woman nudged her husband with her elbow.

"Speak your mind," Zhang Chenghai said.

"Is someone as precious as her going to live in the newly built tenement building?" the fat woman said. "So many people are eyeing those apartments, saying there are still vacancies, but there aren't any at all. Several families have said they want to apply to live in the tenement building. With Commander Qin's wife coming, and Commander Qin's high status, I'm afraid they'll have to give them a spot. The apartment next to ours will be empty again."

Fat Sister lived in a single-story house, not in a tenement building. It wasn't that she disliked living in a tenement building, but rather that she didn't get along well with the people there. She wasn't very educated and came from the countryside; people even said that since she was originally from the countryside, she should be more used to living in a single-story house. Fat Sister could only tell herself that a single-story house was fine; at least it had a yard, where she could grow vegetables and raise a couple of chickens.

It would be a lie to say that Fatty Sister doesn't envy those who live in tenement buildings. Everyone says that single-story houses are damp, and that the yards are full of weeds. Even if you grow vegetables, you have to fertilize them, so doesn't the yard smell bad? And the chickens and ducks poop, it's too dirty.

"They're going to live in those tenement buildings, isn't that the same as cutting in line?" the fat woman raised her voice. "Do you think others will agree to that? Just because they're of higher status, does that mean they can take someone else's spot?"

"Keep your voice down," Zhang Chenghai said quickly, afraid that others would hear him, which would not be good.

When Song Fenglan returned to her room after taking a shower, Qin Zihang was already asleep. Qin Yizhou didn't dare sit on the bed; he hadn't changed his clothes yet, and they were still quite dirty. His son had been staring at him for a while and asking him several questions before quickly falling fast asleep.

"Let's go back quickly," Song Fenglan said softly, afraid of waking her son. However, her son hadn't rested well for the past few days, so she figured he would be sleeping soundly.

"I'll come tomorrow." Qin Yizhou didn't want to stay here; the stench emanating from him was too overwhelming. "You...you...I...I won't get a divorce!"