Chapter 5: Rumors of truth and falsehood
"Second marriage..." Father Jiang frowned.
"Aren't you and I both remarried?" Jiang's mother sighed again. "I'm not saying second marriages are bad. We've both been through it..."
They all understand the feeling.
"At least the child is not Yuqin's husband's biological child, nor is it their biological child. It will be better." Jiang's mother comforted Jiang's father.
"A child who isn't your biological child is even more difficult to deal with than one who is your biological child," Jiang's father said. "I heard the child's biological father died trying to save Ding Chao."
Regardless of whether this story was true or not, the rumor was circulating. People wondered why Ding Chao would be so kind to the child if the child's biological father hadn't saved him. A child that young needed care. Ding Chao hadn't been married before, and having a child with him would inevitably affect his marriage, but he still brought the child back to South City.
Jiang's father, a second-time wife, was wary of his mother, unwilling to see his wife give all her belongings to her stepson. When it came time to find a job for each of his children, and since only one of his stepson and eldest daughter could remain in the city, Jiang's father prioritized keeping his daughter. Jiang's mother considered giving her job to her son, but his father and his family were reluctant. Not wanting to embarrass her, her son suggested that as a grown man, he might find it helpful to go to the countryside for some exercise.
The situation here was very complicated, and Jiang's father knew everything. This was the core reason why he felt Jiang Yuqin shouldn't marry Ding Chao. The child wasn't Ding Chao's, but it was better than his own. He was afraid that Ding Chao would treat that child better than his own.
"These are all rumors," Jiang's mother said. "They're not necessarily true. Maybe Ding Chao values friendship and loyalty, so he wants to raise this child."
"Do you believe it?" Jiang's father didn't believe it anyway.
Not only Jiang's father didn't believe it, many people didn't believe it.
Tonight, Jiang Yuqin officially lives in Ding Chao's house. She has no choice but to live in Ding Chao's house, as she has nowhere else to go.
The child kept crying and it was past ten o'clock in the evening when he finally fell asleep. He slept in the same room with Jiang Yuqin and Ding Chao. This room was not Ding Chao's own, but a rented room.
Ding Chao originally lived in the factory dormitory, but with a young child, the child's fussiness kept everyone from getting a good night's rest. The child didn't care whether it was night or not, and some people had to work shifts, so others wanted to rest. Ding Chao couldn't bear to stay in the dormitory with the child for two days. Everyone was complaining about Ding Chao, and Ding Chao had no choice but to rent an apartment. Ding Chao still had to work and couldn't take care of the child all the time. He asked a neighbor to help with the childcare, paying him a small fee, but the money was little and the work was heavy, and the neighbor didn't want to help Ding Chao with the childcare all the time.
This is why Ding Chao, even knowing Jiang's father disagreed with Jiang Yuqin marrying him, pretended not to know that Jiang Yuqin had stolen her household registration book to get married with him. Ding Chao was troubled. He wanted to take good care of his child, but reality kept him from doing so. Ding Chao could only think that having a wife would be better. Neighbors also told Ding Chao to find a wife as soon as possible so that he could share the household chores and not have to look after the child alone.
There must be a woman in a family. A family without a woman is incomplete and will have many problems.
Ding Chao and Jiang Yuqin slept on the same bed, but they had not had sex yet. They were tired today and did not think about that matter for the time being.
"What does your dad...dad like?" Ding Chao asked Jiang Yuqin in a low voice, afraid of waking the child up.
"You want to buy him something?" Jiang Yuqin asked. "It doesn't have to be expensive. Just buy a few apples when you go over. That would be great. If you buy these things, who knows who will end up with them. Or, how about a bottle of wine? It doesn't have to be expensive, just something cheap will do."
Jiang Yuqin was afraid that her stepmother and her stepmother's children would take advantage of her. She could say that Jiang Moli had taken her things before, and she can say the same thing now.
"My stepmother is a tough girl, and her daughter is even more aggressive," Jiang Yuqin said. "Dad isn't just Jiang Moli's dad, and she thinks everything in the house belongs to her. When I got married to you and needed to bring a dowry, she stood there watching, afraid I'd bring back too much. And my grandmother and the others sided with her. How despicable."
Since she was little, Jiang Yuqin had always disliked Jiang Moli. Jiang Moli's birth had made her father pay more attention to his youngest daughter. Jiang Yuqin felt that she was not receiving as much attention, and her own interests were affected. If she was her father's only daughter, she would have been treated better.
"Your sister is still young..."
"What's so young about that? She's already eighteen years old, an adult," Jiang Yuqin said. "In two years, she'll be old enough to get married."
“…” Ding Chao didn’t know what to say.
"My father has two daughters. My grandmother once suggested that he adopt my eldest uncle's son, but my stepmother and my father didn't want to." Jiang Yuqin said, "Now, I think it's better for my father to adopt my eldest uncle's son, so that those things won't be given to outsiders."
Jiang's father and mother are a reconstituted family, with three children who have different mothers or fathers, making the family situation already very complicated. Furthermore, Jiang's father is not foolish. If he were to adopt his son, giving his family's belongings to his nephew might not necessarily be truly kind to him in the future. Jiang's father lives in the same city as his great uncle, and they still see their biological son regularly. Such an adoption would be the same as not having the child at all, so it would be better not to adopt him at all.
"If I don't fight for those things in the house, either Jiang Moli will get them, or someone who has no blood relationship with my father or me will get them." Jiang Yuqin said, "My father doesn't have a son, but my stepmother does."
Jiang Yuqin made up her mind that she must get more things from her parents' home.
"Hongwang is not my biological son." Ding Chao said, "In the future..."
"I didn't mean anything else." Jiang Yuqin immediately realized, "If we have the ability, we should help Hongwang more. Hongwang's biological father died for his country, so I will definitely treat him well."
Jiang Yuqin was afraid Ding Chao would think she had something against Ding Hongwang, the name Ding Chao had given to Yangzi. Ding Chao had originally wanted the child to have his biological father's last name, but he was worried the child would later develop other ideas, that they didn't care about him or value him. He suggested giving the child Ding Chao's last name first, and then changing it when he was older if he wanted.
"We should be nice to him." Ding Chao held Jiang Yuqin's hand tightly. "Some other day, we'll go and apologize to Dad. After all, you're Dad's biological daughter. I can't let you be too embarrassed or suffer in the middle."
Jiang Yuqin was deeply moved when she heard Ding Chao's words. She felt that Ding Chao was so good to her.
Early in the morning, Jiang Moli got up because she had to go to school. While eating breakfast, Jiang Moli looked at her father and saw that he had really dark circles under his eyes.
"Dad, you didn't sleep last night. You have panda eyes." Jiang Moli was holding a corn steamed bun in her hand.
Jiang's mother deliberately finely crushed the cornmeal. Some cornmeal is too coarse, making the resulting cornmeal steamed bread difficult to swallow and irritating to the throat. Jiang's mother is a very frugal person, rarely buying fine food when she buys groceries or cooks. The child is not two or three years old anymore and can eat coarser grains. Saving money allows her to save for other things.
"Eat it." Jiang's mother looked at Jiang Moli, "I made egg drop soup especially for you and added sugar."
"Mom, don't add so much sugar next time. It's too sweet and it can damage my teeth." Jiang Moli said.
"You loved sweets when you were a kid. Ever since you started learning opera, you've been told to eat less sugar," said Jiang's mother.
"Next time, put less sugar," Jiang's father said. "She's going on stage, so she needs to pay attention to her image."
"Dad, Mom, I'm going to perform on stage this weekend. You can come and watch." Jiang Moli said, "I have tickets."
"The people in the troupe won't say anything, right?" Jiang's mother asked.
"It's a different era now, who would still talk about this?" Jiang Moli said, "It's just two tickets, not five or six. If you really need that many tickets, just buy them."
Reform and opening up have been carried out for a long time, and policies have been relaxed. Many things are different from before.
During the Special Period, the development of opera was greatly affected, with some operas stagnating or even regressing. After the reform and opening up, local opera has revived, but the damage suffered cannot be restored all at once and requires a gradual process.
"You don't go to see it every time." Jiang Moli said, "We don't perform in South City every time either."
Jiang Moli has performed with the troupe in other cities. Her goal is to promote opera and let more people hear the opera they sing.
"Okay." Jiang's mother nodded.
Just as Jiang Moli finished her breakfast and was about to leave, she looked at the gate of the compound. Jiang Moli had originally thought that if Ding Chao knew a little bit about things, he would come over today. After all, Jiang Yuqin had obtained the marriage certificate with Ding Chao without telling her family, and Ding Chao, as a grown man, had to take responsibility.
Jiang Moli was proven wrong. Ding Chao couldn't possibly come over at this time. He still had to go to work. He had to wait until he was free on vacation. In order to take care of the child, Ding Chao had not done his job well before. Everyone in the factory was dissatisfied. The boss also talked to Ding Chao and asked him not to delay work for a child. The child had other blood relatives, so Ding Chao was not the only one.
Ding Chao didn't want to send the child away, even though his own family told him not to raise the child, he still wanted to raise the child. Ding Chao's family members were unwilling to help him raise the child, and those people wanted Ding Chao to give up and ask Ding Chao to send the child back himself.
However, Ding Chao did not send the child back, but instead married Jiang Yuqin. Two years earlier, Jiang Yuqin had frequently appeared before Ding Chao, and it was impossible for Ding Chao not to sense Jiang Yuqin's feelings for him. He had not initially pointed them out, nor had he confessed his feelings to her. This time, Ding Chao brought a child with him, and it was Jiang Yuqin who took the initiative to ask Ding Chao to marry her, which ultimately led to Ding Chao's agreement.
For the sake of her child, Jiang Yuqin took two days off. When the people at the factory learned she and Ding Chao were married, they weren't surprised. Jiang Yuqin had always loved being around Ding Chao. Jiang Yuqin and Ding Chao didn't work in the same factory, but back then, with fewer entertainment options, people interacted more and gossiped more.
"Are you a painless mother?" Jiang Yuqin's friend Wang Chunfen went to see Jiang Yuqin. She looked around and whispered to her, "You're already married, so you still have to find a way to give this child away. At worst, you can just visit the child more often in the future. If that doesn't work, you can give the child to someone with a better family background to raise. That's not a problem either."
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