The three people on the other side were looking straight ahead and didn't notice them across the street.
Two women, one on each side, helped Zhao Xiuying into the Western restaurant across the street.
Xu Keke then led the two children into the department store behind her. Xu Keke meant "taking them shopping," and she really meant just that. She led them through the store in a quick, cursory manner.
The two children were very sensible and didn't think there was anything wrong with it. In their minds, it was only natural for Xu Keke to be reluctant to spend money since she didn't have much.
Little did she know, Xu Keke was thinking that if she bought it now and took it back to the army, she would have to bring it back again when she returned tomorrow. Moving it back and forth would be too troublesome, so it would be better to wait until she moved over before buying it.
She showed them around to get a general idea of what they could buy there and where they'd need to find out further. Mainly because in her previous life, Feng Lichun hadn't had much money after leaving the army. Her only memories were of the exterior of the department store and what kind of vehicle she'd taken past it. She knew nothing about the interior.
The green PLA vehicle arrived quite early; I wonder if Liao Meng and the driver had eaten.
When Liao Meng got in the car and saw that Xu Keke and the two children were empty-handed, his eyes darkened slightly. Like the two children, he also thought that Xu Keke was reluctant to spend money.
"Sister-in-law, how's the house search going?"
"It's alright, everything went smoothly. There's a place I can rent in that alley over there," Xu Keke said vaguely. Liao Meng, however, immediately misinterpreted it as Xu Keke renting a tiny, dilapidated room. His hands, resting on his knees, tightened.
"The troops have a mission tomorrow. Is your wife planning to leave the day after tomorrow? I'll find a car to take you over."
Xu Keke hesitated. If she hadn't seen Liao Meng's glance in the rearview mirror during the day, she would have accepted it readily. Now, however, she was wavering. Her intuition told her that there was something wrong with Liao Meng.
Xu Keke smiled and declined, "Let's not. You still have to stay in the army, and Zhou Chengguang is your direct superior. We don't want to cause you any trouble."
Liao Meng's eyes darkened further, and he gave up.
The mother and her two children had been back at the guesthouse for some time; it was almost dark when Zhao Xiuying finally returned. She was wearing the same new jacket they had seen her wearing on the street. She was also carrying a paper package, which probably contained food, with a large, bright orange tangerine on top.
"Yuanbao, come here quickly, look what Grandma brought for you." As she spoke, Zhao Xiuying beckoned to Yuanbao and called him into her room.
A short while later, Yuanbao, carefree as ever, ran out with an orange in his hand. "Sister, here you go! Grandma said it's sweet."
"I won't eat!" Although Da Cui couldn't quite put her finger on it, she knew that her grandmother was already in cahoots with her father.
Zhao Xiuying heard it from inside the house, rushed out of her small room, and stood at her door, angrily yelling at Yuanbao, "Yuanbao, what did Grandma tell you? Didn't Grandma tell you to eat by yourself? You disobedient child!"
"Mom, my grandma said that Dad is going to find me a new mom. As long as I behave, he'll take me with him and let us stay." Yuanbao wasn't afraid at all and repeated everything Zhao Xiuying had told him to Xu Keke.
"Then why do you still want her to eat?" Da Cui glared angrily at Yuan Bao, wishing she could snatch the food and throw it away.
"Why not? I haven't eaten it yet. Back then, the village head tricked us by asking for directions to the mountain. We tricked him into eating too, and after we finished the food, we ran away when he wasn't looking."
Hearing him compare her to an enemy, Zhao Xiuying stood at the door, fuming and gasping for breath. Xu Keke, seeing her like that, was afraid she might get even more upset.
"Alright, here you go, take it if you want. Go inside and eat." Xu Keke winked at the two children. No matter what, she wasn't prepared to have any direct conflict with Zhao Xiuying unless her bottom line was crossed.
For nine years while Zhou Chengguang was away, the four of them lived together, relying on each other for survival. Zhao Xiuying's biggest flaws were, firstly, her preference for sons over daughters, and her disregard for Da Cui. Secondly, she became somewhat arrogant and conceited after learning that Zhou Chengguang had become an official.
If Xu Keke divorces Zhou Chengguang, she won't end up like Feng Lichun, who put in a lot of effort but got nothing in return, and ended up taking Zhao Xiuying with her.
So she thought that it would be best if neither of them got into any trouble with Zhao Xiuying, and they could just live peacefully until tomorrow. She would stay and enjoy life with her son, while she would leave with her two children.
“Grandma Da Cui,” Xu Keke wasn’t Feng Lichun, so she couldn’t bring herself to call her mother. Seeing the panic in Zhao Xiuying’s eyes, she quickly smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I’m not asking who you were with today or what you did. You heard it yourself today, Zhou Chengguang told me to leave the day after tomorrow. He won’t let us stay here anymore. If I leave with the child, what kind of plan do you have?”
Zhao Xiuying stared blankly at Xu Keke's face. Her daughter-in-law had always made the decisions at home; she hadn't really considered this before.
She didn't see her son today. The political commissar's wife said that the girl accompanying her was going to marry her son. Then they took her to buy new clothes and even took her to a tailor shop to have her measurements taken. They wanted to make her a new style of jacket, saying that's what old ladies in the city wear now. The clothes couldn't be picked up immediately; it sounded like she'd have to wait seven or eight days.
Zhao Xiuying was a little worried. If she left, how would she wear the clothes she had taken? She had spent so much money on them. She had seen the clothes and added more fabric, and that girl had paid more than 100,000 yuan for them.
Seeing that Zhao Xiuying was just staring blankly and not saying anything, Xu Keke kindly guided her, "It must be tough for me to raise a child alone, unlike his father who gets a monthly allowance. The army will arrange housing for us, and we can eat in the canteen, so we don't have to worry about anything."
Hearing Xu Keke's words, Zhao Xiuying became even more determined. Yes, all she had to do was tell her son to give her a room, and she could eat at the canteen every day, and have him give her a few yuan for pocket money. Wouldn't that be better than going back home to farm and help her daughter-in-law cook? She'd seen that girl today; she was educated, spoke slowly and deliberately, and although she was a bit quiet, she seemed quite amiable.
The more Zhao Xiuying thought about it, the more determined she became. "I raised my son with great difficulty. If he doesn't care about me, who will? In all these years in our village, I've never heard of a mother-in-law living with her divorced daughter-in-law."
It seems Chen Yufen and her future daughter-in-law had a pretty good time showing her around today. She even spoke with confidence now. Xu Keke didn't interrupt, just listened to her.
“However, Yuanbao is a boy, so he has to stay with his father. When you leave, take Da Cui with you, but Yuanbao has to stay with me.”
Zhao Xiuying really dotes on Yuanbao. Just now, Yuanbao hadn't been on her side and had overheard her instructions. But in such a short time, she had already forgotten about it, didn't hold it against him, and even wanted to keep Yuanbao here. She wasn't worried at all about whether Yuanbao's temperament was compatible with his father's.
But Xu Keke would never allow her to even consider such a thing. She wouldn't leave either of the two children to Zhou Chengguang.
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