The person who ran downstairs was Liu Ercui, who lived upstairs.
She rushed over as soon as she saw Qin Hanshu and hid behind him.
Following Liu Ercui down was a short man, who, despite his small stature, possessed the ruggedness of a soldier.
The man pointed at Liu Ercui and roared angrily, "You filthy woman, if you keep talking nonsense, who hit you?!"
The man was Liu Ercui's husband, Zhang Lei.
"You! It's you! Look at how fierce you are! If I hadn't run away, I probably would have been beaten to death by you!" Liu Ercui's voice made Qin Hanshu's ears ring.
Qin Hanshu rubbed her ears and moved to the side.
She looked Liu Ercui up and down, and seeing that there were no signs of being beaten, she said, "Sister Ercui, let's talk things out. There's nothing that husband and wife can't talk about."
Zhang Lei suppressed his anger and said to Qin Hanshu, "I'm sorry you had to see this. I'll take her back now so she doesn't disturb everyone."
Liu Ercui said, "I'm not going back. I have something to say to Xiao Qin."
Zhang Lei's temper flared up again, and he wanted to reach out and grab Liu Ercui, but Liu Ercui clung tightly to Qin Hanshu, so he couldn't move.
Zhang Lei glared at Liu Ercui for a while, and seeing that she was determined not to go back with him, he angrily turned and left.
Liu Ercui watched Zhang Lei stride upstairs and let out a soft snort.
Qin Hanshu sighed and pulled her arm away from Liu Ercui's embrace. "Sister-in-law, why don't you come in and sit for a while?"
"Come to my house, Sister-in-law Er Cui will be having dinner with us too." Cao Jing heard the commotion outside and had been standing at the door for a while when she spoke up at the right moment.
Liu Ercui found Cao Jing's invitation strange, feeling that the Cao Jing she was now was unlike the person she had been a while ago...
Qin Hanshu was already hungry, and ignoring Liu Ercui's suspicious look, she pulled her into Cao Jing's house.
Upon entering, Liu Ercui was startled to see Qin Feiyang busy in the kitchen. "My goodness, what's a grown man doing cooking?"
Qin Feiyang turned around when he heard the voice, smiled and greeted him.
Cao Jing gestured for Liu Ercui to sit down and asked with concern, "Sister-in-law, did you have a fight with Battalion Commander Zhang? He didn't lay a hand on you, did he?"
Liu Ercui had a quarrel with the fake Cao Jing before, but there was no deep hatred between them, so she didn't take it to heart. She quickly accepted the new Cao Jing.
Seeing that Cao Jing was gentle and kind, he felt a surge of urge to confide in her, so he immediately wiped his eyes, which were not actually wet with tears, and began to speak rapidly.
"Although he didn't hit me, I know he was just afraid of the bad influence. If this were in our rural area, I would have been beaten countless times by now."
Qin Hanshu and Cao Jing exchanged a glance, both feeling that this statement was somewhat exaggerated, because apart from the controversy surrounding Zhang Lei's reputation in marriage, he was generally well-regarded in other aspects.
Of course, this has nothing to do with whether or not one beats their wife.
After all, in rural areas at that time, beating one's wife was as common as beating one's child; the concept of domestic violence simply didn't exist. If a man in a family didn't beat his wife, it might even be considered a virtue and something to be talked about.
Qin Hanshu asked, "Then why are you arguing?"
Speaking of this, Liu Ercui became agitated, "He wanted to adopt the daughter of one of his comrades-in-arms, but I disagreed, and he yelled at me!"
"They said that the child's parents had both died and entrusted the child to him before they passed away."
“But I just don’t want to raise someone else’s child! You all know my family’s situation. Every month after I get my salary, I send half back to my hometown, and the rest is barely enough for the family to live on.”
"Besides, my three boys are growing up and eating more every day. How can I afford to feed another mouth?"
"I said, doesn't that child have any other relatives? Why would he entrust him to a comrade-in-arms who isn't related by blood? I don't know how I offended him, but he immediately glared at me, and the veins on his neck were bulging!"
Liu Ercui felt truly wronged.
Although she said that a girl can't eat much, and that her family was too poor to raise her was just an excuse, she just didn't want to raise someone else's child; she wanted to have her own daughter.
She's the lady of the house, yet she doesn't even have the right to speak on such matters?
It's simply that the man dislikes her and doesn't treat her like his wife at all.
Qin Hanshu and Cao Jing didn't feel comfortable offering any opinions on this kind of family matter; they simply offered a few words of advice such as "discuss things properly."
Liu Ercui's purpose in confiding was not to seek coping strategies from others, but simply to vent her emotions; once she finished, that was it.
Qin Hanshu perked up her ears, then quickly ran to open the door and said to Zhou Weiguang, who had just come upstairs, "You're back? Come to my house for dinner."
Zhou Weiguang was taken aback, and reluctantly asked, "Why are we eating at his house again?"
Qin Hanshu said, "I got home too late from get off work and I'm too lazy to cook."
Zhou Weiguang said, "Then you should just rest and wait for me to come back and do it, right?"
Liu Ercui overheard this and was even more shocked than when she saw Qin Feiyang cooking.
Qin Feiyang at least has a somewhat gentle and considerate appearance, so it's understandable that he would share the housework at home.
But Zhou Weiguang was a stern-faced devil, and it was impossible to imagine him wearing an apron and standing in front of the stove.
Liu Ercui was very envious.
Her husband is so incompetent that she'd be grateful if he could even pick up a fallen oil bottle, let alone cook.
Comparing yourself to others will only make you miserable!
Liu Ercui just wanted to vent her frustrations and didn't intend to stay for dinner at Cao Jing's house. When she saw that they were starting to serve the food, she got up to leave.
Qin Hanshu and Cao Jing tried their best to keep her, but they couldn't.
These days, everyone's food ration is fixed, so it's really not appropriate to just stay at someone else's house for a meal.
Thinking about this, Qin Hanshu realized that since she often ate at her brother and sister-in-law's house, she should send some food over as well.
At the dinner table, Cao Jing asked, "Have any of your comrades passed away? Battalion Commander Zhang upstairs said he wants to adopt the child of one of his deceased comrades."
Qin Feiyang thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Never heard of him. Maybe he's a retired comrade? So many people come and go every year, we might not know the people he knows."
Cao Jing said no more about the matter.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
