Qin Hanshu quietly asked Cao Jing, "Does she have any lingering resentment towards you?"
Cao Jing understood Qin Hanshu's meaning, shook her head, and whispered:
"At first, she was very wary of me and didn't want to talk to me much, but after I tried for a few days, she softened and became friendly with me again."
Qin Hanshu: "......"
Cao Jing smiled and said, "She's just that simple-minded. Because of that, she's suffered a lot, but she's also gained some benefits. I guess... everything has two sides."
"Wow, you've planted so many flowers on your balcony!" Ru Mei exclaimed. "They're so beautiful! Where did you buy them?"
Qin Hanshu walked over and said, "I bought it on the black market, but it's too late now, the black market may have closed down. If you want it, come find me on the 15th, and I can take you there."
"I want it!" Rumei paused, her expression turning somewhat timid. "The black market? Isn't it dangerous? What if I get caught?"
Qin Hanshu laughed and said, "No, there are plenty of people in the black market. Besides, even if something happens, the first people they'll arrest are the sellers. We just need to run fast."
Ru Mei thought about it seriously for a moment, "I'm pretty fast. Then I'll come find you then, okay?"
Qin Hanshu thought about it and figured she could take a day off that day, so she nodded in agreement.
If there's one downside to my current job, it's that we don't have a two-day weekend system yet; we only get one day off per week on a rotating basis.
After the chicken soup was ready, Qin Hanshu sent a bowl upstairs and downstairs. Previously, Fan Hongxia and Liu Ercui had also sent her whatever good food they made.
Liu Ercui was pregnant, but instead of having a bad appetite, she wanted to eat everything she saw, and her mouth would start watering when she smelled chicken soup.
Qin Hanshu then said, "Let me serve you another bowl."
"No, no, no!" Liu Ercui quickly stopped her. "That's enough! Really!"
She may have a sweet tooth, but she also knows proper manners. How could she keep staring at someone else's pot without ever getting enough?
"Thank you so much. Thanks to Aunt Qin, my little girl is already enjoying chicken soup before she's even born."
Qin Hanshu's decision to eat stewed chicken out of the ordinary, even during holidays, certainly impressed Liu Ercui.
A whole hen costs seven or eight yuan, and a stew of that can only last a family two days at most. The cost is so high.
She thinks her life is pretty good now, and she can afford to eat some pork and lard every now and then, but there are always people better than you.
Battalion Commander Zhou was the same rank as her husband, and their salaries were the same, but she heard that his family was well-off, didn't need financial assistance, and hadn't had children yet. Xiao Qin also had her own job...
Sigh, you can't compare people.
Liu Ercui saw Qin Hanshu off with a mix of admiration and envy. She suppressed her craving and put the chicken soup away, preparing to serve it to her family at the dinner table.
A short while later, the man and his son returned.
Liu Ercui heated up the chicken soup, thought for a moment, and divided it into portions before serving it.
This was a habit she developed when she was at her parents' home in the countryside. There were many children in the family, and any good things would be distributed before being served to avoid a scramble.
The person who receives the largest share is definitely the breadwinner of the family.
Secondly, there's my son. He's very mischievous and expends a lot of energy every day. When it's time to eat, he's like a starving ghost reincarnated.
Then there was herself. Although she felt she could finish a large bowl, she had no choice but to prioritize her husband and son.
Finally, there's Yue'er, a little girl who's just over two years old. She has such a small belly that she can't eat much.
Liu Ercui thought she had allocated the food reasonably, but after it was served, Yue'er finished the soup and ate the meat in a few bites, and then just stood there smacking her lips longingly.
Seeing the pitiful little girl, Zhang Lei immediately transferred the meat from his bowl to Yue'er's bowl.
Liu Ercui casually said, "You eat yours, how much can a little girl like her eat?"
Zhang Lei's face immediately darkened. He slammed his chopsticks down and yelled at Liu Ercui, "I wanted to tell you this when we sat down at the table. Now that you've accepted Yue'er, you should be fair to her! There's no need to play these tricks with the food. Our family isn't that poor!"
Liu Ercui was confused. "What little tricks did I do? You mean I gave her too little chicken soup?"
"Don't you have any?" Zhang Lei pointed at Liu Ercui's and her son's bowls. "Look at your son's bowl, and then look at your own bowl."
Liu Ercui felt a surge of anger rush to her head and gritted her teeth, saying, "Zhang Tugou, this is your own son! I'm the woman who bore your children! What's wrong with eating a little more meat? Why are you shouting like this?"
When Zhang Lei heard Liu Ercui call him by his nickname, his disdain became even more apparent. "Shut up! Opening your mouth only reveals your lack of culture."
Liu Ercui also started banging on the table.
"So what if I'm uneducated? If you're so capable, divorce me and find someone educated! I'll go back to the countryside pregnant and remarry, so your child will call another man 'Dad.' Then I'll see if your Zhang family will still have any face in the village."
Zhang Lei stared intently at Liu Ercui without saying a word.
He was too concerned about his reputation, which is why he was easily swayed by Liu Ercui's crying and tantrums and ended up marrying her.
"What's wrong? Have you thought it through?" Liu Ercui puffed out her flat belly.
"Dad Zhang, Mom Er Cui, please stop arguing, I won't eat meat anymore..." Yue'er said, her voice trembling with tears.
Zhang Lei suddenly deflated, sat down, comforted Yue'er for a moment, and then stopped talking and buried his head in his food.
Liu Ercui didn't feel like she had won the argument; she felt stifled and poked at her rice bowl with her chopsticks.
Of all the people at the table, only the carefree eldest son of the Zhang family seemed to be able to act as if nothing had happened, constantly shoveling rice into his mouth.
Zhang Lei and Liu Ercui's argument was relatively quiet today and didn't reach the downstairs neighbors.
Qin Hanshu had no idea that the bowl of chicken soup she had given him had already sparked a conflict.
She checked the time and estimated that Zhou Weiguang and Qin Feiyang would be back soon, so she put the chicken soup back on the stove to heat it up.
Once heated, the chicken soup begins to taste richer.
Qin Hanshu didn't feel anything when she was stewing it in the afternoon, but the smell made her feel nauseous.
She tried to hold it in but couldn't, and ran to the toilet to dry heave.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
