Chapter 11 Transformation: Being able to eat is a blessing
"Sweet." Zhang Xiaohu nodded.
"My mom is sweeter than candy, she can only be mine." Qin Zihang put his hands on his hips. "She's my mom."
"Alright," Song Fenglan said. "Zihang, this is the young man next door. You two wash your hands and go get something to eat."
Seeing Zhang Xiaohu crawl through the dog hole, Song Fenglan glanced at the neighboring yard but saw no one else. She didn't know if Fatty was home; if no adults were home, a child who could crawl through the dog hole once would surely try again.
When Qin Yizhou saw Zhang Xiaohu coming over, he was puzzled. He didn't ask in front of the child: "Xiaohu, why did you come over?"
We're all neighbors, and eventually, our kids might even play together.
"Take them to wash their hands," Song Fenglan said. She went to peel the apples and sliced them; she cut two apples. It wouldn't be right to cut only one apple for two children.
Song Fenglan quickly cut the apples, arranged them on a plate, and even put a fork on them.
"Eat up," Song Fenglan said.
Zhang Xiaohu's mouth watered as he looked at the food. He reached for an apple and exclaimed, "Delicious!"
Fat Sister-in-law is rare
As for buying fruit, she didn't see it as a necessity. She had two sons, and she also needed to buy meat and other things. The children's clothes were worn out, but they could be mended and worn again; buying new clothes would cost a lot of money. While Aunt Pang was good at mending clothes for the children, her clothes weren't as nice as Song Fenglan's.
When Sister-in-law Pang returned home, she looked around but couldn't see her youngest son. She asked her eldest son, who was doing his homework nearby, "Where's your brother?"
"He was just here." The fat woman's eldest son is named Zhang Wen. Zhang Chenghai hoped that his son would be educated, so he named his child Zhang Wen.
"Your brother is missing, and you didn't even know?" The plump woman anxiously went out to look for the child.
"Could my brother have climbed through the dog hole to go next door?" Zhang Wen asked, as his brother always liked to climb through the dog hole to go next door.
When Aunt Pang went out, she was afraid the child would get lost, so she often locked the door from the outside. Since the child couldn't go out through the front door, he would run out from other places.
"I'll go take a look," said the plump woman.
When Fatty arrived at Song Fenglan's house, she saw Zhang Xiaohu happily eating an apple, holding an apple slice in one hand and a biscuit in the other. Fatty felt a little embarrassed; these weren't cheap things, and Zhang Xiaohu had the nerve to say that.
"This... I'm so sorry," said the plump woman. "I went out for a bit, and I didn't expect him to sneak through the dog hole. I've closed the front door, just in case he gets out. I'll go and block up the dog hole tomorrow."
“It’s better to block it up,” Song Fenglan said. “The child is older now, and his size isn’t what it used to be. I’m afraid he might get stuck in there one day. Also, we live here, and we might not always keep the front door closed. If he crawls through the dog hole and runs out, that would be a problem.”
Song Fenglan couldn't be responsible for other people's children; she was only thinking about her own son. She didn't want her son to climb through dog holes; if he wanted to go next door, he should go through the front door openly and honestly. She wanted to cultivate good habits in her child.
"Sit down, sit down," Song Fenglan gestured to the plump woman to sit down.
"No, I won't sit down," said the plump woman. "I came here to take Xiaohu with me."
Fat Sister looked at Zhang Xiaohu and glared at him.
"Mom, can I ask Zihang's mom to be my mom?" Zhang Xiaohu already knew Qin Zihang's name. He had just said it in front of Song Fenglan and her son, and now he was saying it in front of his own mother.
“Then tell me about my mother,” Qin Zihang quickly said, “my mother, who is all I have.”
“One more of me won’t make a difference. My brother and I share the same mother,” Zhang Xiaohu said.
"Dream on!" The plump woman was a little embarrassed. She glanced at Song Fenglan, wondering why her son so desperately wanted a son like Song Fenglan. If Song Fenglan hadn't been unafraid, the plump woman would have grabbed her youngest son and given him a good spanking. "I see you're only thinking about these delicious things. Come on, let's go back, you..."
The fat woman originally wanted to say: Your brother is still waiting for you at home.
The plump woman thought for a moment and decided it was better not to say anything. Her younger son had already felt embarrassed enough eating these things at someone else's house, and if she talked about her older son, it would probably cause misunderstandings.
"I'm not going back." Zhang Xiaohu was reluctant to leave. He felt that this place should be his home, even if he only stayed for a short while. Zihang's mother was very gentle and beautiful. When Zihang's mother wiped Zihang's mouth, she did so gently. Zhang Xiaohu looked at Song Fenglan. Zihang's mother wiped his mouth very gently, but when his own mother wiped his mouth, she used a lot of force, and he didn't even know which rough cloth she used to wipe his mouth.
"I'm going back," said the plump woman.
“It’s not mealtime yet, he wants to play here, so let him play for a while,” Song Fenglan said with a smile. “It’s good for a child to have company.”
Song Fenglan knew that Zhang Xiaohu had an older brother; she had heard Qin Yizhou mention it. Yesterday, Song Fenglan had inquired about the neighbors with Qin Yizhou; she couldn't possibly know nothing. Qin Yizhou and Zhang Chenghai had a fairly good relationship.
Last night, Song Fenglan overheard some of Zhang Chenghai's remarks and felt that he was too direct and didn't know how to be discreet. There were things he shouldn't have said in front of Song Fenglan, the hostess, such as whether or not he should cook. Anyone who didn't know the situation might think Zhang Chenghai had a problem with Song Fenglan.
Song Fenglan thought that with Zhang Chenghai and his wife's personalities, the couple must have suffered quite a bit.
"Take these for the children." Song Fenglan packed two shortbreads and an apple, and handed them to the plump woman.
"No, no need, he's already eaten here." The plump woman was too embarrassed to accept these things; they all cost money and were expensive, requiring ration coupons. She usually couldn't bear to buy these things for her child, as her husband had to send money back to their hometown, and she didn't have a job; the whole family depended on Zhang Chenghai's meager salary.
"Doesn't Xiaohu have an older brother?" Song Fenglan said. "I'm not a good cook, and the food I make isn't very tasty, so I won't cook anything for you. Please don't think it's too little, sister-in-law."
"No problem, no problem." The plump woman was holding the things; there was no way she would complain.
The plump woman glanced at Song Fenglan a few more times. She thought that Song Fenglan was the regimental commander's wife, and she came from the capital. There was no need for Song Fenglan to pretend. The plump woman thought that Song Fenglan should be a good person. She had been prejudiced and judged her by her appearance. Besides, she had always thought that Song Fenglan was not a good woman and that she was ugly. She had suddenly seen the beautiful and cultured Song Fenglan, which was why she had made a mistake.
"I'll go back first, and then I'll come back to take him over when it's time for dinner," said the plump woman.
“Okay,” Song Fenglan said.
The fat woman took the things back home and placed them in front of her eldest son.
“This was given to you by your aunt from the Qin family,” the plump woman said. “She said your brother ate it over there, so these are for you.”
The plump woman didn't hide the food, nor did she tell her eldest son to eat it later. She couldn't very well let her eldest son eat it, and then, if someone gave him something, she wouldn't let him have it either.
Zhang Wen was surprised. He looked at the two pastries and the apple. Could he really eat that much?
“If I give you food, you should eat it,” said the plump woman. “If you don’t eat now, when your brother comes back, don’t say he’ll try to take it from you.”
There wasn't much food in the house, and Zhang Xiaohu, being younger and more mischievous, preferred to fight over it. If he couldn't get it, he would throw a tantrum. To keep her younger son from causing trouble, Aunt Pang told her older son to give in to him, and the younger son would eat more of the food anyway.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease!
Zhang Xiaohu cries and throws tantrums, while Zhang Wen is more composed. No matter how mischievous Zhang Wen is, he can't outdo Zhang Xiaohu. The parents always tell the older brother to be more accommodating to his younger brother, making it difficult for Zhang Wen to be naughty even if he wanted to.
In the evening, Qin Yizhou cooked again, instead of Song Fenglan. While Qin Yizhou was cooking, Fatty Sister came over and took Zhang Xiaohu away.
Song Fenglan told Qin Yizhou about the dog hole. The child ran to the other side and walked out through someone else's door, which was indeed difficult to deal with. They still had to get some bricks to block up the dog hole.
Qin Yizhou had just overheard Song Fenglan's conversation with the fat woman, and he thought his wife's words made a lot of sense. Many families keep their children at home because everyone has unexpected things to do, and they can't always ask their neighbors to help take care of the children. That dog hole needs to be plugged.
"I'll find some bricks tomorrow," Qin Yizhou said.
"There's no rush. Who knows, the neighbors might go and block us," Song Fenglan said. "Do all the neighbors... are they really that blunt?"
"Is it straightforward?" Qin Yizhou had little contact with Fatty Sister-in-law, so he didn't know if it was appropriate for her to speak like that. He just wanted to make sure his wife didn't suffer any losses.
“When I arrived with my son, it was your son’s fault. He stood there and said, ‘Who is my father? Step forward!’” Song Fenglan thought of that scene and wanted to say ‘Heavens!’ “She probably thought I was there to catch her cheating, so her tone wasn’t very nice. Later, when she found out the truth, she was quite embarrassed.”
Qin Yizhou looked at his son beside him; his son was truly capable.
“I usually live in the military dormitory, not here, and I don’t come here often,” Qin Yizhou said. “I don’t know much. If someone makes things difficult for you, you don’t have to compromise or bow your head.”
“If others make things difficult for me, of course I will stand up for myself. I’m not a coward who lets them say whatever they want,” Song Fenglan said. “What do they take me for? Someone they can say whatever they want about, someone they can laugh at after dinner?”
In previous years, Song Fenglan was quite tolerant because it was a special era; if she hadn't been tolerant, her life would have been even worse. But now, it's 1976, not 1968, and Song Fenglan no longer needs to bow her head like before.
Song Fenglan didn't need to take a deep breath or swallow all her grievances.
“I didn’t come here before, so I don’t know how they spread the word about me,” Song Fenglan said. “The way those people looked at me was quite strange; they didn’t seem to believe I was your wife.”
"I don't know," Qin Yizhou said. "I...I really haven't been paying attention."
Qin Yizhou, a grown man, would never pay attention to the chatter between women. Especially since he rarely visited the family compound, he was even less likely to hear what those people were saying about his family.
"You don't need to worry about it. We've already moved in, you'll find out eventually," Song Fenglan said. "Don't think I'm some kind of social butterfly; I'm not."
It's already good enough that she's resorting to vulgar insults.
Song Fenglan thought it was better that Qin Yizhou wasn't paying attention, as it meant that Qin Yizhou had good relationships with those people and that he hadn't done anything reckless.
"It's good for a shrew to yell in the street; at least she can protect herself." Qin Yizhou never thought there was anything wrong with shrews. Being assertive and able to protect oneself is the most important thing.
"It would be best if you thought that way," Song Fenglan said.
After dinner, Song Fenglan sat down at the sewing machine to cut fabric. She asked Qin Yizhou to look after Qin Zihang so she would have time to operate the sewing machine.
"Dad, Little Tiger eats so much!" Qin Zihang exclaimed. "I eat one piece, and he eats two."
Qin Zihang didn't say anything while Zhang Xiaohu was still there. Qin Zihang didn't dare to say it in front of Zhang Xiaohu; his mother had told him not to say those things in front of others.
“He’s older than you, so he eats a lot.” Qin Yizhou didn’t pay attention to whether Zhang Xiaohu ate quickly or whether he ate a lot.
"Being able to eat is a blessing." Song Fenglan was cutting cloth with scissors when she heard her son's words and couldn't help but say, "You should eat more, eat more, so you can grow tall."
It's just some food; there's really no need to make a fuss about it.
The main reason is that there's less food available these days, so some people are more particular about what they eat. Song Fenglan traveled from a more prosperous era. She suffered in the past few years, but her life was still better than many others.
“They eat more at our house because they value our family.” Song Fenglan didn’t want her son to have any bad thoughts. She wasn’t worried that her son would eat a lot at other people’s houses; she had told him to be restrained. Most importantly, Song Fenglan made sure her son ate plenty of food at home and also secretly took him out to eat, ensuring he didn’t go hungry.
Previously, Song Fenglan had a job, and with the money Qin Yizhou sent her, it was enough to support a child.
“But I can’t eat that much if I go out,” Qin Zihang said. “I value them very much.”
“You don’t need to eat much,” Song Fenglan said. “You should chew slowly and carefully, so you don’t choke. If you choke, you won’t be able to breathe, and it will be very painful.”
"I don't want to suffer," Qin Zihang said.
"Do you want to rest?" Qin Yizhou looked at his son. His wife was talking to their son, and Qin Yizhou felt that he didn't have a chance to interrupt.
"No, it's still early," Qin Zihang refused.
“Play with him for a while,” Song Fenglan said. “He’ll fall asleep on his own when he’s tired.”
Qin Yizhou was on holiday, so his family ate dinner early. Zhang Chenghai, who lived next door, had to go to work and got home late, so his family ate dinner a little later.
"Qin Tuan's wife is quite nice," the fat woman said with emotion. "When you weren't home, Xiao Hu climbed through the dog hole. Before, there was no owner next door, so I wasn't in a hurry to block the dog hole. When Xiao Hu went over, Qin Tuan's wife even gave him food. Xiao Hu even wanted Qin Tuan's wife to be his mother. He's really dreaming."
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