Lan Linxiang didn't notice Xiao Shanhe at first, and was shocked when she heard Lan Zhenhua shouting like that.
Today, she brought Su Qiangwen and Su Qiangwu to the Children's Palace to sign up for an interest class. The two children listened to the introduction of the interest class for half an hour before she came out to take a look. She never expected to meet Xiao Shanhe.
She quickly turned into an alley nearby, and Lan Zhenhua called her.
"Where are you going?"
"Don't call me! And don't talk nonsense in front of Qiang Wen and Qiang Wu." After Lan Linxiang said this, she quickened her pace and walked into the alley, turned a corner and returned to the Children's Palace.
Seeing that he couldn't call her back, Lan Zhenhua stopped shouting and walked towards Xiao Shanhe.
"Shanhe, where do you want to go? Do you not recognize your former father-in-law?" When Lan Zhenhua saw Xiao Shanhe trying to turn his wheelchair, he stood in front of Xiao Shanhe and handed him a cigarette.
Xiao Shanhe didn't even raise his hands.
"I don't smoke."
"Hey, if a man doesn't even smoke, what can he accomplish? No wonder Ah Xiang always blames you." Lan Zhenhua said as he put the cigarette away.
He said that Lan Linxiang resented Xiao Shanhe, but in fact, wasn't he resenting him himself?
If he didn't have any resentment, he wouldn't have come to find him.
"Look at you, there are so many ways to make money but you don't take advantage of them, but you have to risk your life for the country.
Look at you now, you are injured, you love your country so much, what happened? You can't even stand up, you are a college student, and you have become like this, I don't know how much gossip there is outside. "
"No regrets." Xiao Shanhe did not say too much to Lan Zhenhua.
Lan Zhenhua exhaled a puff of smoke.
"It's no use regretting it, Ah Xiang has been driven away by you. If you had listened to me and Ah Xiang and gone into business, you wouldn't be like this now.
Ah Xiang is a college student. She could have married someone better, but you delayed her. Have you been worthy of her all these years?"
"Before the divorce, I treated her the best I could. When she wanted a divorce, I didn't stop her. After the divorce, she asked for all my savings, and I gave it to her."
When Xiao Shanhe mentioned Lan Linxiang, he had nothing to regret.
When he and Lan Linxiang got married, they were a perfect match. He did not commit marriage fraud. He also told her about his ideals, and she accepted them before marrying him.
Later, as the world developed faster and faster, Lan Linxiang had other ideas and no longer understood him as she did when they first got married. Instead, she wanted to divorce and marry a rich man. He did not insist and immediately fulfilled her wish.
He had a clear conscience towards her.
When Lan Zhenhua heard him say this, he spat, threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped on it.
"If a man has no ability, what qualifications does he have to talk about being good to his wife? You have been so unkind to Ah Xiang in this life. I heard that you got married again? To a rural woman, right?
Look, you didn't cherish Ah Xiang, a good college student, and you didn't make money to satisfy her. Now you can only marry a rural woman.
Don't think that she will be willing to live with you in the future. She comes from the countryside and has never seen the world. Even if she sees the world, she will still leave you.
There is no woman who doesn't want to live a good life. Ah Xiang couldn't stand you even in your first marriage, let alone you are now in your second marriage. People who are in their second marriage only care about themselves and have their own plans. Would they be willing to follow you forever?"
"No matter what she chooses in the future, I will respect her." Xiao Shanhe said lightly, "Besides, our life is not hard. She chooses me now, which means she wants to live with me."
Lan Zhenhua was very disdainful.
"What era is it now? Do you still think it's the era of communal meals? Can you live without hardship? Now there are households with an annual income of 10,000 yuan in the village. People need to look forward and keep up with the times.
When you and Xiang got married, you didn't think about getting divorced, did you? Your wife now has to be willing to marry you. How do you know that she isn't using you as a stepping stone to marry someone rich in the city? Not to mention you..."
Lan Zhenhua looked at the mortise and tenon box in Xiao Shanhe's hand and frowned.
He snorted coldly.
"I thought you would improve after your divorce, reflect, regret and change. But you are still the same. In the past, Xiang would get angry all day long when she saw you messing around with these things. Now your wife will also get angry when she sees you. It's not a good thing."
"Mountains and rivers." Just as Lan Zhenhua finished speaking, a gentle and sweet voice came.
Shen Huanxi walked over with her shoulder bag in her left hand and another black plastic bag in her right hand.
"You bought so many stamps?" Xiao Shanhe asked, looking at the plastic bag in her hand.
Shen Huanxi shook his head.
"How could that be possible? The stamps are all in the bag. Here are a few pieces of wood. They are making custom mailboxes in the lobby of the post office. They use iron wood, which is very hard. I saw the carpenters threw away the leftovers as garbage, so I asked them to give them to me.
Don’t you have a lot of mortise and tenon boxes? Last time I saw mom drop one of yours and it fell apart. It’s made of pine wood and it’s not strong. Iron wood will be better. Take a look, isn’t it? ”
As he spoke, Shen Huanxi opened the plastic bag.
After hearing what she said, Lan Zhenhua's eyes widened when he saw that she actually brought back a bag of wood scraps.
"Thank you." Xiao Shanhe took the bag of wood.
"What are you thanking me for? We're family. By the way, who is this..." Shen Huanxi looked at Lan Zhenhua and noticed that the old man looked so embarrassed.
"My ex-father-in-law." Xiao Shanhe did not hide anything. He did not want to lie to Shen Huanxi.
"Oh... hello..." Shen Huanxi greeted awkwardly.
Lan Zhenhua nodded, took one last look at the bag of wood in Xiao Shanhe's hand, and left with a frown, which made Shen Huanxi very confused.
"Did I say something wrong to irritate him? Why does he look so embarrassed?"
"Nothing." Xiao Shanhe didn't want to talk too much with Shen Huanxi, "I also bought something for you."
Xiao Shanhe said as he took out a box and handed it to Shen Huanxi.
Shen Huanxi remembered that when he came over just now, he saw a box on his legs, but he was busy talking to him about the wood and forgot to ask.
"Didn't you buy me a gift when you came back to the village with me? Why are you buying me another one?"
Shen Huanxi estimated that she had been in the post office for no more than twenty minutes, less than half an hour, and this man actually took the opportunity to buy her a gift.
"It's different. This is a stage lamp. Aren't you going to work at the Sanbei Command? When you need to write documents in the future, the light in your room will be too dim and hurt your eyes. This store has just received a batch of small stage lamps made by a state-owned bulb factory. They say the quality is very good, so I bought them for you."
The store that Xiao Shanhe was talking about was the small electronics store behind him.
Shen Huanxi took the lamp.
"I don't know if I can go yet. The announcement won't be made until next week, and you bought it for me."
"It's okay. It will be useful in the future."
"I'm sorry to have cost you money."
“I bought it for my family.”
As the couple was talking, they saw Xiao Yutang running out of the department store with his younger brother and sister.
"Mom and Dad! My brother took us to buy a lot of stationery!" Chang'an was very happy.
Ever since she registered for school, the little girl has been looking forward to campus life, and anything related to school always makes her excited.
Shen Huanxi looked at the stationery bought by the four children.
Xiao Yutang and Chang'an have pencils, draft books, erasers, exercise books, rulers, pencil sharpeners...all the toys that primary school students need.
Changning and Xiaoyu are in kindergarten, so we didn’t buy that many stationery items. We only bought a few pencils and a writing board for each of them.
The calligraphy practice board only has Chinese characters from one to ten, as well as horizontal, vertical, left-falling, and right-falling strokes. It is a grooved calligraphy practice board made of plastic and can be reused. It is most suitable for young children who have no basic knowledge.
Shen Huanxi looked at Xiao Yutang.
"Tangtang is indeed the elder brother, he is very experienced. The stationery you four bought is very suitable."
Xiao Yutang was praised by Shen Huanxi, and turned his head away uncomfortably without saying a word.
"Let's go. I'll buy each of you some more things as back-to-school gifts. I'll pay for them." Shen Huanxi knew the value of the stamps in his bag, so he felt confident when talking about spending money.
Xiao Yutang was just about to say that he didn't need it, when he saw Shen Huanxi holding Chang'an in one hand and Changning in the other, and Chang'an holding Xiao Yuzheng, and they entered the department store together.
Even Xiao Shanhe followed in pushing his wheelchair.
"..." He was silent for a moment, but still followed her in.
The department store in Yunnan City has only three floors and a very simple structure. After entering the door, there is an aisle running across the east and west. There are various shops on both sides of the aisle, and at the end of the aisle are stairs going up and down.
Needless to say, this is already the largest shopping mall in Yunnan City at this time.
In addition, the department store is a state-owned shopping mall, and the brands of stores that can be found there are strictly controlled. The things you buy here are generally better than those outside.
Shen Huanxi bought a new schoolbag for each of the four children, and some pretty little hairpins and colorful hair ties for Chang'an and Changning.
Girls love beauty since they are young. It is for their education, so her daughter cannot be more shabby than others.
I went to the toy store again and bought a toy gun for Xiao Yutang, and some glass beads for the two brothers.
Shen Huanxi had noticed a long time ago that Xiao Yutang and Xiao Yuzheng would also play with toys, including slingshots and glass beads, but without exception, they were all very broken. She even suspected that the two children picked them up from outside.
In addition, it was only after she moved into the Xiao family's home that she learned that Xiao Yuzheng's dream was to become a painter. She had bought a picture album for Changning before, and now she wanted to buy one for Xiao Yuzheng as well.
Xiao Yuzheng refused at first, but a child's preferences are written on his face, so how could Shen Huanxi not know that he wanted it? So he bought it for him, and when he stuffed it into the little guy's arms, the little guy smiled like a little flower.
As they walked along, the group bought a lot of things. Fortunately, there was a big bag on the back of Xiao Shanhe's wheelchair with plenty of space.
When he and she went back to the village to see Chang'an and Changning, he put the gifts for her and Chang'an and Changning in this big bag. This time, Shen Huanxi was not polite and asked the children to put the things in the big bag together, and she and the children helped Xiao Shanhe push the wheelchair.
Don't mention it, this family looks quite warm.
Shen Huanxi knew that there was a Huili shoe store at the end of the first floor, so she took the children there to pick out shoes.
"Didn't you just buy some small leather shoes for the children a few days ago?" Xiao Shanhe said when he saw that Shen Huanxi spent quite a bit of money today.
Shen Huanxi only got two big reunion tickets from Zhang Guifen. After shopping all the way and buying so many things for the children, he had no money left.
Shen Huanxi insisted on going.
"Leather shoes are leather shoes. Children have to do exercises during recess and attend physical education classes. It's so inconvenient to wear leather shoes. It's better for them to wear casual shoes or sports shoes.
"Children, don't worry about your father, go in and pick out the shoes you like, Mom has money." Shen Huanxi was very arrogant, pushing a few children into the Huili store.
Huili is a conscientious national enterprise. Its products are of high quality, durable and comfortable. They are perfect for children to wear to school, and the price is not expensive.
Shen Huanxi took a rough look and found that at this time, a pair of Huili shoes only cost seven or eight yuan, while the shoes in the Nike store diagonally opposite cost at least four hundred yuan a pair.
In comparison, the price of Warrior shoes is very reasonable.
…
When Lan Linxiang returned to the Children's Palace, the two children had already listened to the introduction of the interest classes. In the end, one chose the English class and the other chose the piano class.
She paid the registration fee and took her two children to the department store, intending to buy a pair of Nike shoes for each of them.
In this era, many foreign brands have just entered the mainland, and imported products represent advanced, fashionable and expensive. Wearing a pair of Nike shoes is so cool.
Of course the Su family can afford it.
Unexpectedly, not long after she and Lan Zhenhua brought their two children into the Nike store, they saw Shen Huanxi's family in the Huili store diagonally opposite.
She quickly took her two children and Lan Zhenhua to hide in the Nike store.
Fortunately, the Nike store is big enough and deep enough, and she feels more relieved when she thinks about the financial situation of Shen Huanxi and his wife.
In those days, workers in ordinary state-owned factories only earned 30 or 40 yuan a month, so it was impossible for ordinary people to afford to visit a Nike store.
Xiao Shanhe only received twenty yuan in pension a month, not to mention Shen Huanxi, who had just divorced and left the house with nothing. He hadn't really started to make a fortune yet, so where would he get the money to go to the Nike store?
Thinking of this, Lan Linxiang's anxious heart finally settled down. Hiding here, there should be no need for them to meet.
Lan Zhenhua didn't understand.
"Why are you afraid of them? Why are you hiding?"
"Hush! Keep your voice down!" Lan Linxiang looked at Su Qiangwen and Su Qiangwu who were asking the clerk to help them try on shoes not far ahead.
"Don't let the kids hear it. They know me very well now. If they see someone else calling me mom, they'll get angry."
"That's right, then don't meet them. But I saw that Shanhe and his current wife get along well, and his wife understands him very well. I wanted to help you vent your anger just now, and I almost got embarrassed. They get along well."
"What do you know? Isn't it always like this in the beginning? Didn't Xiao Shanhe and I get along just fine when we first got married? Just wait and see. Shen Huanxi can't get along with him."
Shen Huanxi was so strong that even the healthy Su Chaoyang was suppressed by her, not to mention Xiao Shanhe? A marriage where the woman is strong and the man is weak will not last long.
Lan Linxiang was more worried about Xiao Yutang and Xiao Yuzheng.
She disliked these two children for being useless, but after all, they were her own flesh and blood. The fate of her two children in her last life made her upset and angry. How could she tolerate Shen Huanxi being their stepmother in this life?
Shen Huanxi's two daughters were raised by her to the bottom of society. Lan Linxiang didn't even dare to imagine what Shen Huanxi would become of Xiao Yutang and Xiao Yuzheng, who had no future to begin with.
"I'll go look for Tangtang and Zhengzheng later." Lan Linxiang said in a low voice, afraid that Su Qiangwen and Su Qiangwu would hear it.
"Aren't they over there now? How about I help you drag Qiang Wen and Qiang Wu, and you go find them?"
"Dad, did you not understand what I just said? Do you think you can stand up to the strong men? Xiao Shanhe and I are divorced, and I cannot let any of them affect my life. I went back to find Tangtang and Zhengzheng because they are my children, but it doesn't mean they can ruin my life..."
Lan Linxiang was afraid that if she got too excited, Su Qiangwen and Su Qiangwu would discover something, so she stopped talking after saying this.
I glanced at the Huili Shoe Store and found that Shen Huanxi and Xiao Shanhe had already bought shoes for the children.
The shoes were placed on Xiao Shanhe's legs, and Xiao Yutang and Xiao Yu were taking something out of the big bag behind Xiao Shanhe's wheelchair, which were toy guns and glass beads.
Lan Linxiang's brows couldn't help but furrowed tightly.
She didn't let Xiao Yutang and Xiao Yuzheng play with these toys before.
She didn't like the children in Guixiang Village, thinking that the children from the urban-rural fringe area were not presentable. The children in Guixiang Village loved these toys the most, so she associated these toys with the "underclass".
She didn't buy it for Xiao Yutang and Xiao Yuzheng, nor did she let Xiao Shanhe and Zhang Guifen buy it for them.
But the two useless children were disobedient. If she didn't buy anything for them, they would pick up the toys thrown away by other children and bring them home. She threw them into the trash can several times but it was of no use.
Who would have thought that Shen Huanxi would actually buy these toys for them directly?
When she thought of Su Qiangwen and Su Qiangwu, one liked English and the other liked piano, she felt that people are really different. Nobility and inferiority are determined in their blood.
She had not wanted to remarry Xiao Shanhe at first, but Xiao Yutang and Xiao Yu were her children, so she still had to take care of them.
Let's see what the next arrangements are. She really needs to find some time to take care of Eddie Xiao and Eddie Xiao.
"Dad, do we have any relatives who are not in Yunnan City and will not come to Yunnan City? It would be best if they don't have children and want to adopt a son. Or if they prefer boys over girls and can't have a son, they want to adopt a son to continue the family line." She suddenly asked Lan Zhenhua.
"Why are you asking me this? What are you doing..." Lan Zhenhua realized something.
"Okay, let's talk about it when we get home." Lan Linxiang went over to look at Su Qiangwen and Su Qiangwu, and stopped Lan Zhenhua from continuing.
…
After shopping in the department store for a long time, Shen Huanxi and his family went straight home when they came out of the department store. Zhang Guifen had already prepared dinner.
In addition to buying things for the children, Shen Huanxi also did not forget to buy something for Zhang Guifen.
The weather turned cold and the northwest wind was strong, so she bought a thick quilted coat for Zhang Guifen. Zhang Guifen was so happy that she kept praising Shen Huanxi for his filial piety at the dinner table, and asked Xiao Yutang and Xiao Yuzheng to also be filial to Shen Huanxi in the future.
Xiao Yutang raised his head, but before he could say anything, Zhang Guifen slammed the table.
"What do you want to say? This is your mother! Don't you know how she treats you? She buys you this and that, but you just listen to what people say about your stepmother being bad. Can't you judge for yourself?"
Xiao Yutang was so frightened by Zhang Guifen that he dropped his chopsticks and ran out just as he finished the last bite of rice. He originally wanted to order another bowl of rice.
He had no intention of saying anything bad about Shen Huanxi just now, but was misunderstood by Zhang Guifen.
"Xiao Yutang, where have you been? Come back! You unbecoming child! I am going to…"
"Mom, mom." Shen Huanxi pulled Zhang Guifen's wrist and asked her to sit down. "Mom, Tangtang didn't say anything just now. Maybe he wanted to thank me. Why did you scold him first? How can the child not be angry?"
"This..." Zhang Guifen thought about it and realized that she seemed to have been impulsive just now.
It was all because Xiao Yutang had been saying all kinds of bad things about Shen Huanxi recently, which made her a little anxious.
"Mom, listen to your child carefully in the future. Don't get angry with him all the time. Tangtang has been very good to me recently, and I think he is a very good child. If he runs away like this, I'm afraid he won't have enough to eat. Children are growing up right now."
"Hey, I was impulsive. I'll leave a chicken drumstick for Tangtang. I went to the market to buy a chicken drumstick, one for each of us. I won't eat mine, so I'll leave it for Tangtang as an apology."
Xiao Yutang was in the yard. He grabbed a broken glass bead from his pocket and was about to throw it on the ground to vent his anger. But after listening to the conversation between Shen Huanxi and Zhang Guifen, he put the glass bead back in his pocket and finally did not throw it away.
Zhang Guifen was still praising Shen Huanxi because of the quilted jacket Shen Huanxi bought for her.
She has never been the kind of mother-in-law who would make things difficult for her daughter-in-law. She has always believed that "there is no need for a woman to make things difficult for another woman". She had been very kind to Lan Linxiang before, but it was a pity that she did not get any good reward.
Now that she has been rewarded by Shen Huanxi, how can she not be happy?
Shen Huanxi was embarrassed but also felt a little warm when Zhang Guifen praised her so much.
Zhang Guifen and Yao Cuihong are really different.
In the past, she gave money to Yao Cuihong from time to time, and whenever she saw something nice, she would think of buying it for Yao Cuihong. She had lost her parents when she was young and had no relatives. After marrying Feng Shenghui, she treated Feng Shenghui's elders as her own and respected them.
But Yao Cuihong never appreciated it, and took it for granted that as the daughter-in-law of the Feng family, the money she earned belonged to the Feng family, and there was no reason for her to keep it for herself.
They even scolded her for causing the Feng family to be extinct and ruining the Feng family's fortune because she couldn't give birth to a son.
Compared with Yao Cuihong, Zhang Guifen is a much better mother-in-law.
Of course, even if not compared with Yao Cuihong, Zhang Guifen is also a very good mother-in-law.
After dinner, Zhang Guifen was curious about what stamps Shen Huanxi had bought, so Shen Huanxi took her to his room to see them.
There were still 32 1980 Chinese Zodiac Monkey stamps left at the Yunnan Post Bureau, all of which were bought by Shen Huanxi, including five sets of four.
When the stamp collecting bubble was at its peak, housing prices had not yet been driven up. These five four-square-unit chains were equivalent to five houses.
There were also stamps issued this year, including Peking Opera Danju, Kuihai Year, Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor and Yang Zi'e. She bought a large portion of the stock at the Post Office.
Of course, she couldn't affect other citizens' normal use of stamps to send letters and postcards, so she didn't buy all of them, but kept some.
In total, she spent more than two hundred yuan.
Don't think that more than 200 yuan is a small amount of money. In this era, the face value of a stamp is generally only four to eight cents. The most expensive one, like the Mu Guiying stamp, is only 80 cents.
There were not many high-denomination stamps like Mu Guiying stamps in stock, so she bought a small amount. In total, she spent more than 200 yuan to buy several thousand stamps.
Zhang Guifen was shocked when she saw her take out a large bag of stamps from her bag.
"You bought so many. Can this thing really make money? Aren't these used to send letters?"
"My dear, our Yunnan city is developing relatively slowly. In other big cities, many people are already collecting and speculating on stamps. Look at this Sun Yujiao stamp. It's only four cents now, but by next year, it will be worth fifty cents, which is more than ten times the price."
Shen Huanxi didn't dare tell Zhang Guifen about the increase in the price of the 1980 Chinese Zodiac Monkey stamp, for fear of scaring Zhang Guifen.
However, the increase in Sun Yujiao's ticket price had frightened Zhang Guifen so much that she jumped up.
Zhang Guifen happened to be holding a Sun Yujiao ticket in her hand, and she quickly put it back into Shen Huanxi's bag.
"It's so valuable, I dare not touch it! What if I damage it? I won't touch it anymore, I won't touch it anymore."
Shen Huanxi was almost laughed at by her.
"Stamps are not that easy to be damaged. You can take a look. Look at this Kwai Pi Year Stamp. Isn't the pattern printed well? The little pig on it looks really festive."
"This...how much will it increase in price to?" Zhang Guifen asked cautiously, looking at the Kuihai annual ticket with a face value of eight cents that Shen Huanxi took out.
"This hasn't increased much." Compared with the monkey stamps of 1980, "it will only be a few yuan in two years."
After saying this, Zhang Guifen was so scared that she withdrew her outstretched hand.
"Oh my god, a few bucks isn't a big deal, right? It's a hundred times more, oh my god."
Shen Huanxi was happy to see her reaction and stopped scaring her.
It is normal for Zhang Guifen to be incredulous. After all, the stamp craze did not arise all at once. There is a development stage before it becomes a big hit.
I remember that when the first edition of the Chinese Zodiac Monkey stamp was issued, ordinary people did not know that the price of this stamp would be driven up very high later, and they used it as an ordinary stamp.
At that time, 5 million coins were issued nationwide, but more than 1 million were lost due to damage and loss.
She even read a news report about a staff member of the Post Office who, because he could not meet the sales target of the "Zodiac Monkey Stamps", bought some with his own money and eventually became a millionaire by relying on these monkey stamps.
At this time, Zhang Guifen didn't know that it was normal for stamps to be worth a lot of money in the future.
"These things are so valuable, you should find a big box to store them properly and put some mothballs in it, right?
I heard that the back of the stamps is covered with dried glutinous rice paste. Putting so many stamps together will attract a lot of cockroaches and rats.
These are all hard-earned money. If they are bitten by cockroaches or rats, I will regret it very much.” Zhang Guifen expressed her worries.
Shen Huanxi nodded.
"Mom, you are so thoughtful. I will go buy a few boxes tomorrow."
"Is the money enough?"
“…Enough.”
…
The next day, after having breakfast, Shen Huanxi went out to order boxes.
During the Cultural Revolution, carpenters could only make furniture for production teams and could not take on jobs to earn money. The work points they could get from doing carpentry work for the production team were definitely more than those from working in the fields.
Because of this, many carpenter families who had been carpenters for generations gave up being craftsmen, farmed, and became "lower-middle peasants."
After the reform and opening up, these skilled craftsmen began to work as carpenters again. There were several carpentry shops on Nanjing Road, which was close to Guixiang Village.
Of course, there are many emerging furniture factories, like Su's furniture factory, where furniture is mass-produced.
However, Shen Huanxi always believed that commodities are commodities and handicrafts are handicrafts, so she still chose to find an old carpenter to customize the boxes.
Choose the hardwood that is most resistant to corrosion and borers, and has good sealing properties.
It is easy to prevent rats but difficult to prevent cockroaches. When making a box for storing stamps, you must be careful.
When Xiao Yutang heard that she was going to Nanjing Road, he had to follow her.
He wanted to talk to Shen Huanxi yesterday, but was interrupted by Zhang Guifen who slammed the table. Since then, Zhang Guifen has been with Shen Huanxi and he has no chance.
Now that Zhang Guifen is not going out with him, it is a good opportunity for him.
But... he was already the king of the children in the Xiao family. If he went out with Shen Huanxi, it would make sense for his three younger brothers and sisters not to follow him. This gave him a headache again.
He didn't want to say those words in front of his younger brothers and sisters.
Xiao Shanhe went to the market to buy vegetables. Zhang Cuifen was killing chickens in the yard. She felt a little worried when she saw Shen Huanxi taking care of the four children by herself.
"How about I accompany you?"
"No need, mother. Nanjing Road is not far ahead. We don't need to cross the road. There are many small stalls there. We dare not drive too fast on bicycles. Besides, the four children are very obedient. I can let Tangtang help look after the brothers and sisters."
Xiao Yutang was just about to say that he would go alone to help Shen Huanxi and ask Chang'an, Changning and Xiao Yuzheng to stay at home, but Shen Huanxi said that and he had no chance to speak.
There were not many cars in those days, and as Shen Huanxi said, Nanjing Road was not far away and there was no need to cross the road, so Zhang Guifen felt at ease letting Shen Huanxi take the children there.
Xiao Yutang had a frown on his face all the way, and with three little brats following him, he had no chance to speak to Shen Huanxi at all.
Soon, Shen Huanxi found a carpenter shop that had hardwood, stated his requirements, and was told it would take two days to complete the work.
Shen Huanxi thought it wouldn't take long, so he paid the deposit first.
When Shen Huanxi came out of the carpenter's place with the four children, she saw Xiao Yu staring at the spicy noodle stall not far away, and Xiao Yutang swallowed his saliva calmly.
Last time, the two brothers wanted to sell the hat and scarf given by Shen Huanxi to buy spicy noodles, but in the end they failed to sell them and didn’t get to eat the spicy noodles. They still miss it till now.
The aroma of spicy strips wafted over, even Chang'an and Changning were tempted by it.
Shen Huanxi followed the four children's gaze and understood immediately.
She has been buying a lot of snacks for the family these days, such as cat ears, glutinous rice sticks, cloud cakes, calcium milk biscuits...
However, sweet and salty things cannot stimulate the taste buds as much as spicy things, and spicy strips are always the favorite of children.
Shen Huanxi took out a fifty-cent coin and gave it to Xiao Yutang.
"You can't eat too much spicy noodles. You can only eat it once a month at most. Otherwise, you won't grow taller. If you don't grow taller, you will be bullied by kids outside. Do you understand? You can only eat it once."
"Okay!" Changning and Xiao Yuzheng answered in unison, before Changan and Xiao Yutang could even speak.
The children are afraid of not growing tall and being bullied, but they still can't resist the temptation of spicy strips. Moreover, there are many children surrounding the spicy strips stall to buy them, so why can't they?
Xiao Yutang brought his three younger brothers and sisters to queue up, while Shen Huanxi went to a nearby fruit stall to buy fruit, always paying attention to the children's situation.
Street snacks these days don't have any additives or gutter oil, so it's not a big deal to eat spicy noodles occasionally, but they are greasy and spicy after all, and can easily cause a sore throat, so she still has to buy some fruit for the children to cool down.
She bought two kilograms of pears and met Zhao Qiu'e.
Zhao Qiu'e brought her two daughters, Chen Xiaohua and Chen Xiaocao, to buy clothes. There happened to be a clothing stall next to the stall where Shen Huanxi was buying fruits.
Zhao Qiu'e greeted Shen Huanxi when she saw her.
"Happy, what a coincidence today."
"Yeah. Aren't you setting up the stall today? Why are you going out shopping?" Shen Huanxi asked.
She saw new bruises on Zhao Qiu'e's forehead and collarbone, and it seemed that she had just been abused.
Zhao Qiu'e looked at Chen Xiaohua and Chen Xiaocao.
"Isn't school about to start? Bring the children here to buy some new clothes. Xiaohua, Xiaocao, come and say hello to your Auntie Huanxi."
Chen Xiaohua and Chen Xiaocao came over timidly, lowered their heads, and said in a mosquito-like voice, "Hello, Aunt Huanxi."
The two girls, one nine and the other ten years old, were wearing clothes that had been washed so badly that their original colors could not be seen. Their sleeves and trouser legs were half as short. There was a hole in the Liberation shoes on Chen Xiaocao's feet, and her big toe was sticking out.
The girl was not wearing socks.
After the two children finished talking, they wanted to hide behind Zhao Qiu'e, feeling very shy.
It was not the first time Shen Huanxi met them. Knowing that the two children were shy, he just said hello and nothing else.
Chen Xiaohua and Chen Xiaocao's heads drooped even lower.
"You two go pick out some clothes. I'll chat with your Aunt Huanxi."
Zhao Qiu'e pointed to the clothing stall nearby, and the two girls went over to pick out clothes.
Zhao Qiu'e looked at Xiao Yutang and Xiao Yuzheng who were queuing to buy spicy noodles not far away.
"How are you? Are you getting along well with your two stepchildren?"
"It's okay, she's quite obedient." Shen Huanxi told the truth. She was indeed quite obedient. Even though Xiao Yutang still rejected her, they could still get along with her.
"Is that so... If you listen to me, that's good. But I've been doing business around here, and I've always heard that Xiao Shanhe's two sons are not sociable. The children in Guixiang Village don't like to play with them. I'm afraid there's something wrong with them.
Especially Xiao Yuzheng, a boy, but so feminine, or in today's popular words, a sissy, without any masculinity. It must be hard for you to be a stepmother to such a child." Zhao Qiu'e said, shaking her head.
Shen Huanxi was unhappy when he heard this.
What's wrong with boys being clean and gentle? Why do we have to create a word like "sissy" to describe these gentle boys?
Zhao Qiu'e always talks about being masculine. She is always subjected to domestic violence. Does she think that her man Chen Fugui is masculine?
She thinks Xiao Yuzheng is a good kid, thoughtful, obedient and sensible. She likes such kids and will not attack him by calling him "sissy".
Shen Huanxi was annoyed and was about to say something when he saw Chen Xiaohua and Chen Xiaocao coming back after choosing the clothes they liked.
Chen Xiaohua chose a blue-gray cotton jacket, and Chen Xiaocao also chose a dark green cotton jacket. The two girls put the clothes on and compared them.
"Mom, we like these, five bucks a piece."
Zhao Qiu'e frowned as she looked at the clothes the two girls were holding.
"These clothes fit you too well. You are still young and need to grow. If you buy clothes that fit you too well, you won't be able to wear them in two years. Comrade, do you have larger sizes for these two clothes?" Zhao Qiu'e asked the stall owner.
The stall owner shook his head.
"No, these are the last two pieces. How about you pick out something else?"
"Little flowers and little grass, did you hear that? This dress is out of stock. Choose a bigger one. You can wear it for two more years."
After hearing what Zhao Qiu'e said, Chen Xiaohua and Chen Xiaocao put down the clothes in their hands in disappointment and started to choose again.
Shen Huanxi's brows furrowed again.
It is not difficult to make money by doing business these days. Zhao Qiu'e is also capable. I used to work with her in a state-owned hotel, and later we started a small business together, and we both did well.
As far as she knew, Zhao Qiu'e earned no less money than she did. The money she earned allowed the Feng family to build a two-story house, and allowed Yao Cuihong to buy many large gold bracelets and rings. There was also a lot of surplus money, so that Feng Shenghui could afford to marry Li Cuixiang.
Why is it that when it comes to Zhao Qiu'e, she is so stretched.
Zhao Qiu'e did not allow Chen Xiaohua and Chen Xiaocao to buy clothes that fit them, and insisted that they buy larger ones.
In other words, the clothes that Chen Xiaohua and Chen Xiaocao are wearing now, which are already half their length, were bought when they were younger than they are now.
Shen Huanxi recalled the day when he met Chen Fugui at the Sanbei Command Headquarters. He saw Chen Fugui dressed like a devil dog, with suit pants, big leather shoes, a white shirt and a black jacket, and he didn't seem to be reluctant to spend money on himself.
"I went to the Sanbei Command to sign up as a publicist and met your man. He was smoking a cigarette, and it seemed to be Hongmei cigarettes." Shen Huanxi said.
Zhao Qiu'e laughed.
"Yes, my husband has improved and become capable. He hasn't contributed any money to the family in all these years. Now that he goes out to earn money, he has to eat at the government's expense."
When Zhao Qiu'e said this, her face was full of pride.
Shen Huanxi was choked.
Hongmei cigarettes are now four yuan a pack. She wants to show