Chapter 11: Swearing to go home to visit relatives and beat the child.
The pan-fried ribbonfish is golden brown and crispy, and after being braised, it is coated with a rich and fragrant sauce that is slightly sticky and stringy. Ribbonfish has few bones, making it easy to bite into the flesh. The crispy skin is like the crispiness of fried bread, while the flesh inside is snow-white and tender.
Qin Xiangxiang's family of four—three adults and one child—ate two bowls of ribbonfish. One bowl was pan-fried with flour, and the other was braised. The pan-fried bowl on the left was quickly devoured by the four of them.
The son, Li Qingfeng, ate voraciously, with a thick layer of sauce around his mouth.
"Did your son-in-law call you today?" Zhou Aodong had already overheard his daughter and son-in-law's phone conversation from the factory workers. They spoke of it with a mischievous and knowing smile. "He still cares about you, and you still care about him. You two should just make the best of a relationship. Being separated like this isn't a good thing. Either you go there, or he can find a way to transfer back."
"Even if they can't be transferred, they should still come back to visit their relatives often, make more phone calls and write more letters, and the couple shouldn't hold grudges."
Qin Xiangxiang lowered her head and ate the fish, vaguely trying to get by.
For the sake of the house and money, she needs to get Li Jianzhi to divorce her.
"My dad's coming back?!" The chubby boy was overjoyed. Sure enough, his mother had lied to him about getting a divorce. He threw down his chopsticks, stood triumphantly in front of Qin Xiangxiang, and said arrogantly, "Mom! Are you scared now?! If you dare to get a divorce, I'll have my dad beat you up!"
"Great-Grandma said you just need to be disciplined. Your grandparents can't bear to hit their daughter, so they're having my dad beat you up. Let's see if you dare to disobey again!"
Qin Xiangxiang slapped his chopsticks away, saying, "You're not eating."
Qin Wutong sighed, "Children speak without thinking, Xiao Bao, don't talk nonsense."
The chubby boy made a face at his mother. He believed that with his great-grandmother and father backing him up, he wasn't afraid of his mother. "You're so fierce. When my dad comes back, I'll make him beat you until you scream."
"From now on, you must listen to your great-grandmother and treat me well!"
Qin Xiangxiang was angry. This chubby boy was just like any other annoying naughty boy; the more she scolded him, the more stubborn he became.
"My dad is finally coming back! I'm his only son!"
"I'll beat you until you scream in pain!"
"I want to find my friends to come and watch my dad beat my mom!"
Even if Qin Xiangxiang closed the door, this mischievous child would still kick it at night, saying playfully, "I'll get my dad to beat you when he gets back!"
Qin Xiangxiang gasped several times in anger. She really wanted to put this unlucky child back in. How could she have given birth to such a thing? She wanted to hit the child, but her father, Qin Wutong, stopped her, saying that children speak without thinking.
Pah!
Thinking about how she had given birth to three children in her dream, Qin Xiangxiang cursed her bad luck. She vowed to divorce Li Jianzhi, that damned man, and make him take the children and get far away from her.
The next day, Qin Xiangxiang had a day off and didn't have to go to the workshop. When she got up, no one in her family was home. The braised ribbonfish left over from yesterday had turned into ribbonfish jelly. Qin Wutong had left a cold fried dough stick for her when he bought breakfast, and the soy milk was all gone.
Qin Xiangxiang picked up a piece of ribbonfish jelly. The jelly, formed from the soup, slowly melted on her lips and tongue, exuding a sweet and delicious aroma amidst its freshness.
She cooked the leftover rice from last night in hot water to make rice porridge. She then took out three small dishes: one of dried fish jelly, one of fried dough sticks cut into more than a dozen pieces, and one of pickled mustard greens and sugared squash.
After breakfast, with no one in the family home, Qin Xiang found the hidden key, opened her parents' bedroom door, and searched everywhere inside. She searched for most of the day but couldn't find the hidden letter.
I've searched everywhere, but I can't find it.
This means that those overseas communications are not currently at her home, so they must be with her maternal grandparents or uncles, and will be suddenly transferred to her mother when the truth comes out someday.
Tell her mother to hide it, then report her mother, and pin everything on her mother.
...
Unable to find the letters, Qin Xiangxiang was extremely anxious. If this matter could not be resolved, it would be like a knife hanging over her head. In her dream, it was because of these letters that she was forced to go to the island to join the army.
“The letter hasn’t reached my mother yet, but those letters must have arrived; they’re either with my maternal grandparents or my uncle.”
"My uncle wants to maintain relations with Hong Kong..."
Living conditions were good on Hong Kong Island, and many people risked their lives to escape there. In the dream, these letters were preserved. Later, the uncle's family took the letters that had killed her mother to her aunt on Hong Kong Island to gain sympathy and claim kinship. The children received a lot of financial subsidies, and the aunt on Hong Kong Island even bought foreign-owned real estate in Shanghai specifically for the uncle's family...
The letter was hidden in her house, and all the benefits went to her uncle's family. Why should they get that?
Qin Xiangxiang felt increasingly indignant as she thought about it. She couldn't sleep peacefully until this matter was resolved, and it was even more urgent than divorcing Li Jianzhi.
She wasn't thinking clearly and couldn't come up with a good solution. Asking Zhou Aodong directly would definitely not yield any results... Fine, even a troublemaker has her ways. She didn't care about family ties or anything like that. No matter how close they were, they wouldn't blame her for being ruthless and taking the initiative. She absolutely couldn't let her mother be implicated in this.
So Qin Xiangxiang found a piece of paper and decided to write a report, specifically accusing her uncle of having unauthorized contact with overseas entities.
Qin Xiangxiang was careful; she deliberately wrote her handwriting sloppily, imitating the handwriting of the boys in her former class.
After finishing writing it, she put on the most inconspicuous and simple worker's clothes, a hat and a sanitary mask, and put the letter of complaint into the public complaint box in the street where her uncle lived.
Qin Xiangxiang went around in circles again, changed into a nice outfit, and went to queue up across from the movie theater to buy pan-fried buns. She queued for half an hour and spent two ounces of grain coupons plus ten cents to buy four pan-fried buns that were sizzling out of the pan.
Just moments ago, Qin Xiangxiang was terrified, but now, as she ate pan-fried buns, her mood gradually calmed down, and she became carefree.
The four pan-fried buns in my hand were scalding hot inside the oiled paper, like four hard little bricks. The bottoms of the buns were golden brown, and even without tasting them, my tongue could already tell how crispy they were.
Qin Xiangxiang loves the crunchy bottom of the bun, and she always saves it for last. She bites through the top layer first, then takes a small sip of the rich, fragrant broth. The sweetness of the minced meat and the unique wheat aroma of the bun skin blend together in her mouth, making it hot, fragrant, and delicious.
Finally, all that was left was a piece of burnt, hard bottom plate with some remaining brine. She imagined herself as a little squirrel looking for wood to gnaw on, and crunched and chewed the bottom plate open.
Qin Xiangxiang ate two in a row and was in a great mood.
Before heading home, she glanced at the sky and then went to the public phone at the neighborhood committee office. The neighborhood's public phone was the cheapest, costing only four cents to make a call, with no time limit and no chance of being overheard by factory workers.
The only trouble is the long queues. Public phones are always surrounded by huge crowds, and sometimes you have to wait for hours to get a turn. Because of this, even if there's no time limit, it's hard to talk to the other person for more than five minutes. If there are many people in line, you'll be rushed by the person behind you after just a few words. Only the thick-skinned dare to drag it out to ten minutes—ten minutes is the absolute minimum.
Fortunately, not many people were using the public telephones on the street at that time. After the two people in front of her finished their calls, it was her turn. She dialed the headquarters of Li Jianzhi's unit and told them that she needed to contact the office of a certain chief of staff.
The female soldier on the other end of the phone transferred the call to her.
At this moment, in the control room, the female soldier who had been speaking seriously just moments before nudged the person next to her with her arm, winked, and conveyed information through her eyes and gestures.
—Li's wife from Shanghai who's getting a divorce!
Wow! That's going to be interesting.
"Hey, think about it?"
Qin Xiangxiang didn't have high hopes for getting through on the phone. These days, making a call involves going through layers of transfers and you can only call the office phone or a public phone in the neighborhood. Unless you're lucky, it's hard to get in touch with the other party.
“Li Jianzhi…”
"Are you really coming back?"
"Okay, I'll come see you and our son in a few days after I've finished explaining my work."
Qin Xiangxiang twitched the corner of her mouth: "Then you should make a vow first!"
The tall, aloof man in military uniform looked slightly puzzled. He held a microphone in his hand, while the sea breeze whistled outside the office.
Two female soldiers in the control room winked at each other, and one of them playfully mouthed: "You're so annoying~ You have to love me forever."
The other one is also mouthing: You swear, your wife will always be only me.
Li Jianzhi tapped lightly on the office desk. "What are your requirements?"
“You swear that when you come back you will beat your son in front of me.”
Qin Xiangxiang commented on himself: This is what you call striking first to gain the upper hand.
Li Jianzhi: "..."
The two female soldiers in the computer room: "..."
Li Jianzhi stroked his chin. Upon hearing the woman ask him to make a vow, he naturally thought of requests between lovers such as "You will be good to me for the rest of your life," "You promise to marry me in the future," and "You will only love me." Li Jianzhi disliked these kinds of requests because he would not easily make promises he could not keep.
He once had a girlfriend, whom he had only known for a short time and had never even met in person. They were introduced by a mutual acquaintance, exchanged social media contacts, chatted for a while and got along quite well. Then she demanded, "You swear that you will marry me in the future."
Li Jianzhi calmly replied: I cannot give such a guarantee.
The other person got angry, saying that he was not sincere, could not give people a sense of security, and was even stingy with sweet words and promises in a relationship.
After hearing this, his comrade said, "No wonder you'll be all alone for the rest of your life."
"Women just need to be coaxed. She lacks security and needs your verbal reassurance... Sigh, don't take emotional promises too seriously. Since my first love, I don't know how many women I've told 'I'll love you forever'..."
"Adults know that these things shouldn't be taken seriously."
"In a relationship, you should use the sweetest words you can think of; that's what it means to be in a relationship."
...
This is the first time a woman has asked me to swear an oath—that I will beat my child when I go home to visit my family.
That's true, he has a wife now, and even a son he's adopted, so he can skip all those promises he made while dating.
His wife, from whom he had been separated for four years, only asked him to come home to visit his family and beat the children.
Li Jianzhi calmly said, "Hitting children is uncivilized behavior."
“I know, so you do it.”
Li Jianzhi was momentarily speechless.
Captain Li has had several relationships, all via mobile phone or online chat. His profession dictates that he can only chat remotely, and the women, aware of his profession, generally treated him with respect, or rather, were quite polite.
This is the first time I've encountered someone so "rude".
Hitting a child is uncivilized, but the person in question justifies it by saying, "So you do it."
Li Jianzhi looked down and took out a photo from his pocket. The photo showed a beautiful girl with an oval face who was bright, generous and charming, like a lady from a noble family who had stepped out of an ancient costume drama. She should be gentle, charming and understanding.
However……
Images like "Lin Daiyu uprooting a willow tree" and "Wu Song delicately saying 'Waaaah, the tiger is so scary'" involuntarily pop into my mind.
"If the son is not taught, it is the father's fault. If you don't discipline him, who will?" Qin Xiangxiang urged in a tone of "If you don't go to hell, who will?" "You should swear that when you come back you will beat the child in front of me, take off his pants, and spank his bottom hard until he screams."
"Okay, I swear, I'll beat the child in front of you when I get back."
Qin Xiangxiang chuckled several times on the other end of the phone. "Damn it, beat that brat to death!"
Li Jianzhi heard the woman on the other end of the phone laughing so hard she couldn't stop, and his ears felt a little itchy.
"It hurts a mother's heart to hit her son." Li Jianzhi said calmly, "If I really hit him, don't feel bad."
He is a man of his word; if he says he'll fight, he really will. He does everything in his power to fulfill the promises he makes.
Li Jianzhi feared that this woman would eventually call him cold-blooded and heartless, unworthy of being the child's father.
"I don't feel sorry for you." Qin Xiangxiang laughed wildly to herself. Feel sorry for you? The fact that she wasn't there to cheer you on was already an act of compassion from a mother.
"Alright, you've made your vow now. Remember, I'm hanging up."
"etc--"
"how?"
Li Jianzhi said slowly, "If you still have time, let's chat more."
"What should we talk about?"
Li Jianzhi recalled his several dating experiences. He didn't have many real-life interactions with women, but he had quite a few online chat experiences. The things he could talk about were mostly memories from junior and senior high school, the most typical being the college entrance exam, which everyone goes through once, and also university military training...
"Let's talk about your school days."
Qin Xiangxiang: "???"
"You're crazy." The woman hung up the phone without hesitation.
Li Jianzhi: "..."
His sweet wife sprinkled chili powder into the mango pomelo sago?
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