It is said that there are only cows that die of exhaustion, but no fields that are plowed to death.

Su Ting felt that she and He Dongchuan would be the exception. The energy of young men in their twenties and twenties was really too strong.

When she boasted that she was with Dongchuan four or five days a week and four or five times a day, she actually felt uneasy inside, fearing that she might offend him by boasting too much.

Although she doesn't have much personal experience, she has a wealth of theoretical knowledge and knows that in reality most men have sex once or twice a day, one or two days a week, and each time for three minutes.

When Su Ting learned about this for the first time, she felt that her three views had been reshaped, because in the novels she had read before, seven times a night was still a standard feature.

This gap is quite big!

But in recent years, perhaps because of the development of information, authors now realize that their stories are too exaggerated and no one will believe them. Now, let alone seven times a night, few people even write about four, five or six times. She also gradually figured out the difference between the three-dimensional and two-dimensional worlds.

But He Dongchuan is an exception.

This is not necessarily an exception. Although he did not officially appear in the original novel, He Dongchuan is the male protagonist's biological father after all, and is definitely different from ordinary people.

If I think about it this way, there seems to be an explanation for his high energy?

After her wild thoughts came to an end, Su Ting got out of bed and moved to the dressing table beside the bed. She was too indulgent yesterday and now she felt her waist and legs were so sore that she felt her legs were shaking even when she was standing.

When she put her hand down, Su Ting felt something strange. She looked down and saw a rectangular pencil case under her hand.

Did he leave the pen on the dressing table last night?

Also, why didn't he take the pen with him?

While thinking, Su Ting picked up the pen case and opened the lid. When she saw the pens inside, she was stunned.

She remembered that the pen she bought for him yesterday was black, but now there was a silver pen in the pen case. It couldn't have faded, right?

Fading is of course a joke. Not to mention that pens don't fade, even if they do, black can never fade into silver.

Did she remember it wrong?

Su Ting closed the pen case and decided to wait for He Dongchuan to come back and ask him what happened.

Putting down the pen case, Su Ting picked up the toothpaste and toothbrush and went out. When she passed the dining table, she saw a glass bottle with half of the milk left on it, and she raised her hand and knocked her forehead.

She slept too late yesterday and only got up at eight o'clock, completely forgetting to get the milk.

I don’t know whether the milk was delivered by Jiang Aihong or picked up by He Yan.

After washing up, Su Ting poured all the remaining milk in the bottle into the enamel cup, and had breakfast with the egg cake she bought yesterday.

After breakfast, I didn't go out. I moved a stool outside the yard, leaned against the wall, and looked at the sea to get a feel for it.

Well, the new story she was going to draw had nothing to do with the sea, but who made it so quiet here? Looking at the blue sky, white clouds, and the endless blue sea, it seemed as if time had slowed down.

As she was watching, a palm-sized stone crab suddenly appeared in her sight, crawling horizontally from left to right.

Su Ting put down her paper and pen, stood up, took off her shoes and walked over barefoot, squatting on the beach to watch it crawl.

The stone crab was not big, and with its legs it was only about the length of her palm, but it crawled very fast, moving on the beach as if it were flat ground. Su Ting watched for a while, then reached out with a wicked hand, pinched its crab shell, and turned it over.

The crab's legs moved in the air and its two large claws made a clicking sound.

Su Ting stretched out her paintbrush to poke the clamp, but it got stuck and she couldn't pull it out. It was quite strong.

Su Ting continued to poke with the paintbrush, poking twice and pulling it out, poking twice again and pulling it out again, and after a few times she felt something was not right. When she realized what was wrong, she immediately looked up to the sky and sighed.

She was really led astray!

Just as she was thinking, she heard someone calling from behind. Su Ting turned around and saw Yu Xiaofang standing in the yard of the previous building. She quickly released the crab and walked over to ask, "What's wrong?"

"Look at what you are doing." Yu Xiaofang said with a smile.

Su Ting pointed to the beach and said, "I just saw a crab and went over to play with it for a while."

Yu Xiaofang said, "You really have plenty of free time."

"You're free anyway, aren't you free today? Don't you have any work to do?"

"There is work available at any time, and it won't run away if you leave it there. It doesn't matter if you do it early or later." Yu Xiaofang remembered and asked, "Did you go to the city yesterday?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Not only do I know about it, but everyone in the family knows about it!" Yu Xiaofang said, "The car your He Yan played with yesterday, all the kids in the family are envious of it. My child wants one too. I was just about to ask you, how much is that car?"

"Over fifty."

"How much?" Yu Xiaofang thought she had heard wrongly.

"There are several models. The smallest one is 36 yuan. This one is considered big, and it costs 56 yuan." The scooters were placed there, and the prices were transparent. Yu Xiaofang could find out by asking in the market. Su Ting did not say the price was cheap.

Yu Xiaofang was indeed shocked: "Fifty-six, you bought him a toy car?!" This is really like not treating money seriously!

Su Ting didn't say that fifty-six yuan was not expensive. First, she also thought it was quite expensive. Second, it was not popular to show off wealth these days. She said, "It's mainly because the children like it."

Yu Xiaofang clicked her tongue twice: "You guys are spoiling your child too much. You only spent 56 yuan to buy him a toy car..."

Normally, when people say that Su Ting and her husband don't know how to make a living, she thinks it's okay. After all, He Dongchuan has a high salary and there is only one child in the family, so the money can be spent like this.

But today she agreed with this statement: this couple really don't know how to live.

Hearing what Yu Xiaofang meant, Su Ting smiled and said, "It's just this one time."

Using the first payment for her manuscript to buy gifts was a ceremonial act, but if she used every payment to buy gifts, she would really not know how to live. However, she did not want to let outsiders know about the manuscript review for the time being, so she did not explain it in detail.

…

There were many children in the family compound who were staring at the scooter, and Yu Xiaofang was not the only one who wanted to inquire about the price. Every time Su Ting went out that day, she was always asked this question.

Su Ting was annoyed by the questions.

In fact, in most cases, she is a very patient person. For example, she works in the advertising industry, and it is common for her to revise a plan seven or eight times. The most hateful thing is that after so many revisions, the client finally says the first version is better.

If you don't have patience, you will really get mad.

But every time she mentioned the price, those military wives would look at her with disapproval. They all had the same idea as Yu Xiaofang, thinking that she didn't know how to make a living.

If they just think about it in their mind and don't say it out loud, or say it in a tactful way, it's fine. It's normal to have different values. But if they criticize her or belittle her in words, it's very annoying.

Because she was upset, Su Ting did not go out in the afternoon and stayed at home to write the story for a new comic book.

However, the news that she spent fifty-six yuan to buy a scooter for He Yan spread like wildfire, and in less than half a day it spread throughout the family compound.

That afternoon, all the military wives in the family compound, whether they were working or not, were talking about her.

After finishing a class, Duan Xiaoying returned to the office and before she had time to drink a sip of water, she heard a colleague sitting at the desk next to her ask, "Do you know how much He Yan paid for his scooter?"

The teacher's office in the military primary school was converted from a classroom. It was square and quite large in size. Desks were placed two by two facing each other, and twelve people could sit in one office.

These twelve people are all the teachers in the military district primary school except the principal.

But because the class had just ended, some teachers stayed after class or were delayed by other things and had not returned yet, so there were only seven people in the office at that time.

Hearing the question from the teacher next to Duan Xiaoying, the seven of them raised their heads at the same time, and Chen Lin asked, "How much?"

Her daughter is one of the many children in the family compound who are interested in scooters, but she thinks scooters are a bit dangerous and is afraid that her daughter will run too fast and fall after buying one, so she is still hesitant.

Although I haven't decided whether to buy it yet, it's always a good idea to find out the price in advance.

"Fifty-six!" The teacher stretched out his hand, first making a five, then a six.

The whole office was shocked: "So expensive?"

The teacher raised her chin and said, "Of course not! I heard there are cheaper ones, but they are smaller, for children aged three or four. The one Su Ting bought for He Yan is relatively large, so it is expensive."

"This is too expensive, fifty-six, which is enough for two or three months' salary. Su Ting is really willing to spend money like this." A teacher sighed, "I was thinking if it was cheaper, I would buy one for my child so that he wouldn't always make trouble for me. Now... oh."

Chen Lin had the same idea as the sighing teacher. If the scooter only cost twenty or thirty, she would grit her teeth and buy one for her child. But it cost more than fifty, which was too expensive.

And it's dangerous.

After giving up the idea of ​​buying a scooter for her daughter, Chen Lin said, "It's not her own money, why should she be reluctant to part with it?"

Many teachers echoed this statement: "That's true. She usually spends money lavishly. It's obvious that she has never lived a good life. It's just that there are few children in her family now, otherwise Captain He's salary would not be enough for them."

Some teachers also spoke up for Su Ting: "There is no distinction between you and me when it comes to the money of a couple. Even if it was Captain He who earned the money, as a stepmother, she agreed to buy a toy car worth more than 50 yuan for He Yan, which shows that she is still very generous to her children."

"That's right. They always buy things for He Yan every time they go to the market."

"They seemed to have bought clothes for He Yan last month. I also heard that He Yan often brought fruits to school to eat, right, Teacher Duan?"

"Ah?" Duan Xiaoying came back to his senses and hummed, "Yes, this happened. He Yan was caught eating in class by Teacher Li before."

Teacher Li said: "After I told him that once, the child never ate in class again."

The teachers didn't really care whether He Yan still ate in class, as long as they made sure he brought food to school regularly. One teacher concluded, "From this perspective, Su Ting is doing a pretty good job as a stepmother."

Many teachers nodded in agreement.

As for a stepmother, it is unrealistic to expect her to be open-hearted to the child. After all, there is no blood relationship between the children. There is a layer of distance between them. It would be good if she can be open and not torture the child.

Of course, Duan Xiaoying is an exception. She is recognized as a good stepmother by all the military wives in the family compound.

Although there have been some discordant voices regarding Duan Xiaoying due to Han Bowen's running away from home some time ago, nothing happened to Han Bowen, and it is impossible for everyone's impression of Duan Xiaoying to change drastically all of a sudden.

But because everyone was talking about Su Ting, they only went through these thoughts in their minds and no one specifically said them out loud. Duan Xiaoying was not aware of this and clenched her hands, feeling very unbalanced.

She felt that she worked herself to death every day, yet no one said a good word about her. When people did say something good about her, they would only implicitly compliment her on being a good stepmother.

Look at Su Ting again. She doesn't do any housework every day. She just spends the money earned by He Dongchuan to buy some toys for He Yan. Everyone thinks she is a good stepmother.

The more Duan Xiaoying thought about it, the more depressed she felt. She didn't even hear the bell for class. It was not until Chen Lin called her that she came to her senses and quickly packed up her lesson plans and walked out.

On the way to the classroom, Chen Lin asked, "What happened to you just now?"

"What?" Duan Xiaoying asked in pretended confusion.

"You don't look well, what happened?"

Duan Xiaoying pulled the corners of his lips and said helplessly: "Yesterday Bowen saw the car that He Yan was playing with, and when he got home he told us that he wanted one too, and Han Bin agreed."

Chen Lin was not surprised. Her daughter wanted the same car, not to mention a boy like Han Bowen who was born to love excitement. She asked, "Does Han know the price of that toy car?"

"I don't know." Duan Xiaoying shook his head.

If Han Bin knew that this toy car cost fifty-six, he would definitely not agree to buy it for Han Bowen so easily, and she would not have no reaction after he agreed.

Although Han Bin and He Dongchuan were both battalion-level cadres, the fleet unit Han Bin was in often had to go to sea, so in addition to his salary and island stationing allowance, he also received an additional allowance every month.

He Dongchuan may not be able to carry out many missions throughout the year, so after taking into account the comprehensive salary, Han Bin's monthly income is about ten yuan higher than He Dongchuan.

But He Dongchuan's parents both have jobs and their monthly income is higher than his. Not only do they not need his support, they can also support him instead.

Although Han Bin's parents have passed away, his ex-mother-in-law is very hard to deal with. She has made her grandson thinner and thinner, and she still has the nerve to say that she loves her daughter, forcing Han Bin to give her living expenses on a monthly basis. The money is not much, only 15 yuan per month, but even a mosquito leg is meat.

In addition, He Dongchuan only has one child, He Yan, while the Han family has three brothers and sisters. Even if Su Ting spends money without any control and is extravagant, her monthly expenses are definitely not as much as the Han family's.

Therefore, Su Ting could spend fifty or sixty dollars to buy a toy for He Yan without blinking an eye, but after Duan Xiaoying learned the price of the toy car, the first thought that came to her mind was that it was such a small amount of money.

For many people, this is not a difficult thing. Whether or not they are willing to buy toys for their children is just a matter of a word.

But the situation in the Han family is different. Duan Xiaoying is the stepmother. How to make Han Bin give up buying toys without offending Han Bowen is the biggest problem she faces now.

Chen Lin and Duan Xiaoying had known each other for two years and had always had a close relationship. She understood her dilemma very well and consoled her: "Bowen is not an ignorant child. Ask Lao Han to talk to him properly. He will understand."

Duan Xiaoying pursed her lips and smiled: "I hope so."

Although she said this, Duan Xiaoying was not very optimistic in her heart. After what happened last time, she now completely realized the fact that she could not tame Han Bowen.

If Han Bin didn't love him the most, if the relationship between the three children wasn't good, and if she knew that Han Bowen would be the most promising of the three children in the future, she would have given up trying to please Han Bowen long ago.

Duan Xiaoying felt that even if she explained the situation to Han Bowen, the only person who might understand him would be Han Bin.

It’s annoying just thinking about it.

…

When the teachers at the military primary school were talking about Su Ting, she was working on the outline of a new comic strip. Today, she was full of inspiration. In just one afternoon, she not only finished the outline of the new comic strip, but also wrote an introduction and drew the character designs.

Because she was too engrossed in her work, when she came to her senses she realized it was already half past five, so she quickly packed up her things and prepared dinner.

She had to eat more vegetarian food tonight. There was no other way. When she got up, the seafood supply station was already closed, and the butcher shop was almost closed too. So she only bought a few potatoes, two handfuls of green vegetables, and some green peppers.

When green peppers and eggs are stir-fried together, it can barely be considered fishy.

After more than a month of training, coupled with He Dongchuan's high demands, Su Ting's knife skills are now much better than before. For example, she could only cut potatoes into strips before, but now what she cuts can barely be considered potato shreds.

Moreover, she has become much faster at cutting vegetables. In the past, she could spend half an hour just cutting potatoes, but now she can finish cutting three kinds of vegetables on the chopping board in just ten minutes.

Although this is due to the fact that green peppers and green vegetables are easy to cut, it does not affect Su Ting's pride.

So when He Dongchuan walked into the house, he heard her singing from the kitchen: "We ordinary people are so happy tonight..."

He Dongchuan: ...What is this song about?

Although I don't know what song Su Ting sang, it's not hard to tell from the lyrics that she was in a good mood. He Dongchuan walked to the kitchen door and asked, "What happened today that makes you so happy?"

Hearing his voice, Su Ting stopped singing, turned her head to the door and asked, "Why did you come back so early today?"

He Dongchuan raised his hand to look at his watch: "Is it early? It's already 6:15."

Su Ting realized that it was not that he came back too early today, but that she had prepared the ingredients too late. She put down the bowl of egg liquid and chopsticks and said, "It's so late? Why hasn't Xiaoyan come back yet?"

"I ran into him when I came back. He was still playing at the door." He Dongchuan said as he turned and walked into the master bedroom, took off his military cap and coat, unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves, then went back to the kitchen to start cooking.

While working, he still hadn't forgotten the question. He tilted his head and asked, "You haven't told me why you are so happy today?"

Su Ting thought she had successfully changed the topic, but he was still thinking about it. She said helplessly: "It's nothing, actually. I worked pretty smoothly today. I finished the outline, wrote the beginning, and drew the character design."

"That's worth being happy about." He Dongchuan turned his head back and said thoughtfully.

"yes."

He Dongchuan was cooking vigorously. Su Ting thought she had no more work to do in the kitchen and was about to leave. However, she had just taken two steps back when He Dongchuan suddenly asked, "How did the song just now go?"

"What?"

"We ordinary people are really serious tonight..."

Su Ting was embarrassed. Before he finished singing, she interrupted him and said, "No, don't sing this."

"Why?"

"It affects your tall image in my heart." Such a festive and silly song is really not suitable for him.

This reason convinced He Dongchuan. He stopped humming the song and just asked, "What's the name of this song? Why haven't I heard it before?"

Su Ting thought that this song was from the 1990s, and it would be strange for you, a person still living in the 1970s, to have heard it. She said, "What kind of song is this? I just hummed it casually. Have you ever heard a song with only one sentence?" In fact, she only remembered this one sentence.

He Dongchuan raised his eyebrows: "It sounds good."

Su Ting reached out to touch his ear and was about to ask, "Are you okay?", when he moved his ear and turned his head to the side and said seriously, "Don't make a fuss, I'm cooking, we'll talk tonight."

Su Ting: "..." The filthy will see the filth!

…

After dinner, He Yan got on his scooter and wanted to go out for fun.

Because of this scooter, he has become the center of attention among the children in the compound these days. Boys and girls alike are scrambling to play with him. He is so happy that he has completely forgotten about his homework and extra classes. He just wants to run outside after dinner.

Seeing that he was in high spirits in the past two days, He Dongchuan didn't say much, but it was already the third day and he didn't care anymore. He was afraid that he would forget who he was, so he grabbed his collar when he was about to run out and lifted him off the scooter.

He Yan screamed "Ahhh" as his body lost control. It was not until he stepped on solid ground that he came to his senses and asked, "Dad, what are you doing?"

“You don’t do your homework?”

He Yan had forgotten about his homework, and suddenly he felt guilty and his eyes wandered: "I, I will finish it."

He Dongchuan looked down at his watch and asked seriously, "It's 6:45 now. The make-up class starts at 7:00. When do you plan to do your homework?"

He Yan was confused, and after thinking for a while he asked, "Can I finish the class before doing it?" After asking, he saw his father's gloomy face, and he was a little scared. He hesitantly explained, "I, I have already agreed with them that I will take the car to play with them after dinner. If, if I don't go, they will definitely not play with me next time."

"You can go and play for fifteen minutes." He Dongchuan said reluctantly.

"Huh? How long is fifteen minutes?"

He Dongchuan did not answer, but said: "I will call you at the appointed time."

He Yan said "oh", lowered his head to look at the scooter, then secretly glanced at his father and asked tentatively: "Dad, can I go out now?"

"Um."

After getting a positive answer, the listless He Yan suddenly came alive. He shouted happily, bent down and picked up the scooter that had fallen to the ground. He was about to go out, but when he looked up and saw his father's dark face, he quickly retracted his foot and pushed the scooter out.

Only after he ran out of the yard and looked back and couldn't see his father anymore did he quickly leave on his scooter.

After going out, He Yan went to Zhang's house to find his friends first.

However, the Zhang family started dinner a little late today, and they hadn't finished eating when he arrived. Huang Wenxia saw him and asked with a smile: "Xiao Yan is here? Have you eaten yet?"

"I came here after I finished eating." He Yan looked at his friend who was eating with big mouthfuls of rice, "How long will you take?"

Zhang Xiaokai ate his meal with big mouthfuls and said, "It's almost done."

Huang Wenxia patted him on the back when she saw this: "Slow down, don't choke. Xiaoyan, sit here for a while and wait for him." Then she moved a stool for He Yan.

He Yan shook his head and said, "No, I have to go back soon."

"Didn't you just come out? Why are you going back so soon?" Huang Wenxia asked.

"I have to go back to listen to my parents' classes, and I also have to do my homework..." He Yan couldn't help but let out a sigh. Although he had to take extra classes and do homework before, he could always find time to play in his busy schedule.

But recently, because he had to perform at the Children's Day party, he had to stay after school every afternoon to learn singing and could not go home until six o'clock.

After returning home, I can’t play for a while before it’s time to eat. After eating, I have to go to class. After class, I have to do homework. After finishing homework, I have to go to bed…

He Yan felt that he had a difficult time.

However, Huang Wenxia could not hear the hardships of life from his words. She just thought that he was well-behaved, obedient and self-disciplined. Then she looked at her own son, who only knew how to play when he came back. It's true that people are idiots when compared with others, and goods are thrown away when compared with others!

Therefore, after He Yan was called back home by his father for extra lessons, Zhang Xiaokai was also deprived of his freedom to play. He was forced to sit at the dining table and write his homework pitifully while biting the tip of the pen.

Zhang Xiaokai: ...He should never let He Yan come to his house to see him again!

…

Because he had to wait for He Yan to finish his homework before taking a shower, He Dongchuan returned to the master bedroom half an hour later than usual after finishing his work.

So when he walked into the room, he saw Su Ting, who was lying on the bed, blowing her hair in front of the fan, with her eyes half closed and falling into a drowsy state.

He Dongchuan sat next to Su Ting and touched her hair first. When he felt that he was almost done, he reached out to turn off the fan.

But Su Ting was afraid of the heat, so she woke up as soon as the wind stopped. She turned over and tried to open her eyes, but her line of sight was right at the light bulb, so she squinted halfway through her eyes. She raised her hand to cover her eyes and asked, "Have you finished your homework, Xiaoyan?"

He Dongchuan said: "Well, he has already fallen asleep."

"Oh." Su Ting responded and looked up at the electric fan.

"I just turned off the fan." He Dongchuan turned on the fan and patted Su Ting's shoulder. "Turn over and lie down. Don't point your head towards the fan."

The cool breeze on her face made Su Ting more awake. She propped herself up and sat up, rubbed her face and said, "I just wanted to blow dry my hair, but I found myself sleepy while doing so."

After saying that, she touched her hair and felt that it was almost done. She got out of bed, sat in front of the dressing table, combed her hair straight, and then tied it loosely with a hair tie.

She has long hair, which is easy to be pressed when she sleeps with it loose, and a few strands of hair are accidentally pulled down. So she is used to tying her hair up or braiding it when she sleeps, hoping that this can reduce hair loss.

Su Ting was not sure whether this method would work, but at least doing this would give her some comfort.

When she was about to go back to bed after tying her hair, Su Ting's eyes caught sight of the pen case on the dressing table. She picked up the pen case and asked, "Did you forget to take your pen with you this morning?"

He Dongchuan was silent for a long time, then asked, "Do you still remember what the pen you gave me looked like?"

"I remember it was black, not quite the same color as here, but..."

She only bought one pen, and there was also a pen inside, so...wait! Su Ting finally realized something, opened the pen box, took out the silver-gray pen inside and asked, "Could this pen be bought by you?"

He Dongchuan raised his eyebrows and said in surprise with a blank expression: "You actually guessed it."

Su Ting suspected that he was mocking her, but she was right. The pen she gave him was chosen by her herself. Although the style was the same as this one, one was black and the other was silver-gray.

She didn't know why her brain short-circuited during the day. Although she felt that the color was not right, she didn't think about the fact that he bought another pen.

Su Ting suddenly remembered something and asked, "So you didn't go back to look for the button yesterday, but to buy this pen? That's not right, then how did your button fall off?"

"I ripped it off."

Su Ting: "...You don't have to put on such a show." The button fell off and had to be sewn back on, although he did it himself and didn't let her do it.

"I wanted to give you a surprise." But she didn't even think about the gift for the whole day. He Dongchuan didn't know whether he should regret that he had acted too well or feel helpless about her carelessness.

Okay, we are back to the topic.

Su Ting went to bed and took He Dongchuan's arm and said, "Okay, although it's a day late, I now know that this is a gift from you. I feel very happy. How did you think of giving me a gift? And you kept it a secret from me. I never thought of hiding it from you."

Hearing her words of complaining first, He Dongchuan felt angry and amused. He squeezed her hand and asked, "Aren't you just trying to save trouble by not telling me?"

"How can you say that? I let you choose the gift yourself because I was worried that the gift I gave you would not suit your taste," Su Ting said righteously, raising the pen in her hand to criticize, "and the pen is a gift from me to you. You gave me one just like it. What a sincerity, wow."

After finding fault, Su Ting began to pretend to be magnanimous: "But don't worry, I'm easy to deal with. Although you copied my gift idea, I forgive you because you wanted to surprise me."

After angrily criticizing Yu Hongzhi, Su Ting became famous in her family compound. Everyone knew that she was a good talker.

He Dongchuan himself could not imagine how Su Ting would be offensive. After all, when he knew Su Ting, she only cursed "she is sick" when she was most angry.

But now, He Dongchuan has finally experienced how eloquent she is.

Knowing he couldn't win the argument, he decided to give up arguing and chose to use his mouth to stop her from saying anything else.