In the early 1980s, the train station was far from the bustle of later eras, yet it was still crowded. Everywhere you looked, there were people with sorrowful faces seeing off their loved ones.
However, Su Xingye was not among them. She looked at the man in front of her, whose face was overflowing with seemingly genuine emotion, and only felt a deep sense of mockery.
The man, however, didn't know that her core had been replaced. He still thought the person standing before him was the same country wife who could be comforted with a few sweet words, even after being beaten.
"Xiao Xing, remember, our divorce is fake. You are not allowed to tell anyone. Once I'm settled, I'll come back and fetch you and the kids so you can enjoy a good life." The man put on a show of deep affection, but his heart was already filled with impatience. He wished he could sprout wings and fly to the big city immediately, away from this miserable village where he had spent five years.
"Here's 10 kuai. Keep it to buy the kids some treats. After I leave, take good care of the children and wait for me." He only had 35 kuai in total. Though he was reluctant to part with the money, he was afraid that if he left none, her clever sister-in-law would catch on, so he painfully cut out a piece of his flesh.
Su Xingye looked at the 10 kuai and almost laughed out loud. Had the original host's brain been waterlogged? This kind of man, yet she had guarded, waited, and yearned for him.
Heh.
Su Xingye glanced back at the two small kids who were only looking down at their feet, clearly showing not a single trace of attachment to their father. She decided to say a few more words to him. "Just 10 kuai? If the three of us run out of money, where are we supposed to find you?"
Yes, the original host, that fool, only knew her husband was from Hai City before he was sent down to the countryside, but she never knew his actual home address. Year after year of waiting, she wouldn't even have a direction to look if she wanted to find him.
Zhou Renqiang's heart tightened. He met Su Xingye's gaze. For some reason, he felt like this woman was a bit smarter today. Before, no matter what he said, she never had an opinion and was extremely obedient.
It must have been her sister-in-law egging her on.
He reached out to pat Su Xingye's head, but she dodged him. He simply assumed she was reluctant to see him go.
"Xiao Xing, be good. If you travel a thousand miles to find me, how can I be at ease? Just wait for me obediently. As soon as I'm settled, I'll come to get you."
Seeing that he was about to launch into another speech about profound love and loyalty, a wave of disgust washed over Su Xingye. She cut him off. "Then leave us more money, or just tell me your address. I'll bring the kids to find you then."
"You!" Zhou Renqiang raised his hand halfway and then lowered it. He remembered he was at the train station and thought of the beautiful life waiting in the city. He forced a smile. "Fine, I'll leave you a bit more money."
Accompanied by the rumble of the train, Su Xingye, clutching 30 kuai, turned and left with her two children. As for Zhou Renqiang's brainwashing about a "fake divorce" and waiting for him—she considered it utter nonsense.
They had already signed the divorce certificate. The "fake marriage" excuse was something only the original host had stubbornly believed, waiting in the countryside for over twenty years, enduring all kinds of hardship. She did eventually wait for Zhou Renqiang.
The original host thought her suffering was finally over and that Zhou Renqiang hadn't lied to her. But what was the result? He got married as soon as he reached the city. The only reason he came back was because he hadn't had any more children in over twenty years and remembered the two sons he had left in the village.
Yet, the original host had been completely satisfied.
Looking at the two clearly malnourished little ones, and then thinking of Zhou Renqiang's oily, well-fed face, it was obvious he was completely unfit to be a father.
She had just finished reading the book yesterday, and today she woke up as the tragic female lead inside it. After just figuring out the situation, she had to listen to that disgusting talk. Su Xingye felt uncomfortable, but now that Zhou Renqiang was gone, her mood improved slightly.
"Let's go. I... err, Mom will take you to the state-run restaurant (guoying fandian) for a meal." Although she didn't marry in her previous life, she loved children and worked as a child-care worker. She felt no rejection towards the original host's two kids. Since she had replaced the original host, she was naturally willing to raise them and wouldn't let them suffer from hunger again.
The two children didn't notice their mother's awkwardness. Perhaps because they were too young—the older brother was about five, and the four-year-old younger brother clearly didn't understand much of the conversation. It wasn't until they sat down at the table, looking at the beef noodles in front of them, that they understood what a restaurant was.
"Mom, is this for us?" The older brother stared at her with wide eyes.
Su Xingye nodded. She asked the waitress for a small bowl and a spoon, put some noodles into the younger brother's bowl, cut them with the spoon, and blew on them. "Eat. You use chopsticks, and your brother uses the spoon."
Before she was even finished, the younger brother impatiently grabbed the spoon and hurriedly shoveled the noodles into his mouth, clearly starving.
Su Xingye looked up. The older brother was also gulping his food down, constantly blowing to cool it, but unwilling to stop.
"Slowly, slowly. Don't choke." She didn't even have time to eat herself. She asked for another bowl, poured some soup to cool, and intermittently fed the two children sips of water.
After quickly eating half a bowl, the children's speed finally slowed down a bit. Only then did Su Xingye start eating her noodles.
She cleared her mind to sort out the events in the book. She hadn't expected to read a period novel (nian dai wen) yesterday and wake up today having transmigrated into it, becoming the most aggrieved character in the entire story.
The original host, Su Xingye, was considered a beauty in Hongye Village, but she was a total softie—no backbone. She was easily convinced by the educated youth, Zhou Renqiang, and firmly believed in him. Yet, there was no happiness after marriage. Although Zhou Renqiang's name contained the character ren (meaning benevolence), he was anything but human. He beat his children and wife every few days, was lazy, and didn't do any farm work.
But it was the original host who was the most frustrating. After Zhou Renqiang beat someone, he'd say a few nice words, and she would forgive him, thinking that as a "cultural person," he was entitled to a temper. She even warned the two children not to mention being hit by their father, which is why her own brother and sister-in-law never knew.
Su Xingye was furious watching this play out, and then she woke up to find herself as Su Xingye from the novel.
"Mom, we're finished." A single sentence pulled Su Xingye back to reality. Seeing that both children's bowls were empty, she looked at their small bellies.
"Are you full?" she asked.
The older brother, Zhou Xiaoyang, nodded. "Mom, we're full."
The younger brother also chimed in, "Full."
Of course, they were full. At only four or five years old, eating this much—they were not just full, they must be stuffed.
"Wait a moment then, Mom will finish eating, and we'll go home. We'll stop by the supply and marketing cooperative (gongxiao she) to buy you some haw flakes."
At the mention of something delicious, the younger brother's eyes lit up, but the older brother was hesitant. Zhou Xiaoyang avoided looking at Su Xingye, lowering his head to ask, "Mom, is Dad really not coming back anymore?"
Su Xingye nodded. "Yes. Do you miss him?"
Zhou Xiaoyang shook his head fiercely. Though young, his voice held a certain severity. "No."
Su Xingye knew he had no affection for that cheap father. "Xiaoyang, Mom and your dad are divorced. From now on, you will stay with Mom, okay?"
"Then... then he can't hit us anymore?" Zhou Xiaoyang rubbed his clothes anxiously, asking her.
"Of course. From now on, no one can ever hit us." Su Xingye swallowed a mouthful of noodles, her voice firm and decisive.
On the way back, Su Xingye looked at the children's thin, weak bodies and felt worried. She needed to quickly replenish their nutrition. The original host had no money, and the 30 kuai she just got from Zhou Renqiang was not nearly enough. She could start a small business, but then she definitely wouldn't be able to take care of the children properly.
As worried as she was, so was Shen Kaiyue. He was sitting in the main room of his house, listening to the village matchmaker, Zhao Meipo, speak.
"Kaiyue, don't say I'm not trying my best. That's three girls in a row now. I've worn the skin off my tongue three times over, and they still won't agree to even meet!"
Zhao Meipo took a sip of water and continued, "Honestly, your conditions are good. Sigh, but as soon as the girls hear they have to go to the frontier, they all shake their heads. Is it true that it snows for half the year there and it's cold enough to freeze a person to death?"
Hearing that no one was willing to meet him, Shen Kaiyue pursed his lips. He wanted to explain, but he didn't know where to start. "It is quite cold."
"Ah, exactly! The conditions are so bad, with no food or water, and they have to go there to be a stepmother. It's tough." She started negotiating with Shen Kaiyue. "Look, why don't you leave the children here? Don't take them with you. Just send money home, and come back for the holidays. It'll definitely be easier to find someone that way."
Shen Kaiyue immediately shook his head. "No."
With the day to return to the army getting closer and closer, Shen Kaiyue felt anxious thinking about his two children. He pulled out a handful of milk candies and gave them to Auntie Zhao. "There's only one requirement: she must come with me to the base. She just needs to be kindhearted, nothing else. Please put in more effort, Auntie."
Auntie Zhao was genuinely pleased looking at Shen Kaiyue's handsome, bright-eyed appearance. She always enjoyed playing matchmaker for young men with good looks.
"Alright, I'll talk to them again. With your looks, Kaiyue, I don't believe those women won't be tempted once they meet you."
Zhao Meipo truly wanted to find a loving wife for Shen Kaiyue. She unwrapped a milk candy and popped it into her mouth. She pondered an idea and then headed straight for the town's supply and marketing cooperative.
As soon as Su Xingye walked into the supply and marketing cooperative with her two children, she heard Zhao Meipo's loud voice.
"I'm telling you, becoming a company commander at such a young age is incredible! It's just that his wife passed away early, and the two children are without a mother."
There was a television set in the cooperative, attracting a crowd. Hearing this, everyone started chattering.
"You know, Old Mrs. Shen didn't have the luck to enjoy life. Her son came to pick her up, but she was gone."
"Enjoy life? You can't be sure about that. You don't know, that place is the frontier! I hear it's barren, no food, no water, very tough."
This was not what Zhao Meipo wanted to hear. She hurriedly interrupted. "What tough life? I'd say the hardship is for the regular soldiers. Our Kaiyue is a company commander, earning dozens of kuai a month! How could he be suffering?"
Money is always the most persuasive thing. "Tsk, tsk. You're right. 8 mao (0.8 kuai) can buy a jin (half-kilogram) of meat. Dozens of kuai—that's enough for how much meat?"
Zhao Meipo nodded. "Exactly! Exactly! Our Kaiyue has no other demands. He just wants to find a kind-hearted woman who can take care of the children. He's even open to a girl who already has children. With money, he definitely won't let the kids suffer. Think it over, everyone! Relatives, villagers, does anyone have a suitable match? Such good conditions, hurry up!"
At the Shen family home, five-year-old Shen Jiabao, thinking about what Shen Kaiyue and Zhao Meipo had said, tugged on Shen Kaiyue's pants. "Dad, you earn dozens of kuai a month. If we go with you to the base, can we eat meat every day?"
Shen Kaiyue divided the remaining two candies between him and his daughter, Shen Yueyue. "No."
It was true that he had money, but it was also true that the money couldn't always be spent. Their post was halfway up a large mountain, and supplies were extremely scarce.
Shen Jiabao had stopped listening. Seeing the milk candy, he hurriedly unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth. His eyes squinted at the sweetness. He chewed it up and swallowed it in just a couple of bites, then snatched his sister Shen Yueyue's candy.
"You girl-child, little mute! It's a waste for you to eat anything! Give it to me!"
Shen Yueyue's candy was snatched away halfway through unwrapping it. She pouted her lips and burst into tears.
"Shen Jiabao!" Shen Kaiyue quickly grabbed his hand. "Give the candy back to your sister."
Shen Jiabao jutted out his neck. "Why should I give it to her? Grandma said she's a girl-child, a 'money-loser' (pei qian huo), and doesn't need to eat good things. Meat, candy, noodles—they're all mine. She can't touch them."
Shen Kaiyue slapped his backside. "Say that again!"
Shen Jiabao had been pampered by his grandmother like the apple of her eye since birth. Only his sister got hit; he had never tasted this before. The slap stunned him. He then dropped to the floor and began to wail. "Waaah! Dad, you hit me! You hit me!"
It was at this moment that Su Xingye knocked on the door. "Excuse me, is this Comrade Shen Kaiyue's home?"
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