Shen Kaiyue hadn't clearly heard the voice, only the knock on the door. He thought Matchmaker Zhao had returned and hurried to open it, but instead, a beautiful young woman was standing there.
This girl had a pale, clear face and a bright, cheerful smile. Although she wasn't short, she looked thin and frail, appearing to be under twenty years old. Shen Kaiyue was stunned for a moment. "I am Shen Kaiyue, comrade. And you are?"
Su Xingye hadn't expected Shen Kaiyue to look so handsome. The book didn't focus much on him, describing him only as an upright soldier who, despite acting as both father and mother, was a pitiable person who couldn't properly raise his children.
Su Xingye had automatically assumed he had a simple, honest exterior but found the reality was far different. He didn't look like a man with two children at all.
Shen Kaiyue was tall and straight, with defined features, broad shoulders, and a narrow waist—a typical clothes-hanger figure.
This was an unexpected bonus.
Facing such good looks, Su Xingye couldn't help but smile even more brightly. "Hello, Comrade Shen. I'm Su Xingye. I heard you're looking for a mother for your children."
Ignoring Shen Kaiyue's stunned expression, she quickly introduced her own situation. "What do you think of me? I have two children, you have two children. Neither of us should despise the other. The frontier? I'll go with you. The children? I'll raise them as my own. We can make do living together. What do you say?"
Shen Kaiyue stared at Su Xingye, unable to recover his senses for a moment. 'She is already a mother of two children?'
"Comrade Shen?"
"Ah, right, Comrade Su, please come in first." Shen Kaiyue lowered his head and stepped aside to let Su Xingye enter.
Su Xingye wasn't in a rush, giving him time to consider. She looked at the two children in the courtyard. "Why are they both crying?"
When she saw the little girl, her eyes lit up. What an adorable, big-eyed little doll.
She was just awfully thin.
Su Xingye reached out and picked her up. "Don't cry, don't cry. Auntie will give you something delicious."
She pulled out a roll of haw flakes from her pocket, opened it, and placed a piece in the girl's mouth, successfully stopping her crying.
"What's your name? Are you about two?" she asked Shen Kaiyue.
Shen Kaiyue watched her lower her head, gently stroke his daughter's sparse hair, and speak softly. His own voice unconsciously lowered a bit. "Her name is Yueyue. She's three."
Sure enough, another malnourished child. "She's quite thin. She needs good nutrition in the future," Su Xingye said, touching Shen Yueyue's tiny chewing cheeks. "Yueyue, can you tell Auntie if the haw flakes are yummy?"
"She's a little mute, she won't talk to you! You bad person, don't give her good things to eat, they're mine!"
The moment Su Xingye finished speaking, Shen Jiabao rushed over, crying and trying to snatch the food.
"Jiabao, do you want another beating?!" Shen Kaiyue's face flashed with anger, and he looked ready to deliver another slap.
Su Xingye quickly pulled Shen Jiabao away. This child was so skinny; one slap could seriously hurt him.
Holding Shen Yueyue, she squatted down and looked at the little scrawny monkey in front of her. "Why should I give it to you? It's mine. I can give it to whoever I want."
Shen Jiabao was protected by her, so he stopped shouting. He choked back sobs. "She's a money-loser, she's not allowed to eat good things."
Alright, the beating he just got was worth it.
Su Xingye smiled inwardly. Smelly boy, I'll mess with him. "My haw flakes, I'll give them to whoever I want. And, I won't give them to little boys who cry. That's not being a real man at all."
Five or six-year-old boys have no resistance to the word 'real man'. Shen Jiabao immediately stopped crying. He bravely puffed out his chest while still sniffling. "I... I am a real man. Will you give me one?"
"No, I won't. A real man wouldn't talk about his little sister like that. You need to apologize to your sister."
Shen Jiabao glanced at his sister, who was quietly eating haw flakes in Su Xingye's arms. He pouted and mumbled, "She is a money-loser. Grandma said so."
"Hmm?" Su Xingye gave a half-smile. "Oh dear. I was planning to give the real man a piece of haw flake. What a pity, there's no real man here."
She made a move to stand up, but Shen Jiabao anxiously grabbed her. "Sister, I was wrong! I shouldn't have said that about you!"
Then he looked eagerly at Su Xingye. "See?"
Su Xingye looked at Shen Yueyue. "Brother apologized to you. What he said just now was wrong. Yueyue isn't angry."
She then gave Shen Jiabao one piece, and stuffed the rest into Shen Yueyue's mouth.
"Hey!" Shen Jiabao was panicked. "Mine! You money-lose..."
"Hmm?" Su Xingye took out another roll from her pocket.
"Good sister! Good sister!" Shen Jiabao immediately shouted at the top of his lungs.
Good. Su Xingye saw through him; this boy is very capable of bowing for the sake of material gain.
Shen Kaiyue looked at his own hand, then at his son who was obediently tamed by a few words, and finally fixed his gaze on Su Xingye's smiling face.
Until she looked back at him.
"Comrade Shen, what do you think about the matter I just mentioned?"
Shen Kaiyue saw her being open and straightforward, not shy in the slightest. Before he could sort out his feelings, his mouth answered for him. "Good."
Su Xingye smiled. "Good. Don't worry, even if we're just joining forces to live, I will take good care of the children."
She briefly introduced her village, where she lived, and what day they could get the certificate and marriage paperwork, then tactfully took her leave.
As soon as she stepped out of the courtyard gate, she heard Shen Jiabao's machine-gun voice: "Money-loser, money-loser, girl-child, little mute!"
Followed by Shen Kaiyue's furious voice, "Shen Jiabao!"
Excellent. It seems the future won't be boring at all.
When she heard Matchmaker Zhao's words at the supply and marketing cooperative, she made the decision to marry Shen Kaiyue almost instantly.
Since she inherited the original host's body, she wouldn't make the same mistake of raising children with such stubborn and rebellious personalities.
Earning money could be put off for now. The most important thing was to supplement the children's nutrition and then cultivate good character.
And yes, that includes Shen Kaiyue's two children.
Didn't they say Shen Kaiyue sent money home every month? Grandma Shen was so biased; she likely gave all the good food to the little boy. Yet, he still looked like a scrawny monkey, which was truly perplexing.
Carrying this bit of confusion, Su Xingye walked into her brother's house.
"Sister-in-law, I'm back."
Liu Suqin was pouring water for the children at the table. Seeing her sister-in-law return, she poured a bowl for her too.
"You just dropped Xiaoyang and Xiaoliu off and left without saying anything. Are you still mad at me, Sister-in-law?"
She worried about her sister-in-law. She often thought that if her own daughter turned out like this, she couldn't die in peace. So soft and pliable, yet stubbornly attached to that useless Zhou Renqiang. She didn't know what kind of spell he had cast on her sister-in-law. Her life was miserable, yet she was desperately devoted to him. If Liu Suqin hadn't called her over for meals every now and then, the children would have starved to death.
If she had listened to her back then and married the person Liu Suqin had picked out, she would have been enjoying life now.
A few words of advice, and Su Xingye would think her sister-in-law had bad intentions.
But what was said was done. "Your hard times are finally over. Once Zhou Renqiang settles down in the city, go find him. You'll be a city person then. We won't be able to visit often, so you must be careful. Don't be an idiot who believes everything he says. Think more about your children."
She had a sharp tongue but a kind heart, worrying about her sister-in-law no less than her own children.
Su Xingye felt a wave of warmth, but she had to speak up. "Sister-in-law, Zhou Renqiang and I are divorced."
"What?!" Liu Suqin's voice suddenly went up five notches, successfully capturing the attention of the children.
She shouted at the table, "Everyone, eat your sweet potatoes properly. Eldest girl, watch your younger siblings."
Then she yanked Su Xingye into the house.
"Tell me, what on earth happened!"
Su Xingye didn't hide anything. Only the original host had deeply believed the 'fake divorce' story and never mentioned the divorce certificate she had obtained years ago.
Sure enough, after listening, Liu Suqin poked her forehead with a finger. "You silly girl! You're so stupid! He said 'fake divorce' and you believed it?! Once that divorce certificate is signed, what kind of relationship do you two have left?"
She was furious. "You don't even know where that beast lives! Su Xingye! You, you're going to make me die of anger!"
Just yesterday, she had told her husband that her sister was finally done with her suffering. Zhou Renqiang was back in the city and would eventually get a job and earn money. The mother and three children wouldn't have to starve anymore, and she would even become a city person—a true end to their hardship.
She never expected that today, she'd be tricked into getting a divorce certificate!
That beast! He didn't want his wife or his children, and he didn't even leave an address. He clearly wanted to completely cut off ties with this side.
He wasn't fit to be human!
Liu Suqin looked at her sister-in-law's fair, tender face. She looked seventeen or eighteen, still a child, yet she had suffered so much.
A wave of heartache swept over her. This girl's life had been ruined by that beast.
Her face was angry, but tears suddenly streamed down.
Su Xingye instantly panicked. "Sister-in-law, Sister-in-law, please don't cry."
She raised her hand to wipe away her sister-in-law's tears, but was smacked several times. "You silly girl! You silly girl! Why are you so disobedient? Since you were eighteen, that beast charmed you. Your brother and I disagreed, but you still got pregnant. Look at the life you've had these past few years! That beast couldn't lift a shoulder or carry a hand; he did zero work in the fields. Your brother was the one working himself to death for you, and you still defended him, calling him an intellectual and a man of culture. And what did it all come to? To hell with intellectuals!"
She cursed him repeatedly.
Su Xingye reached out and hugged her. "Sister-in-law, Sister-in-law, don't be angry. I was wrong, I was wrong. I should have listened to you in the first place. Please don't be angry."
Su Xingye's eyes reddened. In her previous life, she was always alone and had never felt such fervent care. The original host was truly fortunate to have such a loving brother and sister-in-law.
She stroked Liu Suqin's back gently. "Sister-in-law, don't be angry anymore. I'm still young, and I have a long road ahead of me. I promise I will listen to you and keep my eyes open from now on. Don't worry, this time I found a capable man. I definitely won't suffer again."
"What?" Liu Suqin's head buzzed loudly. "What did you say? You found someone else already?"
Su Xingye blinked. "Yes. A soldier. He's very impressive."
"I don't agree!"
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