Chapter 8: Stepmother is Hitting People!

Liu Fu didn't pay attention to Shen Jiabao's words. After greeting her, he began to report on the state of the unit over the past half-month.

"Company Commander, the Deputy Commander has been running drills as you instructed. It's just that without you here, everyone feels a little unaccustomed."

Shen Kaiyue's voice was flat. "Getting unruly? We'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative first."

Liu Fu chuckled twice. "No way! When you check them, I guarantee they haven't lost their skills. They are definitely stronger than Company One and Company Three."

Their voices were low. After speaking for a few minutes, Shen Kaiyue raised his hand, signaling him to stop. Liu Fu instantly fell silent, looking at him, asking what was wrong.

Shen Kaiyue looked into the rearview mirror. "The children are sleeping. We'll talk later."

Only then did Liu Fu see that in the rearview mirror, Su Xingye was sitting in the middle. Her arms were open, cradling two children on each side, all leaning toward her, fast asleep.

The small town wasn't big, and they arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative in a few minutes. Su Xingye gently leaned the children against the back seat and got out of the car with Shen Kaiyue.

Shen Kaiyue had already described the conditions of the station, and Su Xingye understood that life would be tough. She didn't hold back when buying supplies. Flour, oil, rice, sugar, and some daily necessities—Su Xingye told him what to buy, and Shen Kaiyue was in charge of carrying it. In a short while, tens of yuan were spent.

On the way back, Liu Fu was secretly astonished. Good heavens, this sister-in-law seems to be a generous spender. Because he drove, he often brought other family members down to buy things. Even if they had nothing up here, most people were still reluctant to buy much, buying little and stretching it out at home. It seems the Company Commander's family won't have to live a frugal life anymore.

The car left the town, and the surroundings were completely white with snow. With so many supplies purchased, Su Xingye felt much more at ease and leaned back against the seat, falling asleep with the children.

She woke up intermittently, unsure how long she had slept, when the bumpy road woke her up. Seeing she was awake, Shen Kaiyue handed her a military canteen with one hand. "Drink some water."

Su Xingye was thirsty. She unscrewed the cap and took a couple of sips, surprised to find it was still warm. "Are we almost there?"

Shen Kaiyue had already moved to the driver's seat. His other hand gripped the steering wheel, his eyes on the road, carefully avoiding the potholes. "Less than two hours left. If you're still sleepy, go back to sleep."

Su Xingye shook her head and looked out the window. Although it was still a vast expanse of white, the scenery had changed. The train station was in a town that, while not prosperous, had a cluster of houses and a few shops. After two hours, there were no buildings on the road, only rolling hills.

"Is the road getting worse further on?" she asked.

Shen Kaiyue was driving slowly. He answered with a hum. "The station is halfway up the mountain. It's hard to get up after it snows. We might have to walk the last section."

"What about the car?"

"We'll lock it and leave it below. We've done this before."

Seeing that the last part of the road was very difficult, she said, "Okay, focus on driving."

The last section of the road indeed proved impassable for the car. The three adults, carrying the four children, walked for over half an hour before finally reaching the station. Halfway up the mountain was a vast, flat area, surrounded by gray and white bricks. The sound of neat, loud slogans could be faintly heard inside.

Two sentries stood at the gate. As soon as they saw Shen Kaiyue, they raised their hands to salute. "Company Commander Shen, sir!"

Shen Kaiyue nodded and led the group into the station. The children, having slept the whole way, were quite refreshed and stuck their little heads out to look around. Su Xingye was also curious. Shen Kaiyue explained things to them as they walked.

The front area was a training ground, with various pieces of equipment: wooden sticks, single bars, large sandbags, deep pits, iron nets, and climbing frames. Behind that was a three-story office building, with people in green military uniforms constantly moving in and out. There was also a simple basketball court nearby.

Further north were the barracks, single-story brick buildings, three rows of five structures in total, connected by surrounding walls to form an independent camp area. Between the barracks and the family quarters was a large open space, which the families used for planting vegetables.

It took them twenty minutes of walking before they finally reached the family quarters.

The family quarters were very different from what Su Xingye had imagined. It wasn't like the modern residential buildings she knew. The entire area consisted of small, single-story houses, four in a row, arranged neatly in five or six rows.

Once they entered the family quarters, Shen Kaiyue stopped talking. Liu Fu led the way, reminding them, "Company Commander, did you forget which row you live in? Come this way. Children, remember, your house is the third one in the third row. Look, this is it."

As he spoke, he pushed the gate open. There was no snow in the yard, which showed it had been cleaned very well. The small yard wasn't big. There were two side rooms (east and west), plus the central great room and the west room. Apart from the central room being a bit larger and partitioned inside, the other three rooms were about the same size. The two small rooms on the south side—the outer one was neatly stacked with firewood.

It felt unexpectedly warm. Shen Jiabao was very excited. "Dad, is this our home? I like it!"

Zhou Xiaoyang and Zhou Xiaoliu were also looking around happily. Su Xingye held Shen Yueyue and spoke softly to her. "Yueyue, we're home. See, your three brothers all like it here. Do you like it, Yueyue?"

Shen Yueyue didn't speak, just looked around with her dark, intelligent eyes. Su Xingye smiled and stroked her.

As soon as they entered the central room, warm air rushed over them. Su Xingye was pleasantly surprised and confused. "Do you have heating?"

The central room was divided into inner and outer sections. The outer section was like a living room, with a five-drawer chest against the north wall, a long bench on the south side, and a wooden table. She didn't see any sign of a radiator or heating unit.

Liu Fu waved his hand in explanation. "Sister-in-law, it's a dì kàng (heated floor system). It's too cold here, and conditions are poor. There are many children and elderly people living in these quarters, so when the houses were built, they installed a dì kàng. It's heated from the east side room and the heat runs all the way to the west side room. It's not extremely warm, but it's much better than outside."

Su Xingye was already very satisfied. She had been worried that in the freezing snow, the walls would be frozen solid and the children would catch colds and get sick.

Dusk was settling, and they could smell the aroma of food as they walked. Suddenly, a bugle sounded, followed by a broadcast over a loudspeaker. Liu Fu explained, "Around here, there's a broadcast at meal times. Sister-in-law, you'll get used to it after listening a few times."

Just as he was speaking, someone knocked on the door. Liu Fu went out. Su Xingye saw that the children were starting to adapt, so she took off their hats first. Shen Kaiyue helped her, saying, "You must be tired today, so don't cook yourself. I asked someone to bring food. You all eat first; I need to go to the front."

Su Xingye was just about to ask how to cook, so this saved trouble. "Eat before you go?"

Shen Kaiyue shook his head. "You eat with the children. I'll eat at the cafeteria."

Su Xingye knew he had urgent business and didn't press him. "Alright, go take care of your work."

Shen Jiabao, hearing this, pulled Shen Kaiyue's hand. "Dad, are you going to shoot guns? I want to go too."

When he said this, the Zhou brothers' eyes lit up as well. Shen Kaiyue smiled. "It's dark. No shooting today. I'll take you to see it in a few days."

The children looked at each other and excitedly clenched their small fists. Dinner was unusually harmonious. The three boys enthusiastically discussed shooting guns, back and forth, full of anticipation. Su Xingye occasionally interjected to adjust the atmosphere, making the scene even more joyful.

But they were tired after all. After eating, with their stomachs full of warm food, the children became drowsy. Although they had slept a good amount in the car, the constant rocking meant their sleep was half-awake and of poor quality. Su Xingye saw the large kàng bed in the central room. Well, no need to separate beds. Let's all sleep together first.

Once they shed their thick clothes and burrowed into the warm quilts, uniform breathing sounds soon followed. She looked up. The three boys were already asleep. In contrast, Shen Yueyue, who was closest to her, was still looking at her with open eyes.

Su Xingye lay down and hugged her tiny body. "Yueyue, why aren't you sleeping yet?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Shen Yueyue closed her eyes, only her eyelashes still fluttering softly. Su Xingye smiled, gently patting her back. "Then let Mom tell you a story."

Shen Yueyue opened her eyes again. "Mom will tell you the story of the Obedient Little Rabbit. Once upon a time, there was a rabbit mother, and she had three little rabbit babies. Their names were Red Eyes, Long Ears, and Short Tail. One day..."

Su Xingye's voice was soothing. Halfway through the story, the little girl fell asleep. Her small face was unusually rosy. Everything was quiet.

Su Xingye, however, couldn't fall asleep. The boys had different personalities, and there was no inherent good or bad among them. As long as they were educated well, she believed they would all turn out fine. But little Yueyue was different. She could clearly hear, so why wouldn't she speak? She had discussed it with Shen Kaiyue. He said that on previous leaves, he had taken the child to large hospitals, and no physical problems were found. Is it a vocal cord issue, or a psychological one? She would have to find an opportunity to take her to a good hospital again in the future.

Thinking about this and that, Su Xingye slowly drifted off to sleep.

Late at night, when Shen Kaiyue pushed the door open, he paused at the entrance for a long time. Looking at their sleeping faces, he kept his breathing light. On the kàng bed, the children and Su Xingye were sleeping horizontally. The children were sleeping from oldest to youngest, from the inside to the outside. They looked very peaceful.

He walked in softly, tucked the blanket around the oldest, Xiaoyang, covered the exposed calves of the second one, Jiabao, put Xiaoliu's little out-stretched hands back into the quilt, and looked at his daughter's slightly curled lips. Finally, he looked at Su Xingye. She was turned toward her daughter, one hand gently holding the girl's hand, the other resting outside the quilt. She had taken out her hair tie, and her thick, dark hair was spread across the pillow, with a few strands falling onto her fair, tender cheek.

He looked back and forth between the children and her, then reached out and touched his chest. It felt intensely warm.

The night passed without a word. In the morning, sunlight streamed through the wooden window. Su Xingye stretched and woke up. That was a truly comfortable sleep. Halfway through her stretch, she was startled and quickly looked toward the side where Shen Kaiyue should have been.

He didn't come back to sleep? Then she looked at the quilt. Oh, he came back. The quilt she had left for him last night was spread out; today, it was folded into a neat 'tofu block.'

The room was quiet. The children were still sleeping. Looking at the sunlight pouring in and the room full of historical charm, Su Xingye felt as if she had crossed into another world. It turns out I really did transmigrate. And she had become the mother of four children. But there was nothing wrong with that. After all, her profession in her past life was raising children, and she loved children.

Su Xingye got up and went to the outer room, where she saw a note on the long wooden table.

'I fixed the food in the enamel basin. If it's cold, heat it up and eat. I'll be back at noon.'

Shen Kaiyue's handwriting was strong, with neat, square strokes. Su Xingye thought for a moment, found a small box, and casually put the note inside.

On the table was a white enamel basin with a peony pattern, covered with a straw lid. Shen Kaiyue probably hadn't expected them to sleep so late. He had put some hot water in the basin and set a small bowl of food inside to keep it warm. The water was already cold. Although the buns and rice porridge weren't entirely cold, they were close.

She poked her head in to check on the children. Seeing that they were still asleep, she left the room. The east side room was where the cooking happened; this would be the kitchen from now on. There was a briquette stove. Shen Kaiyue had already lit the stove and was sealing the air intake. A kettle was sitting on the stove to boil water.

Su Xingye quickly washed the pot, poured the rice porridge in, placed the steamer rack on top, and put the buns and boiled eggs on it. She opened the air intake of the stove to heat it up, then went back into the room.

The moment she entered the door, she heard Xiaoliu call for 'Mom.' Su Xingye pulled aside the curtain and entered the room. She saw the two youngest were awake, their small heads close together. Hearing her enter, they simultaneously looked over with wide, dark eyes.

"Oh, Xiaoliu and Yueyue are awake! You are better than your older brothers; those two big lazybones are still asleep. Come, Mom will dress you."

The clothes had been kept warm on the corner of the kàng. The two little ones were very cooperative and were dressed in no time. Just then, the two older boys woke up. Su Xingye was doing Shen Yueyue's hair. Seeing the two older boys turn over and look at her, she smiled at them.

"What's wrong? Are you waiting for Mom to dress you? Your clothes are at the corner of the bed, put them on yourselves."

Zhou Xiaoyang was used to being mostly unsupervised at home and knew how to dress himself. Hearing Su Xingye, he obediently sat up and started dressing.

Shen Jiabao mumbled, "You're not Mom, you're stepmother. I'll let my dad dress me."

Su Xingye snickered. "Stepmother is also a mother, and a mother can manage you. Your dad has gone to the military unit and can't dress you. You're this old and still need someone to dress you? Isn't that shameful?"

"Grandma said I'm a precious darling, so I must be waited on," Shen Jiabao argued confidently.

Su Xingye's wrists flickered. In a moment, she had braided Shen Yueyue's hair into two little pigtails on either side, tied them with small flowered ribbons, and turned to arrange her hair in front. Hearing Shen Jiabao, she gave him a side-eye.

"From today onward, the precious darling is your little sister. The three of you, as older brothers, must take care of your sister. Of course, you are all Mom and Dad's treasures, but Xiaoyang and Jiabao are the oldest and second oldest brothers, real men. You can dress yourselves."

She invoked Shen Kaiyue. "Look at Dad. He does his own things. Look how neat he folded his quilt."

This immediately drew the children's attention. Shen Jiabao stopped arguing and, mimicking Zhou Xiaoyang, got dressed. The children gathered around Shen Kaiyue's quilt to look at it. Zhou Xiaoyang's eyes flashed with surprise. "Mom, is this quilt hard?"

This child was always very perceptive and quick-witted. Su Xingye smiled, encouraging him. "Why don't you touch it?"

Zhou Xiaoyang reached out and touched it. "It's soft."

Shen Jiabao also touched it, looking proud. "My dad is really amazing."

Su Xingye watched them from the bedside. "Right? Come on, let's fold your quilts and see if you can fold them like Dad's."

The little ones immediately got to work. Of course, they couldn't fold them that perfectly.

"Because you are still small and don't have that much strength, your folding isn't as good as Dad's. As long as you eat well and get stronger, you'll be able to fold them even better than Dad. Come on, let's go wash up and eat."

Hearing 'eat,' the children stopped agonizing over the quilts and immediately climbed off the kàng to wash their faces. The others were all very cooperative. Su Xingye saw Shen Jiabao with his face tilted back, looking like a little lord, and couldn't help but laugh. "What are you waiting for?"

Shen Jiabao looked at her. "For you to wipe my face."

Dream on.

"Wiping faces is a privilege only your sister has. Look, your brother is washing his own face, and he's even helping you wipe yours. Wash it carefully yourself. If you don't clean it well, we'll eat first and won't wait for you."

Hearing this, Shen Jiabao saw that the other two were already wiping their faces. He forgot to argue and hurriedly caught up on the washing progress. Only then did they start eating.

The pot of rice porridge was warm, one bowl for each child. The buns were made of yellow flour with cabbage inside, and there were some meat scraps, not much, but still very fragrant. Boiled eggs were a luxury. Shen Jiabao saw Su Xingye feeding Shen Yueyue the rice porridge and quickly finished his own egg. Then he reached out and grabbed the two remaining eggs on the plate.

"Mine!" he shouted loudly.

Su Xingye looked at him. "Yours is finished. These are for your brother and sister."

Shen Jiabao looked at Shen Yueyue, then at Zhou Xiaoliu. "Money-loser, burden, I'm not giving you eggs to eat."

Su Xingye was so angry she laughed. She was sure someone had been talking to the little one. Otherwise, how would he know what those words meant?

"Shen Jiabao, the four of you get one egg each. Yours is finished. If you are still hungry, eat the bun. Put the eggs down."

Shen Jiabao made a face. "No!"

"Do you want a beating?" Su Xingye's face hardened.

Shen Jiabao glanced at her, suddenly stood up, and dashed into the yard. He raised his sharp, tender voice and shouted loudly, "Stepmother is hitting people! Stepmother is hitting people!"