Chen Zhiyi walked up to Lu Zheng, her tone hard to read, yet her words made no secret of her frustration with him.
“Ah Zheng, don’t you think you went a bit too far this time? Just for a pocket watch, you spent fifteen hundred yuan buying it from that… from that fat woman?”
She had bottled it up while others were around, but now that they were alone, she finally let her resentment spill over.
Lu Zheng paused, startled. He stood up, looked at Chen Zhiyi, and held out his hand. “Give it back to me.”
“What?” Chen Zhiyi asked, caught off guard.
“The watch. Hand it back to me.” His tone was flat, showing no intention of addressing her complaint.
His indifferent attitude only stoked her anger. “Lu Zheng! What is that supposed to mean?”
The gentle, soft-spoken woman she used to be had faded. Worn down by the friction of marriage, Chen Zhiyi had gradually become just another disgruntled wife complaining about her husband’s extravagant spending.
“The pocket watch,” Lu Zheng repeated, his brows knit tight.
Taking a deep breath, Chen Zhiyi swallowed her anger and placed the watch Su Mian had handed her into his palm.
The moment his fingers closed around the pocket watch, Lu Zheng felt a wave of calm settle over his chest.
“Ah Zheng, shall we head home?” After a long silence, Chen Zhiyi shifted back into her gentle, accommodating self—her mood swinging faster than the weather.
The answer she had been so desperate to know earlier suddenly didn’t seem to matter as much anymore.
Lu Zheng looked at her in silence for a moment before slipping the watch into his pocket. Together, they walked toward the car parked by the curb and drove off.
On the other side of town, Su Mian and the two kids were almost home in their hired tricycle cart.
Taking a private ride was certainly much faster—it had taken nearly an hour just to reach the trading market by bus earlier.
Once the cart pulled up, she paid the driver, took the children by the hand, and headed straight for the small local market near the shantytown to buy rice and vegetables.
She couldn’t keep buying prepared food forever. Besides, Su Mian was a great cook herself; eating takeout always felt a bit lacking, and it never quite filled them up.
The market here was modest, with a limited variety of produce and a pitifully small selection of meat. It made sense, though—this was a impoverished neighborhood where many families could barely afford plain rice, let alone meat.
After picking up a few pounds of rice and flour, along with some vegetables and a small cut of meat, Su Mian led the two kids back home.
On the walk back, Dabao couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer. “Mommy… are we having meat for dinner tonight?” he asked softly.
The cautious, hopeful tone in his voice broke Su Mian’s heart.
“Yes, we’re having meat tonight,” Su Mian assured him with a warm smile. “Mommy is going to cook something delicious for you, and I promise both of you will eat until your tummies are full!”
Hearing this, Xiaobao clapped her little hands in excitement.
Su Mian’s eyes crinkled into a smile at the sight.
Back inside their home, Su Mian immediately set to work building a fire to cook rice. She had scrubbed all the pots, pans, and utensils clean during yesterday’s big chore day, so she didn’t have to waste time doing a deep clean today.
Dabao couldn’t sit still. Seeing his mother busy, he scampered over to hand her pieces of firewood.
“Oh, thank you, Dabao,” Su Mian said, taking the wood with a grin as she patted his head.
Seeing this, Xiaobao hurried over too, leaning her head forward in an obvious plea for her turn.
“Xiaobao is a good girl too,” Su Mian chuckled, patting both of their heads before finally getting the pot of rice onto the fire.
Soon, the rich aroma of cooking rice began to fill the room. The two kids played near the doorway for a bit before darting back inside just to check—there really was rice cooking, and it smelled amazing!
Meanwhile, Su Mian was busy preparing the ingredients for the main dish.
Judging that the rice was nearly done, she lifted the pot off the iron stand and set it beside the fire pit to rest, letting the residual heat finish it off for better flavor.
Next, she set the wok over the fire.
Thank goodness she had remembered to buy cooking oil, salt, and seasonings earlier—the house had been stripped bare, with not a single ingredient left in the pantry.
She tossed two more logs into the fire pit, poured oil into the hot wok, and began to cook.
The moment the oil hit the hot metal, a rich, savory aroma filled the room. When Su Mian added the sliced pork into the pan, the kids completely lost interest in playing and crowded around her to watch.
She had chosen a nice slab of pork belly today, pairing it with some fresh green peppers for a classic stir-fry.
Living in Xiangcheng, who didn’t love a bit of spice?
The moment the kids stepped into the kitchen, Su Mian tossed the green peppers into the wok. A wave of spicy steam billowed up, making both children break into a sudden fit of coughing.
Yet despite the stinging air, the smell was so tantalizing that neither of them wanted to move away. They stood right beside Su Mian, wide-eyed as they watched her toss the wok.
Xiaobao couldn’t speak, but that didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate good food. Staring intently at the glistening meat in the pan, a drop of drool unceremoniously leaked from the corner of her mouth.
Turning around to grab the seasonings, Su Mian caught her in the act and nearly burst out laughing.
“Oh sweetie, dinner’s almost ready! Just hold on a second,” Su Mian chuckled, gently wiping the drool from her daughter’s chin.
After adding a splash of soy sauce and a pinch of salt, Su Mian plated the stir-fry and set it on the table.
The two children immediately scrambled onto the low wooden stools, staring blankly at the steaming dish in front of them.
Su Mian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Still, she understood—the poor things hadn’t eaten anything this good in years while living with her past self.
“Mommy just needs to whip up one quick vegetable dish, and then we can eat. It’ll only take a minute, okay?” Su Mian walked over, leaned down to kiss each of their cheeks, and turned back to the stove.
The two kids sat dazed on their stools, looking back and forth at each other.
Not even two minutes had passed before Xiaobao hopped down and trotted back over to Su Mian, clinging to her side.
Just yesterday, the little girl had been terrified of her, but today she was like velcro.
Last night, Su Mian had slept with both children tucked into her arms, one on each side. Sleeping wrapped in her mother’s warmth had been the sweetest experience Xiaobao had ever known.
Mommy has become so nice, Xiaobao thought. I want to stay with Mommy forever. As long as I’m good and stay close, Mommy will keep being nice to me.
Because she couldn’t speak, Xiaobao was far more sensitive and reliant on others than her brother. In the past, when Su Mian was mean to her, the little girl had felt mostly fear toward her mother and leaned heavily on Dabao instead. But now that Su Mian was showing her love, all that attachment shifted straight to her mother.
Looking down at her daughter quietly standing by her leg, Su Mian smiled gently. “Is Xiaobao hungry? Be a good girl, Mommy’s almost done.”
For the second dish, Su Mian kept it simple with a quick stir-fried green vegetable. Even though she had earned some money from selling the watch, she had two little mouths to feed, so she needed to budget wisely.
Until she tracked down the children’s father, she didn’t dare spend recklessly.