As Jiang Hua’s consciousness drifted in and out, she suddenly felt a gaze fixed on her from the bedside. In her hazy state, she also seemed to hear breathing and the faint sound of fabric rubbing.
She frowned slightly, then, as if sensing something, unconsciously and slowly opened her eyes.
Jiang Hua’s mind was still muddled and not fully awake. She blankly swept her gaze across the darkness, then instinctively closed her eyes again.
However, in the very next second, she abruptly opened them wide. Her heart began pounding for no reason, her drowsiness instantly vanished, and her mind became extremely clear.
She clutched the corner of the quilt beside her, quietly swallowed, and held her breath as she slowly turned her head—
In the dim light, a black shadow was clearly standing at the head of her bed. Jiang Hua instantly jolted upright, so frightened that her soul almost left her body.
At that moment, the shadow spoke.
“I can’t sleep.” It was Yunkai’s voice.
Jiang Hua: ???
Jiang Hua: …
Her violently pounding heart had not yet calmed down. The lingering shock in her eyes had not faded, and even her body was trembling slightly from fright. She stared blankly at Yunkai’s shadow, opening her mouth, yet unable to make a sound.
Xu Chenghuai was awakened by the commotion. The moment he opened his eyes, he was startled as well.
He frowned, his voice heavy with sleepiness. “What are you doing?”
As he spoke, he raised his hand, grabbed a cord, and pulled it downward.
The light came on.
By the bedside, Yunkai stood stiffly upright, his young face filled with grievance and irritation.
On the bed, Jiang Hua sat with her hair disheveled, her face deathly pale, still carrying traces of lingering fear.
Jiang Hua pressed a hand to her chest and took a deep breath. Her racing heartbeat finally slowed, though her complexion was still poor.
She shot Yunkai an annoyed glance. “I was almost scared to death by your son. I opened my eyes and saw him standing silently at the bedside.”
Xu Chenghuai imagined the scene. It really was quite frightening. His gaze fell on Yunkai. “Why aren’t you sleeping in the middle of the night? What are you doing?”
“I can’t sleep.” Yunkai’s expression was deeply aggrieved.
Jiang Hua was speechless. “If you can’t sleep and really had to come find us, you could’ve woken us up. Standing at the bedside without a sound, do you know how terrifying that is?”
Yunkai pursed his lips. “You suddenly sat up and scared me too.”
Jiang Hua clenched her teeth. “…And you still think you’re in the right?”
Yunkai fell silent.
Seeing that mother and son were about to start arguing again, Xu Chenghuai helplessly pinched the bridge of his nose and quickly intervened. “Alright.” He looked at Yunkai. “Why couldn’t you sleep?”
Upon hearing that, Yunkai subconsciously glanced at Jiang Hua and could not help pursing his lips.
Actually, it wasn’t that he couldn’t sleep. He had a very strange dream, and that was what made him unable to sleep.
In the dream, his mother had not changed. She was still like before, not fond of speaking and not caring about him or his sister. He also dreamed about those two fierce and scary grandparents, secretly taking his mother’s things and giving them to the woman called Little Aunt. That woman even went to the capital city that people talked about and became someone else’s daughter.
Yunkai looked at Jiang Hua, wanting to describe the contents of the dream, but he realized that the memories that had been so clear just moments ago had already become blurry when he tried to recall them.
He knitted his small brows, feeling dejected. “I don’t remember anymore.”
Jiang Hua and Xu Chenghuai did not think too much about it. After comforting him for a while and seeing that his sleepiness had returned, Xu Chenghuai took the opportunity to bring him back to his room to sleep.
Because of this small midnight incident, Jiang Hua inevitably woke up late the next day.
She had originally planned to take the two children to buy groceries and pick up a few buns for breakfast along the way.
However, after getting out of bed and coming downstairs, there was no one at home. The vegetable basket in the kitchen was gone as well. It was obvious that Xu Chenghuai had taken the two children out.
While brushing her teeth, Jiang Hua wandered around the courtyard, looking about.
The Xu family courtyard was quite large. With careful planning, two plots of land could be arranged for growing vegetables, and a shed could be built on the side to raise chickens.
However, in her previous life, Jiang Hua had not grown vegetables. She thought Xu Chenghuai might dislike the smell because watering vegetables inevitably required mixing in some waste, otherwise the fertilizer strength would not be enough.
As for why they did not use commercial fertilizer, the answer was simple. They could not bear to spend that money.
She looked around and felt that these two plots of land could be put on the agenda. When she had time, she could tidy them up and plant some green beans, tomatoes, and eggplants. Then, whenever she wanted to eat them, she would not need to go all the way to the supply and marketing cooperative.
Just after Jiang Hua finished washing up, Xu Chenghuai returned with the two children.
Yunshu’s small face was filled with a smile, revealing teeth like grains of rice. “Mommy, we bought you buns and a cup of soy milk. Come eat quickly.”
Yunkai started rummaging through the vegetable basket. He no longer remembered what he had dreamed about last night, but he firmly remembered that Jiang Hua had been bullied and wronged.
He set the basket on the table with movements that were not very gentle. “Eat.”
He really was Xu Chenghuai’s biological son. Even when showing concern, it came out stiff and blunt, yet there was a kind of adorable contrast to it.
The power of genetics, indeed.
Jiang Hua helplessly rubbed her forehead, then shot him an annoyed look. “If you’re this cold, you won’t be able to find a wife in the future.”
Yunkai pursed his lips, not caring at all. “I don’t want a wife.” With two women already at home being this troublesome, if there were another one, would he even be able to survive?
Jiang Hua did not know what he was thinking. She glanced sideways at him. “Then you’d better remember what you said. Don’t come crying to me later when someone rejects you.”
Yunkai snorted, his young face full of disdain.
Xu Chenghuai put away the vegetables and then went out to the research institute.
Director Chen had been involved in an incident and had passed away, but the institute’s projects still had to continue. From what he said, the provincial authorities had sent two people to assist, and it seemed they were also evaluating who would be suitable to replace Director Chen. As a result, he had been very busy during this period.
He was busy, and Jiang Hua was busy as well.
Orders at Alley End were still increasing, and the demand for fabric had risen sharply. She was planning to place another batch order for fabric; otherwise, many orders would not be completed.
She handed the fabric ordering to one of the shop assistants named Shi Fangfang. It was actually very simple: place the order and pay. Jiang Hua had never thought there would be a problem.
However, unexpectedly, something she believed was foolproof really did go wrong.
As soon as Jiang Hua arrived at Alley End, Shi Fangfang anxiously came up to her and said with some difficulty, “Boss Jiang, the supply and marketing cooperative said they can’t provide us with that much fabric anymore.”
“Why?” Jiang Hua could not help frowning.
Shi Fangfang said, “They said they don’t have that much fabric, but when I was leaving, I happened to see a truck coming out of the cooperative’s yard. What was loaded on it should have been fabric.”
Jiang Hua’s movement of placing her shoulder bag on the table paused. She turned back and glanced at Shi Fangfang. “But we signed a contract with the supply and marketing cooperative. Breaching the contract requires paying compensation.”
“The problem is that they’d rather pay the compensation and still insist they don’t have fabric,” Shi Fangfang said, her face full of worry.
If Alley End ran out of fabric and could not deliver the clothes on the orders on time, they would definitely have to pay a large amount in damages. If that happened, Alley End might not be able to continue operating, and she would lose her job as well.
Jiang Hua thought for a moment, then said to Shi Fangfang, “What exactly did the supply and marketing cooperative say? Tell me everything in detail. I’ll go and find out what’s really going on.”
Her calmness steadied Shi Fangfang somewhat. She carefully recalled her experience at the cooperative the previous day and even reconstructed their dialogue bit by bit, for fear of missing anything.
As Jiang Hua listened to her description, her brows knitted more and more tightly. If things were really as Shi Fangfang said, then the supply and marketing cooperative truly was unwilling to give fabric to Alley End.
After finishing, Shi Fangfang looked at Jiang Hua with a face full of anxiety and asked, “Boss Jiang, what should we do? If we can’t get fabric in the next few days, many of our orders will be overdue.”
Jiang Hua pressed her lips together. Her gaze fell on Shi Fangfang’s face, and she patted her shoulder reassuringly. “It’s fine. I’ll think of a way. I’ll go to the supply and marketing cooperative later.”
However, she did not expect that even when she personally went to the cooperative, the response would remain the same. They stated outright that they had no way to provide fabric to Alley End. As for the breach of contract, they were very straightforward and willing to bear the penalty, without a single word of evasion.
Recalling what Shi Fangfang had said about seeing a truck hauling fabric out of the cooperative, Jiang Hua suspected that the fabric had most likely been given to someone else.
“Even if you’re willing to pay the breach compensation, you should still fulfill this batch first. How can you suddenly change things like this without giving us any time to respond?” Jiang Hua said. No matter what, they should at least finish this batch of orders.
Yet the cooperative’s apologetic attitude was sincere and earnest, but they absolutely refused to budge, firmly insisting that they did not have that much fabric.
Jiang Hua tried negotiating with the supply and marketing cooperative for two days, but their attitude never changed at all. She could not pry them loose in the slightest.
Her irritation over these two days was obvious to the naked eye.
Xu Chenghuai usually did not ask about her work, but the two children would ask her a few questions.
Jiang Hua was also willing to chat idly with the children, but these past two days, she truly had no appetite. After taking a couple of bites, she would lose interest.
Xu Chenghuai’s gaze swept over the bowl she had picked up and then put down. The hand holding his chopsticks paused subtly, and he asked, “Why must you use fabric from the supply and marketing cooperative?”
Jiang Hua froze for a moment. Clearly, she had not expected him to ask. She explained, “Fabric from the textile factory would also work, but we need such a small amount that the textile factory isn’t willing to sell to us.”
Hearing this, Xu Chenghuai nodded lightly and did not say anything more, as if he had just asked casually.
Jiang Hua did not mind and could not help letting out another sigh.
Yunshu blinked in confusion and asked in a soft, childish voice, “Then can’t we just order more fabric?”
Yunkai’s little brows were furrowed as well, clearly not understanding either.
Jiang Hua suddenly looked at them, reached out, and lightly poked the siblings on their foreheads, grinding her teeth as she said, “You two really are asking, ‘Why not eat meat porridge,’ aren’t you?”
Yunshu’s clear, bright almond eyes were full of innocence. “Mommy, what does ‘why not eat meat porridge’ mean?”
Jiang Hua shot her an annoyed look. “It means your mom doesn’t have money to buy fabric, and you’re still asking why I don’t buy more.”
Yunshu also furrowed her little brows, blinking as if she half understood, still looking as naive and adorable as ever.
Xu Chenghuai, who was beside them, only listened quietly.
Jiang Hua was irritated and unhappy, and the two children were affected as well. At such a young age, they had already learned to sigh.
The little girl lay on the bed, playing with the small beads Grandma Qian had given her, and said gloomily, “Brother, how do you think we can earn money? I want to help Mommy.”
Yunkai was worried too. He lay on the bed in the same position, fiddling with the embroidered pouch holding the beads. “I don’t know. I see a lot of people setting up stalls on the street selling small trinkets.”
Yunshu grew even more troubled. “But we don’t have anything to sell.”
Yunkai thought for a moment, then suddenly sat up on the bed, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Yunshu. “I have an idea!”