From upstairs, Zhao Xiaomian called out loudly to warn the two little terrors not to wander off. Then she went back inside and, relying on the original owner’s memories, searched for her savings.
In the 1980s, many people still had the habit of keeping cash hidden at home. The original owner was no exception. Zhao Xiaomian found a handkerchief-wrapped bundle of money tucked inside a quilt at the bottom of the wardrobe. When she opened it, a thick wad of bills came into view. There had to be at least a thousand yuan!
She counted carefully. Eleven hundred!
A thousand of it had come from the original owner’s female cousin. And the cousin had Chen Jianye’s father to thank for being able to give her such a large sum.
Before the Cultural Revolution began ten years earlier, the cousin’s parents had both held jobs. After the revolution, they were denounced, lost their jobs, and had their salaries stopped. When the turmoil finally ended, Chen Jianye’s father helped clear their names. The government then paid them every cent of the back wages they were owed.
The cousin’s father alone received several thousand yuan in back pay!
Zhao Xiaomian put the money away, planning to deposit it in the bank another day. She then took out the original owner’s clothes and familiarized herself with them. After sorting everything, she began getting to know the little details of the household.
She had no idea whether she could fool Chen Jianye after becoming a completely different person, but she couldn’t exactly reveal herself the moment they came face-to-face. Chen Jianye wasn’t as superstitious as her original self’s mother, but that didn’t mean he’d accept the idea that the woman he married had been replaced by someone else.
To be safe, she had better keep up the act for as long as she could.
“I don’t believe you!”
Chen Xiaofei’s voice came from downstairs.
Zhao Xiaomian wasn’t surprised. If this boy could behave himself for even half a day, wouldn’t that mean all the original owner’s efforts to spoil him over the past six months had gone to waste?
She came out of the children’s bedroom and called from the doorway, “Chen Xiaofei, what are you up to now? If you don’t want to play, come upstairs!”
“I never said I didn’t want to play!”
Chen Xiaofei answered before slinging an arm around the shoulders of the little boy across from him. The two headed toward the bicycle shed on the west side. Chen Xiaodan skipped after them, followed by the A Mao siblings Zhao Xiaomian had seen at lunchtime.
With nothing else to do and having already gotten enough sleep, Zhao Xiaomian noticed the dirty clothes in the basin. She carried it downstairs along with a washboard, a laundry beater, and a bar of soap.
After scrubbing and beating the two little terrors’ filthy clothes clean, she reminded them once more not to leave the courtyard, then carried the basin upstairs.
Back in the apartment, she saw that only one eggplant remained beneath the cutting board, and there were no vegetables left in the cupboard. She went into the bedroom, opened the desk drawer, and took out a notebook. Some living expenses were tucked inside.
Money from Chen Jianye.
Although Chen Jianye despised the original owner and his wife, he hadn’t taken his resentment out on the children. Every month, as soon as he received his salary, he gave the original owner a sum for household expenses.
The original owner had never touched it, because she wanted to curry favor with him. She’d been using her own salary to cover the family’s expenses for the past six months.
Zhao Xiaomian couldn’t help muttering, “Saving money for a man? What a fool.”
She took out the ten-yuan bills one by one, rolled them up, and tucked them into the pockets of the winter coats in the wardrobe. She set aside two yuan in small change and put the rest in the lower compartment of the cabinet, where it would be easy to reach whenever she needed it.
The sudden chime of the clock broke the silence. Since she still wasn’t used to the sound, Zhao Xiaomian jumped.
This won’t do, she thought.
She walked back and forth between the rooms a few times. Once she finally felt at home, she happened to glance at the chiming clock and realized it was already past five.
Even after five, the sun hadn’t set yet during the dog days of summer. Zhao Xiaomian didn’t feel like going out to buy groceries, but she couldn’t bear the thought of eating eggplant again.
After thinking it over, she picked up the washbasin and a vegetable basket and headed downstairs.
As she set the basin on the washstand to fill it with water, she waved to the two little terrors.
Those two little brats had been playing so hard that they’d developed a dark ring around their necks. Once they got tired and stopped running around, they’d inevitably start scratching. If they scratched themselves raw and swollen, she’d be the one stuck dealing with the younger little terror’s crying.
After cleaning them up, Zhao Xiaomian left the washbasin and towels beneath the windowsill of A Mao’s family’s apartment. Then she picked up the vegetable basket and took the children out to buy groceries.
Chen Xiaofei didn’t want to go, but Zhao Xiaomian reminded him that they were going to buy a watermelon. The boy immediately followed.
After leaving the courtyard of the tenement building, Zhao Xiaomian asked what he’d been arguing about with the other child earlier.
Chen Xiaofei fiddled with the cards in his hand. They were printed with scenes from Havoc in Heaven.
“He wanted to borrow these. He said he’d give them back after playing with them for a while. As if I’d believe that! Yesterday, I lent him two cards, and today he told me someone had stolen them. When I asked who, he said he didn’t know. How could he forget who’d gone to his house? He just doesn’t want to give them back!”
Zhao Xiaomian thought the cards looked familiar. Taking a closer look, she realized the original owner had bought them for him.
“How many cards are missing from the set?”
“Missing…” Chen Xiaofei paused, then looked at her expectantly. “Are you going to buy me another set?”
“I’ll draw the missing ones for you.”
“Forget it! I don’t want them!” Chen Xiaofei rolled his eyes at her. “I want a popsicle!”
“You don’t.”
“I want a popsicle!” Chen Xiaofei raised his voice.
His shouting gave Zhao Xiaomian a headache.
“Then you can choose between a watermelon and a popsicle. Only one.”
Chen Xiaodan answered before her brother could.
“Popsicle!”
“But by the time your father gets home from work, the popsicle will have melted. If we buy a watermelon, we can chill it in water. It’ll be ready for him to eat when he gets home and wants something refreshing.”
“Can’t we buy both a watermelon and popsicles?” Chen Xiaofei asked.
Zhao Xiaomian wasn’t going to indulge the children the way their wicked original stepmother had.
“Who was it that had a stomachache in the middle of the night a few days ago?”
Chen Xiaofei felt guilty but didn’t want to admit it.
“Let’s buy a watermelon. My dad likes watermelon.”
There was a vegetable market a few hundred meters south of the tenement building. Zhao Xiaomian walked quickly, and the two children skipped along without falling behind. Before long, they could see the market.
However, several people were selling vegetables in an alley about ten meters away from the entrance. There were men and women, young and old. They had probably only recently started doing business and were too embarrassed to call out to customers. One by one, they watched Zhao Xiaomian hopefully, looking just as shy as she had when she’d gone looking for work after graduating from high school in her previous life.
Zhao Xiaomian figured they wouldn’t cheat her by using false weights. After stopping to ask their prices and finding that they were cheaper than those at the state-run market, she decided to buy from them.
She bought cucumbers, tomatoes, long beans, and several other vegetables to use as ingredients, along with a few sweet melons. The little basket was almost full, so she took the children back.
Chen Xiaofei muttered, “You don’t keep your word.”
Zhao Xiaomian ignored him. He then tried to persuade his sister not to learn from the bad woman.
In fact, Zhao Xiaomian had spotted someone selling watermelons from a handcart at an intersection earlier. When they passed the same spot on their way back, she stopped and looked into the distance. The seller was still there.
She took the two children over and bought a large watermelon weighing about ten jin.
Zhao Xiaomian carried the watermelon, while the two children worked together to carry the vegetable basket. By the time they reached the tenement building, they were panting with exhaustion.
Zhao Xiaomian took the basket from them and told them to carry the washbasin. The children, who were eager to get upstairs and lie down, didn’t even try to bargain with her.
Zhao Xiaomian first pulled out the stove and set the rice to steam. Then she washed the watermelon and cut it in half. She put one half in the cupboard and let the children share the other half to cool off.
After eating her fill, Zhao Xiaomian belched and gathered up the watermelon rinds. She planned to take them downstairs and throw them away before they attracted flies.
Chen Xiaofei stopped her.
Zhao Xiaomian didn’t understand. What kind of trouble was the elder little terror planning this time?
“Didn’t you say watermelon rind could be stir-fried into a dish?”
Zhao Xiaomian thought about it. He was right.
“That doesn’t mean we have to eat it every day.”
Chen Xiaofei had thought she’d forgotten. He didn’t want to eat watermelon rind either. He was just afraid she’d remember later and turn around to blame him for not reminding her.
“What’s for dinner?” he asked casually.
“There are still a few eggs in the cupboard. I’ll make tomato and egg over rice, and we’ll have smashed cucumbers on the side.”
Chen Xiaofei liked tomato and egg.
“Then you can go downstairs.”
Zhao Xiaomian had just thrown the watermelon rinds into the trash bin downstairs when a twenty-eight-inch bicycle rolled in through the entrance.
She looked up. The man riding it had long legs and stood about half a head taller than her. His facial features were well-proportioned, and he looked about her age. Unfortunately, he was wearing a hard hat and a dusty work uniform. He looked as though he’d just come back from a construction site.
According to the original owner’s memories, about thirty percent of the residents in this building were involved in the river management project. This man was probably one of them.
She just wondered whether he had a girlfriend.
The man shot Zhao Xiaomian a deeply hostile glare, locked his bicycle, and headed upstairs.
Zhao Xiaomian was speechless.
What was wrong with him? Hadn’t she merely looked at him for a moment? Was it as if she’d taken a chunk out of him?
What a petty man. No wonder he didn’t have a girlfriend!
Zhao Xiaomian followed him with her eyes and rolled hers. The man entered the apartment beside the staircase on the second floor. Just then, the two little terrors ran out of the apartment.
Zhao Xiaomian froze.
Chen Jianye?!
Well, this was awkward.
She couldn’t help cursing the original owner in her head.
According to the original owner’s memories, she knew what Chen Jianye looked like. But deep down, she’d always despised him, believing he was slick-tongued and couldn’t possibly make a good husband. As a result, the image of Chen Jianye in her memories was blurred, colored by her dislike of him and tinged with a certain unpleasantness.
She’d married a man she didn’t even like just to become the daughter-in-law of a high-ranking official. And she’d taken on the role of mother to his two children, too. Wasn’t that just asking for trouble?
What a mess!
After a long while, the heat in her face finally faded in the warm breeze. Zhao Xiaomian let out a long breath and resigned herself to going upstairs.
When she reached the apartment and met Chen Jianye’s eyes, she felt awkward all over again. She suddenly realized that pretending to be someone else in front of anyone was going to be difficult.
She didn’t want to keep pretending.
At worst, she’d tell him that this was her true personality and that she’d only been acting like a virtuous, considerate wife before. Although Chen Jianye and the original owner had both been sent to the countryside in the same place for seven or eight years, the original owner had disliked him and rarely interacted with him. Chen Jianye didn’t know her very well, so he might actually believe her excuse.
Besides, Zhao Xiaomian wanted nothing from the Chen family. She wasn’t afraid of offending anyone, including Chen Jianye’s high-ranking father. With the campaign against serious criminal activities underway, even a high-ranking official wouldn’t dare do anything to an ordinary citizen like her just because she’d angered him.
So why should she put up with this?
Chen Xiaofei’s mocking laughter reached her ears. Zhao Xiaomian turned and threatened him.
“Keep laughing, and I’ll sew your mouth shut.”
Chen Xiaofei wasn’t afraid. He even pulled faces at her.
Zhao Xiaomian glared at him, then went to wash the tomatoes and cucumbers.
Chen Xiaofei squatted beside her, with Chen Xiaodan squatting on her other side. When Chen Jianye opened the apartment door, he saw the three of them from the side.
He found the scene rather strange. In the past, Zhao Xiaomian had been so busy trying to please Xiaofei that she wouldn’t have dared threaten him. Why was she suddenly acting this way?
And Xiaofei, who usually disliked Zhao Xiaomian, hadn’t even talked back.
Chen Jianye decided he’d have a word with his son later. Then he closed the door again.
Zhao Xiaomian placed the washed cucumbers and tomatoes on the cutting board. Chen Jianye picked up the watermelon rinds, dirty clothes, and washbasin and carried them downstairs.
Zhao Xiaomian turned to the elder little terror.
“Where are your dirty clothes?”
“Dad’s washing them?” Chen Xiaofei asked, sounding as though his stepmother should have been the one to wash his clothes.
“Are you not your father’s child?”
“But Dad’s been working all day. He’s tired.” Chen Xiaofei reminded her, “You said we shouldn’t bother Dad.”
“I’ve given you two baths each, washed your clothes, and now I still have to make dinner. Am I not tired? Do you think I’m made of iron?”
“So you’ve finally shown your true colors! Auntie was right. She didn’t lie to me after all!” Chen Xiaofei stared at her wide-eyed.
“Am I a wicked stepmother? If your aunt is so wonderful, why doesn’t she take you to stay at her house for the summer vacation?”
Chen Xiaofei was struck speechless.
“Do you want some sweet-and-sour tomato and egg?”
“You’re the best stepmother in the world! Happy now?” Chen Xiaofei said helplessly. He picked up his clothes and led his sister downstairs.
Zhao Xiaomian chopped the tomatoes and smashed the cucumbers.
After dinner, Chen Jianye put down his chopsticks and got up.
This time, Zhao Xiaomian didn’t give him a chance to sneak away.
“Wash the pot and dishes.”
Chen Jianye looked at her in astonishment, as though he’d seen a ghost.
Chen Xiaofei suddenly realized he had the perfect opportunity to complain.
“Stepmom said our good days were over.”
Chen Jianye let out a cold laugh.
“So she’s finally stopped pretending?”
Zhao Xiaomian had been about to say, I wasn’t pretending.
But then memories of the original owner’s disgust toward Chen Jianye, along with her recent habit of obeying his every whim, flashed through her mind. She immediately understood what he meant.
Wonderful!
Heaven is on my side!
Zhao Xiaomian practically cheered inwardly.
“That’s right. I can’t keep it up anymore. Are you going to wash the dishes or not? If not, leave them there. There’s still enough tableware in the cupboard for breakfast tomorrow.”
Chen Jianye truly despised the original owner and couldn’t be bothered to argue with her. He gathered the dishes and chopsticks, put them in the pot in the hallway, and carried the whole thing downstairs.
Chen Xiaofei couldn’t believe his eyes.
How could his father be so obedient? Could it be that the bad woman hadn’t lied to him? His father really needed her and didn’t dare divorce her!
Good heavens!
Xiaofei’s good days really are over!
“Chen Xiaofei, what are you doing?”
Seeing the boy standing with his hands clasped together as if praying to the gods made Zhao Xiaomian both exasperated and amused.
“Are you praying for a bolt of lightning to strike me dead? Get a rag and wipe the table!”
She turned to Chen Xiaodan.
“And what are you going to do?”
Chen Xiaodan picked up the broom.
Chen Xiaofei not only fetched a rag from the hallway but also brought over the dustpan. The siblings carefully cleaned the entire apartment.
Zhao Xiaomian let them off the hook.
“Go play.”
Chen Xiaofei took his sister downstairs. By then, Chen Jianye had finished washing the dishes. He stepped in front of the children, blocking their way, so the siblings had no choice but to stop.
Chen Jianye lowered his voice.
“What happened today? Why did Zhao Xiaomian suddenly stop pretending?”
Chen Xiaofei looked guilty.
“Nothing happened.”
“Did you get into trouble again?” Chen Jianye stared at his son. “Chen Xiaofei, I’ve told you before: honesty is the best policy!”
Chen Xiaofei didn’t dare keep anything from him.
“Dad, bend down a little.”
Then, covering his mouth with one hand, he explained that Zhao Xiaomian had suffered heatstroke that day and needed Huoxiang Zhengqi Oral Liquid. She’d ordered him to get it, but he hadn’t listened. That had made her so angry she’d decided to become a wicked stepmother.
Chen Jianye suspected there was more to the story.
“That’s all? Chen Xiaofei, that doesn’t sound like you.”
Chen Xiaofei felt upset and didn’t want to talk about it.
“Do I really have to tell you?”
Chen Jianye nodded.
Chen Xiaofei was afraid of getting beaten, so he didn’t mention pushing Zhao Xiaomian down. Instead, he went straight to the part where she’d told him his mother wasn’t coming back.
Whenever he talked about that, Chen Xiaofei felt like crying. Chen Xiaodan, standing beside him, had tears in her eyes, too.
“I told you that already,” Chen Jianye said.
“I thought you were just angry because Mom and Stepmom had set you up, so you said that on purpose!” Chen Xiaofei had always admired his father’s education and believed that Zhao Xiaomian had forced herself on him.
“What else did she say?”
Chen Xiaofei replied, “She said that even though our birth mother was gone, we had a stepmother now. So we still had a mother.”
Chen Jianye found that strangely amusing.
“Did she hit you?”
Chen Xiaofei didn’t want to lie to his poor father.
“No. She even gave us baths and washed our clothes. And the food she made at lunch was just as delicious as dinner.”
Chen Jianye didn’t have time to look after the children himself, and there was no guarantee a hired nanny would know the family as well as Zhao Xiaomian did.
“Get along with her. It’s fine if you don’t like her. Just think of her as someone we’ve hired to look after you.”
Those words matched what Zhao Xiaomian had told him earlier. Chen Xiaofei had no choice but to believe that his family really did need her.
“I understand, Dad.”
“Go play.”
Chen Jianye went upstairs and headed straight into the apartment.
Zhao Xiaomian stared at the closed door and thought to herself:
May you get heatstroke!
The next morning, Chen Jianye still ignored Zhao Xiaomian. She had no intention of chasing after him and trying to win his favor, either.
But he didn’t skip a single chore. He washed the pots and dishes, cleaned the vegetables, and even prepared the fruit after breakfast—sweet melons.
After Chen Jianye left, Zhao Xiaomian put hats on the two children and took them downstairs.
She had a bicycle of her own, with a small seat mounted in front. She put Chen Xiaodan in the seat, then watched as Chen Xiaofei climbed onto the back. Once they were settled, she pushed the bicycle out.
Fortunately, she’d learned to ride a bicycle in her previous life, and her height was the same in this life. Handling a twenty-eight-inch bicycle wasn’t difficult for her.
Following the route she remembered, she rode northwest for a little over twenty minutes, covering roughly ten li, before stopping outside a residential compound.
The compound had been completed three years earlier and was located north of East Lake. It had lovely scenery, and the people who lived there were no ordinary residents. They were all leading officials from the provincial government.
Her father-in-law, Chen Yikai, lived in the third-floor apartment of the second building after the entrance. It was a spacious four-bedroom, two-living-room home.
As soon as Zhao Xiaomian stopped the bicycle, Chen Xiaofei swung himself down and ran inside.
“Wait for your sister!”
Zhao Xiaomian didn’t need to worry about someone stealing the bicycle, so she didn’t bother locking it. She lifted Chen Xiaodan off the seat and handed her to Chen Xiaofei.
The two children hurried upstairs. Zhao Xiaomian followed at a leisurely pace.
When she reached the second floor, she heard a woman’s delighted cry from above.
“Xiaofei! Xiao Dan! Come in, quickly!”
The door slammed shut.
Zhao Xiaomian figured the woman wouldn’t dare lock it, so she wasn’t in a hurry.
Sure enough, the door hadn’t been bolted from the inside. Zhao Xiaomian opened it, and her mother-in-law’s gentle voice rang out again.
“Has Xiao Dan lost weight?”
Zhao Xiaomian paused, then closed the door behind her.
“Yes, she has. Xiao Dan, tell Grandma to buy you some meat so you can put on some weight.”
The living room fell silent.
Zhao Xiaomian gave a quiet snort to herself and strolled inside. The woman sitting on the two-seater sofa turned to look at her.
She appeared to be around fifty. Her black hair was neatly combed, without a strand out of place, and she had a gentle air about her. Although she was getting on in years, it was clear she’d been quite attractive when she was younger.
Unfortunately, her eyes held no warmth.
This was Chen Jianye’s mother, Du Nian—Zhao Xiaomian’s bargain-basement mother-in-law.
Du Nian greeted her coolly. “You’re here.”
Then she turned away, drew her grandson and granddaughter into her arms, and asked what they’d eaten for breakfast.
The few eggs left in the apartment had been used by Zhao Xiaomian to make dinner the night before. That morning, they’d only had rice soup and stir-fried eggplant.
Du Nian frowned slightly.
“You’re both growing children. How can you get by on food like that?”
Here we go again. Chen Jianye’s mother never knows when to stop, does she? Zhao Xiaomian rolled her eyes inwardly. These days, plenty of families can’t even afford to eat their fill. What’s wrong with the children eating this?
“You’re right. They should have some meat. Have you bought any, Mom? If not, I’ll go get some.”
Du Nian could tell Zhao Xiaomian was deliberately trying to provoke her. She was a little puzzled. What had gotten into her today? Normally, Zhao Xiaomian wouldn’t dare speak to her like this.
“I’ve bought some. I wouldn’t dare trouble you.”
Du Nian’s gaze swept over Zhao Xiaomian before settling on the space behind her.
“Where’s Jianye?”
Zhao Xiaomian suddenly remembered that it was the weekend. Chen Jianye should have the day off.
Could he really despise me so much that he’s even gone out to avoid me on his day off?