Chapter 20 p2
Taking away someone’s money was like taking their life. They had done it on purpose, using Jingyan to make him and Xu Baoli divorce, then finding him an honest and easy-going wife to regain control of his household expenses.
The most pitiful one was Jingyan, who had become a pawn for the old house. Xu Baoli was also a fool to have dared to abuse Jingyan. Or was she also doing it on purpose?
He Qiming took a deep breath, suppressing the anger in his heart. He turned his head to look at his fair-skinned and beautiful wife.
His aunt, father, and mother had misjudged again this time. Everyone said that Qingzhi had a good temper, as if she were a glutinous rice ball. But after getting to know her, He Qiming found that she was a woman with a very strong will.
It was probably because she had no man at home, couldn’t rely on her own family or her in-laws, and had to protect her two children, that Qingzhi had suppressed her temper and had to swallow her grievances without daring to fight back.
He held Ye Qingzhi’s hand, their fingers intertwined, and made a solemn promise, “Wife, from now on, I’ll be here for you. You don’t have to suppress your nature anymore.”
A hint of confusion flashed in Ye Qingzhi’s eyes. In such a short time, what had he imagined again?
But his words were exactly what she wanted. She was not the original host. After three months in the village, pretending to be that virtuous and gentle little wife, she was about to explode.
She turned slightly and snuggled into He Qiming’s arms. “Mm, Qiming, I’m so lucky to have met you.”
Men needed to be praised. Anyway, saying nice things didn’t cost money.
“As for my parents, when we split the family, we agreed to give them five yuan a month. I gave them ten before because the two children were at home. From now on, I’ll just give them five. As for other things… we’ve already split the family. They can’t control us,” He Qiming said. He was almost grateful to his ex-wife. If she hadn’t made a fuss, it wouldn’t have been so easy for him to split the family.
Ye Qingzhi was also grateful to the ex-wife in her heart. She had practically paved the way for her. Of course, abusing a child was unforgivable.
“I’ll listen to you,” Ye Qingzhi said gently.
Giving less money, of course, she had to listen to He Qiming.
The sleeper berths on the train were very narrow, and it was a bit uncomfortable for two adults to squeeze together. He Qiming and Ye Qingzhi chatted for a while, then he carried the little pig Yangyang back and slept with Anjie himself.
They had gone to bed early, so the few children woke up before dawn. But they were all very well-behaved, getting dressed by themselves and playing quietly.
Ye Qingzhi stretched. Her eyes met He Qiming’s opposite her. She immediately covered her face. She had forgotten He Qiming was here. She wondered if she had any sleep in her eyes.
“You’re awake? Come on, let’s take the children to wash up,” He Qiming said with a light laugh, handing Ye Qingzhi a comb.
The three older ones could take care of themselves. The younger one was taken care of by Jingyan and Anmin, so Ye Qingzhi didn’t have to do anything. After the two of them had washed up, they had the little ones wash up and go back to the compartment first, while they went to see what was for breakfast.
One of the benefits of taking the train at this time was that you didn’t need grain tickets to eat. Ye Qingzhi hadn’t known this before and had made rice balls at home and also boiled tea eggs. It was a good thing she hadn’t made too much because of the hot weather. Otherwise, it would have been a real waste.
“What do you want to eat?” He Qiming asked, looking at the menu on the notice board.
“Porridge and buns, and wontons? Let’s have two more bowls of wontons,” Ye Qingzhi said, looking at the breakfast options. She wanted to eat everything.
“Do you want wheat cakes? Let’s have two of those too. Don’t worry, there are so many of us, we can finish it,” He Qiming said, buying two more wheat cakes.
Seeing so much delicious food, the few children’s eyes lit up, especially the two little foodies, Anjie and Yangyang. They were eating with their mouths, holding food in their hands, and their eyes were still fixed on the lunchboxes.
“Eat slowly. There’s a lot here,” Ye Qingzhi said, afraid the two children would choke.
At noon and in the evening, a dining car would come by. You could order whatever dishes you wanted.
In fact, there were only four dishes and one soup, but today there was braised pork. One ticket was limited to one portion. Seeing the children’s eager looks, Ye Qingzhi directly ordered three portions.
She also ordered one portion of the other dishes and the soup. With He Qiming here, she wasn’t afraid there wouldn’t be enough to eat.
At a little past eight in the evening, the empty sleeper berth in their compartment got a new owner. It was an older woman in her fifties, followed by a young wife in her early thirties, carrying large and small bags.
“Why are there so many children?” the older woman frowned and looked at the woman unhappily. “How did you buy the tickets? Don’t you know I’m a light sleeper and can’t sleep with the slightest noise?”
Ye Qingzhi frowned. If you’re afraid of noise, why don’t you buy four tickets and book the whole compartment? Ordering people around here like an empress dowager.
Ye Qingzhi was not one to be trifled with. She directly retorted, “Ma’am, please lower your voice. You’re disturbing my sleep. You’re so old, how can you have no manners at all?”
“Who are you calling mannerless? Don’t you know how to respect the old and love the young?” The older woman was so angry she jumped up and down.
Ye Qingzhi raised an eyebrow, still unhurried, and said in a soft, gentle voice, “Ma’am, it’s very rude of you to be so loud. I don’t know if you’re old or not, but there are four children here. Shouldn’t you love the young? Oh, oh, Yangyang, don’t be afraid.”
Just then, Yangyang moved a little. Ye Qingzhi immediately patted his shoulder, then shot a look at the older woman, as if to say, “You woke up my child,” which made the older woman even more furious.
“Calm down, calm down. Sister, my mother-in-law didn’t mean it. We have a lot of children at home, and she’s just scared of being disturbed by them. Your children certainly won’t be like that. They look very well-behaved,” the woman explained gently.
“I don’t care what you mean. My children are already asleep. Please be quiet and don’t wake them up,” Ye Qingzhi said coldly.
If you respect me an inch, I’ll respect you a foot. If you destroy a grain of my rice, I’ll take three pecks of yours. That was Ye Qingzhi’s nature.
If this older woman had spoken nicely just now, Ye Qingzhi would have been reasonable too. But since she had come in looking for trouble, then sorry, she would definitely give her a taste of her own medicine.
He Qiming had gone to the toilet to take a shower. He came over when he heard the noise. The argument was already over.
“What’s going on?”
He Qiming was over 1.8 meters tall, a small giant in the Jiangnan region. And he had really been on the battlefield. Standing there, with his imposing aura, the older woman and her daughter-in-law didn’t dare to say a word.
“It’s nothing. It’s getting late. Let’s go to sleep,” Ye Qingzhi said. They were away from home and had several children with them. Since she hadn’t suffered a loss, she didn’t want to escalate the problem.
The young wife opened her mouth. They had bought the upper berths, but her mother-in-law was old and had trouble with her legs. She wanted to switch with Ye Qingzhi and the others for the lower berths. But they had just argued, so she was too embarrassed to ask.
After being glared at by her mother-in-law several times, she looked at her timidly. “Sister, my name is Liu Yuqin. This is my mother-in-law. She’s a bit old and it’s inconvenient for her to sleep on the upper berth. Can I switch places with you?”
Ye Qingzhi glanced at the woman who was holding her chin up, her eyes full of contempt for them, and said directly, “It’s not convenient. It’s too dangerous for my children to sleep on the upper berth.”
“Why won’t you switch with me?” Zhang Dama asked loudly.
He Qiming was about to get up but was pulled back by Ye Qingzhi. It wasn’t appropriate for a man to confront an old woman.
“Why should I switch with you? The lower berth costs a dozen or so yuan more than the upper berth. Who are you to me? And didn’t you hear? I have so many children. It’s not safe for them to sleep on the upper berth,” Ye Qingzhi said, still unhurried.
The calmer Ye Qingzhi was, the more unreasonable Zhang Dama seemed, and the angrier she got.
“Why are you making so much noise at night instead of sleeping?” someone from the next compartment shouted loudly.
Just then, the conductor and the railway police came over. “What are you doing not sleeping?”
“Comrade, this older woman has been shouting since she came in. Now she’s forcing these comrades to switch beds with her,” a woman in her thirties with dark skin but very pretty features came out from the next compartment.
“Don’t talk nonsense,” Zhang Dama shouted loudly.
The pretty woman pointed at the older woman and said, “Comrades, look.”
“I saw it. Ma’am, please stop making noise. Everyone is sleeping. This is a warning. If you disturb others again, I have the right to fine you. Also, you can’t switch places. You have to stay in the seat number on your ticket,” the conductor said, then left with the railway police.
Zhang Dama was furious, but Ye Qingzhi was not to be trifled with. She could only turn around and curse Liu Yuqin in a low voice.
She said she was cursing her, but in fact, a lot of it was directed at Ye Qingzhi and the woman who had just spoken up for her.
It was an indirect curse. They all understood, but they were too lazy to bother with her.
“Hello, my name is Ye Qingzhi. Thank you for speaking up for me just now,” Ye Qingzhi said with a smile, extending her hand.
“Hello, my name is Li Jinfeng. I saw your four sons during the day. Are they all your sons?” Li Jinfeng asked, peeking over with envy.
“Yes, they’re four little rascals. I saw those two pretty little girls this afternoon. Are they your daughters?” Ye Qingzhi asked, looking at her with envy.
In her past life, she had wanted to have a fair and tender little daughter and make all kinds of pretty little dresses for her. After transmigrating, she had become a mother of four sons. It was a good thing it was the 60s. If it had been in a later generation, she probably wouldn’t have been able to find wives for them.
“They’re our third and fourth. The eldest and second daughters are studying at home,” Li Jinfeng said, looking at Ye Qingzhi. “Sister, how old are you? You look like a young girl in her early twenties, yet you’ve already had four children.”
“I’m twenty-five this year. I had children early. You look young too,” Ye Qingzhi said, politely returning the compliment.
“Really?” Li Jinfeng touched her face and waved her hand with a bitter smile. “I’m not. I’m already twenty-eight.”
Just then, Li Jinfeng’s younger daughter called for her mother, so she had to go in. But after this, the two of them would chat whenever they met.
When Ye Qingzhi returned to the compartment, she saw Liu Yuqin carefully helping her mother-in-law to the upper berth. After making sure she was lying down, she picked up her things and walked towards her own seat. Looking at the direction, it was probably a hard seat.
Before long, Zhang Dama’s snores were thunderous. Ye Qingzhi was so disturbed by her that she couldn’t sleep at all.
And she had the nerve to say she was a light sleeper? It would be a wonder if she didn’t wake up the whole carriage.
The few children were already asleep. He Qiming was used to it. After all, he lived in a dormitory in the army, and many people snored and ground their teeth. Ye Qingzhi was the miserable one. She only fell into a daze in the middle of the night.
But just as the sky was beginning to lighten, she was woken up by the sound of everyone getting up and talking.
Seeing the dark circles under Ye Qingzhi’s eyes, He Qiming heard the thunderous snores from the upper berth. “Didn’t sleep well?”
“It’s fine. I’ll sleep again later.” Anyway, there was nothing to do on the train. She could just catch up on sleep.
The day passed peacefully. So in the evening, when Liu Yuqin asked Ye Qingzhi if she could sit on their lower berth for a while, Ye Qingzhi agreed.
But it wasn’t for herself. It was for her mother-in-law. She went to get a basin of water, served the old woman as she washed her face, and even served her as she washed her feet. The key was that the old woman would complain that the water was too cold one moment, and that her hands were too heavy the next.
Tsk, if this were her mother-in-law, Ye Qingzhi would have definitely poured this basin of foot-washing water on her head.
“Qingzhi, here. We grew these ourselves. They’re very sweet,” Li Jinfeng said, stuffing two pomegranates into Ye Qingzhi’s hand and gossiping about Liu Yuqin at the same time. “Her personality is no good. She’s too soft. If it were me, I wouldn’t serve her.”
Ye Qingzhi smiled and didn’t respond. She turned and took a few oranges from her luggage bag. “I also grew these myself. Because I was leaving, I picked them early. They’re a bit sour, but they’re very juicy and very thirst-quenching.”
“Oh, I love sour things,” Li Jinfeng said with a broad smile, taking the oranges.
The snores were still thunderous at night. Fortunately, Ye Qingzhi had taken a nap during the day and wasn’t particularly sleepy now. Unfortunately, there was no mobile phone, not even a book. She could only stare at the bed board with her eyes open, her mind wandering.
The people back home must know about me joining the army by now, right? They must not believe it.
The news of me selling my house and private plot must have also spread. I wonder what Wei Youliang and the uncles’ reactions are. They must be jumping with anger.
Just thinking about these things made Ye Qingzhi feel particularly satisfied.