Chapter 23 p2
When they got to the car, Li Jinfeng opened the front passenger door first and pulled Ye Qingzhi over, pushing her in. “Sister Qingzhi is not good with cars. Let her sit in the front.”
Zhang Dama and Zhao Lan didn’t mind, but Bai Xue’s face darkened. She had originally wanted to sit in the front. She didn’t want to sit with these vulgar country women at all.
Ye Qingzhi had originally wanted to say that she could sit in the back by the window, but Zhao Lan spoke up first. “Alright, we’re all good with cars. Qingzhi, you sit in the front.”
Ye Qingzhi could see it now. Zhao Lan and the others all disliked Bai Xue. Of course, she didn’t like her very much either. So she didn’t refuse anymore and sat in the front passenger seat gracefully.
“Bai Xue, why aren’t you getting in?” Zhao Lan asked with a chuckle.
Bai Xue gritted her teeth and could only get into the back seat resentfully. But she pressed herself tightly against the car door, afraid of touching Li Jinfeng next to her.
This made Li Jinfeng furious. What, does she think I’m dirty?
She deliberately pretended to accidentally lean against Bai Xue. Especially when the car passed a puddle, she also accidentally stepped on her foot.
“Oh my, are you alright, Sister-in-law Bai? I’m so sorry,” Li Jinfeng said, laughing inwardly at the sight of her being so angry but having to hold it in.
Ye Qingzhi saw all of this through the rearview mirror and was also holding back her laughter. It had to be said, Li Jinfeng’s move was quite mean.
Finally, they arrived at the town. Bai Xue immediately opened the car door and got out. She forced a smile and said she had something to do, then left.
“Pfft, she dares to dislike me? I haven’t even disliked her yet,” Li Jinfeng said, spitting at Bai Xue’s back.
“That’s right. As if being from the city makes her superior. Let’s go, let’s go. Let’s buy the salt and pots and pans first,” Zhang Dama said.
Zhao Lan also happened to need to buy salt and soy sauce, so she went with them.
These didn’t require tickets. Anyone who was out could buy them, so there was no need to queue. But at the meat and cloth counters, there were many people.
“I heard a new batch of cloth arrived today, so many people have come to have a look. Do you want to buy cloth?” Zhao Lan asked, having gathered a lot of information after a walk around.
Zhang Dama and Li Jinfeng wanted to buy some, but Ye Qingzhi didn’t need to. She and her children had just had several new sets of clothes made, and their family had no more cloth tickets.
To make the new quilts and clothes, He Qiming had not only bought a lot of cloth tickets but had also borrowed all he could, basically pre-spending the cloth tickets for the next one or two years.
This place was close to the Tibetan area, so there were more leather products, like leather coats, wool sweaters, and leather boots. These didn’t require tickets.
He Qiming had left wolf and rabbit skins at the old tailor’s, so she didn’t need to buy a leather coat. She just had to buy a few pairs of leather boots here.
The outside of the boots was leather, and the inside was thick fur. They looked very warm.
She only bought five pairs. He Qiming already had two pairs, so she wouldn’t buy any for him this time.
“Qingzhi, are you buying fur shoes?” Zhao Lan pulled her aside. “Let it go this time. Next time, I’ll take you to a Tibetan family to have them custom-made. It’s half the price.”
Ye Qingzhi knew this, but they needed to wear them now, so they could only buy ready-made ones at the supply and marketing cooperative.
“Sister-in-law, can we buy fur hats from the Tibetans?” The hats could wait.
“Yes, they have them. Like the leather coats and wool sweaters here, the Tibetans have them all,” Zhao Lan said. Seeing that they had bought almost everything, she took them to buy pots and pans.
The bowls and basins were fine, but you needed industrial coupons to buy a pot. It was a good thing she had brought the aluminum pot and the kettle. Otherwise, the industrial coupons might not have been enough.
“Qingzhi, are you buying vanishing cream? It’s one yuan a box. I’ll just buy a clam oil to rub on,” Li Jinfeng said, a little reluctant.
“It’s not a box a day. If you’re frugal, this box can last a month. It’s not that expensive,” Ye Qingzhi said, asking for two boxes and also two large clam oils.
Li Jinfeng touched her face. Seeing that Ye Qingzhi had already paid, she gritted her teeth and bought a bottle of vanishing cream and a clam oil.
Ye Qingzhi still had to go to the tailor’s shop. She planned to take the things to the car first. Fortunately, Wang Heng was still there and even helped her move the mailed things to the trunk.
“Sister-in-law, if you need anything else, just let me know,” Wang Heng said with a grin.
“No need. Thank you so much for today. We’re having a housewarming tomorrow. You must come for dinner,” Ye Qingzhi invited.
“Alright, I’ll be there on time,” Wang Heng said, not refusing and agreeing at once.
Ye Qingzhi was not surprised. Just from the way he and He Qiming interacted, she knew he was He Qiming’s man.
When she arrived at the tailor’s shop, Ye Qingzhi explained her purpose and handed him the note the old tailor had written.
“So you’re Regiment Commander He’s wife. The clothes are already made. You can try them on first. If they don’t fit, I’ll alter them for you right away,” Master Wang said, handing the clothes to Ye Qingzhi.
What could she say? As expected of an old master, the clothes were both fitting and comfortable.
“Your craftsmanship is really good. The few children didn’t come today. I’ll take them back for them to try on. By the way, what styles of leather coats do you have?” Ye Qingzhi asked curiously.
Master Wang took out a catalog. The pictures on it were lifelike, and the styles were very beautiful. They wouldn’t be outdated even fifty years later.
“Master, I want this style. For the children, I want this one. I need four, in the same size as the cotton-padded jackets,” Ye Qingzhi said. She saw Master Wang write and draw, and finally say that there were still three wolf skins and a dozen or so rabbit skins left.
“Are these rabbit skins enough to make a coat for me?” Seeing the old master nod, Ye Qingzhi ordered a rabbit fur coat and had the rest made into two scarves, one for her and one for Yangyang. As for the three older ones, she would knit them wool scarves.
Master Wang was very skilled. Besides making clothes, he could also use the scraps to make small accessories. He asked Ye Qingzhi to choose a style and said he could make a few for her for free.
“Can you make fur scrunchies and claw clips? I also want earrings, with silver needles. I’ll pay for them,” Ye Qingzhi said, looking at the samples. They were fluffy and very beautiful.
After leaving the tailor’s shop, Ye Qingzhi first moved the clothes to the car, then went to the grain station to find Li Jinfeng and the others.
“Qingzhi, you’re so smart to have brought grain from home. The rice here is more expensive than white flour, and there’s no millet. Oh, I’m fine, but my two children can’t get full without rice,” Li Jinfeng said regretfully.
“I have rice. I can spare you some. When the new rice is harvested back home, have them send some over, and you can pay me back then,” Ye Qingzhi said immediately.
She had originally wanted to exchange half and then the other half after the new rice was harvested in the village. But later, she had felt uneasy and had simply exchanged all of it and brought it with her.
With so much rice, she definitely couldn’t finish it this year. Old rice was not as delicious as new rice. So when she heard Li Jinfeng complain, she immediately thought of this solution.
Sure enough, Li Jinfeng’s eyes lit up. “Alright, I’ll take twenty catties first.”
Just then, Zhao Lan came back with a basket, which contained several pieces of meat.
“I’ve bought the meat. We’ll divide it when we get home. Is there anything else you want to buy? If not, let’s go back,” Zhao Lan said happily.
The few of them got back into the car. Ye Qingzhi thought about sitting in the back, so as not to offend the person completely.
“No need. You just sit there. Do you think she won’t hold a grudge if you sit in the back now?” Zhao Lan sneered. That Bai Xue, she acted so aloof, but in reality, she was very petty.
Ye Qingzhi shrugged. If that was the case, then she wasn’t afraid of Bai Xue either.
“If nothing else, just the fact that you have four sons has already offended Bai Xue,” Zhao Lan said. Seeing Ye Qingzhi’s confused look, she lowered her voice and explained, “Bai Xue has been married to Regiment Commander Xu for five years. Not to mention having a child, she’s never even been pregnant. Everyone calls her a hen that can’t lay eggs behind her back.”
Ye Qingzhi frowned. It was a bit hard to say. Bai Xue’s words were not pleasant, but Zhao Lan and the others’ words were not much better.
“Having a child is not necessarily the woman’s problem. Haven’t they gone to the hospital for a check-up?” Ye Qingzhi didn’t want to find a sense of superiority through this kind of thing, so she changed the subject.
“I think so. I see Bai Xue going to the hospital often,” Zhao Lan pouted. She thought for a moment, then asked, “Are you saying that the reason they don’t have children might be Regiment Commander Xu’s problem?”
Ye Qingzhi’s eyelid twitched. She looked at Zhao Lan with a half-smile. “I didn’t say that. Didn’t you?”
Sister-in-law Zhao quickly waved her hand. “I didn’t say that either.”
This incident taught Ye Qingzhi a lesson. You couldn’t just speak without thinking just because someone seemed easy to get along with. She had almost been led into a trap by Zhao Lan just now.
Just then, Bai Xue came back with her things. Seeing Ye Qingzhi sitting in the front passenger seat, she snorted lightly and sat in the back.
Ye Qingzhi cursed inwardly. Damn, I’ve been set up by Zhao Lan.
“Everyone’s here. Let’s go back then,” Wang Heng said, as if he had no idea what they were doing.
Not long after the car started, Zhao Lan, knowing that Bai Xue disliked the topic of children, deliberately kept talking to Ye Qingzhi and Li Jinfeng about the children’s schooling.
Li Jinfeng was enthusiastic, but Ye Qingzhi looked uncomfortable.
This Zhao Lan was really interesting. She kept deepening the conflict between them and Bai Xue. What was she trying to do? Did she want her and Li Jinfeng to fight with Bai Xue?
“I’m sorry, Sister Lan. I’m not feeling well. I’ll rest for a bit,” Ye Qingzhi said, covering her mouth and nose, her brow furrowed, as if she were in great discomfort, and leaned against the car window.
Li Jinfeng sighed softly. “It’s really not good that Qingzhi is not good with cars. She has to suffer every time she goes out.”
“Is she really not good with cars?” Bai Xue asked, a little sarcastically.
Li Jinfeng frowned. “Sister-in-law Bai, what do you mean by that? It’s as if we’re lying to you. Qingzhi even threw up yesterday. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Squad Leader Wang.”
When Ye Qingzhi had gone from Wushi to the town, she had indeed thrown up after getting off the bus. That was because the smell of the bus was not good, and also because she had been sitting for too long. In a small car like this, for an hour, she was actually fine.
Seeing that Ye Qingzhi was really uncomfortable, and with Wang Heng nodding as a witness, Bai Xue’s dislike for Ye Qingzhi lessened a lot.
Of course, she couldn’t possibly like Ye Qingzhi. A country widow, she really didn’t think much of her.
Ye Qingzhi didn’t care what they thought. She closed her eyes and pretended not to know anything.
“Qingzhi, why did you buy so much?” Li Jinfeng asked in surprise.
“No, these were all mailed from home,” Ye Qingzhi said, not mentioning that a large bag of them were new clothes, so as not to seem like she was showing off.
“You brought so much with you, and you also mailed so much? Are you really moving house?” Li Jinfeng teased with a smile.
“I originally wanted to bring the pickle jar, which is over a meter tall, but Qiming didn’t agree,” Ye Qingzhi said with a smile.
Li Jinfeng gave Ye Qingzhi a thumbs-up. “You’re amazing. I brought so little.”
The main reason was that Ye Qingzhi was planning to stay for a long time, while Li Jinfeng was still thinking of going back home. So Li Jinfeng had brought less, while Ye Qingzhi was like she was moving house.
Thanks to the two young soldiers who helped them move their things into the house, Ye Qingzhi gave each of them a big apple and a few candies.
“Thank you, Sister-in-law.” One of the young soldiers with dark skin grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. He was simple and honest, and quite cute.
The other also said thank you. They were sincerely grateful, not because of the apple and a few candies, but because they had won the bet thanks to Ye Qingzhi. For the next month, someone would wash their smelly socks.
Seeing their “Sister-in-law is a great person” expressions, Ye Qingzhi was amused. It was just an apple and a few candies. They were really simple and cute.
“Qingzhi.”
Ye Qingzhi was packing when she saw Li Jinfeng rush in.
“Here, the meat you wanted.” Li Jinfeng put the meat on the table and said loudly, “Sister Lan is a good person. She gave us all the good meat and kept the ordinary ones for herself.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll have to thank her properly later,” Ye Qingzhi said, not saying anything bad about Sister Lan. Who knew if Li Jinfeng was really as straightforward and righteous as she appeared?
Li Jinfeng didn’t leave in a hurry. She leaned over to Ye Qingzhi’s ear and whispered, “Do you know why Liu Yuqin didn’t go to the town with us today?”
“Wasn’t it because there was no room in the car?” Ye Qingzhi asked curiously.
“Of course not,” Li Jinfeng shook her head. “It’s because she was in a hurry to climb into her man’s bed, but was kicked to the ground and got hurt. Hahaha, isn’t that funny?”
Ye Qingzhi frowned. “Is Liu Yuqin that bold?”
“It might be because Zhang Dama said that if she couldn’t get pregnant, they would get a divorce. But this Liu Yuqin is also quite pitiful. Her mother died in childbirth when she was born, and her father remarried. With a stepmother comes a stepfather. They treated her like a servant since she was a child. When she came of age, they wanted to sell her to a fool. She couldn’t take it and jumped into the river, and then she was saved by Zhang Xuewen. You know the rest of the story,” Li Jinfeng said with a tsk.
A pitiful person must have a hateful side. Liu Yuqin was pitiful, but she shouldn’t have repaid kindness with enmity and forced Zhang Xuewen to marry her, breaking up a very loving engaged couple.
“You’ll never guess how old she is,” Li Jinfeng said again.
“She looks to be in her early thirties,” Ye Qingzhi said, trying to guess on the younger side.
Li Jinfeng shook her head. “Guess again.”
From her expression, she must have guessed too high. Ye Qingzhi reduced it by two years. “Is she the same age as you, twenty-eight this year?”
“Wrong, guess again.” Li Jinfeng still shook her head.
“I really can’t guess. Just tell me,” Ye Qingzhi said, not wanting to guess anymore.
“She’s a year younger than you, twenty-four this year. What do you think, unexpected, right?” Li Jinfeng clicked her tongue twice. “You can tell she was tormented by her stepmother. It’s really a sin. Zhang Dama doesn’t think about letting her get healthy. If she gets pregnant and has a child like this, I’m afraid she’ll end up like her mother.”
Liu Yuqin’s own mother had died in childbirth. To be like her mother meant to die in childbirth…
Ye Qingzhi thought of Liu Yuqin’s skinny figure. She was indeed not suitable for pregnancy.
“Alright, I have to go home and cook. Don’t cook tonight. Tell Regiment Commander He, and you and the children can all come to my house for dinner,” Li Jinfeng said, reminding her several times before leaving with a sway of her hips.
Food rations were rationed now. Even though their treatment in the army was good, they couldn’t just eat as much as they wanted.
Ye Qingzhi’s family was large, so of course, they couldn’t all go. She told He Qiming, and he went as a representative, while Ye Qingzhi stayed at home to eat with the children.
“Mama, you’re very good to Yangyang,” Yangyang suddenly said, looking up from his bowl.
Ye Qingzhi was taken aback for a moment. Why would he suddenly say that?
Then she remembered Li Jinfeng saying something at her house about “with a stepmother comes a stepfather,” and how bad stepmothers were. She had spoken loudly, so this child must have heard her.
Is he trying to comfort me?
“Mm, Yangyang is a good boy. Of course, Mama has to be good to you,” Ye Qingzhi said, stroking his small head with a smile.
“Mama is the best. I love Mama the most,” Yangyang said, grinning from ear to ear.
Don’t think that just because he was small, he didn’t understand anything. He just felt that this mama was better than the previous one, and better than his big mama and his little aunt.
“Alright, Mama loves Yangyang the most too.” She looked up and saw the other three children looking at her, some overtly and some subtly. She quickly added, “Mm, I also love Jingyan, love Anmin, and love Anjie.”
Anmin’s eyes curved. “I also love Mama.”
Anjie even came over and hugged Ye Qingzhi’s waist. “I’m the one who loves Mama the most.”
He Jingyan pursed his lips and lowered his head, not speaking.
“Big brother also loves Mama,” Yangyang suddenly said, raising his hand.
He Jingyan’s face flushed. He wanted to shake his head and say no, but he felt that wouldn’t be right. But he didn’t want to lie either.
Ye Qingzhi chuckled lightly. “Alright, I love you all, and you all love me. We all love Papa, and Papa also loves us. We are a loving family. Hurry up and eat. It’ll get cold soon.”
Ye Qingzhi tapped Anjie’s head and told him to go back to his seat and eat.
He Jingyan was a little absent-minded. His mother had said she loved him, but then she had run off with someone else. Auntie Xu had also said she liked him, but not long after, she had started to beat and scold him. Now Auntie Ye said she loved him. Would she also abandon him after she got pregnant with He Papa’s child?
Ye Qingzhi glanced at He Jingyan. This child had been through too much trauma. It wouldn’t be easy for him to accept her. Well, she would just do her best and have a clear conscience. Time would tell.