Song Zhaodi looked into Zhong Jianguo’s eyes and asked, “Will you say what I tell you to say?”
“A man’s word is his bond,” Zhong Jianguo replied. “If I can’t even handle this, how can I teach my children in the future? Don’t worry, just tell me.”
Song Zhaodi smiled. “This has nothing to do with how you educate the kids.”
“Then are you going to say it or not?”
Song Zhaodi cleared her throat. “If no one asks, then forget it. But if someone does, just say we already have too many kids and can’t afford to raise another one, ”
“Wait a minute.” Zhong Jianguo interrupted her. “If I say that, people will think I’m the one stopping you from having more kids.”
Song Zhaodi nodded. “Exactly. That’s what I want them to think.”
“You, you, ” Zhong Jianguo pointed at her, stammering, “I, I–”
Song Zhaodi asked, “Regretting it?”
“Comrade Song, you can’t do this.” Zhong Jianguo protested, “Have you considered how others will see me? You’re already working so hard taking care of five kids and if I don’t even let you have your own child, people will think I’m worse than an animal.”
Song Zhaodi thought for a moment. “You’re overthinking. Isn’t it true that we can’t afford to raise another child?”
“No!” Zhong Jianguo refuted. “Even though we have many kids, we could still manage one more.”
Song Zhaodi sneered. “Do you have milk?”
“No, but you do,” Zhong Jianguo blurted out.
“So,” Song Zhaodi continued, “I’m the one giving birth, feeding the child and taking care of them. That makes this child mine.”
Zhong Jianguo nodded.
Song Zhaodi concluded, “Then if I don’t want the child, that’s also my decision.”
“Well…” Zhong Jianguo was at a loss for words. “The child belongs to both of us.”
Song Zhaodi scoffed, “You’ve got some nerve. You don’t give birth, don’t nurse, don’t take care of the child, yet you still want half the rights? Who gave you that confidence? Your commanding officer?”
“Stop arguing,” Zhong Dawa appeared at the door, frowning. “Mom, why do you want Dad to say that?”
Song Zhaodi explained, “People assume that all women want children. If I say I don’t, they won’t believe me and will think there’s something wrong with me, that I can’t have kids. Even if I showed them medical reports proving I’m fine, they’d just think the reports are fake.”
“Huh?” Zhong Dawa widened his eyes. “Who are these ‘people’?”
“Lin Zhong’s mother, the female teachers, basically, everyone except our family,” Song Zhaodi replied.
Zhong Dawa turned to his father. “Dad, Mom is being accused of having an illness and you don’t want to help her?” His expression made it clear, if his father refused, he would stop acknowledging him as his dad.
Zhong Jianguo sighed. “Fine, fine, I’ll be the bad guy.” After a pause, he muttered, “I really don’t want to think about how people will see me.”
“Those who are understanding will see the truth, we really can’t afford another child,” Song Zhaodi said. “And from what I know, there are quite a few understanding people.” Then, seeing that Dawa was still standing there, she added, “Not including Lin Zhong’s mother.”
Dawa said, “Mom, Lin Zhong’s mother once asked me if you had some kind of illness. I told her you didn’t. Then she said the kind of illness she meant isn’t visible, it requires a hospital checkup to diagnose.”
“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Zhong Jianguo asked quickly.
Zhong Dawa glanced at Song Zhaodi, saw that she wasn’t angry and said, “If the illness isn’t visible to the eye, but a hospital can detect it, then I think Lin Zhong’s mother is the one who’s sick.”
“She was referring to something that needs medical instruments to detect, it’s inside the body,” Song Zhaodi explained. “But in her case, even a machine wouldn’t be able to detect her illness.”
Zhong Dawa immediately asked, “What kind of illness is that?”
“Insanity,” Zhong Jianguo replied bluntly.
Zhong Dawa choked for a second, then called out, “Zhong Gengsheng, come here!”
“What do you need Gengsheng for?” Zhong Jianguo asked, confused.
Zhong Dawa gave his father a calm look, then turned to his younger brother and said, “From now on, if you have any questions, ask Mom and Dad yourself. Don’t expect me to ask for you.”
“So it was Gengsheng who wanted to know, huh?” Song Zhaodi looked at him with a teasing smile.
Gengsheng’s face instantly turned red. “I, I thought Mom didn’t want to have kids because my brother and I were already here.”
“You’re overthinking it,” Zhong Jianguo said. “Your mother told me from the very beginning that giving birth is more exhausting than raising kids and she didn’t want to do it. I thought I could change her mind. Turns out, she’s as determined as a female secret agent.”
Dawa turned back. “Dad, do you want to sleep on the bench again?”
“I didn’t say that just now!” Zhong Jianguo wiped his face and waved them off. “You two, get out. No, go farther away. And stop eavesdropping on me and your mother’s conversations.”
Song Zhaodi quickly said, “It’s already dark. Where do you expect them to go? Let them go upstairs and play for an hour, then come down for dinner.”
“Let’s go.” Zhong Dawa nudged Gengsheng. Zili led his two younger brothers inside.
Worried that Zili might overthink, Song Zhaodi smiled and said, “You guys go too.”
Seeing that Song Zhaodi wasn’t angry, Zili grinned and ran upstairs.
“Does Gengsheng have more little schemes than Dawa?” After the sound of footsteps disappeared, Zhong Jianguo finally asked.
Song Zhaodi replied, “Some people are genuinely honest, while others are just too lazy to talk to people with low IQs.”
“Teacher Xiao Song has truly seen it all,” Zhong Jianguo remarked meaningfully. “There’s nothing you don’t understand.”
Song Zhaodi snorted, “Don’t provoke me. If you make me angry, I’ll go back to my parents’ house. Three months away, I’ll make you cry until you have no tears left.”
“I believe you would.” Zhong Jianguo asked, “If Lin Zhong’s mother is deliberately making trouble for you, what do you plan to do?”
Song Zhaodi said, “Wait and see the outcome.”
On the evening of June 9th, while Song Zhaodi was watering the vegetables, Zhou Shufen arrived.
She walked up to Song Zhaodi, took the cucumber Song Zhaodi handed her, rinsed it in a bucket of water, took a bite and pointed next door.
Song Zhaodi sneered, “Just as I expected.”
Zhou Shufen nodded, “Since you’ve never had another child, people think you’re afraid you can’t afford one. That woman said no matter how good the precautions are, accidents can still happen. But you’ve never been pregnant all these years, so there can only be one reason, you can’t have children. And now, everyone thinks she might be right.” She paused. “So, what do you plan to do?”
“Cold salad,” Song Zhaodi replied. “Do you want some cold cucumber salad? I can pick a few for you.”
Seeing that Song Zhaodi didn’t want to talk, Zhou Shufen pouted, “I’ll pick my own, I’ll take the big ones.”
“Suit yourself,” Song Zhaodi said. “They grow overnight anyway.”
Zhou Shufen pulled aside the cucumber leaves and found plenty of medium-sized cucumbers. Seeing that the Zhong family had plenty, she picked eight large cucumbers and took them home.
As she passed by the Lin house, someone called out to her. Without even looking, Zhou Shufen knew who it was. However, she couldn’t ignore it since the person called loudly, “Saozi, are you calling me? What’s up?”
“Nothing,” Chen dasao looked at the cucumbers in her arms. “Where did you buy those?”
Zhou Shufen frowned slightly. Is this woman blind? I just came from the Zhong house. “Teacher Song gave them to me.”
“Teacher Song is so nice,” Chen dasao smiled. “She gave you so many.”
Zhou Shufen wasn’t sure what she was implying. “Teacher Song knows my family loves smashed cucumber salad, so she gave me a bunch. If you don’t need anything, I’ll head home and start cooking.”
“Oh, then I won’t keep you.” Chen dasao turned away, glancing toward the next door.
Hearing their conversation, Song Zhaodi sneered.
On Sunday morning, June 20th, Song Zhaodi went to the grocery factory to buy five pounds of fatty pork and rendered it into lard when she got home. Then she took out the black sesame her mother had sent her and mixed it with flour to make crispy sesame biscuits for the children.
When the children returned home, they saw a small plate of biscuits on the low table. Instinctively, they exchanged glances. Was it a holiday today?
Zili took down the wall calendar. “Nope, no holidays. Wait, is it someone’s birthday?”
“No,” Gengsheng replied. “No one in our family was born in the fourth lunar month.”
Zhong Dawa picked up a piece. “I’ll test it for poison.”
“No need,” Sanwa shoved him aside. “Er ge, go call Mom.”
Erwa ran to the kitchen and found no one there. He shouted upstairs, “Mom, come down quickly! Da ge and Sanwa are fighting!”
“What’s all the yelling about?” Song Zhaodi walked in from outside, her hands wet. She wiped them before asking, “What happened?”
Dawa rushed over. “It’s not a holiday, so why the extra treats?”
“Zili, go to the kitchen and get a smaller plate,” Song Zhaodi instructed. Once he brought one over, she picked out ten evenly sized biscuits. “Two pieces each. Go eat them where there are lots of people.”
“If anyone asks for some, tell them to ask their own mom to make them. Half a bowl of oil is enough to make a plate of these. Dawa, if Lin Zhong wants to trade, don’t do it, understand?”
“Mom, I got it,” Gengsheng answered. “I’ll remind Dawa. Oh and Mom, should we wear the new shoes and pants you made for us?”
Seeing the children sweating, Song Zhaodi said, “The water in the jar outside should be warm now. Go take a bath and I’ll get your clothes. Zhong Dawa, no sneaking food.” With that, she went upstairs.
“Got it,” Dawa said, puzzled. “Mom never let us show off before. Why is she telling us to show off today?”
Gengsheng smirked, “We have it, they don’t. That’ll make them go home and fuss at their moms. And their moms used to say our mom was sick.”
“Mom is evil,” Dawa clicked his tongue. “Dad always told me never to mess with Mom. Turns out he wasn’t lying.”
Gengsheng chuckled, “Dad speaks from experience. We should listen to him.”
“You better stop talking,” Zili warned. “Or Mom will deal with you.” Just as he finished speaking, he heard footsteps and immediately shut his mouth.
Song Zhaodi handed out clothes to the children. “There are milk candies in your pockets. Eat them after your biscuits.”
“Mom, you really went all out this time,” Zhong Dawa found four White Rabbit candies in his pocket. “If you do this, Ma Zhenxing will argue with his mom.”
Song Zhaodi replied, “The Ma family is just like ours, both parents work, but they have half as many kids. If Ma Zhenxing wanted ten candies a day, his mom could afford it.”
“Too bad his mom isn’t as generous as mine,” Zhong Dawa stripped off his clothes. “Mom, no bath now. If I bathe now, I’ll need another one tonight.”
“Suit yourself.” As soon as she said that, all five kids stripped completely.
Song Zhaodi felt her eyes burn. These little troublemakers!
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