Chapter 9
Yan Xiang certainly wanted his mother to sleep with him, but Qiao Wei refused.
For one thing, she had fully inherited the original owner’s life, including her husband and son; if she wanted to maintain this family, the couple couldn’t keep sleeping in separate rooms forever.
Another reason was that she came from the future world, and her educational philosophy differed from the original owner’s. She did not approve of mothers and sons sleeping in the same bed, or boys entering women’s bathrooms or toilets, and so on.
She sighed deliberately: “When will Xiangxiang become a brave man who can sleep by himself?”
Yan Xiang fell for the bait, patted his chest, and promised: “I am already very brave now. Mom, go sleep with Dad.”
She praised him heavily, squeezed the child’s apple-like cheeks, lit a mosquito coil, closed the door, and tiptoed back to the bedroom she shared with Yan Lei.
Of course, she couldn’t sleep in a shirt; stiff collars were so uncomfortable. She took off her shirt, left it on the stool by the bed, and lay down wearing only a small undershirt.
She felt no sense of shame.
In her past life, she had been terminally ill; what dignity did a patient have? The hospital wards were co-ed, and there were family members present. As her bodily functions gradually went out of control, she became incontinent, and the nursing aide would just pull a curtain and yank down her pants to clean her.
The curtain wasn’t pulled tight; there was such a large gap that passing patients and family members, regardless of gender, could see inside when they walked by.
She had seen other patients naked, and others had seen her naked.
The word “dignity” was meaningless to a patient.
The terrible quality of life before she died allowed her to face the dry toilets of this era with indifference, and to calmly take off her clothes and lie beside Yan Lei.
Moreover, in the memories Qiao Wei had inherited, there were fragments of her intimate life with Yan Lei.
The rhythm, the muscles, the heavy breathing—it was practically a first-person erotic film.
It just lacked a sense of reality.
Now, lying beside him and feeling the heat radiating from his body, she felt a bit more of that reality.
Qiao Wei recalled touching the man’s chest and arms at the kitchen doorway that evening—that firm, resilient sensation. It made the erotic scenes in her mind even more vivid.
She longed for that vitality, stirred with desire, and really wanted to have a go with him, but Yan Lei turned over and faced away from her.
Qiao Wei could only sigh with regret and give up.
Thinking about it, it was a bit funny and a bit pitiful. This man hadn’t had an intimate life for a long time. Physiologically, he surely had needs; he might even be holding back quite uncomfortably.
But he was resentful.
The posture of turning his back to her—that resentment was too thick.
Qiao Wei stared at the dim ceiling.
The house had no ceiling panels, and one could vaguely see the thick beams.
She broke the silence in the bedroom and asked: “Does anyone know what happened regarding my absence these past few days?”
Yan Lei’s voice answered in the dimness: “Xiao Zhang might have some suspicions. But he is sharp. He looks like he likes to talk, but in fact, he is very tight-lipped and won’t talk nonsense.”
His voice was cold, naturally because this matter did not make him happy.
“Oh. That’s good,” Qiao Wei said. “What about the Zhao family?”
When she left, she had entrusted Yan Xiang to Regimental Commander Zhao’s wife, Sister Yang.
“You told her you were visiting relatives, and I told her the same,” Yan Lei said. “I told her you were attending a distant relative’s wedding.”
The two of them actually had a meeting of minds and made up the same lie. On the way back, that was how Qiao Wei had fooled Xiao Zhang.
Qiao Wei was relieved now.
In this era, rumors could kill. Although she wasn’t afraid, her family would certainly be affected. It was best if there were none.
She said again: “I want to go thank Sister Yang tomorrow. What would be appropriate to give as a gift?”
Her memory was blank regarding social niceties, as the original owner was not good at such things. She asked Yan Lei directly.
Yan Lei truly felt that Qiao Wei had changed.
She would think of slipping a pack of cigarettes to the driver and would even think of giving a thank-you gift to Sister Yang. She wasn’t that kind of person before.
The military dependents generally didn’t have high levels of education; she looked down on them and was not very sociable. She also didn’t know how to handle social situations well. Yan Lei had always handled these things for her, arranging and cleaning up afterward to prevent others from being dissatisfied with her.
It was true that people had to fall and get battered and bruised before they would change for the better.
Yan Lei thought for a moment and said: “Don’t make it too grand; being too grand makes it seem distant. Just go to the market tomorrow and buy a piece of pork.”
He reminded her: “Check the date when you take the meat ration coupon.”
Ration coupons all had expiration dates. Cadre families had many coupons, and sometimes there would be leftovers that hadn’t been used. Naturally, one had to prioritize using those with shorter expiration dates.
Fortunately, he reminded her; otherwise, Qiao Wei would definitely have forgotten to bring the meat coupon tomorrow and would only remember to bring money. Without a coupon, she wouldn’t be able to buy anything at all, and she would have made the trip for nothing.
Qiao Wei replied: “Okay.”
The two stopped talking, but Yan Lei couldn’t sleep.
He was facing away from Qiao Wei, but he could still feel the heat from the person behind him. It had a great effect on him, and his whole body was restless.
For a long time, Qiao Wei made no sound, and Yan Lei began to waver—she had taken the initiative to return to the room to share the bed; did she mean that?
She must have meant that.
Yan Lei certainly had resentment in his heart, but he had indeed been celibate for a long time, just as Qiao Wei thought. Usually, he relied on high-intensity physical training to expend his excess energy. When he came home and saw his wife giving him the cold shoulder and sleeping in a separate room, he couldn’t muster any thoughts of intimacy.
But at this moment, Qiao Wei was wearing a white shirt, her two fair legs dangling before his eyes.
Since she had made peace like this, he should forgive her.
Hadn’t they both said they would continue living together?
They had said to treat the past version of her as dead.
Couples may fight at the head of the bed, but they make up at the foot of the bed.
—These messy thoughts battled in Yan Lei’s mind for a long time. He finally decided to accept Qiao Wei’s “peace offering” and suddenly turned over!
…
Qiao Wei had already fallen asleep.
Yan Lei propped himself up and looked at her for a long time. She was truly asleep, her breathing even and long, her sleeping face peaceful.
She was only wearing a small undershirt. Women’s undershirts were usually cropped, exposing the waist and abdomen. She seemed to have lost weight after being out for a few days, and her waist was even thinner. When she lay on her side, her waistline rose and fell like a valley.
Yan Lei lay back down helplessly.
After a long while, the heat in his body dissipated, and he finally closed his eyes and fell asleep.
He didn’t know that Qiao Wei was sleeping soundly.
Although it was a heated brick bed and not a Simmons mattress, it was a real bed. The hospital bed was narrow and hard. The mattress had been used by too many people for too long; touching it, the filling inside felt lumpy. Having lain there too long, patients would gradually develop bedsores, which were extremely uncomfortable.
Qiao Wei really hadn’t slept this soundly for a very, very long time.
She had a dreamless night.
She slept so deeply that she didn’t know when Yan Lei left the next day. Qiao Wei got up, put on her white shirt, and came out to see Yan Xiang playing on the floor in the living room.
“Mom.” Seeing her get up, Yan Xiang called out, “What are we eating for breakfast?”
What to eat was indeed a difficult question. After all, this wasn’t a world where one could just lie in bed and order takeout on a mobile phone.
Qiao Wei searched her memory and immediately decided: “Let’s go, we’re going to eat at the Residential Compound Cafeteria!”
The family Residential Compound had an internal Cafeteria, just like the bathhouse; it wasn’t open to the public. But its supplies were sourced together with the Military Unit, so it was more reliable than outside. When supplies were tight, state-run restaurants weren’t necessarily better than the Military Unit’s Cafeteria.
The dumplings she had eaten at the hospital yesterday were considered fine food in this era.
Upon hearing that they were going to eat over at the Residential Compound, Yan Xiang stood up happily: “Let’s go~”
Qiao Wei held him down: “Have you washed your face and brushed your teeth?”
Qiao Wei watched the little guy finish washing up and went back to the bedroom to change clothes. She rummaged through them; half of the original owner’s clothes were made of polyester. She casually hung those polyester ones aside and found a pure cotton Bulaji among the remaining clothes.
Bulaji was a short-sleeved dress; this style had been passed down from the Soviet Union, and later it became a common daily style in the country.
Fashion really was a cycle; the Bulaji dresses of this era looked basically no different from the dresses of the future. The weather was hot, so Qiao Wei chose a light blue, round-necked Bulaji. After putting it on and looking in the mirror, she looked healthy, youthful, and beautiful.
This body was only twenty-two years old—an age where one hadn’t even graduated from college in the future—but here, her child was already old enough to run errands.
Regardless, Qiao Wei was genuinely happy to see herself looking so healthy in the mirror.
She went to the wall outside, took down a plastic woven basket, and went back into the room to look in the mirror again.
She didn’t know whether to call this a tote bag or a basket; in those period dramas, it was the standard accessory for middle-aged women going to the vegetable market. Later, when plastic bags became popular, these gradually became less common.
Even later, the fashion world imitated this kind of thing and used it as a fashion accessory.
Qiao Wei looked in the mirror, feeling like she had a bit of a retro beach vibe, and was quite pleased: “Xiangxiang, let’s go!”
Yan Xiang asked: “Mom, why didn’t you take your wallet?”
Fortunately, he reminded her. In Qiao Wei’s world, wallets had already exited the historical stage, and she didn’t remember to bring one when going out at all.
She remembered that when she came back yesterday, there was a shoulder bag that Yan Lei had rolled up in his hand and brought back. She rummaged through the shoulder bag and, sure enough, found the wallet.
She opened it and took a look; inside there was two yuan and seven jiao, plus a few coins.
Although she knew that the amount and value of money in this era were different from the future, only carrying two or three yuan still made Qiao Wei very uncomfortable.
Searching the information in her mind, she walked into the study outside the bedroom and pulled open a drawer.
The drawer was a mess; many opened sheets of letter paper were hastily folded and thrown inside without being put back into envelopes.
Qiao Wei paused; the Cafeteria had fixed meal times. She didn’t worry about these things for now, pushed aside the letter paper, took out a tin biscuit box from the drawer, and opened it. Sure enough, money and coupons were inside.
Yan Lei would provide household expenses every month, usually kept in this box to be used as needed.
There were coupons of various denominations. Qiao Wei took one ten-yuan note, two five-yuan notes, and several one-yuan and small-denomination notes, folded them, and put them into her wallet.
Money alone wouldn’t work; this was the era of a planned economy.
Qiao Wei looked at the coupons, remembering Yan Lei’s reminder to use the ones with earlier expiration dates first. She stuffed some of each type of coupon into her wallet: “Let’s go.”
Yan Xiang was wearing a shirt with a pair of shorts. It was less like children’s clothing and more like a miniature version of adult clothing. He looked just like a pocket-sized old cadre, especially cute and funny.
Qiao Wei carried the plastic woven basket, held Yan Xiang’s little hand, and the mother and son went out happily.
“Mom, Mom, I want to eat wontons.” Yan Xiang’s eyes were full of anticipation.
Unlike the reticent boy in the original novel, holding hands with his own mother, the child dared to make any request and even acted spoiled.
“Okay, let’s have wontons.” Qiao Wei agreed immediately.
Hearing Mom agree immediately, the little boy’s eyes were filled with joy.
“Let’s go! Let’s go eat wontons!”
