Chapter 16
Sister Yang slapped Lin Xixi on the arm: “Who doesn’t get stretch marks on their belly after having kids? If your uncle dares to despise me, I’ll use a rolling pin to flatten him into a dumpling wrapper! You’re the only one who’s making a fuss!”
Just then, Yingzi clung to the partition wall between the shower room and the changing room and shouted: “Mom! What are you doing? Hurry up and come over, there’s a faucet here!”
Sister Yang also yelled back: “Coming! You hold it for me!”
She grabbed the naked Wu Nier and rushed in like a whirlwind, as if they were going into battle.
Qiao Wei picked up her basin and followed her in.
The shower room was shrouded in white mist, and the heat was suffocating. The sound of water splashing was loud, and people who knew each other had to shout at the top of their lungs to be heard. Looking around, all one could see were bodies.
Qiao Wei had even had a private bathroom in her university dorm; she had never stepped foot in such a traditional public bathhouse in her life, so she found it quite novel.
She wandered around for a bit but couldn’t find Sister Yang or her two daughters. However, the people under the faucets changed quickly, and she soon found an empty one.
Although she had taken a bath in a basin yesterday, nothing beat the comfort of a running shower. Qiao Wei tilted her head back and let the water pour over her.
Lin Xixi followed behind Qiao Wei.
When she died and came back, home water heaters hadn’t yet become popular in her third-tier city, and she had always bathed in the factory’s employee bathhouse. It was just like this. She was much more familiar with this kind of big bathhouse than Qiao Wei was, and she quickly found a faucet.
She watched Qiao Wei through the gaps between people while she bathed. But Qiao Wei didn’t do anything suspicious; she was just bathing normally.
Lin Xixi felt a bit discouraged.
When she went to wash her hair, she realized she didn’t have any soap. Her uncle’s family only had two slices of soap, one was with her uncle, and this one was with her aunt. In this annoying era, there wasn’t even Bee & Flower shampoo.
Lin Xixi wiped her face and had to go find Sister Yang. Because there were too many people and it was hard to find her, she could only shout loudly: “Auntie! Auntie!”
She quickly found Sister Yang and asked her for the soap slice. Sister Yang said: “Hurry up, and bring it back to me when you’re done.”
Over at Sister Yang’s side, the three of them—one adult and two children—were sharing a single faucet, and all three of them needed to wash their hair and bodies.
Lin Xixi agreed, took the soap slice, and went back to her faucet, but suddenly an idea struck her.
Men bathe quickly, especially men in the Military Unit, right?
She started washing her hair as fast as she could…
Qiao Wei enjoyed the hot water, though she felt the soap wasn’t great.
When she finished, there were slightly fewer people, and with a glance, she saw Sister Yang at a faucet in the distance. She had finished washing Wu Nier’s hair and was scrubbing Yingzi’s back. Wu Nier was lying on the floor picking at the mosaic tiles.
Qiao Wei wrung out her towel, dried her hair and body, and greeted Sister Yang: “I’m heading out first.”
Sister Yang glanced at Wu Nier, wanting to ask Qiao Wei to help take Wu Nier out first. But then she remembered Qiao Wei’s consistently cold demeanor, so she moved her lips but stopped herself, not opening her mouth.
However, Qiao Wei had lived in a hospital for a long time, and hospital wards were where the subtleties of human nature were most visible. Even though Sister Yang hadn’t asked, Qiao Wei understood her look and expression.
This woman had helped look after Yan Xiang for several days. Qiao Wei took the initiative and said: “Wu Nier is done washing, right? How about she goes out with me?”
A smile appeared on Sister Yang’s face; she quickly rinsed the scrubbing towel, wrung it out, dried Wu Nier, and pushed her toward Qiao Wei: “Just put her clothes on, take her out, and hand her to her dad. Her dad is fast at bathing.”
Qiao Wei agreed and led Wu Nier out.
The wife of Regimental Commander Yan had always been a cold person, with a gloomy face, and she didn’t like to interact with people, especially those from the countryside. Yingzi didn’t really like her and was a bit afraid of her.
She complained: “Where did Sister Xixi go? Honestly.”
Just now, when Sister Yang finished washing Wu Nier, she wanted to see if Lin Xixi was done, so she could have her take Wu Nier out first. But she couldn’t find Lin Xixi; she didn’t know where she had gone.
She had finished bathing and left without even saying a word. Sister Yang felt a bit unhappy.
Qiao Wei also noticed that she hadn’t seen Lin Xixi. While dressing Wu Nier, she casually asked where Lin Xixi had gone. Wu Nier replied: “Don’t know, don’t know, don’t know…”
As she said it, she shook her head vigorously, making her hair fly, and giggled. It made Qiao Wei laugh too.
Qiao Wei dressed herself and Wu Nier, and led her out of the bathhouse.
Outside the bathhouse, there were groups of people chatting, mostly men. People who lived in the Residential Compound would just go home after bathing. Those waiting for their families outside the bathhouse lived in the old family quarters. The men bathed quickly and came out first to wait for their families in the shade of the trees or against the walls.
Qiao Wei spotted Regimental Commander Zhao and Yan Lei at a glance.
Regimental Commander Zhao was wearing a white tank top, and Yan Lei had changed into a clean, gray-green short-sleeved crew-neck shirt, clearly a training uniform from the Military Unit. His pectoral muscles, back muscles, and biceps stretched the training uniform tight. He had an air of rugged toughness.
Yan Xiang was, of course, there too, squatting on the side with her head down, seemingly watching ants. And Lin Xixi, whom they couldn’t find in the bathhouse, was surprisingly squatting next to Yan Xiang, as if playing with her.
Qiao Wei’s mouth twitched. No wonder she couldn’t be found inside; she had come out early to try to get close to Yan Lei.
In the original story, Lin Xixi married Yan Lei without any feelings, a case of love after marriage. Initially, she had slowly opened Yan Lei’s heart by carefully taking care of Yan Xiang.
At this point in the original story, Qiao Wei should have died yesterday, and Yan Lei would have been in the provincial capital handling her funeral arrangements and wouldn’t have returned yet. Yan Xiang would have been left at Regimental Commander Zhao’s house, and Lin Xixi, the reborn female lead who knew of Qiao Wei’s death in advance, would have taken the opportunity to fawn over Yan Xiang, getting her to accept her early on.
Her obsession with becoming a stepmother was really strong; she was already out here establishing an “I love children” persona.
Qiao Wei led Wu Nier over. Regimental Commander Zhao let out an exclamation: “How did you end up being brought out by Aunt Qiao?”
He scanned and saw that his wife and eldest daughter were not behind Qiao Wei. Qiao Wei smiled and said: “Sister Yang and Yingzi haven’t finished yet; they’re scrubbing.”
Regimental Commander Zhao bent down, picked up Wu Nier, and thanked Qiao Wei: “Thank you.”
“Don’t be so polite,” Qiao Wei said. “Where are the other children?” Regimental Commander Zhao had three other sons.
Regimental Commander Zhao said: “They went back first. They couldn’t sit still. If our children were half as quiet as Yan Xiang, your sister-in-law would be counting her lucky stars.”
While they were talking, Yan Xiang had already stood up, hugged Qiao Wei’s leg, and happily called out: “Mom.”
Lin Xixi also stood up.
Regimental Commander Zhao glanced at his niece.
Young people in later generations might not understand, but in this era, and even into the 80s and 90s, girls like Lin Xixi who came from the countryside to live with urban relatives were tacitly expected to act as nannies. If urban families looked for nannies, they would be gossiped about by relatives if they hired outsiders instead of relatives from their hometown.
When looking for a relative to be a nanny, one also had to prioritize those with closer blood ties. As Regimental Commander Zhao’s niece, Lin Xixi was expected to do housework and take care of her younger siblings for Regimental Commander Zhao’s family; it was understood that this was her duty.
Like Yingzi, Regimental Commander Zhao had always preferred to keep a distance from Yan Lei’s wife. He hadn’t expected that she would be the one to bring Wu Nier out today.
Lin Xixi had finished bathing and come out early, ignoring Yingzi and Wu Nier, and not helping her aunt take care of the children, so Regimental Commander Zhao couldn’t help but feel a slight dissatisfaction with his niece.
With the soul of a middle-aged person, Lin Xixi certainly understood these social nuances. It was just that she had a grand ambition to change her destiny by becoming an “official’s wife,” so she occasionally couldn’t be bothered with these minor details. She turned her face away, pretending not to see.
Yan Xiang took a mosaic tile out of her pocket: “Mom, look!”
“Did you pick that off?” Qiao Wei said with a smile. “Wu Nier picked one off too.”
Yan Xiang told Qiao Wei: “Brother Gangzi helped me pick it; he picked off quite a few.”
Regimental Commander Zhao laughed and scolded: “Pretty soon the bathhouse floor will be completely picked apart by this bunch of kids.”
Since Qiao Wei had come out, Yan Lei spoke up: “Let’s go.”
The couple greeted Regimental Commander Zhao and, just like when they arrived, each held one of Yan Xiang’s hands as they headed back.
Halfway there, Qiao Wei let go of Yan Xiang’s hand several times to shake out her arm.
Yan Lei asked: “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Wei winced: “My arm hurts.”
Doing laundry all morning had tired out her arms; at the time she only felt soreness, but now it was starting to hurt. It wasn’t the sharp pain of a knife cut, but a sore, uncomfortable kind of ache. It was likely muscle soreness from overexertion. It wasn’t severe, but it was uncomfortable.
While shaking her arm, she asked Yan Xiang: “Xiangxiang, were you playing with Sister Lin just now?”
Yan Xiang replied: “I was playing with ants, she was talking.”
Qiao Wei asked Yan Xiang: “Do you like playing with Sister Lin?”
Yan Xiang shook her head without hesitation: “I don’t like her.”
Lin Xixi wanted to be Yan Xiang’s stepmother, so she would definitely try hard to please Yan Xiang. Qiao Wei was a bit surprised that Yan Xiang said she didn’t like her so decisively: “Why?”
Yan Xiang told her seriously: “She keeps talking non-stop, it’s very noisy.”
Understood, Lin Xixi had tried too hard.
Qiao Wei held back a laugh and said: “Mom talks a lot too.”
Yan Xiang, however, said: “Mom isn’t noisy; I like talking to Mom.”
The child’s eyes were bright, and her smile was cheerful. Being with one’s own mother was definitely different from being with someone else; one could say it was an international double standard.
At this moment, Qiao Wei was even more determined to continue this marriage for Qiao Weiwei, and not let Yan Xiang become a child raised by a stepmother, or a child that people gossiped about as “not biological, left behind by the one before.”
Of course, this also had a hundred benefits and no harm for herself. Her understanding of marriage and life and death was different from ordinary people. She had no expectations for love. As for sex, if it happened, it was the icing on the cake; if not, it didn’t matter.
Instead, material conditions like having an organizational affiliation, a stable job, a generous income, and welfare benefits were more important. After all, she had to survive here. Who wouldn’t want to live more easily? Otherwise, where would Lin Xixi’s obsession with Yan Lei come from?
Back home, Yan Lei noticed the clothes on the drying rack: “You washed the clothes?”
The traditional concept was that men work outside and women work inside, but men who hold traditional concepts often undervalue the worth of housework. Qiao Wei didn’t have any other job now, so housework was her job, and Yan Lei was essentially paying her a salary. If she did a good job, she naturally had to report it to her boss; she couldn’t just contribute silently.
Qiao Wei shook her arm and winced: “My arm hurts from washing them.”
No one forced her to wash them. Before, she couldn’t wash them, so Yan Lei had always done it. Now she had actually taken the initiative to wash them.
Yan Lei hummed, went over to touch them, and frowned: “Why are they still so damp?”
They should have been dry after a day in this temperature and sunlight.
Qiao Wei said very innocently: “I couldn’t wring them out, so I just hung them up.”
Although there was no expression on Yan Lei’s face, Qiao Wei could read the helplessness on it.
But she couldn’t help it either. Although this body was much healthier than her body in the other world, it was still thin-armed and thin-legged. There were no washing machines in this era, and washing clothes, especially a large amount, was really heavy physical labor. The person who invented the washing machine deserved to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple!
Yan Lei didn’t say a word, put the washbasin aside, and took the clothes off the clothesline one by one to wring them out again.
His hands were large; when he wrung out the clothes, he would first hold the collar, shake the garment, straighten it out, and then wring it sequentially from the collar to the hem, squeezing out all the water bit by bit.
Qiao Wei watched, liking the sense of order he displayed while doing things.
She said: “I’m going to cook.” She also put down her washbasin and turned to go to the kitchen.
Yan Lei glanced at her back; although she was shaking her arm as she walked, her steps were light, carrying a kind of youthful vitality. She didn’t look as lifeless as before, as if she were drowning in her marriage to him.
He hung the wrung-out clothes back on the line.
So, “when the old her had died,” did she mean that she was going to live a new, proper life with him? Was it sincere?
Yan Lei couldn’t help but ask himself repeatedly.
