Stepmother: 12. Self-introduction
After six o’clock, the sky was getting dark, Zhong Dawa woke up and pulled up her shoes and walked out. She was stunned when she saw the people sitting in the living room.
“You don’t know me when you wake up?” Song Zhaodi raised her head when she heard the voice, “Your dad went shopping.”
Zhong Dawa pursed her lips and said nothing.
“Do you want to pee?” Song Zhaodi asked, “Be careful when you go downstairs, I have to watch Sanwa.”
There are also two wooden benches in the living room on the second floor. Song Zhaodi sits on one end of the benches, sewing clothes, and at the other end there is a small quilt. On the quilt sleeps a child, who is the third child of the Zhong family.
Zhong Jianguo is not here, Zhong Dawa doesn’t know how to get along with Song Zhaodi, but he wants to give Song Zhaodi a pair of eyes and add “bad woman”, and finds that the clothes in Song Zhaodi’s hand belong to him, the child says “um” , and slowly go down the stairs.
Song Zhaodi originally thought that even if the child didn’t call her a “bad woman”, she would snort proudly. Seeing him so well behaved, she raised her eyebrows quite unexpectedly.
“Wake up.” Zhong Jianguo pushed open the small door of the bamboo raft and saw clearly that his eldest son was urinating on the flower again. He felt a headache, “Can’t you go to the toilet?”
Zhong Dawa: “The toilet is too far.” She said and looked at the door. Seeing that Song Zhaodi was not down, she waved to Zhong Jianguo and whispered, “Dad, she is sewing clothes for me.”
“Who is she?” Zhong Jianguo asked knowingly.
Zhong Dawa pursed her lips and looked straight at Zhong Jianguo, you know who it is.
“Your mother.” Zhong Jianguo said, “If you don’t want to call your mother, just call your mother. My son Zhong Jianguo is not dumb, but a good boy with good manners.”
Zhong Dawa snorted, turned around and left.
Zhong Jianguo knew that this kind of thing couldn’t be pushed too hard, so he followed up and asked, “How do you know your stepmother is sewing clothes for you?”
“I’m wearing it today.” The child turned around and noticed that his dad was carrying a lot of things, his eyes lit up, “Dad, what did you buy?”
Zhong Jianguo: “Eggplant, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, greens and onion, **** and garlic.”
“No meat?” The child looked very disappointed, “I want to eat meat.”
Zhong Jianguo: “Our family’s money will buy you the big white rabbit, milk powder, and malted milk essence. I’ll buy it when I get paid.”
“I still have a lot of money left, enough to buy a chicken.” Song Zhaodi was lying by the window on the second floor, “Buy some more chickens and ducks, I will raise chickens and ducks.”
Zhong Jianguo raised his head and saw that there was still no smile on Song Zhaodi’s face. He thought for a while: “I see. The big baby’s clothes haven’t been washed yet. I’ll wash it for him, and you will sew it for him.”
“A small piece of rot on the knee has been sewn.” Song Zhaodi cut the thread, threw the pants into the basin, and put the third baby on the bed, before leading the dazed second baby downstairs.
In the late afternoon, Song Zhaodi didn’t plan to cook dinner. She was afraid that the two children would wake up hungry in the middle of the night, so she scrambled garlic lettuce, scrambled eggs with shallots for the two children, and cooked some rice porridge.
A plate of green oil, a plate of scrambled eggs with green onions in yellow, served with white rice porridge, looks extra refreshing. Zhong Jianguo had a great appetite, and Zhong Dawa knelt on the bench and ate a mouthful of porridge and two eggs without raising his head.
Song Zhaodi was not hungry, so she fed the second baby to eat. Seeing the little guy eating, she was happy and curious: “Is it so delicious?”
“It’s delicious.” Zhong Jianguo said, “I’ve eaten lettuce before, but it’s not as good as yours. I saw that you didn’t put anything else, how did you make it?”
Song Zhaodi: “Apart from garlic and salt, it’s just lard. Probably I put more oil. For example, my mother used a chopstick to poke a little bit of oil in cooking. The clear soup has little water and no flavor at all.”
Zhong Jianguo: “Maybe. Big baby, is it delicious?”
“Delicious.” The child raised his head, met Song Zhaodi’s eyes, his face turned slightly red, and turned to his dad, “Dad, are we really going to eat chicken tomorrow?”
Song Zhaodi: “I will eat chicken tomorrow. However, you have to help me take care of my two younger brothers. You can’t run out to play. Otherwise, I won’t do it if the chicken is killed.”
“If you don’t do it, it will stink.” Zhong Dawa blurted out.
Song Zhaodi smiled and said, “Then you may not know that if you smear the chicken with salt, it will last for three or five months.”
“Dad!” Zhong Dawa turned to Zhong Jianguo, please help me.
Zhong Jianguo glanced at him: “Are you full? Go to bed when you are full.”
“No.” Zhong Dawa had almost eaten. However, he slept on the boat for a long time in the morning and then slept again in the afternoon, so he was not sleepy at all. So pick up the spoon and continue drinking the porridge.
Song Zhaodi slowed down when she saw the second baby eating: “Are you full?”
Zhong Erwa nodded, seeing that half of the rice porridge was left in the bowl, she secretly glanced at Song Zhaodi, and whispered, “There is still more.”
“Give it to your dad.” Song Zhaodi looked at Zhong Jianguo, “Would you like it?”
Zhong Jianguo said with a smile: “What’s left of my son, it’s not someone else’s.” The bowl was taken over, and there was another bowl in front of him, “Big baby?”
“I’m full.” Zhong Dawa said, “Dad, help me eat.”
Zhong Jianguo glanced at his two sons: “You two ate a bowl of scrambled eggs with shallots. You two are full.” Immediately, he poured the leftover rice from his two sons into his own bowl.
Song Zhaodi smiled and was about to speak, “Wow”, Song Zhaodi subconsciously asked, “Who cried?”
“Three babies are awake.” Zhong Jianguo said habitually, go and have a look. When he said that, he realized that the person opposite was his newly married daughter-in-law, “I’ll go take a look.”
Song Zhaodi: “I’ll take a look. You put the bowl away later.” Saying that, she got up and went upstairs.
Zhong Jianguo watched Song Zhaodi’s back disappear at the entrance of the stairs, and then said to his two sons: “She’s not here now, you two tell me the truth, how is this stepmother?”
Zhong Erwa looked at his eldest brother, and it meant that he would just follow what the eldest child said.
Zhong Jianguo reached out and grabbed the eldest son’s small ear: “This time, don’t run away.”
“It’s a little bit better.” Zhong Dawa stretched out her little finger, “It’s only a little bit.”
Zhong Jianguo looked at his son’s insincere words, and sneered: “The second baby comes to supplement, how is the stepmother?”
“The food is delicious.” Zhong Erwa was a little timid about his brother who was two years older than him. When he spoke, he glanced at Dawa and saw that Dawa didn’t stop him. “Buy a big white rabbit.”
Zhong Dawa glared at him: “I know what to eat. Dad——”
“Don’t explain.” Zhong Jianguo said, “If you like this stepmother, Dad will let her stay. If you don’t like it, I will send her back to Binhai, and then I will find another one for you. How about an elementary school teacher?”
Dawa Zhong didn’t even think about it: “No.”
“Then I want this.” Zhong Jianguo said, “Isn’t it going to be changed? This time you chose it yourself. When your father is not at home, you must listen to this mother.”
Zhong Dawa hummed: “Just listen.”
Zhong Jianguo heard the sound of going downstairs, picked up the bowl and swiped the porridge in the bowl three or two times.
Song Zhaodi came down. Zhong Jianguo got up to clean up the tableware, sent it to the kitchen, and cleaned the pots and bowls before coming out: “Where are your dirty clothes?”
“Upstairs.” Seeing Zhong Jianguo being so diligent, Song Zhaodi smiled, “I don’t need to wash my little clothes, I’ll do them myself tomorrow.”
Zhong Jianguo said “um” and asked again, “Do I have to make something for Sanwa?”
“If you have milk powder, make him a bowl.” Song Zhaodi was talking, and saw the big baby and the second baby who were playing together looking over at the same time, her eyelids jumped, “Is there any dairy cows on the island?”
Zhong Jianguo thought about it carefully: “It doesn’t seem to be. What’s wrong?”
“I want to order milk for the eldest baby and the second baby.” Song Zhaodi said, “It’s all day green and cabbage, adults are fine, children can’t stand it.”
Zhong Jianguo felt a little warm in his heart: “I’ll look back and ask. If not, no—”
“Dad, I don’t like drinking milk.” Zhong Dawa said suddenly.
Zhong Jianguo is speechless: “You know you don’t like milk before you drink milk?”
“Never drink it?” Song Zhaodi was surprised, “When I went to buy milk powder, the supply and salesman in Shencheng told me that milk was cheaper than milk powder and suggested that I order milk. You have been in Shencheng for three or four years. Never had one?”
Zhong Jianguo: “No.” After a pause, “The mother may not know where to order milk.”
“Can you buy milk powder in Yongcheng or Hangzhou?” Song Zhaodi asked.
Zhong Jianguo: “I’ll go out and take a look tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry.” Song Zhaodi knew that he was busy, “The white rabbit toffee I bought for them is condensed milk, which is condensed from fresh milk. Those candies are enough for them to eat for a month.”
Zhong Jianguo pointed out: “You even know this?”
“I know a lot.” Song Zhaodi said with a smile, “You go to the laundry, let’s talk after the laundry is done.”
It’s too wet on Wengzhou Island. Zhong Jianguo smelled the musty smell on the sheets and sheets, so he removed them all. In addition to the clothes for a family of five and the diapers changed by the three babies, Zhong Jianguo was busy until after ten o’clock.
Zhong Jianguo thought Song Zhaodi had fallen asleep when he went upstairs, but when he got upstairs, Song Zhaodi was still waiting for him: “Aren’t you tired after rushing for two days?”
“Tired.” How could Song Zhaodi not be tired and sore all over. When washing her hair in the afternoon, she once wanted to cut off the original owner’s black and shiny waist-length hair. Gein was too troublesome to wash, and his neck hurt from exhaustion. “But I didn’t tell you clearly, and I couldn’t sleep because I was tired.”
Zhong Jianguo moved a bench and sat opposite Song Zhaodi. The distance between the two was one and a half meters. It was not like a newlywed couple chatting, but a negotiation between the hostile parties.
Song Zhaodi raised her eyelids and looked at him, then twitched the corners of her mouth: “Let’s introduce myself first.”
“Self, introduce myself?” Zhong Jianguo didn’t understand, what kind of way is this, “You know about me, my stepmother told you.”
Song Zhaodi: “You don’t understand my situation.”
“I don’t know.” Zhong Jianguo said meaningfully.
Song Zhaodi smiled: “I thought you didn’t know anything. It seems I didn’t see you wrong.” After a pause, “My name is Song Zhaodi, I was born in four or five years, and my family is in Xiaosong Village. The three generations are all poor peasants, and the roots are right and the seedlings are red.”
Zhong Jianguo raised his hand: “I know all this. When I joined the army, the street checked my social relations, and my stepmother’s relatives were checked upside down by the street people. Your mother is my stepmother’s cousin, They already found out that your family was very popular at that time.”
“Since you know my family’s situation, then tell me directly.” Song Zhaodi said, “Graduated from high school in Hongya Town in 1963, and was admitted to Binhai Normal University—”
“Wait a minute!” Zhong Jianguo interrupted quickly, his face full of shock, “Binhai Normal University? Binhai Normal University, which is comparable to Binhai Ocean University? It’s just you?!”
Song Zhaodi nodded slightly: “I am the champion of our county, and I entered Binhai Normal University as the champion of the county’s college entrance examination. Don’t worry, listen to me, last year the school was closed, and it has not started until now. After graduation, I only write high school in the education column on the file. To be precise, I am a college graduate.”
“Then why did you tell me that you graduated from high school?” Zhong Jianguo frowned, “You said directly that you didn’t graduate from college, and I, I won’t–I thought about it, you kept saying that you had a high school diploma? I was still surprised at the time, when I said high school graduation when I graduated from high school, why didn’t I just say high school diploma, and you started calculating me when I co-authored it? No wonder I always thought you were weird everywhere.”
Song Zhaodi rolled his eyes at him: “I think too much. You are a man who has three children with a dead wife, what is worth my calculation?”
Zhong Jianguo choked: “Then why did you marry me? Why did you come here with me? It’s fine with my three children?”
“Of course there are other plans.” Song Zhaodi said.