Chapter 30

At night, Shen Hui was already watching TV in the back room with his brother and sister. Two children from his aunt’s family also wanted to come in to watch, but he ordered them to go out with a few other children. The two children left the place in disgrace, and not far away they ran into Murong Danling.

“Aunt.”

She was kind to the children and gave each of them a piece of candy. “Why did you come back so soon?”

“Don’t mention it. Shen Hui’s stepmother moved the TV to the back room outside, and now outsiders can’t enter his yard at all. We went in yesterday when there was a power outage, but we didn’t see anything and were scared half to death by her. Today, Shen Hui didn’t let us watch TV at his house, and we were kicked out when we went in. Oh, Shen Hui just had dysentery, and he’s recovered after the infusion.”

As she was talking, her sister Murong Danfeng came over. “I say, what do you want to do?”

“I want to make money. I must make them regret what they did to me.”

“Ling, listen to my advice and stop fighting with them. That bastard broke up with you when he saw that you didn’t get the money. Now I see that Fang Zhongcheng is quite attentive to you. He is a college student with a stable job and his conditions are not bad.”

“I know. I just want to see how Li Xia makes money. I want to make money, too. I want to make that father and son regret it to death.”

She wanted to make money, but she had no capital. She didn’t have the skills to sell snacks, and she couldn’t stand the hardship. She wanted to copy Li Xia’s model, but found that she couldn’t do it.

After a moment of depression, she quickly decided to take another path. With her looks, even without Shen Haiyang’s inheritance, she can still find potential stocks. She can become an official’s wife in the future.

They’ll just set up a stall and wait until Li Xia loses all her money, and then they’ll see if this family will still be so arrogant.

————

The days were getting colder. During the National Day holiday, Li Xia was busy making money, while Shen Haiyang took his three children to visit a cultural compound a hundred kilometers away.

“Wife, you really aren’t coming?”

“Mom, please come with us.” Huihua went over and took her arm and acted coquettishly.

“Mom, let’s go together.” Yiyi came over and held her other arm.

“Mom,lets go.” Shen Hui, standing aside, also echoed.

When packing at night, her family asked again, Li Xia felt a little sorry, but shook her head and refused. “During the National Day holiday, there will definitely be a lot of people, I have to take the opportunity to ship more goods.”

“Forget it, don’t embarrass Mom.”

Shen Haiyang spoke to help her out. He stretched out his hand and beckoned, and Yiyi quickly ran to his side. He picked up the child and sat him on his left leg. Shen Hui looked at him silently, and he stretched out his hand to beckon the child to come over. Shen Hui looked at Huihua and saw that she was still clinging to her mother. He no longer felt awkward and ran to his father and leaned against him gently on the other side.

“Be good, Daddy will take you out to play. You can think about it now, what do you want to buy and what do you want to play with when you go out.”

“I want to see the plane.”

Yiyi raised his hand first. Seeing an airplane up close is the child’s recent dream. He is very curious about what an airplane looks like and how it can take people to the sky.

The two older ones said nothing, just looked at their younger brother and laughed at him. The children didn’t have any specific goals, they just felt very good to be able to go out with their dad during the holidays.

When they were about to leave the next day, everyone realized that Li Xia was going with them. Everyone cheered happily. Although their mother was only going with them for two days, it was happy to be together as a family.

Li Xia boiled eggs and made some pancakes for them early in the morning, and packed several bags of instant noodles that everyone loved. When the family went to the train station, Shen Haiyang asked her quietly why she changed her mind.

“Don’t trust me?”

Li Xia nodded: “Yes.” Then she smiled at him: “Xiao Liu’s sister is on holiday during the National Day holiday, and she said she would help out for a few days when she comes. If I can spare the time, of course I will join you. Otherwise, you will have to take care of these three little kids on the road by yourself, and I’m really afraid that they won’t listen.”

Huihua turned around after hearing this and said, “Mom, you worry too much. My brother and I are obedient and we will take care of dad. Only Yiyi is a little fool, we can take care of him if we split up.”

After hearing his sister call him a little fool, Yiyi immediately quit. “I’m not a fool.”

Li Xia reached out and touched her son’s head: “Be good, follow me closely on the road, don’t run around by yourself. If you get lost, you’ll never see your mother again.”

“I know. I will follow mother closely.”

“Well, if you’re obedient, mom will give you a reward and take you out to eat delicious food.”

“Oh yeah, I’ll be good.”

The family of five went out on October 1st, and the children didn’t really need many people to take care of them. Even the two older ones would often pay attention to Shen Haiyang, which made him, as a father, both funny and heartwarming.

“Play by yourself, no need to pay attention to dad.”

“You two look after your brother, and I’ll take care of your dad.”

Shen Hui nodded, and either held Yiyi’s hand or kept his eyes on him. This child was stubborn but attentive, and now he treated Yiyi as his own brother. Ever since this brat had gone off on his own twice, he and Huahua would pay special attention to his brother when they were outside.

The green mountains and clear waters made the mind relaxed and happy. The children played until their foreheads were full of sweat, and their eyes were bright and excited. Li Xia also felt open-minded and temporarily put all her worries behind her.

“This is what life is. What I did in my previous life was just living.”

“What are you mumbling about again?”

Li Xia smiled and looked up at the blue sky and white clouds. “I think making money and having fun when you have time is what makes life interesting.”

“If you like it, we should come out at least twice a year. When we are more open-minded, we can take the children abroad to broaden their horizons.”

“I can also learn a lot.”

Shen Haiyang smiled and said, “Me too.”

The family had fun outside for two days. After returning home, they learned a shocking news from Xiao Liu – Murong Danling and Fang Zhongcheng were married.

“They came after you two left, saying they were here to see the kids after getting married.” Xiao Liu sneered, “Really? Fish find fish, shrimp find shrimp, and toad finds a big frog. These two actually got together, and I don’t know if they can get along.”

Li Xia was stunned and didn’t know how to react. She continued, “Actually, this is a good idea. If needed in the future, we can just let them help take care of the three children.”

Li Xia smiled and nodded: “That’s right.”

Rely on those two to look after the child? Humph, she might as well rely on the neighbors. When they divorced, Fang Zhongcheng didn’t want to take care of the child, so he transferred Yiyi to her when he found an opportunity. And Murong Danling, who divorced and left without taking her son. At that time, she didn’t even consider that Shen Haiyang was a vegetative and the child’s grandmother was so old.

Could these two really get married? With this in mind, she made some inquiries and found out that they really did get married. They got the marriage certificate and set up two tables in the cafeteria on October 3rd as a ceremony.

Well, since they are married, they should live their own lives. I hope these two don’t do anything weird.

Being in such a strange relationship, Li Xia sincerely hopes that the two can be fine, stop causing any trouble, and live their own lives.

Xu Xifeng talked about it here at night, and suddenly guessed something else. “They came to look for kids, they probably didn’t want to get the child back, right?”

As soon as she said this, the three people on the ground were immediately alarmed. Whether it was Fang Zhongcheng or Murong Danling, they gave the children a bad impression. When the three heard that they were going to follow them, they immediately felt unwell. Yiyi was the youngest and took the lead in hugging Shen Haiyang’s thighs tightly.

“I don’t want to follow him. I don’t want to follow him. I want to follow this dad.”

Brat, in your eyes, your mother is not as reliable as Shen Haiyang, right? Li Xia was so helpless with her son that she wanted to laugh. This kid has been shrewd since he was a child. He knew that if he clung to Shen Haiyang’s thigh, he would not embarrass her as a mother.

Huihua, who was standing by, looked at her brother with envy and amusement. If she were a boy, she would have also gone to hug his thigh. But because she was a girl, she estimated that Fang Zhongcheng would definitely not want her.

Shen Hui rolled his eyes at his younger brother and went over to grab his father’s arm. The eldest son said nothing, but stared at him with burning eyes, which meant the same thing as Fang Ruyi had said.

He was unwilling to follow Murong Danling, even though she was his biological mother and he had longed for her. But now he was already disappointed with her, not to mention that she was married to Fang Zhongcheng. That man didn’t even raise his own children, so how could he raise someone else’s children?

He was extremely disappointed with Murong Danling, and Murong Danling had given up on him as well. The brat dared to cut her with a knife in a hurry. After raising him, she would be an ungrateful person. Xu Xifeng was just overthinking. Li Xia and Shen Haiyang knew the two of them very well and knew that they definitely did not come for this purpose.

Shen Haiyang held one child in each hand, and the two children sat next to him obediently and refused to be held by their father. “Don’t worry, they may just come here to show off that they are married.”

Li Xia also said: “I guess they might have another child, and none of you three would be wanted.”

“Oh yeahh.”

Fang Ruyi took advantage of his young age and did things that his older brother and sister didn’t dare to do. He stood up and quickly kissed Shen Haiyang, and his behavior was like a spoiled dog. The two older ones were extremely envious and jealous. Shen Hui raised his foot to chase him, and the little guy turned around and ran quickly.

“Brother, brother, if you want it, I will kiss you too.”

“I don’t want it, it’s all saliva.”

“Hahaha……”

Li Xia shook her head and laughed, unpacking the suitcases and sorting out the luggage they brought back. She took out all the clothes for washing, and also washed and hung towels, toothbrushes, etc.

Shen Haiyang wanted to help her but she refused and poured him some water and asked him to sit aside. “Are you feeling unwell?”

“No. The doctor said that my illness may be cured in the next ten or eight years, so don’t worry too much.”

“Wait for your father to come back and then ask him to help inquire abroad. If the disease can be cured, we will try to go abroad for treatment. I will take advantage of this period to earn more money and make preparations.”

“sorry.”

“Aren’t couples supposed to support each other? It’s so awkward to tell your wife this.”

Li Xia knew what he meant and gave him a glare, saying nothing. The couple looked at each other and said nothing more, but all they had to say was clear.

She poured water to wash clothes, and the children in the yard laughed and talked happily. Seeing that Dad had gone to the toilet and Mom was left alone, the three of them played around for a while and then ran to help wash clothes. Li Xia wiped her hands on her apron and went to cook.

Peeled water chestnuts, added tomatoes and spinach to make stew, and each person had an egg. Added a small amount of sorghum flour to the white flour to make noodles. In later generations, she watched health programs saying that eating some coarse grains in moderation is good for the body. Although people nowadays prefer refined rice and flour, she always adds some coarse grains.

Water was boiling in the pot, and she was rolling noodles. Shen Haiyang went into the kitchen to wash his hands and help. He had just gone out to the bathroom and met a friend, and then learned a new piece of news.

“Adult men or women who have a registered permanent residence at work can transfer their spouse and children’s permanent residence here. The time is from October this year to April next year.”

Li Xia had heard of this situation in her previous life. Before the 1980s, many men worked outside the country with their registered permanent residence. In the 1980s, there was a family-based rural-to-urban transition. Only spouses and unmarried children were allowed to transfer.

“When will the process begin?”

“It has already begun.”

“I’m going to find Fang Zhongcheng.”

Yiyi’s registered permanent residence is still in the countryside, and now she has to pay tuition fees to attend kindergarten. If her registered permanent residence is not transferred, it will be difficult to go to primary school in the future, and there will be restrictions in all aspects. If she can’t find a connection, it may be difficult to enroll in school, and further studies will be a hurdle. It is better to have a registered permanent residence.

“Wife, you…”

“I’ll find him first.” Li Xia said and left in a hurry.

Shen Haiyang had some guesses about Fang Zhongcheng, and he estimated that this trip would most likely fail. He believed that his wife should be able to guess it. He was a little confused as to why his wife didn’t tell him directly.

He and Li Xia cannot have another child, but Yiyi has a household registration, so according to the policy, it is possible to transfer the child from rural to non-rural. If Fang Zhongcheng remarries, the two will definitely want to have another child. If Fang Zhongcheng transfers Yiyi to their household registration, he will not be able to get a birth permit for his child. Will he and Murong Danling be happy with this?

Due to time constraints, she was told that Fang Zhongcheng had already left work when she arrived at the company. She had no choice but to ride her bike to the tube-shaped building where he lived, but he was not there either. The neighbors in the building said that he had moved and had just moved into a new building yesterday.