I was married off to a disabled hero in lieu of marriage; my in-laws doted on me and I aspired to gr

The next day, Yang Zheng went to visit his master. Qiaoqiao and Hu Xiaomei took Zhou Xiaowei to buy groceries. Sister Liu had been transferred to Songshan Road, and Qiaoqiao had not yet met her.

The grocery store wasn't very busy. When Sister Liu saw Qiaoqiao, she immediately ran out from behind the counter.

She pulled Qiaoqiao along and said, "I thought you'd forgotten me."

"I can forget anyone but you, Sister Hu said you always save fresh vegetables for her."

"Isn't that what we should do? Qiaoqiao, do you have any extra meat tickets?"

Sister Liu and Qiaoqiao's friendship was built on exchanging tickets.

"I asked Sister Hu to send you a pound of meat coupons, is that not enough again?"

"What you gave me was your affection, and today I'm exchanging it. My son is in high school now, and he needs to be well-nourished. I also want him to get into university, just like you. There's also a sick mother-in-law at home, and we only have two and a half pounds of meat coupons a month, which is far from enough."

After the resumption of the college entrance examination, studying and taking the college entrance examination became a major event for every family.

"I brought two jin of meat coupons today. I'll buy one jin of meat myself, and I'll give you one and a half jin in exchange for egg coupons. Xiaowei needs to eat two steamed eggs every day."

"Okay, that's great. But I don't have any egg tickets on me. I'll get some for you and give them to Xiaomei next time."

"Okay, no rush, we still have some eggs at home."

"Qiaoqiao, you are truly my lucky star. There are many officials in Songshan Road, and most of them send their maids out to buy groceries. They are all very arrogant. But you are so approachable and easy to talk to."

The minister's daughter-in-law also colluded with a vegetable shop clerk to scalp tickets; apart from Qiaoqiao, there really wasn't another one like her.

With Sister Liu around, half a pound of meat coupons plus seven cents can buy a pound of meat. Qiaoqiao carefully selected a piece of pork belly with a lot of lean meat. The minced meat can be steamed with eggs or used to make meatball soup.

I haven't had braised pork in a long time. After having children, meat ration coupons had to be used to support the children first. One meal of braised pork required at least two jin of meat ration coupons. Even the minister's family could only eat it occasionally.

I bought meat, cabbage, some flour, and half a pound of peanuts. I'll make dumplings for dinner and fry a peanut too.

After buying the groceries and exchanging the meat coupons, Qiaoqiao left first. More and more people were buying groceries, and Sister Liu was quite busy.

At the entrance of the vegetable shop, a woman in her thirties greeted Hu Xiaomei and jokingly said, "Sister Hu, you have a friend now."

After leaving the grocery store, Hu Xiaomei said, "The person who greeted me just now was the mayor's housekeeper. I don't know her; she just asked me if I worked for Minister Zhou's family, but I didn't tell her."

Mayor? Qiaoqiao remembered that the county party secretary had told her father-in-law that the pigs in Dashui Village were confiscated because the mayor had pressured them.

Could it be the mayor's housekeeper, deliberately trying to find out about her father-in-law?

"Sister Hu, never tell anyone whether Dad is home or not," Qiaoqiao instructed.

"I understand, Sister Luo has repeatedly told me. The vegetable shop may look inconspicuous, but it's actually a place where everyone gathers information from each other; there are many tricks involved."

"I didn't expect that."

The official road is really complicated. Zhou Xiaowei is so fat; even with the two of them taking turns carrying him, they couldn't lift him anymore.

When they got home, they put him in the "pigsty" his uncle had made. He ate a little something for lunch, and in the evening, Zhou Wenhui and his brother came back and they made dumplings for him.

Each person gets a bowl of noodles; Zhou Xiaowei's is steamed egg with minced meat.

"Sister Hu, it must be so tiring to carry your child to the market every day. I heard there are bamboo strollers available, but I don't know where to buy them."

"Don't spend that money. I can carry Xiaowei on my back with just a strip of cloth tied around him, and it's fine."

"Where did you learn that from?" Qiaoqiao laughed, as if someone had carried a child like that.

"My child was raised on my back like this, and he's very obedient."

As Hu Xiaomei spoke, her smile froze, and she sighed, "If I were alive today, I would be your age, twenty years old."

"Sister Hu, I'm sorry, I reminded you of something sad."

Sister Liu once said that after Sister Hu's child drowned, she divorced her husband. For many years, she has been immersed in the pain of losing her son and has found it difficult to get over it.

"His grandmother was sick and said she wanted to drink fish soup, but the family was so poor that they couldn't afford to buy fish, so my son went to catch fish and never came back."

What a good child! His grandmother called me her nemesis, even though she was the one who killed my son! My husband beat me, my mother-in-law cursed me, I really wanted to end it all. But I didn't die. If I had, no one would remember my good son anymore.

Hu Xiaomei stopped eating noodles, and tears slowly streamed down her face.

"I have no job, no friends, and no son. I live like a rat in this city, and I'm terrified of the light. Qiaoqiao, thank you, thank you for not looking down on me, for giving me a ray of light, for giving me a reason to live."

"Sister Hu, actually I've had a lot of suffering too. My grandfather had a bad class background, and our family couldn't hold our heads up in the village. Even three-year-old children could curse me and my grandfather. They cursed us so horribly, calling us pigs and evil spirits. At that time, I thought, how could my grandfather, who taught and nurtured people, be considered an evil spirit?"

"I married Zhou Wenhui, don't laugh at me, but it was so that someone could support our family. Life goes on, and see, we're doing well now, aren't we? Sister Hu, you're still young, you can definitely find your own happiness and have another child," Qiaoqiao advised.

"I have found hope. Xiaowei is my hope. I will not remarry or have any more children. As long as your family doesn't kick me out, I will raise Xiaowei as my own child and watch him grow up, get married, and have children."

Hu Xiaomei turned her gaze to Zhou Xiaowei, revealing a doting smile.

"You and Xiaowei are also destined to be together. He's shy around strangers, but when he saw you, he didn't cry at all. Sister Hu, Xiaowei will grow up and leave us, flying far away. You still need to have your own life."

"If you have two more children, I can take care of them forever."

Qiaoqiao, stop talking and hurry up and eat your noodles. Have two more babies. Giving birth isn't like giving birth to kittens; it hurts a lot.

Zhou Wenhui went home early from get off work. Sister Hu mixed the dumpling filling, Qiaoqiao kneaded the dough, Zhou Wenhui washed his hands and made dumplings, and Zhou Xiaowei played obediently in the "pigpen".

"Yang Zheng hasn't returned yet?"

"He talked a lot with his master, and he probably won't get home until dark."

"That's true. After school starts, we won't be able to come back until summer vacation."

"Luckily, I go to university in this city. I would go crazy if I didn't see Xiaowei for half a year."

"You miss him, but he doesn't miss you. He hasn't been drinking milk for the past few days, and he can sleep with Sister Hu at night."

Zhou Wenhui said sullenly, "Everyone says boys depend on their mothers, but this child depends on Aunt Hu."

The problem is, Sister Hu has only been taking care of him for about ten days.

"Xiao Wei isn't close to me. My mother slept with him from birth. I was so focused on preparing for college entrance exams that I often forgot to breastfeed him and almost forgot I had a son."

"What son doesn't love his mother? Boys are the sweetest, like girls, and they love their mothers the most," Sister Hu chimed in.

That makes sense. Zhou Wenhui's love for his mother-in-law is restrained yet profound.