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

After turning the soil, Han Dan took a large handful of withered green beans into the kitchen: "Qiaoqiao, the green beans are old, but the beans inside are delicious. Peel them, stir-fry the beans with chili peppers, and you'll have a good dish."

"Yes, Zhou Wenhui is peeling them. He can't just eat and not do any work." Qiaoqiao held a handful of green beans and a bowl, and Zhou Wenhui, who was sitting in the living room, helped her peel the beans.

"Sister Han, has Brother Lin Jie gone to work?"

"No, he works the night shift and sleeps at home until the afternoon."

"Then don't cook lunch. Eat at my house. Look, we'll have fish."

"That won't do. I'll just stir-fry some vegetables."

"Why are you being so polite? Let's eat at my place."

"Okay, then, I'll help you pick the vegetables."

The two got busy in the kitchen.

"Sister Han, are you going home for the Mid-Autumn Festival?"

"Lin Jie is coming back with me. What about you?"

Qiaoqiao sighed and said, "Going back is not an option. Wenhui refuses to go back. I'll go back with my brother."

"Maybe it just takes time. Don't be sad, take it slow."

"Well, we were married into a special family, what can we do?" Qiaoqiao smiled.

Han Dan felt inexplicably much better. In fact, Qiao Qiao also had her own reasons.

"Qiaoqiao, I had a fight with my mother-in-law this morning."

"Arguing? Your mother-in-law often comes to your house?"

"Yes, she takes the lion's share of Lin Jie's salary and benefits."

"Then, what are you going to do?"

"We'll just have to be frugal. But after that fight, she probably won't ask for it back. And..."

Han Dan lowered her voice and said, "My mother-in-law agreed to adopt a child. With a child and money in hand, life will be much easier."

"So you and Lin Jie are just going to live like this, suffering in silence?"

"I really hate that kind of thing. Once you have a child, your mind will wander, and it doesn't matter whether you need a man or not." Han Dan seems to have been successfully brainwashed by her mother-in-law.

Qiaoqiao smiled; she understood Han Dan and felt sad for her.

At first, her mother was worried that Zhou Wenhui didn't have the ability in that area, and that's what Qiaoqiao thought: if all else fails, they can just adopt a child.

There's no way out for their marriages; if they divorce and go back, their whole family will be drowned in scorn.

Knowing that Han Dan was having a hard time, Qiaoqiao took out a piece of salted meat, cut it in half, and put it inside the green beans.

Then I stir-fried a plate of green vegetables with lard. All three dishes were oily.

Zhou Wenhui loved the dishes Qiaoqiao made and ate two large bowls of rice.

Han Dan ate very politely, and Qiao Qiao kept putting meat and fish on her plate. Han Dan also ate two bowls of rice and was very satisfied.

Zhou Wenhui wanted to take a nap, so Han Dan took some dried green beans and chili peppers and went home.

Qiaoqiao saw him to the door and said, "It's too hot, so don't turn the soil. It's not worth getting heatstroke."

"It's okay. I didn't do any work, and I felt bad about taking the food."

"What does it matter? It just so happens that we have fish at home."

After closing the courtyard gate and returning to the house, Qiaoqiao carried Zhou Wenhui to bed for a nap.

"Is Lin Jie's family struggling financially?" Zhou Wenhui asked casually.

"Yes, most of his salary and supplies are to be given to his mother."

"Lin Jie agrees?"

"Of course, Sister Han can't make the decisions. But she said her mother-in-law won't have any more children, and they'll be having a baby soon."

Zhou Wenhui was taken aback: "Han Dan has a child?"

Then he looked at Qiaoqiao's belly, his eyes filled with envy.

"No, they're planning to adopt a child."

Why?

"This... I'm telling you, but you can't tell anyone, Lin Jie... he's no good."

Qiaoqiao stammered, "It's never good to gossip about other people's family matters."

"Lin Jie?"

Zhou Wenhui stared in astonishment, then lowered his head: "Many veterans who returned from the front lines have some psychological issues. I have them too. I often dream about them; they're laughing one minute and crying the next. I also dream about them lying next to me, covered in blood, and I reach out to grab them, but I can't reach them no matter what I do."

Qiaoqiao looked at Zhou Wenhui with heartache: "It will all pass, don't think about it anymore."

Zhou Wenhui smiled and said, "I haven't had those dreams in a long time. With you by my side, I'm no longer afraid."

Qiaoqiao hugged Zhou Wenhui tightly, her eyes blurry with tears. Han Dan was a pitiful person, but wasn't Lin Jie just as pitiful?

Over the next few days, Qiaoqiao prepared gifts to bring home.

Zhou Wenhui earns 68 yuan a month, spends about 38 yuan on groceries, leaving him with 30 yuan left over each month. He earned 180 yuan in half a year.

180 is roughly the Yang family's annual income. The family needs money for firewood, rice, oil, and salt, and even with all the savings, they can't make it to the end of the year.

Now that my brother and Qiaoqiao can no longer work, the family's income has decreased, and my parents will have to be even more frugal.

Kerosene, matches, household necessities—Qiaoqiao should prepare some of these.

Autumn is almost here, I need to buy my mother and grandmother a thick coat.

Grandpa and Dad can wear the cotton-padded military coats that Zhou Wenhui gave them, but Mom and Grandma don't have any decent clothes to wear when they go out. Let's buy them a woolen coat; it's durable and long-lasting.

I had to calculate the cloth coupons and whether I had enough money. After dawdling all morning, I bought my mother a dark-patterned wool coat and my grandmother a black wool coat, spending a total of 80 yuan.

It's quite thick in the hand, almost as heavy as a cotton-padded coat.

Qiaoqiao went to look at shoes again. Since the roads are wet in winter, she bought two pairs of waterproof shoes for ten yuan so that her feet wouldn't get wet when working in the fields.

Grandma can make cotton shoes and cloth shoes, so there's no need to buy them.

Finally, Qiaoqiao bought Fenglin a red sweater, which cost 18 yuan.

The fabric is soft, thick, and very beautiful.

Qiaoqiao herself doesn't have any winter clothes, but there's no rush. She'll buy some when the cloth ration coupons come through next month.

Qiaoqiao stood in front of the men's Zhongshan suit for a long time, her heart stirred with the tenderest emotions, but she still gave up. What right did she have to buy him clothes?

After buying the clothes, I'll go buy candy and cookies.

Grandma is in poor health, so I need to buy some brown sugar and some fruit candies to share with the children in the village.

We finally bought the thermos that Qiaoqiao wanted most. It cost eight yuan, which I used to think was too expensive, but now I can accept it.

I have seventy yuan left, but I'm out of tickets. If I want to buy more, I'll have to pay a high price.

After thinking about it, I realized I still need some money on hand. What should I do if something unexpected happens?

The money belongs to Zhou Wenhui. If she spends too much, she might be misunderstood as being too devoted to her family. If Wenhui doesn't say anything, it would be bad if she harbored resentment.

Carrying a large bag of things, Qiaoqiao went to the grocery store and happened to run into Han Dan there.

"Sister Han, going to buy groceries?"

Han Dan was arguing with Sister Liu about how many pounds of meat they could buy with three jin of meat coupons and a little more money.

"Qiaoqiao, is she your friend?" Sister Liu asked.

"Yes, we live together. What's wrong, Sister Han? Not enough hostages?" Qiaoqiao asked.

"I... I'd like to use three jin of meat coupons, plus a little more money, to buy five jin of meat," Han Dan said with difficulty.

"Qiaoqiao, it's not that I don't want to help her, but the holiday is coming soon, and meat rations are scarce. Many people have ration coupons but can't buy meat. We've already done our best to buy three pounds of meat with three ration coupons," Sister Liu said with difficulty.

"Sister Liu, how about some bones? Sister Han is going back to her parents' home, otherwise she wouldn't be in such a hurry to buy meat," Qiaoqiao said.

"Alright then, three catties of meat coupons, 2.1 cents, plus 8 cents, and I'll give you a catty of meat bones. Just so you know, there's not much meat on the bones, so it's only good for soup."

Out of consideration for Qiaoqiao, Sister Liu gave in.

"Okay, okay, thank you Sister Liu, my bones are doing very well." Han Dan was overjoyed.

After weighing out the meat and bones for Han Dan, Sister Liu asked Qiaoqiao with a beaming smile, "You bought so many nice things to go back to your parents' home?"

"No, I just bought a few cheap clothes for my parents. I have to buy a thermos, though. My grandma isn't well. She takes medicine at night and drinks cold water. In winter, the water gets so cold it chills her teeth."

"Your mother is so lucky to have such a sensible daughter like you. Qiaoqiao, do you want to take some groceries home?"

"I've used up all my meat coupons, but I have some side dishes at home. I don't have any egg coupons, so I'll buy some soybeans instead. They're delicious stewed with salted meat."

"Okay, did you bring the food tickets?"

"I brought it, I brought it, half a pound is enough."

Han Dan felt extremely sad when she saw Qiaoqiao carrying so many bags and so many packages, while she herself weighed only a few pounds.