Stepmother Reborn: Dad, my mom hasn't hit me for three days

The news that Zhang Xiuhua was going to take the children on a trip quickly spread throughout the village.

Aunt Wang didn't quite understand. "Why are you running so far? It's so tiring! And you have to take care of a bunch of kids."

Zhang Xiuhua smiled and said, "I wanted to go to my mother's house, but there was no one there. I was worried about leaving them alone at home, so I took them with me."

Aunt Wang suddenly realized that it was not for travel. She just wanted to go back to her parents' home. That's right, Xiuhua's parents' home is in Jiang Province, which is so far away.

"I heard that the people in the south started to implement the household contract responsibility system last year. I wonder how they are living." Aunt Wang was really envious.

Zhang Xiuhua didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "What else can we do? The land in the south is not as abundant as in the north. Take my mother's village for example. Each person has one mu of land on average. Even if we can harvest twice a year, you can do the math. Is that enough food after paying the public tax?"

Aunt Wang was stunned when she heard that there was so little food. She was no longer envious.

Zhang Xiuhua sent Aunt Wang away. The children had already packed their things and asked her to check them.

Zhang Xiuhua checked them one by one and made sure that they had brought the necessary things, and then let them go.

"Mom, when will Brother Jidong come back?" Zhuzhu asked.

"He is waiting for us in the capital. I have already told him not to go back. It is so tiring to take the train." Train tickets were in short supply at that time. Zhang Xiuhua estimated that she could not buy six sleeper tickets, so she could only buy hard seats.

"If you sit on the train for too long, your buttocks will hurt. When you go out to play, you must walk. If you can't bear the hardship, you can stay!" Zhang Xiuhua warned them in advance.

Zhuzhu raised her little hand, "Mom, I definitely won't make trouble. I can endure hardship."

The youngest Zhuzhu had promised, so naturally the others also rushed to express their opinions.

Zhang Xiuhua wrote a letter of guarantee and asked them to sign and put their fingerprints one by one. "Whoever complains about being tired or making a fuss during the process will have to pay a penalty of five yuan."

Everyone signed because they wanted to go and have fun.

In a blink of an eye, Zhang Xiuhua took the children to the county town on the village tractor.

This is Xu Chunying's vegetable selling car. Since she is not selling eggs these days, she has increased the supply of vegetables.

"Are you still angry?" Zhang Xiuhua touched Xu Chunying's shoulder.

She gave Xu Chunying a way out, so she had to take advantage of the situation and back off. "I'm not angry. I just feel hurt."

Zhang Xiuhua laughed, "Don't feel bad! When the eggs from the chicken farm are sold, you'll get a lot of money."

Xu Chunying nodded and looked at the things she brought. "You go back to your parents' home once every few years, and you didn't bring any local specialties?!"

Zhang Xiuhua patted the luggage bag and said, "I brought it! But it's not for my dad, it's for Jidong. His mom is still alive and probably misses her child, so I asked him to go back and see her."

Xu Chunying is also a mother, and she cannot understand Jidong's mother's behavior. "Even if you get married, you can't just abandon your previous child. What's more, your ex-husband is dead. She is an incompetent mother."

"It's not her fault. Jidong was lost before, and the family she remarried was not well off. If Jidong followed her, he would definitely suffer. I couldn't bear to see Jidong suffer. That's why I came here." If that family wasn't well off, Zhang Xiuhua might not be able to marry Jidong.

"Aren't you afraid that she will see Jidong's success and come back to stick with him?" Xu Chunying felt that she was too kind and could never imagine that people's hearts could change.

Zhang Xiuhua laughed, "No, she's not that kind of person."

Her sister-in-law was a strong-willed person. She would rather suffer hardships than be looked down upon. Later, she became sick from exhaustion and passed away at a young age. Moreover, Jiang Province will be the second largest province in the country in the future, and life there will not be worse than here. Her sister-in-law had gone through hardships in her previous life, so she will definitely be able to do so in this life as well.

Seeing that she was so sure of what she said, Xu Chunying stopped trying to persuade her.

In the county town, they separated from Xu Chunying and her group, entered the train station, checked their tickets and stuffed their luggage above their heads. However, the space was too narrow and only two bags could fit. Zhang Xiuhua could only put the remaining bag under a chair and reminded them to keep an eye on it.

There were many thieves at that time. Zhuzhu, who had suffered from thieves before, reminded them, "We take turns to guard. I don't want to be left without clothes."

"Okay!"

In fact, Zhuzhu was a little over-worried, because the train seats were too hard and the children couldn't sleep at all. They looked at the scenery outside the window excitedly, "It's so fast."

After a while of novelty, they got tired of it.

Soon it was time for dinner and everyone else was eating, so they wanted to eat too.

Zhang Xiuhua brought a travel essential - instant noodles.

At that time, Taiwanese instant noodles had not yet entered the mainland market, and instant noodle factories under the planned economic system had limited quantities of everything. Grain coupons were required to buy flour, and egg coupons were required to buy eggs. Salt and sugar were also planned and had to be approved by relevant departments (1).

This makes instant noodles like Moutai difficult to buy.

However, Zhang Xiuhua's instant noodles are homemade.

The children brought lunch boxes, filled them with hot water, opened the brown paper bags, put the instant noodles in, and then poured the instant noodles oil and pickles on top. The fragrance immediately filled the entire carriage.

The other passengers smelled the fragrance and all looked over.

"Mom, you made this yourself, right?" Zhuzhu asked.

"Yes! Homemade. I can't buy real instant noodles." Zhang Xiuhua asked them, "Is it delicious?"

"Delicious! Especially fragrant!" Several children ate with gusto and could hardly lift their heads.

"It's a bit thick. And not tough enough. Real instant noodles won't break!" Zhang Xiuhua picked up the noodles, and they were already broken.

"It doesn't matter if it's broken. You can still eat it." Youcai asked her how to make it.

Zhang Xiuhua briefly explained the steps. Steam first and then fry. The operation is simple, but not very successful. But the taste is indeed delicious.

After dinner, the children felt bored and moved around in their seats. Their butts looked like they were covered with grass.

Zhang Xiuhua asked them to play poker to kill time, and the time passed quickly.

The children were quite interested.

Zhang Xiuhua joined in the fun. When their attention was all drawn to the cards, she let Baolin take over.

It takes 13 hours to get from their county to Harbin, and it is already dark when they arrive at the station.

Zhang Xiuhua asked them to put away the cards and follow her out carrying the luggage bags.

The place was full of people, so Zhang Xiuhua and her children stayed in a guesthouse near the train station for one night.

The children carried their luggage bags and followed them to the sports team.

When he saw the coach from last time, he still remembered Baolin, so he asked Baolin to try skating a few laps to make sure she was not rusty. He asked her to stay here to practice for two months, "If she can learn it and is not afraid of hardship, she can stay in the team."

Zhang Xiuhua took the children to the dormitory, and Baolin stayed.

Zhang Xiuhua left some money for Baolin and told her to listen to the coach. "Your uncle Li will come to see you when he has a break. If you really can't stand the hardship here, it's okay. We can still rely on our brains."

A parent at the door heard this and glanced at Zhang Xiuhua, obviously curious about who would say this.

Baolin watched her mother and her brothers and sisters leave. She didn't know why. She was looking forward to skating when she came here, but when they really left, she felt like she was left behind and felt inexplicably panicked.

What she didn't know was that Zhang Xiuhua was walking ahead, her eyes red. The children were growing up and starting to pursue their own careers. She was proud, reluctant, and worried. But no matter what, she had to let go of their hands and let them go out to explore.