Chapter 197: Return My Life

"Why?" Si Rong asked coolly.

Shen Qingyu really wanted to roll her eyes; yes is yes, no is no, why ask her why?

With so many people present, she couldn't very well say that it was naturally because the pay difference wasn't much, but being a Chinese teacher and PE teacher was much easier than being a music teacher and Dance Teacher.

"Because, because my mother-in-law's health isn't very good, and my son is like a wild monkey, so I always have to spend more time disciplining him," Shen Qingyu said after careful consideration, thinking it sounded decent and reasonable.

But the several female teachers present were all military dependents; which family didn't have children to discipline?

If everyone could just swap around, they would want to swap too.

"Your mother-in-law's health isn't good? Didn't you two have quite a lively fight yesterday?" a female teacher muttered; although her voice was small, everyone present could hear it clearly.

Shen Qingyu:...

"Teacher Shen, everyone has children at home, and Teacher Si also has a pair of twins at home. How about this, I won't say who I'm favoring, you can both give a demonstration on the spot. It just so happens that a piano was delivered to the island yesterday."

Shen Qingyu:...

She had thought the Principal might favor Si Rong, after all, her husband's official rank was higher, but she hadn't expected him to suddenly propose that she compete with Si Rong in piano.

Piano, she once had a piano at home, but that wasn't something she could touch.

Seeing Si Rong sit down gracefully at the piano moved over by several teachers, Shen Qingyu had to admit that although she and Si Rong were both daughters of capitalists, there were still some differences.

She had lost her mother in childhood, and after her stepmother remarried into the Shen family with her younger sister, her life was only bright on the surface.

With a stepmother came a stepfather.

The piano at home belonged exclusively to her younger sister.

The fluent "Nocturne" from Si Rong's fingertips left the teachers listening in a trance.

As the piece ended, the Principal took the lead in applauding, "Good! Good! I didn't expect our little Songshan Island to be full of hidden talent. It is our honor to hear such beautiful piano music. Thank you, Teacher Si!"

"Alright, Teacher Shen, now it's your turn!"

Shen Qingyu:...

"I don't know how," she said with some embarrassment, and asked with some unwillingness, "Does a music teacher have to know how to play the piano?"

The teachers:...

The Principal smiled without losing his temper, "On our little island, we don't require music teachers to know how to play the piano, but Teacher Shen, do you know what merit-based recruitment is?"

Shen Qingyu froze there.

She couldn't believe it; had she been humiliated by the Principal?

She was the wife of a Political Commissar, and he was talking about merit-based recruitment? Was he saying Si Rong was better than her?

But if she had the same background as Si Rong, would her talent be any worse than Si Rong's?

No one paid attention to her inner turmoil. After the meeting, the Principal asked the teachers to go familiarize themselves with the classrooms and offices.

The first day of school for the children was just handing out stationery and books. After Si Rong helped a teacher named Zhang Xiaojuan hand out books and such, she returned to the office.

The office was not large, and she chose a seat furthest from Shen Qingyu.

Outside the window was the playground, and further away was the Maple Forest; the autumn mood dyed the maple leaves red, beautiful and atmospheric.

Si Rong thought of the look of frustration on Shen Qingyu's face today, and her mood became a bit more pleasant.

Because of the scarcity of teachers at the school, in addition to serving as a music teacher and Dance Teacher, Si Rong also served as an art teacher.

Uh, she had also studied art; a long time ago, after her second brother worked hard in business and earned money from his first shop, he signed her up for art classes.

She had been raised in the palms of her two brothers, especially her second brother.

So even though Si Rong didn't have much interest in art, she still studied very seriously.

Now it seems, having more skills is never a burden.

It gradually spread across Songshan Island that Commander Jiang Cheng's beautiful wife was also a woman of many talents.

These words fell into Shen Qingyu's ears, and she felt they were everyone's sarcasm toward her.

She blamed all of this on her family background.

It was all her father's fault for failing her!

However, besides being dissatisfied with her background, she also spared no effort in trying to sow discord between Si Rong and her mother-in-law.

But Si Rong and her mother-in-law worked together very well. When Shen Qingyu went to their house, Si Rong would emphatically praise how good her mother-in-law Hu Qian was to her.

When Shen Qingyu's mother-in-law went to their house, it would be Hu Qian talking about how filial her daughter-in-law was to her.

With the assists from the two of them, the home of Political Commissar Tao was extremely lively, with chaos and commotion all day long.

The footsteps of autumn were hurried, and Si Rong also gradually adapted to life on the Haidao.

She worked during the day, and when the two babies were hungry, Hu Qian would push them to the school in a stroller.

Si Rong would find a secluded place to take a break and feed the children.

Once, this action was seen by Shen Qingyu's mother-in-law.

She laughed for a long time, "Isn't a woman's chest just for feeding the child? What's there to hide? Just lift your clothes and feed them, how much better that is!"

From then on, Si Rong knew that the chaos in the Tao family wasn't entirely Shen Qingyu's fault.

However, every family has its own troubles, and she was more concerned with her own life.

Ever since Shen Lan became their neighbor, Si Rong began to have many dreams at night.

They were all very messy dreams; some were from when she and Shen Lan were still husband and wife, and others were from when she met this Shen Lan on the Haidao. Sometimes they would intersect, and in the end, the two different faces would merge together.

This kind of dream made her very easy to wake up, but fortunately, every time, Jiang Cheng's broad and warm embrace would surround her like a harbor.

Si Rong thought, fate is truly a wonderful thing.

She had to admit that she had fallen in love with Jiang Cheng.

In the middle of the night, Si Rong was once again awakened by a nightmare.

In the dream, Shen Lan's face kept changing, and in the end, it actually turned into a blood-weeping monster, shedding bloody tears as it questioned her,

"Back then, was it you who let Zhu Yun deceive me?"

"Why are you so heartless? I only deceived you, yet you took my life!"

"Si Rong, do you think you can find peace in a corner just by fleeing to this Haidao? Keep dreaming! I will watch you, I will watch you forever!"

"Give me back my life! Give me back my life!"

After waking up, Si Rong was drenched in a cold sweat from the shock.

Yes, it was she who had asked Zhu Yun to deceive Shen Lan back then; in truth, it wasn't even a deception, just a heavy, hesitant expression, because she understood Shen Lan, who was prone to overthinking.

But she hadn't expected him to think so much that he was eventually frightened into developing cancer and dying.

The words from the dream, "I only deceived you, yet you took my life," kept echoing in her ears.

Slowly slowing her breathing, Si Rong hugged Jiang Cheng tightly, using both her arms and legs like an octopus.

In his sleep, Jiang Cheng subconsciously held her even tighter.

Looking at the twinkling starlight in the night sky outside the window, Si Rong thought that she shouldn't be afraid.

How could Shen Lan's life possibly be compared to her being deceived for over twenty years?

She had been plotted against and tricked into marriage by that pair of scoundrels, who even attempted to scheme for the Si Family's assets; all that suffering combined meant Shen Lan's dog life wasn't enough to pay for it!

In fact, she rarely saw Shen Lan on Haidao in her daily life, and on the rare occasions they did meet, it was nothing more than a few polite greetings between neighbors.