Chapter 366: The Eighties Gourmet System (4)

After tidying herself up, Xie Yang began to size up this apartment allocated to Zhang Li by the Gad Steel Factory.

Zhang Li was quite lucky; after graduating from technical school, he was assigned to the Gad Steel Factory, and in his very first year, he caught the employee housing distribution.

However, if he hadn't been married, a technical worker like him would have been eligible for nothing more than a single room.

If married, however, one could apply for a two-bedroom apartment.

Upon hearing this policy, Zhang Pozi slapped her thigh and immediately entrusted a matchmaker to look for a wife for her son.

The first candidate she looked at was Xue Lihua, who had agreed to the matchmaking under pressure from her family solely to avoid being sent down to the countryside.

Zhang Li fell in love with Xue Lihua at first sight.

Xue Lihua had no other choice if she wanted to stay in the city.

Compared to others, Zhang Li was at least decent-looking, had a good temper, and worked at a good unit—the Gad Steel Factory was the ace state-owned enterprise leading Mingjiang City at the time, and Zhang Li himself was a technical backbone of the factory, earning a monthly salary significantly higher than the average worker.

Just like that, the two quickly got their marriage certificate and held a wedding, successfully applying for the two-bedroom apartment provided by the unit.

Calling it a two-bedroom apartment meant it was truly just two rooms, not even including a single balcony.

To dry clothes, one had to find a way—either by propping up a wire rack outside the window or hanging them in the dim corridor.

The two rooms were actually quite spacious, each about twenty square meters.

The outer room was partitioned into two halves; the half by the entrance was the main living area, and the back half with a window was Zhang Pozi's bedroom.

After Zhang Pozi took in the original owner, she partitioned the main living area to be a bit smaller.

Her bedroom barely fit two beds made from door panels.

The inner room was also partitioned into two halves, serving as the bedrooms for Zhang Li and his two sons respectively.

After Zhang Pozi successfully played matchmaker between her son and the original owner, she busied herself with dismantling the partition in the inner room to set it up as a relatively spacious bridal chamber, moving the bunk bed where her two grandsons slept into her own room.

This was done in the hope that the young couple would live well and strive to give her another precious grandson. She certainly wouldn't mind having more grandsons.

Unfortunately...

Xie Yang was just feeling a sense of pity for Zhang Pozi when the door opened with a "creak."

A fuzzy little head squeezed into the door crack and poked inside.

A pair of pitch-black, bright eyes met Xie Yang's smiling gaze.

"Ugh!"

The little fellow was startled, and the steamed bun he was holding in his hand dropped to the floor.

"Musheng!" Shuisheng's angry, bristling voice rang out from behind. "I told you not to take it, but you insisted! And then you didn't even hold it properly! Look at this now! It fell on the ground! What are you going to do!"

Musheng shrank his neck, clumsily squatted down, picked up the dirty steamed bun that had rolled twice on the floor, blew on it twice with his little mouth, and held his little hand high to offer it to Xie Yang: "Mom, eat! Eat!"

Xie Yang: "..."

She took the steamed bun and took the opportunity to pick Musheng up.

The original owner had been in this home for over four months; to hide her natural slowness in reaction, she usually didn't talk much, but she was very good to the two brothers, and little Musheng was long used to being held by her.

After being picked up, his milky little face rubbed affectionately against Xie Yang's cheek, and he began to giggle.

He was, after all, a two-year-old baby who had no idea what kind of tragedy had befallen the family.

Seven-year-old Shuisheng, however, was already sensible and knew that Xie Yang was not their biological mother, but the stepmother their father had intended to marry.

The neighbors were all saying that since his father and grandmother were dead, the stepmother had no obligation to take care of him and his younger brother, and she might leave this home very soon.

If that happened, what would he and his brother do?

He remembered the conversation he had overheard between Liu Nainai and her daughter-in-law in the inner room just now at Daniu's house:

"Mom, do you think Dani will continue to stay at the Zhang house?"

"If she doesn't stay there, where can she go? She's also a pitiful person; she was abducted by human traffickers when she was young and doesn't remember where her maiden home is. The Zhang family at least provides her with a place to live. The factory leadership is still quite humane; I heard that after they learned of this, they made the final decision to let the three of them continue living there."

"I didn't mean that, I meant... Zhang Li is gone, and Dani isn't the biological mother of the Shuisheng brothers, so she doesn't have the obligation to stay here and raise the two children, right? What if she finds another place to go? What will happen to the Shuisheng brothers?"

"Oh my! If you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have thought of that. That's right! Dani isn't the boys' biological mother... This won't do! I have to ask someone to look for Xue Lihua's whereabouts. The Zhang family doesn't seem to have any other relatives; if Dani leaves, we must contact the children's biological mother as soon as possible."

"But would Xue Lihua be willing to take the two children with her? Didn't they say she formed a new family with her former partner?"

"The children's biological father is gone; who else can they rely on besides her? This isn't a matter of whether she's willing or not. Besides, she just couldn't get along with A Li, it's not like she doesn't love the two children. In this world, what mother wouldn't love her own children?"

Shuisheng had pursed his lips tightly at the time.

He still vaguely remembered the fierce look his biological mother had when she argued with his father and grandmother, as if she wanted to tear them apart, and the way she didn't look back when she left this home; it didn't seem like what Liu Nainai said—that she loved the two brothers very much.

What if his biological mother really didn't like him and his brother, and his stepmother also left this home? What would he and his brother do?

"Why are you frowning at such a young age? You look like a little old man."

Xie Yang adjusted her hold, freed a hand, and smoothed Shuisheng's brow.

Shuisheng looked up, staring at her in a daze.

He always felt that today's stepmother was very different from usual.

Xie Yang smiled at him, signaling for him to enter the room and close the door behind him.

Shuisheng obediently did as he was told.

Xie Yang pulled out the wooden chair in front of the dining table and sat down with Musheng in her arms.

She then pointed to the other chair, signaling for Shuisheng to sit as well.

"Mom, eat! Eat!" Musheng hadn't forgotten the dirty steamed bun. "Don't eat, hungry, hungry."

Xie Yang was indeed hungry.

She peeled off the dirty skin of the steamed bun and made do with a few bites.

Unfortunately, this bun was made of coarse grain flour; one bite was not only choking, but the rough texture was quite scratchy on the throat.

She quickly picked up the half-bowl of Brown Sugar water left over from earlier and took two sips to wash the bun down.

After finishing, she noticed both brothers were staring at the bowl in her hand; little Musheng couldn't help but drool a stream.

Xie Yang couldn't help but laugh. Seeing there were still a few sips of Brown Sugar water left, she let Shuisheng have two sips first and gave the rest to Musheng.

When handing the bowl to Shuisheng, the child turned his face away, feeling particularly embarrassed: "I'm not greedy, give it to my little brother to drink."

"Your little brother has some, and you have some too, no need to yield." Xie Yang patted his head, "As the older brother, you need to set a good example for your little brother, and help take care of him when the adults are busy. But when it comes to dividing food, you two are equal; your little brother needs nutrition, and you need it too. Unless there's only one mouthful left, but that's not the case here, is it!"

"..."

These words undoubtedly reshaped Zhang Shuisheng's worldview.

Ever since he had a little brother, whether it was his grandmother, his father, or anyone else, they would constantly lecture him about needing to yield to his little brother.

Only this stepmother before him, who was so different from usual, gently stroked his head and told him:

When there is enough food to go around, he and his little brother are the same; however much his little brother eats, he can eat just as much.

In fact, his stepmother specifically let him drink an extra mouthful.

She said his little brother was still small, and small children should eat less than older children.

Stepmother... is really good!