"I'm not a bad person, you don't need to be afraid of me," he said, holding her face and staring into her eyes, enunciating each word.
After saying this, he quickly let go of her face and neatly arranged the pillowcase before getting up to go to sleep.
Regardless of whether a child has their own opinions or whether their character is good or bad, asking any child to speak ill of their mother is a task more difficult than climbing to heaven.
If Yan Zhao hadn't been sitting on the edge of the kang bed at that time, he would have almost tidied her into the cabinet too. If he hadn't been so diligent, and if Chen Meilan hadn't been in such a good mood after finally taking a nice bath with the new water heater, she wouldn't have agreed to his request.
This was really too difficult, and one wrong move could make him the villain in Little Wang's eyes.
The next morning, the children woke up full of energy, ready to go to school.
Chen Meilan took Little Lang to register for kindergarten.
When they parted ways halfway, Yan Zhao probably wanted to try again, so he asked Little Wang, "Yan Wangqi, did that Chen Ping drink with your mom?"
Just as they were passing by the audio equipment store, a song played from inside: "I know my future is not a dream, I must live every minute seriously..."
"My future is not a dream, my heart moves with hope," Little Wang jumped up and sang a line, spreading his arms and running as if flying against the wind.
Yan Zhao stopped in his tracks and said to Chen Meilan, "He's doing this on purpose, deliberately siding with his mother and hiding many things."
"Don't worry about it. I'll find time to ask him about it. A child who doesn't side with their mother isn't a child at all," Chen Meilan said, waving her hand while holding Little Lang's hand.
Zhou Xueqin might not have raised the child well, but in those eight years, Yan Zhao had only come back a few times. Zhou Xueqin had at least been with Little Wang for eight years. If he didn't side with Zhou Xueqin, he would truly be an ungrateful wretch.
Little Lang was also eager to go to kindergarten. He looked back to see his father staring at him, with a smile on his dark face, waving and saying repeatedly, "Goodbye, Dad."
Although his mother thought he was slow, the kindergarten loved children like Little Lang the most - good appetite, ate a lot, well-behaved, didn't cause trouble, and most importantly, cute, white, and chubby.
Moreover, most children nowadays went to daycare centers, where the tuition was only 18 yuan per semester.
Kindergarten offered early drop-off and late pick-up, provided two meals a day, but cost 18 yuan per month. Only wealthy people could afford to send their children there. When Little Lang entered kindergarten, he was treated like a little VIP and received an enthusiastic welcome.
Although she knew that Zhou Xueqin had made a fortune in the capital and Zhou's mother couldn't take Little Lang away, Chen Meilan still carefully instructed the teachers and the principal that no one except herself was allowed to pick up Little Lang. To make the principal and teachers more attentive, Chen Meilan specifically revealed that the child's father was a police officer, and a remarkable one at that.
"Don't worry, I won't let anyone but you pick him up," the principal said, patting her chest. "I'll personally drop off and pick up this child every day."
This was a private kindergarten, and all responsibility fell on the principal. If something happened to one child, other children wouldn't come anymore.
Chen Meilan still had to oversee her small construction project, then go to the telecommunications bureau to install a phone. Installing a phone now was not only extremely expensive but also required a six-month wait. If you didn't want to wait, well, you could pay extra.
She was about to receive the final payment for the project, so Chen Meilan thought for a moment and added an extra 100 yuan, just for that big project with Qinchuan Group. What if she could secure it?
By spending an extra 100 yuan, the phone would be installed within seven days.
However, after just three days, the telecommunications bureau called to say they would come to install the phone.
But before the telecommunications people arrived, Yan Bin came first. His venture into business had been a grand affair, but he hadn't earned a penny. Now he was solely focused on keeping an eye on the coal mine for Chen Meilan and collecting it.
After all, if the coal mine became Meilan's, she would surely give him a gratuity.
However, today Yan Bin had a look of exasperation on his face, and as soon as he entered, he said, "Meilan, Chen Ping had been chasing his money all along, but now he's silent. Guess why?"
"Why?"
Yan Bin cleared his throat and said, "Hu Xiaomei says she's pregnant. She just had an ultrasound at the hospital, and it's a boy. She's already over three months along."
Chen Meilan was stunned for a moment, then smiled, "Really?"
Yan Bin hung his head dejectedly, "You see, if Hu Xiaomei is pregnant, and it's a boy, Yan Xishan will definitely marry her. Legally, you can be released on bail for one day during detention to get married. So even if Yan Xishan is sentenced to life imprisonment, if Hu Xiaomei marries him, the coal mine will still be hers, and Chen Ping can still run the coal mine with her."
Hu Xiaomei was thick-skinned, shrewd, and quick-witted.
This method was truly brilliant. Even if Yan Xishan was in detention, when he heard that Hu Xiaomei was pregnant with his son, wouldn't he cry tears of joy while registering for marriage, given his desire for a son?
However, something seemed fishy about this. In her previous life, it had happened similarly. Before Yan Xishan went to prison, Hu Xiaomei had been pregnant several times, but they were all girls. She was a public school teacher, and having more children than allowed would result in fines. Moreover, she was competitive and didn't want to have daughters.
So whenever the ultrasound showed it was a girl, Hu Xiaomei would have an abortion. Yan Xishan wouldn't commit without seeing results, so he never registered for marriage with her.
It wasn't until after Yan Xishan was imprisoned that she suddenly became pregnant with a male fetus, and the ultrasound conveniently showed she was three months along. Yan Xishan was then released on bail from the detention center to temporarily come out and register for marriage.
Yan Xishan was sentenced to 15 years, which was reduced to 8 years before he was released. By then, his coal mine, plus five large coal mountains he had bought but hadn't started mining, as well as all the relocation houses, had been taken by Hu Xiaomei.
Poor Yan Xishan couldn't even see his son's face except when providing living expenses.
How come her son was only conceived after Yan Xishan was imprisoned, and both times it was at three months?
Thinking of this, Chen Meilan couldn't help but smile and ask Yan Bin, "What about the ultrasound report? Did you see it? Is she really pregnant?"
Yan Bin was representing Yuanyuan to fight for the coal mine keys, so how could he not have looked at the ultrasound?
Not only did he look, but he also examined the ultrasound report carefully, reading every word clearly and distinctly. It had Hu Xiaomei's name on it, with a black square that was unclear, but Hu Xiaomei insisted on pointing to a black spot on it, saying, "Look, this is my son's little chicken."
Moreover, just yesterday, Hu Xiaomei had taken the ultrasound report to visit Yan Xishan in prison.
Probably because she had connections, she was able to visit on the same day, and Yan Xishan immediately filed for a review. It was said that Yan Xishan would soon be able to come out and register for marriage with her.
"Second brother, in our city, isn't the provincial hospital the only place that can do ultrasounds?" Chen Meilan asked.
Ultrasounds were not common at this time, and Yan Bin wasn't very clear about it. He scratched his head and said, "I suppose so."
Chen Meilan remembered that getting an ultrasound was quite troublesome now. You had to register a week in advance, fast for an entire day, and because the probes weren't advanced enough, even if you fasted for a whole day, it might not produce a clear image.
How could Hu Xiaomei be so lucky to get a clear image of a son on the first try?
"You still have your police ID, right? Go to the ultrasound department at the provincial hospital and check if Hu Xiaomei has registered or made an appointment for an ultrasound within the past week," Chen Meilan said.
Yan Bin was stunned for a moment, then suddenly smiled, "Are you suggesting that it might be a fake ultrasound?"
Chen Meilan suspected that Hu Xiaomei's son might be fake, let alone the ultrasound.
Yan Bin chuckled, thinking to himself that as a police officer, he had seen plenty of cunning people, but he never expected Hu Xiaomei to be this crafty. Then again, she had managed to be a mistress under Meilan's nose for five years without being discovered, so how could Hu Xiaomei not be clever?
As Yan Bin was about to leave, he suddenly turned back and said, "Meilan, your sister-in-law has been acting very strange lately. She treats me like I'm invisible at home. You have a good relationship with her, haven't you asked her why?"
"Hasn't she argued with you?" Chen Meilan asked in return.
Yan Bin smiled, "Our son is in ninth grade, and our daughter is about to enter middle school. They both need to choose schools. What is there to argue about? Wouldn't that affect the children?"
"You go ahead. I don't know anything," Chen Meilan said, suppressing the contempt in her heart.
With two students at home at crucial stages in their education, Song Huaihua knew her husband had been with prostitutes and had almost infected her with a disease, but she still had to teach her classes as usual, cook, and tutor the children. She couldn't argue, let alone fight. She even had to help her husband quietly conceal his shameful acts and could only seethe in silence.
Because only by doing so could she avoid affecting the children's studies.
In her previous life, Song Huaihua jumped into a well after her daughter's college entrance exam. Her son was already in university, and she chose to end her life at a time that would cause the least harm to her children.
Men like Yan Bin deserved to fail in business, lose everything, and live a worthless life. It served him right.
Chen Meilan was the first in the village to have a telephone installed.
Having electricity upstairs and downstairs, along with electric lights and telephones, was the ultimate pursuit of city dwellers in this era.
Although the installation fee was 3,800 yuan, everyone was scrambling to get one installed, and there was still a long waiting list.
When the installation technician came to the house, it was customary to prepare a meal of four dishes and a soup for him.
However, Chen Meilan had no intention of treating the technician to a meal. Today, she needed to buy a cake because it was Little Lang's birthday.
Yan Zhao had bought a few slices of chestnut cake before, and she still remembered the sweet aroma. Today, she planned to buy a whole cake.
Nowadays, cream cakes were rarely bought except for special occasions and holidays.
To buy a cake, Chen Meilan took Little Lang into the city again.
Seeing her looking at the chestnut cake in the window, the saleswoman specifically stated, "Comrade, the chestnut cake is one yuan per slice."
This thing actually cost one yuan for a small piece?
How could Yan Zhao have been so extravagant to buy it back then?
Under Little Lang's eager gaze, Chen Meilan said, "I'll take a whole cake."
The saleswoman swallowed hard, looking at Chen Meilan as if she were a werewolf, because her monthly salary was only 48 yuan, while this cake cost ten yuan.
A whole round chestnut cake was circular, decorated with frosting, actually only three centimeters tall, but the box it came in was ten centimeters high. Tied with a red string, it looked quite grand.
"Can you write a name on it? It's a birthday cake," Chen Meilan asked, fearing this service might not be available. She quickly picked up Little Lang, "It's his birthday today."
Little Lang's face was like a capital AQA, a chubby, well-behaved child that everyone loved. The saleswoman immediately had the cake decorator write the name as Chen Meilan requested and even gave her a box of small candles.
Just as they reached their front door, Chen Meilan saw Little Wang and Yuanyuan, one on each side of the telephone technician, one fanning him and the other serving tea.
Even with this, the technician still complained about the service, telling Yuanyuan to fan harder.
Seeing Chen Meilan carrying two full bags, the technician assumed she was preparing to treat him to a meal and asked with a smile, "Young lady, is that a cake in the box? I have a big appetite, I hope I won't eat it all in one go?" He was preemptively hinting that he intended to devour the entire cake by himself.
Chen Meilan placed the box in front of the technician, her face nonchalant: "Oh, this? It's just a pair of my smelly shoes. I just had the heels repaired. Our family loves to eat luo, shall we serve you some luo tonight?"
The technician was expecting delicacies, not interested in eating sour vegetarian luo. After installing the phone, he was ready to leave: "Who doesn't have luo at home? I'll eat at home. Remember to pay the phone bill on time. If you fall behind on payments, we'll remove the phone."
Chen Meilan put the cake box on the table and went into the kitchen.
Because Little Lang kept sniffing the big box, Yuanyuan got angry: "Stop sniffing it! It's mom's smelly shoes inside."
She still had to practice piano for half an hour, so she dragged Little Lang away.
But Little Wang also smelled the fragrance and thought to himself that not only did his new mom smell nice, even her smelly shoes were so fragrant that he couldn't resist wanting to sniff them. He kept sniffing, unable to stop himself from taking a whiff every now and then.
Coincidentally, his father came home early from work that day. He first washed his hands and face, rinsed his head with the hose, and also asked, "Chestnut cake? It smells so good."
Little Wang felt that there must be something wrong with his sense of smell, and wondered if his father's sense of smell was also malfunctioning.
"No, it's her smelly shoes," he said.
"Meilan?" Yan Zhao called out, asking, "Are these your shoes in here?"
The man looked very angry and intimidating. Was he going to get upset over this?
Why did he get angry so easily?
"Mmm," Chen Meilan tried hard not to laugh, but she was holding it in.
Yan Zhao just wanted to make sure he wasn't going crazy, surely he couldn't think her shoes would emit such a strong, fragrant smell. But her face was flushed red, her chest heaving with suppressed laughter as if she couldn't catch her breath, making him want to pin her down on the kang bed and knead her into a ball.
Yan Zhao's scalp tingled. He was about to leave but turned back, his voice suppressed but gruff: "What exactly is it?"
Chen Meilan picked up the cake box and deliberately asked Little Wang: "Doesn't it smell quite stinky?"
It actually didn't stink, but who would want to say someone else's shoes smelled good?
Little Wang nodded: "Stinky."
"If I dare to take a bite of what's inside, tonight when I ask you a question, you can't lie, okay?" Chen Meilan said.
Who would eat smelly shoes?
Little Wang didn't believe her: "Fine, let's bet. You dare to eat smelly shoes?"
With a whoosh, the cake box was opened, revealing a round, large cake inside with white frosting. Pointing at the writing on top, Chen Meilan read out word by word: "Happy Birthday, Yan Minglang. I'm going to take a bite now."
"Why do you always trick people, woman?" Little Wang was exasperated.
But he also laughed, because he had just remembered it was Little Lang's birthday.
They ate birthday cake just like people on TV.
"I never said I'd eat the shoes, I said I'd eat what's inside. You promised me, when I ask questions, you can't lie," Chen Meilan said.
Recently, whenever Chen Ping was mentioned, Little Wang would avoid the topic. So Chen Meilan hadn't been able to find out clearly if Chen Ping had bullied Little Wang. Now that the little fish had taken the bait, Chen Meilan planned to corner him and get to the bottom of it tonight.
"We got a phone installed at home?" Yan Zhao had returned to his room because Chen Meilan ignored him, but came back when he saw the phone.
The phone was installed in Yan Zhao's room, after all, his work was more demanding than Chen Meilan's. In the future, he might frequently receive calls in the middle of the night, and by putting it in his room, she wouldn't be disturbed by the noise.
Yan Zhao asked again: "How much did it cost to install a phone?"
"Well, it was quite cheap," Chen Meilan said softly.
She was afraid to mention the price, fearing it might shock him.
"Installation fee 3,800, monthly fee 28, charges for both incoming and outgoing calls, 0.2 yuan for local calls, 0.8 yuan for long-distance," Yan Zhao recited, surprisingly well-informed. "You call this cheap?"
Was he complaining that she spent too much money?
"Captain Yan, that was installed with my own money," Chen Meilan's voice rose.
She was about to break character. She had married an upright police chief, but she earned money legitimately and hadn't broken any laws. What was wrong with installing a telephone for the family?
Yan Zhao looked at Chen Meilan, and Chen Meilan raised an eyebrow back at him, with a defiant look that seemed to say, "Yes, I installed it. What can you do about it?"
She thought Yan Zhao would lecture her endlessly like Lu Jingyu, or interrogate her haughtily like Yan Xishan. But unexpectedly, Yan Zhao said: "Give me the receipt. The bureau can reimburse this expense."
Did this mean Yan Zhao could have installed the phone himself?
"Wait, I'll go find the receipt for you." Having a husband in public service did have its advantages; this phone wouldn't cost her any money after all.
After dinner, while the children were doing their homework, Yan Bin waved from outside the door: "Meilan, come out for a moment."
As soon as Yan Zhao turned his head, Yan Bin quickly ran away.
After all, he had once boasted so arrogantly about how he could earn hundreds of yuan in one night after going into business for himself. Now, running errands for Meilan, he felt too embarrassed to face Yan Zhao.
When Chen Meilan came out, Yan Bin gave her a thumbs up: "You really are a prophet..."
Yan Bin had gone to the provincial hospital today. He used to be a police officer and had only recently gone into business, so he could still pose as one. After arriving, he checked the records and found that not only had Hu Xiaomei never made an appointment for an ultrasound, but he also discovered that the head of the ultrasound department was Fan Xiang's eldest daughter-in-law.
Moreover, using his police credentials, Yan Bin looked through the ultrasound records from the past few days and found several files for three-month pregnant women. One of them had data very similar to Hu Xiaomei's.
That pregnant woman had left her address, ID number, and name. With the address, it would be possible to locate the person.
Yan Bin now suspected that there might be two identical ultrasound reports, and Hu Xiaomei's might have been written by a doctor based on someone else's.
So when they thought Chen Meilan wouldn't interfere, Hu Xiaomei openly sold the coal mine.
Now discovering that she was about to interfere, she suddenly feigned pregnancy, urgently wanting to marry Yan Xishan.
This also meant that Yan Xishan, who had just jubilantly discovered in the police station today that he was becoming a father for the first time in his thirties, would soon find out that he was merely being duped into fatherhood.
