Time-Travel: The Tragic Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Character Makes a Comeback

CHAPTER 120: The 1980s Villain’s Biological Mother (13)

　　The next day, Mu Shuhui packed up the belongings of the family of three.

　　The two children had originally only had the old clothes on their backs, but Mu Shuhui had later bought each of them two new outfits.

　　Mu Shuhui had lost some weight by now, so she could just about fit into the clothes she had bought in town a few days ago. At least she no longer had to go around wearing her old, tattered clothes.

　　The three of them didn’t have much clothing, so she packed everything together with a can of malted milk powder and the remaining biscuits, peach cakes, and other snacks from the house.

　　Altogether, everything fit into a single cloth bag.

　　Mu Shuhui slung the bag over her shoulder, took the two children by the hand, and went to the village chief’s house.

　　These days, a letter of introduction was still required to travel out of town, so she needed to get one issued.

　　But as soon as they arrived at the village office, she saw the village chief hurriedly waving her over.

　　“Junzi's widow, come quickly! There’s a phone call for you from the military.”

　　Mu Shuhui put down her things and stepped forward to take the call.

　　The person on the other end spoke at length. Mu Shuhui didn’t interrupt and only responded after they had finished.

　　“Thank you to the Party and the Organization.”

　　After hanging up, the village chief still looked curious. “Junzi's widow, what did the military unit say?”

　　Mu Shuhui casually replied, “The Women’s Federation representatives must have reported the situation. They said they’d arrange a place for me to stay and a job in the county town.”

　　The village chief’s eyes lit up with envy. “Well, look at you! You’ve really met someone willing to help you this time. Your housing and job are both taken care of, so you won’t have to worry about raising the two children anymore. The county town is a good place to go. You’ll be a city resident from now on.”

　　Mu Shuhui wasn’t particularly happy about it. Her original plans had been thrown off, after all. “Being a city resident isn’t as easy as it sounds. I’ll just take things one step at a time.”

　　Originally, Mu Shuhui had planned to take the two children somewhere bigger, find a place to settle down, and come back later to transfer their household registration.

　　But now that the military unit had arranged a place for her to stay, she could transfer their household registration while she was there, saving herself another trip.

　　……

　　After waiting for the village chief to contact someone who could help transfer their household registration, Mu Shuhui finally said goodbye to everyone and took the ox cart to town to catch a bus.

　　The military comrades had said someone would be there to meet her in the county town. Once she arrived, she just needed to make a phone call.

　　……

　　By the time they reached the county town, it was already getting dark.

　　Mu Shuhui took the number the military comrades had given her and found a public phone to call. She told them where she was, and less than ten minutes later, someone arrived in a car.

　　A young man got out and came over with a smile. “You must be Sister-in-law, right? The leaders gave me instructions. Just come with me.”

　　Mu Shuhui thanked him, then got into the car with the children.

　　The car drove for less than seven or eight minutes before stopping in front of a small courtyard.

　　“Sister-in-law, this is our Regiment Commander Zhao’s family home. He’s away most of the year, so only his elderly mother and children live here. There are quite a few rooms, so you’ll have plenty of space.”

　　Mu Shuhui was completely confused. “Comrade, are we going to live here from now on?”

　　“Yes. Wang Jun was one of Regiment Commander Zhao’s men. Originally, the military unit planned to give you some financial assistance, but after hearing from the Women’s Federation that you’d separated from the Wang family, they realized you and the children had nowhere to live. So the leaders arranged a job for you as well, hoping it would give you some stability. As for the housing, that was a bit difficult to arrange. Regiment Commander Zhao eventually took the initiative and offered his family’s home. He said the courtyard was spacious enough to accommodate the three of you, and you could also keep his elderly mother and children company…”

　　The young man kept talking, while Mu Shuhui was already getting a headache just listening to all this.

　　Staying at someone else’s house was one thing, but living together with their elderly mother and children too… Was that really going to be convenient?

　　Before Mu Shuhui could think it through, they had already walked into the courtyard.

　　Standing in the middle of the courtyard was a sturdy, broad-built middle-aged woman, with three little children trailing behind her. She was looking Mu Shuhui up and down with an assessing gaze.

　　The young man immediately introduced them. “Auntie Zhao, this is the sister-in-law Regiment Commander Zhao told you about. She’s had a really hard time. I’ve brought her here, so I’ll leave it to you to arrange a place for them to stay.”

　　The middle-aged woman known as Auntie Zhao nodded. “All right, you go take care of your business. I’ll handle the rest.”

　　“Okay. Sister-in-law, just make yourselves at home. See you.”

　　The young man nodded at Mu Shuhui before leaving.

　　Mu Shuhui felt a little awkward with the two children. If they hadn’t already come all this way, she really would have taken the children to a hotel instead.

　　Auntie Zhao looked them over from head to toe before speaking in a clear, straightforward voice. “My son told me about you. You’ve had it pretty rough. I’ve already prepared the west room for you. You and the children can stay there.”

　　Seeing that she was such a straightforward and cheerful woman, Mu Shuhui politely thanked her. “Thank you, Auntie.”

　　“All right, it’s getting late. Take the children to your room and put your things away first. Come to the main room for dinner later.”

　　“Okay. Thank you for the trouble.”

　　……

　　The room was already tidied up nicely. Mu Shuhui put down their luggage and found some dry snacks for the children to eat while she sat down to rest for a bit.

　　After thinking it over, she still decided to look for a place of her own tomorrow. Even if she had to rent, it would be better than staying in someone else’s home.

　　She also wanted to find out more about the job. If it turned out to be as unsuitable as the living arrangements, she would stick to her original plan and head for a bigger city.

　　It was still the early days of the reform and opening-up, so bigger cities had more opportunities. Besides, the children would need to go to school. The education in a larger city was bound to be better than in a small town.

　　Once she had made up her mind, Mu Shuhui took the two children outside. She also grabbed some snacks from their bag and gave them to the Zhao family’s children.

　　Auntie Zhao’s face softened into a smile. She said they didn’t need to give them anything, but secretly, she was quite pleased with Mu Shuhui.

　　She had been observing her ever since they walked through the door.

　　Mu Shuhui was fairly ordinary-looking and a little plump, but at least she carried herself well. She was polite, and judging by how readily she shared the snacks, she seemed fairly generous too. At the very least, she didn’t come across as petty or stingy.

　　The main reason she had agreed to her son’s request was because of her son’s situation.

　　Her son had been married twice. His first wife had died from complications during childbirth. His second wife had abused his eldest son, so her son divorced her. She didn’t want her own child either and remarried someone else.

　　Her son was already thirty-five. He said he didn’t want to get married again, but as his mother, how could she not worry about him?

　　A grown man raising three children on his own after two failed marriages wasn’t exactly an easy match to find in the county town.

　　Auntie Zhao had already asked matchmakers to keep an eye out for young women from the countryside. There were quite a few possibilities, but unfortunately, her son wasn’t interested.

　　Now that she had met Mu Shuhui, however, she started having other thoughts.

　　She was a military wife with two children of her own. If her character was decent, perhaps her son would take pity on her and agree to make a life together.

　　With that thought in mind, Auntie Zhao became even more welcoming and invited them to sit down for dinner.

　　Mu Shuhui’s sixth sense was pretty sharp. She could tell Auntie Zhao had been sizing her up, and that smile seemed to carry some other meaning too. It made her a little uncomfortable.

　　Sure enough, she had barely taken a bite of rice when Auntie Zhao started asking, “What’s your name? How old are you? Can you read and write?”

　　Mu Shuhui answered casually, “Auntie, you can just call me Junzi's widow. I’m twenty-five this year. I can write a few words.”

　　Auntie Zhao was fairly satisfied. At least she could read and write.

　　“Why keep calling yourself Junzi's widow? You have to look ahead in life. Your husband is gone, but you’re still young. If you meet someone suitable in the future, you should still get married. Otherwise, how is one woman supposed to raise two children on her own?”

　　The moment Mu Shuhui heard that, her eyelid started twitching. She immediately pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes before launching into a miserable sob.

　　“That won’t do. I belonged to my Junzi in life, and I’ll belong to him in death. I swore an oath, and if I ever broke it, I’d never die a good death. I wouldn’t dare get married again. I’ll just spend the rest of my life raising my two children.”

　　Auntie Zhao was momentarily at a loss for words, her brows furrowing.

　　So much for being able to read and write. Turns out she was still superstitious and went around saying all sorts of strange things.

    

   

 

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