Stepmother

Breakfast

The next morning, the breakfast was very simple. Sweet millet porridge, and white flour mantou. But for families in the village, this was already a very hearty breakfast. The family all sat down after they cleaned up to eat breakfast. As they all took a spoonful of the sweet yet mellow millet porridge, they felt a gentle sweetness on their tastebuds. It was a subtle yet comforting taste that lingered, adding a touch of delight to the start of their day. As they indulged in the morning meal, each bite of the white flour mantou offered a soft and pillowy backdrop, complementing the sweet porridge. 

After the filling breakfast, Sun Baohai instructed Qiqi and Xiao Xi to go and get the eggs from the chicken. The chicken had been laying two eggs a day diligently, and they hadn't eaten eggs in quite a while, so there was a little more than half a dozen eggs in store. Qiqi and Xiao Xi cannot handle big chores but this chore was fairly simple as the chicken was very docile. After packing up everything, he then started to head out.

"Letter delivery for Sun Baohai from Chuangzhu Zhang," A burly man announced, stopping Sun Baohai.

"I am Sun Baohai," Sun Baohai hurriedly responded, before getting the letter from the burly man. 

After thanking the burly man, he stuffed the letter into his basket. He could not be late in opening the shop so he would read it in the shop. After securing the letter, he made his way to the cart.

When he got there Lin Ning was already there. As more days went by there was barely a line in front of his shop, but since he introduced the peach jam, the line had returned. It wasn't time to open yet, so he cut the line and went into the store to set up everything. 

As expected as soon as he opened up the shop, everybody rushed in, but there was no peach jam just like Sun Baohai had previously stated. They had expected that since he made some money yesterday he would change his mind, but he was actually serious. Many expressed their disappointment but in the end either left or bought the strawberry jam reluctantly, so in the end business was just moderate. Since there wasn't much business, he left Lin Ning in charge and went somewhere a little more private to read the letter. 

Hello, Sun Baohai, I am Jinhai, twenty-four years old, and your husband. I am fully educated and currently hold the position of Chuangzhu in the armored division. Thank you for taking care of my kids, please tell them that their daddy misses them. How is Xiao Yu? He's still a baby so he might be grumpy but please be patient with him. Qiqi and Xiao Xi are very responsible but they also like to be spoiled, and Xiao Yan is just adorable, so please do take care of them for me. I hope for nothing but success in your shop. I promise to not widow you at such a young age. I will be back in about two months so please bear with the kids. Don't forget to take care of yourself. With the money I sent buy clothes and make-up, or whatever you want. I don't really know what to say anymore, but please take care of yourself.

After reading the letter, Sun Baohai couldn't help but chuckle a little as he felt a little relief. He did not know how to love and had never been loved, so when he traveled over in the body of a married ger, he was a little anxious. This was ancient China, where women had no rights, not to mention gers who were considered lower than women. If his husband was abusive, or toxic he couldn't just divorce and had to put up with it. So he was in constant fear of his husband turning out to be a horrible person, but this letter alleviated some of his concerns.

You can tell a lot about a person from their handwriting, not to mention what they write. He seemed like a serious, yet warm person. He was also very caring. Even though he's been away he knew exactly how his kids behave. And even if he was unknown, he still made sure to try and take care of him. After sitting and contemplating for a while Sun Baohai left Lin Ning to close up, before going home. He had an appointment with Farmer Hu today.

As soon as he got home he saw Zhang Yingtai serving Farmer Hu some dates tea, while he looked at her face a little mesmerized. Sun Baohai chuckled a little seeing that. That's exactly how he reacted when he saw Zhang Yingtai for the first time.

"Hello Farmer Hu," Sun Baohai said.

"Hello, I am here to deliver the chilies," Farmer Hu announced as he gestured towards the sack on the table.

"Yes, thank you, Farmer Hu," Sun Baohai thanked politely.

"It's my job, I'll get going now," Farmer Hu responded before drinking the rest of the tea.

After seeing Farmer Hu off, he went to make some lotus root soup for Zhang Yingtai. He had bought snacks in bulk so the kids and he could fill their stomachs and wait for dinner but Zhang Yingtai was still in her one-month confinement and needed to eat nutritious food. Though Zhang Yingtai felt a little overwhelmed by his care she still appreciated his effort and made sure to eat everything.

"Tomorrow we're going to court with your in-law," Sun Baohai announced casually.

"Really?" Zhang Yingtai couldn't help but ask. She thought on the account that she served them well for nine years, and never stepped out of line, so she thought maybe they would just let her go, but they were really planning on going to sue her.

"Sister-in-law needn't be too shocked, the Wang family are not normal humans. They tried to kill a baby because of her gender so you shouldn't be too shocked." Sun Baohai comforted awkwardly. 

"You're right, I was expecting too much," Zhang Yingtai agreed.

"Let's not on dwell on it, right now we need to prepare for court tomorrow. We got all the necessary evidence and witnesses now you just need to practice how to answer the judge's question," Sun Baohai said.

"Okay, let's practice right now," Zhang Yingtai responded.

So for the rest of the afternoon, the two sister-in-laws practiced and planned for court tomorrow. When night fell, Sun Baohai went and made the jam and then went to tuck the children in before writing a letter back to Zhang Jinghai.