Chapter 9: Spring Cleaning
So she went tattling to her parents, asking her father to talk to Fu Tinghua.
Su Shiming already felt too ashamed to face Fu Tinghua—why would he humiliate himself further by bringing it up?
Who would have thought that Su He would suddenly lash out at her parents, blaming them for her obesity and making her despised by everyone?
"One's body, hair, and skin are all received from one's parents." As a teacher himself, Su Shiming never imagined that the daughter he had doted on secretly hated them all along.
Unable to hold back, he tried to discipline Su He, only for her to blurt out that she wanted to disown them.
Considering all the shameful things Su He had done and their guilt over Fu Tinghua, the couple decided they no longer wanted anything to do with her.
Truth be told, Su He was truly stubborn—she never returned to her parents' house again.
As for her in-laws, they hated her so much they scorned even the two children she bore, refusing to come to the city to help take care of them.
Fu Tinghua, at least, gave her money freely, handing over his entire salary to Su He. But she blew through it recklessly, never having enough.
Perhaps knowing that Fu Tinghua could never love her, Su He spiraled into self-sabotage. She began beating and scolding the children, calling them good-for-nothings who couldn't make him stay.
Later, she somehow picked up gambling from her bad crowd and lost most of it gambling.
When the children were two, Fu Tinghua applied to serve as a military doctor in the border regions. Though young, he was the best surgeon in his hospital, so the administration was more than willing to approve.
Before leaving, he gave Su He all his state subsidies, telling her to make it last, as he expected to return in a year or two.
But Su He just paid lip service—secretly, she gambled it all away.
City life was too expensive, and when a neighbor accused her of theft, Su He was forced to drag the kids back to the countryside.
The rural house had been allocated to her and Fu Tinghua after their marriage.
Fu Tinghua's mother disliked Su He and refused to live with them, so she gave them an old house far from her own.
Su He lived there with the children for three months. The last of her money would have been enough to get by in the countryside, but her gambling addiction flared up again. She fell off the wagon and hocked everything of value in the house.
The dream ended there, and memories came crashing down on Su He's mind.
Frankly, she wished she hadn't received these memories—she didn't want to be as terrible a person as the original Su He!
It seemed some people were truly born rotten. Su He felt the original owner of this body was one such person, her actions repeatedly sinking to new lows.
Still, the original Su He had paid for her mistakes—her husband didn't love her, and they lived as strangers under the same roof. The only ones who truly suffered were the two children.
Thinking of those well-behaved kids and their fates in the story, Su He felt her eyes prickle.
"Mommy, Mommy, wake up!"
Dazed, Su He felt someone shaking her awake.
She opened her eyes to see the two children staring at her with wide eyes.
"What's wrong?" Su He was still groggy from the dream.
"Mommy, why're you crying?" Niu Niu asked curiously.
Su He swiped at her cheeks and found tears.
So she hugged the two children and said, "Mommy feels bad for putting you through this."
"Mommy, don't cry." Niu Niu gently touched Su He's face as if comforting her.
"Don't cry, Mommy." Even Zai Zai comforted Su He.
With such well-behaved children by her side, what did she have to complain about? To change their fate, she thought, she had to pull herself together.
"Okay, Mommy won't cry anymore." After speaking, Su He glanced out the window. Sunlight was pouring in, lighting up the dark room.
"Lunchtime, kiddos." After saying this, Su He got the kids' shoes on and went to the kitchen.
What a mess—it was unbearable. Su He didn't consider herself a neat freak, but she couldn't take this mess anymore.
After boiling four eggs and warming up two cartons of milk, Su He called the children for breakfast.
"Wow~ We have eggs for breakfast too!" Niu Niu exclaimed excitedly.
"Yes, one egg each and some milk. This will help you grow big and strong," Su He said with a smile.
After breakfast, Su He let the children play in the yard while she began a deep clean of the house.
First, she took out all the clothes to wash. Faced with heaps of musty, moldy clothes, she resisted the urge to throw them away.
She soaked them in bleach she'd gotten from her storage, then turned to other chores.
She scrubbed all the cookware and dishes, wiped down every surface, and finally swept the floors.
By the time she finished, it was already time to prepare lunch. Seeing the clothes still soaking in the tub, Su He decided to wash them after the meal.
Fortunately, the house wasn't big, so cleaning didn't take too long.
The two little ones were good as gold while Su He cleaned, playing with mud in the yard without disturbing her.
When they came back inside and saw the house looking so nice, they let out a "wow."
"Mommy, Mommy, the house looks so nice!" Niu Niu ran over and hugged Su He's leg as she got the food ready, exclaiming excitedly.
"This is pretty? Mommy will make sure you live in an even prettier house in the future," Su He said with a smile.
Then she turned to look at the children—oh dear, their hands and faces were covered in mud; they were a complete mess.
"Show me those clean hands, little ones?" Su He asked them with a smile.
"I can."
"Me too."
After exchanging glances, the siblings hurried outside to wash their hands at the faucet.
By the time they returned, Su He had already put out the food.
The delicious aroma of the food made the children's mouths water.
"Mommy, it smells amazing," Niu Niu said while swallowing.
"Then eat up! Show Mommy those clean hands," Su He spoke, and the children raised their hands.
"Perfect! Let's eat up." Su He dished out their food as she spoke.
After eating, Su He had work to do again. This time, the two kids were being good and even said they wanted to help their mom with chores.
Su He let them be and allowed the two to play with water in the yard.
The sun was strong today, so all the clothes would dry just fine.
But how many clothes did people in this era really have? Maybe just a few changes of clothes at most.
All the clothes for the three of them added up to only two small buckets, so Su He washed them up quickly.
She'd bleached everything, and now all the clothes had turned a lighter shade.
But since many of the clothes were already moldy, bleaching them was better anyway.
Seeing the messy home finally looking somewhat decent, Su He plopped down on the ground, exhausted.
Fortunately, pollution wasn't severe in this era. Even in summer, it stayed cool as long as you stayed in the shade.
After playing with water for a while, the two kids went to bed for their nap. Su He looked at the bed, which only had a cotton quilt but no bedsheet, and thought that once the sheets she'd gotten from her space dried by evening, she would remake the bed properly.