CH 2

Those five children!

The most terrifying thing in her whole life is children. In her limited interaction with kids in her past, most of them are bear children [1].

The most feared thing in her life is the child. In her limited experience with children, most of them are bear children.

For example, her colleague’s six-year-old daughter would always want her to buy stuff for her whenever she entered the office. She would continue to act cute and look for opportunities to hug her and pull on her earrings and necklace to tell her that she wants to wear it but would also beg her to not tell her mother.

If it was only once or twice, she would just let it go, but after a few times, she finally couldn’t help telling her colleague. The colleague apologized in front of her, saying that her child was ignorant and not sensible but turned around and complained to her colleagues behind her back that she was stingy and unloving and was too harsh on the child.

There were also the children of her own relatives and her younger brothers’ kids. Every time they went to her house, they would go through the place like bandits. If she didn’t put away her cosmetics, jewelry, and electronics in advance, it would be a disaster. Thousands of skincare products and cosmetics would be spread around all over the place.

Not to mention that when she got angry, even if she didn’t smile and say that it was okay, her relatives would complain to her mother, “Why is Lan Lan getting more and more stingy, lowering herself to the same level as a child. When a girl becomes old enough, she has to quickly get married and have children, or she’ll just become an old antique with a perverted character.”

Even if her thousands of skincare products and cosmetics were ruined by her nieces and nephews, her mother would scold her several times. In the end, she bought a house by herself instead of leaving the money to her brother to buy a house for his wedding and then developed to the point that she would not get married or have children. 

“You don’t have children anyway. Won’t this house and money become theirs in the future? What’s wrong with giving it to them now? Don’t give it to outsiders. Don’t waste it.”

In short, she is afraid of marriage, afraid of children, afraid of being a mother. She doesn’t want children who are like little devils, and she doesn’t want to be a mother like her own mother.

She made up her mind to stay single for the rest of her life, not to harm or be harmed by others.

Now that she has worked hard for ten years and has achieved success in her career and life, why does she need to find a man to give birth to a child who would reduce her quality of life?

Who knows why, but god didn’t want her to live comfortably so he actually let her transmigrate into a shrew [2], with five bear children and a wooden husband [3]!

She thought to herself, “I can’t live this kind of life!”.

She closed her eyes tightly, wondering if she could transmigrate back again. Maybe this was a dream?

At this time, a child’s timid cry came from her ear. “Mother…dead…dead…” A little hand groped around her face and neck. It wasn’t a lightweight and pressed so hard that her eyes and neck hurt and her breath was uneven.

Lin Lan had to open her eyes and pull the little, black hand away, “What are you doing?”

After speaking, she regretted it. Her tone was too fierce and might’ve scared the child.

But the little child didn’t care, staring at her with a pair of big eyes, scared that she was really dead.

Although Lin Lan didn’t like children, she also admitted that the little child had very beautiful big eyes which were shining in the dark, but he was too thin. Adding on to the fact that no one took care of them, and his body looked very dirty.

This is Wang Wang, the youngest son of the original owner, who is 4 years old. He had a lazy eye, was weak-sighted, was introverted, and felt excessively inferior because he was born prematurely. The original owner dislikes him very much, thinking that he is a little blind, a fool, and a burden.

Lin Lan didn’t think he was stupid. How could a fool’s eyes be so focused and bright?

“Mother, eat.” He stretched over his dark little hand which held a piece of melted, sticky candy.

It looked dirty and made Lin Lan feel a bit nauseous.

But she couldn’t bear to be angry with him. After all, her own transmigration was a very mysterious issue, and it had nothing to do with him.

She closed her eyes and said, “You eat it by yourself. Don’t touch me.”

The sticky, little black hands made her so nervous and sweaty.

The child was very afraid of her. He shrank to one side and did not dare to touch her anymore, but his eyes were stuck on his mother in fear that his mother would die like others said.

Kid…

Lin Lan sighed. Having her raise five children is simply an impossible task.

She closed her eyes and went through the lives of her five cheap children. She quickly broke into a cold sweat. The original owner was really good enough to raise these children into the story’s big villains.

Lin Lan was silent for a long time, feeling that although she was not afraid to live as the original owner, she did not have the courage to manage the five children.

Their future is seriously too . . . Once she enters the role, she has to bear the responsibility of correcting them and guiding them on the right path.

Oh my god, she’s most afraid of children, okay!

Even if the cute, little angel is afraid of her, she could suddenly enter hell mode!

She is also convinced by this luck.

She was thinking about it, and hearing a “squeak”, someone stomped in.

“Mother, I caught a big crucian carp. It’s so big!” A sturdy boy rushed in and danced excitedly, “Mother, guess how I caught it? When I was drinking water, I grabbed it with my hand. Yes, haha!”

Lin Lan reluctantly opened her eyes and looked at him. This is the third son. Seeing that he was wearing only a pair of shorts, his body was tanned, and only the whites of his eyes and teeth were shining in the dim room which was especially funny.

This Sanwang [4], ever since he learned to swim in the river at the age of three, he has fallen in love with the water. Unless the river freezes and cannot be entered, the rest of the time he would secretly go swim.

But as the old saying goes, drowning is caused by being able to swim [5], and later on, this kid ended up drowning.

Ai… Lin Lan sighed.

Sanwang was puzzled, “Mother, what’s wrong with you? Are you still unhappy with a fish this big?”

“Sanwang!” Another boy walked in from the outside, closed the door and walked to the edge of the kang, and whispered, “Mother, Sanwang, this silly boy. If it wasn’t for me pulling him along, he would’ve just wanted to send the fish to the main room.” He pushed Sanwang’s head,  “Stupid!”

Sanwang was indignant and pouted, saying, “Don’t push my head!”

“Mother, are you feeling better now? I’m going to go make some fish soup for you to drink. Or else, grandmother would send the fish to my aunt and uncle to eat. Today, she asked the eldest brother and eldest sister to deliver the chicken eggs and forced eldest sister to wash Aunt’s clothes. She’s really too biased!”

Lin Lan glanced at him. This is Erwang. He has been very shrewd and astute since he was a child. He is more mindful than other children, has a small mouth and is good at coaxing people, and is even more similar to the original owner’s little padded jacket than her daughter is. However, hearing unpleasant words is just having a glib mouth and being honey-mouthed and dagger-hearted. Anyway, when he grows older, he will rely on his mouth to walk around the world, and eventually, in the end, his big mouth would cause bad things to happen.

Right now, these children are still small. All of them are innocent. Even if they are crooked, they aren’t really crooked yet. They have to wait for Han Qingsong to die, and then, they will really become evil.

Lin Lan wondered if she started to guide them now, she would be able to lead them the right way to avoid those tragic endings, right?

Ai, there is a long way to go.

At this time, old lady Han’s harsh voice came from the main room, and the loud voice was clearly scolding her on purpose. 

Lin Lan frowned. Although the original owner was wrong, the old lady’s butt was too biased and treated the original owner too badly. 

She stopped the idea of ​​having Erwang to send the fish to the main room. After all, she was a bitch and an old lady. If she knew how to respect the elders, she would frighten them.

She said: “Erwang, take your brothers outside to grill fish to eat.”

It is common for the children to make a fire-grilled sweet potato at the bottom of a bridge or at nooks and crannies. The original owner used to steal things and take the children to eat outside.

“Okay, Mother. Wait until it’s done grilling and I’ll bring it back to let you eat.” Erwang said this while he greeted Sanwang and ran out, ignoring Xiaowang who was huddled in the corner on the kang.

This poor child, everyone ignored him.

Lin Lan also knows that Erwang was just saying nice words to hear, and the fish won’t be brought back. Most of it will go into his own stomach. If Sanwang could eat two bites, that would already be pretty good.

. . . . .

Regiment Command Headquarters at a certain military station in Province D.

Regiment Commander Chen looked at Han Qingsong in front of him, and in a blink of an eye, ten years had passed, and the young recruit egg had become a company commander. More than a decade of working in the military made his handsome face no longer tender, but his posture is still upright and strong, and his momentum is calm and concise.

Although this person is not good with words, he is outstanding in his profession, loyal and keen, and has a bright future.

And now he says he wants to change jobs? The brain is kicked by the donkey! [6]

“Han Qingsong, you have become a regular worker, and our division will set up a top team in the coming year. The headquarters has decided to appoint you as the captain of the special training. Now you have to change your career? You have to think clearly!”

Who knows how many people have their eyes on this position and there are many people who tried their best to get this position.

Han Qing pressed the corners of his lips tightly and stopped talking, clenched his fists, and nodded for a moment.

There are very few ordinary rural conscripts who can make it to his military position. As long as there is a little bit of hope, no one is willing to demobilize and change jobs. Not only do his comrades do not understand, but even his old company commander is also puzzled, so he immediately looked for him for an explanation.

But he didn’t want to explain too much.

Although he has shown a lot of talent through these years, there was also the price of blood. In particular, he has suffered two serious injuries. It is a blessing for him to be alive. With his current physical fitness, going to the special training team will actually affect the training.

The most important thing is: Now that he has to make a choice between his family and his career… he doesn’t want to go back on his word.

After more than ten years away, every time he visits relatives for a few days, he has no time and energy to fulfill his duties as a husband and father. Therefore, he is responsible for the current situation in the family.

His wife was seeking death and even threatened to take the children to jump into the river. Although he knew she was threatening him with her old tricks, he was tired.

He didn’t want to keep doing this over and over again.

He had repeatedly promised her that he would apply for his family to join the army in the coming year and let her and the children follow.

She clearly agreed as well, but now she has changed her mind again, and as long as she makes trouble, there will be a lot of drama. Jumping into the river and drinking pesticides will not make her give up when she is upset.

After careful consideration, he decided to go home and live with his wife and children.

Regiment Commander Chen knew that Han Qingsong was a boring gourd and wouldn’t speak. He had offended many people for this He couldn’t pull back the things he was looking for, and it would be useless for anyone to persuade him.

He said, “You are allowed to visit your family for half a month. Go home and take care of your housework”

When Han Qingsong returned to the dormitory, he received another telegram from home, which was different from the previous telegrams that asked him to return quickly, seek death, or he would not be allowed to return.

This one is for him to divorce his wife quickly!

Notes:

[1] bear children – In Chinese, it says 多半都是熊孩子 which translates directly as “most of them are bear children”. This means that children are wild and similar to bears. Personally, I find this term kind of cute and I have a feeling this will be showing up a lot in the future so I will continue translating it as bear children.

[2] a shrew – The Chinese is 泼妇. It directly translates to a shrew, but I feel like this translation is a bit insufficient. It refers to the animal, the shrew. This word is also part of the title. In the title, I wrote “Shrewish Wife” because it wouldn’t make a lot of sense if it said, “Shrew of the Seventies Manages the Household”. Shrews are highly aggressive. When used to describe a woman, it can be understood as a woman with a violent, scolding, or nagging temperament. 

[3] wooden husband – This means that her husband is cold, straightforward, and stiff, like wood. Most of the time, these kinds of husbands don’t know how to show affection or be romantic.

[4] Sanwang – This refers to the third child. I’m not sure if this is really the third child’s name or if it’s more of a nickname. The eldest/first-born child will probably be Dawang, the second-born child is Erwang, the third-born child is Sanwang, the fourth-born child Siwang, and the fifth-born child is Xiaowang.  Should I write it as San Wang or Sanwang? Which one do you guys prefer? Lin Lan is the character’s full name; Lin is her last name and Lan is her first name. 

[5] drowning is caused by being able to swim – I’m not 100% sure that I translated this part correctly. This is the Chinese.  不过俗话说淹死会水的，这小子后来正是被淹死的

[6] The brain is kicked by the donkey – This is a Chinese idiom. I think it means, “Are you stupid? Did you get your brain kicked by a donkey?”.