After Zhan Mingzhao died, his fellow educated youth handed his belongings to her. Zhan Aiping read her brother's diary and understood all the past. She was angry and felt guilty. She went back to Zhan's house and made a big fuss, and severely taught the mother and daughter a lesson... But those things are over, the dead cannot be brought back to life, and the feelings owed cannot be made up.
Zhan Aiping blamed herself and felt annoyed. She was not a good sister. She was careless and strong-willed. She cherished the friendship of her comrades-in-arms but was restrained in expressing her affection. She lacked enough care for her younger brother, which led to such misunderstandings and regrets.
Fortunately, in this life, her younger brother Zhan Mingzhao is still alive. A hint of tenderness flashed in Zhan Aiping's eyes, but when she saw Zhan Aijia in front of her, that tenderness turned cold.
"Sister Pingping, have some water and sit down. Mom has been tired all day and has been making a new cotton-padded jacket for you. Look, your hand has been pierced by several stitches. You almost fell just now and your eyes are blurry." Zhan Aijia was wearing a fashionable cotton-padded jacket from a department store in Shanghai. This dress was bought for her by Zhan Aiping. She had a pretty appearance. She had cut off her two pigtails and turned them into the popular short hair style for ladies in the city. The hair just reached her chin to modify her face shape. Only the strands of hair on the right were tucked behind her ear.
She applied some cream on her face, but she didn't apply it evenly, so there were still a few spots of white cream left on her face.
Zhan Aijia used Zhan Aiping's vanishing cream, but she didn't feel bad about it and applied it on her face every day as if it were free.
This is vanishing cream produced in Shanghai. It was given to Zhan Aiping by an old comrade-in-arms who worked in a vanishing cream factory. He gave her a lot of it, and Zhan Aiping kept it at home and applied it when she remembered.
After Zhan Aija came to her house, she found so many vanishing creams in her cupboard, which were given to her by factory workers. She thought they were good stuff and must be the best products in the factory, which could make the skin delicate and white. She wanted to apply them on her face several times every day.
Zhan Aijia has a dark skin, and even when Zhan Aiping was most tanned in the army, she was still much whiter than her.
Zhan Aiping's skin became whiter and younger quickly. After she became a teacher, she seldom exposed to the sun and often exercised and sweated, so her skin became whiter and whiter. Now the skin on her face is the color of vanishing cream, and her cheeks are healthy and rosy.
Her complexion was better than that of other girls, and she looked radiant even in gray clothes.
Zhan Aijia quickly glanced at Zhan Aiping's face, smiled and looked at her, then unconsciously looked at Zhan Aiping's hands.
"Ah! Sister Pingping, why is your hand bleeding?" Zhan Aija's eyes lit up.
Zhan Aiping raised her eyebrows and said, "Maybe he got scratched while exercising."
"I'll get you some medicine." Zhan Aijia suppressed her excitement and went to find the medicine. She opened the box, took out the medicine and cotton swabs, and looked at Zhan Aiping's hand with anticipation.
She had a strange eagerness for Zhan Aiping's "hands".
Because in her opinion, her stepsister Zhan Aiping had a face as "delicious as a flower" and a tall and graceful figure, but Zhan Aiping's hands were "incredibly ugly". They did not have the slender and tender hands of a woman. Her fingers were long but very thick, and her palms and fingertips were covered with all kinds of rough calluses and scars left by large and small wounds, which felt very rough to the touch.
These look like a man's hands.
"No need." Zhan Aiping snatched the thing from her hand and simply applied medicine to herself.
"Sister, look—" Zhan Aijia deliberately stretched out her right hand and placed it flat next to Zhan Aiping's palm, forming a sharp contrast with her hand.
Zhan Aijia's right hand is very delicate. She doesn't work at home and doesn't like to ruin her hands, so she keeps her hands delicate and tender. Although they are not white, each strand is long and soft.
"Sister, you should also rub your hands with some cold cream. As a woman, you should keep your hands white and tender. Otherwise, how can Teacher He like you?" Zhan Aijia's heartbeat quickened, and she couldn't hide the smile in the corners of her eyes and eyebrows. She was complacent that her hands were better than Zhan Aiping's.
Her stepsister had lived a rough life since she was a child. She didn't have long hair, didn't wear skirts, and didn't dress herself up. Later, she joined the army and became a female soldier. She was as rough as a man, and her skin was tanned. Even though she had pretty features, she looked more like a handsome boy when she wore a green military uniform. She didn't look like a woman at all.
Zhan Aijia has a long braid. She thinks she is prettier than the rough and fake man Zhan Aiping. But everyone around her says that Zhan Aiping has good facial features, but she still doesn't accept it. Now Zhan Aiping has left the army and become a teacher, with fair skin and long hair, Zhan Aijia has to admit that even in Shanghai, her stepsister Zhan Aiping is still a first-class beauty.
What is even more amazing is her figure.
Zhan Aiping doesn't care about anything when she is at home. She wears a black vest when exercising. Her muscles are firm and capable, and her shoulders are particularly beautiful. From her upper arm to her elbow to her wrist, the entire line is particularly smooth, like a painting by an art student.
When she lifted her skirt to wipe the sweat, her firm abdomen was exposed. Her slender waist looked so slender from a distance that it could be held in one hand, but up close, her waist had clear lines without a trace of fat. It was exceptionally tight and beautiful, and the two clear arcs next to her belly button caught people's attention.
Fortunately, it was winter, and the bulky cotton-padded jacket wrapped around her proud figure, so that only a few glimpses could be seen.
But even so, those clothes always look different when worn by Zhan Aiping.
Zhan Aija bit her lip. She envied her stepsister for being bright and beautiful with a good figure. She also found a good city man like He Mingzhang, who was a native of Shanghai and had a big house.
She was originally the daughter of a country teacher. Later, she followed her mother Zhu Jiaorong to remarry and move to the Zhan family. Although Zhan's father was just a small cadre with an idle job, he was still a cadre and lived in the city. Her and her mother's lives underwent tremendous changes.
Together with Zhu Jiaorong, she coaxed Zhan's father into a state of dizziness, and he only favored the three of them, mother and son. They forced Zhan Mingzhao to go to the countryside, and from then on, all the benefits of the Zhan family would belong to her and her younger brother Zhan Mingjian.
It just so happens that Zhan Aiping, her stepsister who seldom goes home, is too powerful. She is a college student in a military academy and has stayed in a big city like Shanghai. What makes Zhan Aijia even more uncomfortable is that a "fake man" like Zhan Aiping found He Mingzhang, a native of Shanghai who has a good family background and is well-educated.
Privately, she conspired with Zhu Jiaorong: "I also want to stay in Shanghai."
"Compared with Shanghai, our place is like the countryside. We are just country bumpkins who came to the city."
"Don't you want your daughter to have a good future?"
Zhu Jiaorong was particularly worried: "Zhan Aiping is not as dumb as her brother. She has good grades, is smart, and is a college student."
"My sister is smart, but she has no scheming."
The mother and daughter decided to take advantage of the opportunity of planning a wedding for Zhan Aiping, and they also wanted Zhan Aijia to stay in Shanghai and find a partner with a good family background.
Zhan Aijia has been thinking about someone in her heart, but unfortunately she is out of reach. Now she has to settle for the second best and hopes to use Zhan Aiping to achieve her goal of staying in Shanghai to work and find a partner.
"Yes, Sister Pingping, you are a woman who is dating and going to get married, so you should be careful. Men like beautiful women. Apply more vanishing cream, it is a good thing. Your hands will be white and tender after applying it."
"Jia Jia, bring the vanishing cream you use to your sister. This thing must cost a lot of money, right? Many women use it sparingly. I tell your sister not to be sparing. If you need it, I will buy it for you—"
Zhan Aiping looked at the mother and daughter with a smile, singing the same tune, living in her house, sleeping in her bed, using her lotion, and speaking shamelessly and pretentiously in front of her.
"Okay, I'll put these vanishing creams in the cabinet from now on and remember to use them every day." Of course, all her things were locked in the cabinet.
Zhu Jiaorong and Zhan Aijia looked at each other and said, "Pingping, I have discussed with your father that you are getting married and you need to make a few more new clothes. I plan to go to the department store to pick out some cloth for you."
Zhan Aijia rolled her eyes and said, "Sister Pingping, you don't know that there are so many patterns of cloth in Shanghai. The cloth that we can't buy in Shanghai is available in Shanghai. Mom has a good eye and picked out a few good ones for you. They are very expensive, costing several yuan a foot. Mom said that she must buy you the best ones and not let you down."
After saying this, Zhu Jiaorong and her daughter waited for Zhan Aiping to express her opinion.
Zhan Aiping used to study in a military academy and received a subsidy every month. After she graduated and started working, her salary and subsidy increased, but she was capable and lived a simple life. Unlike other women, she did not buy new shoes, hairbands, and new clothes, or have a closet full of new and old military uniforms that she could not wear out. She was not picky about food and usually ate in the cafeteria. Over the years, Zhan Aiping had saved a lot of money and food coupons and cloth coupons.
Since she doesn't need these things on a daily basis, she is very generous with money and tickets.
Zhan Aiping nodded: "You guys can buy whatever you want."
After saying that, he went to pack up.
Zhu Jiaorong and her daughter were stunned. Didn't Zhan Aiping understand their hint? Why didn't she just say, "If you need money or tickets, take them from me."
Zhu Jiaorong glanced at her daughter, and Zhan Aijia nodded. She said, "Sister, before Mingzhao went to the countryside, our family made him several new sets of clothes and asked him to wear them—Sister! What are you doing? Why are you turning over my quilt?"
Zhan Aija's voice became more and more anxious.
Zhan Aiping ignored her. The room was very small, only about ten square meters, and she could walk around it in three or two steps. She opened the cabinet and took a few glances, and everything was clear.
The house is small and there is not much place to hide things.
Zhan Aiping pulled at the bedding and pillow a few times, and several things fell out with a ping-pong sound, including her vanishing cream, a small mirror, a comb, a silver bracelet... and three photos.
She picked up the silver bracelet that her mother left her. It was silver-covered-gold. In fact, it was a gold bracelet with a layer of silver on the outside to cover it.
Not to mention the other miscellaneous items, in the previous life, Zhan Aiping discovered that the silver bracelet was missing, and Zhan Aijia secretly returned it. At that time, Zhan Aiping thought that they were a family after all, and she was not close to the Zhan family. She did not want to quarrel with old man Zhan, and it was even worse to make a scene in front of the He family, so she did not get angry.
She gently stroked the bracelet, but her eyes remained on the three photos.
Those three photos were photos of her and Gu Sheng. In them were her when she was seventeen years old and Gu Sheng when he was nineteen years old.
Both of them skipped grades, and in order to make it easier for them to study, their ages were deliberately written two or three years older, which was the norm in that era.
At that time, they were enemies. They grew up in the same compound and had never gotten along since childhood. However, they joined the army together. What a coincidence, when Zhan Aiping was seventeen years old, she was selected as an outstanding representative to participate in a comprehensive military competition. Her teammate happened to be Gu Sheng. No one knew what kind of fate it was.
The two of them had a serious quarrel and were very dissatisfied with the assignment. They reported it to the higher-ups, who scolded them: "Will you be allowed to choose your teammates on the battlefield?" "You are comrades-in-arms, you are comrades-in-arms, and you are the comrades-in-arms who have to entrust your backs and your lives to him!" "You two are now tied to the same rope, so hang on tight."
The two of them were punished together and accepted the assignment, but neither of them would submit to the other. As they were both young and hot-tempered and also very competitive, they had no choice but to cooperate with each other. They had fought among themselves countless times in the team and wanted to strangle each other to death, but the more they argued, the more they held their breath and insisted on defeating the other.
then-
They both took first place overall.
In those three photos, Zhan Aiping and Gu Sheng were both wearing military uniforms. In the first one, she rolled up her sleeves and arm wrestled with Gu Sheng. Her face was distorted with effort. Gu Sheng was only photographed in profile, and his expression could not be seen clearly. Although only his profile was photographed, his profile was photographed to be extremely handsome, with flying eyebrows and a heroic demeanor. He also rolled up his sleeves, revealing his strong and full arm muscles, and his whole body was full of hormones.
When the other female soldiers saw the photo, they all screamed, but Zhan Aiping felt that his face showed that he deserved a beating.
When Zhan Aiping saw this photo, she cursed in her heart, wondering who the idiot was who took the photo. She almost wanted to fight with the person who took the photo.
There is a caption on the photo: The Chinese people have great ambitions, they don’t like red dresses but love weapons.
Zhan Aiping originally wanted to tear up the photos when she got home, but then she forgot about it and didn't do it.
In the second photo, she and Gu Sheng looked very miserable. They were wearing military uniforms, lying on the grass. Their clothes were covered with mud and water, caked and hard. Their faces were also covered with mud. Even though it was a black and white photo, their outlines were very clear. Their eyes were very bright, like stars in the dark night.
Gu Sheng in the photo was looking at her.
In the third photo, she and Gu Sheng were wearing hats with red stars shining brightly, and both of them were holding medals in their hands. Zhan Aiping in the photo was very polite, she was smiling at the camera, while Gu Sheng on the side had an indifferent and even a little smelly expression on his face, with a straight nose and tightly pursed lips.
Because when taking the photo, she pretended to accidentally step on Gu Sheng's foot.
It’s so refreshing!
After she got married in her previous life, she had never seen these three photos again, thinking that they were accidentally lost when moving. She had a lot of photos of her time in the army, all of which were kept together. She didn't realize these photos were missing until a long time later.
It was not until she met Gu Sheng again that Zhan Aiping saw the three photos he had kept for forty years.
After her rebirth, Zhan Aiping just returned home and guessed that it might be Zhan Aijia who took it. But after looking it over, she found out that it was indeed Zhan Aijia who stole it.
Zhan Aiping raised her eyebrows with a sneer: "Do you have a thief in your house?"
Zhan Aija's face lost all color in an instant, and when she saw Gu Sheng in the photo, her mind went blank.
That’s Gu Sheng, Gu Sheng from the Gu family!
Zhan Aiping and Gu Sheng grew up in the same compound, but when Zhan's father remarried, the two families no longer lived together. Zhan Aijia originally had no chance to meet Gu Sheng, but when others mentioned her stepsister Zhan Aiping, they would always mention Gu Sheng from the Gu family.
The Gu family and the Zhan family are no longer the same as they used to be. The Gu family is rising rapidly, while the Zhan family, originally Zhan Aiping's mother had a higher position in the Zhan family, but after her mother passed away, her father Zhan Bo was not very good at dealing with people and doing things, so he was demoted and sent away a long time ago.
Gu Sheng's family background, Gu Sheng's appearance, Gu Sheng's excellence, all these made Zhan Aijia fall in love with him. Ever since she met Gu Sheng once, she always kept him in her heart.
Her mother married a cadre. If she could marry Gu Sheng, she would become a phoenix.
Zhan Aijia always hates Zhan Aiping in her heart. If her stepsister Zhan Aiping had not been so naughty when she was a child and had established a good relationship with Gu Sheng, she might have taken the opportunity to get to know Gu Sheng and make Gu Sheng her partner. Unfortunately, Zhan Aiping had a mental problem, and she and Gu Sheng were well-known enemies, and they had never gotten along since they were young.
But I didn’t expect... Zhan Aiping and Gu Sheng actually had a photo together.
While Zhan Aiping was not at home, Zhan Aijia secretly went through Zhan Aiping's things and found the three photos. The more she looked at the photos, the more she liked Gu Sheng. However, Zhan Aiping standing next to him was an eyesore. She took the photos and planned to cut out Zhan Aiping from the photos, leaving only Gu Sheng's figure.
"Pa!" A hot slap fell mercilessly on Zhan Aijia's face. She looked at the bright and beautiful Zhan Aiping in front of her in disbelief. Her face felt hot and stinging, forcing out tears.
Zhan Aijia screamed, "You hit me!"
"Pa!" Another slap landed symmetrically on the other side of her face.
Zhan Aiping smiled and said, "I'm so sorry, sister. I've had a bad temper since I was a child."
"Your mother didn't teach you how to be a good person, so I will teach you."
(End of this chapter)