Dragon-Phoenix Twins’ Birthday
Qin Shi and Mo Ling left the auditorium and strolled slowly together.
“Haha, I saw Cai Xiuqin backstage. Her face was completely twisted,” Mo Ling said happily. “She even tried playing tricks with me. She leaked that her gown was white, but turned up today wearing blue.”
Mo Ling rolled her eyes. “Who does she take for a fool? Wearing white on National Day? Hah.”
Qin Shi smiled. “I bumped into her before the opening too. Her temper doesn’t seem very good.”
“It’s not that it doesn’t seem good—it really isn’t,” Mo Ling complained. “I don’t know what she’s so arrogant about every day. It’s one thing to look down on people, but she also randomly treats others like enemies. She’s sick.”
“Persecution complex?” Qin Shi asked. There didn’t seem to be such a character in the plot, or at least she couldn’t remember.
Mo Ling clapped her hands. “That description is perfect! Isn’t that exactly what it is?”
Mo Ling complained a little more, then the two moved on to other topics.
“Qin Shi, your skills are really amazing. Are you planning to develop in this direction in the future?” Mo Ling asked curiously.
Qin Shi wanted to, but being a designer wasn’t that simple. Besides, she didn’t truly have that level of ability.
People now weren’t very sensitive to fashion yet, so she seemed impressive. If she really wanted to expand and follow this path, she would have to learn from scratch. Otherwise, she wouldn’t achieve much.
After nine years of compulsory education, three years of high school, and four years of university, Qin Shi truly thanked the motherland for educating her—but she also truly didn’t want to study again.
Teaching and raising children were tiring enough. She didn’t want to make herself that exhausted.
So she said, “No. I’m not that capable. I’ll just take ordinary clothing orders, save some money, open a shop, or maybe work with someone to create a small brand.”
Mo Ling immediately said, “Then I’ll introduce you to my friend—the one who helped me find the fabric. She’s always talking about creating her own brand, but for some reason, she still hasn’t done it.”
Qin Shi naturally knew how difficult building a brand was. It wasn’t simple at all. There were too many things to worry about, and one person couldn’t handle everything properly.
Reform and opening-up had only started a couple of years ago. For Mo Ling’s friend to have opened her own shop in the city was already impressive.
Even though Qin Shi knew it wasn’t simple, she still wanted to meet her. “I was already planning to ask you where her shop is. I’ve wanted to meet her for a while.”
Mo Ling linked arms with Qin Shi and smiled. “Same with her. When she heard I knew a designer, she was incredibly curious.”
“I have leave next week. Why don’t we go shopping in the city? I’ll treat you both to a big meal and introduce you.”
Qin Shi naturally agreed. “That sounds great. Then I’ll happily eat off a rich person.”
Mo Ling side-eyed her and huffed. “You’re the rich one, aren’t you? You casually take a few clothing orders and money comes in. Unlike me, I just live on a fixed salary.”
Since they were on the topic, Qin Shi casually asked, “What plans do you have for the future? Will you keep working in the army?”
Mo Ling sighed. “Don’t even mention it. I’m worried about that. I want to leave, but I’m afraid my family won’t allow it. They’re even thinking about transferring me to another position. I don’t dare bring it up.”
Qin Shi was a little surprised. Mo Ling seemed very independent and brave, but unexpectedly, she cared so much about her family that she didn’t even dare say it.
But Qin Shi didn’t comment. She only asked, “What do you plan to do after leaving?”
“I want to go to Shenzhen and take a look. Then I want to come back and start a business like my friend Song Sinuo.”
In this era, workers, soldiers, and people working in state-owned enterprises were the envy of everyone. They held golden rice bowls. Even after reform and opening-up, those people were still the most sought-after, because their jobs were stable and respectable.
What if a business lost money? There were too many uncertainties. Not everyone had the courage to start a business.
But when Qin Shi heard Mo Ling say this, she felt it made sense.
“If you’ve thought it through, then do it. You’re still young anyway. It’s fine even if you fail. You can start again.” Qin Shi smiled at her. “It’s your life. You decide.”
Mo Ling looked at Qin Shi’s smiling eyes and fell silent for two seconds. Then she suddenly smiled. “Right. You’re right. It’s my life, so I decide!”
Her parents treated her well, and she knew that. But what they wanted wasn’t what she wanted. Mo Ling made up her mind—when she went back, she would tell them what she thought. If they supported her, that would be best. If they didn’t… then she would work hard to make them support her!
Qin Shi looked at Mo Ling, who was now radiant, determined, and fearless, and smiled too.
In the original plot, Mo Ling had been trapped by marriage and family. Her body weakened after giving birth, so she had no choice but to retire and become a housewife. In this life, her body was fine, and she could break free from the plot’s restraints. She wanted to explore, fight, and be herself. How wonderful.
Why should women be bound by family? Clearly, they could shine on their own too.
“Women can hold up half the sky too. I can do it. I definitely can!” Mo Ling clenched her fists, her eyes filled with fighting spirit, as if a blazing fire were burning inside them.
At this moment, Mo Ling radiated dazzling confidence. She was completely different from the Mo Ling Qin Shi had dreamed of in the original book—the exhausted, numb woman with dull eyes.
Looking into Mo Ling’s clear, bright eyes, Qin Shi smiled unconsciously. It seemed Mo Ling was slowly awakening too.
Although Qin Shi didn’t hear the sound of something breaking like she had with Lu Zetian before, she could feel that Mo Ling’s future had definitely already changed.
This feeling was really good.
“Why couldn’t you think straight and ended up marrying Lu Zetian? If you had focused on your career, you definitely could have achieved something big!”
Qin Shi thought, *It’s not like I wanted to either. Wasn’t I forced by the system?* But it didn’t matter now. Her current life wasn’t bad.
As for the future, she only wanted modest comfort and peace. She didn’t need to be extremely rich and didn’t have huge ambition.
If she could afford whatever she wanted to eat, wear, or buy, travel whenever she wanted, own a house, a car, and a cat, and spend her free time shopping with friends and having afternoon tea, that would already be a pretty good life.
Qin Shi sighed inwardly. Even that kind of life would take a long time of hard work to achieve.
Once she had money, she would immediately buy several houses in big cities. Later, she could rent them out and never worry about food or drink again.
“For the sake of a beautiful future, let’s work hard for a few years!”
“Let’s do it!”
Qin Shi and Mo Ling smiled at each other, walking forward arm in arm as they happily discussed entrepreneurship and dreamed about the future.
…
The National Day gala ended perfectly, leaving behind many topics for everyone to discuss for several days.
The most talked-about people were Mo Ling and Qin Shi. Mo Ling had stunned everyone by playing piano in a red gown to offer music to the motherland, and that gown had actually been made by Qin Shi. It was simply… too fascinating.
Their identities were actually a little awkward, but no one expected them to get along so well. It truly shocked many people.
The number of people pursuing Mo Ling increased overnight, but she rejected them all, declaring that she would focus on her career. Soon after, news spread that she intended to leave the army, go to Shenzhen, and start her own business.
Difficult to win over, thorny and hard to grasp—the title “Red Rose” was placed on Mo Ling.
As for Qin Shi, who was elegant, poised, and highly skilled, some busybodies jokingly called her “White Peony.”
Of course, there was also Lu Zetian, who became the envy of everyone. No one knew what kind of luck he had to have married these two flowers.
When the messy rumours reached Qin Shi’s ears, she rolled her eyes right there in the office.
When she returned home, she complained to Lu Zetian and told him to ask the political commissar to control everyone’s mouths. If they had nothing to do, they should go work. What nonsense were they gossiping about?
Lu Zetian nodded and agreed. Even if Qin Shi hadn’t said it, he would have reported the matter.
Some people said they envied Lu Zetian, saying Qin Shi and Mo Ling were two delicate flowers, like Ehuang and Nüying… Such excessive jokes had reached Lu Zetian’s ears too, and no normal person could tolerate them.
**Nomad: Ehuang and Nüying were legendary sisters who both married Emperor Shun, so the comparison jokingly makes Lu Zetian sound like a man with two beautiful “wives.”
In context, it is an inappropriate joke because Qin Shi is his current wife and Mo Ling is his ex-wife, so people are twisting their friendly relationship into something scandalous.**
Lu Zetian didn’t tell Qin Shi that part, otherwise she would explode even more.
The next day, Lu Zetian reported the issue to the higher-ups. The higher-ups also knew that because of the gala, everyone’s thoughts had become restless again, so they held a special meeting.
At the meeting, they didn’t name the issue directly, but everyone understood the criticism.
“I see everyone has too much free time. Then don’t rest. Start preparing for the military competition. Training begins today. No one is allowed to ask for leave. Everyone trains with the team!”
The military competition was at the end of the year. Usually, one month of focused training was enough, but now it was being moved up by a month, and everyone had to participate.
It was clearly a punishment.
But no one could do anything about it. They could only train obediently. Those who had been dragged into the matter went home and warned their wives to gossip less in the future.
As for those who had run their mouths themselves, they shrank their necks and no longer dared speak nonsense.
This time was only a warning, and no names were publicly criticised, but next time might be different. Besides, even if no one was named publicly, people still knew who had been careless with their mouths.
Those who had been implicated looked at those people with unfriendly eyes. They stopped helping them in daily life, and their relationships clearly became colder. Those people genuinely had a difficult time for a while.
They deserved it.
After this matter settled, the people in the army compound truly no longer dared gossip about Qin Shi and the others. They had finally understood how formidable and serious she was.
Some people kept a respectful distance from Qin Shi, thinking she was too petty. But Qin Shi had never intended to deal with them anyway, so she didn’t care what they thought or did.
She now knew many people at school and had made quite a few like-minded friends. At school, she chatted with everyone. At home, she had the children to amuse her. Every few days, she made clothes and earned coupons and money. Her life was very pleasant.
Mo Ling had originally wanted to invite Qin Shi to the city for a meal, but because her parents had surprisingly accepted her decision quite easily and agreed to her leaving the army to start a business, she had been busy handling her discharge matters and couldn’t get away. So the meal had to be postponed until she was done.
Life settled down peacefully like this, passing day by day in a calm, warm, and fulfilling rhythm—until the twins’ birthday arrived.
Their birthday happened to fall on a weekend. Gu Qinghai didn’t have school, and Lu Zetian specially took a day off to celebrate with the children.
In the morning, the family ate steamed egg custard and sweet red sweet potato cakes, then put on new clothes and prepared to go together to the large supply and marketing cooperative in the neighbouring county.
Because they were bringing the children, taking a crowded bus would be troublesome, so Lu Zetian borrowed a vehicle from the army.
The twins sat in the back seat, touching here and there, laughing and shouting excitedly. Gu Qinghai, sitting in the passenger seat, kept examining the inside of the car too, staring without blinking.
Lu Zetian lifted his eyes to the rear-view mirror. Seeing Qin Shi smiling at the twins, his gaze immediately softened.
—
**Author’s Note:**
The twins: Birthdays are amazing!
Gu Qinghai: Cars are so cool.
Lu Zetian: Slowly awakening without knowing it.
Qin Shi: Someone is helping with the children today, yay!
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