Chapter 181: The Childcare Squad Assembles

Shi Yuebai stood in silence, watching the thirteen men crouched before her, heads in their hands, shivering from the cold.

In front of them, ten corpses were laid out in neat rows.

The other two who hadn’t tried to escape were standing off to the side, receiving military coats.

Second Sister-in-law Shi was carefully wiping the blood off each crossbow that had been retrieved.

She put them away.

Leaning on her cane, Shi Yuebai walked forward slowly, her steps heavy and her movements awkward.

She stopped in front of one of the men, raised her staff, and brought it down hard, knocking him flat to the ground.

“Run, why don’t you run now?”

Her face was cold. “You think my words mean nothing? You thought I wouldn’t kill you?”

Everyone always assumed she was kind. Who gave them the courage to believe that?

The remaining twelve men trembled even harder.

Shi Yuebai said, “Still have the strength to run? Clearly you didn’t work hard enough today.”

Cao Lingyun immediately bent over, eager to please.

“Yuebai, there are twenty-four hours in a day. We can make them work for twenty.”

“If they don’t appreciate the good life, we’ll just work them to death.”

A vicious look appeared on his face.

Shi Yuebai glanced at him.

Cao Lingyun puffed out his chest and slapped it loudly.

“Yuebai, leave it to me. I guarantee I’ll make them wish they were dead.”

He was so enthusiastic, Shi Yuebai almost wanted to pin a little red flower on his chest.

“Fine. If they try to run again, don’t stop them. If they die, we’ll just go capture more. Scarface has plenty of men.”

Shi Yuebai handed the rest of the men over to Cao Lingyun.

She had just turned around when Nong Yasi came running out.

“She’s given birth! It’s a girl!”

Xu Xuejiao, Ah Hong, and the others waiting outside all breathed a sigh of relief.

But inside the tent, the new mother’s sobs could be heard.

Shi Yuebai stood at the entrance, watching as Nong Yasi cleaned the newborn and wrapped her in cloth.

The woman lying on the ground covered her face and cried out in pain,

“Why is it a girl? Why?”

Shi Yuebai frowned. “Is that so bad?”

“Of course it’s bad.”

The woman, who’d been so muddle-headed before that she could only dig straight ditches, now sobbed,

“Women on the wasteland have such hard lives.”

A son might have a slim chance at survival.

But a daughter—girls were born to suffer here. Many little girls were hurt before they even understood the world.

The crying woman still couldn’t say who the father of her child was.

She seemed to have been in a daze for a long time.

By the time she regained some sense of self, she was already pregnant.

Truly, being born a girl in these chaotic times was a misfortune.

Shi Yuebai raised an eyebrow. “A son wouldn’t necessarily fare much better.”

Just look at Xiao Lingye, now forced to wear a cheongsam and chained up in a tent by Ying Ruoying.

His business was even better than Duan Xiangtong and the others.

“In troubled times, whether you live well or not doesn’t depend on gender, but on your own abilities.”

With that, Shi Yuebai let Ah Hong take the newborn girl.

Ah Hong held the baby up for Shi Yuebai. “Yuebai, give her a name.”

Shi Yuebai stroked the baby’s cheek.

“Let’s call her Shi Jixiang—Auspicious Shi.”

“The next one, boy or girl, will be Shi Ruyi—Wishful Shi.”

When it came to naming, Shi Yuebai was hopeless.

Anyway, none of these women knew who the fathers were.

So all the children would take Shi Yuebai’s surname.

Inside, the woman who’d just given birth finally stopped crying.

Being able to give her child Shi Yuebai’s surname made her feel much more at ease.

Even though they weren’t allowed near Shi Xiangrui and Shi Fuze,

They could still see from a distance that those two children were being raised very well in the Shi family.

Healthy and fair-skinned, Shi Xiangrui and Shi Fuze were destined for happy lives.

No sooner had Shi Yuebai named Shi Jixiang than Shi Ruyi was born.

Another girl.

The second mother didn’t cry, though—she was so exhausted she fell asleep.

Ah Hong carried both babies back to the Shi family’s tent.

Shi Xiangrui had just woken up in the middle of the night. She sat up, grabbed her bottle, and started drinking.

When she saw Ah Hong come in with two newborns, Shi Xiangrui babbled at her.

Ah Hong didn’t know what Shi Xiangrui was trying to say. She just placed the two babies in the tent and told her,

“Auntie’s going to get some water for your little sisters. You be good and finish your bottle, then go back to sleep.”

Shi Xiangrui grinned, showing her two front baby teeth.

“Ah, ah!”

As soon as Ah Hong left, Shi Xiangrui crawled quickly across the floor, rolled over, and with her bottle in hand, scooted over to Shi Jixiang and Shi Ruyi.

Paper Person No. 1 and No. 2 hurried over.

No. 1 whispered, “Xiangrui, little gold-devourer, go to sleep! Don’t mess with them.”

No. 2 tugged at her sleeve.

“Go to sleep, I’ll tell you a story.”

But Shi Xiangrui ignored them. She rolled over to Shi Jixiang, stuck her bottle at the baby’s mouth to give her water.

She missed, and the bottle’s nipple poked Shi Jixiang in the face.

Shi Jixiang immediately started wailing.

Shi Ruyi next to her started crying too.

It was like a chain reaction. Soon, Shi Fuze, who’d been asleep, joined in the chorus.

Suddenly, the whole Shi family tent was filled with the sound of crying babies.

Outside, Shi Yuebai listened coolly, with no intention of helping.

Ah Hong, clutching two bottles, came running.

“Shi Xiangrui, get back to sleep right now!”

She yelled in exasperation. After a whole night of chaos, what was Shi Xiangrui up to now?

Shi Xiangrui felt utterly wronged.

She buried her face in a baby pillow, stuck her butt in the air, and howled.

Ah Hong, spinning like a top, scooped her up and tried to soothe her.

No. 1 and No. 2 sighed in relief. The two paper people worked together to feed Shi Jixiang some water.

But the crying continued. These kids just couldn’t be calmed.

Unable to sleep through the noise, Shi Yuebai suddenly sat up, grabbed a few sheets of white paper, and tore out several more paper people.

Numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8—reporting for duty!

A squad of paper people lined up in the cold wind.

“Salute!”

No. 3 shouted, and all six paper people dropped to one knee before Shi Yuebai.

“No. 3: Childcare squad assembled! Awaiting orders, Shi Yuebai!”

Shi Yuebai: “Go!”

No. 3: “Move out! Charge!”

No. 3 raised a hand and led the childcare squad, who dashed into the inflatable tent with military precision.

Ah Hong was frantically busy when she suddenly heard a chorus of rustling and chattering—

“No. 4 has reached the battlefield!”

“No. 8 is ready!”

“No. 7 is about to start singing!”

“Oh my darling, don’t pick the wildflowers by the roadside, don’t, don’t pick them~~”

Ah Hong was instantly covered in black lines.

What on earth were they singing?

——

In winter, you can’t live without foot warmers, or your feet will be cold all season."