"Hurry up and write, or when Mom comes back tonight, you'll be in for a 'double-team' beating from both parents!"
"Fine." The younger brother sighed heavily.
Resigned, he picked up his composition notebook.
Perhaps inspired by genuine feelings, this time he wrote surprisingly fast.
By the time Xiao Zhengjun finished feeding his daughter and washing the diapers, only the older brother remained in the room.
"Where’s your brother?"
The younger brother answered truthfully, "He said his stomach hurt and went to the outhouse."
Xiao Zhengjun couldn’t help but laugh in frustration. Every time it was time to do homework, it was always either needing to poop or fart.
The older brother tried to cover for his sibling, "Dad, little brother already finished his composition."
"Finished?" Xiao Zhengjun was taken aback.
Recovering, he happily took the notebook and flipped through it.
The title of the composition: "My Dad."
The handwriting was mediocre—hard to decipher without squinting.
Just as he was about to read further, the younger brother bounded back into the room.
Xiao Zhengjun waved him over, "Perfect timing. Read your composition out loud."
Though he hadn’t seen the full content, he knew it would be riddled with half-formed characters and pinyin.
Only the kid himself could probably understand it.
The younger brother scratched his head, "Uh… is that really necessary?"
"Just read it. Stop making excuses."
"Okay."
After a moment’s hesitation, the boy took several steps back, ensuring a safe distance, then began:
"My dad’s name is Xiao Zhengjun. It’s a great name—it sounds like a hero!"
"Not bad. Your brother’s composition has really improved," Xiao Zhengjun started to praise.
But before he could finish, the younger brother continued, "Even though his name sounds nice, in Mom’s eyes, he’s not even human."
What? What did he mean by "not human"?
Before Xiao Zhengjun could process it, the boy went on:
"If Dad smokes, Mom calls him a 'smoke ghost'!"
"If Dad drinks, Mom calls him a 'booze ghost'!"
"If he doesn’t give Mom money, she calls him a 'cheapskate ghost'!"
"Sometimes at night, Mom even calls him a 'damn ghost'!"
"Luckily, Dad doesn’t gamble, or Mom would definitely call him a 'gambling ghost'!"
Xiao Zhengjun clenched his jaw, his hands trembling like he had Parkinson’s.
"This… this is what you wrote?"
"Yep."
The younger brother nodded. While writing, he’d sensed the first part wasn’t great, but the second half made up for it—he’d used so many idioms!
Without giving his dad a chance to react, the boy kept reading:
"Even though my dad is 'built like a bear' and sometimes 'flies into a rage,' I know he loves me and my brother 'to death'!"
"Because he 'sneaks around' to buy us popsicles and 'hides away' to take us for treats."
"Dad is almost forty now, and his eggs have a lot of wrinkles…"
Xiao Zhengjun’s blood pressure nearly hit the roof. "What the—what did you just say?!"
"Oh, I missed a word."
The younger brother corrected himself, "His face has a lot of wrinkles."
Xiao Zhengjun let out a hollow laugh. "Come here. Now."
The next second, the boy was running for his life, clutching his backside. "Brother, save me! Quick!"
The older brother shook his head—this was beyond saving.
Ten minutes later, the younger brother sat pitifully at the desk, sniffling.
"Erase it! Erase everything and rewrite it!"
Xiao Zhengjun was too furious to speak.
He glanced at the living room.
At that moment, he finally understood the saying his old friend Hu often repeated:
"Wishing you had three heads and six arms" perfectly described how he felt.
Still, all things considered, their household was better off.
At least the kids were a bit older.
Other families were pure chaos.
Not only did they have to look after the children, but they also had to clean up homes that had been spotless in the morning but were now total disasters.
Laundry, cooking, childcare, tidying up—all those tasks that seemed effortless when their wives handled them suddenly felt like climbing mountains.
Honestly, after just one day of this, they were more exhausted than after a high-intensity military drill.
One day in, and they already felt like the sky was falling.
Yet this was the life their wives lived every single day.
Sure, they’d often say, "Honey, you work so hard."
But they’d never truly grasped just how hard.
Only after this day of chaos and mayhem did they finally understand the weight of that effort.
Homes didn’t clean themselves. Kids didn’t grow by magic.
Every delicious meal, every clean piece of clothing, every peaceful moment when they returned—
Behind all that seeming happiness, someone had been silently laboring.
In an instant, guilt, regret, and heartache flooded every man’s chest.
At that moment, someone from one of the households called out, "Has the movie ended yet? It’s dark outside—you should go meet your wife."
Everyone snapped out of their daze.
Grabbing flashlights, they stepped out of their homes.
None of the military wives in the residential compound were aware of what was happening.
Today, they had enjoyed a lively long-table feast at the farm.
As the atmosphere grew lively, many of the women performed their signature acts.
No makeup, no rehearsals.
They sang and danced as they pleased.
Even after returning to the military base, the wives were still buzzing with excitement.
Luckily, the evening’s movie was entertaining enough.
The lighthearted mood lasted until the film ended.
There was still some distance between the base and the residential compound, so they walked back together.
Suddenly, a cluster of swaying flashlight beams appeared ahead of them.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" the woman at the front exclaimed in surprise.
No one knew who started it, but the men began calling out their wives’ names one after another, as if reporting for duty.
"Wang Cuihua, I’m here!"
"Li Xiuying, over here!"
"Zhang Mei—"
Just then, Jiang Si spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.
The man stood tall, his posture straight.
His stern face looked even paler in the night breeze.
Before she could speak, Huo Tingzhou strode toward her.
Jiang Si: "Why did you come? I told you to rest at home."
Though her tone was scolding, the concern on her face was unmistakable.
Huo Tingzhou didn’t answer, draping the coat he’d brought over her shoulders.
By late November, the mornings and evenings on Qiongzhou Island were already chilly.
He had deliberately packed two light jackets before leaving.
"Mom, put this on too," Huo Tingzhou said, handing the other coat to his mother.
Only after that did he turn back to Jiang Si. "I was worried about you, so I came."
Then, his large hand reached for hers. "Let’s go. It’s cold out."
"You’re the one who should know it’s cold." Jiang Si scolded him for a good few minutes. "Are the little ones asleep?"
"They are."
"Were they well-behaved today?"
Huo Tingzhou paused briefly. "Yeah, they were fine."
With the flashlight beam shining ahead, Jiang Si didn’t notice the faint flush on his face.
It wasn’t until bedtime that she spotted the hemp rope tied around the baby bottle.
"You…"
No way. It couldn’t be what she was thinking, could it?
As it turned out, it was exactly what she thought.
Because the moment she burst into laughter, Huo Tingzhou suddenly yanked the thin blanket over them.
How her clothes disappeared, Jiang Si couldn’t quite recall.
The sounds continued well past midnight.
Before drifting off, rubbing her sore waist, she sighed dramatically at the ceiling.
Weren’t children supposed to pay for their fathers’ debts?
If the two little troublemakers caused the mess, why was she the one being punished?
