The Laid-Back Stepmom on a 1970S Island

My next book will be in the same series. Please add it to your favorites: [A Lazy Mom on a Seventies-Era Island]. The blurb is at the bottom. Blurb: Raising kids on an island / subverting expectations / kids win over their stepmom Overworked office worker Ning Tang transmigrates into a book about a stepmother on a remote island, as the foil to the protagonist. The heroine is her cousin, Ning Xue, who marries Su, a section chief stationed on the island, after meeting him through a matchmaker. He is divorced and has two children. Ning Xue is a good cook and makes clothes. She treats Su's two kids as her own, raising them just as well as if they were her biological children. By contrast, Ning Tang marries Regiment Commander Shen, who is stationed on the same island and has three children after being widowed. She either hits or scolds his kids, never has a kind word for them, and lets them grow so emaciated they look like little beggars fleeing a disaster. Ning Tang: ...? Since she's here, she might as well follow the story. She decides to take her laziness all the way! It's already late morning when Regiment Commander Shen's three kids come to Ning Tang's bedside, complaining that they're hungry. The eldest puts his hands on his hips. "Look at the stepmom next door, Ning Xue. She's so good to her two kids. She cooks for them and even makes them clothes." Ning Tang scratches her ear. "What years were you three born?" The kids exchange glances. The eldest says, "I was born in 1969, Er Niu in 1971, and San Wa in 1973." "Oh." Ning Tang turns over without a care in the world. I'm from 2000, she thinks. I'm so much younger than you guys. Why should I have to take care of you? Figuring she shouldn't shortchange herself just to avoid shortchanging others, Ning Tang makes a huge batch of seafood in sauce with the seafood she gathered at the shore. The three kids are practically drooling. Er Niu says, "Stepmom, give us some." Ning Tang: "You can't expect things for nothing. If you want some, trade me money or ration coupons." The three kids had planned to stash away the money and coupons Regiment Commander Shen gave them before going out to sea. They never expected to spend it all trading with Ning Tang for food. San Wa: "Stepmom, look. The stepmom next door has a job, and she earns money to buy the other kids treats every day." Ning Tang: "It's not good for kids to compare themselves to others." Ning Xue has to go to work before dawn every morning, while Ning Tang is still asleep at this hour. Ning Tang suddenly thinks that being unemployed is pretty great! Su's two sons tell Ning Xue they want to play by the beach and in the hills behind the village. Ning Xue kindly pats them on the head. "Those places are dangerous. Don't go." Shen's three kids tell Ning Tang they want to play by the beach and in the hills. Ning Tang rolls up her sleeves. "Should we go catch rabbits or gather seafood? When are we going?" Ning Xue's stepsons get into a fight at school. She doesn't hit or scold them, but tries to change their ways with reason. Shen's three kids get into a fight at school. The teacher says, "Your kids got into a fight at school." Ning Tang: "Did they win?" Teacher (?): "They did... but..." Ning Tang: "If they won, why did you call me here?" As the days go by, the two stepsons Ning Xue has devoted herself to raising turn into ungrateful brats. The three kids Ning Tang raised free-range grow up to be a top billionaire, a famous TV star, and a champion swimmer who competes for their country. Ning Xue: Who can I even complain to about this? When Shen Lie returns from the sea, he discovers that his own children have hit it off with his new wife, who has been married before. The eldest clings to Ning Tang's leg, while Er Niu and San Wa tug at her hem. "You're my real mom, Stepmom!" Everyone in the military housing complex: Regiment Commander Shen, do something about your wife! She's practically become the kids' ringleader! There's nowhere she hasn't wreaked havoc, from the hills to the sea! [A Lazy Mom on a Seventies-Era Island] Please add it to your favorites. Blurb: Raising kids on an island / putting herself first, letting the kids and husband do as they please / a laid-back mom A military officer who's a cold iceberg on the outside but a tender-hearted golden retriever on the inside x a sweet-looking but fiery little pepper Jiang Qiao has a dream in which she's the foil in a book set on a remote island in the seventies. The heroine is her neighbor, Li Tiantian, who marries Regiment Commander Zeng, a divorced man with two children, after meeting him through a matchmaker. She's lucky: her husband dotes on her, her children adore her, and her mother-in-law is fond of her. She sleeps until late morning every day, and her stepson and stepdaughter treat her no differently than their real mother. By contrast, Jiang Qiao, who follows the army to the same island, has to get up before dawn every day to wash clothes, cook, and do housework. Though she's barely in her twenties, she's worn herself down into an old housewife. She gives her all to her three biological children, but they defy her at every turn. The eldest son is chubby, strong, arrogant, and domineering, and no one in the neighborhood can beat him. The second son is small and frail, like a quail. You couldn't get a peep out of him with three strikes of a stick. The little girl is already obsessed with looking pretty at such a young age. Whenever the family manages to save up some fabric, they use all of it to make her dresses. Jiang Qiao: ...? What the hell! These three ingrates can go live with whoever wants them! And so... The eldest son makes the neighbor's kid cry. Normally, Jiang Qiao would have gone over to apologize, then hugged and kissed her eldest son, lifting him up and praising him for a job well done. But instead, Jiang Qiao says, "Whoever caused the trouble can deal with it. No allowance for a month." The eldest son: So you get your allowance taken away when you do something wrong? Jiang Qiao: Great! Now I don't have to give him his allowance. Wouldn't it be better to save the money and buy myself some face cream? Jiang Qiao makes a seafood feast with the seafood she gathered at the shore, leaving all three kids practically drooling. The second son drools all over the place. "Mom, it smells so good." (Hinting furiously) Jiang Qiao thinks, It smells good, all right. "Kids can't eat seafood. It's high in purines, and it'll stunt your growth." (That's a lie.) She eats a giant lobster with one hand and a huge crab with the other, never stopping until she's finished. The three kids don't even get a single crab leg. After getting her fabric coupons, the little girl says she wants new clothes. "Mom, I want new clothes. Everyone else has them, so I want some too." Jiang Qiao: "It's not good for kids to compare themselves to others." Then she sees Li Tiantian next door in a new dress and immediately cuts fabric to make herself a fashionable new dress. Lu Yan became a chief of staff in his early thirties. Everyone who knew him said he had a bright future. The only shame was that his country wife was illiterate. They said his country wife was vulgar, ugly, and uneducated... Everyone felt sorry for him. What a waste of a beautiful flower on a pile of cow dung. But when Lu Yan's country wife joins him at his post, everyone is stunned: Is this graceful, fair-skinned beauty who cooks so well really the country bumpkin everyone talked about? Everyone, stunned: Turns out you can't trust rumors. Li Tiantian transmigrates into a book set on a remote island in the seventies. Using her advantage of knowing what will happen, she takes the place of the original heroine, Jiang Qiao, and marries the male lead, Zeng Anguo. Just as the novel described, Zeng Anguo treats her like a precious treasure and won't let her lift a finger. His two children from his previous marriage treat her like their real mother. Thinking about how her stepson will grow up to be a scientist researching a certain weapon and her stepdaughter will become a famous TV star, Li Tiantian lies flat without a care in the world. But as she lies flat, she realizes something is wrong. The original heroine, Jiang Qiao, doesn't marry Zeng Anguo. Instead, she marries Lu, a chief of staff with an even brighter future than Zeng Anguo. And her three children aren't anything like the ones in the original story. The eldest is a notorious local delinquent, the second is so withdrawn he never even leaves his room, and the third is already partying and getting perms as soon as she comes of age. Instead, all of them grow up to be successes: the eldest becomes a top billionaire, the second becomes the youngest master of traditional Chinese medicine in Huaguo, and the third becomes an internationally renowned fashion designer. Meanwhile, Li Tiantian's stepson and stepdaughter don't amount to anything. They turn into a pair of ingrates. Li Tiantian: ...Who can I even complain to about this? Theme: Raising successful kids in the best of times