Lin Wan had a sudden impulse to ask, to ask Fu Xiuhuai about what had happened in the past year, but the words reached her lips and she could not bring herself to say them.
She did not quite trust this man.
She even had a faint premonition that even if she asked him, she might not be able to get a truthful answer.
Silently accepting the passbook and household cash, Lin Wan put away the money she had saved in the past along with the wages she had received over these three months. Only after confirming once again that Fu Xiuhuai had never given Lin Guofu money did she feel at ease.
However, the next day when she returned to the garment factory, Chen Qiuhong came looking for Lin Wan again.
The workers in the factory office all knew that the newly arrived university student Lin Wan had an uncle and aunt in the factory—Lin Guofu in Workshop One and Chen Qiuhong in Workshop Two.
The couple had been at the garment factory for over twenty years, having endured nine years before converting from temporary workers to regular workers, and later queued up until they obtained factory-assigned housing.
On Lin Wan’s first day at work, Lin Guofu and Chen Qiuhong came to reminisce, making sure the entire factory office knew.
Seeing her birth mother again, Lin Wan did not show much emotion. After all, she had been placed in the countryside from birth and had lived with her uncle’s family.
At that time, Lin Guofu and Chen Qiuhong were still temporary workers at the garment factory and could not get housing, so they could only live in crowded staff dormitories and simply could not bring a child along.
Lin Wan understood the family’s circumstances and had never resented her parents. She only firmly remembered that when her parents occasionally returned to the countryside to visit relatives, they mentioned that once they converted to regular workers and queued for registration, they would be allocated a tube-shaped apartment, and then they would bring her over.
Unfortunately, things did not go as wished.
When Lin Wan was nine years old, her parents finally obtained a thirty-square-meter two-bedroom apartment. That very year, Lin Wan thought she would be able to return to the city and live with her parents, but Chen Qiuhong discovered she was unexpectedly pregnant with a second child.
However, that year the country was vigorously carrying out family planning, and workers at state-owned factories were also on the key watch list. Having another child would definitely mean losing their jobs.
Lin Guofu and Chen Qiuhong struggled for a long time, and with the family elders convinced that this pregnancy was a boy, they chose to transfer Lin Wan to the household of Lin Guofu’s own older brother, telling the factory only that their first child was gone. In this way, having another child seemed entirely reasonable.
Lin Wan hazily discovered that her uncle and aunt had become her father and mother, while her original parents had become her uncle and aunt. She could not return to the city anymore; there was no longer a place for her in the family.
From birth until the end of the college entrance examination, Lin Wan always lived in the countryside, until she entered the city at eighteen to report to Jiangcheng University.
The number of times she met her biological parents could be counted completely. Now, seeing her birth mother Chen Qiuhong and hearing her mention going home for a meal, Lin Wan did not have much interest.
“Xiao Wan.” Chen Qiuhong was considered tall among the women, thin and frail in build, but strong in her hands. She could do work in the factory too, speaking and acting briskly, not skilled at beating around the bush. “Xiaohao just started middle school, and his grades are not very good. As his older sister, help him more. When he also gets into Jiangcheng University, our family will have face too.”
Lin Wan truly had no interest in caring about the studies of that idle younger brother. Just as she was about to refuse, she suddenly thought of something, and the words at her lips took a turn: “All right, after work I’ll go take a look.”
“Hey, that’s settled then!” Chen Qiuhong beamed with joy, feeling that her daughter had married a wealthy husband but had not forgotten her roots. She was delighted. “Mom will make you something good, your favorite braised fish.”
Lin Guofu and Chen Qiuhong’s home was in the garment factory family compound, only seven or eight minutes’ walk from the factory.
What had once been a sought-after tube-shaped apartment had now weathered the years, its walls mottled. Where was the impressive appearance that everyone had once yearned for when it was newly built?
The Lin family’s allocated thirty-square-meter two-bedroom apartment was on the third floor of the tube-shaped building. The ring-shaped long corridor was densely packed with households. It was mealtime, and Lin Wan moved through the cooking smoke and stove fires, listening to the sizzle of lard melting in the pan, the clatter of spatula against iron wok as food was stir-fried, wave after wave of food aromas filling the air—lively indeed.
“Xiao Wan, see what your mom made for you.” Closing the door, Lin Guofu did not stint in trying to draw closer to his biological daughter.
Lin Wan glanced at the table full of dishes comparable to a New Year feast, but when she smelled the braised fish, she frowned slightly, her stomach feeling a little uncomfortable.
“Xiaohao, quickly call your sister.” Lin Guofu called out to his son, who was playing cards, and then hurriedly sat down in the seat of honor.
Over the course of the meal, Lin Wan did not eat much. Especially when Lin Guofu and Chen Qiuhong again brought up Fu Xiuhuai and again brought up having her tutor Lin Chenghao, she directly put down her chopsticks, making the two of them look at her.
“Xiao Wan, what’s wrong?”
“The smell of fish makes me feel uncomfortable.”
Lin Wan knew that in the past her words had carried no weight, but now it was different. With one light sentence, Lin Guofu unexpectedly disregarded Lin Chenghao’s objections and had the braised fish removed.
“Then eat other dishes.” Chen Qiuhong placed a piece of stir-fried pork into Lin Wan’s bowl.
Lin Wan had thought that with a child in her belly, her appetite was good at every meal. She had not expected that today, here, she would find it somewhat hard to swallow. She only tasted a little lightly and then lost her appetite.
After the meal, when faced with Lin Guofu still not giving up on the idea of getting money from Fu Xiuhuai, Lin Wan seemingly casually brought up the matter from a year ago.
Lin Guofu put on the full airs of a father-in-law: “This Fu Xiuhuai is also a big boss, letting you go back to your maiden home for a meal alone, and he doesn’t even know to show some gesture.”
Lin Wan said coolly: “His proper father-in-law is in Lincun Village. When was it ever at the garment factory?”
Lin Guofu was choked by his daughter’s words, but still muttered: “It’s not like he doesn’t know that we are your real father and mother…”
Had Fu Xiuhuai really learned of her background? Lin Wan lowered her eyelashes and remained silent.
Chen Qiuhong pulled Lin Wan over, her tone much gentler: “Look at you. You were clearly dating that Fu… Fu Mingjun, and then you turned around and married his uncle. If outsiders really found out, how ugly would it sound? Fortunately, this Fu Mingjun’s uncle still has some ability. Marrying over there is not too much of a loss for you.”
“Then why didn’t you try to advise me at the time?” Lin Wan tentatively spoke.
“What would we advise?” Lin Guofu waved his hand broadly. “Fu Xiuhuai is much more capable than that young pup Fu Mingjun. If you ask me, marrying Fu Xiuhuai was the right choice.”
Lin Wan exchanged a few perfunctory words with the two, then found an excuse and immediately left. Only, as she was leaving, she specifically named Lin Chenghao to see her off.
Even the unwilling Lin Chenghao was hauled up by Lin Guofu and driven out the door: “Build a better relationship with your sister, and don’t forget who your brother-in-law is!”
Lin Chenghao, no matter how foolish, could still understand his parents’ intentions. He immediately followed closely behind Lin Wan, incessantly asking about Fu Xiuhuai.
“Sis, I heard brother-in-law only drives cars worth over a hundred thousand. Is that true?”
“The villa you two live in must be huge, right? I’d like to go see it sometime.”
Lin Wan paused in her steps and looked at Lin Chenghao with suspicion. He had actually never been to the Fu family villa?
Based on her understanding of Lin Guofu’s family of three, when she got married, they would certainly have tried every possible means to cozy up to the Fu family. Never mind touring the villa—even sitting in Fu Xiuhuai’s luxury car would have been within their reach.
“You’ve never been to Cuihu Villa?” Lin Wan knew this thirteen-year-old younger brother had the simplest mind, and questioning him was the safest.
“Tch.” Mentioning this matter made Lin Chenghao angry. “Brother-in-law is incredibly stingy. He wouldn’t even let us go when you two got married, and wouldn’t let us go to the villa either. Instead, he was quite polite to Uncle’s family. I was so mad I almost didn’t want to acknowledge this brother-in-law! Brother-in-law is really muddled. Doesn’t he think about who is actually closest to you?”
Lin Wan’s eyes lit up. Fu Xiuhuai handled things in such a gratifying way?
“Who’s closer?” Lin Wan looked at Lin Chenghao, her gaze firm. “Of course, the one on the same household registration book is closer.”
She had long since been transferred by adoption and was no longer on Lin Guofu’s household registration book.
Coming out of the garment factory family compound, relying on the intermittent information from the Lin family’s side, Lin Wan could roughly see that Lin Guofu and the others also did not know why she had married Fu Xiuhuai.
However, learning that Fu Xiuhuai had ruthlessly shut Lin Guofu’s family of three out of the door surprised Lin Wan somewhat and also delighted her.
It seemed that in the past year she could not remember, she probably had not suffered any grievances.
If Fu Xiuhuai had been manipulated by them Lin Wan would feel uncomfortable even now thinking about it.
When she reached the garment factory gate, Lin Wan, who was in a good mood, was about to go to a noodle stall near the factory to fill her stomach, when she heard the gatekeeper uncle call out to her.
“Xiao Lin, there’s a letter and a package for you.”
“Thank you, Uncle Wei.” Lin Wan took the things and looked. They were sent by her adoptive parents in Lincun Village, that is, Lin Wan’s real uncle’s family.
Back then, to make room for Lin Chenghao in Chen Qiuhong’s belly, Lin Wan had been transferred by adoption to her uncle Lin Guosheng and became his family’s third daughter. Her former cousins suddenly became her nominal full brothers and sisters, and Lin Wan felt somewhat dazed.
Now many years had passed, and Lin Wan was long accustomed to it. She felt through the cloth bag and guessed that the package contained local specialties sent by her adoptive parents: home-dried radish strips, smoked sausages and cured meat, salted duck eggs…
The family letter was written on behalf of her second sister, who had gone to work at the town sugar factory after graduating middle school. The letter was full of her adoptive parents’ reminders, telling Lin Wan not to send money and things home, to take good care of herself, and to come back to visit when she had time.
Lin Wan was not sure what she had sent home in the past year, but she understood herself. After receiving her wages, she definitely would have remitted some money and bought some good things to send back.
After sorting out the current situation in a while, taking advantage of her adoptive mother’s birthday, she really should find time to go home once.
After packing up the package and letter, Lin Wan walked to an alley a few hundred meters outside the garment factory. Smelling the enticing aroma of noodles, she sat down at a simple dining table set up by the roadside stall: “Boss, two liang of beef noodles, with chili, and more lettuce leaves.”
In recent years, there were more and more vendors doing business on the streets and in the alleys. This kind of two-liang noodles with an egg,
“All right.” The noodle stall owner was cooking noodles in front of the steaming pot. Before long, the white noodles, thin and long, coiled and swirled into a sea-bowl-sized noodle bowl. Spoonful after spoonful of boiling noodle soup was poured into the bowl, stimulating the soy sauce and chili oil at the bottom to bloom into a fragrant, spicy red.
White noodles coiled atop the red soup base, a handful of fresh lettuce leaves fished in, and finally a spoonful of beef topping, sprinkled with emerald-green chopped scallions. It made Lin Wan’s appetite surge.
With a greatly increased appetite, Lin Wan ate the fragrant noodles. It was just that the owner was honest, and the portion of noodles was generous. She estimated it was more than two liang, plus the soft beef tendon and abundant vegetable leaves, almost stuffing her belly—which already had a slight outline—round and bulging.
The food she had eaten at Lin Guofu’s house still occupied space after all. Looking at the remaining third of the noodles, Lin Wan felt somewhat troubled.
Wasting food is shameful…
After resting a little, Lin Wan was about to go nearby to buy a bottle of coconut juice and then continue the battle. Just as she was about to get up, she saw a tall figure suddenly sit down across from the small dining table.
Following that was a bottle of 119 coconut juice placed in front of her.
The glass bottle cap of the coconut juice had been opened, giving off a faint fragrance that made the somewhat thirsty Lin Wan eye it enviously.
“Why are you here?” Lin Wan was stunned for a moment, then changed her wording. “How did you know I was here?”
Fu Xiuhuai, dressed in a Zhongshan suit, pointed to Lin Wan’s noodle bowl at the owner and ordered the same, then turned back to answer Lin Wan: “Aren’t you fondest of this noodle stall near the garment factory?”
Hearing this, Lin Wan was stunned again, thinking to herself, he knows quite a lot.
While waiting for the noodles, Fu Xiuhuai pushed the coconut juice toward Lin Wan. Seeing her finally holding the bottle and drinking freely, he reminded: “Drink slower, don’t choke.”
“Mm.” Lin Wan’s dryness and heat were soothed by the delicious coconut juice. In the blink of an eye, she saw the man across from her take away her noodle bowl.
Lin Wan, who indeed could not quite eat anymore, watched helplessly as the man directly lowered his head and finished off her remaining noodles. Her fair face immediately turned bright red.
These past days, she had never treated the two of them as an intimate married couple, and Fu Xiuhuai had also been proper and well-behaved, without any overstepping actions… until this moment…
“Didn’t you order a bowl of noodles?” Lin Wan said softly.
Fu Xiuhuai ate the noodles elegantly, not appearing to wolf them down. Hearing this, he only raised his head and glanced at his wife: “Wasting food is not good. Besides, this is not the first time I’ve eaten what you left.”
Lin Wan silently turned her head away, watching the customers coming and going. Perhaps it was too hot, for her cheeks were slightly red.