Shen Zhiyao explained everything so reasonably that Zhao Fengying, an emotional woman at heart, rested her hand on the back of Shen Zhiyao’s hand, holding back tears. ”Good, what a good girl! I’m so glad you’ve come around!”
How could Zhao Fengying not know what the Qin family was planning?
They probably wanted Shen Zhiyao to hand over her job to Qin Xiaohui for nothing.
But she knew just how hard it had been for Shen Zhiyao to land this job.
She also knew why Shen Zhiyao had come to see her.
She worked at the Women’s Office. If Jiang Ailian wanted to make a scene, weighing the lesser of two evils, she wouldn’t dare raise trouble with her.
What’s more, her own daughter happened to need this job.
She wasn’t stealing or robbing anyone—Zhiyao herself had offered to sell the job to her.
“Zhiyao, are you sure about this? No regrets?”
“No regrets.” Shen Zhiyao held Zhao Fengying’s hand in return. ”Auntie, let me be completely honest with you. It’s true that I’m selling it to you because you’re a leader and won’t be afraid of trouble. But there’s another reason—Qian Fang was my elementary school classmate, and after Qin Xiaohui came back, when I was being stubborn and unreasonable, you were the only one who kept coming to visit me and talk sense into me.”
These words moved Zhao Fengying to tears.
“All right, then let me calculate a fair price for you—I promise I won’t shortchange you.”
Zhao Fengying took out an abacus and started working the beads. “Zhiyao, the going rate these days is two to three years’ salary. Your monthly wage is 45 yuan, so three years comes to 1,620 yuan.”
“The cotton mill has great benefits. On holidays they hand out food and New Year goods—pastries, biscuits, jingguo sweets, cooking oil, seasonings, packaged foods, plus cotton cloth, cotton yarn, face cream, enamel basins, toilet paper, and so on. They even give out extra meal vouchers and canteen tickets at New Year. That adds up to over 200 yuan a year in benefits, so I’ll round it up to 300 for you—900 yuan for three years.”
“That brings the total to 2,520 yuan.”
“And Zhiyao, on top of that, Auntie will throw in some national grain coupons and oil coupons as a farewell gift.”
Following her memories, Shen Zhiyao knew Zhao Fengying was an honest, straightforward woman who would spare her any haggling, so she nodded right away. “Thank you, Auntie.”
“Then I’ll get started on this right away.”
Zhao Fengying was thrilled. Good things truly came in pairs today—Zhiyao had come around, and her daughter would have a job too.
Shen Zhiyao pressed her lips together. “Auntie, there’s one more thing. Since I’m leaving, I’ll need certificates and such to buy train tickets.”
Zhao Fengying was quick and efficient, waving her hand briskly. “Oh, that’s nothing! Auntie will handle it for you!”
Aside from the job matter, Zhao Fengying didn’t feel she’d acted entirely honorably.
But hadn’t the Qin family always said they despised this adopted daughter, that she clung to them like a stubborn plaster?
They kept telling her to get lost.
If she helped Zhiyao arrange her departure, that would count as one good deed offsetting one fault.
The Qin family might even thank her for it.
Having accomplished so many big things in one go, Shen Zhiyao quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
This country was still a society of personal connections.
A higher rank crushed people—one rank above you and you had no say. With a leader’s help, things got done, and far faster than if she’d done it herself.
Zhao Fengying’s eyes shone as she said, beaming, “Zhiyao, wherever you go from now on, you’ll shine. Auntie wishes you a road that grows ever wider and a life that grows ever more prosperous!”
Shen Zhiyao nodded and smiled, suddenly beginning to look forward to her island life.
A few days later.
The Qin family home.
“Shen Zhiyao!” Qin Hao had only shouted once before his body suddenly spasmed with pain, and he quickly lowered his voice guiltily. “Shen Zhiyao!”
Who knew what kind of dark arts this Shen Zhiyao had learned? Even getting injections in his backside had never hurt this much!
But no matter how many times he shouted, there was no response—the room was empty.
He could only clutch his growling stomach and waddle toward his parents’ bedroom with his fat body swaying. “Mom, Mom, look, Shen Zhiyao’s run off somewhere again and isn’t making dinner!”
His tone was so full of complaints it was about to overflow.
Jiang Ailian was rubbing Yashuang face cream in front of the mirror, warming it in her palm and pressing it in bit by bit—not sparing her face, her neck, or even her chest.
Without turning her head, she said, “Son, go find your sister and have her make dinner first. Mom’s busy. Be good.”
His sister?
Qin Hao’s eyes rolled. That could only mean Qin Xiaohui.
Left with no choice, Qin Xiaohui had to go to the communal kitchen. Though she looked down on Qin Hao in her heart, she also understood that she hadn’t secured her job yet—her footing was unsteady, so she had to stay on his good side.
On the way to the communal kitchen, neighbors greeted her along the way.
“Xiaohui, going to cook?”
Qin Xiaohui carried a bamboo basket under her arm and smiled brightly. “Yes, Auntie, hello there.”
“That’s right, my parents and my little brother work so hard, I’m going to cook for them. Anyway, back in that other family, I was always the one cooking. I’m used to it.”
Though she was gritting her back teeth, she could only greet everyone with a smiling face, speaking in a soft, delicate voice, wrapping her pretty words up neatly, watertight and flawless.
But to the neighbors, it only looked like this poor child had suffered.
That Qin Cheng and Jiang Ailian had it rough was possible, but Qin Hao—that lazy glutton—how could he have suffered at all?
“I say this child is just hardworking. Zhiyao has fair, tender skin—she’s a child who came back from the countryside with rough skin and thick flesh. One look and you can tell she’s more suited to hardship than Zhiyao.”
Qin Xiaohui rolled her eyes in secret. Was that a compliment or an insult?
When she reached the kitchen, she started from lighting the honeycomb briquettes, lugging the heavy coal stove, then getting the fire going to cook.
That was what she’d said, anyway.
The truth was, back in that island home, she had barely ever cooked.
Her adoptive parents had only taught her to have basic self-care skills, but as long as they were around, they never made her cook.
Besides her adoptive parents, the family’s two older brothers and one younger brother all doted on her. Though it was probably also because they felt guilty—she was the only girl in the family, a burden they’d saddled her with—and that was why they never let her cook?
If it weren’t for city life, a city household registration, and a brighter future, why would she ever have come here to suffer like this?
The firelight lit up Qin Xiaohui’s resentful face.
Her cheeks were puffed out, her eyes full of bitterness.
All the tasks that should have been Shen Zhiyao’s, she had done instead.
When Shen Zhiyao came back, she had to put on a wronged, aggrieved act and get their parents to give her a harsh scolding!
However…
As the sun sank low in the west and dinnertime arrived, Shen Zhiyao still hadn’t come back.
Qin Hao didn’t care in the slightest. “If she’s not home, she must have gone off clinging to Wen Shaobin. Dad, go look for her at the Wen family’s place.”
“Fine—it’ll save her from embarrassing herself out there!”
Over half an hour later, when Qin Cheng pushed the door open and came home, Jiang Ailian and Qin Xiaohui were talking in the room.
“That job is definitely yours, Xiaohui.”
“Model Worker Chen Ailan knows Shen Zhiyao well. Once you go there, she’ll be sure to look after you and teach you how things are done. Don’t worry.”
Hearing Jiang Ailian’s words, Qin Xiaohui felt delighted inside.
Once she got the job, she would be someone with a proper job in the city—and not just any job, but one at the cotton mill with excellent benefits. She would no longer be a country bumpkin on that island, living at the mercy of the weather and luck.
She longed for a stable life.
As for marriage, she would start with Wen Shaobin.
Wen Shaobin was her starting point, not her destination.
“Bang—” As the door pushed open, Qin Cheng, without greeting anyone, plopped down on the sofa with a livid face.
He sat right in the middle, and Qin Hao could only be squeezed stiffly into the corner, his big chubby face scrunched up in grievance. “Dad, you’re squishing me…”
But all he got in return was Qin Cheng’s fierce bellow, “Shut up!”
Qin Hao’s lips quivered.
Jiang Ailian lovingly pulled her nineteen-year-old eldest son into her arms. “What did the poor boy do to deserve you snapping at him like that?”
Then she looked around, puzzled. “I sent you to find her—where’s Shen Zhiyao?”