Over at the Lin household, Lin Fengmian was making a fuss about going to the county town.
Zhou Xiaomei regretted mentioning Shen Qingqing in front of her sister-in-law. If she’d known, she wouldn’t have said anything.
Sure enough, now that the other woman had gone to the county town, she wanted to go too.
Wasn’t this just asking for trouble?
Zhou Xiaomei forced herself to stay patient and said helplessly, “I still have to go to work in a bit. If you go to the county town, no one will watch Xiaobao.”
“My brother’s on leave. Let him watch him.”
Zhou Xiaomei’s eyes darted around. “Why don’t you go tomorrow instead? Then I’ll give you ten yuan, and you can buy whatever you want.”
If her sister-in-law went to the county town tomorrow, it would conveniently avoid any chance of running into Shen Qingqing—two birds with one stone!
Ten yuan was almost half a month’s salary for many people.
Lin Fengmian was tempted for a moment.
But she still shook her head. “I want to go today.”
Zhou Xiaomei was about to get a headache. “You don’t have anything urgent. Why do you have to go to the county town today?”
“How do I not have anything urgent?”
Going to meet Shen Qingqing head-on—wasn’t that the most urgent thing of all?
She needed to see for herself what was so great about this woman that she’d managed to trick Brother Jiang into marrying her.
Brother Jiang didn’t come back to his hometown to visit family, probably because he had a wife like this at home and didn’t want to see her.
Lin Fengmian thought to herself, she was just going to have a little showdown with Shen Qingqing.
It wasn’t like she was going to seduce Brother Jiang or do anything to tear their marriage apart.
So she wasn’t in the wrong.
There was no need to feel guilty!
One look at her sister-in-law’s expression, and Zhou Xiaomei knew exactly what she was thinking.
She firmly refused to let her go cause trouble.
“That’s their business as a married couple. Why are you butting in? If you stir things up so much that they end up divorced, people’s gossip will drown you alive.”
Lin Fengmian stiffened her neck. “When did I ever say I was going to meddle in their affairs? Shen Qingqing came to the compound—does that mean she’s not supposed to interact with anyone? Is saying two words to her some kind of unforgivable offense?”
Zhou Xiaomei knew how unreasonable her sister-in-law could get when she was being stubborn.
If she let her go see Comrade Shen, she’d probably just find ways to make snide remarks and cause trouble.
That was Jiang Zhixun’s wife, and they’d definitely be seeing each other often in the future.
If they burned bridges, how would everyone get along?
Besides, her sister-in-law’s intentions were too obvious. If she was at odds with Shen Qingqing, outsiders would think she had no shame and was trying to steal Shen Qingqing’s man.
Then how would she ever go on blind dates?
How would she ever get married?
“If you’d never had any designs on Jiang Zhixun, I wouldn’t interfere with you befriending Comrade Shen, as long as she’s willing. But go look at yourself in the mirror—the moment anyone mentions Comrade Shen, you’re grinding your teeth. Anyone who didn’t know better would think she’d done something terrible to you.”
Lin Fengmian felt her sister-in-law was siding with an outsider.
Her tone grew sharper. “Who does she think she is? Do I have to like her?”
Zhou Xiaomei was momentarily choked.
She said flatly, “Nobody said you have to like her. Just treat her with a normal attitude. Don’t be like a firecracker ready to explode at the slightest spark.”
Lin Fengmian snorted. “I just hate Shen Qingqing. She dresses up all flashy and fancy—clearly not a good woman who knows how to be frugal and thrifty. I just can’t stand her ways. It has nothing to do with anyone else.”
Zhou Xiaomei pressed her temples.
Her sister-in-law already harbored hostility toward Comrade Shen, and now she was saying she wasn’t frugal or thrifty.
This was clearly prejudice.
No matter how good Comrade Shen was, under this kind of bias, her sister-in-law would never see her good qualities!
Besides, she was spending her own money. Who was an outsider to point fingers?
Zhou Xiaomei felt that if she kept talking, her sister-in-law would make her so angry she’d spit blood.
She didn’t want to argue with her anymore. She grabbed her bag and headed out.
“I’m going to work now. You watch Xiaobao. When your brother gets back, you can talk to him yourself. If he agrees to let you go to the county town, then you can go.”
Lin Zhidong was her sister-in-law’s own brother. Whatever the issue was, let the siblings sort it out themselves.
Zhou Xiaomei didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
But Lin Fengmian didn’t give her a chance to leave first.
She shoved the baby directly into Zhou Xiaomei’s arms.
“Take care of your own child. And I’m already twenty years old—if I want to go out, I don’t need my brother’s permission.”
“We invited you here to help take care of the baby! I need to go to work right now. Why are you still making a fuss?”
Lin Fengmian hesitated for a moment. “Even babysitters get days off. I’m going to the county town today!”
With that, she went back into the room, slung her army-green canvas shoulder bag over her back, grabbed her saved-up private money and ration tickets, and hurried out the door.
No matter how much Zhou Xiaomei called after her, Lin Fengmian didn’t look back.
Lin Zhidong hadn’t even reached home when he saw his wife standing downstairs holding the baby, looking anxious.
“Why haven’t you gone to the art troupe yet at this hour?”
Zhou Xiaomei shoved the baby into his arms irritably. “It’s your sister! She’s thrown in the towel and quit.”
Lin Zhidong looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“She heard Comrade Shen went to the county town, so she chased after her.”
Honestly, there were many times Zhou Xiaomei truly couldn’t understand her sister-in-law’s thinking.
Shen Qingqing hadn’t provoked her at all. Even if she liked Jiang Zhixun, she had no business going after his wife.
She should be thanking her lucky stars that Comrade Shen hadn’t come to warn Xiaomian off.
Instead, she was running over to stir up trouble right in front of her!
Lin Zhidong held his son, opened his mouth, and didn’t know what to say.
Finally, he said seriously, “If she dares to make a mistake, I’ll send her back to our hometown immediately.”
Zhou Xiaomei didn’t want her sister-in-law sent back to the countryside.
You couldn’t be too careful with childcare. Although her sister-in-law was mischievous, she had been taking care of the child ever since he was a month old.
The baby had never been bumped or scraped, and she kept him clean and tidy every day.
On that matter, Zhou Xiaomei was satisfied.
“Let’s see how things go first. She’s not stupid; she shouldn’t do anything to break up someone else’s relationship.”
Matters of personal conduct were taken seriously.
Interfering in someone else’s relationship would have serious consequences.
Lin Zhidong thought to himself that Lin Fengmian might not break up anyone’s relationship, but she would find all sorts of ways to pick on Comrade Shen.
If Comrade Shen felt upset and didn’t want to stay here, Old Jiang would end up separated from his wife again.
Their relationship already seemed terrible.
If they kept living apart like this, there would definitely be big problems.
Wouldn’t Xiaomian then become the culprit?
He first let his wife go to work. “I’ll take Xiaobao to catch up with her.”
“Alright, hurry up. There’s still time.”
Lin Zhidong nodded. “She insists on going to the county town, so I’ll take her there. We can also buy some ingredients while we’re at it, to entertain the guests tomorrow.”
Zhou Xiaomei was in a hurry to get to work and couldn’t worry about too much.
Anyway, with Lin Zhidong around, his sister shouldn’t cause any major trouble.
She kissed her son’s chubby cheek and went off to work.
Lin Fengmian went to catch the bus and unexpectedly ran into Jiang Zhixun.
A bright smile spread across her face, and she instinctively wanted to cling to him and chat.
But remembering that Jiang Zhixun was a married man, she had to forcibly suppress the urge to get close to him.
Lin Fengmian told herself that she hated Shen Qingqing, not because of Brother Jiang.
She just couldn’t stand Shen Qingqing’s behavior.
She had no intention of breaking them up!
Lin Fengmian didn’t speak to Jiang Zhixun and deliberately sat far away from him, to prove her innocence.
When Jiang Zhixun saw Lin Fengmian, he merely lifted his eyelids.
She was Lin Zhidong’s biological sister, and whenever they met, she always pestered him to talk.
Out of respect for his friend, he would respond with a few words.
If she didn’t come to talk to him, it didn’t affect him either way.
Lin Zhidong was about to take his son out, but unexpectedly, right before leaving, the kid peed all over him.
By the time he cleaned up, it was already too late to catch up with Lin Fengmian.