11
The Terrible Chemical Institute: Mom, I Want to Escape
Logically speaking, the national statutory marriage leave is only three days. So how could the original host take such a long break? Because she had accumulated a lot of overtime.
Before her obsessive love traits took over, she was entirely dedicated to her work. Right after graduation, she stayed in the laboratory every day, not even resting on Sundays. All those accumulated days off were used to extend her marriage leave.
Now that the leave was finally over, Wang Xiao’s first thought was: Why bother going to work? Just quit. A monthly salary of 64 yuan wasn’t even enough to match two days of her business earnings.
However, she had underestimated the immense reverence people in 1990 had for formal employment. Countless young men and women couldn’t find suitable jobs and were still waiting to inherit their parents’ positions in state-owned enterprises. As a university graduate officially assigned to the Chemical Research Institute—a state cadre—how could she even think of quitting to sell braised food? That was just absurd.
Chen Yidong and Qian Xuemei completely ignored her complaints. Her uncle, in particular, woke his niece up before 4 a.m. and pushed her into the car. Coincidentally, as the head of sales, he had to deliver a batch of goods to the provincial capital on behalf of the factory today, so he dropped Wang Xiao off at her workplace along the way.
And so, the unfortunate Wang Xiao, before she could even figure out how to convince her uncle’s family, found herself dumped at the gate of the Chemical Research Institute early in the morning.
Heh, she really ought to be grateful for Uncle Chen’s thoughtfulness—otherwise, she wouldn’t even know which direction the institute’s gate faced.
But now, staring at the black-lettered sign against a white background, she didn’t dare enter.
Back in her university days, a Ph.D. student from the chemistry department had an experiment blow up. Three people—both the advisor and students—were injured, and the Ph.D. student suffered severe burns all over his body. The school even organized a donation drive for him.
Since then, Wang Xiao had always taken detours to avoid chemistry laboratories, let alone step inside one.
If even professionals could have accidents, what about an amateur like her? Heh, she’d probably not just blow up the lab but the entire Chemical Research Institute.
For the sake of humanity and world peace, she knew she should firmly slack off and do nothing.
The problem was, she had been a high achiever since childhood.
Before transmigrating into the book, her parents had divorced before she even turned one, and as if by agreement, neither wanted her. Both were too busy pursuing their true loves. Only her Grandma, despite her advanced age, was willing to raise her. Others laughed at her Grandma, calling her foolish for treating a granddaughter like a treasure. Growing up being labeled a burden and an embarrassment, Wang Xiao developed an intense competitive drive, subconsciously needing to prove that her Grandma’s choice was right—that she was worth the investment.
As it turned out, her Grandma had indeed bet on the right horse. Among the third generation of both families, she was universally acknowledged as the most accomplished. Even her cousin, who was pursuing a Ph.D., admitted that Wang Xiao was more impressive. Of course, the actual top student’s exact words were: “Studying is the easiest thing in the world. Making money is the hardest.”
In short, telling her to strive? No problem. Telling her to slack off? She’d rather be stabbed.
She felt miserable. Every bone in her body ached with discomfort. She couldn’t bear wasting precious time by slacking off.
As the unfortunate Wang Xiao stood hesitating at the gate, two female employees in their forties happened to enter. Seeing her standing there dumbfounded and motionless, they looked at her suspiciously and asked, “Xiao Wang, why aren’t you going in?”
Wang Xiao had no choice but to make up an excuse on the spot: “I saw you two teachers from afar, so I waited.”
The female staff member with a Lang Ping-style haircut immediately beamed, reaching out to link arms with her. “You’re so thoughtful. Have you had breakfast at home? Sister Miao steamed some shaomai, let me get you two to take with you.”
Wang Xiao quickly declined the offer. “No, no, Sister Miao, I ate a full breakfast this morning.”
She had gulped down a cup of milk powder and two eggs right after waking up, and her bag was stuffed with a lunchbox of guotie made by Qian Xuemei, smelling delicious enough to cover her lunch worries too.
Sister Miao didn’t press further, continuing to walk arm-in-arm with Wang Xiao. They strolled along the tree-lined path until they were about to turn left, when another older woman with a cockscomb perm spoke up: “Hey, hey, Teacher Miao, the logistics warehouse is over there. Stop dragging Xiao Wang along!”
Wang Xiao was baffled. The logistics warehouse? What would she do there?
Before she could say anything, Sister Miao’s face fell. “Why would she go to the logistics warehouse? Is that any place for her? Nonsense!”
Turning back to Wang Xiao, her expression softened again. “Xiao Wang, let me ask you—what are your plans for the future?”
Wang Xiao was utterly confused. Plans? Right now, her only plan was figuring out how to escape the Chemical Research Institute.
But as someone who had lived through an era of national pressure to marry and have children, when society seemed to wish female college students would skip studying and hurry off to bear children, every cell in her body instinctively screamed caution whenever an older auntie started steering conversations toward future aspirations. She immediately emphasized, “I don’t have any plans. I just want to focus on doing my job well.”
“That’s the right attitude!” Sister Miao clapped her hands, beaming like a Maitreya Buddha. “At your young age, you should be dedicated to your work. Let me give you some sincere advice—you ought to have a good talk with the leadership. You’re still so young, not in any rush to get married; you should be striving in your career. Why did you drop the AC foaming agent project? You were doing so well initially, and now’s the time to see results—how can you just let it go?”
In 1990, nothing stayed secret. All their colleagues at the institute knew that Wang Xiao had fled her own wedding half a month ago.
When Sister Miao, as one of the institute’s representatives, had arrived at the wedding venue only to find out Wang Xiao had run off, she’d nearly laughed herself silly.
In the eyes of Technician Miao, who had devoted over twenty years to the chemical industry, the idea of a young person rushing into marriage to become a stepmother was sheer madness. One’s beautiful youth ought to be dedicated to the great cause of chemistry.
Wang Xiao listened in a daze: What on earth was this AC foaming agent? It might know me, but I sure don’t know it.
Before she could voice her thoughts, Sister Miao had already waved to a middle-aged man with a receding hairline up ahead. “Director Xiao, perfect timing! Xiao Wang wants to discuss her work arrangements with you. She’s a top graduate from the provincial university’s chemistry department, after all—always first in exams, winning scholarships every year. She ought to shine and contribute here at our institute. She’s still so young; it’s not right for her to be sitting in a warehouse waiting for retirement, is it?”
Director Xiao had spotted Wang Xiao earlier but had been deliberately keeping his head down and walking briskly to avoid crossing paths.
Back when this batch of new recruits first joined the institute, both Wang Xiao and his nephew had been assigned under him. Whether in terms of individual capability or work ethic, Wang Xiao was clearly the one who deserved to be groomed as a key talent.
In fact, during her three-month internship, her performance in the AC foaming agent project team had been remarkable, even proposing a new approach that significantly accelerated the project’s progress. Initially, the institute had assumed the project would drag on until year-end, but it had now entered the final stages, with the paper nearly completed.
At that time, Director Xiao was genuinely anxious—his nephew was utterly hopeless.
He had gone to great lengths to secure a sponsored student slot for the guy to get him into university, but who knew how he had muddled through his college years? His diploma was likely obtained through cheating.
Once at the research institute, the good-for-nothing proved completely incompetent, causing nothing but trouble while assisting Wang Xiao.
With the three-month internship ending and positions being finalized, Director Xiao was racking his brains on how to slot his nephew into the project team. Only by riding the project’s coattails to co-author a paper could his nephew qualify for promotions and advance further.
Unfortunately, none of the core team members were willing to take his nephew, fearing the troublemaker would hinder progress.
Just as Director Xiao was despairing, an unexpected blessing fell from the sky.
Wang Xiao, after all, was a woman—even after university, she understood that a woman’s place was in supporting her husband and raising children. She proactively approached him, explaining that she wished to focus on family life and could no longer handle research work requiring frequent overtime and experiment monitoring. She hoped leadership would make appropriate arrangements.
How could Director Xiao refuse? He immediately reassigned her to be a warehouse keeper—a nine-to-five job where she could even breastfeed her child behind closed doors without anyone bothering her.
He wholeheartedly supported Wang Xiao’s marriage.
It was a pity that when Wang Xiao fled the wedding, their institute arrived too late—she had already escaped. Had he been there, he would have blocked the door with his own body, refusing to let her leave.
After all, once a woman abandons marriage, it’s like flipping a switch—there’s no telling what she might do next.
Just look at now: no sooner had she fled the wedding than she demanded a position change.
Director Xiao had to resort to bureaucratic rhetoric: “Positions are already finalized. Everyone has their responsibilities—we can’t have comrades switching roles on a whim. If you change positions, who will handle warehouse duties? Comrade, we can’t indulge bourgeois liberalism or individual heroism. We must prioritize collective honor. At our Chemical Engineering Institute, every person is a brick in the revolution—we go where we’re needed.”
Sister Miao wasn’t about to let Director Xiao off the hook, confronting him directly: “But we should consider whether the brick is properly placed, whether it can be useful, or if it’ll just hold everyone back!”
A long-haired woman with a low ponytail pulled Sister Miao aside, whispering urgently: “Why provoke him? You know how he got into university during the Worker-Peasant-Soldier program—as a ‘shock worker’! Even Little Wang isn’t speaking up.”
But Sister Miao stood her ground: “Precisely because she’s timid that I must speak for her. Look how few women remain in research roles at our institute—when our generation retires, there’ll be a complete gap. What’s a research institute without research? Abandoning your specialty for comfort now will ruin your future. These men would love nothing more than for all women to become useless so they can take complete control.”
The long-haired woman could only sigh as Sister Miao defiantly grabbed Wang Xiao’s arm and marched them toward the laboratory.
I swear to heaven, Wang Xiao really didn’t intentionally stay put waiting to be taken hostage – she genuinely had no idea which direction the logistics warehouse door opened. Otherwise she would’ve run off long ago.
The logistics warehouse was great, the logistics warehouse was currently the safest shelter available.
Unfortunately the opportunity was lost. Sister Miao, with an “one warrior holds the pass against ten thousand” momentum, escorted Wang Xiao to the laboratory building and sneered while looking back at Director Xiao: “This isn’t the kind of assistant our team requested. Look, she doesn’t even clean the laboratory at night.”
A young man in his twenties with slicked-back hair suddenly appeared from somewhere. He hurried into the laboratory and began frantically organizing the experiment table and washing test tubes.
Director Xiao immediately put on a show of scolding him: “I told you to sleep early at night, don’t read too late. Look, next time come earlier.”
Sister Miao sneered: “Him reading? I’d like to know whether he’s reading Jin Yong or Gu Long’s martial arts novels.”
Just as Wang Xiao was figuring out how to find an excuse to play dead on the spot rather than step forward to help without being killed by Sister Miao’s glare, a “BANG” suddenly sounded in the laboratory. Whether it was a test tube or some other glassware that exploded, glass fragments flew everywhere anyway.
Her gasp of surprise turned directly into a scream.
Because the flying glass shards had pierced the arm of the guy washing the experimental equipment – this probably cut an artery, as blood instantly sprayed up to the ceiling.
Wang Xiao plopped down onto the floor.
Oh my god, this is too terrifying. She’d rather die than enter a laboratory.