After eating her fill at the State-Run Restaurant, Wen Nianxin planned to buy two cucumbers from the nearby Supply and Marketing Cooperative for her evening meal.
Halfway there, she suddenly stopped and stamped her foot.
“Comrade, where is the nearest post office?” she asked anxiously, rushing to the nearest pedestrian.
“Go straight along this road, turn left at the first intersection, and it’s about five hundred meters ahead.”
“Alright, I understand. Thank you very much.”
Abandoning her previous leisurely pace, Wen Nianxin hurried toward the post office. Finding herself too slow, she eventually broke into a run.
Leaning against the wall at the post office entrance, she gasped for breath, taking a while to recover.
“Hello comrade, I need to make a phone call.”
“Shall I dial for you?”
“No need, I can manage.”
Picking up the receiver and steadying the telephone, she carefully dialed each number on the rotary dial with intense concentration, holding her breath as if afraid that any mistake would require starting over.
After being connected, she successfully reached the Production Team office.
“Hello?”
“Hello, is this Wang Duizhang? This is Wen Nianxin.”
“It’s Zhou Zhan.”
Hearing the voice on the other end, Wen Nianxin, who had been about to speak, fell momentarily speechless.
An identical awkward silence fell on both ends of the line, with only their soft breathing audible.
“You…”
“I…”
“You go first.”
Zhou Zhan indicated she should speak first.
“Where’s… where’s Mom? I need to speak with her.”
“She was just called away by Aunt Wang.”
“Oh.”
Both holding their respective receivers, they simultaneously fell silent again.
“Why did you only call now? Mom has been worried about you.”
“I fell asleep at the Guest House.”
“Why didn’t you go home?”
“There is no home.”
After speaking, both were somewhat stunned.
Wen Nianxin hadn’t expected to blurt out her inner thoughts, while Zhou Zhan hadn’t anticipated such an answer, feeling an inexplicable twinge in his heart.
“Don’t misunderstand, I misspoke just now. I have some matters to attend to, so I didn’t go back.
Please tell Mom not to worry about me. I’ll return after I finish my business.”
“Will you be staying at the Guest House near the Textile Factory these days?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve bought a ticket for the day after tomorrow, arriving around the same time as you did today. When I reach Mingzhao, I’ll come find you at the Guest House. Tell me…”
“There’s no need for you to come!
I mean… that’s not what I meant… Anyway, you don’t need to come. I might return before it gets that late, so there’s no need for you to make the trip.”
Hearing her immediate and unequivocal refusal, Zhou Zhan felt somewhat dazed.
She really seemed different.
Although he had only spent one day with her before, he could clearly sense her extreme emotional instability—how easily she would fly into rages, cursing people out whenever things didn’t go her way, regardless of the situation or who she was speaking to.
“It’s no trouble. I’m on vacation anyway, and I should visit your family to pay my respects, then bring you back with me.”
Wen Nianxin thought: That makes it even more unnecessary.
She was planning to cut ties with her family—what was the point of visiting? Come watch her confront the Zheng family?
“Really, there’s no need.”
“The ticket is already purchased and can’t be refunded.”
Wen Nianxin: “……” Why did these words sound so familiar? Weren’t these exactly the excuses she had used to brush off Zhou Mu?
“Tell me your room number at the guest house. I’ll come find you as soon as I arrive.”
After hesitating, Wen Nianxin reluctantly provided the room number: “Second floor, Room 205.”
“Alright, I’ve got it. I—”
Before he could finish, Wen Nianxin on the other end had already mercilessly hung up.
She had been staring at the clock the whole time, and the moment the second hand reached fifty-five, she decisively ended the call.
A call from Mingzhao City to Donglin City was an interprovincial long-distance call, costing over one yuan per minute.
She wasn’t just making a phone call—she was spending her lifeblood! Exceeding the time limit would genuinely make her heart bleed!
Zhou Zhan, unaware of her inner turmoil, gradually tightened his grip on the receiver, his expression dazed with disbelief.
Was she really that unwilling to talk to him?
“Third Son, has Nian Xin called back?”
Zhou Mu, who had been called away earlier, came jogging back.
“Yes, she just hung up.”
“How is she? Is she alright?”
“She’s fine. She fell asleep at the guest house.”
“Did you ask her why she isn’t coming home?”
“She said she has some matters to attend to.”
From her tone, Zhou Zhan sensed that she had no intention of returning home at all.
“Mom, has she been in contact with her maternal family these past few years?”
“Never. No calls, no letters. She’s never mentioned anyone from her maternal family, and they’ve never contacted her either. It’s as if she’s an orphan.”
It was precisely for this reason that Zhou Mu had shown her a bit more tolerance, even when Wen Nianxin had previously acted out or thrown tantrums. After all, she was a pitiable soul.
Hearing Zhou Mu’s words, Zhou Zhan suddenly recalled what Wen Nianxin had said on the phone earlier: “I have no home.”
His understanding of Wen Nianxin was minimal, limited only to the contents of her political review when he filed their marriage report.
He only knew that her father had married into her mother’s family, that she carried her mother’s surname, and that her father had remarried when she was less than half a year old. Since political reviews didn’t require investigating deceased relatives, he wasn’t even entirely sure of his late mother-in-law’s full name—only that her surname was Wen.
Thinking of this, Zhou Zhan picked up the receiver again to call Fang Yan and ask if there were any earlier train tickets available.
…
After making the call, Wen Nianxin went to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and bought half a kilogram of cucumbers, half a kilogram of tomatoes, and one kilogram of apples.
When she returned to the guest house, she originally intended to give Old Ma half a kilogram of apples as a token of gratitude, but he wasn’t at the front desk, so she had to postpone the idea.
Around 6:30 p.m., Huang Cuie knocked on Wen Nianxin’s door with her daughter.
“Xiao Wen, it’s me, Auntie Huang.”
Hearing the voice, Wen Nianxin opened the door and invited them into the room.
“Auntie Huang, I’ve already prepared the transfer agreement. Please take a look to see if there are any issues. If everything is in order, once you sign it, you can proceed with the job handover at the factory.”
“Alright, let me take a look.”
Even before reading the content, Huang Cuie could tell just from the handwriting that this young woman was extraordinary—after all, handwriting reflects character.
“No issues, it’s very thorough.”
She pulled a stack of money from her inner coat pocket and handed it to Wen Nianxin, then had her daughter sign the document.
“Auntie Huang, I won’t overcharge you. The market rate is eight hundred, so eight hundred it is.”
She counted out ten “Big Unity” bills and returned them to Huang Cuie.
“This…”
“Today, it was all thanks to you taking me to see Director Zhang. Otherwise, as an outsider, how would I have known where the factory director’s office was?”
“Don’t say that, I was just helping out. Old Ma already knows the office location anyway.
You should still take this hundred yuan. After all, I promised it to you in front of the factory director.”
Wen Nianxin didn’t accept it, pushing the money back again.
“This is part of my job. If I take less money, Uncle Zhang won’t say anything about it.
But I do have an unreasonable request that I hope you can agree to.”
“Go ahead.”
“Ding Lan and the others still don’t know that I’ve sold my job position, and I’d prefer to keep it that way for now. I hope you’ll wait until after I’ve left to take over the position.”
“Don’t worry, I understand. I’ll make sure to thoroughly disgust that woman Ding Lan when the time comes!”