Today was destined to be an eventful morning.
When Bei Qinghuan returned from grocery shopping, she ran into another acquaintance at the Factory Main Gate.
Liu Fang was leaning against his bicycle, opening the mailbox at the factory gate.
Bei Qinghuan gave him a casual greeting.
But Liu Fang waved at her vigorously with a mysterious air.
Bei Qinghuan walked over. “What’s up?”
Liu Fang didn’t speak, simply handing a letter to Bei Qinghuan for her to see.
In the center of the envelope’s front were the two large characters for “Tao Su.”
The address above was detailed down to the So-and-so Commune, So-and-so Brigade, and So-and-so Team, while the sender’s information below was rather brief: “Hai City, Qin Jian.”
Bei Qinghuan recognized it as Qin Zhenghua’s handwriting.
This was truly an unexpected gain.
Bei Qinghuan studied the address carefully, memorizing it, then nodded at Liu Fang. “I owe you one.”
Liu Fang scratched his head, embarrassed. “I just took it out of the mailbox. Please don’t tell anyone I showed it to you.”
“I understand.”
Bei Qinghuan pulled a shredded radish pancake from her net bag and handed it to Liu Fang. “I just happened to see you. Have a pancake.”
Liu Fang waved his hand, hesitating as if he wanted to say something. “Um… the day before yesterday, I heard a classmate say that a lot of people in the countryside have already had children… That, you, you…”
He struggled to find the right words to avoid hurting her feelings, which was quite kind of him.
Bei Qinghuan almost couldn’t resist helping him finish his sentence when a short honk sounded nearby.
A Jeep was about to enter the Factory Main Gate.
Normally, this main gate was kept closed, with pedestrians using the small side gate. The gatekeeper would only open the main gate for important vehicles.
Bei Qinghuan instinctively turned to look at the sound of the horn, but then her head snapped back to stare at the vehicle.
In the driver’s seat of the Jeep sat that dark-faced “Representative Jing.”
And in the half-open rear window, the side profile of that “orderly” was visible.
The man was wearing a full Military Service Uniform, its stiff collar propping up his long neck.
He stared straight ahead.
His features were sharply defined.
Serious and aloof.
Full of official authority.
Bei Qinghuan looked as if she had seen a ghost. “???”
Wait, what was this situation?
Who exactly was Representative Jing?
Could it be that I’ve had it wrong this whole time?
Her eyes widened, and she was so stunned she didn’t even realize she had shoved the pancake right up to Liu Fang’s mouth.
Just then, the man in the car seemed to feel her gaze and suddenly turned to look at her.
Bei Qinghuan was utterly flustered and quickly looked away.
Liu Fang was still trying to phrase his sentence. “…Anyway, we were all sent down to the countryside together. I wouldn’t do you any harm. You should really ask around some more about Qin Zhenghua.”
Bei Qinghuan quickly stuffed the pancake into his hand. “Oh, okay, thank you.”
When she turned her head again, the Jeep was already gone.
Bei Qinghuan pressed a hand to her chest.
Hey! How strange!
Why was her heart pounding?
It’s not like it was a big deal that she might have mistaken someone’s identity.
No, that wasn’t it.
Was there really such a young Military Representative?
Was there a Military Representative who would roll his eyes at people?
Was there a Military Representative who would fight with someone over Fried Fish?
Probably not!
But…
Why was he sitting in the back?
Did Representative Jing have a penchant for driving?
So was it him or not?!
Bei Qinghuan walked home in a daze.
When she reached the entrance of the Family Compound, it was the gatekeeping elder’s call of “Got sprouts?” that snapped her back to reality.
She was in no mood to banter with the elder, simply grabbing the lunch box she had left with him and running home.
Yan Guifang was hastily drinking her congee. “What did you buy? Why are you so late… What are we having for lunch… Oh, you found the lunch box?”
Bei Qinghuan couldn’t be bothered with all that. She just craned her neck and asked her mother, “Mom, that Military Representative at our factory, that Jing Xiao, about how old is he? What does he look like?”
Yan Guifang thought for a moment. “Uh… I’d say he’s at least thirty? That big beard! Hey, didn’t you see him last time you delivered the side dishes? Did you call him Uncle Jing?”
“I… I gave them to a young man, definitely not thirty… He’s quite handsome. I thought he was the orderly.”
“Oh, him. He’s Representative Jing’s orderly.”
Right! Family doesn’t lie to family.
What Mom said couldn’t be wrong.
Bei Qinghuan finally let out a long sigh of relief.
That Reversal of Heaven’s Pivot nearly scared her to death!
After Yan Guifang hurried off to work, Bei Qinghuan immediately took out a letter paper and an envelope.
First, she wrote down the address she had just seen from memory. Then she began to write the letter, and finally, she tucked the 3508 Factory Job Application Form she had just gotten yesterday inside.
On the outside of the envelope, Bei Qinghuan imitated the one she had seen that morning, also writing the two characters “Qin Jian.”
Didn’t Qin Dagang think he was so capable?
She wanted to see how the Qin family would cover up the fact that someone had gotten into the factory without selection, assessment, or identity verification.
After doing all this, Bei Qinghuan slowly began to eat her own breakfast.
Only after she finished did she put the lunch box she had gotten from Grandpa Gou in the kitchen, preparing to wash it with the other dishes.
But when she opened the lunch box, she saw it was filled to the brim with food.
There were neatly arranged Honey Three Cuts, Hawthorn Cake wrapped in a plastic bag, and the empty spaces were filled with a type of Small Sesame Cake.
Ah, this…
Bei Qinghuan turned the box over and over but saw no note.
She picked up a Small Sesame Cake and took a bite. It was crispy and fragrant, not too sweet, just right.
Delicious!
It seemed that orderly wasn’t so annoying after all.
The problem now was how to explain this to her mother.
After thinking it over and failing to come up with a suitable excuse, Bei Qinghuan simply told her mother when she came home for lunch, “Mom, I got some snacks. I can eat them at night if I get hungry while painting. You want to try some?”
Yan Guifang ate a few pieces of Honey Three Cuts and praised them endlessly. “This is good. When it comes to Honey Three Cuts, the ones from the capital and Xuzhou are the best. Where is this from?”
How would Bei Qinghuan know? “I didn’t ask.”
“Mm, delicious. Give me some more.”
As long as you don’t ask where they came from, you can have them all.
Just like that, the matter of the back-and-forth lunch box was glossed over.
Yan Guifang, however, didn’t gloss things over with Bei Qinghuan. She reported, “I asked several people, but none of them knew where Qin Zhenghua was sent to serve in the countryside. I’m afraid if I ask anyone else, Mei Sufang will come looking for me.”
Bei Qinghuan quickly waved her hand. “No need to ask anymore, I already know. From now on, let’s not do anything. Just wait. In five days at most, someone will come and make a scene on their own. I’ll make my move after they do.”
Yan Guifang was skeptical and wanted to ask more, but Bei Qinghuan wheedled her.
“Mom, this matter can’t be resolved in a day or two anyway, so we might as well wait. As long as we don’t care about saving face, we can let the Qin family make whatever scene they want. I just won’t marry him. What can they do?”
Since Yan Guifang had no better ideas, she could only do as Bei Qinghuan said.
In truth, Bei Qinghuan was still quite anxious.
She had written the letter, naturally hoping that Tao Su herself would come and cause a scene.
And she was certain that Tao Su would definitely come.
But whether she would make a big scene after arriving, that was hard to say.
After all, Mei Suqin was a Smiling Tiger. If she got to Tao Su and persuaded her before Bei Qinghuan could, then the scene might not happen.
Therefore, a little external force was still needed.