Shen Niao was almost amused by Li Big Mouth’s twisted logic.
“Fine, Sister Cuihua. Take me to whoever’s in charge of the political education of military wives. I’d really like to ask where someone who goes around calling people ‘indecent’ learned her ideological education.”
Zhang Cuihua immediately nodded.
“Sure, I’ll take you. Commander Niu’s wife, Xu Guifang, is the director of the Family Committee.”
The moment she heard they were actually going to see the Family Committee director, Li Big Mouth felt a flicker of guilt.
But she quickly lifted her chin again.
“Then let’s go.”
She wasn’t wrong. What respectable woman dressed so gaudily? Only shameless women dressed like that. Besides, Shen Niao naturally looked seductive—how could someone with a face like hers possibly be respectable?
As for the military wife who had been shopping for seafood with Li Big Mouth, she sensed trouble brewing and quietly slipped away with an excuse.
Meanwhile, Zhang Cuihua angrily led Shen Niao straight to Commander Niu’s residence.
Commander Niu’s wife was named Xu Guifang. Besides serving as the Family Committee director, she was also a gynecologist at the nearby town hospital.
She happened to be off duty today and had just finished cleaning when she heard a commotion outside.
Stepping out, she saw Zhang Cuihua leading in a dazzlingly beautiful young woman, followed by Li Big Mouth with her chin held high.
As Family Committee director, Xu Guifang had mediated countless quarrels between Zhang Cuihua and Li Big Mouth over the years.
Seeing a newcomer among them, she suppressed her curiosity and smiled.
“Cuihua, whose daughter is this? I don’t think I’ve met her before.”
Zhang Cuihua shot Li Big Mouth a glance before loudly announcing,
“She’s Commander Wu’s wife. She just arrived at the base yesterday.”
Li Big Mouth’s jaw dropped.
“Impossible!”
There was only one Regiment Commander surnamed Wu in the base—Wu Qingchuan. Yet she’d never heard he was married. He’d always lived alone. Just a few days ago, she’d even written to her family asking her niece to come stay for a while, hoping the girl could catch Commander Wu’s eye.
“Where did Commander Wu suddenly get a wife? I’ve lived in the family quarters for years and never heard anything about it. Zhang Cuihua, just because your husband is close to Commander Wu doesn’t mean you can randomly pair him with some shameless woman. If your husband finds out, he’ll beat you for it.”
She absolutely refused to believe Commander Wu would marry a woman like this.
One look told her Shen Niao couldn’t manage a household. Her niece was far more dignified and virtuous.
Before she had even finished speaking, Xu Guifang stepped forward, took Shen Niao’s hand, and looked her over carefully.
“What a beautiful young lady. You and Commander Wu truly are a match made in heaven.”
“My Old Niu told me this morning that Commander Wu had already submitted his marriage application. I thought I wouldn’t meet you until the wedding banquet, but here you are already.”
Xu Guifang spoke gently, but every sentence she uttered made Li Big Mouth’s mouth open wider.
Shen Niao smiled sweetly.
“We’ve had an arranged marriage since our grandparents’ generation. I was still too young to register our marriage before, so it’s been hard on him to wait for me all these years.”
Not one word of that was true.
But she certainly couldn’t tell everyone about the bride swap. Making the story sound more respectable benefited both her and Wu Qingchuan.
Xu Guifang nodded slightly.
“So what was all that commotion about earlier?”
“Sister Cuihua was kind enough to show me around since I’d just arrived, so I could get familiar with the area where I’ll be living. When we reached the entrance to the family compound, we saw two children selling seafood, and I wanted to buy some to try.”
“But this sister-in-law took one look at me and started calling me an indecent woman, saying my clothes were inappropriate.”
“I bought these clothes from a proper department store, and I’ve worn them before. I really can’t understand how wearing a dress and a hat makes someone indecent.”
As she spoke, Shen Niao’s eyes reddened, making her look utterly wronged.
She was already beautiful, but looking aggrieved made her even more pitiful.
Before Li Big Mouth could call her a little temptress, she saw Xu Guifang looking at Shen Niao with sympathy before turning an icy gaze toward herself.
“Li Xiaofang.”
“I’ve ignored your constant bickering with Zhang Cuihua in the past. But what’s this today? Commander Wu’s wife didn’t provoke you or touch you. Why were you insulting her for no reason?”
“Didn’t my previous ideological education sink in?”
“When the weather is hot, I wear hats and dresses too. Does that make me indecent as well?”
“N-No…”
Li Big Mouth wouldn’t dare call the commander’s wife indecent.
She simply felt that Zhang Cuihua and Shen Niao had tricked her. If she’d known Shen Niao was Commander Wu’s wife, she never would’ve insulted her so casually.
Xu Guifang’s face remained stern.
“It seems your education still isn’t sufficient.”
“Apologize to her.”
“Then write a two-thousand-word self-criticism and read it over the loudspeaker next Monday.”
“And from now on, you are required to attend every monthly ideological education session.”
She settled the matter decisively.
There were many women in the family compound, and disputes happened often. Usually, both sides shared some blame, so she’d criticize both.
But today Shen Niao had been an innocent victim.
Li Big Mouth had to be punished severely.
Otherwise, who knew what trouble she’d cause in the future?
Faced with Xu Guifang’s criticism, Li Big Mouth didn’t dare argue. She lowered her head and apologized to Shen Niao.
Shen Niao wiped at tears that hadn’t even fallen, then assumed a magnanimous expression.
“I accept your apology.”
“But think before you speak next time. Not everyone has as good a temper as I do.”
Zhang Cuihua chimed in immediately.
“Exactly! My little sister here isn’t just pretty—she’s kind-hearted too. If it’d been me, I’d have slapped you a few times so you’d stop running your mouth.”
Xu Guifang coughed lightly and shot Zhang Cuihua a warning glance before expertly smoothing things over.
“All right, let’s put this behind us.”
She turned to Shen Niao.
“You…”
Shen Niao quickly supplied,
“My name is Shen Niao. You can just call me Xiao Shen.”
“Xiao Shen, welcome to our family compound.”
“If you ever need anything, come to me. As long as we’ve done nothing wrong, we won’t let ourselves be bullied.”
Shen Niao nodded.
“I understand. Thank you, Director Xu.”
Such a radiant beauty thanking her so obediently made Xu Guifang’s heart melt.
She patted Shen Niao’s hand, her eyes full of motherly affection.
“No need to be so polite!”
After the commotion finally ended, Li Big Mouth had completely lost her appetite for seafood.
Shen Niao, meanwhile, took Zhang Cuihua back toward the entrance.
Seeing that the two little girls were still there, she quickly walked over.
The basin of oysters remained untouched.
Beside it was another basin containing the fish Li Big Mouth had been looking at earlier.
Shen Niao hadn’t examined it carefully before, but now she finally noticed what it was.
It was a large coral trout.
With such beautiful colors and patterns, in her previous life it would’ve easily sold for over 300 yuan per jin.
Suppressing her excitement, she asked softly,
“How much is this fish?”
The older girl stole a quick glance at Shen Niao before quietly answering,
“My mama said… five yuan.”
Her Mandarin wasn’t very standard and carried a thick local accent.
At a time when pork sold for only around sixty cents per jin, five yuan for such a large wild coral trout really wasn’t expensive.
Shen Niao was just about to pay for both the oysters and the fish when Zhang Cuihua bargained first.
“We’re not paying five yuan. Too expensive.”
“I’ll give you two. If you won’t sell it, take it back.”
Shen Niao looked over at Zhang Cuihua, who was winking at her repeatedly.
The little girl hesitated, trying to figure out who was actually making the decision.
Without hesitation, Zhang Cuihua grabbed Shen Niao’s arm and pretended to leave.
“Come on, come on.”
“For five yuan we could buy several jin of pork. Who’d spend that kind of money on a fish with hardly any meat?”
They hadn’t even taken two steps before the little girl hurriedly called out,
“Two yuan then! Two yuan is fine!”
Although Shen Niao and Zhang Cuihua playfully argued over who would pay, in the end Shen Niao won the “battle” and bought the entire basin of oysters plus the coral trout for two yuan and thirty cents.
“That’s unbelievably cheap.”
Shen Niao couldn’t help sighing as she carried the fish.
Walking beside her with the basin of oysters, Zhang Cuihua smiled.
“You’ve just arrived, so you don’t know.”
“For oysters like these, we can dig them up ourselves at the beach. There’s no need to spend money.”
“As for the fish, asking five yuan was only because they saw you were new and thought they could fool you.”
“Honestly, even two yuan is a bit expensive.”
“I only offered that much because those two little girls had been standing here for ages trying to sell something.”
“Otherwise, I’d have gotten it for one yuan.”
Shen Niao stared in disbelief.
“Really? They would’ve agreed to sell it?”
Zhang Cuihua raised an eyebrow.
“Why wouldn’t they?”
“They can’t keep the fish alive much longer.”
“If we’d come any later, it’d have died.”
“And who buys dead fish?”
“They’d only end up taking it back home.”
“So what’s more valuable—eating the fish themselves, or earning two yuan?”
Shen Niao turned around to look at the two little girls carrying away their empty basin.
“If they’re selling everything this cheaply…”
“Will they get scolded when they go home?”