That evening, after Director Zhao returned from the county, he had barely stepped through the front door when he saw his wife holding her cousin, Chen Yumei, while comforting her.
“What happened now?”
Lately, it had been either his wife crying or her cousin crying. Director Zhao felt like his head was about to explode from all the tears.
He quickly held up a stamped employment notice.
“Yumei, look! The hiring notice for that company commander’s younger sister.”
To be honest, he looked down on Chen Yumei’s eagerness to please.
She wasn’t even married into the family yet, and she was already arranging jobs for them in advance. If she actually married into that household, wouldn’t they bleed her dry?
As for that commander’s younger sister, she was certainly pretty enough, but the way she handled things left much to be desired.
Still, that was a case of one side willing to exploit and the other willing to accept it.
The only unlucky one was him.
However, the moment he handed over the employment notice, his wife turned around and glared at him accusingly.
“Who did you hire? They said they never even saw you.”
“Shen Niao, of course!”
Director Zhao looked bewildered.
“Brother-in-law, their surname is Liu, not Shen.”
“If you didn’t want to arrange the job, you could’ve just said so. Why go through all this trouble?”
Chen Yumei burst into tears.
Earlier that day, she’d happily met with Liu Xiaojun, only to be severely criticized by him.
He’d accused her family of breaking their promise.
They had agreed to arrange the job, but when he brought his sister over full of excitement, they were told someone else had already been hired, leaving his sister devastated.
Chen Yumei admired Liu Xiaojun not only because he was an army officer.
More importantly, years ago, she’d gotten a leg cramp while swimming in the sea and nearly drowned.
Liu Xiaojun had rescued her.
Ever since then, his image in her heart had become lofty and heroic.
She believed she wasn’t worthy of him.
He was already a company commander and would likely be promoted to deputy battalion commander soon.
As for herself…
She wasn’t pretty, her skin was dark, and she was just an ordinary island girl.
Her family was considered reasonably well-off in Ya County, but Liu Xiaojun came from Beijing, where his family background was even better.
Earlier, Liu Xiaojun had explained that arranging a job for his younger sister was actually for the sake of their future together.
That way, his sister wouldn’t have to rely on them financially.
With a stable job, she could earn her own wages to help support the family and would also have a better chance of finding a good husband.
If Chen Yumei helped with this, his sister would certainly respect her as a future sister-in-law, and his mother would treasure her even more.
Who would’ve thought that the carefully arranged plan would fall apart because of her own brother-in-law?
Director Zhao had done all the work only to end up blamed from every direction.
Now that he finally understood what had happened, he realized he had indeed hired the wrong person.
But was that really his fault?
“I reminded you over and over to come early. And what happened? It was almost noon before anyone showed up.”
“Finally someone came—and she was also from Beijing, here to join her husband in the military. Naturally, I assumed she was the commander’s younger sister you were talking about.”
“Besides, none of you ever bothered to tell me their surname or even their names. All you did was cry and pressure me into arranging the job.”
“I did arrange it.”
“If they weren’t even concerned enough to show up on time, was I supposed to deliver the job to their doorstep?”
He was the director of the supply and marketing cooperative.
Wherever he went, people treated him with respect.
It wasn’t as though he hadn’t done what they asked.
If they themselves couldn’t be bothered to arrive earlier, whose fault was that?
“Brother-in-law, transfer that job to my fiancé’s sister!”
Chen Yumei demanded stubbornly, completely oblivious to the increasingly ugly look on his face.
Director Zhao’s wife hurriedly chimed in.
“Exactly! Hurry and change it. If you don’t, the two of us can’t keep living together.”
Seeing one woman already starting to cry while the other was glaring at him—and his own wife threatening to leave—Director Zhao took a deep breath.
It wasn’t impossible.
The employment notice had just been stamped and hadn’t been officially issued yet.
At worst, he could simply have another one stamped tomorrow and claim that the girl who came today wasn’t suitable.
The entire process was under his control.
The only issue was…
That girl was also a military spouse.
If the job she’d already secured suddenly disappeared, she was bound to make a scene.
Still, that wouldn’t be his problem.
That would become his sister-in-law’s fiancé’s headache.
He wouldn’t be the one offending her.
“Fine.”
“Give me your fiancé’s information.”
“I’ll get another approval stamp tomorrow.”
That afternoon, after returning by small boat with Wu Qingchuan, Shen Niao spent the entire afternoon meditating in her guesthouse room.
Around five o’clock, she headed to Zhang Cuihua’s house.
Since Shen Niao and Wu Qingchuan hadn’t returned for lunch, Zhang Cuihua had kept all the seafood they’d gathered that morning alive.
“How’s that child from the hospital? Is she alright?”
“She’s fine. Just one broken rib.”
“I fractured it while performing CPR because chest compressions require a lot of force.”
“Oh, come on. If you hadn’t saved her, a broken rib would’ve been the least of her problems.”
Zhang Cuihua had seen everything clearly.
The little girl had been lying there completely motionless, her face already turning blue.
If Shen Niao hadn’t known how to perform emergency resuscitation, the child would’ve died before even reaching the hospital.
Anyone knew which they’d rather choose—a broken rib or losing a life.
Besides, children healed quickly. The rib would mend before long.
“The mother looked unfamiliar. I wonder whose family she belongs to.”
“She was dressed quite decently. Probably another military dependent.”
“Didn’t she thank you? You’re her child’s lifesaver.”
“According to the old customs, the whole family should come kneel and kowtow to you.”
Shen Niao laughed.
“I don’t know who she is.”
“And what era are we living in? Who still kowtows?”
“I just happened to be there and happened to save her. I couldn’t exactly stand there and watch a child die.”
No matter the era, saving someone always carried risks.
Especially in these times, when most people had never heard of CPR.
If the child hadn’t survived, they might even have blamed her for delaying the trip to the hospital.
Fortunately, she hadn’t had time to think about any of that in the moment.
Zhang Cuihua clicked her tongue twice before gently pinching Shen Niao’s cheek.
“You little girl.”
“Not only are you beautiful, but you’ve got such a kind heart too.”
“Commander Wu is truly fortunate to have you as his wife.”
Feeling teased, Shen Niao rubbed her cheek.
“Whether he’s fortunate or not can wait.”
“What matters is that we’re definitely in for a delicious dinner tonight.”
By six o’clock, after finishing preparing all the seafood, Zhang Cuihua’s children returned home.
All of them were boys.
The oldest was in fifth grade, while the youngest had only just started first grade.
The military maintained a daycare center, so children could stay there until they started elementary school.
Once they entered school, they had to attend classes in town.
To help military families, the army had even arranged a shuttle bus.
Every morning at seven o’clock, it took the children into town for school, then returned at five-thirty in the afternoon to pick them up.
It only made two trips a day.
Military spouses who worked in town also rode the same shuttle to and from work.
Once Shen Niao officially started working as a sales clerk at the supply and marketing cooperative, she would be able to commute on that bus as well.
While cleaning the seafood together, Shen Niao also told Zhang Cuihua that she’d found a job at the cooperative.
Zhang Cuihua was incredibly envious.
Envious though she was, she didn’t feel jealous.
After all, Shen Niao was well educated and beautiful.
If the cooperative’s recruiters weren’t blind, of course they’d choose her.
Besides, Zhang Cuihua said this was simply good deeds bringing good fortune.
Otherwise, how could someone walk into a supply cooperative and just happen to find such an excellent job?
Once the children got home, Shen Niao and Zhang Cuihua got busy in the kitchen.
They prepared spicy stir-fried crabs, braised sea cucumbers with scallions, salt-and-pepper mantis shrimp, steamed sea urchin custard, several simple vegetable dishes, and finally served garlic steamed oysters.
The delicious aroma had long since left the children practically dizzy with hunger.
But Zhang Cuihua insisted they wait until Li Jianguo and Wu Qingchuan returned before starting the meal.
However…
Before either of the two men arrived—
Director Xu showed up at the door first.