With the toothpaste and detergent selling well, Lin Huinan wanted to become a first-tier wholesale distributor. For a factory, sales volume was what mattered most, if the distributor model worked out, it could be rolled out everywhere, and it was worth a good try.
Lin Wanying gave him a wholesale price and let him handle it himself. He and Shuisheng ran around the surrounding townships with great enthusiasm, and their sales volume had already surpassed the capital’s department stores and supply co-ops combined, nothing to scoff at. The distributor path only needed a more favorable economic policy to really take off.
…
Lin Wanying, meanwhile, accompanied Zeng Lancao somewhere and saved a man named Cui Yushan from being sent to a labor camp over an accidental injury charge. Not only did she save him, she also arranged a sales job for him at the chemical factory.
This Cui Yushan must have been someone quite important to Zeng Lancao, and a natural-born salesman besides. Lin Wanying, just like her mentor, pretended not to know anything about it.
On the way back, Gu Liansheng came to pick her up again, and this time he really did have something to tell her:
“Your job at the district office set Li Qiuzhen off. She went to Chief Zheng’s wife saying she was worried you’d get tangled up with some leader. Chief Zheng told Xu Youcheng, who must have said something at home, because Li Qiuzhen ran off to Pengcheng to see her mother. Her mother didn’t blame her son-in-law, instead she arranged for Li Qiuzhen to teach music at a high school. Li Qiuzhen, sticking her nose in where it doesn’t belong, has been coming around trying to convince Shuisheng to go back to school and finish high school. Shuisheng refuses, and I have a feeling she’ll come around again.”
High schools had only resumed classes a couple of years back, and Shuisheng had started tenth grade the year classes reopened. If he wanted to study, he should’ve been preparing for the college entrance exam long ago, but he’d get sleepy the moment he picked up a textbook, couldn’t get anything to stick, and even got into fights at school, with the family called in constantly. Gu Liansheng had no choice but to let him do as he pleased.
Lin Wanying cared even less about it, saying: “Li Qiuzhen is just a music teacher, convincing students to stay in school isn’t her place. Why is she meddling?”
Gu Liansheng guessed: “Last time she had a fight with Xu Youcheng and took it out on you.”
…
Li Qiuzhen came again, and this time she brought the homeroom teacher with her. Lin Wanying firmly refused on Shuisheng’s behalf: “Shuisheng’s not going back to Second High School. That’s my decision.”
Then Lin Wanying got reported, accused of denying her brother-in-law an education, a serious personal-conduct issue.
Chief Zheng couldn’t believe it, and warned Lin Wanying: “There are rumors going around the office. Xiao Lin, is this true? You need to give an explanation.”
Lin Wanying said with a smile: “Chief Zheng, think back to my actual words. I absolutely refused to let my brother-in-law go back to Second High School, because Second High School has a teacher there with ulterior motives. I’ve already transferred Shuisheng to First High School, he’s already attended classes there for several days.”
Lin Wanying had turned the tables and struck back, and Chief Zheng didn’t take offense at all, instead he spoke earnestly to Xu Youcheng:
“How are you communicating with your wife? Everyone has a temper, and this time Xiao Lin gave her a small lesson to make a bigger point, but if your wife still can’t let it go, and something like this happens again, do you really want to risk your future over it?”
Xu Youcheng, head aching, promised Chief Zheng: “I’d like to request a few days off to sort out family matters, then come back to work. Would that be all right?”
Xu Youcheng had always performed excellently and worked hard, so the district chief agreed and approved his leave.
Xu Youcheng didn’t mention the leave when he got home, instead, he told Li Qiuzhen he wasn’t going to work anymore.
“Counting today, the district chief has already called me in for a talk twice. If you don’t change, there’s no point in me keeping this job.”
…
Li Qiuzhen quit her teaching job, but Gu Shuisheng had to stick it out at First High School until the pre-exam, no dropping out again this time.
Huinan comforted him: “You commute, don’t stay for evening study, and go run the night market stall after school. Grinding through half a year to get a diploma is still something to show for it. And it helps my sister too, two birds, one stone.”
Shuisheng figured his former sister-in-law had learned her lesson and would probably settle down now, so it was worth it.
…
Relatives of Zeng Lancao’s ex-husband’s family spotted the Lancao-brand detergent and toothpaste, and quickly reported it to the ex-husband’s family in Pengcheng.
The ex-husband’s family had Zeng Lancao’s children come over, asking their grandfather whose factory this chemical business really belonged to.
“If it’s Lin Wanying’s, why is it called the Lancao brand instead of the Wanying brand?”
Lin Wanying was speechless, had these two kids lost their minds? Between their mother’s assets and their father’s assets, which one was actually more reliable? And yet here they were, siding with their father, coming to fish for information.
Lin Wanying said, “Listen to yourselves, which sounds better and easier to remember, Lancao brand or Wanying brand? I took out the loan to start the factory, of course the shares are mine. Your mother walked away from the marriage with nothing, where would she have gotten money to invest?”
…
After this whole episode, Zeng Lancao laughed bitterly: “Wanying, little sister, now you understand why I’d rather trust you than my own muddleheaded children. Even though I’ve already divorced, if anything ever happens to me, my inheritance goes to my children, if they can’t tell their grandmother’s family’s relatives apart from outsiders, whatever I leave them will just end up in someone else’s pocket.”
Lin Wanying comforted her: “Now that you’re aware of it, you won’t let outsiders take advantage. They’ll come to understand eventually.”
…
The market had stabilized, and Lin Wanying didn’t go over there much these days, but it was still profitable. Of the six households in the compound, aside from Uncle Zhang’s family, the other five all had stalls at the market, each earning at least two or three hundred yuan a month at the low end.
With everyone’s pockets fuller these past several months, and after a few days of consecutive rain that left every household’s roof leaking, the courtyard turning into a mess whenever it rained, once the weather cleared Auntie Liu suggested that everyone rent rooms outside for a while and get the compound fixed up together before the New Year.
Auntie Liu proposed it, the godmother was on board, Lin Wanying had no objections, and the other two families came around too after some persuading, only Uncle Zhang refused.
His refusal didn’t actually matter, each family would pay for their own renovations, and the shared costs for the compound’s common areas were split so evenly that no one would bother arguing over it. In the end, Uncle Zhang would just be the one left uncomfortable.
Auntie Liu privately told the godmother: “Uncle Zhang’s jealous that all five of our households have market stalls. He’s the only one refusing to join the renovation, probably trying to play hard to get so Wanying gives him a stall.”
The godmother didn’t take the bait: “We already made the offer back then, and he turned his nose up at it. Now that the market’s regulated, if Wanying opens a backdoor for him, what if someone reports it? So many eyes watching, can’t afford to make a mistake.”
Auntie Liu sighed: “That’s exactly what I told him too. Why don’t you go ask Wanying, it’s no trouble just asking.”
The godmother laughed: “Wanying’s a reasonable person. What you’re asking me to ask her is unreasonable, I don’t dare. Why don’t you go ask her yourself?”
Auntie Liu didn’t dare either, and in the end the five households agreed to split the cost evenly and fix up Uncle Zhang’s roof and front door along with everyone else’s.
…
This round of renovations included repainting the interiors, with a two-month timeline. On a day off, Lin Wanying and Gu Liansheng went house-hunting together and found a decent little bungalow, the owner was willing to short-term rent out two spare rooms.
But unluckily, Xu Youcheng and Li Qiuzhen showed up hand in hand to rent the same place, and in the end neither side rented there, each going off to find somewhere else.
Lin Wanying was puzzled: “Doesn’t Li Qiuzhen’s family have that two-courtyard compound? Why are they looking for a place to rent?”
Gu Liansheng knew all about it: “He Jinzhi sold the compound and took the money to Pengcheng to start a business, so Xu Youcheng has no choice but to rent a place with Li Qiuzhen.”
“How do you know all this?”
Gu Liansheng laughed: “The compound neighbors are amazing at gathering gossip, my godmother told me. I didn’t want to bother you with it, so I never mentioned it before.”
Lin Wanying felt a pang of sentiment: “If it were me, I’d rather delay starting a business for a few years than sell the house I live in. That compound your father left, even though it’s shared by six households, our three rooms are spacious and well-positioned, whatever the reason, you should never sell your own home.”
Gu Liansheng felt exactly the same way: “This compound used to be ownerless, and after being nationalized, it was divided among our six households. Everyone paid for it, we have the deeds, and someday we’ll pass it down to our own children.”
Speaking of children, it had been half a year now with no news. Lin Wanying wondered if it was a problem with her or with Gu Liansheng.
She felt a bit melancholy, sighing: “Back when Xu Youcheng was so cold toward me, I used to want a child of my own so badly. Now I want a child that’s ours together, you and me. Which one of us do you think isn’t able to have children? Should we go get checked at the hospital?”
What would checking even accomplish? Gu Liansheng wasn’t going to divorce her over it either way. He asked: “If it turns out I’m the one who can’t have children, would you leave?”
Lin Wanying shook her head: “Then I’d just accept it. I wouldn’t leave.”
“Same here. So a checkup would only create a knot in both our hearts. Things are good as they are right now, and besides, Xu Youcheng and Li Qiuzhen don’t have children either, so it might not be our problem at all.”
…
Lin Wanying found a courtyard house owned by an elderly couple, and rented their vacant east wing. The minimum lease was three months, which only meant an extra fifteen yuan.
She agreed readily, paid a quarter’s rent, and moved on a day off.
As luck would have it, Xu Youcheng and Li Qiuzhen were moving into the west wing of the very same courtyard at the same time. The two sides only exchanged glances, no greetings exchanged.
The elderly couple’s spare rooms could be rented to whoever they pleased, no reason to tell one tenant the other’s name. Ending up as neighbors again was simply a case of enemies having narrow paths to cross [1]rivals meeting on a narrow road (yuānjiā lù zhǎi, 冤家路窄), Idiom, describes the ironic, seemingly fated way that people who wish to avoid each other keep being forced into contact, as if … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3158674_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3158674_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, no one’s fault.
Good thing it was only two months at most before they’d move out again.
…
Living so close together, comparisons were inevitable. Xu Youcheng was the ambitious type, leaving early and coming home late, on the rare occasions he got off work early, he and Li Qiuzhen would go out to eat hand in hand, never cooking at home.
Li Qiuzhen was even less capable of cooking, she bought meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner alike. The scene of Xu Youcheng learning to cook for Li Qiuzhen’s sake, once so common, was nowhere to be seen during this shared-housing period.
Lin Wanying’s two brothers cooked and did laundry, with their household of four moving in, things got much livelier. The elderly landlord couple often received delicious food that Huinan and Shuisheng made.
Once they’d gotten familiar, the landlady chatted idly and told Lin Wanying: “That young wife across the way, I think she’s quite selfish.”
Lin Wanying didn’t understand: “Why do you say that, Granny?”
Having lived a long life, the landlady naturally had more perspective: “She buys all those snacks, finishes them all in one day, and never thinks to save a bite for her own husband. What’s the point of a marriage like that?”
Lin Wanying laughed: “Her husband doesn’t like snacks. Maybe after a few times she just got used to not saving any for him. Besides, the living expenses for their rental are all provided by her mother, she’s not spending her husband’s money, so she can do as she pleases.”
The landlady said: “Then her mother isn’t doing her daughter any favors, handling things that way. Over time, one side taking things for granted and the other harboring resentment, that’s bound to cause friction sooner or later.”
The landlady’s read on it was quite sound. Based on Lin Wanying’s five years of knowing Xu Youcheng, living off what his mother-in-law provided wouldn’t stop his growing dissatisfaction with Li Qiuzhen from building either way, but none of that had anything to do with her anymore.
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