Lin Wanying couldn’t help but marvel, her ex-husband’s current mother-in-law was flexible enough to bend or stand as needed, a rival worth taking seriously.
A woman in her forties kneeling down and kowtowing instantly shifted sympathy her way, refuse now, and Lin Wanying would become the aggressive villain of the scene.
Lin Wanying wasn’t going to just sit there and take it. She gave her brother a look.
Lin Huinan understood immediately and swiftly dropped to his knees in front of He Jinzhi too: “Auntie He, please give my sister a way out, stop pushing her. Your daughter stole my brother-in-law, and with you, her own mother, pulling strings, she stole the job my sister built from scratch with her own hands. She couldn’t even handle it and blew a huge hole in it that my sister can’t even patch, please, stop pushing my sister.”
Leave it to his own brother to know how to work a room, with this said, sympathy swung back to Lin Wanying’s side.
Lin Wanying kicked Gu Shuisheng in the back of the knee, forcing him down as well, this boy needed to learn the lesson that a wise man doesn’t take a beating he can avoid [1]a smart man doesn’t eat the loss right in front of him (hǎohàn bù chī yǎnqián kuī, 好漢不吃眼前虧), Proverb, counsels that a truly capable person knows when to yield or back down … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3158666_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3158666_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
Since he was already kneeling, Gu Shuisheng had no choice but to glare furiously at He Jinzhi and shout: “What are you even pretending for, you awful woman? Your family lives in a two-courtyard compound, got five years of back pay after rehabilitation, and even has a maid. Nobody here lives as well as your family does, and you still want us to pity you? Do we look that pathetic to you?”
That line landed well too, everyone’s sympathy shifted from Lin Wanying to disdain for He Jinzhi, disgusted that someone living the best out of everyone here would try to guilt those worse off into yielding to her, how dare she.
…
He Jinzhi’s skin was thick enough that she still wouldn’t leave. Lin Wanying looked toward Gu Liansheng, if he knelt too, the effect would be even better.
Gu Liansheng: …Why should he kneel to He Jinzhi? If word got back to the department, his master would tear into him. But not kneeling risked upsetting his wife, and they’d only just made up, he didn’t want another cold war over this. He didn’t know what to do.
Suddenly Ji Wenju rushed forward, dropping to her knees before He Jinzhi, pleading:
“Jinzhi, let our family go. Yes, you carried my brother’s body back home, but you also had your own selfish motives, wanting our whole family to feel indebted. We are grateful, your daughter lived in our house for five years, cold and distant to us, and we never mistreated her once. Whatever the debt was, surely it’s been repaid by now. I know you’re afraid my son will end up happier than your daughter, and you want to sabotage that, please, don’t do this. I’m kowtowing to you.”
This finally sparked public outrage. The compound neighbors and onlookers on the street were furious, and together they drove He Jinzhi away.
He Jinzhi’s reputation in this neighborhood had already rotted so badly that no one believed her anymore, no matter what she said, she couldn’t accomplish anything by coming back either.
…
“Mom, how’d you get so clever today? Even better than if Gu Liansheng had knelt. Gu Liansheng, you should thank Mom for getting you out of that jam. Go buy a roast duck to celebrate.”
Being praised by her daughter-in-law made Ji Wenju genuinely happy. “Mom’s just soft-hearted, but Mom’s not stupid. What Shuisheng and Huinan said, I took it to heart, and I understand now too.”
Lin Wanying felt comforted. Her mother-in-law could be infuriating at times, but she was still much better than truly wicked mothers-in-law, nobody’s perfect, and this was just how her mother-in-law was, something that wouldn’t change. Wasn’t Lin Wanying the same way? Once she decided something, she wouldn’t change it just to please someone.
Gu Liansheng spent eight yuan buying a roast duck, his heart aching over the cost, he’d been planning to pay back part of what he owed his coworkers this month, but since his wife said to buy it, he’d buy it. No point ruining the mood over something so small.
…
Who’d have thought, after finishing dinner, his wife handed him fifty yuan, telling him to combine it with this month’s surplus salary and pay back some of the debt first.
“I’ve been helping settle disputes at the Lion Bridge market and collecting two or three yuan here and there as a token of thanks, saved up a few dozen yuan. Take it and pay back whoever needs the money most urgently. A good borrower is a good repayer, pay back some of it first.”
Gu Liansheng took the money, feeling his face burn. His wife was reasonable and capable, talents that had had no outlet back in the village, kept quiet and unnoticed there, but the moment she came to the city, in just one month, she’d already made her mark, impressively so.
That dead-fish-eyed Xu Youcheng, unable to see Lin Wanying’s worth, his heart clinging to his first love, that was exactly why Gu Liansheng got to marry such a wonderful wife.
Gu Liansheng was full of admiration, and asked: “That management position at Lion Bridge, are you playing hard to get, or do you genuinely not intend to go back?”
“Not going back,” Lin Wanying said. “If I went and fixed it, everyone’s hatred toward He Jinzhi would disappear. Only by staying away can the damage to He Jinzhi be maximized.”
That made sense, though Gu Liansheng felt for the vendors: “That would cut off a lot of people’s livelihoods.”
Lin Wanying said, “That’s not something I caused. You’re a policeman, dedicated to serving everyone impartially, but I’m just an ordinary citizen. As long as I’m not the one hurting anyone, I’m a law-abiding citizen doing nothing wrong. Don’t hold me to some saintly standard meant for ordinary people like me.”
Standing on his wife’s side, she wasn’t wrong at all.
Gu Liansheng said quickly: “If everyone thought like you, there’d be no crime in this society at all. You’re already good enough, I was just thinking out loud, not blaming you.”
Lin Wanying felt a bit pleased. To this day she still refused to change herself to accommodate anyone, Gu Liansheng, on the other hand, was the one changing, and that was genuinely something to admire in him.
…
Gu Liansheng was able to shift his perspective to see things her way, He Jinzhi couldn’t shift hers at all. It wasn’t as if she’d deliberately stolen Lin Wanying’s job, it just happened that the position was introduced through connections, coincidentally landing on the very job Lin Wanying had worked so hard to build.
She knew perfectly well that she and her daughter were in the wrong first, but she wouldn’t admit it, nor would she change, she was just resentful that Lin Wanying was just as selfish as she was, unwilling to hand back the director position, which would cost her a longstanding friendship.
He Jinzhi understood clearly what the consequences would be, and now that it had actually happened, she felt the sting of it deeply.
“Mom, did Lin Wanying refuse?”
Li Qiuzhen saw her mother’s expression and knew right away it hadn’t worked. Quitting the job was a small matter, but the market being in chaos meant she had no way to explain herself to her mother’s friend, Aunt Dongyu, who would surely be reprimanded by her superiors.
He Jinzhi was calculating and had never failed in half a lifetime of scheming, this time she’d stumbled, and stood to lose a good friend.
“I forgot to tell Wu Dongyu that the person who promised the job had connections with our family… sigh, I even kowtowed to Lin Wanying, and she still wouldn’t go back.”
Li Qiuzhen felt terrible for her mother, people are always biased toward their own, and even when their own family was at fault first, having it rebound so coldly from someone else was hard to bear.
At a loss, Li Qiuzhen complained to Xu Youcheng: “Your ex-wife is so cold-blooded. It was wrong of me to steal her job, but my mom even knelt down to apologize, and she still won’t go back and do a job that would’ve come so easily to her?”
Xu Youcheng said: “When you all asked me, I told you not to do it. Lin Wanying has too strong a sense of loyalty and rigid principles, heavily influenced by her father, she believes in repaying kindness with kindness and grudges with grudges, even at the cost of mutual ruin, never letting an opponent off easy. You didn’t believe me, now you know.”
He Jinzhi said, “We believe you, but we really didn’t believe that market was held together by her alone.”
Li Qiuzhen didn’t believe it either, but the facts were right there. Still shaken, she said, “Those vendors are so fierce, and there were hoodlums too, I couldn’t handle any of it at all. I really can’t believe Lin Wanying could.”
…
Xu Youcheng patiently explained it again: “Aside from the divorce and remarriage, I’ve never really lied to anyone, especially not to you. I already told you, back in the village, Lin Wanying was more respected than the village chief, with a firm hand in everything. During the collective era, the village she led had the highest work-point value. Before I came back, it was her idea to follow Xiaogang Village’s lead and adopt the household contract system. Even the county magistrate invited her to the production representatives’ conference. Those punks fighting each other is nothing compared to two villages clashing in a real feud. A little wild market is child’s play in her hands.”
Li Qiuzhen was displeased hearing this: “You sound like you’re praising her. If she’s that impressive, why did you divorce her?”
Xu Youcheng said: “I’m just stating facts. She has strengths, but more flaws, won’t listen to advice, looks down on people, likes ordering others around, more flaws than I can even list. But none of that has anything to do with love. I love you, so I’m willing to accept your flaws and change my own for you. I made dinner today, let’s eat.”
Li Qiuzhen felt sweet inside. It wasn’t as good as what a maid could cook, but this was Xu Youcheng’s way of showing his love.
Full of joy, she said, “Mom, see? Youcheng and I truly love each other. We’re bound to live well.”
Xu Youcheng promised: “We took the long way around for five years, and finally got together, hard-won as it was. I’ll make sure you’re happier in this marriage than Lin Wanying is.”
Li Qiuzhen believed it: “Of course. Gu Liansheng doesn’t understand romance at all, can’t compare to even half of you. We’ll definitely live better than they do.”
He Jinzhi looked at her daughter and son-in-law, so understanding and affectionate with each other, feeling deeply comforted, but soon after, a good friend came to her door demanding an explanation.
…
Wu Dongyu was furious. Could a friend really pull something like this on you?
She questioned He Jinzhi: “I could’ve gotten promoted to full section chief this time, but because of your selfishness in not telling me the whole picture, that Lion Bridge market was already a patchwork of vendors held together, all the troublemakers just temporarily suppressed. You swapped the director position over to your own daughter, who couldn’t manage it, and now it’s a total mess. Your family can just walk away from it, but what about me? My promotion is gone. Twenty years of friendship, and you’d pull this on me?”
He Jinzhi hurried to apologize: “I didn’t realize it was this serious. I’ve wronged you.”
Wu Dongyu saw right through her: “Spare me the fake act. To be honest, I already saw through you as a selfish friend a long time ago. I felt for you when you were sent down, wanted to help, never imagined you’d play me for a fool and betray a friend like this. Fine, from now on, I don’t have a friend like you.”
Li Qiuzhen, feeling wronged on her mother’s behalf, rushed over to interject: “Aunt Dongyu, you watched me grow up, you’re my godmother, I respect you, but you can’t talk to my mom like this. Your promotion still has a chance next year. My mom really made an honest mistake, please forgive her. Losing you as a friend would hurt her so much, and I’d miss you too, Godmother.”
Wu Dongyu let out a cold laugh, turning the mockery back on He Jinzhi: “You’ve raised Qiuzhen to be so naive. It was cute when she was little, but now it’s just tone-deaf and grating. I came here to make it clear, we’re not friends anymore.”
…
Li Qiuzhen was upset: “Mom, Aunt Dongyu has changed. Don’t be sad.”
He Jinzhi felt a pang of melancholy, Qiuzhen had been raised too sheltered from the ways of the world. Good thing Xu Youcheng was smart and steady, the young couple would surely build a good life together.
Losing a good friend was a real shame, but the good connections she’d built up over her first twenty-some years, connections she’d started drawing on since her time sent down and still relied on now, had only a few left to spare.
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