Lin Yingxian didn’t particularly care about the gossip circulating in the building about her family, as it was easy enough to counter. What concerned her more were two things: using the public showers and the lack of privacy, since anything that happened at home could easily become public knowledge.
Having lived here for over a year, Lin Yingxian still couldn’t quite get used to showering naked alongside several others, completely exposed, and had even been subjected to head-to-toe critiques. She usually bathed last in the family, waiting until the public showers were empty before heading in.
“No need to guess—it must have been Elder Liu who spread it. In this whole floor, no, in this entire building, she’s the biggest gossip.” Lin Yingwan grew annoyed just thinking about Elder Liu, who was always stirring up trouble. Every time she saw Elder Liu, she wanted to take a detour.
The rest of the family agreed it was likely Elder Liu.
When the three Lin siblings were young, they went to the countryside to learn farming and gathered some wild vegetables. Elder Liu saw them and asked a few questions. Being shy children, they found it hard to refuse when an elder asked for the vegetables, so Lin Yingwan handed over her share.
Elder Liu accepted it with apparent delight at the time, but the next day, when Lin Yingwan went to school, she overheard Elder Liu downstairs telling others that the wild vegetables she’d picked were old, tasteless, and full of weeds.
Elder Liu spoke with such disdain, as if Lin Yingwan had forced the vegetables on her and she’d accepted them reluctantly.
Furious, Lin Yingwan confronted her on the spot, only to be accused by Elder Liu of being ill-mannered, disrespectful to elders, and twisting the truth. Still a child, Lin Yingwan was no match for Elder Liu’s words and ended up crying, running upstairs to complain to Mother Lin.
Mother Lin came down to help, wielding soft but sharp words that struck Elder Liu’s weak points. Elder Liu backed down, and everyone in the building learned that she was greedy, willing to take vegetables hard-earned by children, and had twisted the facts to blame the kids.
From then on, the Lin family and Elder Liu maintained only a surface-level civility. Elder Liu seized every opportunity to gossip about the Lins, which was why the family had kept Lin Yingxian’s suicide attempt tightly under wraps. If Elder Liu had found out, the uproar in the building would have been unimaginable.
A few months ago, Elder Liu’s second son got married, and his wife turned out to be a formidable woman. Elder Liu became so busy sparring with her daughter-in-law that she had no time to meddle in the Lin family’s affairs.
The Lins breathed a sigh of relief. Although Elder Liu had never gained any advantage over them, nor had her gossip caused any real harm, having a fly buzzing around, constantly watching, was enough to wear anyone down.
Around ten o’clock at night, Lin Yingxian returned from the public showers. The lights at home were already off. She turned on her flashlight, climbed to the upper bunk of the bunk bed, drew the curtain, and lay down to sleep.
The Lin family made full use of their dozen-square-meter home. The inner room housed four people: Lin Yingxian and Lin Yingwan shared a bunk bed, separated by a long desk placed horizontally. On the other side, behind a curtain, was a bed slightly wider than a single, where Father Lin and Mother Lin slept. This bed was custom-made by Father Lin to save Spatial Dimension while accommodating two people.
In the living room, the Lins had partitioned off a small area to serve as Lin Yingwei and Zhou Donghong’s room. It barely fit a double bed and a dressing table—cramped but well-lit. The window that illuminated the living room now served as the window for this partitioned room, leaving the living room to rely entirely on the window from the inner room for light…
A few days later, a notice detailing the criteria for housing allocation was posted on the Pharmaceutical Factory's bulletin board.
Lin Yingxian and several female workers from her group went to check the notice. The bulletin board was surrounded by a dense crowd. Lin Yingxian and Sister Peng from her group slipped through like slippery eels to the front.
"1. Employees with over ten years of service at the Pharmaceutical Factory;
Married employees without housing;
Education level of high school or above;
Recipients of the Advanced Worker Award or Model Worker title…"
There were eight criteria in total, with each fulfilled criterion worth ten points.
Lin Yingxian looked down to the last line: only those with a score of thirty points or above could apply for housing allocation.
Lin Yingxian only met the third criterion—having a high school education or above—among the first four. She did not meet any of the last four, which were targeted at technical backbones and engineers in the Pharmaceutical Factory.
Lin Yingxian felt that this year, many young people in the factory would rush into marriage, and the competition for the Advanced Worker Award and Model Worker title would become exceptionally fierce.
Sister Peng beside her met the first two criteria. Without a high school education or above, she could only strive for the fourth criterion.
………
During dinner that evening, Zhou Donghong hesitantly announced to everyone, "Yingwei accompanied me to the hospital for a checkup today. I’m already over two months pregnant."
In truth, Mother Lin had vaguely guessed earlier, as Zhou Donghong had recently developed a sudden craving for sour foods and was frequently vomiting. Mother Lin had asked Lin Yingwei to take Zhou Donghong for a checkup.
Upon hearing the news, everyone felt both joy and worry. A baby may be small, but raising one isn’t just about providing a crib—it requires countless additional items, and the home would become even more crowded.
Zhou Donghong and Lin Yingwei were also surprised by the baby’s arrival, as they had taken precautions.
When Zhou Donghong first married into the family, she had desperately wanted to conceive to secure her position, but she never succeeded. Later, she truly understood that Lin Yingwei and his parents did not want her to have a child so soon, feeling the home was already too cramped and that she and Lin Yingwei were still young—having a child in their late twenties would not be too late.
At the time, Zhou Donghong was facing assignment to the countryside. Hearing that a neighbor’s sister had died in the countryside terrified her, and she was determined to avoid going. Unable to find work, with her mother having retired to pass her position to her eldest brother and her father unwilling to give up his job, Zhou Donghong pursued her junior high school classmate Lin Yingwei. They consummated their relationship and married.
Lin Yingwei had a job and didn’t need to go to the countryside, so she had someone to rely on. Sharp-eyed Father Lin and Mother Lin saw through Zhou Donghong’s intentions. With no job and not particularly clever, they did not like her.
Eager to win Father and Mother Lin’s approval, Zhou Donghong ended up overreaching, pushing Lin Yingxian to the brink of despair and driving her to attempt suicide—becoming the final straw that broke her. Her desire to conceive to secure her position was exposed, making Father and Mother Lin dislike her even more and even prompting them to urge Lin Yingwei to divorce her.
Zhou Donghong knelt and apologized, begging Lin Yingxian and Father and Mother Lin for forgiveness. Father Zhou and Mother Zhou also came to plead on her behalf, offering apologies and gifts.
Regardless of how Zhou Donghong treated others, she was gentle and attentive to Lin Yingwei, and she was not unattractive. Lin Yingwei also liked her. After Lin Yingxian recovered without major issues, his resolve to divorce Zhou Donghong wavered.
Thus, the matter of their divorce was quietly dropped.
Later, Lin Yingwei enlightened Zhou Donghong, who gradually shifted her mindset. She began acting as a dutiful daughter-in-law in front of Father Lin and Mother Lin, and even found a temporary job last year, no longer being the only one in the household who contributed nothing. Only then did they start treating her with a bit of kindness. Previously, Father Lin and Mother Lin had treated her as if she were invisible.