“I’m not disturbing you.” Lin Wan shook her head. She picked up Xie Yanzhou’s wallet and opened it.
But for a long while, she didn’t move.
“Wanwan, what’s wrong? Is there no money in Yanzhou’s wallet?” Nanny Wang craned her neck to look, curious.
“No!” Lin Wan shook her head. She stared at Xie Yanzhou’s wallet, frowning. “How could Dad do this? No wonder…”
“Huh?” Nanny Wang’s eyes widened, suspicion filling her expression. She glanced at the wallet’s inner pocket. “A photo—and it’s of a little child. This… isn’t Yanzhou, is it?”
“Come on, let’s pay!” Lin Wan pulled a ten-yuan note from the wallet and went to the counter.
She casually removed the baby’s photo from the wallet and slipped it into her own pocket.
That photo had always been in Dad’s wallet before.
In her previous life, when Lin Wan later sorted through her father’s belongings, all she found in his wallet was eight yuan and thirty-six fen, along with an IOU for ten yuan he’d borrowed from the factory district director.
At the time, a batch of goods from the factory district had developed a problem. The goods had passed inspection before leaving the factory, and everyone could attest to that, but the receiving party refused to acknowledge it.
So Factory Director Lin took responsibility himself. He first paid the compensation out of his own pocket, then had the goods brought back and reworked.
His thinking was simple: everyone, from top to bottom, should learn from this, and they should try to produce better goods next time.
Because of that, his family could barely afford to eat. He had no choice but to borrow money to get by.
Yet in the end, this very man was found to have five thousand yuan hidden in his home.
The entire factory district was shaken.
Everyone was torn. They trusted Factory Director Lin’s character, but the five thousand yuan really had been hidden in his home—and hidden very carefully.
“Wanwan, hurry up! Who knows if Xiaobao’s all right!” Seeing Lin Wan walking slowly, seeming distracted, Nanny Wang called out anxiously.
“What exactly happened? Nanny Wang, give me the short version while we walk.” Lin Wan quickened her pace.
“Well, Madam had you all go out this evening, and Lin Shuhua got upset. She started hitting Xiaobao, who’d been sleeping peacefully. The poor boy was startled and cried nonstop. Madam said a few words to her, and then she started making a scene. In the end, she and Madam got into a fight,” Nanny Wang said.
“They got into a fight?” Lin Wan was surprised.
Chen Yayun was the most elegant woman in the Military Compound.
In truth, she was a woman who wielded a scalpel—and swung a sledgehammer.
In the orthopedic operating room, she amputated limbs, set bones, and used a hammer to break bones…
But once she left the operating room, she was always graceful and refined.
She wrote poetry, loved reading, liked to wear qipaos on her days off, and enjoyed cake and coffee.
In short, she was hardly the sort of woman who would fight with her daughter-in-law.
“Exactly. Lin Shuhua is just unreasonable, if you ask me. Madam Yayun is such a good person—wonderful to us and to everyone else, too.” Nanny Wang sighed. “Back then, she was the one who insisted on going with Yanqing to the ski resort in the Northeast. I mean, she was that far along in her pregnancy—what business did she have going to a ski resort? And Yanqing was so young when he died, without even a body left behind…”
“Nanny Wang, are you saying she was the one who insisted Xie Yanqing take her skiing?” Lin Wan turned to look at her and asked.
“I… I never told the Division Commander and his wife about that. Wanwan, it’s all in the past. You shouldn’t bring it up, either,” Nanny Wang said.
“I won’t tell them. Xie Yanqing is the pain in their hearts. There’s no reason for me to reopen those wounds for no reason,” Lin Wan said.
If these people offended Lin Wan, then reopening old wounds would be nothing more than a small detour in her plans.
“Wanwan, you really are a good girl. You and Yanzhou have to be good to each other, too. Don’t worry—as long as I’m in this household, I’ll be on your side,” Nanny Wang said at once.
“Thank you, Nanny Wang!” Lin Wan nodded gratefully.
“We’re home. In a moment, don’t say a word, all right…” Nanny Wang warned her.
“Yanzhou, Yanzhou, take me away! I don’t want to stay in this house anymore! There’s no room for me here!” Lin Shuhua’s sobs drowned out the rest of what Nanny Wang was saying.
No matter where they were, people always gathered to watch this sort of family scandal.
The Military Compound was no exception.
It didn’t matter that the homeowner was Division Commander Xie.
“Everyone, go back inside. There’s nothing to see.” Nanny Wang was annoyed. She didn’t care whose wives were among the onlookers; she only wanted to protect her master’s dignity.
Lin Wan had just pushed her way through the crowd when she spotted Lin Shuhua slumped on the floor beside the sofa. Her hair was disheveled, and she was still wearing the pajamas she’d had on before Lin Wan left, though they’d been torn open.
Xie Yanzhou, meanwhile, had brought over a blanket and draped it around her.
Across from him, Division Commander Xie’s face was livid. Chen Yayun wasn’t in the living room.
“Lin Shuhua!” Lin Wan shouted. Without a word, she rushed forward, grabbed Xie Yanzhou by the arm, and shoved him aside. Then she stepped up to Lin Shuhua and slapped her hard across the face. “You shameless woman!”
“Lin Wan, you… why did you hit me? Have you gone crazy?” Lin Shuhua clutched her cheek, already swelling. Blood hung at the corner of her mouth as she screamed hysterically.
“What did I just hear you say at the door? You want Xie Yanzhou to take you away—to leave with you?” Lin Wan looked up at Xie Yanzhou, grinding her teeth, her gaze icy. “Are the two of you planning to elope?”
Xie Yanzhou froze. He looked at Lin Wan but said nothing.
Nearby, Division Commander Xie Zhenshan sat on the sofa, his anger barely contained. Hearing Lin Wan’s words, he too was taken aback.
“Lin Wan, what are you talking about?” Lin Shuhua glanced toward the military wives gathered at the doorway and roared, “This is all your fault! You put the idea in your mother-in-law’s head and made her hit me!”
“Lin Shuhua, you’re Xie Yanzhou’s elder sister-in-law, so why are you always clinging to him? When did you start behaving this way toward your younger brother-in-law?” Lin Wan looked at her. Though Lin Wan had a soft, delicate appearance, right now she was fierce. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Lin Shuhua. “Everyone here has eyes. And they all know what Aunt Chen is like. What, you think a few words from me could make Aunt Chen hit you? Then tell us—what exactly did I supposedly say?”
“You…” Lin Shuhua stared at Lin Wan, who had suddenly become so different—so sharp and quick-witted—and for a moment couldn’t even react.
“Lin Shuhua, you’re a widow, Xie Yanzhou’s widowed sister-in-law, and Division Commander Xie’s daughter-in-law. And you’re dressed like this in front of them? If I were Aunt Chen, I wouldn’t just beat you—I’d make sure you learned how to behave with some dignity!” Lin Wan said.