Now that Zhang Yunqing had secured a job on her own and hadn’t gone to the countryside as Zhang Hongwei had hoped, things were different.
Before his marriage was finalized, things could still be kept under control. But once it was settled, conflict would inevitably erupt sooner or later. Zhang Yunqing knew her comfortable days of having a room to herself were probably coming to an end.
Since they were bound to fall out eventually anyway, she didn’t mind making things difficult for Zhang Hongwei before he got married.
At the very least, she wanted him to understand that she was not the original host—the soft, easy-to-bully pushover he could casually squeeze whenever he pleased.
“So you already knew?” Zhang Hongwei sounded surprised.
But in the very next second, he shamelessly began accusing her instead.
“And all this over such a tiny matter?”
“Yes, I did talk to Mom and Dad about it. But didn’t you stay in the city in the end? Besides, I’m the eldest son of the Zhang family. In the future, when I have sons, they’ll call you Auntie and back you up at your husband’s home. Little Sister, you’d better think carefully.”
Looking at the self-righteous expression on his face, Zhang Yunqing was so speechless she nearly laughed.
Even in the original host’s memories, Zhang Junzhong—the actual father—had never uttered such absurdly overbearing patriarchal nonsense.
Zhang Hongwei truly was a rotten shoot growing from good bamboo. Completely hopeless.
Zhang Yunqing swept her gaze over him from head to toe with open disdain.
“Chairman Mao once said women hold up half the sky. Your ideological awareness is seriously lacking. In the future, don’t tell people you’re my elder brother. It’s embarrassing.”
Before going to sleep, Zhang Yunqing recalled the livid expression on Zhang Hongwei’s face and drifted off in a wonderfully good mood.
If he dared come provoke her again without knowing his place, she definitely wouldn’t go easy on him.
The next morning—
Zhang Yunqing was wondering why Zhao Pinglan had rushed off in such a hurry right after breakfast.
Only after stepping outside with her cloth bag did she hear Zhao Pinglan’s boastful laughter.
“Oh my, our third girl always had plans of her own since childhood. While other kids were out running wild, she stayed home quietly learning drawing. And just look—when the printing factory recruited workers the other day, they insisted on hiring her.”
“Yesterday we already transferred her grain registration over. Now I can finally relax.”
Because Zhang Junzhong worked as a fitter at the machinery factory, the Zhang family lived in housing originally assigned by the factory when it was first established.
As a result, most of the workers in the alley belonged to the machinery factory and didn’t really know much about the printing factory.
Hearing Zhao Pinglan bragging, everyone was genuinely shocked.
“Oh my, really? Then your Yunqing’s officially eating state grain now!” exclaimed Auntie Liu, who lived at the far end of the alley.
She truly hadn’t expected the usually quiet Third Daughter of the Zhang family—who seemed to spend all day chasing after men—to suddenly become a factory worker.
For a moment, congratulations poured in nonstop.
The pride on Zhao Pinglan’s face was practically impossible to suppress.
It wasn’t as though she had never heard the gossip people spread about her daughter in the alley before.
But when it came to a young girl’s reputation, if people didn’t confront her directly, she couldn’t exactly run around defending her daughter everywhere.
That would only make things worse—like protesting too much.
Now that her daughter had a formal job, let’s see what people still dared say!
Just as she was thinking that, Xu Chunhua from next door suddenly remembered something and slapped her thigh.
“Then your youngest daughter can’t follow that Shen boy to the countryside anymore, right?”
Zhao Pinglan had always despised the Shen family. She and Shen Changlin’s mother, Li Huaihua, had been at odds since they were young.
Over the past few years, Zhang Yunqing chasing after Shen Changlin had given Li Huaihua plenty of opportunities to mock her.
So Zhao Pinglan immediately distanced herself from the matter.
“What nonsense are you talking about? My third daughter wanted to go to the countryside to support national development. It had absolutely nothing to do with that Shen family. If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll really get angry.”
Nobody looked convinced.
They didn’t believe someone could completely change personality just because they got a job.
But now it was certain that Zhang Yunqing would stay in the city, while Shen Changlin was heading off to the far northwest countryside.
Separated by such an enormous distance, once they each married and had children, lingering feelings would become meaningless anyway.
Some of the more quick-witted women immediately seized the opportunity.
“Really? Then that’s perfect. Yunqing isn’t young anymore either. I have a nephew from my maiden family who works at the grain station. Why not let the two young people meet? Maybe our families could become relatives.”
Zhao Pinglan was tempted.
Her eldest son’s marriage now showed promise, and after he got married, it really would be time to think about her youngest daughter.
Besides, the grain station was considered an excellent workplace.
Even though they already had urban household registration and grain rations every month, there was still plenty of room for maneuvering when collecting grain from the station.
If she had a son-in-law working there, other benefits aside, at the very least they would definitely receive the best quality grain available.
And then all the old neighbors around them would have to flatter her too.
Before Zhao Pinglan could reply, Auntie Liu immediately objected.
“Oh, go away. Your nephew’s just a temporary worker. He’s nowhere near good enough for Yunqing.”
And besides, the boy wasn’t even taller than a barrel—just rounder than one.
Yunqing was famously one of the prettiest girls around the machinery factory. If she hadn’t stubbornly fixated on Shen Changlin before, plenty of good young men would have wanted to marry her.
Of course, Auntie Liu only dared think those words privately. Saying them aloud would openly offend someone.
The moment Zhao Pinglan heard he was merely a temporary worker, all her interest vanished instantly.
“Haha, our Third Girl has a mind of her own. I can’t decide for her. Let’s talk about it another time.”
After overhearing this meaningless chatter for a while, Zhang Yunqing shook her head with an amused smile.
She had been wondering why, given Zhao Pinglan’s personality, news of her getting a job hadn’t already spread through the alley yesterday.
So this was the reason.
Zhao Pinglan had waited until the grain registration transfer was complete and everything fully finalized before confidently coming out to show off.
Seeing the women grow increasingly animated, Zhang Yunqing knew she couldn’t delay any longer—work hours couldn’t wait.
So she stepped out into the courtyard and casually interrupted them.
“Mom, I’m heading to work.”
“Alright, alright, go on then. Don’t be late.” Zhao Pinglan was too busy enjoying being the center of attention to say much more, merely nodding absentmindedly.
Even after Zhang Yunqing walked far away, she could still vaguely hear the overlapping chatter of the women behind her.
Because the plate-making workshop was short-handed, production tasks had already been delayed quite badly.
The moment Zhang Xinming confirmed that Zhang Yunqing had mastered operating the offset printer, he immediately called her into the office.
Without wasting words, he tossed a stack of documents at her.
“You already understand the machine’s operating principles. These are all this year’s production assignments for our plate-making workshop. Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day are coming soon, and the factory is waiting for us to produce sample prints.”
In previous years, by June or July they already needed finalized mooncake packaging designs for the food factory, as well as National Day promotional materials.
This year, after purchasing the offset printer, the factory leadership had boldly promised higher authorities that they could provide full-color promotional materials for National Day.
He alone was already swamped drawing promotional materials and had no time left to deal with the food factory’s packaging designs.
Originally, he had planned to let the food factory make do with black-and-white packaging for one more year, then redesign their New Year packaging after he finished his current workload.
Unexpectedly, the food factory directly stated that if they couldn’t handle it, they would simply go to the provincial capital’s printing factory instead.