“Comrade Su Qing,” Han Mei said, her eyes red. “You’ve really misunderstood me. Brother Huaijin and I grew up together. Ever since my divorce, he’s always looked after my daughter and me.”
“Now that he’s away on a mission, and you’ve come to join him, I ought to look after you.”
There was nothing wrong with what she said.
If Han Mei had hidden the challenge in her eyes well enough that Su Qing hadn’t noticed it, Su Qing might have believed her.
“Look after me? In what capacity?” Su Qing said coldly. “As your wife’s concubine or servant?”
“Su Qing, don’t push it.” Seeing Han Mei being bullied like this, Luo Wei stepped forward and shielded her.
She glared at Su Qing and scolded her. “Colonel Zhou only has eyes for Doctor Han. He doesn’t care about a country bumpkin like you at all. Doctor Han isn’t holding this against you, and you still bully her like this?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Luo Wei raised her hand to slap Su Qing.
She was just some country woman. So what if Luo Wei hit her?
Feng Yunce was startled.
Su Qing had gotten into an argument with Luo Wei because of her.
She couldn’t let Su Qing suffer for it.
She squeezed her eyes shut and rushed forward, trying to take the slap for Su Qing.
Su Qing reacted quickly, pulling Feng Yunce aside before striking Luo Wei across the face with the back of her hand.
The sharp crack of the slap rang out.
Feng Yunce felt no pain on her face. She opened her eyes and saw Luo Wei clutching her cheek, looking as if she wanted to swallow Su Qing whole.
In a low voice, she said, “Girl, it’s been years, but you’ve still got it.”
If she’d known Su Qing was such a good fighter, she should have rushed in to hit Luo Wei herself instead of waiting to take a blow.
Luo Wei hadn’t expected the slender-looking Su Qing to hit so hard.
Su Qing had moved too fast. Luo Wei had only just raised her hand, and before she could even reach Su Qing, she’d already been slapped.
Su Qing didn’t answer Feng Yunce. Her cool, striking eyes stayed fixed on Luo Wei as she rolled her wrist.
“Want to keep fighting?”
Luo Wei was furious, but didn’t dare approach her.
Since she couldn’t win, she could only try to save face with her words.
“You shrew! I knew you were from the countryside. You have no manners at all.”
Luo Wei’s shout drew the shoppers nearby over to them.
They’d only come out to buy things, and hadn’t expected to get a front-row seat to such a spectacle.
An older woman reached into her bag, grabbed a handful of the sunflower seeds she’d just bought, and watched as she cracked them one by one.
Su Qing raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with being from the countryside? Without the crops hardworking country folk grow, would you be eating shit?”
The onlookers nodded in agreement.
“That’s right. If farmers didn’t work hard growing crops all year round, where would we get white rice and flour?”
Han Mei had meant to put Su Qing in her place, to make her understand that even if she came to join the army, Zhou Huaijin wouldn’t care about her.
She hadn’t expected things to get this far.
Everyone watching was looking at her and Luo Wei strangely.
Luckily, no one there knew them. Otherwise, it would have been mortifying.
She grabbed Luo Wei by the arm and dragged her away.
Feng Yunce called after them, “Why are you running? I thought you loved a fight. Come on, let’s have another round!”
Su Qing took Feng Yunce to another counter to shop.
She bought a lot of things. In addition to household supplies, she also bought a large table.
There were men with tricycles waiting outside the department store. She gave one of them two yuan and asked him to load everything onto his tricycle and take them back to the military family compound.
Su Qing and Feng Yunce sat in a corner of the tricycle, holding onto one of the table’s legs.
As the driver pedaled toward the military family compound, Su Qing glanced at Feng Yunce. “Are you married?”
Feng Yunce blushed and awkwardly tucked her hair behind her ear. “Might as well not be!”
“What happened?” Su Qing asked, puzzled. “Is it because of Luo Wei?”
Feng Yunce gave a bitter smile.
“When my father was exonerated and brought me back to the city, I couldn’t find work for a long time. We’d just returned, and there was money to spend everywhere. We were living on a very tight budget.”
“A matchmaker came to propose a match. I met Jia Wangchuan twice. He was the director of the Cultural Work Troupe, with a good job and a high salary, so I married him.”
“I didn’t think much about it back then. If I had someone to support me, life would be easier for my father.”
“When we first got married, he treated me well. He even got me a job at the supply cooperative.”
“Later, he started carrying on with Luo Wei from the Cultural Work Troupe. I went there to confront her, and Jia Wangchuan slapped me in front of everyone and made me apologize to Luo Wei.”
Su Qing hadn’t expected Feng Yunce, so outgoing and cheerful, to have such an unhappy marriage.
She wasn’t very good at comforting people, so she took Feng Yunce’s hand. “If you need my help, just ask.”
“Ah!” Feng Yunce laughed. “I’ve made my peace with it. This marriage will have to end sooner or later. Before then, I’m going to earn as much as I can. After we divorce, I probably won’t be able to keep this job, so at least I’ll have some money and won’t be such a burden on my father.”
Su Qing glanced at Feng Yunce. “If I get a chance to make money, I’ll bring you along.”
Feng Yunce gave Su Qing an appraising look, then laughed without a hint of politeness. “How are you going to help me make money when you don’t even have a job?”
“We’re both in the same miserable boat. Our marriages are about equally bad, and sooner or later, we’ll both get divorced.”
Feng Yunce went on, “When Colonel Zhou comes back from his mission, make sure you get his wages before you divorce him. Save as much as you can. You can get a divorce, but keep the money.”
“You should worry about yourself first,” Su Qing said.
She really wasn’t interested in the little bit Zhou Huaijin earned.
When they reached the military family compound, the soldiers on guard at the gate saw how much Su Qing had bought and immediately called over two comrades to help carry everything inside.
Su Qing gave each of them a handful of the fruit candies she’d just bought.
“Zhang Cuihua, you’re too kind. You don’t have to give us candy.”
She’d given each of them a whole handful.
Colonel Zhou’s wife sure was generous.
Su Qing noticed one young soldier staring at the candy in her hand and swallowing hard.
“Then each of you take two pieces. If you don’t, I won’t let you carry anything.”
Only then did each of the young soldiers take two pieces.
“Thank you, Zhang Cuihua.”
Su Qing pointed to the wardrobe and bed in the workroom. “Could you help me move these pieces of furniture down to the storage room?”
After taking her candy, they couldn’t very well refuse.
Without another word, the soldiers carried the furniture down to the storage room.
They also carried in the large table Su Qing had bought.
Su Qing looked around. She’d wanted to buy two large cabinets, too, but hadn’t seen any she liked today.
“Did you buy that for the children to do their homework on?” Feng Yunce asked, looking at the large table.
Su Qing gave a vague reply.
She raised her wrist to check the time. “School’s about to let out. I’m going to pick up the children.”
Feng Yunce went home, too.
When Su Qing reached the school, there were still two minutes before dismissal, so she waited at the gate.
Han Mei had come to pick up her child, too.
When she saw Su Qing, she walked over to her.
Su Qing didn’t want to talk to Han Mei. Whatever was going on between Han Mei and Zhou Huaijin was their business.
She simply moved a few steps to the side.
Han Mei stopped.
“Mommy, boo-hoo!” Du Nianchu came out of the school, saw Han Mei, and ran to her crying.
Han Mei was startled and hurriedly hugged her precious daughter. “Du Nianchu, what’s wrong? Why is your hair such a mess?”
“She hit me.” Du Nianchu pointed at Zhou Wantang, who had just come out of the school.