Chapter 59: You Still Want a House?
“I’m on a mission and can’t come back.”
“If you run into any difficulties, go look for Director Ding Qiang at the police station near your post office. He’s my old comrade-in-arms, and we share a life-and-death bond.”
“I’ve asked Ding Qiang to transfer you to a cadres’ ward.”
“In a moment, I’ll contact Grandfather and have him send over a brain specialist…”
The moment Lin Wan heard the words “brain specialist,” she was scared out of her wits.
“No!”
“No specialists.”
“I’m fine, I can be discharged in a couple of days!”
“You must absolutely never do anything unnecessary!”
If a specialist came, she would have nowhere to hide!
“Things are a bit complicated, it’s not convenient to discuss over the phone.”
“I’ll explain everything to you in detail when you return on home leave!”
In her panic, Lin Wan’s speech quickened drastically. She didn’t sound like a concussion patient at all.
On the other end of the line, Huo Xiao arched an eyebrow. “…”
“If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up. You… you watch out for your safety when you’re out on your mission!”
“Eat properly,” Lin Wan added. Then she hung up the phone.
But the moment she hung up, the phone rang again. Lin Wan instinctively answered it. It was still Huo Xiao.
“Alright, I won’t trouble Grandfather to call a specialist. You must also remember my words—I will back you up.”
“Lin Wan.”
“Watch out for your safety too, and don’t get hurt.”
Click, click, click… The line went dead.
Lin Wan’s brain was tied in knots. She asked the system, “System, do you think Huo Xiao guessed something?”
The system maintained its wooden, expressionless face, responding to her with pure silence. This batch’s host was far too fierce. She wasn’t love-brained, and her career drive was strong, but her methods were just too… How was it supposed to evaluate her?
Huang Guixiang asked Lin Wan, “What did Little Huo say?”
Lin Wan was a bit dazed. “He said I can handle it exactly how I want, and he’ll back me up.”
The smile on Huang Guixiang’s face instantly turned radiant. She clapped her hands and said, “Comrade Little Huo is truly spectacular!”
“Look at you, your eye for men is indeed just as excellent as mine!”
“No, even better than mine!”
“How does that saying go again, something about green and blue?”
Lin Wan: “Green stems from blue yet excels blue—the pupil outshines the master!”
Huang Guixiang burst into loud laughter. “Yes, yes, yes! That’s the exact phrase!”
She looked at Lin Wan with absolute approval and intense pride! She thought to herself: Old Lin, do you see this? Look how smart I’ve raised our daughter to be! This son-in-law is also top-tier.
Returning to the ward, an even greater surprise was waiting for her.
“Hello, Comrade Lin Wan. We met this afternoon. My name is Ding Qiang, Old Huo’s comrade-in-arms. If you don’t mind, may I call you younger sister-in-law?” Ding Qiang, dressed in his uniform, was waiting for her in the ward. Beside him stood a young woman who was currently inspecting Lin Wan. “This is your sister-in-law, Huang Chun!”
Lin Wan immediately beamed with a massive smile. “Hello, Brother Ding, Sister-in-law. Huo Xiao just mentioned Brother Ding on the phone earlier.”
“This is my mom, Comrade Huang Guixiang. She works at the supply and marketing cooperative. If Sister-in-law ever wants to buy hard-to-get items in the future, just look for my mom! My mom will hold them in advance for you!”
Hearing this, Huang Chun’s eyes lit up instantly. “Well, that’s just perfect!”
“Auntie, I’ll truly have to trouble you frequently in the future!”
Hearing that these two were friends of her excellent son-in-law, Huang Guixiang became extraordinarily warm as well, immediately grasping Huang Chun’s hand. “It’s no trouble at all!”
“I thought you looked familiar the moment I saw you; as it turns out, we share the same family name!”
“Once Wanwan is discharged, you two must come over to our house to play!”
Ding Qiang and his wife agreed. Ding Qiang then added, “Auntie, younger sister-in-law, Old Huo had me arrange a cadres’ ward for you. It’s already settled, so let’s move over right now.”
A cadres’ ward? Huang Guixiang was thrilled to bits! Lin Wan was equally delighted.
A private room! That meant she could covertly feast on delicious food! Eating nothing but plain rice porridge had left her mouth completely flavorless.
Huang Guixiang hurriedly packed their things, and Ding Qiang helped carry them. Under the envious gazes of the other patients and their families, they relocated to the cadres’ ward.
Lin Wan was thoroughly satisfied with this room! A private room, complete with a small visitor’s lounge featuring a sofa and a coffee table. It had a private bathroom, a flush toilet, and even a small kitchen! This building had been left behind from before the Liberation. Back then, it was a private hospital opened by foreigners, catering to the wealthy upper class, so the premium wards naturally featured private bathrooms and flush toilets.
Ding Qiang and his wife set down their care packages and left after exchanging a few pleasantries. After all, Lin Wan had a concussion and needed absolute rest.
“Mom, you should hurry back, otherwise my Uncle Zhang will get frantic.” Seeing that it was getting late, Lin Wan urged Huang Guixiang.
“Go to work tomorrow. Big Sister Gao from our unit’s Personnel Section will come to look after me!”
“You’ve only just joined the supply and marketing cooperative, so you can’t leave any handles for others to exploit.” She still needed to use Comrade Huang Guixiang’s name as a cover to covertly sell goods. The salesclerk position had to be strictly protected!
Huang Guixiang replied, “When I went to buy porridge, I placed a call to your Uncle Zhang’s factory. I’m staying here overnight to accompany you.”
“Tomorrow morning, I’ll head straight to work from the hospital on your bicycle. It won’t delay a thing.”
Hearing this, Lin Wan stopped refusing. Instead, she pulled Huang Guixiang close to share her thoughts. Ah! She truly loved this cadres’ ward! No outsiders! It was so much more convenient to whisper secrets!
“Mom, do you think we can use this incident to score a house this time?”
Huang Guixiang, who was currently peeling an apple for Lin Wan, nearly sliced her own finger off! My goodness, how did her daughter dare to dream this big? Wanting a house?
“Why don’t you dream about flying to heaven instead?”
Lin Wan: “Flying to heaven is so simple! In the future, I can even take you to the skies!” Wasn’t it just riding an airplane? She would definitely make it happen for Comrade Huang Guixiang. They’d just have to wait about twenty years?
Huang Guixiang rolled her eyes wildly. “Open your mouth like a lion—they might not even give you a thousand yuan, yet you still want a house!”
Lin Wan: “I want a courtyard! An independent courtyard!”
“One where we can build our own bathhouse and kitchen, so we don’t have to be watched by everyone every time we cook a dish! It makes it so that even when we have cash and coupons in our hands, we don’t dare eat meat for every meal.”
Huang Guixiang opened her mouth. Her daughter indeed possessed the financial strength to eat meat for every meal! Her son-in-law had promised to give her two hundred a month! Plus a ton of supplies!
“It’s dark outside now, so stop daydreaming!” But… it wasn’t entirely impossible. After all, they could extort around a thousand yuan… and trading a thousand yuan for a small courtyard made perfect sense, right? Mm… made sense. Well! She began daydreaming in the dark of night too!
The machinery factory family compound.
Zhang Aimin returned home after working overtime. He hurriedly packed a few pieces of Huang Guixiang’s clothing, grabbed her toiletries, and rushed toward the hospital.
“Dad, what’s wrong?”
“Where’s my Auntie Huang?”
“Where’s Lin Wan?”
Zhang Aimin: “Wanwan was beaten into a concussion by someone, and your Auntie Huang is guarding her. I’m heading over to see her.”
The Zhang Hongqi couple and Zhang Hongjun were stunned upon hearing this.
“Dad, wait for us, we’ll go with you to see Wanwan!”
Zhang Hongqiang instantly bounded up like a rocket. “Who? Which absolute bastard dared to strike my sister! I’ll strangle him to death!”
The entire family rushed toward the hospital in a massive hurry.
Bao Yan and Zhong Hongmei lagged behind, whispering conspiratorially, “Heaven has finally opened its eyes, she actually got beaten!”
“I said it long ago—for someone like her, getting beaten was only a matter of time!”
Zhong Hongmei nodded in deep agreement. “Exactly, a person truly shouldn’t cross the line!”
“The outside world isn’t like home where everyone coddles her!”
