Chapter 63: Discrete Support
Huang Guixiang requested time off to go look at the house with Xu Hui’s father.
The courtyard was located right between the Red Star Machinery Factory and the Tuanjie Office, inside a large two-entry traditional compound.
The first entry of the compound housed seven families. Even the reverse-facing rooms near the entrance were occupied by two households. The second entry at the back housed four families.
The house owned by Xu Hui’s father was in the second entry, occupying the prime position of the main northern house, which faced south—a highly desirable orientation.
It consisted of three main rooms plus an attached side room. In addition, two auxiliary rooms had been built within a ten-square-meter privately walled section of the courtyard. One could be turned into a kitchen, and the other could be made into a washroom.
The paint on the doors and windows was fresh. The furniture inside was brand new as well.
Huang Guixiang was satisfied beyond measure.
She immediately rushed home to grab their household registration booklet and other documents, then went to the housing management office with Xu Hui’s father to finalize the property transfer.
Holding the official housing deed in her hands, Huang Guixiang’s fingers were trembling.
Oh my goodness! A whole house, just like that, had landed in her possession! A house this spacious!
Ahhhh! How did she manage to pull this off?
On top of that, she received eight hundred yuan in cash, along with fifty jin of grain coupons, two meters of cloth coupons, twenty industrial coupons, one sewing machine coupon, and one bicycle coupon.
Huang Guixiang nimbly hurried over to the police station to withdraw the case.
Ding Qiang happened to be at the station. Instead of processing it immediately, he called Huang Guixiang to the side. “Auntie, did they pressure you?”
“If they did, don’t be afraid. With me here, I won’t let you suffer a loss!”
Huang Guixiang wanted to cry. She was pressured. Pressured by sugar-coated bullets!
“Wanwan said that Xu Hui’s older brother, Xu Huaiming, is Little Huo’s comrade-in-arms. Since he’s Little Huo’s brother-in-arms and they’ve offered a sincere apology, let’s just drop the matter!”
“Otherwise, it won’t be easy for Little Huo to face his comrade.”
Ding Qiang figured that Xu Huaiming must have gone to beg Huo Xiao. Thus, he handled the withdrawal smoothly and efficiently.
Having witnessed the official withdrawal of the case with his own eyes, Xu Hui’s father went to the detention center to pick up Xu Hui, finally letting out a massive sigh of relief.
Ding Qiang turned around and placed a call to Huo Xiao. “Old Huo, did Xu Huaiming beg you? Your mother-in-law just came to withdraw the case.”
“Your wife really suffered a grievance in this matter, but letting it drop for your sake proves she is virtuous and magnanimous.”
Huo Xiao arched his eyebrows slightly. He offered a few vague responses before hanging up the phone.
In reality, Xu Huaiming had come to look for him. But he had refused.
After hanging up, Huo Xiao headed straight to the division headquarters.
“Reporting!”
The moment Commander Gu saw him, his eyes practically vanished into a beaming smile. “Little Huo, hurry inside! I just got off the phone with the old chief.”
“The old chief asked me if I’ve met your wife yet. When are you going to arrange for her to accompany the military?”
Huo Xiao shut the door and walked over to the sofa with Commander Gu to sit down.
“She has only just started working, and her enthusiasm and drive for her job are still very high. We’ll wait until she has worked for a while before discussing it.”
“Besides, my operational duties over the next two years are quite heavy. Even if she accompanies the military, she won’t see hide nor hair of me. It’s better to wait a bit!”
“My main purpose in coming today is to put forward two suggestions regarding the upcoming military exercise.”
“I have noticed that because we haven’t fought a war or engaged in real combat for a long time, the vigilance of some comrades has severely declined!”
“If this continues over the long term, it will give enemy agents plenty of opportunities to exploit.”
“I suggest that for this exercise, we insert a ‘lurker’ role into both the Red and Blue factions. They will be responsible for disrupting and misleading the commanders’ situational awareness… The exercise should evaluate not only the officers’ ability to command and deploy troops in battle, but also their ability to discern and judge information…”
Commander Gu listened to Huo Xiao’s suggestions with a solemn expression, nodding continuously. He felt that Huo Xiao’s suggestion was exceptionally brilliant!
Indeed! Countless invisible enemies lurked within their ranks. Using this exercise to sound a wake-up call for everyone was highly feasible!
“I think it works!”
“Don’t leave just yet. I’ll notify the others to hold a meeting. You participate in it and explain the details thoroughly to everyone.”
Huo Xiao nodded.
For this military exercise, both Guo Xuyang and Xu Huaiming were scheduled to participate as commanders. The outcome would directly dictate their promotion or transition out of active service.
Upon returning to his regiment, he placed a call to Lin Wan.
“Are you feeling better today?”
Lin Wan glanced at the nurse who was smiling at her, then offered a soft confirmation. “Much better.”
Huo Xiao: “Mom withdrew the case?”
Lin Wan felt a surge of panic. “Yes, she withdrew it. Who told her brother to be your comrade-in-arms? Mom withdrew it purely for the sake of your reputation. Otherwise, no matter what conditions they offered, Mom would never have agreed.”
Huo Xiao remained silent for a long moment.
Lin Wan had no idea whether he believed her or not. Just as she was racking her brains for a way to hoodwink him… cough, explain further, she heard the man’s deep, low voice drift from the receiver:
“Thank Mom for me.”
“It’s getting late, get some rest.”
Click, click, click…
Lin Wan: “…” Was this man calling to show concern for her, or was he calling to test her? Forget it, who cares! Anyway, the house was secured.
Back in the ward.
Huang Guixiang was happily peeling an apple for Lin Wan, the peel coming off incredibly thin and long.
Zhang Hongqiang was highly dissatisfied. “Mom, you should at least leave a bit of fruit flesh on it!” The peeled skin was absolutely not to be wasted; Zhang Hongqiang was responsible for eating it.
In this split second, Lin Wan felt that this cheap younger brother of hers bore the distinct visual vibe of a little trash bin.
She generously handed a whole apple to Zhang Hongqiang. “Stop eating the peel, go gnaw on this!”
Zhang Hongqiang caught the apple, tucked both hands behind his back, stiffened his little face, and lifted his chin. “You, comrade, have only lived a few days of good life and you’re already acting wasteful? Throwing away apple peel just because you don’t want it?”
“Let me tell you, the apple is mine, and the apple peel is mine too!”
Lin Wan was thoroughly amused by him. Huang Guixiang delivered a light kick to his leg! Zhang Hongqiang wailed dramatically in response.
She stuffed some cash and coupons into Zhang Hongqiang’s hands. “Go meet your dad when he clocks off from work, then take him to the state-owned restaurant to buy dinner. Buy a portion of chicken soup for your sister, a portion of konjac braised duck, and a portion of boiled fish…”
Having sent Zhang Hongqiang away, Huang Guixiang sliced the apple into small pieces, removed the core, and used a fruit knife to spear a piece to hand to Lin Wan.
She related to Lin Wan in an absolute beam of delight: “That house is genuinely excellent. I’ve asked around about the neighbors too; they all hold respectable jobs. Other large compounds house twenty or thirty families, but this compound only houses eleven in total!”
“The house is spacious, and it features a courtyard!”
“The rooms are grand too. The central parlor is around seven or eight square meters, the main room is six or seven square meters, and even the attached side room is a solid five or six square meters wide!”
“It’s nothing like the housing at the machinery factory. Even though those are apartments, the area is tiny!”
“The partitioned rooms can barely fit a bed with no space left for anything else, making it hard for a person to even turn around inside…” Oh boy, her daughter was simply too formidable!
“I thought it would drag out for many days, but who could have guessed he would offer a house right out of the gate! Later on, we’ll claim that the house was rented with the help of your husband, and we’ll tell your Uncle Zhang the exact same thing.”
Lin Wan quickly nodded and agreed.
Huang Guixiang added with absolute bliss, “He also compensated me with eight hundred yuan and a big stack of coupons… You keep all this cash and coupons!”
“Oh my, my head is still dazed even now. Why do you think he was so incredibly prompt?”
Lin Wan took half of it. “Share half upon meeting! Mom, you took the fall, so you get the larger half!”
She counted out another ten “Great Unity” bills and handed them to Huang Guixiang. “He is a cadre. If Xu Hui’s problem isn’t resolved, it will definitely affect his career! He faced a closed door when he came to the hospital, so he was bound to find a way to inquire about me. The groundwork I had Hongqiang lay last night took effect perfectly!”
But Xu Hui’s father was indeed a bit too straightforward. Just like Guo Xuyang’s mother!
So, she had started out by shafting the male lead out of a job, and now she had shafted the female lead out of a house? Hehehe~ It felt pretty fulfilling! As expected, to get rich quick, one still had to rely on pitting villains against villains! Bah! Hers wasn’t called pitting villains; it was called vindicating justice! She wasn’t doing it for the compensation; she was kindly teaching the male and female leads how to behave, hoping they would learn their lesson and never flout their antics in front of her again.
Huang Guixiang didn’t engage in back-and-forth politeness with her own biological daughter, since she had already made up her mind that this money would ultimately be spent on her daughter anyway.
The Xu family home.
“Sister!”
“Brother-in-law!”
“Didn’t we agree that the house would be given to me for my wedding? Why did you go back on your word and refuse to give it to me?” Wang Sufen’s younger brother, Wang Jinbao, ran into the Xu home in a raging fit, blasting the bruised and swollen Wang Sufen right out of the gate.
Wang Sufen was completely flabbergasted.
What the hell? The house wasn’t being given to her brother anymore?
“Xu Guandong, what do you mean by this? I only have this one younger brother. If you have an issue, direct it at me. You are not allowed to take your anger out on my brother!”
