Chapter 49
“What? You’re talking about Division Commander Pan’s daughter?” A sister-in-law slapped her thigh and sighed, “What is this? If I’d known earlier that it was Division Commander Pan’s daughter, I never would have believed it!”
“Exactly!”
“Exactly!”
“Even my husband has to put on a smiling face when he sees a leader’s daughter. Why, who would dare put on airs as an elder in front of a leader’s daughter?”
Once the crowd heard that the subject of the gossip was actually the leader’s daughter, they immediately switched sides and began to denounce Xia Hehua together.
“The Fan family’s wife loves to gossip the most, talking about people behind their backs all day long.”
“Division Commander Pan’s daughter is only eighteen, how could she possibly have anything going on with Regimental Commander Zhao? Old Zhao must be forty by now.”
“As for our Old Zhao, I can’t say much else, but he’s the most honest man there is!”
“It’s all just Xia Hehua spouting nonsense.”
Seeing that they were numerous and powerful, Xia Hehua, though wise enough to retreat and close her door in time, didn’t leave. Like a gecko, she pressed herself against the door panel, eavesdropping the whole time.
Hearing everyone starting to denounce her, she got anxious, slapped the door twice in anger, and blurted out indiscriminately: “So what if she’s the Division Commander’s daughter? Can’t a Division Commander’s daughter hook up with men?”
The crowd outside the door went silent.
Actually, this kind of rhetoric wouldn’t be a big problem back in the village.
“So what if she’s the village head’s daughter? Can’t a village head’s daughter hook up with others?”
Usually, if the village head heard that, he’d just put his hands on his hips and curse, or the village head’s wife would go up and tear at the long-tongued woman’s mouth. The two women would jump up and down, poking the air with their fingers while cursing each other.
But now everyone has moved to the city, and this is the Military Unit’s Residential Compound.
When everyone was denouncing Xia Hehua, Qiao Wei couldn’t get a word in. One reason was that she wasn’t very familiar with them, and the other was that she hadn’t yet adapted to their common rhetoric and tone.
But at this moment, Qiao Wei spoke up.
She looked serious: “Everyone heard it, right?”
She said to Sister Yang: “Sister-in-law, take note of who is here today. If Division Commander Pan asks about this later, we will have witnesses.”
“Sigh, it’s just women bickering, no need to disturb Division Commander Pan, right?” Someone stepped out to mediate.
Because they had all spread rumors before, none of them wanted things to escalate.
But Qiao Wei said: “I heard that Division Commander Pan’s wife is in poor health and has been recuperating in The Capital. His daughter, a young girl, instead of enjoying life in The Capital, traveled all this way to our small place to join the Military Unit and serve the country. If we, as aunts, hear someone splashing filth on such a fine girl and don’t stand up for her, how is that girl supposed to live?”
Xia Hehua, listening at the door, felt it was bad, so she suddenly pulled the door open, flustered and exasperated: “What nonsense are you spouting! I wasn’t talking about Division Commander Pan’s daughter, I was talking about Yang Zhaodi’s husband fooling around!”
Sister Yang is Yang Zhaodi.
Upon hearing this, she flew into a rage, jumped up, and wanted to argue with Xia Hehua again.
Qiao Wei held her down and shook her head slightly.
She said to Xia Hehua: “What you said won’t disappear just because you deny it. Everyone was deceived by you before, but they won’t be fooled by you again.”
She distanced the crowd from the situation, and everyone immediately became firm in their stance: “Right! It was all what she said, that’s why I believed it.”
Xia Hehua still wanted to be unreasonable and make trouble.
Qiao Wei pulled Sister Yang away. The main culprit had already been found, and the truth had been clarified to the participating crowd, so there was no need to continue with meaningless quarreling.
Xia Hehua was so angry she stamped her feet on the spot. After cursing a few times, she finally realized: “Who is she?”
She wasn’t familiar with Qiao Wei at all.
She clearly remembered the way she bullied other people’s children at the Kindergarten, but she didn’t know Qiao Wei at all.
The original owner really didn’t like socializing with these rural family members, so much so that many people really didn’t know her.
But there were a few who knew her: “She is Regimental Commander Yan’s wife.”
“Which Yan?”
There are many people with the same surname in the Military Unit, so just saying the surname requires asking which one.
That person replied: “The youngest Regimental Commander in our Military District.”
Suddenly everyone realized: “Oh, him!”
“Why did I hear he married a troublesome woman?”
“…Listen to what you’re saying? Which eye of yours saw her being troublesome?”
They didn’t have much education; most of them were like Sister Yang, some hadn’t even attended school, and the few characters they knew were learned in the commune literacy class.
When Qiao Wei spoke, she sounded like a cadre, and they couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe.
“I heard she’s an educated person from the city.”
“No wonder.”
“So what if she’s an educated person! None of her business! My business with Sister Yang, why does she have to stick her nose in!” Xia Hehua put her hands on her hips, jumped up and down, and spat.
Recently, the Military District was conducting salary grading, and there were some spots for salary increases, with priority given to older cadres among those of the same rank. Among the few people selected for assessment, there was her husband, others, and also Sister Yang’s husband, Zhao Dongsheng.
Because she had pushed Sister Yang back then, causing Sister Yang to almost have a miscarriage, she had lost her job. Later, the Military Unit never arranged a new job for her, and with one less salary, she felt it was all Sister Yang’s fault, so she held a grudge.
People who sleep in the same bed are of the same kind. Since she was this kind of person, her husband was also a gossip.
In the evening, when he returned home, he gossiped about the comrades on the selection list, and one sentence was: “You know Division Commander Pan’s daughter has joined our Military District, right? I saw Old Zhao smiling at her like a flower today.”
This was actually just one sentence in his gossiping; besides Regimental Commander Zhao, he also blabbered about other people’s affairs.
However, since Xia Hehua had an old grudge with Sister Yang and knew that the number of grading spots was limited this time, and that Regimental Commander Zhao was in a competitive relationship with her own husband, she singled out this one sentence, replaced “Division Commander Pan’s daughter” with “the new female soldier,” and took it to the public toilet to gossip with others.
It was passed around a few people and was heard by Sister Yang at the Farmers Market.
When everyone heard her say this, they exchanged glances.
Actually, if only Sister Yang had come today, they would all have felt that this matter would end with two women quarreling and cursing at each other. But that Regimental Commander Yan’s wife spoke with such stern dignity that it gave people a bad premonition.
Everyone didn’t want to get involved in this, so they exchanged glances, no one picked up on Xia Hehua’s words, and they scattered like birds and beasts.
Xia Hehua was so angry that she stretched her neck and spat several times at her own doorstep.
But when her husband returned in the evening, she didn’t tell him about this.
She was a person used to quarreling in the village and didn’t take this matter seriously. If she talked about it, she would just get scolded, so why say it? She wasn’t stupid.
She didn’t even mention it.
Regimental Commander Fan had no idea.
Other cadres in the Residential Compound had already learned about this from their own wives, and the smart ones all said: “Don’t get involved.”
The women asked: “Then what if it really reaches Division Commander Pan and we are called in for questioning?”
The men: “Why, do you still want to lie to Division Commander Pan for that troublesome woman from the Fan family?”
“That’s impossible,” the women said, “She even twisted our child’s arm before.”
On the other side, in the old family residential area, after dinner, Regimental Commander Zhao and his wife, and Yan Lei and Qiao Wei, the four of them gathered together to discuss this matter.
“That was her exact words,” Qiao Wei said, “I think you can directly convey it to Division Commander Pan.”
Previously, it could be said that she was completely treating this matter from a standpoint of self-interest.
Regimental Commander Zhao had a good relationship with Yan Lei, Sister Yang was a truly nice person, and the other party was an unknown. Of course, Qiao Wei had to stand on the side of the people she was close to.
But Xia Hehua splashing filth and spreading lewd rumors about a young teenage girl from Division Commander Pan’s family directly crossed Qiao Wei’s bottom line.
Qiao Wei now had subjective emotions when facing this matter.
“Did she really say that?” Yan Lei asked.
Sister Yang hurriedly said: “Many people heard it.”
Qiao Wei added: “And I asked Sister-in-law to note down who was present. Right, Sister-in-law?”
Sister Yang counted on her fingers: “The Lin family’s, the Li family’s, the Sun family’s, and the other Sun family’s…”
Regimental Commander Zhao and Yan Lei exchanged a look.
“Then I…” he said.
Yan Lei stood up: “Together.”
Both men stood up.
Qiao Wei was slightly surprised: “Are we going now?”
Yan Lei said: “Since it has reached someone’s daughter, let’s not discuss this kind of thing in the office. Let’s talk about it privately.”
Sister Yang asked: “Go to Division Commander Pan’s house?”
With the Division Commander being such a high-ranking official, Sister Yang was still a bit anxious.
“Yes,” Yan Lei said, “You all go together.”
Sister Yang: “Huh?”
Qiao Wei stood up: “Let’s go, Sister-in-law. Xia Hehua is spreading rumors about someone’s daughter; it’s not appropriate for the two men to bring it up, so we have to say it.”
Sister Yang could stand with her hands on her hips and curse at Xia Hehua for hours, but as soon as it was mentioned that she had to face a leader, she got nervous.
“Sister-in-law, your sister-in-law isn’t good at speaking,” Regimental Commander Zhao said, “I’ll be counting on you later.”
Sister Yang hurriedly said: “Right, right, right, counting on you.”
Qiao Wei agreed: “Okay.”
Division Commander Pan lived in the New Residential Compound, in a location further inside.
The configuration for a division-level cadre is a small one-story building. Although the appearance of this small building was very, very tacky in Qiao Wei’s opinion, it was still a small one-story building.
In this era, it was still quite high-end.
And there was even a guard.
Division Commander Pan was a bit surprised that Yan Lei and Regimental Commander Zhao came together, bringing their respective spouses. But he knew that his subordinates wouldn’t just drop by for no reason.
There must be something going on.
He asked the guard to serve tea.
Division Commander Pan’s home was quite disappointing to Qiao Wei.
She had really hoped to see a sofa. As it turned out, what Division Commander Pan had in his home were the Chinese-style benches commonly seen in rural areas of later generations.
Moreover, in later generations, people would custom-make regal-looking cushions and backrests for this kind of Chinese-style sofa, but the one in Division Commander Pan’s home just had three thin, hand-sewn little square cushions placed on the wood, and everything else was wood, hard as rock.
This really was a hard-as-rock era.
Division Commander Pan asked them kindly: “What’s the matter?”
Yan Lei said: “Let my wife tell you.”
Division Commander Pan’s gaze swept over. He had seen this girl when Yan Lei got married. She was quiet and didn’t like to talk much. Later, he didn’t see her much. After the New Residential Compound was built, they all moved here, but some with high awareness, like Yan Lei, stayed in the old family residential area, so he saw her even less.
But he had always known that Yan Lei’s wife had a bad reputation.
Men would also gossip when they gathered together, especially since Yan Lei was a married man who ate at the Cafeteria every day. People had always been talking about it behind his back.
But today, Division Commander Pan felt that Yan Lei’s wife was not quite the same as in his impression.
This female comrade’s eyes were very bright, and she wasn’t flustered at all in front of him, unlike Little Zhao’s wife who was so nervous she didn’t know where to put her hands.
Yan Lei let her speak. She leaned forward slightly and said, “Division Commander, it’s like this…” and then clearly explained the whole process.
Division Commander Pan was, of course, very clear about the quality of the family members. But this time, it actually came down to his daughter.
Fortunately, his daughter lived in the Military Unit barracks; otherwise, she would be furious if she heard it.
After Qiao Wei finished speaking, she saw that Division Commander Pan’s expression hadn’t changed at all; he was a leader with excellent self-control.
Of course, having good self-control didn’t mean he really had no emotions; whose daughter could be talked about like this without the father getting angry? She could still feel the suppressed anger beneath Division Commander Pan’s calm exterior.
“We originally went to clear Regimental Commander Zhao’s name,” she said, “I didn’t expect her to say such things in public. It was too nasty.”
“I told Sister-in-law Zhao on the spot to remember who was present. Everyone is a reasonable person; Xia Hehua just has no filter, but everyone won’t spread rumors.”
“But it still affected your daughter, so I had to report it to you, which is why we came.”
It was best for a woman to come forward and bring this matter up.
If Regimental Commander Zhao said it himself, although he was indeed on the side of justice, it would inevitably give people the impression of being overly petty or snitching behind people’s backs.
By having a woman say it, it could weaken this feeling and reinforce the fact that he was the victim.
“You did very well,” Division Commander Pan said, “Who was there?”
Everyone looked at Sister Yang. Sister Yang had been reciting it the whole way, and even at the last minute, she was still stuttering, but she had managed to remember it all.
Division Commander Pan nodded: “This kind of atmosphere is very bad. If cadres cannot properly restrain their family members, it will cause the masses to have a negative impression of the Military Unit’s officers and soldiers.”
Yan Lei and Regimental Commander Zhao both nodded: “Yes.”
Division Commander Pan affirmed them both: “You two have both done well.”
He then showed a kind smile to the family members: “Comrade Little Qiao and Comrade Yang are also very good and have the mental outlook that military families should have. Keep it up and set a good example for everyone.”
Qiao Wei smiled: “You flatter us, we certainly will.”
Sister Yang followed her and said: “Certainly, certainly.”
Division Commander Pan saw them to the door, turned back, and sat down on the hard wooden sofa.
The tea had cooled, and the guard added hot water for him.
Division Commander Pan blew on the steam: “Little Yan’s wife is not bad.”
The guard smiled: “I think so too. Why does everyone say she’s bad? Isn’t she quite good?”
“Perhaps it’s a case of the tallest tree in the forest being destroyed by the wind; she’s envied by others.” Division Commander Pan shook his head and sipped his tea.
“Is Little Yan applying for a job for her?”
“Yes.”
“Keep an eye on it, if there are any good positions, give her priority.”
“Okay.”
Division Commander Pan took another sip of tea, raised his eyes, and there was a storm hidden in his gaze.
His beloved daughter was being splashed with filth and gossiped about right under his nose; which father wouldn’t be angry?
“Go and call Fan Shigui to me.”
