Chapter 50: The Fierce Huang Guixiang
Until they got back inside their home, their heads were completely buzzing.
When Zhang Aimin learned the news upon returning home, he instantly became as pumped as if he had been injected with chicken blood, completely reversing the withered and dejected state caused by the trouble at his unit.
He excitedly grabbed Huang Guixiang’s arm. “Is it true?”
Huang Guixiang rolled her eyes at him. “As true as it gets! This old woman is officially a salesclerk now! And I have my daughter to thank for this blessing!”
Zhang Hongqi cut in, “Auntie Huang, didn’t you say it was a big sister you met?”
Once the door was shut, Huang Guixiang didn’t bother hiding anything. After all, given Zhang Qin’s whiny temperament, it was highly likely she would come back home to complain one day anyway.
“Zhang Qin’s husband, Guo Xuyang, physically harmed our Wanwan to vent his anger for Zhang Qin, so Wanwan reported it to the public security. Zhang Qin’s mother-in-law wanted to smooth things over and have Wanwan withdraw the case, so she transferred the job allocation meant for Zhang Qin over to me. Because if Wanwan didn’t withdraw the report, her son would have to rot in a prison cell.”
Lin Wan pointed to the pinch marks and scrapes on her wrist. “This is exactly what Guo Xuyang did.”
The couples of the first and second branches: “…”
What on earth was Guo Xuyang thinking? Shouldn’t he have stayed as far away from someone like Lin Wan as possible? Why did he have to lean right into it?
And Zhang Qin… Such a magnificent job, completely thrown away by her own dramatic antics! She was already married, so couldn’t she just live her life in peace? Instigating her own man to take revenge on her behalf…
Huang Guixiang spoke sarcastically, “That Zhang Qin is truly something else. I completely misjudged her in the past. I thought she was a harmless little lamb, but who could have guessed that not only could she make a man break ties with his family on her behalf, but she could even make a man completely disregard his own career just to go look for trouble with her stepsister! Heh~ If they are looking for trouble with our Wanwan today, are they going to look for trouble with you two brothers tomorrow?”
Oh, boy! Say no more! It was genuinely possible! The fact that she could cut ties with her family proved she didn’t value familial affection at all. Judging from the accusations Guo Xuyang hurled on her behalf on the day they severed ties, that sister definitely held a deep hatred for them!
The moods of the couples of the first and second branches turned highly complicated. For a moment, it was hard to say whether they expected to be targeted by their sister and brother-in-law or not. But this matter served as a solid wake-up call for them. That was: no matter what issue they ran into in the future, they absolutely had to report it to the police! Reporting it was the only way to gain leverage to negotiate terms with others!
As for Bao Yan and Zhong Hongmei, they were green with sheer envy! A salesclerk at the supply and marketing cooperative! And a permanent employee at that! An old woman like her—on what merit! It would have been so wonderful if this job could have been given to them instead!
Wait! Huang Guixiang pulling off that dramatic scene earlier was entirely to force the household split! Because the job had already been secured! What a thoroughly despicable pair of mother and daughter!
The two sisters-in-law ground their teeth in pure hatred, yet they were forced to put on smiling faces, suppressing themselves so much they practically developed nodules in their breasts.
Huang Guixiang handed the chicken to Zhang Aimin. “Go chop the chicken and prep the scallions, ginger, and garlic. I’ll handle the stewing. We need to dig out the clay pot; chicken stewed in a clay pot tastes the best!”
Once Lin Wan returned to her room, she fished out a packet of ingredients and stuffed it into Huang Guixiang’s hands. “Mom, these are medicinal herbs for stewing chicken. It has angelica, dangshen, and astragalus, which are excellent for nourishing qi and blood.” In this era of severe scarcity, practically everyone suffered from a deficiency in qi and blood.
“Eldest Brother, Second Brother, we are celebrating my mom securing a job today, so let’s all have a meal together.” Potential customers. Maintaining a decent relationship with them appropriately yielded no harm. Crucially, she needed them to realize that having this job in Zhang Qin’s hands versus Huang Guixiang’s hands was entirely different. If it were in Zhang Qin’s hands, they wouldn’t be able to reap a single cheap advantage. But it was different with Huang Guixiang.
Huang Guixiang delivered a sharp glare to Lin Wan. Lin Wan merely wrapped her arms around her arm and gave it a nudge, and only then did Huang Guixiang refrain from saying anything.
Zhang Hongjun possessed the fastest reaction. He strode toward the door, saying, “Auntie Huang securing a job is a joyous event. I’ll go to the state-owned restaurant to buy an extra dish to celebrate for Auntie Huang. Hongmei, put the rice on! Cook dry rice!”
Zhang Hongqi quickly followed suit. “I’ll go buy a dish to add to the table too. Bao Yan, go to the kitchen to help Auntie Huang bustles around.”
The two brothers stepped out, and the two sisters-in-law also busied themselves respectively.
The aroma of chicken soup soon began to waft through the air. The entire corridor was filled with the delicious scent. Immediately after, the sound of a child being beaten rang out from across the hall. The neighbor across the door was thrashing her child until the kid bellowed wildly.
“Wanting to eat chicken? Why don’t you want to eat shit instead?”
“The proletariat should look exactly like the proletariat!”
“Living like a landlord day in and day out—you are truly turning the natural order upside down!”
“You’ll get your retribution sooner or later!” Old Woman Su from across the door cursed viciously.
Huang Guixiang rolled up her sleeves, pointed straight at their front door, and barked back: “If you want to eat shit, go to the latrine where there’s an endless supply! Don’t go eating it inside the house and polluting the air! Are you trying to choke everyone to death so you can loot the place during the chaos? Let me tell you, this bandit-like ideological awareness of yours is thoroughly uncalled for! Your own man and son are incompetent, refuse to advance themselves, and don’t care about you enough to buy you a chicken to eat, yet you turn around and take out your resentment on other families instead.”
“What’s the matter? This is New China, yet you are still running your life like a maidservant from the old society—who the hell can you blame? Or are you treating yourself like the Empress Dowager Cixi—if you don’t eat meat, no one else is allowed to eat meat either?”
“What kind of ideology is that?”
“Let me tell you, the Qing Dynasty fell long ago!”
“You’ve been thoroughly spoiled with foul habits!”
“Do you actually think you’re the Di San Xian stir-fry from the Northeast—loved by every single person, forcing everyone to live under your expressions?”
“This old woman advises you to let a trash life run a trash course, and stop locking your gaze onto other families’ pots!”
“A tree that doesn’t care about its bark is bound to die, and if you don’t care about your face, someone will naturally slice it off for you!”
“A flashy world dazzles the eyes, but if you lack the strength, don’t go flaunting your face!”
Old Woman Su: “…”
“Oh my, good lord, you’re not letting anyone live anymore…”
Huang Guixiang: “Well, well, Auntie Su, you are engaging in feudal superstitions!”
Gag… Old Auntie Su’s wailing got completely stuck in her throat.
The neighbors: “…” Why on earth did Old Woman Su have to provoke Huang Guixiang for no reason! Did she want to be driven to an absolute grave? She couldn’t out-curse her, and she couldn’t out-fight her, so what exactly was she aiming for!
Bao Yan and Zhong Hongmei, who were busy tidying up the rooms, shrank their necks. Unprovokable. She was truly unprovokable.
Lin Wan silently gave Huang Guixiang a massive thumbs-up. In her heart, she lit a row of candles for the customers of the supply and marketing cooperative. The slogan hanging on the wall of the cooperative: “Beating and insulting customers is strictly forbidden.” It was a complete decoration! No, she had to strictly instruct Comrade Huang Guixiang to take it easy when she went to work.
During dinner that evening.
A massive basin filled to the brim with chicken soup completely intoxicated the members of the Zhang family with its aroma. Medicated chicken soup! A grand nourishment! And the taste was truly spectacular! They absolutely had to drink more!
Coupled with the braised pork purchased by Zhang Hongjun and the twice-cooked pork purchased by Zhang Hongqi—oh boy, the entire family ate until their mouths were practically crooked with satisfaction. The several children buried their heads to gorge themselves, their cheeks completely puffed up like a pack of hamsters.
After finishing the meal, Huang Guixiang set down her chopsticks.
“Regarding this job placement, it’s enough that you keep it to yourselves. Don’t go spreading it around outside.”
“If anyone dares to spout absolute nonsense outside, don’t you dare blame me for disowning my own family!”
The couples of the first and second branches nodded repeatedly.
Lin Wan said with a beaming smile, “Thank goodness it was you who reeled in this job, Mom! In the future, if I want to buy vanishing cream or anything, I won’t have to go push and shove in the queues anymore! Sometimes you don’t even get it even if you manage to push your way through. If the one who secured this job were Zhang Qin, she loathes me so much that she definitely wouldn’t lend me a hand!”
The moment Lin Wan phrased it this way, it instantly jolted the couples of the first and second branches into realization. Exactly! Only with the job in Auntie Huang’s hands could they reap actual material benefits!
Zhang Aimin said, “Don’t bring her up in the future. Just act as if she doesn’t exist!”
“Our Wanwan didn’t even do anything to her, yet she actually found her own man to bully Wanwan…” Zhang Aimin felt exceptionally miserable, harboring deep guilt toward Lin Wan.
Immediately after, he added, “The matter regarding my promotion to a level-eight worker has probably fallen through.”
“Director Tao’s eldest nephew was arrested.”
“Director Tao was implicated as a result, and he has been suspended pending investigation!”
