Chapter 62: Sugar-Coated Bullets
For the sake of the milk powder that was twenty yuan cheaper, Big Sister Gao added her own creative flourishes to the script Lin Wan had given her.
She turned up the moral indignation to the absolute maximum!
No joke, twenty yuan was practically equivalent to half a month’s salary for her!
“Director Xu, keep your voices down!”
“Comrade Lin Wan was in absolute agony all night last night. She only just managed to nod off!”
Big Sister Gao stepped out, pulled the door shut behind her, and blocked the doorway, refusing to let Director Xu and the others inside. It was a crystal-clear sign that Comrade Little Lin had no desire to see them.
“Comrade Lin Wan even took a severe tongue-lashing from her mother. When I arrived this morning, I could still hear her mother blaming her, saying she’s a grown adult yet has no idea how to protect herself.”
“When someone strikes her, she doesn’t even know to strike back, let alone file a police report!”
With that, she cast a highly mocking glare at Wang Sufen.
Then she turned the spearhead sharply onto Director Xu: “Director Xu, yesterday Comrade Little Lin repeatedly implored us not to let this matter reach her mother, and specifically requested that the factory tell her mother she was away on a business trip. Are you guys just terrified that Comrade Little Lin might nurse her injury in peace? Is that why you had to trot all the way down to her mother’s unit to flaunt your authority?”
“Anyone who didn’t know the truth would think we’d overnight reverted back to the pre-Liberation era, where the rich and powerful could casually trample and oppress the working people and the working class.”
Big Sister Gao happened to know Director Xu’s eldest brother, so these precise words were directed squarely at him.
Director Xu’s face turned a chaotic shade of green and white; he genuinely wanted to wash his hands of the entire mess.
Xu Hui’s father apologetically handed the mesh bag over to Big Sister Gao. “Comrade Gao, please bring this to Comrade Lin Wan for us. Our trip today is solely to offer her an apology, and to implore her to forgive Huihui.”
“It’s just a misunderstanding between two seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls. We didn’t want things to turn out like this either!”
“We will do our absolute best to compensate Comrade Lin Wan on our end, but I hope she can lift her hand and give my daughter a pass. Otherwise, my daughter’s entire life will be utterly ruined!”
Big Sister Gao accepted the items, letting out a sharp sneer. “Are you trying to say that Comrade Lin Wan is only staying in the hospital for a few days with a concussion, while your daughter is rotting in a prison cell?”
“But what on earth does that have to do with Comrade Lin Wan? From start to finish, Comrade Lin Wan has been the victim. If Xu Hui hadn’t let her hands get itchy, would she have landed inside? Why is it that the moment the words leave your mouths, it all becomes Comrade Lin Wan’s fault? Are you just completely unsatisfied until you’ve beaten Comrade Lin Wan to absolute death?”
Xu Hui’s father was left utterly speechless by the rebuttal. In his heart, that was exactly what he thought—Lin Wan was perfectly fine, yet his daughter had to go to prison. Lin Wan had gone entirely too far.
Wang Sufen couldn’t hold it in any longer, raising her voice sharply: “What the hell does this have to do with you? Who do you think you are? Is it your place to speak?”
“Who do you think you are, a hall monitor? Mind your own business!”
Big Sister Gao rolled her eyes. Wang Sufen’s ugly behavior was truly hideous to behold. “I’m nobody special, but at least my family doesn’t have a daughter rotting in a prison cell!”
Wang Sufen was so enraged she wanted to scratch her face off.
But she was forcefully restrained by Xu Hui’s father, who delivered a ferocious glare to her, warning her in a hushed, intense voice: “We came here to resolve the problem! Not to stir up more trouble!”
Director Xu barked at Big Sister Gao, “Gao Huilan, you’ve crossed the line!”
“How dare you speak like that?”
“The unit sent you here to look after Comrade Lin Wan, not to escalate the conflict!”
“I’ll have to have a proper word with Section Chief Tang when I get back, and ask him exactly how he trains his staff!” The people in the Personnel Section were the absolute worst, constantly opposing him at every single turn!
Big Sister Gao rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine, fine, I’ll shut my trap!”
“But there’s no point in looking for Comrade Lin Wan over this matter anyway. Comrade Lin Wan can’t win an argument against her mother.”
“You should go look for Comrade Huang Guixiang instead!”
With that, she turned back around, stepped inside the ward, shut the door, and locked it from the inside! When she arrived this morning and met with Lin Wan’s mother, Comrade Huang Guixiang had explicitly instructed her that if anyone came looking for her daughter, she should send them straight to her. She would handle them.
Director Xu and the others were driven completely mad with rage!
“This is a cadres’ ward. Since the patient refuses to see you, please leave immediately, otherwise I will call the Security Section!” a nurse stepped up to chase them away.
Ever since he became a leader, this was the very first time Director Xu had been driven out like a stray dog. His mood was exceptionally foul.
Stepping out of the inpatient building.
Director Xu said in pure fury, “Eldest Brother, you saw it for yourself—Eldest Sister-in-law’s attitude is completely unsuited for resolving a problem!”
“In this matter, I am entirely powerless to help anymore.”
“Figure out a way yourselves.” With that, he unlocked his bicycle, hopped on, and peddled away.
Xu Hui’s father stared viciously at Wang Sufen, his face so dark it could practically leak ink. “Take some goods to the supply and marketing cooperative to apologize to Comrade Huang Guixiang. Don’t bring up anything else, just apologize…”
“Forget it, go home!”
“Keep your hands off this matter entirely!” He was terrified. He was terrified that Wang Sufen would ruin things all over again.
Xu Hui’s father headed to the regular inpatient building, where a friend of a friend of his served as a director. Carrying a heavy stride, he went to pull strings to inquire about Lin Wan’s true condition.
“Oh, Big Brother Xu! Are you here to visit a patient?” Director Wang sat behind his office desk. Seeing him enter, he quickly set down his enamel tea mug and stood up to welcome him.
Xu Hui’s father nodded. “Yes, here to visit a patient—a comrade from the post office named Lin Wan.”
“Is her condition severe?”
“I was also entrusted by a friend to help visit her. This young comrade always reports the good news but hides the bad; no matter what you ask her, she always claims she’s fine.” He suspected Lin Wan was faking the illness.
Director Wang quickly replied, “Her? Her concussion is actually quite severe.”
Xu Hui’s father frowned. “It was just a single slap, delivered without much force at all. How did it turn into a severe concussion?” Wang Sufen had been beaten into a total pig’s head by Huang Guixiang, yet she was perfectly fine.
Director Wang said, “This is where you laymen don’t understand. The human brain is the most complex thing.”
“Sometimes the angle or timing is just right, and an issue will arise—it has nothing to do with whether the force used was grand or not!”
“How should I phrase the analogy for you? Take pregnant women, for instance. Some women continue to do manual labor throughout their pregnancy and give birth right in the fields.”
“Yet for some other women, just raising their hand a bit too high can trigger a miscarriage.”
“Phrasing it this way, can you understand?”
Xu Hui’s father: “…”
Director Wang opened his chatterbox: “Comrade Lin Wan’s condition can only be managed through nursing—taking some medication and staying in the hospital for observation for a while.”
“Though I did happen to hear a piece of gossip regarding her family…”
Xu Hui’s father’s interest was instantly piqued. “What gossip?”
Director Wang Related it with absolute fervor: “I heard that she belongs to a blended family, and her stepbrothers and sisters-in-law want to kick the mother and daughter out…”
“Right now, her mom is frantically searching for a house in pure panic!”
“She’s terrified that if they continue to stay there, someone might slip rat poison into their food…”
Xu Hui’s father: “!!!”
A house? He worked precisely at the Housing Management Bureau! Furthermore, he happened to hold a small courtyard right in his hands! Having secured a heavy counter-chip, Xu Hui’s father instantly felt a surge of confidence. He rushed off to the supply and marketing cooperative in a massive hurry to look for Huang Guixiang.
Director Jiang lent them his office to discuss the matter.
Huang Guixiang said, “Don’t waste your breath, I will absolutely never withdraw the case!”
Xu Hui’s father: “Comrade Huang Guixiang, I won’t beat around the bush with you either.”
“I will trade a courtyard house in exchange for you withdrawing the lawsuit!” He truly lacked the time to play games. The longer this matter dragged out, the worse the negative impact would become, and it was highly detrimental to his own standing as well! If his daughter genuinely went to prison, his official career would reach a total dead end. It might even be weaponized by individuals with ulterior motives to bring him down completely.
Huang Guixiang: “Pfft…” The tea she had just taken into her mouth was sprayed right out.
What? Giving a house? The absolute daydream Wanwan had spun during the night had actually come true?
Huang Guixiang scoffed, “I don’t want a house, I want justice! Your wife used authority to pressure me, and your daughter bullied my daughter. Your entire family is practicing pure bureaucratism…”
Xu Hui’s father said with a trace of irritation, “I’ll add another eight hundred yuan in compensation.”
“This matter is entirely our fault, and I sincerely implore your forgiveness!”
Huang Guixiang: “Are you trying to use sugar-coated bullets to corrupt the working people?”
Bring on more of them! Don’t you dare show me mercy! Please use sugar-coated bullets to blast me to absolute pieces! The rapid-fire kind!
