Chapter 120: Niu Fangli
“Director, my future husband is a soldier, and I will have to follow him when the time comes.”
Director Li felt a wave of despair wash over him. His most reliable and trusted subordinate was leaving to join the army, and there was absolutely no way he could stop her. He could hardly demand that a young woman refuse marriage or give up on her husband just to stick around the office.
Left with no other option, he could only bow to the inevitable.
“Follow the army…” Director Li looked as miserable as if he had just swallowed a fly. He truly did not want to lose such a brilliant worker.
“Yes, my future husband is stationed in the northern regiment under the Capital Military Region, so I can only…” Wanyan offered her formal excuse. With this explanation, Director Li would have to let her go.
“I understand.” Director Li sighed, knowing she had no real choice. After all, who would willingly give up such a coveted, comfortable city job without a massive life change? If it weren’t for her marriage, a highly dedicated employee like Comrade Sheng Wanyan would never have made such a decision.
“Comrade Sheng Wanyan, in that case, I can only wish you a beautiful wedding and a spectacular future.” Director Li stood up, offering his blessings straight from the heart. Wanyan smiled and offered a polite nod.
Director Li kept the news quiet at first, but by mid-May, he officially brought the matter up with the rest of the Propaganda Department. After all, with a new clerk arriving to take over the post, the team needed time to adjust mentally.
The person most devastated by the news was Wu Jiaxiu. The two girls had spent months trading supplies, whispering about office drama, and becoming genuine friends. Wu Jiaxiu always shared the juicy local gossip with Wanyan before anyone else.
On the flip side, the person who found the news most unbelievable—and most delightful—was Niu Fangli. She had assumed that even if she herself grew old and retired at the mill, Sheng Wanyan would remain anchored to her desk. Yet here the girl was, resigning her position to move to a desolate, faraway military base without a secure job of her own. Since Wanyan’s parents would be left behind in Chengdu, Niu Fangli gleefully concluded that the girl would inevitably be isolated and mistreated by her new in-laws. Wanyan was essentially walking into her own doom without anyone even having to push her. Just thinking about it made Niu Fangli want to celebrate.
“The incoming clerk is Comrade Sheng Wanyan’s relative,” Director Li announced to the room. “She is practically part of our extended factory family. I expect everyone to cooperate fully and maintain a harmonious workspace moving forward.”
“Understood, Director Li.”
The literal second Director Li stepped out of the office, Wu Jiaxiu clutched Wanyan’s hand, her eyes wide with reluctance. “Wanyan, isn’t this far too sudden? If you leave, what am I supposed to do here all by myself?”
Wu Jiaxiu hated the thought of her leaving, but marriage was one of life’s ultimate milestones; no one had the right to stand in the way.
“We can always write to each other,” Wanyan comforted her softly. “You can pour your heart out in the letters. Besides, once I’m settled, I might need to rely on you to keep an eye on my family.”
The moment the words left Wanyan’s mouth, Wu Jiaxiu caught the underlying implication: even from a distance, Wanyan would maintain a channel to mail her the black-market supplies she needed. Wu Jiaxiu realized she had vastly underestimated the girl’s resourcefulness; she had originally assumed Wanyan’s network was strictly limited to local Chengdu contacts, but it was clear her connections stretched far deeper.
“Put your heart at total rest,” Wu Jiaxiu whispered, dropping her voice so low only the two of them could hear. “I’ll make it a point to visit your apartment regularly, especially before the winter freeze sets in to ensure they have everything they need.”
Wanyan smiled and nodded in agreement. This explicit arrangement was precisely why she was willing to maintain a long-distance supply line for Wu Jiaxiu. Once she relocated to the north, her family would consist solely of four elderly relatives. She needed a reliable local ally who held a vested, material interest in the Sheng family’s well-being to check on them routinely. When mutual benefits were locked into a relationship, people were naturally infinitely more attentive.
Meanwhile, Niu Fangli’s mood had completely transformed. Beaming with newfound satisfaction, she strutted over to join their conversation.
“Comrade Sheng Wanyan, congratulations on your upcoming wedding! But isn’t it an absolute crying shame to throw away a premier job like this?”
“I am already twenty-one years old,” Wanyan replied smoothly. “It is entirely the proper time for me to establish a household.”
“That may be true, but your parents are ordinary industrial workers,” Niu Fangli sneered, her tone laced with faux concern. “What exact position does your groom hold in the regiments? I’ve heard horror stories about girls marrying common soldiers; they end up marooned on a tiny base, forced to share a cramped room with a mountain of in-laws and sisters-in-law. They spend every waking hour washing clothes, cooking, and serving their elders. It’s incredibly difficult to secure a civilian job quota on a base, and staying trapped at home without an income is miserable.
“Furthermore,” Niu Fangli continued, hitting her stride, “those soldiers are constantly deployed on missions for weeks at a time, and their entire salaries are usually controlled by the patriarchs back home. Being a military wife is far less glamorous than people think. If you want my advice, you’d be infinitely better off finding a local worker in Chengdu. At least with your parents nearby, you’d have a safe haven to run to when you’re wronged.”
Hearing the malicious underlying insults, Wu Jiaxiu’s temper flared. She stepped forward, entirely prepared to launch into a fierce argument to defend Wanyan. How dare this woman curse Wanyan to face a miserable, subservient marriage?
Wanyan swiftly caught Wu Jiaxiu by the arm, restraining her. Wu Jiaxiu was already nearly three months pregnant; if the stress of a physical or verbal altercation with Niu Fangli caused her to suffer a medical emergency, the consequences would be catastrophic.
“Sister Fangli, I appreciate your intense concern for my future,” Wanyan said, her voice turning razor-sharp as she turned to face her antagonist. “However, my future parents-in-law hold prominent executive careers of their own back in the Capital and reside in private housing allocated directly by the central government. They require zero domestic service from me. As for my fiancé, he is merely a deputy regiment commander. The state has already allocated us a private, three-bedroom apartment on the base, which will suit us perfectly.
“I won’t face a single drop of isolation as a military wife, either,” Wanyan added, a cold smile playing on her lips. “My biological brother happens to serve as a battalion commander within that exact same military unit, and my sister-in-law resides within the very same compound. I am stepping into a thriving family circle. Therefore, the grim scenario you just mapped out, Sister Fangli, has zero structural possibility of happening to me. I suggest you focus your energy on managing your own small plot of land instead.”
Wanyan didn’t bother sparing her feelings. She was stepping away from the factory in a matter of weeks anyway; there was absolutely zero incentive to tolerate the woman’s passive-aggressive malice.
Niu Fangli stood entirely paralyzed, her mouth hanging open in stunned silence. She truly hadn’t anticipated that Sheng Wanyan’s marital luck could be this astronomical.
The girl was marrying a deputy regiment commander! In the hierarchy of the military, a regiment leader wasn’t just a common soldier—that was a powerful, high-ranking official!
Down in her mother’s ancestral village, there was a family whose son had managed to achieve the rank of deputy battalion commander, and the entire village treated them like royalty. Every single time that officer returned on leave, he carted home an immense mountain of elite luxury goods and rare imports. A deputy regiment commander occupied a tier multiple steps above a battalion officer.
Worse still for Niu Fangli’s pride, the groom’s family was anchored in the elite circles of the Capital! The capital was a legendary, modern paradise. And from the sound of it, the in-laws were high-ranking state cadres who possessed their own government-issued housing. After the wedding, Wanyan wouldn’t be forced to endure the grueling, traditional labor of serving her husband’s elders; the young couple would simply live an affluent, independent life of luxury.
While Niu Fangli’s own massive, extended family was forced to cram multiple generations into a tiny, suffocating two-bedroom flat, this young girl and her husband were stepping into a sprawling, private three-bedroom apartment all to themselves. The sheer selfishness of the universe made her blood boil; it felt like a personal insult to her own children’s struggles.
“Haha… is that so?” Niu Fangli squeezed the words out through a dry, forced smile. It was the first time Wanyan had ever completely stripped her of her dignity in front of the office, leaving her entirely speechless.
“Hmph,” Niu Fangli sniffed, trying to salvage her pride. “Just make sure that once you relocate to the Capital, you don’t allow those elite city folk to look down on your background.”
“Comrade Niu Fangli, you don’t need to lose sleep over my social standing,” Wanyan countered smoothly, delivering the final blow. “As I mentioned, my biological brother is a sitting battalion commander, and my sister-in-law hails from a prominent, established the Capital lineage. My family has plenty of leverage. I will always have an elite path open to me.”
This was the first time Wanyan had ever explicitly unveiled the true scale of her family’s military connections to the Propaganda Department. Niu Fangli’s chest heaved with suppressed rage and jealousy. Realizing she had been thoroughly outmatched, she slumped back into her office chair with a dark, miserable expression, completely silenced for the rest of the day.
