Chapter 74
Monday morning, when she woke up and looked again, the color of the house’s exterior walls was already lighter than yesterday.
Yan Lei was brushing his teeth, watching Qiao Wei stand in the yard with her hands on her hips, looking up at the house, and found it quite amusing.
After rinsing his mouth, he asked, “Do you regret it?”
“Huh? Regret what?” Qiao Wei turned her head and asked, looking surprised.
“Regretting making it look like this.”
“Pfft,” Qiao Wei said. “You don’t understand.”
Picking vegetables under the east wall, the poet Qiao Yuanming.
You don’t understand the happiness of a corporate slave in the future.
Although this era only had a single day off on weekends, it truly allowed people to rest. Workdays were strictly eight hours, and without special circumstances, there was usually no need for overtime.
Every afternoon, everyone returned home in the sunlight; there was no need to brave the stars and moon.
The evening hours belonged to oneself; every household raised cooking smoke on time, and families could reunite for meals.
So, even though it was Monday and time to start the new week’s work, Qiao Wei had absolutely no resistance or fatigue.
One could even say she arrived at work in high spirits.
As soon as she entered the office, crisp greetings rang out: “Morning!”
Followed immediately by a little milky voice: “Morning, Station Chief, Auntie Hu, Uncle Lu!”
Because Qiao Wei and Lu Manman’s work hours were different from the others—later than the other three—the other three were already sitting at their desks, having brewed a large mug of tea.
Qiao Wei walked in draped in sunlight, and the office echoed with responses of “Morning,” “You’re here,” and “Where did you go to play on Sunday?”
The atmosphere was harmonious.
When the time came, Station Chief Lu carried his tea mug and notebook and went off to a meeting.
No sooner had he left than Lu Manman arrived right on time. Seeing Qiao Wei and Yan Xiang, her expression was a bit complex. But since it was almost time for the broadcast, she went straight to the Broadcasting Station.
After she began rebroadcasting the Central Station’s broadcast, she came out of the Broadcasting Station. Without entering the office, she leaned against the windowsill, poked her body in, and called to Yan Xiang: “Come out~ Come out~ Come play with me~”
Yan Xiang put down his book and ran out, pattering away.
Qiao Wei looked up through the window and saw the two of them sitting on a bench in the yard. Lu Manman took some snacks out of her pocket and opened them for Yan Xiang to eat.
Yan Xiang took them and ate happily.
The two were whispering to each other. Lu Manman’s personality was sometimes like a child’s. Indeed, she wasn’t even twenty yet.
Qiao Wei smiled and lowered her head to read the newspaper.
“Really nothing? Really?” Lu Manman pressed.
“Nothing,” Yan Xiang said while chewing, looking puzzled. “There’s only me in our family. I don’t have any sisters. And there’s no other mother.”
“Then that’s just spreading rumors!” Lu Manman slapped her thigh. “I knew your mother wasn’t that kind of person. She’s such a warm and generous person, how could she be that kind of person.”
Yan Xiang: “Huh?”
“It’s nothing, it’s nothing. The broadcast is almost over, I’m going~” Lu Manman ran back to the Broadcasting Station.
Her father was the director of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, so there was never a shortage of food and drink at home, and she often had little snacks to share with Yan Xiang.
What she brought today was homemade candied walnuts.
Her father had just brought home fresh walnuts yesterday, and they had shelled and made them themselves. It was a rare treat at this time.
Yan Xiang ate them with delight, his hands getting sticky afterward.
The Town Committee Residential Compound also had a hand-pump well in another yard, so he ran over to wash his hands and mouth before returning. Lu Manman had already finished her morning work and gone home.
Yan Xiang sat down and read two pages of his book, then recalled what Lu Manman had asked him earlier. He turned to Qiao Wei for confirmation: “Mom, I’m the only child in our family, right?”
Qiao Wei didn’t pay much attention: “That’s right. You’re an only child.”
“I don’t have any sisters, right?”
“You have cousins on your father’s side back in his hometown.”
“No,” Yan Xiang said. “I mean, we don’t have five sisters in our family born to Dad and another mother, right?”
The air suddenly went quiet.
The person reading the newspaper put it down, the person reading a book closed it, and the person knitting stopped their needles.
Six eyes from three people were all staring at the child.
Two of them had their ears pricked up, fearing they might miss a single word.
Qiao Wei asked: “Who told you about five sisters?”
“Auntie Man,” Yan Xiang said. “Auntie Man asked me if there were five sisters in our family, all born to Dad and another mother.”
Qiao Wei asked: “And then?”
“Then I said no, there’s only me in our family…”
“What did Auntie Man say?”
“She said, then that’s just spreading rumors. She said she knew you weren’t that kind of person.”
“…What kind?”
“Auntie Man didn’t say.”
Yan Xiang poured out all the information he had to Qiao Wei.
Hu Sui’s mouth hung open: “What’s going on?”
Lu Tianming rubbed his chin: “What’s the situation? Weiwei, in your family…”
The air in the office began to heat up; some people’s gossip souls began to burn.
“There’s no situation in my family. We are a family of three, no one else. Don’t ask me.” Qiao Wei gritted her teeth. “You have to ask our Comrade Lu Manman about this.”
She was using her full name.
“She’s gone!” Lu Tianming, the clan uncle, rubbed his hands, his eyes shining. “Catch her this afternoon!”
A dull office life needed some excitement.
Station Chief Lu returned from the meeting and saw everyone in the office doing their own work.
Everything looked normal, but there was a strange atmosphere in the air, filled with restlessness.
Station Chief Lu: “?”
Naturally, some people were restless and wanted to know the truth of the gossip quickly.
Station Chief Lu picked up the thermos and added water to his mug.
Qiao Wei asked: “Station Chief, is there anything to convey?”
“No, it’s the same as last week. The lists have been distributed to the neighborhoods today, and every household should have received them by tonight. Continue to announce the specific arrangements this afternoon. This whole week will be rebroadcast repeatedly; you must emphasize obeying orders and acting in unison.”
“Understood!”
Station Chief Lu returned to his seat and filled out an office supply request form. He capped his pen, looked left and right, and upon seeing Yan Xiang, his eyes lit up.
“Xiangxiang, come here~” He beckoned. “I have a job for you.”
Yan Xiang immediately put down his book, slid off the chair, and ran to stand straight in front of Station Chief Lu. His little chest was puffed out, his hands hanging straight at his sides, pressed tightly against his body.
It was a very standard military posture. This was something his father had trained him to do.
Station Chief Lu was amused. Once he finished laughing, he seriously assigned the task to Yan Xiang: “Do you know the Logistics Department?”
“Yes!”
“Take this to the Logistics Department, I’ll tell you what’s on it…” He told the child what he needed. “Did you remember?”
“Remembered!”
“It’s not heavy, you should be able to carry it. Wait, I’ll give you a bag.” Station Chief Lu bent over and found a cloth bag from the bottom drawer. “Put it in this and bring it back. Don’t run, there’s no rush, don’t fall. Do you hear me?”
Yan Xiang responded happily, took the cloth bag and the request form, and went off.
Look, he was “at work” too!
“Xiangxiang really is… a good child.” Station Chief Lu sighed.
Lu Tianming put down his book, his eyes full of envy: “That he is.”
The two clan brothers had another discussion and outlook on whether the fourth child of Lu Tianming’s wife would be a boy or a girl. Station Chief Lu sent his best wishes to his clan brother: “If you give birth to one like Xiangxiang, you won’t have to worry at all.”
Lu Tianming sighed: “Sigh.”
Yan Xiang quickly found the Logistics Department, called out to the people very politely, and handed over the request form written by Station Chief Lu. Fearing the staff in the Logistics Department would make a mistake, he repeated the items Station Chief Lu needed with clear articulation, and he didn’t get a single item wrong.
He could remember anything after just one time.
The child’s cheeks were round, and because he had jogged all the way over, they were flushed red, looking just like two big apples.
He was already cute enough, but when he spoke, he was like a little adult, and especially polite.
He was too precious.
“Oh my, this kid!”
The people from the Logistics Department surrounded him, one after another, rubbing his cheeks.
Yan Xiang knew that when adults rubbed his cheeks, it meant they liked him, so he didn’t resist; he remained quite calm, only saying to the person who took his request form: “Auntie, please hurry.”
He had to quickly finish the work assigned by the Station Chief and go back to report.
Sigh, stop rubbing, stop rubbing, there were too many hands.
Someone asked: “Whose child is this, so lovable.”
“From the Broadcasting Station.”
“Oh, is it that…”
“Is it?”
“Seems like it.”
Watching Yan Xiang count the items one by one and put them into the cloth bag, someone couldn’t hold back and asked the child cheekily: “Do you have five sisters?”
Yan Xiang looked up in surprise; why were people in other offices asking this question too?
And they asked much more than Lu Manman—
“Tell Uncle, does your mom beat your sisters?”
“Does she feed them hot food or cold food? Is it leftovers?”
“Does she never buy them new clothes? Only buy new clothes for you?”
Yan Xiang frowned.
Beating children was nothing; after all, Auntie Yang from Uncle Zhao’s family often used a broom handle to make Brother Gangzi, Brother Huazi, and even Jun Jun howl.
But eating cold food was wrong.
“I don’t have sisters.” Yan Xiang earnestly educated them. “After rice gets cold, the grains become hard, which makes it difficult to digest and wears down the stomach lining. Over time, you will get gastritis. So, don’t eat cold food.”
This was all what Mom said at the dinner table.
Logistics Department: “…”
No, that’s not what they wanted to hear.
And what was up with this kid, talking like a little pedant.
Just as they wanted to ask more, Yan Xiang tightened the mouth of the cloth bag and said happily: “It’s all here, thank you, Auntie! Goodbye!”
He turned and ran away.
Yan Xiang returned to the Broadcasting Station and successfully completed his work.
Not only did Station Chief Lu give him a candy, but Uncle Lu also applauded him.
Hu Sui smacked her lips: “Look at this kid!”
Yan Xiang’s little chest puffed out even higher.
He kept the candy in his mouth and remembered to tell his mom: “The uncles and aunties in the Logistics Department also asked about the five sisters.”
Suddenly, Hu Sui and Lu Tianming were energized again!
“What, they asked too?”
Station Chief Lu still didn’t know anything: “What sisters?”
Qiao Wei said: “What did they all say?”
Yan Xiang repeated all those questions, without missing a word.
Hu Sui and Lu Tianming looked at each other.
Station Chief Lu was even more stunned. Qiao Wei had been interviewed by him and Section Chief Xie; he knew she only had one child, so where did five daughters come from?
Lu Tianming said: “Weiwei, in your family…”
“Of course not.” Hu Sui said. “Weiwei’s husband is famously henpecked. They’ve been married for several years and only have one child.”
Qiao Wei: “Huh?”
What was this about being henpecked?
“Cough.” Hu Sui slipped up and said sheepishly, “That, you just came, I went back and told my man. My man heard it and said you must be Yan Lei’s wife. Is it him?”
When her man said that, Hu Sui matched the person.
Sometimes it was like that; you heard a bit of gossip in the toilet, but couldn’t match it to the person.
Only after her man hinted did she know that Qiao Wei’s husband must be that youngest regiment commander in the Military District.
Her man commented: “Yan is good at everything, but he is henpecked.”
Heard that at home, he washed clothes and did the dishes.
Station Chief Lu asked: “What’s going on?”
Qiao Wei said: “It seems like some people in the Residential Compound are spreading rumors about me. Have you heard them?”
Station Chief Lu said: “What rumors? No one told me.”
Lu Tianming said: “I haven’t heard them either, I just knew your husband was old.”
Qiao Wei: “Huh?”
What was all this!
Lu Tianming passed the buck: “The Station Chief said it.”
Gossiping behind a female comrade’s back, Station Chief Lu’s old face turned red, he coughed and said sheepishly: “I didn’t say anything, I just told Tianming during dinner that your husband’s rank is quite high, he’s a regiment-level cadre. Maybe, cough cough, maybe he’s a lot older than you…”
“What nonsense are you talking about.” Hu Sui laughed: “Weiwei’s husband is the youngest regiment commander in the Military District. He’s very famous, even I know him.”
Station Chief Lu and Lu Tianming were both curious: “How young?”
Hu Sui looked at Qiao Wei: “…Seventeen or eighteen?”
“No.” Qiao Wei said. “He’s not even twenty-seven yet. He joined the army early, he was less than fourteen when he enlisted.”
Lu Tianming was surprised: “That’s younger than me by a few months.”
Hearing that Qiao Wei’s husband was actually so young and promising, Station Chief Lu and Lu Tianming exhaled together: “That’s great.”
Qiao Wei: “…”
Qiao Wei had vaguely figured out where the misunderstanding in the rumor was.
But, what was the meaning of you two men exhaling like that.
Lu Manman came to work in the afternoon, and as soon as she arrived at the office, she felt that everyone’s gaze toward her was not quite right.
But she always arrived at the last minute and was about to broadcast, so the people in the office didn’t say anything, and she entered the Broadcasting Station as usual.
This whole Monday, the time and steps for the collective mosquito extermination had to be repeated. That saved trouble; she just read the materials sent down by the county, no need to write her own script.
Only, as soon as the broadcast was over, Lu Manman was surrounded by her colleagues in the office.
“Comrade Lu Manman,” Qiao Wei said, “I heard I have five stepdaughters? What’s going on? Come, tell me in detail.”
After Qiao Wei integrated, she went from “Qiao Wei” to “Weiwei.”
The others were addressed as: Station Chief, Sister Hu, Tianming, Manman.
Suddenly being called by her full name, Lu Manman couldn’t help but feel a chill behind her neck!
