Chapter 43, Part 2

Seeing that Xue Xiaoshan had made up his mind, Xue Lingjun no longer tried to dissuade her brother, and he agreed to let her try working at sister-in-law Lin Xuexia's place.

After the meal, Fu Wei, not wanting to stay with the other two "stinky men," accompanied Lin Xuexia downstairs for a post-dinner stroll, using the time to whisper sweet nothings to each other like a young couple.

This actually fulfilled Lin Xuexia's simple wish from the past. Walking hand in hand along the street illuminated by evening streetlights, they passed many people out for a walk or heading down to throw away the trash.

"You've taken on so many people for yourself, can you even manage them all?" Fu Wei asked. He suspected that Lin Xuexia was employing Xue Lingjun partly because of him, in order to help Xue Xiaoshan.

Otherwise, there was no need to bring such a massive trouble upon herself.

His wife was truly kind-hearted.

Lin Xuexia tilted her head to look into his eyes: "You manage dozens or even hundreds of people under you. Can you manage all of them?"

Fu Wei chuckled: "How can that be the same?"

He had long been accustomed to managing hundreds of people; it was no difficult task for him at all, and his work arrangements were orderly and methodical. Fu Wei excelled at utilizing people, placing the right candidates in important positions. Even when it came to hiring temporary workers under him, he had his own strict selection and management model that commanded genuine respect and obedience.

The few who had betrayed him and broken away in the past to start up on their own had fallen apart and scattered like birds and beasts within days.

When some of them wished to return, Fu Wei accepted them back as usual. These people held him in high esteem, swore to follow him loyally in the future, and Fu Wei promised them better benefits moving forward.

He had his own set of standards for judging character, unlike Lin Xuexia's reckless approach.

"Employing your own landlady, you really are a rare talent," Fu Wei pinched his wife's cheek.

Look at the people Lin Xuexia had hired: Zhao Huiru, a quick-handed and nimble middle-aged woman, was still somewhat suitable, but hiring her own landlady was truly absurd, and now she even had a mute girl trailing along with her.

Fu Wei was just waiting to watch this young woman stumble into pitfall after pitfall in the future.

"She is your landlady. If you have conflicts with her in the future, it will cause you a lot of trouble. Though that's not a major issue—at worst, we can just move. Your future husband here builds houses; you won't have to worry about a place to live. But today, you made a mistake regarding Xue Lingjun."

Fu Wei patiently explained: "Having empathy is good, but it will bring you a lot of trouble. Xue Xiaoshan cares deeply about his sister. If anything goes wrong, he will blame it all on you."

"By doing this, you're simply handing yourself a hot potato."

"If you truly want to grow your career, you need to recruit proper employees in the future."

Lin Xuexia nodded. Fu Wei's words sent a warm current flowing through her heart, but she didn't entirely agree with his perspective—it was fifty-fifty. "There are many things that look difficult on the surface. Should we just give up simply because there are difficulties?"

"I choose to meet the challenges head-on and create miracles."

Every specific problem required specific analysis. Lin Xuexia knew that employing her own landlady was a very bizarre move, but she understood Chen Miaorong's personality and family background. Chen was a cautious and meticulous person. To be frank, if Zhao Huiru were left alone to collect money, she might, under special circumstances, be tempted to slip some loose change into her pocket. With someone of Chen Miaorong's character, that was absolutely impossible; compared to greed, she feared being mistaken for a thief even more.

With Chen Miaorong keeping watch, she would feel much more at ease.

As for Xue Lingjun, though she looked frail, Lin Xuexia could tell she was a fiercely determined person. She even saw her former self in Xue Lingjun—someone urgently in need of work and money to prove her own ability and value.

Shutting her up at home would only cause her to wither away.

That was why she was willing to give Xue Lingjun a chance.

"That takes a lot of courage." Fu Wei lowered his gaze to look into Lin Xuexia's eyes, smiling: "If your tone of voice weren't so gentle, you'd really remind me of a female soldier."

Lin Xuexia was stunned: "Are you saying I should speak louder?"

"Fiercer."

Fiercer?

Lin Xuexia raised both hands, curling her fingers into claws near her cheeks, and pretended to roar like a Siberian tiger: "Is this fierce enough?"

Fu Wei clutched his chest, feeling as though he couldn't take it anymore. How could his wife be this adorable?

In the past, he particularly despised women who put on a coy, babyish voice and said annoying things like "You're so hateful."

But when it came to his wife, everything she said was right; even if she wanted to act like a fierce tigress, he would still love it.

Fu Wei pulled Lin Xuexia into his embrace, lifted her up slightly to test her weight, and evaluated: "A fierce tigress like you, I must definitely marry and bring home."

Lin Xuexia: "..."

She asked Fu Wei to put her down and inquired, "Are people coming to work on your house during the day? How many workers are there? Do you want me to send over some packed lunches? Don't refuse, consider it a token of my sincerity."

Fu Wei smiled: "Alright, then send over a dozen portions."

Chatting and laughing, the two continued walking. At that moment, a woman came downstairs to take out the trash. Carrying a heavy load of things, exhausted from washing bowls, cleaning, and mopping for the entire household while her mother-in-law and sister-in-law ate melon seeds and played mahjong downstairs, she had to handle all the housework. The fatigue nearly crushed Xu Yongfang.

Half a month ago, Xu Yongfang was still a female worker at the Ocean Electronics Factory. Among her peers, she had boasted about accidentally meeting her current partner at a dance hall, claiming his family owned a building to collect rent. She had quit her factory job to get married and live a life of leisure.

Unfortunately, the man's family did indeed own a building, but it belonged to his parents. As for him, he idled away his days hanging around video game arcades and slot machines. He had chosen Xu Yongfang simply because she flattered him, never urged him to improve himself, and thoroughly idolized him.

Nominally, she was married and had moved into the man's home, but his family had laid down the law: she had to give birth to a child first—and it had to be a boy—before they would register the marriage and hold a banquet. Until then, she would just remain in this status.

Earlier, Xu Yongfang had only wanted to lock down this man quickly and agreed to any condition. As long as she gave birth to a child, boy or girl, it would be the man's family's child, and sooner or later she would be the official wife of the household, with the house and property eventually belonging to her offspring.

However, after moving in for just half a month, Xu Yongfang was worn down and tormented by her mother-in-law and sister-in-law to the point of deep regret. They treated her entirely as a free maid.

Every single household chore fell on her shoulders—sweeping, cooking, serving tea and pouring water—while they sat around playing mahjong, filling the air with foul smoke.

Xu Yongfang regretted it bitterly. In this household, she suffered grievances every single day; it was far less free than her old life in the factory. Her husband rarely came home, lingering in video arcades and dance halls day and night.

She couldn't even complain to him; the moment she did, he would brush her off, annoyed by her nagging.

What was even more disgusting was Zhou Jiayi. Yesterday, she had accidentally spotted her husband laughing and chatting animatedly with Zhou Jiayi outside a video arcade.

Thinking of Zhou Jiayi, Xu Yongfang suspiciously glanced back at the retreating figure of the woman ahead of her. Why did this woman look so agonizingly familiar? Where had she seen her before?

Her eyes widened in realization. She remembered—it was Lin Xuexia! The Lin Xuexia who had been fired!

That was impossible, though. How could she possibly be here?

*

At the Ocean Electronics Factory dormitory, the beds were fully occupied by a newly arrived batch of female workers. Lin Xuexia's paternal cousin, Lin Qingxue, was among this new group of electronics factory workers.

Lin Qingxue was the younger daughter of Lin Xuexia's eldest uncle. When she arrived, she didn't yet know that Lin Xuexia had been fired. As soon as she entered the factory, she searched everywhere for Lin Xuexia's trace, only to find no sign of her. People simply told her that Lin Xuexia had made a mistake and been fired, reportedly because she and a few others had gone to a dance hall.

Lin Qingxue sneered inwardly.

When Lin Xuexia used to work at the electronics factory, she could send home over a hundred yuan every month. Word had it she was the factory's most outstanding female worker and stood a good chance of earning three to four hundred yuan a month in the future, making thousands a year. This had made her uncle and aunt green with envy, terrified that her younger uncle's family would live a prosperous life because of it.

Before leaving, her mother, Zheng Qiaoli, had instructed her: "You must work hard to earn money, even more than Lin Xuexia."

Lin Qingxue nodded on the surface, but rolled her eyes behind her mother's back. Ever since she was little, she had copied her mother and older sister, loving laziness. Her sister had only become hardworking after marrying into a town, whereas she had stayed at home and would never exert herself if she could avoid it. How could she ever be like the "old ox mother and daughter" of her younger uncle's household?

As long as Lin Xuexia acted like an obedient workhorse sending money home, she could keep the money she earned from her own job to buy pretty clothes and shoes. She had heard that clothes and shoes around here were cheaper and much more fashionable than back in their hometown.

Unfortunately, after working for just two days, Lin Qingxue already detested the assembly line work—screwing in bolts, over and over again, monotonous and tedious. Spending an entire day doing it made her want to vomit.

When she secretly tried to slack off, she was immediately caught by the supervisor, who warned her that the next infraction would result in her dismissal.

That evening, Lin Qingxue called home, and Zheng Qiaoli urged her to send money back to the family next month: "If you don't send money back, how is your second older brother supposed to get married? He'll end up hating you to the core."

"You're asking me for money? Why don't you ask younger uncle's family?"

Zheng Qiaoli retorted: "That household has lost its mind! Let's see how they clean up this mess later."

Three days had passed since the family split. Lin Yuxia had already returned to county high school for classes. Zheng Qiaoli, Lin Fujia, and Li Yinhua had assumed that their household would return to normal, but reality turned out quite differently from what they had imagined.

Lin Fujia had urged his younger brother to sell his bicycle to redeem one or two hundred yuan just to scrape together enough for his son's bride price. Yet Lin Yong福 stubbornly refused to do as told, saying his wife forbade it and would refuse to live with him if he sold it.

"Fine! If my son can't take a wife, don't blame him for disowning you as his uncle. Don't ever expect him to carry your coffin when you die..." Lin Fujia had spoken with absolute ruthlessness, stopping just short of pointing at Lin Yongfu's forehead and cursing him with having no descendants.

As a result, Lin Yongfu had given up entirely, adopting a fatalistic, broken-pot attitude. Some called him spineless, others cursed him for leaving no heirs, and even his nephew refused to acknowledge him. Feeling that life had lost all hope, Lin Yongfu lay at home day in and day out like a lazybones, passing the time listening to the radio and abandoning the fields altogether.

In the past, all the farmland of the Lin family had been tended by Lin Yong福, who worked himself to the bone as the main pillar of the household, always hoping to lend his nephews a hand. Now, according to Lin Fujia's logic, all the family's farmland would eventually belong to the nephews anyway. Since his nephew refused to acknowledge him as an uncle, why should he bother to toil in the fields?

Lin Yongfu lay motionless at home, transforming from a diligent old workhorse into an idle sluggard. Once he closed his doors, even his mother, Li Yinhua, couldn't get him to come out.

His wife, Zhang Yuqin, never urged him to go out and work the fields; in fact, she thought his current state was rather nice, advising him to stop farming altogether: "If you go out to work less, we'll save on grain."

When Lin Yongfu used to work the fields, splitting firewood and carrying water, he labored heavily and ate a lot. Now that he idled around the house every day, the amount of rice Zhang Yuqin cooked had decreased significantly.

Zhang Yuqin calculated and realized that the couple consumed very little grain each month. By taking on some mending work and selling a few eggs and vegetables, they could easily cover their household expenses for rice and cooking oil.

At first, Lin Yongfu still protested: "How can a peasant not farm? How can we separate ourselves from the land..."

Yet it was all empty talk; after lying down for the first day, he wanted to lie down on the second and third days as well.

So Zhang Yuqin told him: "You don't need to worry about our daughter's tuition. Your current usefulness is to work less and save some rice."

While urging Lin Yongfu to save rice, Zhang Yuqin turned around and fed meat to the dog.

Yes, it was truly miraculous. Zhang Yuqin had been astonished to discover that they could easily afford a lifestyle of buying meat and raising a dog.

As long as they stopped saving money for their nephew's bride price and house building...

Earning a few jiao, buying a few cheap meaty bones, the couple would gnaw the meat off the bones and let the dog chew on the rest for the meaty scraps. Life was passing by quite happily.

They also had a small orchard plot planted with citrus and Chinese bayberry trees, along with some wild chestnut trees and other miscellaneous fruit trees. Though largely unattended, they still bore some ugly fruits every year. Zhang Yuqin picked a few to sell in town and unexpectedly discovered she could earn a bit of pocket money.

Just then, Lin Yuexia returned home and discovered that her parents were actually simmering bone broth in the kitchen!

"Mom, what are you guys doing? Why do I smell meat?"