Chapter 12

Luo Hongying couldn’t stand Li Huilan’s blatant preference for sons over daughters and couldn’t be bothered to argue. She simply said to Xin Qi, “Don’t worry. Your dad personally promised me today—if anything else comes up, just come to me. I’ll definitely take care of it.”

Xin Qi, not holding back at all, responded confidently, “Got it. Thank you, Director Luo.”

After Director Luo left, Li Huilan immediately exploded.

“You beast! You’re worse than a pig or dog. You think just because you’ve got Director Luo backing you, I won’t dare do anything to you?”

“I’ll beat you to death, you little wretch!”

Xin Qi replied coldly, “Go ahead and try. If you don’t kill me, just wait for the police to come find you.”

Li Huilan was so furious she felt dizzy and couldn’t speak. Xin Guoping scowled and barked, “That’s enough! Haven’t we had enough drama already?”

“Everyone calm down.”

After all, Xin Guoping was the head of the household, and when he put on a stern face, it carried real authority.

Li Huilan clutched her chest in anger and sat on the couch gasping for air.

Just then, Xin Jianjun came out of his room.

The house had poor soundproofing—everything said outside could be heard inside.

Having heard Li Huilan being scolded, Xin Jianjun, as the son, didn’t want to get involved in the mess, but he still came out to try and mediate.

As for Zhang Lan, the daughter-in-law, this was not a good moment for her to appear—Li Huilan would surely take out her anger on her in front of others.

So Zhang Lan simply pretended to be deaf and mute, happily staying in her room with Haohao in her arms. She never got along with Li Huilan, and seeing her suffer actually made her feel pretty pleased.

Li Huilan didn’t like Xin Jianjun either, and he was used to her coldness, so he didn’t take it to heart.

Xin Guoping thought Li Huilan was simply hopeless. None of their children were close to her—she only had eyes for the good-for-nothing Xin Liyi.

Shaking his head in weariness, Xin Guoping turned to Xin Jianjun and said, “Help Xin Qi clean out Liyi’s room. Let your sister move in.”

As soon as Li Huilan heard that, she exploded again. She shouted, “No way! Why should that little tramp get to live in Liyi’s room?”

Xin Guoping snapped, “Are you brain-dead? You already promised Director Luo just now—did you forget that in a blink?”

Li Huilan barked, “It was just a casual promise! You’re actually taking it seriously?”

Xin Guoping laughed in disbelief. “You think Director Luo is like you, just spewing nonsense?”

Li Huilan gritted her teeth. “No matter what, that room is Liyi’s. No one touches it, or I’ll fight them to the death.”

Xin Guoping’s face turned cold. “This is my house, and what I say goes.”

“Jianjun, Xin Qi—go!”

Xin Jianjun hesitated, but Xin Qi went straight to clear her bed.

Li Huilan immediately broke into loud wailing, throwing herself in the way to stop Xin Jianjun from entering Xin Liyi’s room.

Xin Guoping was so furious he was about to blow a fuse. He dragged Li Huilan into their bedroom.

The commotion outside got louder and louder. Zhang Lan, feeling uneasy, quietly opened her door a crack and peeked out.

Seeing only Xin Qi tidying up a folding bed in the living room, she hurried over to help.

“Xiao Qi, you’re amazing. You’ve totally shut your mom down.”

Zhang Lan looked excited, her eyes sparkling with admiration.

Over the past few days, Xin Qi had come to understand Zhang Lan’s tough situation in the Xin family and liked her straightforward, no-nonsense attitude.

So she smiled at her and said, “I have no choice—I have to survive in this house. If I get yelled at or thrown out every day and have to rely on pleasing others just to get by, I couldn’t stand it.”

“You see, after today’s fuss, I’ve got myself a room, haven’t I?”

“That’s why, if you’re going to live, you’ve got to have a little fight in you.”

Zhang Lan felt a wave of mixed emotions. Her whole life, she had been living to please others.

At home, she had to tiptoe around her parents and siblings. After marriage, she had to please her in-laws and her husband’s siblings.

She had given everything to her natal family—quitting school at a young age to work and support them, handing over every cent of her salary before marriage. Yet her parents still resented her for not demanding more bride price for them.

After marriage, her mother-in-law made Xin Jianjun hand over his full salary every month as household expenses, while her own income went to support both her natal family and her own small household.

But even though they contributed so much, Li Huilan never treated her well and funneled all the money to support Xin Liyi.

After a lifetime of being submissive, Zhang Lan now felt deep resentment.

What no one expected was that today’s incident was just the beginning. From then on, the Xin family’s constant drama became the talk of the entire residential compound for quite some time.

Back in the big bed, which was far more comfortable, Xin Qi rolled around in satisfaction. Wrapped in the warm blankets, she could barely keep her eyes open.

She predicted Xin Liyi would make a scene when he returned, so she simply locked the door, stuffed cotton balls in her ears, and dove under the covers to sleep soundly.

Sure enough, Xin Liyi was furious when he found out that Xin Qi had taken his room. Li Huilan tried to comfort him, saying they’d take it back once he started working in a few days.

After all, there was no reason for the son—who would be earning money—to sleep in the living room while the jobless daughter got a room to herself. Even if the women’s committee knew, they couldn’t object.

But Xin Qi didn’t care about this mother-son duo’s little schemes—she was busy looking for a job.

This was the planned economy era—without a job, her grain allocation would fall under the Grain Bureau, and even her own survival would be a problem.

Most critically, no job meant no ration coupons. Even with money, she couldn’t buy necessities.

So Xin Qi was desperate to find work, but it was really hard to come by.

She went around to several factories, but even temporary jobs weren’t available.

After some thought, she bought some ticket-free pastries and brought them to Luo Hongying’s home.

Luo Hongying welcomed her warmly, immediately asking how things had been going the past few days.

“I was just thinking of paying a visit to your house soon, but things have been so busy I haven’t had the chance.”

Xin Qi naturally responded with some well-measured flattery, making Luo Hongying beam with delight.

At the right moment, Xin Qi took out a letter she had prepared earlier and, feigning shyness, said, “Director Luo, if it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t even have gotten through my front door that night—I’d have frozen to death on the street.”

“I didn’t know how else to show my gratitude, so I wrote this thank-you letter.”

“It’s all heartfelt. You must accept it.”

Luo Hongying was indeed a good cadre. If Xin Qi had given her something valuable, she would have refused and possibly thought less of her.

But this letter was just right—it struck a chord.

Recently, Luo Hongying had been troubled by how hard it was to make progress with the women’s committee’s work. Though the committee sounded official, its position was awkward.

The female workers never thought to go to them when something happened, and the men saw women’s issues as trivial.

The committee had made little impact and was seen by factory leadership as a fringe group.

Luo Hongying had been trying to persuade the factory to let her promote the committee more, but the leadership kept putting her off.

Now, Xin Qi’s thank-you letter was the perfect PR opportunity. If they could even read it out over the factory broadcast, that would be ideal.

Reading it carefully, Luo Hongying was pleasantly surprised to find the writing excellent—it only needed minor tweaks and could serve perfectly as a publicity article.