Chapter 113: Li Chen Was a Wolf

Because of Shen Yiyi’s bold and carefree laughter, she and Yu Hong became much closer.

Yu Hong warmly invited her to stay for a meal and instructed her daughter-in-law to prepare the food.

Her daughter-in-law looked to be around nineteen years old, about the same age as Shen Yiyi. However, because Shen Yiyi appeared youthful, the two of them seemed to be of similar age. Upon hearing Yu Hong’s words, the daughter-in-law quickly went to prepare the meal.

Yet, Yu Hong’s attitude towards her seemed somewhat impatient.

Shen Yiyi wanted to gather some information and soon learned that the daughter-in-law had married into the family last year. However, her family’s financial situation was not ideal. Initially, Yu Hong had opposed the marriage, but her son had insisted on marrying her. Left with no choice, Yu Hong finally agreed.

After the wedding, Yu Hong found herself quite satisfied. After all, the girl was quick with her hands and diligent in her work. However, what displeased Yu Hong the most was that—she did not have a job.

Her son wanted to secure a position for her in the transportation team’s logistics department. With Liang Jun’s influence, this was certainly possible.

The problem, however, lay in the fact that Yu Hong had originally planned to reserve that logistics job for her own daughter, Liang Shanshan.

Although Liang Jun was the station chief of the transportation team, the team did not belong to their family. If the daughter-in-law joined, their family would have two people in the transportation team. If they inserted yet another family member, those with ulterior motives might report them, which could even cost Liang Jun his position as station chief.

Because of this, Liang Shanshan had been unable to find a job since graduating from high school last June. As of February this year, if she still failed to secure employment, she would have to register to be sent to the countryside.

As the deadline loomed closer, Yu Hong grew increasingly anxious, and her frustration inevitably spilled over onto her daughter-in-law.

Shen Yiyi raised an eyebrow. This was perfect. She did not want to owe Yu Hong anything. She had already been considering whether Yu Hong’s family—or any of their relatives—needed a job. She could offer them a position at the textile factory as a way to repay the favor of Li Chen getting into the transportation team.

So, she said: “Sister-in-law Liang, if Shanshan doesn’t mind, I could recommend her for a position at the textile factory.”

“?”

“You know someone at the textile factory?” Yu Hong looked at her in surprise.

“I happened to be acquainted with the factory’s trade union director. We got along quite well.” Shen Yiyi replied with a smile. She did not mention her dealings with Qian Xiaoling and simply added: “A couple of days ago, she told me that their factory might be recruiting a batch of workers this year and asked if I had any suitable candidates to recommend.”

The textile factory was the largest factory in their county. Countless people had their eyes on securing a job there. Because of this, most of the factory’s influential leaders were widely known, especially Qian Xiaoling, the trade union director, who was also the wife of the factory director.

Yu Hong had long wanted to send her daughter to the textile factory. However, the factory had been at full capacity for a long time. Even if someone left, there was already a long queue of temporary workers waiting eagerly to take their place. Because of this, Yu Hong had never found an opportunity.

Moreover, she was well aware of the character of Yang Xiong, the son of Deputy Factory Director Yang Pengshan. She feared that her beautiful and youthful daughter would suffer grievances if she entered the factory, so she had given up on the idea.

A few days ago, Yang Pengshan’s downfall had caused quite a stir in the county. Those who understood how things worked knew that this meant several job positions would soon become vacant.

Yu Hong was one of those people. Over the past couple of days, she had been contemplating ways to get closer to Qian Xiaoling. She never expected that Shen Yiyi would suddenly present herself as a connection.

“That’s wonderful!” Yu Hong was overjoyed but still put on an act of hesitation. “Wouldn’t this be too much trouble for you?”

“It’s no trouble at all. Someone just asked me to help find candidates, that’s all. I’ll mention it to her—it’s just a couple of sentences.” Shen Yiyi said with a smile. “Whether she gets hired or not still depends on them.”

Yu Hong was a shrewd woman. Although Shen Yiyi spoke modestly and tactfully, she understood that Shen Yiyi was intelligent. If she wasn’t confident about this, she wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.

Besides, job positions at the textile factory were highly sought after. Qian Xiaoling might have asked Shen Yiyi to help find candidates, but wasn’t this, in a way, also her way of offering Shen Yiyi job placements?

As for why Shen Yiyi had such a good relationship with Qian Xiaoling—so much so that Qian Xiaoling was willing to grant her such a favor—Yu Hong didn’t particularly care. She only cared about the benefits this connection could bring her.

She smiled and responded with some polite formalities. “Alright then, I’ll trouble you to put in a word for us. If she gets hired, that would be wonderful. If not, we won’t force it, right?”

Shen Yiyi raised an eyebrow. Dealing with smart people was always easy.

Initially, Yu Hong had thought that while Shen Yiyi came from a good family background, that background was in Beijing—far away, beyond her reach. Because of that, she had maintained a somewhat reserved attitude earlier.

At this point, she could no longer maintain her aloof demeanor.

Yu Hong took out two batches of high-quality fabric from the cabinet, smiling as she claimed that she had bought them from the Overseas Chinese Store. She said she thought they suited Shen Yiyi’s temperament well and wanted to gift them to her.

This was her way of expressing her desire to build a good relationship with Shen Yiyi.

After a brief pretense of refusal, Shen Yiyi accepted the gift with a smile.

Now that Li Chen had joined the transportation team, Liang Jun was his direct superior. Strengthening her relationship with Yu Hong was undoubtedly a wise move.

The Liang family had prepared a lavish meal. After Shen Yiyi and her family of five finished eating, they stayed at the Liang household until five in the afternoon before heading home.

Yu Hong personally walked them to the door, smiling warmly as she urged Shen Yiyi to visit often.

Her enthusiasm was so obvious that even Liang Jun couldn’t help but glance at her in surprise. He secretly whispered to Li Chen: “Your wife is impressive—she managed to win over my wife just like that.”

Li Chen let out a low chuckle. “Of course, my wife is impressive.”

“……” Liang Jun was momentarily speechless but wholeheartedly agreed. “Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to handle a guy like you!”

Li Chen remained silent, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

As he watched them leave, Liang Jun let out a sigh of admiration.

Back in the day, Li Chen had been like a wild wolf—fierce, ruthless, and fearless.

He remembered when they had once traveled together to Yun Province for a shipment, only to have their goods stolen.

Li Chen spent an entire day observing the situation and unexpectedly discovered that the culprits were actually enemy spies. Worse yet, they had stolen highly classified national intelligence.

There was no time to wait for the authorities. Without hesitation, Li Chen infiltrated the enemy’s base alone.

When Liang Jun received the news, he thought Li Chen was surely doomed.

But against all odds, Li Chen returned completely unharmed—and not only that, he had also coordinated with the police to take down the entire enemy operation in one fell swoop!

Liang Jun greatly admired this kind of courage and determination. That was why, from then on, he always liked to bring Li Chen along whenever he went on shipments.

With Li Chen’s assistance, he completed every mission exceptionally well. This success eventually led to his promotion, and in the end, he became the transportation team’s station chief.

Once he finally had authority, he wanted to promote Li Chen and keep him close as his right-hand man. However, to his surprise, Li Chen told him that he had gotten married, had children, and needed to take care of his family. He refused the promotion.

Liang Jun tried to persuade him multiple times, but to no avail. He felt a deep sense of regret, thinking that Li Chen had essentially ruined his future.

But now, looking at him, that didn’t seem to be the case at all.

Li Chen was still a wolf—a true wolf. Fierce and ruthless toward outsiders, but utterly loyal to his mate.

When they arrived home, Er Bao eagerly dragged Da Bao along to play with the other children in the village, setting off firecrackers.

Xiao Bao wanted to go too, but he was still too young. Shen Yiyi was afraid he wouldn’t know how to dodge properly, so she didn’t let him join them.

Having just returned from the Liang family’s feast, there was no need to cook dinner tonight. She prepared some hot water, deciding that if they got hungry later, they could just cook some dumplings.

Li Chen hadn’t slept the previous night, so Shen Yiyi told him to go and catch up on rest. Meanwhile, she took Xiao Bao for a walk around the village, enjoying the festive atmosphere of the New Year.

Just like that, the first day of the Lunar New Year passed.

On the second day, married daughters traditionally returned to their parents’ home.

Naturally, Shen Yiyi had no plans to return. Not long after lunch, someone from the old house came to inform them that Li Chen’s eldest sister, who had married out, had come back for a visit.

Shen Yiyi and Li Chen took the Three Baos over.

Li Chen’s eldest sister, Li Da Ya, was sitting in the courtyard, chatting with Mother Li and He Zhaodi, who had just returned from visiting her maternal family in the neighboring village. When she saw them arrive, Li Da Ya gave a shy smile.

Shen Yiyi greeted her, and she responded to every question but never said a word more than necessary.

However, her smile toward the Three Baos was much more genuine. She reached into her pocket and took out three peanuts, handing one to each of them.

Jiang Ailing, watching from the side, let out a mocking snort.