Chapter 74 1/2

When she woke up on Monday and looked again, the color of the house’s exterior walls was already lighter than yesterday.

Yan Lei brushed his teeth and found it very amusing to see Qiao Wei standing with her hands on her hips in the yard, looking up at the house.

“Are you regretting it?” he asked after finishing rinsing his mouth.

“Huh? Regret what?” Qiao Wei turned her head, puzzled.

“Regretting making it look like this.”

“Tsk,” Qiao Wei said, “you don’t understand.”

Picking vegetables under the east wall, Qiao Yuanming sprinkled them.

You don’t understand the joy of being a corporate slave in the future.

Although weekends were only single days off in this era, they truly allowed people to rest. Normally, there was a solid eight-hour work system, and unless there were special circumstances, overtime was not necessary at all.

Everyone went home in the afternoon under the sunlight, without needing to stay up late.

The evenings belonged to themselves, and every household lit cooking fires on time, where families could gather for dinner.

So even though it was Monday and the start of a new work week, Qiao Wei felt no resistance or fatigue at all.

It could be said that she even came to work with a spirited demeanor.

As soon as she arrived at the office, crisp greetings sounded, “Morning!”

Followed by a childish voice, “Morning, Chief, Aunt Hu, Uncle Lu!”

Since Qiao Wei and Lu Manman’s working hours were different from the others, they arrived later than the other three, who were already seated at their desks and had prepared a large pot of tea.

Qiao Wei walked in bathed in sunlight, and the office echoed with the responses of the three, “Morning!” “Here!” “Where did you go to play on Sunday?”

The atmosphere was harmonious.

As soon as the time came, Chief Lu carried the tea pot and notebook and left for the meeting.

As he left, Lu Manman followed suit. When she saw Qiao Wei and Yan Xiang, her gaze was somewhat complicated. But since the broadcasting time was about to start, she went straight to the broadcasting room.

When the broadcast from the central station started, she came out of the broadcasting room, didn’t enter the office, leaned on the windowsill, and called out to Yan Xiang, “Come out~ Come out~ Play with me~”

Yan Xiang put down his book and dashed out.

Qiao Wei raised her head and glanced out the window, seeing the two of them sitting on the bench in the courtyard. Lu Manman took out some snacks from her pocket and opened them for Yan Xiang.

Yan Xiang took them happily.

The two of them continued to chatter. Sometimes Lu Manman acted like a child herself. Indeed, she was not yet twenty years old.

Qiao Wei smiled and lowered her head to read the newspaper.

“Really none? Are you sure?” Lu Manman asked eagerly.

“None,” Yan Xiang chewed and said strangely, “There’s only me in my family. I don’t have a sister. And I don’t have any other mom.”

“That’s just baseless gossip!” Lu Manman slapped her thigh. “I always said your mom isn’t that kind of person. She’s so warm and generous; how could she be like that?”

Yan Xiang: “Huh?”

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing. Almost done broadcasting, I’ll head out~” Lu Manman rushed back to the broadcasting room.

Her father was the director of the supply and marketing cooperative, so their home never lacked food and drink. They often had some snacks to share with Yan Xiang.

Today, they brought homemade amber walnuts.

Yesterday her father brought back fresh walnuts, peeled them at home, and made them into snacks. It was a rare treat at this time.

Yan Xiang enjoyed them sweetly, his hands sticking afterward.

There was also a hand pump in the town committee’s courtyard. In other yards, he went 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 a book, remembering what Lu Manman had asked him earlier. He turned to Qiao Wei for confirmation, “Mom, we only have me as a child, right?”

Qiao Wei didn’t pay much attention. “Yes. You’re an only child.”

“I don’t have a sister, right?”

“You have a cousin on your father’s side.”

“No,” Yan Xiang said. “I mean, we don’t have five sisters from another mom with dad, right?”

The air suddenly quieted.

The person reading the newspaper put it down, the one reading a book closed it, and the one knitting stopped knitting.

Three people and six pairs of eyes stared at the child.

Two of them had their ears pricked up, afraid of missing a word.

Qiao Wei asked, “Who told you about the five sisters?”

“It was Aunt Man,” Yan Xiang said. “Aunt Man asked me if there were five sisters at home, all born to Dad and another mom.”

“And then?” Qiao Wei asked.

“Then I said no, we only have me as a child…”

“What did your Aunt Man say?”

“She said, ‘That’s just baseless gossip.’ She said, ‘I always said you’re not that kind of person.'”

“…What kind?”

“Aunt Man didn’t say.”

Yan Xiang poured out all this information to Qiao Wei.

Hu Sui was wide-eyed. “What’s going on?”

Lu Tianming rubbed his chin. “What’s the situation, Wei Wei, in your family…”

The atmosphere in the office heated up, and some people’s gossip souls started burning.

“There’s nothing going on in my family. We’re just a family of three, no one else. Don’t ask me,” Qiao Wei ground her teeth. “You’d better ask our Comrade Lu Manman.”

Using the full name now.

“She’s gone!” Lu Tianming, the uncle of the tribe, was eager, his eyes gleaming. “We’ll catch her this afternoon!”

The bland office life needed some spice.

The head of the station returned from the meeting and saw everyone in the office busy with their own tasks.

It seemed normal, but there was always a strange atmosphere in the air, filled with restlessness.

The head of the station: “?”

Of course, some people were restless, eager to know the truth behind the gossip.

The head of the station picked up the thermos and added water to his tea pot.

Qiao Wei asked, “Station chief, is there anything you need to convey?”

“No, it’s the same as last week, everything’s the same. Today’s list has been distributed to the streets, and by evening, every household should have received it. We’ll continue with specific arrangements this afternoon. This week’s announcements will be repeated over and over again, emphasizing obedience and unified action.”

“Okay!”

The head of the station returned to his seat and filled out an office supplies requisition form. After capping his pen and looking around, he spotted Yan Xiang and his eyes lit up.

“Xiang Xiang, come here~” he beckoned. “I have a task for you.”

Yan Xiang immediately put down the book he was holding, slid off his chair, and ran to stand in front of the head of the station, standing at attention. His small chest was puffed out, and his hands were straight down, close to his body on both sides.

It was a very standard military posture. This was something his father had trained him in.

The head of the station chuckled. After his amusement, he earnestly assigned Yan Xiang a task, “Do you know where the logistics department is?”

“I know!”

“Take this to the logistics department. Let me tell you what’s on this list…” he went through the items Yan Xiang needed to remember. “Got it?”

“Got it!”

“It’s not too heavy, you should have no problem carrying it. Wait, let me give you a bag.” The head of the station bent down and pulled out a cloth bag from the bottom drawer. “Put everything in here and bring it back. Don’t rush, don’t drop anything. Got it?”

Yan Xiang cheerfully replied and took the cloth bag and requisition form.