Chapter 5: Gao Xiulian

When Lin Wei went downstairs, the three women in the yard were talking.

“Did you all see clearly just now? Zong Shao’s wife, her appearance—tsk tsk, no wonder he dotes on her so much,” the military wife in the floral shirt said with envy. “You guys think about it—how does she keep her skin so smooth? It’s so fair it practically glows.”

While saying this, the woman in the floral shirt shot a glance at Gao Xiulian. If it weren’t for the fact that they all lived in the same family area and saw each other every day, she would have really wanted to ask, “Earlier you said Zong Shao has poor eyesight—are you slapping yourself in the face now?”

Although the woman in the floral shirt didn’t ask outright, they had known each other long enough for Gao Xiulian to understand what she meant. Her expression turned cold, and she said, “A glowing skin is like a lightbulb. Besides, what’s the use of having fair skin? Just look at her—skinny as a stick, obviously has no luck!”

Hearing this, the woman in the floral shirt couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

She just couldn’t stand Gao Xiulian. Every time you tried to talk to her, she always tried to turn things around, and when you went along with her, she’d start bringing up more problems. Why was it so hard to admit when someone else was better? Why did she have to act so stubborn?

She was about to say something more, but when she saw the figure that appeared in the living room, she swallowed her words, walking forward with a smile and saying, “We didn’t interrupt you, did we?”

“Of course not,” Lin Wei replied with a smile on her face, welcoming them into the living room to sit.

However, after they sat down, Lin Wei remembered that she didn’t have any tea ready to serve guests. With an apologetic expression, she said, “We just arrived and haven’t had a chance to start a fire and boil water, so… it might be…”

“No problem, no problem,” Wang Fangli quickly waved her hand, then remembered she hadn’t introduced herself yet. She slapped her forehead and said, “I almost forgot! My name is Wang Fangli, my husband is in the same regiment as Zong Shao.”

After introducing herself, she pointed to Gao Xiulian and said, “This is Comrade Gao Xiulian. Her husband is the vice commander of the Second Regiment. This is Li Qin, her husband is also in the Second Regiment.”

After Wang Fangli’s introductions, Lin Wei had a rough idea of who the three women were.

Wang Fangli was the most talkative of the three. From the way she spoke, she seemed the easiest to get along with, but the other two were probably brought along by her.

Gao Xiulian, on the other hand, seemed to hold herself in high regard. When Wang Fangli mentioned that her husband was a vice commander, Gao Xiulian instinctively straightened her back, said nothing, but nodded at her, clearly not entirely willing to be there.

Looking at their appearances, Li Qin was probably the youngest of the three, and she was also the most silent. Perhaps because Gao Xiulian’s husband was her husband’s superior, she subconsciously looked at Gao Xiulian’s reaction when speaking.

Also, Wang Fangli had just mentioned that they were chatting next door, and now she said they had just had tea at Gao Xiulian’s house. Clearly, Gao Xiulian lived next door to her, on the left.

Lin Wei was sure it was the left side rather than the back, mainly because when she arrived, she saw someone sitting in the yard behind her house. She made sure it wasn’t Gao Xiulian.

Thinking about this, Lin Wei felt a bit of a headache. Although the family area was small and it was easy to visit anyone’s house, the neighbors were always different. When they lived so close together, it was one thing if you got along well—your relationship would be closer than with an ordinary neighbor. But if you ended up with someone difficult to talk to, it could cause a lot of trouble.

She hoped that Gao Xiulian was just hard to get along with, not hard to talk to.

With these concerns in her mind, Lin Wei still kept a smile on her face as she introduced herself, saying, “My name is Lin Wei, Lin as in the ‘double tree’ and Wei as in the ‘purple violet flower.'”

Gao Xiulian gave a faint nod, still with that indifferent expression, while Li Qin smiled at Lin Wei but didn’t say anything. The most enthusiastic of the three was Wang Fangli: “Lin Wei, that’s such a lovely name.”

“Your name is also very nice,” Lin Wei said with a faint smile.

“Really?” Wang Fangli brightened up. “By the way, I’m twenty-six this year. How old are you?”

Lin Wei replied, “I’m twenty-three, going on twenty-four.”

“Then I’ll call you Little Lin,” Wang Fangli said, raising her head and looking around. “I have to say, after the house was repainted, it really looks quite decent.”

“Spent so much money, it better look decent!” Gao Xiulian snorted coldly, then turned to Lin Wei and said, “Little Lin, I’m not criticizing you, but the house provided by the army isn’t unlivable. Why spend so much extra money making it look all fancy? Just look at these walls you painted and the way you remodeled the bathroom and toilet. In my opinion, it’s a waste.”

Well, Gao Xiulian wasn’t just hard to talk to; she was also one of those people who liked to stick their nose into other people’s business!

Lin Wei’s expression turned neutral. “Comrade Gao, although you live by the sea, we’ve only just met. It doesn’t seem appropriate for you to come into my home and criticize everything.”

“What do you mean, criticize? I’m just trying to give you some good advice!” Gao Xiulian felt that Lin Wei was being ungrateful, and her tone became sharper. “As the great man said, corruption and waste are serious crimes. You should reflect on yourself!”

Lin Wei laughed in frustration. “Don’t go putting labels on me! Have you seen me take any public property or use the people’s resources? If not, then what right do you have to accuse me of corruption and big crimes?”

Gao Xiulian was so angry that she stood up. “When did I say you were corrupt? I’m talking about your wastefulness! Wastefulness is a crime!”

Lin Wei wasn’t afraid of her. She stood up and asked back in an even louder voice, “I wear clothes with torn cuffs, and I finish every last grain of rice in my bowl when I eat. What gives you the right to say I’m wasteful?”

“You haven’t even moved in yet, and you’re repainting the walls and building a bathroom. Do you dare say you’re not being wasteful?!”

“Repainting walls and building a bathroom is considered wasteful? By your logic, the army should stop giving maintenance allowances to officers’ families living in old houses. After all, fixing them is also wasteful! And the bathrooms in the row houses—let’s just demolish them all! What’s the point of having a bathroom? What a waste!”

Lin Wei’s words sounded sarcastic, but if this got out, Gao Xiulian’s reputation would take a huge hit, and all the military families would hate her.

Clearly, Gao Xiulian realized this, and she trembled with anger. “When… when did I say the army shouldn’t provide maintenance subsidies?”

“Yes, the army can give maintenance subsidies, but we can’t use that money to renovate our homes, or else it’s wasteful and a crime, right?”

“I didn’t say that!”

Lin Wei pretended to be confused. “You say renovating and building a bathroom is wasteful, but when I ask you if it’s the renovation or the separate bathroom that’s wasteful, you say that wasn’t your meaning. Then I don’t understand. Do you think both actions are wasteful, or do you simply not like me and came here to pick a fight?”

Of course, Gao Xiulian couldn’t admit to the first option. If she nodded, she would offend a lot of people, and even if her husband was a deputy regiment commander, he wouldn’t be able to protect her. But admitting to the second option was also not possible; if this got out, she would lose her reputation for good.

In the end, Gao Xiulian could only make an excuse about having something to do at home and fled in a hurry.

After Gao Xiulian left, Li Qin quickly followed suit, leaving only Wang Fangli, who was staring at Lin Wei with bright eyes.

Wang Fangli had never liked Gao Xiulian. Although she was the wife of their division commander, she always spoke kindly to the other military wives. She never acted as if her husband’s rank made her superior to everyone else.

But Gao Xiulian was different. Her husband was only a deputy regiment commander, yet she always carried herself arrogantly, insisting that everyone treat her like royalty.

This time, when Wang Fangli urged Gao Xiulian to come to the Zong family’s house, she had no other intention. She simply couldn’t stand Gao Xiulian’s ordinary yet overconfident attitude and wanted to see her get humiliated.

She just hadn’t expected Lin Wei to be so strong-willed, directly making Gao Xiulian flee in disgrace.

Thinking about how Gao Xiulian had scrambled to leave, Wang Fangli’s gaze toward Lin Wei wasn’t just shining anymore—it was full of admiration.

To Lin Wei, Gao Xiulian’s behavior was indeed a bit self-centered. She liked to boss people around, and being neighbors with her might lead to constant friction in the future.

If it hadn’t been for Wang Fangli urging Gao Xiulian to come over, Lin Wei wouldn’t have gotten into an argument and reached this point without fully understanding the situation in the military family area.

Now, Wang Fangli had enjoyed enough of the show, but she had also thoroughly offended Gao Xiulian.

Although Lin Wei wasn’t afraid of trouble, when she thought about the deputy regiment commander behind Gao Xiulian, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of a headache.

So, at this point, she really wasn’t in the mood to continue entertaining Wang Fangli. With a cold tone, she said, “I have things to take care of at home, you see…”

Wang Fangli wasn’t clueless. Hearing the implied meaning in Lin Wei’s words, she quickly said, “It’s about time, I should be going.” After a pause, she added, “I’m really sorry about earlier, I didn’t expect Gao’s behavior to be like that.”

Given how things had unfolded, what could Lin Wei say? She simply shook her head and replied, “It’s fine.”

Wang Fangli nodded and then said, “I’ll come by to visit you another time.” With that, she left.

Watching Wang Fangli leave the yard, Lin Wei turned her head and saw Zong Shao standing at the staircase, startled she asked, “When did you come down?”

“A while ago.”

“Did you hear me arguing with Gao Xiulian?”

“I heard.”

Lin Wei asked, “Then why didn’t you come down to back me up?”

Zong Shao: “…”

When he first heard the voices getting louder downstairs, he had planned to come down and support his wife. But before he could reach the first floor, he heard her silence Gao Xiulian completely, so he stopped in his tracks.

In truth, Lin Wei had only asked casually and wasn’t really trying to pick a fight with Zong Shao.

Today’s argument was entirely started by Gao Xiulian. No matter how angry she was or how aggrieved she felt, Lin Wei had more of a reason to be upset.

However, if Zong Shao had gotten involved, the situation would have turned into them teaming up to bully someone, and being right would no longer look like they were in the right.

As it was now, it worked out perfectly. If Gao Xiulian’s husband were a smart man, he shouldn’t, at least publicly, hold this against her or go looking for trouble with Zong Shao.

Thinking of this, Lin Wei intentionally asked, “Did I offend Gao Xiulian? Will her husband make things difficult for you in the future?”

Zong Shao replied, “It’s fine.” Then he asked what they had talked about earlier.

Lin Wei didn’t hide anything or exaggerate; she recounted the conversation between them just now.

The more Zong Shao listened, the deeper his frown became. He decided that the idea of building a new toilet and kitchen wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. He had checked with the logistics people before the construction and reported it to the leadership.

As for the extra expenses for the house repairs, he had covered them himself, without taking a single penny from the army. When the leadership found out, they didn’t say anything to him. There was no reason for Gao Xiulian to meddle.

What was worse was Gao Xiulian’s accusations of waste and crime—if it weren’t for his wife’s sharp tongue, that label would have been placed on him, and his whole family would have suffered because of it.

Seeing that Zong Shao’s expression wasn’t good, Lin Wei hesitated, “Are you sure it’s really fine?”

Zong Shao nodded firmly but, seeing that Lin Wei was still uneasy, he pondered for a moment before saying, “I’ll make time to have a proper talk with Vice Battalion Commander Zhao about this matter.”

Lin Wei finally felt relieved, “Alright.”