Chapter 94: Promotion and Salary Increase

Wen Jiajia might have collapsed, but Wei Dai did. Every day when he came home, he had to teach his children to call him and Wen Jiajia “Mom” and “Dad,” but instead, Xiaomei called “crab” first!

And unlike her usual vague babbling, she said “crab” very clearly this time. No matter what Wei Dai tried to convince himself, he couldn’t believe Xiaomei had only uttered a vague sound similar to “crab.”

“How can you be so capable!” After boiling the water, Wei Dai held his daughter in his arms and pinched her cheeks. “I’ve called you ‘Dad’ so many times, and the first word you say is ‘crab’?”

Xiaomei thought her father was teasing her. She seemed unhappy when she saw him moving farther away from the crabs and pointed at them, shouting “Ahhh,” clearly wanting to go over.

If Wei Dai continued to nag, she would slap her father on the mouth and say, “Ah!”

Was he bullying her because she couldn’t walk or talk yet?

Wei Dai, feeling down, carried the child over to the crabs again.

After washing the hairy crabs, they were ready to be steamed. Just adding a few slices of ginger and steaming them made the crabs taste incredibly fresh and sweet.

Breaking open the shell and splitting them in half, the crab roe looked like egg yolk, and the crab meat resembled egg white. The deliciousness of the river food was evident just from the aroma.

Crabs should naturally be eaten with vinegar. Wen Jiajia mixed a bit of rice wine, aged vinegar, and some chopped ginger for the dipping sauce, which greatly enhanced the crab’s flavor.

If she could drink alcohol, she would have poured some bayberry or peach blossom wine. The green plum wine at home was finished. Her cousin was an unspoken heavy drinker who enjoyed an evening drink. To ensure she had enough, Wen Jiajia also made peach blossom wine from the dried peach blossoms meant for tea. Now was the perfect time to drink it.

Wen Jiajia poured some peach blossom wine for her aunt. After a glass, the aunt’s face turned slightly red. 

“Oh, life is so comfortable,” the aunt said with squinted eyes and a contented sigh.

The sunset was so beautiful, even though it was nearly dusk, it still invigorated everyone.

Zhong Huisheng, from her family compound, could sense from the newspaper that the tumultuous decade was finally ending. Indeed, on October 6, this massive revolution that had lasted for ten years came to an end.

When they saw the newspaper, everyone in the family compound cheered. Even Teacher Shen, known for her reserved and intellectual demeanor, joined in the celebration. Afterward, she went home and cried tears of joy. When Wen Jiajia visited her in the evening, her eyes were still red and swollen.

“Teacher Shen, are you okay?” Wen Jiajia asked with concern.

In the evening, Xie Yi had come over to tell her that his mother was crying, so Wen Jiajia went to check on her.

Teacher Shen was packing up her things and smiled, “It’s okay! What else can I do now? The most difficult days are over.”

Wen Jiajia was relieved to see that, despite her swollen eyes, Teacher Shen was clearly happy. She asked curiously, “Sister, are you going out?”

“Yes, I went to see my mother… My mother lives in her hometown, which is my maternal grandparents’ home. She only sends one letter every year, and it just says that everything is fine. But she has many underlying health issues, and her rheumatism is quite serious. I don’t know how she has been managing these past few years,” Teacher Shen sighed, a look of worry on her face.

Xie Yi, being warm-hearted, hugged his mother and said, “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll go with you to see Grandma and take her to the hospital for treatment.”

Wen Jiajia also nodded and consoled her, “I heard from Dr. Peng that his wife is skilled in treating rheumatism^[1]is a term used to describe pain and inflammation in the joints, muscles, or connective tissues.. Why not bring the old lady to try?”

Teacher Shen hesitated for a moment and said, “I’m not sure what the current policy is. If possible, I’ll bring her here. I’ll ask for your help in introducing her to the doctor when the time comes.”

“Of course! It won’t be a problem. Dr. Peng is from our hospital. We can consult him when needed.”

After Wen Jiajia finished speaking, she noticed that Teacher Shen had many things to sort out, so she left her house and returned home.

The aunt, now older and calmer, said, “I knew this day would come eventually.”

Wen Jiajia smiled and asked, “Do you have any relatives?”

Zhong Huisheng tied her apron around her and replied, “No, I am the only daughter in my family. Your mother-in-law and I are the only ones left in my generation.”

Wen Jiajia had always been curious about her mother-in-law’s family background, and it seemed it hadn’t affected her much over the years.

Zhong Huisheng noticed her curiosity and, after a moment of thought, smiled and said, “You want to know about your mother-in-law’s background, right?”

Yes! Asking this question suddenly made Wen Jiajia feel as if she were prying into her mother-in-law’s private matters.

Wen Jiajia sat on the bench in front of the stove and nodded, ready to listen as the aunt began her story.

“Your mother-in-law’s mother and my mother were sisters. Our family lived in the countryside and didn’t own much land. According to the old classification of class status, we were between middle peasants and rich peasants. It’s said that our ancestors had a scholar who inherited some land. Although not much remained by their generation, it was still enough to sustain us.”

Wen Jiajia was puzzled, “Doesn’t your family run a cloth shop?”

“My father supported the cloth shop. My grandfather almost ruined the family business due to an opium addiction^[2]is a condition where a person becomes dependent on opium, a drug made from the poppy plant.. Few people in the city were willing to marry my father because of this. Fortunately, no one wanted him… My father fell in love with my mother when he returned to the countryside, and they married. Gradually, the business started to improve.”

Wen Jiajia understood now; it was a love marriage.

“Your mother-in-law’s mother, my aunt, had a difficult life. My grandfather was quite old-fashioned. He had only two daughters and didn’t want to be seen as greedy for money. After one daughter married a city man, he married the other daughter off to a poor family.”

Wen Jiajia frowned; it was indeed very pedantic.

“In reality, having money isn’t everything. As long as you are motivated and smart, a couple can live well by supporting each other. However, Wei Dai’s grandfather was even more pedantic^[3]describes someone who is overly concerned with minor details or rules, often to the point of being annoying. than mine. He didn’t read much but placed great importance on the Three Obediences and Four Virtues^[4]means that the person isn’t well-read or educated but strongly values traditional gender roles and expectations for women.. My aunt suffered for two or three years after marriage, as if she had aged ten years. Thankfully, he died a few years after your mother-in-law was born. He could no longer torment anyone. Your grandmother felt sorry for her daughter and took your mother-in-law back home to live with her for a few years. During that time, I also studied with your mother-in-law.”

Wen Jiajia thought, No wonder her mother-in-law seemed so well-educated.

While talking, Zhong Huisheng cooked. There was still a lot of food left from lunch, so Wen Jiajia decided to make some hot rice for dinner.

How to make it? Simply fry some eggs in a pan, cut vegetables into small pieces and stir-fry them, add some mushrooms, then add boiling water when they are half-cooked. Pour in the leftover rice and cook it all together, adding seasoning when it’s ready to serve. The taste is excellent, though it can make you sweat in hot weather.

Wen Jiajia was sweating profusely from eating, and Wen Chun and Wen Xuan were even more affected.

Both girls were very sensitive to the heat. This summer, Wen Chun suffered from heatstroke twice, and Wen Xuan once. Wen Chun’s heatstroke was more severe, requiring a hospital visit and medication.

Later, Wen Jiajia asked the aunt to make mung bean soup every day, which helped the two sisters avoid heatstroke.

Fortunately, summer was ending, and the autumn tiger was starting to subside.

After October, the weather gradually cooled down. Even on the hottest days, temperatures only reached just over 30 degrees, and it was still cool in the morning and evening.

There had been a lot of work in the factory recently, or rather, in the past six months. Wen Jiajia had worked overtime several times and even stayed at the factory for a few days.

Due to the rapid expansion of the factory, there were many changes in top management. Recently, there were rumors about establishing a deputy director position.

When Wen Jiajia heard the news, she felt a surge of interest. It was impossible for her to say she wasn’t eager for it.

Who wouldn’t want a promotion?

Even if Wen Jiajia didn’t plan to stay at the factory long-term, a promotion meant a salary increase, and who could resist that?

At that moment, she really wanted to ask Director Gao if the rumor was true. However, the deputy director would obviously be closer to the director than the team leader, which meant more power. While the subordinates would be happy, Director Gao might not be.

Although Wen Jiajia had a good relationship with Director Gao, they were still superior and subordinate in a professional setting. They couldn’t be true friends no matter how good their rapport was. It would be unwise to ask directly.

Wen Jiajia sat in the office, contemplating for a few minutes. She realized that her performance was still much better than Liang Mu’s next door. As long as there was no insider information this time, her promotion seemed likely, which eased her worries.

After a certain gang was crushed, the Revolutionary Committee in the city quickly fell, and there were no more people wearing red armbands walking the streets.

As for Wen Jiajia, she could naturally visit the small courtyard she bought last year from time to time.

She hadn’t gone there much before because she didn’t want to attract attention. After all, many people thought it was strange to buy a yard when you already have a place to live.

Some people, being more inquisitive, might even speculate whether there was something hidden under the house. The more active ones might even get up in the middle of the night with a small hoe to dig around.

Even if nothing was found, reporting Wen Jiajia would still cause her some trouble.

Fortunately, there were no places to report without reason now, and Wen Jiajia began to think about planting trees.

This small courtyard was bare, without even a single tree. Waiting until the renovation to plant some would be too late.

Wen Jiajia kept this in mind and planned to ask Wei Dai to find a way to plant a tree there when he was free.

The busyness in the factory didn’t ease up until the end of the year when all the goods were shipped out.

Wen Jiajia finally had time to take out the books she brought and review them. She had just finished memorizing Chinese content some time ago and was currently focusing on political content.

To be honest, her biggest fear wasn’t Chinese or math, but politics.

At that time, there were three main subjects in the college entrance examination: Chinese, mathematics, and politics. So even if you chose science, you couldn’t avoid politics.

As for Chinese, she could still use some of her previous life’s foundation. Mathematics was manageable, but politics had to be learned from scratch.

When memorizing, she had to be careful not to mix up political terms from different decades on the test paper.

So Wen Jiajia decided to dedicate more time to politics. From December to next May, she would focus on reviewing political content.

When she saw the date on the newspaper, she suddenly felt a sense of urgency. This time next year, it will probably be the college entrance examination. In other words, she could be considered a senior high school student now.

How could she not work hard in her senior year?

Thinking about her situation in her previous life, Wen Jiajia encouraged herself and took advantage of the free time to memorize her lessons.

_

The announcement regarding the deputy director’s position was not posted on the department’s bulletin board until January 1977. As soon as Wen Jiajia arrived at the office that day, she was called over by Director Gao.

“What’s the matter, Director?” Wen Jiajia’s breathing was still a bit uneven; she had almost been late.

Director Gao said, “Please sit down first and have some water.”

Wen Jiajia shook her head and said, “No, it will save you the trouble of cleaning up later.” Then she sat down.

Director Gao did not insist and asked, “Have you seen the document on the bulletin board?”

Wen Jiajia subconsciously looked out the window, “No, I just ran here and didn’t notice it.”

Director Gao smiled and said, “The factory requires our department to add a new deputy director, and the candidate must be selected by Friday of this week at the latest. The factory is leaning towards you, and so am I. Now we just need to see if there are any objections within the department. If there is unanimous or majority agreement, the candidate can be decided.”

Wen Jiajia was stunned, really stunned.

She hadn’t heard anything about this in the factory for such a long time and thought it was just idle gossip. Who knew she would be hit with this news on the first day of the new year?

“Then… is there anything I need to do?” Wen Jiajia asked hurriedly after coming to her senses.

Director Gao replied, “You don’t need to do much. Just organize your annual work report and summary, and include a personal thought report. Please give them to me before Friday.”

“…”