Chapter 11: Director Chen

When they passed by this building yesterday, Zong Shao had only mentioned the Military Family Placement Office. In reality, the building was shared between that office and the Women’s Federation—the former on the first floor, the latter on the second.

Although “one floor” might sound spacious, there were actually only seven offices inside, with four doors on each side. On the left, the two front rooms were connected and used as shared offices, while the other two doors led to offices for the leadership. On the right were four smaller departments: household registration, job placement, mediation services, and finance/logistics.

Even though the corridor was empty, wooden signs hung on every office door. Lin Wei looked at the signs and knocked on the first door on the right.

A voice quickly responded from inside, “Come in.”

Lin Wei pushed the door open and saw a rectangular office—standard layout, with the door in front and a window at the back. It wasn’t very big. Just a couple of steps inside was a row of desks—two on each side. Behind them were two filing cabinets placed beside the windows.

Two people looked up from their desks. The other two desks were unoccupied; Lin Wei wasn’t sure if they were empty or if the occupants had stepped out.

She didn’t pay it much mind and smiled at the two present: “Hello, I’m Lin Wei. I’m a new military spouse. Is this where I register our household?”

The two women exchanged a look. They were both military spouses themselves and had been assigned clerical jobs at the placement office because of their higher education and the fact that there happened to be openings when they joined their husbands.

Since both work and meals were within the family compound, they were always quick to catch wind of any news. Seeing Lin Wei’s unfamiliar face, they could guess her identity—who her husband was, and when she arrived.

Correspondingly, they had also heard about yesterday’s events in the compound. They knew Lin Wei appeared gentle, but wasn’t someone to be trifled with.

Thinking of this, the woman in the plaid shirt sitting behind the right-side desk straightened up and asked, “Did you bring all your documents?”

Lin Wei had prepared the documents as per Zong Shao’s instructions, so they should be complete. But since he hadn’t handled household registration himself, she wasn’t entirely sure. After telling her two sons to stay nearby and not wander, she stepped forward with the paperwork and said, “I brought some documents. Could you please check if it’s all there?”

The woman in plaid gave a hum of acknowledgment and looked up briefly as she took the papers. She noticed two nearly identical boys whispering to each other at the doorway and was visibly surprised. “They look so alike?”

“They’re twins,” Lin Wei explained, “so they resemble each other quite a bit.”

“Not all twins look alike, though,” chimed in the middle-aged woman at the adjacent desk. She wore a gray-blue summer Navy uniform.

The Navy had recently issued new uniforms: white tops and blue bottoms for female personnel in summer. But the one she wore was a Type-65 summer uniform for female soldiers. The fabric still looked fairly new, probably issued the previous year and worn only a few times.

Seeing that the woman seemed friendly, Lin Wei smiled and said, “I think it depends on whether they’re identical or fraternal twins. Identical twins look more alike; fraternal ones not as much.”

The woman in uniform looked surprised. “There’s a difference?”

Lin Wei nodded. “There should be. That’s what the doctors say.” (In truth, she had read it in a novel.)

While the two chatted, the woman in plaid had already reviewed the documents. She got up, opened the filing cabinet behind her, retrieved two forms, and handed them to Lin Wei. “Your documents are in order. Please fill out these two forms.” She also handed her a pen and gestured to an empty desk nearby. “You can sit here.”

Lin Wei thanked her and sat down to fill out the forms.

Each form was only one sheet, but both sides had to be filled in and required a fair amount of information. Lin Wei took her time.

The boys, already in an unfamiliar environment, didn’t dare to be loud. A few minutes was fine, but after a while, they began to get bored. Just as Lin Wei finished the first form, Mingming ran over and asked, “Mama, are you done yet?”

Lin Wei looked up and said, “Just a little longer. Can you play with your brother for a while?”

“Okay,” Mingming sighed, then looked out the window and remembered the large courtyard outside. “Can we go out and play?”

Lin Wei hesitated. This was an unfamiliar place, and she worried the boys might get lost.

Just then, the woman in uniform offered a few candies and smiled. “Would you like some candy, little one?”

Children around three or four rarely say no to sweets, especially fruit candies with bright yellow and green wrappers. They seemed to glimmer in her palm, tempting Mingming into swallowing unconsciously.

But he still firmly shook his head. “Mama said not to take things from strangers,” he said, licking his lips. “Especially food.”

The boys had inherited all the best features from their parents, making them especially striking among their peers. Their pale skin made them even more appealing.

The woman in uniform clearly liked children. When the boys had been standing by the door earlier, she hadn’t gotten a good sense of their personalities, and she’d also worried about being too forward. So she waited until now to offer the candy.

She hadn’t expected the little one to be so well-behaved. Even though he was clearly tempted—his eyes locked on the candy—he still refused politely. Her heart melted.

She smiled and said, “You’re right not to take candy from strangers. But your dad and my husband know each other. I live in the family compound too. So I’m not a stranger. You can ask your mama.”

Mingming turned to Lin Wei.

Lin Wei looked over and saw the woman smiling. “My name is Shen Qing. My husband, Li Boping, serves in the same fleet as Zong Shao. They know each other.”

Lin Wei believed her. Although the Sanlin base was large and divided into shore duty, sea duty, and air forces, the military spouses who were allowed to join their husbands were generally of higher rank. Even if they didn’t all know each other personally, they at least recognized names.

And if, as Shen Qing said, her husband and Zong Shao were both in sea duty, it was not surprising they’d met.

Even if they hadn’t known each other before, it didn’t matter—they all lived in the family area. Even if the houses weren’t that close, they’d get familiar with each other over time.

Besides, Lin Wei could tell that Shen Qing genuinely liked kids and had no hidden motives behind offering the candy. So she nodded and said, “Remember to say thank you to Auntie.”

“Thank you, Auntie!” Mingming quickly responded, taking a piece of candy. Then, glancing at his brother still standing at the door, he whispered, “Can I take one for my brother too?”

Shen Qing smiled. “Of course. These candies are for both of you.”

Mingming was clearly tempted, but after a moment he shook his head. “One each is enough. Mama doesn’t let us eat too much candy.” He picked up a candy and waved to his brother. “Ruier!”

Ruier, who had been daydreaming at the door, slowly walked over and took the candy from his brother. “Thank you, Auntie.”

“So well-behaved!” Shen Qing praised. “How did you raise them to be so polite?”

People got married young back then, and most military wives already had kids. Parenting was a popular topic.

The woman in plaid immediately agreed. “I think so too. Her kids are really well-behaved. My son’s a few years older than them, and he’s a total menace—if I don’t hit him for three days, he’s tearing the house down. He drives me crazy!”

Lin Wei said, “We have a saying back home: kids around seven or eight are disliked even by dogs. I’m just worried they’ll be harder to manage when they get older.”

That hit home for the woman in plaid. “Exactly! My boy just turned seven and is heading into eight. Even dogs would avoid him! But he wasn’t this naughty at three or four. Yours will probably still be fine when they’re older.”

“Hopefully,” Lin Wei sighed, handing over the completed form and asking, “Could you take a look and see if I filled it out properly? Is anything missing?”

The woman in the checkered shirt quickly glanced over the form. “Everything looks fine for now, nothing missing. But whether it’s acceptable or not depends on the higher-ups. I’ll submit your documents first—if there’s any issue, we’ll notify you.”

“Thanks for the trouble,” Lin Wei said, standing up. “By the way, we’ve talked for a while and I still don’t know your name…”

As she packed up the documents, the woman replied, “I’m Liu Dan. You can call me Sister Liu or Comrade Liu—either works.”

Lin Wei called her Sister Liu, then asked, “So that’s it for today? I can head back now? Also, how long does it usually take for the household registration to come through?”

“I have to go to the Command Headquarters this afternoon, so I can take your documents with me and hand them in. As for when the household registration will be processed, that depends on their review—whether there are any issues,” Liu Dan said, then added, “But don’t worry. Your political review passed back when you got married, so there shouldn’t be any problems now. It’s just a matter of going through the motions—should be in a day or two.”

Lin Wei thanked her again and said, “Then I’ll come back the day after tomorrow. Should I still find you then?”

“Yes, come to me. I’m in charge of the household registration stuff.”

“Alright.” Lin Wei nodded, indicating she understood, and called to the two boys, “Say goodbye to the aunties.”

The two boys still had candy in their mouths. Hearing Lin Wei’s words, they each pushed the candy to the side of their cheeks and waved, saying, “Goodbye Auntie Shen, goodbye Auntie Liu.”

In truth, Ruirui hadn’t paid much attention to the conversation and didn’t know their names. He had planned to just say “Goodbye Auntie,” but when the words reached his lips, he heard his brother say the names, glanced at him, and quickly changed what he was going to say.

Noticing Ruirui’s little gesture, Shen Qing couldn’t help but smile. “Goodbye Mingming, goodbye Ruirui.”

Lin Wei waved to them again, picked up the folder of documents, and left with the two boys.

Just as they exited the office, Lin Wei saw a woman in her early forties entering from outside. The woman had short hair, wore a blue blouse paired with straight black trousers, and round-toed heels.

She looked quite capable.

Most people coming here were military wives living in the family quarters—neighbors, in a sense. Even if they didn’t know each other, there was usually some social connection. But Lin Wei wasn’t the type to strike up conversation for the sake of it, so she just nodded politely and left with the children.

The middle-aged woman, however, looked at Lin Wei a bit more than once. After entering the employment placement office and greeting the staff, she asked, “Was the person who just left a new military wife?”

There were only two staff members working in the office—the leaders were all at a meeting.

Hearing the question, the short-haired woman at the left desk asked, “Someone just left again?” turning to her colleague for confirmation.

The colleague thought for a moment and said, “Probably from the office next door? I passed by earlier and saw someone handling household registration stuff in there.”

The short-haired woman remembered. “Could it be Vice Company Commander Zong’s wife? I heard she arrived yesterday and already got into an argument with Gao Xiulian.”

“Why did they argue?” the middle-aged woman asked.

“Apparently Gao Xiulian thought it was wasteful for the Zong family to renovate their house and build a new toilet. I don’t know the details, but in the end, Deputy Regiment Commander Zhao brought Gao Xiulian over to apologize.” She then lowered her voice. “Everyone says Vice Commander Zong’s wife is a bit temperamental—grew up in a capitalist family.”

The middle-aged woman wasn’t fazed. “If someone came to me and criticized how my family spends money, I wouldn’t be so easygoing either.”

Gao Xiulian didn’t have a great reputation in the family compound. The short-haired woman wasn’t trying to defend her, so she said, “That’s true. By the way, Director Chen, what brings you here today?”

Director Chen remembered her purpose. “Here’s the thing—Xiao Hu from our hospital’s Chinese medicine dispensary is moving back to her hometown because her husband’s retiring from the military. So I came to see if you have anyone suitable to fill the spot.”

The short-haired woman said, “There are definitely people, but what are your requirements?”

“You know, in the dispensary you need to recognize characters to dispense medicine. So illiteracy won’t do. Ideally someone with at least a junior high school education. They need to be careful too—giving the wrong medicine could kill someone.” Chen paused, then added, “Those two criteria should be enough.”

The military district hospital was newly built, and Sanlin wasn’t a major area—conditions were rough. The top-tier medical school graduates all used their connections to get into big hospitals. Even the less-connected ones would rather go to small-town clinics than be posted here, resulting in a serious staffing shortage.

Otherwise, even for a dispensary job, she wouldn’t be making such minimal hiring requirements.

Although Director Chen thought her requirements were lenient, the short-haired woman found them hard to meet. There weren’t many military wives with junior high education levels. And among those who did, most had already been assigned jobs. Very few remaining jobless military wives met the requirement.

Seeing the woman’s hesitation, Director Chen asked, “What? So many unemployed military wives in the compound, and not even one meets the education requirement?”

“There are some, but…” The woman handed over the profiles of qualified candidates.

Director Chen took the files and frowned as soon as she saw them. “No one else besides her?”

The woman shook her head. “No. But if literacy is your only concern, I do have a few other candidates.”

If junior high school wasn’t good enough for Director Chen, then these others definitely wouldn’t make the cut. Her frown deepened as she debated whether to call the local middle school principal and ask him to assign a recent graduate.

Just then, the woman sitting at the right desk said, “Maybe there’s one more person.”

“Who?” the short-haired woman asked quickly.

“The Vice Company Commander Zong’s wife. She just arrived with the military family, right? She probably needs a job too.”

“Her?” The short-haired woman frowned. “We don’t even know her education level!”

“If you want to know that, it’s easy. Just ask next door. It’s all listed on the household registration forms.”

The short-haired woman was still hesitant, but Director Chen had already made up her mind. She stood up and said, “I’ll go next door and ask about her.” And with that, she walked out.

Once Director Chen left, the short-haired woman turned to her colleague. “Why did you bring up Vice Commander Zong’s wife?”

Her colleague was newly transferred to the family placement office and looked confused. “Director Chen asked for someone with junior high education. We didn’t have a good match, so I thought of her—what’s wrong with that?”

It wasn’t a major issue—but it didn’t follow procedure.

Their job placement process for military wives had a standard protocol. Usually the wives came to register, then they matched candidates to available positions and sent over the files. If the hiring unit was satisfied, they’d arrange a trial period or direct onboarding.

Because there were few state-run enterprises near the Sanlin base—or even in the whole Yaxian area—job openings were rare. Many military wives waited six months to a year after registering before they were offered a job. So when submitting candidate profiles, they prioritized those who had been accompanying their husbands for longer but were still jobless.

Vice Commander Zong’s wife had just arrived, and her household registration hadn’t even been processed yet. Submitting her profile now wasn’t appropriate.

And given how scarce decent jobs were, especially a light clerical position in a hospital dispensary—people would be lining up for it. And now it was being casually handed to a newcomer?

The short-haired woman sighed inwardly. Hopefully, her qualifications wouldn’t meet the requirements…