Chapter 15: Picking Up Someone

The person eavesdropping on the conversation was Gao Xiulian. She was in the kitchen serving dishes, but when she went out, she overheard a conversation from outside.

“…That’s a job in the hospital pharmacy. The work hours are from eight in the morning to six in the evening, with a lunch break. It’s sheltered from the wind and rain, and the hospital cafeteria even provides lunch…”

Gao Xiulian immediately tensed up, leaning in to listen more closely.

The more she listened, the angrier she got, and the more resentful she felt.

She had been following her husband for over a year, yet she was still at home taking care of the children. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to work, but because the military spouse resettlement office kept saying there were no available jobs for her.

To be more accurate, there were jobs, but none of them were good positions. They either asked her to work at a chicken farm feeding chickens or at a seafood supply station slaughtering fish.

While these jobs weren’t bad — although they were physically demanding, the pay was decent, and there were holiday benefits, much better than what she had back home — this wasn’t her hometown. She had come here to follow her husband!

Moreover, her husband was a deputy regiment commander.

When she first arrived on the island, she had inquired about it and found out that many of the military wives working at the grain station, the state-run restaurants, and the military spouse resettlement office had husbands with lower ranks than hers.

Not to mention, her husband had a battalion commander’s wife teaching at the military district school and a deputy battalion commander’s wife who had been assigned to work at a guesthouse after following her husband. These were good jobs.

If she were to end up at the seafood supply station, while the others were teaching or serving as waitstaff, what would people think of her, the deputy regiment commander’s wife, working as a fishmonger? How could she show her face?

Thus, even after a year and a half, Gao Xiulian had still not found a job.

She might have stayed silent if the situation hadn’t reached this point, only occasionally going to the resettlement office to inquire if there were any jobs for her.

But now what was happening?

Lin Wei, a newly arrived military wife who hadn’t even settled her household registration yet, was about to start working at the military hospital!

If Zhong Shao’s rank was very high, Gao Xiulian might have swallowed her frustration, but he was only a deputy battalion commander, so why should he get such treatment?

Gao Xiulian wasn’t willing to accept this!

She immediately thought of going to the military spouse resettlement office to demand an explanation, but then she remembered that their office had fixed working hours. They must have already finished for the day, which was why Liu Dan was searching the family area for her child and happened to run into Lin Wei and overhear this conversation, learning about such a big secret.

Gao Xiulian made a decision then and there — tomorrow, she would go to the military spouse resettlement office and demand a reasonable explanation!

She wasn’t going to let them get away with this!

…

Lin Wei didn’t know Gao Xiulian’s thoughts. She was discussing her job situation with Zhong Shao.

The yard was small, and Zhong Shao had overheard her conversation with Liu Dan earlier. Therefore, she didn’t repeat her concerns but briefly explained the situation and what the job entailed.

For soldiers like Zhong Shao, injuries were commonplace, if not frequent. At least, they weren’t rare occurrences.

After the military hospital was built, Zhong Shao had been there twice, both times to visit wounded comrades. So, he already knew what the pharmacy job was like, probably even better than Lin Wei did.

But Zhong Shao didn’t interrupt her and only nodded after she finished speaking, “This job sounds good.”

“Yes.” It was a good job, which was exactly why Lin Wei was hesitating.

Zhong Shao added, “If you want to go, then go ahead.”

Lin Wei looked at their two children. “I’m mainly worried about…”

Zhong Shao paused, then said, “There are military wives in the family area who aren’t working. You can negotiate with them and pay them to watch the kids.”

“Would that work?” Lin Wei still had doubts.

“There’s no problem. In the family area, there are plenty of children who aren’t old enough for school, and their parents work. They just play at home during the day, and when they get hungry, they go to their mom’s workplace to eat.”

At least they’d be watching the kids in a more organized way, compared to those children with no supervision. Zhong Shao continued, “Anyway, we’ll both be home in the evenings, so we’ll know how the kids are doing. And the pharmacy has a lunch break, so you can come home to check on them. The hospital is not far from the family area, only about ten minutes on foot. We can buy a bicycle to make it more convenient.”

Speaking of bicycles, Zhong Shao suddenly remembered something and pulled a ticket out of his pocket. “I have a ticket for an electric fan. This Sunday when I’m off, we can go to the county town and buy it.”

Lin Wei was surprised, taking the ticket from the table. “You really got a ticket?”

In those days, families who needed to buy big items had to find ways to gather industrial coupons.

Industrial coupons were distributed based on wages, usually 10 yuan per coupon, though the face value was small, typically 0.1 portions, enough to buy small things like needles, thread, soap, and light bulbs. But if you saved enough, you could buy more.

Of course, for large items like bicycles, the whole family had to pitch in, and sometimes they had to borrow from relatives and friends because the coupons had expiration dates, and if you didn’t use them in time, they became worthless.

Borrowing coupons, buying big items, and slowly repaying the borrowed coupons was the way ordinary people lived.

Even though it was difficult to gather industrial coupons, it was easier than borrowing tickets.

Lin Wei’s old cotton mill, where she used to work, was one of the largest units in their town, but they only gave out a few tickets during the annual model worker evaluation, and those were given to front-line workers.

The military gave out more tickets than state-run factories, but they also had more personnel, so the ratio of people to tickets wasn’t necessarily much higher than that of state-run factories.

Though Zhong Shao spoke with confidence, Lin Wei never expected that he’d actually manage to get a ticket in just one day.

“I borrowed it from a company commander under my command. Our battalion had a martial arts competition recently, and he won third place. The prize was this ticket.”

After hearing his explanation, Lin Wei realized that he had probably already planned to borrow the ticket from this person. She couldn’t help but ask, “Did he lend it to you? Doesn’t he need it?”

“He’s not married yet, so the ticket is useless for him right now.”

At that time, most of the tickets were limited to local use. For example, this electric fan ticket could only be used within the city. If they wanted to use it back home, they would need to exchange it for another ticket.

But exchanging tickets was not easy, as electric fan tickets were different from food or cloth coupons, which could be exchanged with the right organization, though at a loss.

Electric fan tickets were local, so they had to exchange them privately, but how could they know if the person they were exchanging with had the ticket they needed?

It was difficult!

In the end, the ticket would only become scrap paper in the hands of the other person. Zhong Shao could exchange it for industrial coupons and buy smaller items to send home.

“We don’t have any industrial coupons left, right?”

Lin Wei had already used most of the industrial coupons she brought with her. The cotton fabric she brought and the new shoes for the children had all been purchased with coupons. As for the industrial coupons in Zhong Shao’s hands, they had been used for household items.

Now, they had nothing but their savings.

Zhong Shao said, “I told him I’d pay him back monthly, it’s just that this half year will be tough.”

Although Lin Wei had sold all their household items before coming with her husband, making it seem like they had a lot of money, many of the things were bought at a loss. The prices were much lower than what they had originally paid for.

More importantly, during those times, most things required coupons to buy. So even though they had some money, they couldn’t spend it without the proper coupons.

Lin Wei had prepared herself for a hard time when she decided to follow her husband, and it wasn’t money that they lacked, but coupons. Because without coupons, even having money was useless, and they had to save everywhere.

Hearing this, Lin Wei wasn’t surprised. She simply replied, “It’s okay, we’ll take it slow, but let’s forget about the bicycle for now. I don’t think we need to buy one in the near future.” She didn’t want to save a few steps and then have to save for another six months. “I can walk to work.”

Zong Shao responded with a sound and then asked, “Have you decided to work at the hospital pharmacy?”

Lin Wei nodded and said, “Mm, Director Chen gave me three days, so I’ll start work next Monday. I’ll take these few days to ask around and see if anyone is willing to help look after the kids.”

“Alright, then you should probably talk to Director Chen about it?”

“She asked me to give her an answer tomorrow.”

Zong Shao then said, “Since you’ve made up your mind, I think you should just talk to her about it after you finish eating.”

Lin Wei paused for a moment and asked, “Wouldn’t that be too soon?”

“In work, it’s always better to show eagerness than hesitation. Besides, the sooner things are settled, the better. The longer you drag it out, the more complications arise.”

Lin Wei thought Zong Shao’s words were a bit exaggerated. The job was in demand, but Director Chen had already discussed everything with her, so how could there still be any changes? Plus, she was only delaying it for one night—how could it lead to complications?

But after thinking for a moment, she realized that Zong Shao, having graduated from military academy and risen to the rank of deputy battalion commander in just a few years, was certainly capable. His intelligence and emotional intelligence must also be on point. He might have a better sense of the situation than she did. So, she said, “Alright, I’ll go after I finish eating. Should I leave the dishes for you to wash?”

Zong Shao agreed without hesitation, “Sure.”

…

After dinner, Lin Wei went to Director Chen’s house.

This time, Major General Song was also at home. He was wearing a military uniform, looking tall and serious, making Lin Wei almost too intimidated to speak. But he only looked serious; his tone was actually quite gentle. When he saw that Lin Wei had something to discuss with his wife, he said a few words and then voluntarily stepped aside.

After Major General Song left, Lin Wei told Director Chen about her decision and added, “I was planning to come tomorrow, but then I thought about it and realized it would be a hassle for you to come back tomorrow, so I decided to come find you now.”

Director Chen’s tone was calm, “It’s all the same. So it’s settled. Next Monday at 8 a.m., you report to the hospital.”

Lin Wei nodded, “Alright, it’s settled then.”

After discussing the job, Lin Wei said she would leave, but Director Chen wanted to keep her for a while longer. However, Lin Wei was thinking about her kids at home, and since Major General Song was also there, she didn’t feel comfortable staying, so she made an excuse to leave.

As she was walking back, Lin Wei saw three people—a tall one and two shorter ones—coming from the direction of her home. She stopped and waited until they got closer, then asked, “What are you doing here?”

Zong Shao replied, “It’s getting dark, so I came to pick you up.”

Mingming proudly spoke up, “I… I was the first to say we should go pick up Mom!”

Ruirui puffed out his chest. Even though he didn’t speak, his expression said it all.

Lin Wei smiled and patted the two kids’ heads, saying, “You’re both good children.”

Mingming blinked his eyes and waited for a while, but when his mom didn’t say anything else, he couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you going to praise Dad? It was Dad who brought us here!”

Lin Wei heard this and looked up at Zong Shao.

Her eyes were filled with a teasing smile. Zong Shao coughed lightly, “We…”

But before he could finish, Lin Wei’s hand rested on top of his head. “Dad coming to pick up Mom makes me very happy, but remember to keep up the effort, okay?”

As her soft hand brushed over Zong Shao’s short, stiff hair, he suddenly felt that all the noise from the family area, the rustling of the wind through the palm trees, and the crashing sound of the waves against the rocks seemed to fade away.

In his world, there was only one person left.