Chapter 24: Gao Xiulian Gets Beaten

When Lin Wei passed by the back door of the Zhao family’s house, she saw the door suddenly open from the inside, and Gao Xiulian stormed out, looking furious.

The sun was scorching on the island, and most of the military wives who had been stationed for a long time had skin that tanned to a honey color, and Gao Xiulian was no exception.

But when she ran out of the house, the slap mark on her face was quite obvious, and it was clear that the person who slapped her had used some force. And since she had come out of her own home, it was obvious who had given her the slap.

As this thought crossed her mind, Lin Wei saw Gao Xiulian stop in front of her, glaring at her as she said, “Are you satisfied now?”

Lin Wei was confused—what did their argument have to do with her?

Before she could ask, Gao Xiulian shot her a look and stormed off. Lin Wei couldn’t help but mutter, “What a mess.”

Zong Shao, holding an electric fan, said, “Don’t mind her.”

Lin Wei gave a brief response and led the two kids home.

Once inside, she tried the fan. There was only one socket downstairs, which happened to be located between the living room and the dining area. The fan’s cord was long enough, and the breeze reached a wide area, so no matter where one sat, they could feel the cooling wind.

After testing the fan, Lin Wei organized the items they had bought.

They hadn’t bought much. Aside from the fan, the rest of the things fit easily into the cloth bag she had brought. The items were a bit scattered—useful things like needles, thread, and soap, and food like biscuits and dried fruit… She had also bought a teapot. Before, she had to pour water from a thermos into an enamel cup to cool it, which was inconvenient.

Because the items were scattered, it took a little longer to sort them.

While she was tidying up, Zhao Feng came over and called Zong Shao out.

Thinking about how Gao Xiulian had cried and run out of her house, followed shortly by Zhao Feng coming to call him, Lin Wei couldn’t help but wonder. As she was doing her tasks, she kept glancing outside. When Zong Shao came back, she asked, “What did Deputy Commander Zhao want with you?”

Zong Shao replied, “It was about Gao Xiulian complaining. He came to apologize.”

Lin Wei stopped for a moment. “How did he know about this?”

Zong Shao didn’t hide anything: “I bumped into him while I was out for a run this morning and mentioned it to him.” He had a habit of exercising, so even on rest days, he would run a couple of laps in the morning.

Although Lin Wei had previously said there was no need to seek an explanation from Zhao Feng, she didn’t comment now. She simply said, “So the slap on Gao Xiulian’s face was really from Deputy Commander Zhao?”

“I didn’t ask, but it seems like it was.”

Lin Wei fell silent, and after a long pause, she said, “Deputy Commander Zhao seems so refined, I never would have expected him to hit someone.”

Zong Shao was also a little surprised, but thinking about Zhao Feng’s demeanor earlier, he said, “It seemed like he regretted it a bit. It must have been a heated argument, and he slapped her by accident.”

Lin Wei disagreed, saying, “No matter how heated the argument, it’s never a reason to hit someone. Once things get physical, the nature of the problem changes.”

She didn’t actually feel sympathy for Gao Xiulian. In fact, seeing her in trouble made Lin Wei feel somewhat relieved. But she had seen many women trapped in abusive relationships.

When a man gets in a bad mood, he slaps his wife; when he can’t explain himself, he punches her. Some even take advantage of alcohol to act out, hitting their wives with fists and kicks.

Yet many of these abused women don’t see it as a problem. They even comfort themselves by saying, “It’s just a slap, it’ll be fine in a few days,” or “He only hit me because he was drunk, he’s nice when sober. It’s not like I’m going to divorce him.”

For a long time, Lin Wei had feared marriage. She would even think to herself, if only people didn’t have to marry.

This was also the reason she worked so hard at her studies. The girls from her hometown had mostly never gone to school, and many of them were married by the time they were 18 or 19, or even younger. In contrast, girls in the city would marry later, after receiving some education.

Lin Wei thought to herself that the later marriage came, the better.

But then, the sudden political movements changed Lin Wei’s fate—school was suspended, and she was sent to the countryside. The girls from the city gathered in the rural areas, and she likely wouldn’t have another chance to leave.

As Lin Wei grew older, more and more people came to her house with marriage proposals. She began to change her mindset.

If she had to marry, she wanted to find a man she was familiar with from childhood, but different from the others.

He didn’t have to talk much, but he must be clean and tidy. He didn’t need to have a high education, but he must be reasonable. Most importantly, he couldn’t be violent—that was her bottom line.

Thinking of this, Lin Wei said, “I don’t care about anyone else, but you can’t lay a finger on me. Otherwise, whoever loves this life can live it, but I sure won’t.”

Zong Shao saw the seriousness in her expression and immediately raised his hand, saying, “I’ll definitely be careful, not even a finger.”

Lin Wei was satisfied and put the food in the cupboard. Then she asked Zong Shao to wash the teapot and fill it with hot water for a couple of rinses. Once that was done, they would be able to use the teapot.

…

The matter of Gao Xiulian getting slapped wasn’t small, mainly because she had run out with the slap mark clearly visible on her face, and it was a Sunday. Many people in the family compound had seen it.

As a result, the Women’s Federation worked overtime. In the afternoon, they visited the Zhao family to inquire about what happened. They also gave Zhao Feng a round of ideological education, not forgetting to talk to Gao Xiulian as well.

The official line was that it was just a slap, and Zhao Feng hadn’t done it on purpose. The Women’s Federation focused on mediation, so the matter ended with Zhao Feng apologizing, and the couple made up.

Because of their argument, Gao Xiulian’s complaint about Lin Wei losing her job also spread.

Human nature is complex.

If Gao Xiulian’s complaint hadn’t succeeded and Lin Wei had still gone to work at the hospital pharmacy, the military wives who didn’t have jobs might have felt envious, thinking Gao Xiulian was right to complain, and that Lin Wei didn’t deserve it.

But now that Lin Wei had lost her job, people thought she had suffered an unjust misfortune. It wasn’t her fault the process was wrong, and if this hadn’t happened, with her education, the job would have gone to her. Now, it was someone else’s problem, but she was left to bear the consequences, so people sympathized with her.

Sympathizing with Lin Wei naturally led to disdain for Gao Xiulian.

When the military wives found out that Gao Xiulian had eavesdropped on a conversation between Liu Dan and Lin Wei, and that she had found out Lin Wei had been assigned to a good hospital job before complaining, the people living around Zhao’s house were all uneasy.

Not just the people living around Zhao’s house, but even military wives who lived farther away would stop chatting and stay far away when they saw Gao Xiulian, afraid they might say the wrong thing and have her report them.

Zhao Feng was also implicated. Some people, more subtle about it, would avoid him in conversation, while others would bluntly ask, “Deputy Commander Zhao, you wouldn’t be passing on what we say, would you?”

Though they asked jokingly, Zhao Feng’s mood at that moment was not one to be mentioned.

…

The couple next door had a rough time, but Lin Wei thought her life was quite comfortable.

Before following the military, Lin Wei had worked as a warehouse manager at the Shicheng Cotton Mill. The job wasn’t particularly exhausting, but it wasn’t exactly easy either. When there weren’t enough hands to manage the fabric and yarn coming in and out of the warehouse, they would often step in to help.

There were only four people in their office, two men and two women. The other woman was the group leader, and she was very proactive. She never thought that being a woman meant she couldn’t do heavy work. The leader led by example, so Lin Wei never expected any special treatment and would step in when needed.

Lin Wei knew that compared to the frontline workers in the factory, her job was relatively easy. At least the warehouse had regular daytime shifts, and she didn’t have to work late. So she never complained and just focused on doing her part.

Sometimes, after a full day’s work, she would feel exhausted and not want to do anything when she got home.

But she couldn’t just do nothing.

Although her mother helped take care of the kids, and she paid her for it, Lin Wei couldn’t bring herself to treat her own mother like a babysitter and just sit back and do nothing.

So after dinner, she would voluntarily wash the dishes, then bathe and do laundry for the two kids. She would do the same for her own clothes—usually washing them right after bathing, without leaving them for the next day for her mother to wash.

Basically, every day, after finishing her tasks, it would already be around 9 or 10 PM. If the two kids were asleep when she returned to her room, that was fine. If not, she would have to coax them to sleep.

As a result, when she was in her hometown, Lin Wei was constantly on the go. It was either work or worrying about the kids, and she never had time to sit down and daydream.

But now, Lin Wei has a lot of free time.

She still wakes up around six in the morning to prepare breakfast, but after eating, she no longer has to rush to work. Instead, she takes the two kids out to leisurely buy groceries and fish. If there’s enough time, she might stop by the supply and marketing cooperative to pick up some fruit.

After returning home, she rests for half an hour to an hour, then slowly prepares lunch. She eats around noon and, after eating, takes the two kids for a nap.

The afternoon is mostly free time, but since the sun is at its hottest at that time, she doesn’t like to go out much. Usually, she sits at the door, watching the kids play on the beach. If they wander too far, she calls out to them.

Around five o’clock, she starts preparing dinner. After eating, it’s mostly Zong Shao who does the work.

To be honest, his military books work wonders when he coaxes the kids to sleep. It usually takes less than ten minutes for the two brothers to fall asleep, and then it’s time for evening activities.

Counting it all up, Lin Wei now has a lot of free time during the day. Even though she now has an additional Xiao Shitou to take care of, she isn’t much busier than before, especially since she no longer needs to worry about the kids’ meals.

Especially after the curtains were put up, Lin Wei often felt like she had nothing to do and wanted to find something to occupy herself with.

But after thinking for several days, she still hadn’t figured out what to do, until Zong Shao suggested, “Why don’t you teach the kids some characters?”

Lin Wei was taken aback: “Characters?”

“The things I read aloud at night, as long as Ruirui hears them, he can generally repeat them the next day. His memory is truly remarkable.”

In Zong Shao’s eyes, there are many smart kids. Just thinking of how quick-witted they are, especially when the three kids play together, Ruirui is always the one who comes up with ideas.

But kids like Ruirui, who have photographic memory, are rare. Zong Shao reads military books, which even adults might struggle to remember after reading once, but Ruirui can almost recite them.

Zong Shao believes that if Ruirui is well-trained, he will definitely do well in the future.

However, since the kids are still young and he is usually quite busy, he hadn’t thought much about it. But now that Lin Wei brought it up, he had this idea and shared it with her.

When Lin Wei heard Zong Shao’s words, she remembered that in the original text, Ruirui was indeed very smart, entering the prestigious Huada Junior Program when he was in his teens, and later working at a research institute.

Because of this, Ruirui’s role in the story was very limited, and he mostly appeared in the words of others.

Lin Wei felt that Zong Shao’s suggestion was feasible but hesitated a little. “If I’m going to teach, do I need to buy some books? And notebooks and pens? Also, we don’t have a blackboard at home.”

“Not having a blackboard doesn’t matter. After all, there are only two kids in the house. Even with Xiao Shitou, that’s only three. You can just write the characters in the notebook. There’s no need to rush with the books. First, teach them individual characters. Later, I’ll ask around to see if anyone has old textbooks we can borrow. As for notebooks and pens, just get them from the supply and marketing cooperative.”

After hearing Zong Shao’s detailed suggestions, Lin Wei felt confident that it could work and said, “I will definitely teach them well.”

The next morning, Lin Wei told the kids the good news, but their reactions were different.

Xiao Shitou wasn’t yet old enough for school and had no playmates before, so whenever he saw other kids going to school together, he was always envious. Now that he had Mingming and Ruirui as friends, he was still looking forward to going to school if he could.

Ruirui, on the other hand, was calm. He neither looked forward to the classes nor disliked them. He was fine as long as he could sit.

The one with the biggest reaction was Mingming. He could never sit still. Back in the hometown, he would always run off as soon as he wasn’t being watched. After coming to the island, he became a little more restrained, but he still preferred playing in the hot sun on the beach rather than sitting at home.

Spending over an hour every day learning characters and writing them?

He was only three years old! Why should he have to endure such torture!!!