Chapter 41: What’s the Motive?

Proven Fact: Some people really shouldn’t be held to high expectations.

Just as Lin Wei had prayed that Gao Xiulian could keep this job long-term, she heard from Zhao Li that Gao had already been complained about.

Here’s what happened:

Although working at the state-owned restaurant was exhausting, Gao Xiulian, after starting the job, did indeed lose all personal free time—just as Lin Wei had expected. Still, Gao was quite satisfied with the job, and the reason was simple: it was respectable.

Back in her hometown, getting into a state-owned restaurant required at least a junior high school diploma. Although this place was a military base and the surrounding work units relaxed standards when hiring military spouses, the job was still much better than raising chickens or gutting fish.

Also, due to her personality, Gao Xiulian hadn’t gotten along well with others since joining the military family. These past few months had been especially bad—people avoided her.

But after getting the job at the state-owned restaurant, things changed. Gao Xiulian clearly felt her social standing improve.

The reason? Again, simple.

Although the meals at the cafeteria were weighed and measured, the scale was manual—so the amount each person got depended on the whim of whoever was serving food at the window.

And really, who didn’t want just a little bit extra when eating at a state-run cafeteria? Even if someone wasn’t trying to take advantage, they surely didn’t want to be shortchanged either.

So, whether or not they wanted to be friends with the servers, people at least wouldn’t go out of their way to offend them.

As a result, when Gao Xiulian went out these days, the people she met would at least speak politely to her, if not greet her with a smile. This kind of treatment? She had never experienced it since becoming a military spouse.

And every time Gao Xiulian walked to work, she had to pass through the path between her home and Lin Wei’s house.

Each time she did, she would think of Lin Wei—how she had ruined Lin Wei’s job, how Lin Wei was still unemployed, and how her higher education and refined manners didn’t help her one bit. In both life and work, she was still outdone.

You could say it was only after getting this job that Gao Xiulian felt like following her husband to this military posting wasn’t for nothing.

But some people, once they have a bit of power, tend to get carried away—and Gao Xiulian was a textbook example.

In the first couple of weeks after starting at the restaurant, she had every intention of doing the job properly—being fair with food portions, not giving more or less than necessary. But over time, as she was met with more and more smiling faces, her attitude began to shift.

When she saw someone she got along with, she’d think: We’re on good terms, I should do them a favor. And she’d give them a little extra.

When she saw someone she disliked, she’d think: After how you treated me last time, you still have the nerve to ask me to serve you? A little flick of the spoon, and the portions were noticeably smaller.

At first, she dared not go too far. The shortfall was barely noticeable. But after a few times of getting away with it, her courage grew, and the portions became increasingly stingy.

Eventually, someone complained. The complaint? That she was shortchanging people.

“It started when Xiao Jiang didn’t even realize her food was lighter than it should’ve been,” Zhao Li recounted. “It was a fellow military spouse at her table who noticed and asked why she was eating so little. Xiao Jiang just replied, ‘It’s not little—two dishes and two taels of rice.’ But then the other woman pushed her lunchbox forward and said, ‘I also got two dishes and two taels of rice.’”

Zhao Li paused dramatically. “And guess what happened?”

Lin Wei played along. “What?”

Leaning forward, Zhao Li said, “The moment they compared, Xiao Jiang realized that her rice portion alone was one-third less than the other woman’s! And the worst part? That other woman had gotten her food earlier and had already been eating for four or five minutes!”

Now, four or five minutes might not sound like much, but in this era, people didn’t bother with slow, mindful chewing. Fast eaters could finish half their rice in that time. Even if they ate slowly, finishing a tenth was easy.

“So she reported Gao Xiulian?” Lin Wei asked.

Zhao Li shook her head. “No. Xiao Jiang was angry, but at first, she just went to confront Gao Xiulian with the lunchbox. But Gao wouldn’t admit anything and insisted the portion was fine. Then Xiao Jiang asked to weigh the food again, and Gao said, ‘I serve so many meals a day—if everyone came back saying they didn’t get enough, how would I even keep this job?’”

Zhao Li’s impression was spot on. Lin Wei didn’t even have to try hard to imagine it—just Zhao Li’s tone and expression brought Gao Xiulian’s words to life.

“And then?” Lin Wei asked.

“Of course Xiao Jiang wouldn’t let it go! Gao’s words basically accused her of eating some and then stirring up trouble on purpose. So she swore an oath on the spot—said if she had taken even one bite, may she be struck by lightning.”

“And Gao Xiulian admitted it after that?” Lin Wei asked again.

“Are you kidding?” Zhao Li gave her a ‘don’t be naïve’ look. “Not only did Gao refuse to admit it, she accused Xiao Jiang of spreading feudal superstitions! In the end, it was Xiao Li—the one who first noticed the portion difference—who stepped in to testify for Xiao Jiang. The others at the table saw it too and backed her up. Only then did Gao Xiulian give in and say she might have misjudged the amount due to being too busy, and offered to reweigh and make up the difference.”

Zhao Li clicked her tongue. “Listen to that excuse—‘too busy, might have misjudged the amount.’ Who’s she fooling? Xiao Jiang was already being blamed—if those other people hadn’t spoken up, she wouldn’t have been able to clear her name. Of course she wasn’t going to let it go. She asked to see Director Huang—the head of the restaurant.”

She added a quick note for Lin Wei’s benefit, “Director Huang is the manager of the state-owned restaurant.”

“Once he came out, Xiao Jiang had someone else at a different window reweigh the food right in front of him. Guess how much it was short?”

Lin Wei figured that since Zhao Li asked, it must not be too small a difference—but not massive either. If it had been only one tael instead of two, Xiao Jiang would’ve noticed earlier.

She guessed, “Half a tael?”

Zhao Li’s eyes widened. “How’d you know? Did someone already tell you?”

Lin Wei shook her head. “No, I’ve been busy all afternoon. Besides your kid and Eighth Sister, you’re the first person I’ve talked to. I haven’t heard anything about this.”

Zhao Li responded with an “Oh” and changed the topic. “So what were you so busy with today?”

“Not much. I just took some time to turn over the soil at the entrance.”

When Lin Wei first ate durian, she threw a bunch of seeds onto the empty land outside her door, thinking: What if one sprouts and grows into a durian tree? Then I could just lie around and eat durian in the future.

But after Zhao Li heard about it, she told her that just tossing them in the dirt wouldn’t work. Germination chances were low. If she really wanted to grow durian trees, she should first clean the seeds and soak them in water for a day or two—softened seeds sprout more easily.

Zhao Li also told her that from planting to fruiting, durian trees take at least four or five years—and even longer if the seed came from a large-fruit variety.

She advised Lin Wei not to bother, saying, “We’re only stationed on Yazhou Island temporarily. Who knows how long we’ll be here? You might spend years tending to it, and just when it’s about to fruit, your husband gets transferred and you leave without ever tasting a single one.”

But Lin Wei felt that no matter how long they stayed, it was good to leave behind some memories of her own.

So she soaked a few seeds and planted them outside. She was lucky—the durian seeds all sprouted.

Since the plants were doing well, Lin Wei decided not to grow onions or garlic in that patch anymore.

But if not vegetables, she figured planting some flowers would be nice. And coincidentally, a military spouse who had previously given her two Brunfelsia plants (yinyang jasmine) said Lin Wei took good care of flowers and offered to share more cuttings with her.

After finishing her afternoon classes, Lin Wei turned over the soil at the entrance again to prepare it for branching.

Hearing this, Zhao Li looked up at the patch of land in front of them and said, “I have to say, your durian saplings are growing quite well. But you’ve planted so many of them—once the durian trees grow up, there won’t be enough space at your entrance, right?”

“Let’s just plant them like this for now. Anyway, even if they sprout, it’s not guaranteed they’ll all grow into fruit-bearing trees. When they get bigger, we can transplant them depending on the situation,” Lin Wei said with a smile. “If I end up with extras, I’ll give you a fruit tree. Want one?”

“If it’s already a fruit tree, and I don’t even need to worry about whether it will bear fruit, then of course I want one.” Zhao Li laughed too, then remembered what they were talking about earlier and asked, “Where were we in that story we were just talking about?”

“Xiao Jiang’s portion of rice was half a liang short.”

Zhao Li remembered. “Right. You said that Gao Xiulian was really something. There were supposed to be two liang of rice, but she only served one and a half—and she still had the nerve to say it wasn’t on purpose, just a mistake.”

“So how was that matter handled in the end?”

“Director Huang, well, you might not know him. He’s a good guy, but he likes to smooth things over. Even when the evidence is solid, he wants to just keep the peace. He said to make up the missing rice and have Gao Xiulian apologize to Xiao Jiang, and then let the matter drop.”

“But Xiao Jiang couldn’t swallow that insult. She said she came to eat at the state-run restaurant because it was cheap and convenient. If the servers were all like Gao Xiulian—serving more when they feel like it, and less when they don’t—she wouldn’t dare come back. Who knows whether you’re getting a fair portion or not?”

“After hearing what Xiao Jiang said, the other customers in the restaurant weren’t having it either. No one could be sure they wouldn’t end up in Xiao Jiang’s shoes. So, to calm everyone down, Director Huang transferred Gao Xiulian to the back kitchen to wash vegetables.”

Zhao Li couldn’t help laughing as she talked about it. “Didn’t the state-run restaurant hire two new people recently? One to serve food at the window, and one to wash vegetables in the back. Because Deputy Commander Zhao had higher rank, the military family placement office arranged for her to take the window position. I heard she was even bragging about it, telling people to work hard so they could get promoted from washing vegetables like she did. And now look—she hadn’t even lasted a month at the window before she was transferred to the back kitchen. They swapped jobs. Isn’t that funny?”

Lin Wei pictured the scene and couldn’t help asking, “She didn’t throw a fit?”

“She nearly caused public outrage—would she still have the nerve to throw a fit?” Zhao Li raised her eyebrows, then relaxed and added, “If she has any brains, she’d better behave and let this thing blow over. Otherwise, if it escalates, she won’t just lose her job—she’ll be in serious trouble.”

Serving underweight portions could be seen as carelessness at best, or a political issue at worst.

Although Gao Xiulian was sent to the back kitchen, the official verdict was the former. If it had been the latter, she wouldn’t have escaped a formal written review, and it might even have gone on her record.

In short, it was Director Huang who wanted to settle things quietly. The other military wives were neighbors and didn’t want to push things too far, which is how the situation ended up like this.

But if Gao Xiulian insisted on making a fuss and it got reported to the military, and someone higher up came to investigate, the outcome might be different.

Lin Wei thought for a moment and said, “This probably won’t blow up.”

As flighty as Gao Xiulian was, she still had some sense. She might have been upset in the moment, but once she calmed down, she would realize all this. And even if she didn’t, Zhao Feng surely would. He wouldn’t let her do something so stupid.

Lin Wei’s thinking was the same as Zhao Li’s, who said with some regret, “I was hoping for more drama.”

Although there wouldn’t be any fresh drama, the fact that Gao Xiulian had just been flaunting her position and urging others to work hard for promotions, only to be transferred to the back kitchen right afterward, was already enough to keep Zhao Li amused.

In fact, when she left through Lin Wei’s back door, she burst out laughing just thinking about it.

Zong Shao and Zhou Jianhai, who were chatting in the backyard, saw Zhao Li suddenly laugh while walking and looked at each other in confusion. They even glanced at each other’s clothing a few times but couldn’t find anything funny.

After Zhao Li had walked away, Zhou Jianhai asked in puzzlement, “What’s up with her? Why did she suddenly laugh so happily?”

Zong Shao wasn’t a mind reader—how would he know why she laughed? So he casually said, “Maybe she thought of something funny.”

But that night, before going to bed, Zong Shao still asked Lin Wei, “Did Zhao Li have something good happen to her recently?”

Lin Wei didn’t understand at first. “Why?”

Zong Shao replied, “When she left our place this evening, she suddenly started laughing as she walked—looked like she remembered something pleasant.”

“Oh, that!” Lin Wei suddenly got it and proceeded to summarize what had happened with Gao Xiulian.

After hearing the story, Zong Shao was silent for a long while. “…What was she trying to gain?”

If it were Gao Xiulian’s own restaurant, he could sort of understand it—businesspeople and their tricks. But a state-run restaurant was public property, and Gao Xiulian was just an employee. She couldn’t take the leftover rice home, nor could she turn it into money. If she got caught, she’d ruin her own reputation. So what was the point?

Recalling what Zhao Li said, Lin Wei pondered and replied, “Apparently, Xiao Jiang and her had an argument a few days ago. She was probably holding a grudge.”

Zong Shao: “…Alright then.”