Chapter 12: “The Troublesome Colleague”

After Shen Tingjun walked her home, the news of their relationship quickly spread throughout the machinery factory, and even her colleagues at school had heard about it. But for some reason, her mother, Jiang Lan, was completely unresponsive. Instead of ordering Jiang Wanwan to end things with Shen Tingjun, she calmly heated the leftover meat dishes from the lunchboxes and served them.

As usual, Xu Huirong was passive-aggressive, mocking Jiang Wanwan for being so cheap and needing to bring food home from a restaurant to show off. But despite her words, she ate the food with more enthusiasm than anyone else.

Jiang Wanwan was never one to overthink things, so she decided not to try and figure out her mother’s strange behavior. She was perfectly content with her current life. She no longer had to worry about going to the countryside. Shen Tingjun’s frequent deliveries meant she was well-fed, and with the college entrance exams still seven years away, she had no academic pressure. Even her new job at the school was going smoothly.

She had expected the younger students at the school to be like the children from her previous life—crybabies who were irrational and difficult. But students back then started school later; some were even in their teens when they were only in the first grade. By that age, they were already helping to take care of their younger siblings and doing chores for their parents, so they were incredibly sensible.

Because the students were so easy to manage, Jiang Wanwan simply ignored the few troublesome colleagues in the office. After all, they just made snide remarks, and their words had no real effect on her. If it weren’t for her colleague, Teacher Jia, she wouldn’t have even known she was the target of their gossip.

“She’s just an old woman going through menopause! We young people have to be understanding,” Jiang Wanwan said, putting on a professional smile. She patted Teacher Jia’s shoulder, pretending not to notice her uncomfortable expression, and picked up her bag to leave.

Was Teacher Niu, the constantly passive-aggressive one, really the bad guy while Teacher Jia, who spread the gossip, was a good person?

Teacher Niu’s rudeness toward Jiang Wanwan had a reason. Jiang Wanwan had learned from the chatty Principal Cen that Teacher Niu had wanted her own niece, a middle school graduate, to teach at the school. Even though the reputation and social standing of teachers weren’t great at the time, a middle school graduate could still earn a monthly salary of 27 yuan, which was 2 yuan less than Jiang Wanwan, a high school graduate, was earning.

What did this mean? For a young person to find a job and stay in the city was incredibly lucky.

Being a factory worker was considered a very lucky thing for a young person back then, and it was the most common type of work. Young people who worked in factories usually had to be apprentices for three years. In the first year, they only earned 18 yuan a month. This is why Xu Huirong said that one roasted chicken, which cost over nine yuan, was half of her monthly salary.

Because Jiang Wanwan stepped in, Teacher Niu’s niece couldn’t become a teacher and had to be an apprentice at a textile factory instead. Though the working class was glorified, earning nearly 10 yuan less a month—over 100 yuan a year—would make anyone feel bad.

But when did Teacher Niu’s hostility begin? It started the day that Teacher Jia “accidentally” brought up the factory rumor in the office, asking if Jiang Wanwan was really dating Director Shen’s son. Jiang Wanwan didn’t care if Teacher Niu was mad because she took her niece’s job or if she just hated Shen Tingjun and took it out on her. She couldn’t care less. But Teacher Jia’s two-faced behavior, as if everyone else was an idiot, was extremely annoying.

If you’re going to be a bad person, why hide it?

But Teacher Jia seemed oblivious to everyone’s annoyance. Jiang Wanwan tried to shut her down a few times, but she didn’t give up. She was more punctual than the weather forecast, constantly reporting and over-explaining Teacher Niu’s passive-aggressive remarks. It was as if she wouldn’t rest until she saw a fight between Jiang Wanwan and Teacher Niu.

Finally, Jiang Wanwan couldn’t take it anymore and decided to grant Teacher Jia her wish. She waited for Teacher Niu to finish her class and for everyone else to be in the office, then marched over to her, an angry look on her face.

“Teacher Niu, you are absolutely out of line!”

At the sound of Jiang Wanwan’s shout, everyone in the office froze and stared at the two women in stunned silence. Teacher Niu’s face flushed with embarrassment, and she was about to stand up and scream at Jiang Wanwan, but the next sentence confused her completely.

“You badmouth me behind my back every day, and I put up with it because you’re old. But can you at least stay away from Teacher Jia when you do it? Teacher Jia works so hard, teaching two different grades, and she still has to relay your horrible words to me every single day! Don’t you have any consideration for her? Why don’t you just wait until you get home to badmouth me? This way, you’ll be more comfortable, Teacher Jia will have an easier time, and my ears won’t be calloused anymore.”

Everyone looked at Teacher Jia, who was sitting in the corner. Teacher Niu stared at her in disbelief. “Jia, you…”

The smile that was always on Teacher Jia’s face froze. She inwardly cursed Jiang Wanwan, then put on a face of innocent betrayal. “Little Jiang, how could you say that? I’ve never…”

Before she could finish, Jiang Wanwan cut her off. “Teacher Jia, you don’t have to say anything else. You’re always so good to me, so it’s my duty to stand up for you. You must be so annoyed having to listen to all of Teacher Niu’s nonsense for my sake. After all, I’m already tired of just hearing you repeat it.”

“It’s okay. Now that we’ve cleared the air, we don’t have to suffer through this passive-aggressive gossip anymore.” Jiang Wanwan spread her hands, her face full of sincerity.

With the troublesome colleague matter settled, she walked home with Shen Tingjun, who was waiting for her outside the school. After a week, the buzz around Jiang Wanwan and Shen Tingjun’s relationship had died down, replaced by the news of a young widow in the communal apartment building getting remarried. Now, as they walked home, there were no longer people peeking and whispering.

The hot topic in the residential area was how a fair and lovely young widow could fall for a boiler worker named Chen Dazhuang, a man in his thirties with two children. This confusing mystery completely occupied the minds of the neighborhood’s biggest gossips, giving them no time to bother anyone else.

Jiang Wanwan was happy to be left alone and even had the energy to join the discussion. Shen Tingjun just smiled, giving her a look that said, “I know why, but I’m not telling.” No matter how much she begged and flirted, he wouldn’t reveal the truth about the widow’s marriage. When they reached her door, he told her he would take her shopping on Saturday and waved goodbye, leaving Jiang Wanwan to stomp her feet in frustration.

When she finally went inside, Xu Huirong said passive-aggressively, “Well, well, the young Missus Shen is home.” This only made Jiang Wanwan’s foul mood worse. She went into her bedroom, threw herself on the bed, and started biting her blanket.

I celebrated too soon, she thought. I was so busy dealing with the passive-aggressive gossips at school that I forgot about the one I have at home.