Chapter 48

It turned out to be a misunderstanding. Otherwise, if it were true, it wouldn’t have had no impact on Zhao’s career.

Qiao Wei said, “Brother Zhao, don’t be angry. Being angry now won’t help. First, we need to figure out who is spreading this rumor, and secondly, how widespread it is, how many people know about it, and how many people believe it to be true.”

Now, the most crucial point was the word “impact.”

This was a matter concerning career prospects. The four of them became serious.

“Qiao Wei is right,” Zhao said, impressed by Qiao Wei’s clear and rational way of thinking. He found that intellectuals indeed had clear logic and a clear mind.

“One more thing, I find it very strange,” Qiao Wei said.

“What?” Zhao asked.

Qiao Wei asked, “Did the division commander’s daughter come to the army incognito? Why does only Old Yan know her, and nobody else? If whoever mentioned her in the rumor was clear that she was the division commander’s daughter, then there wouldn’t be any rumors, right?”

Just like Lin Xixi, she was certainly an adult, but she was Zhao’s niece. Without arranging a match for her and Yan Lei, Yan Lei saw her as a younger generation, and no one would think otherwise.

Anyone who did it was dirty-minded.

Zhao’s face darkened, gritting his teeth, “Whoever it is, I’ll drag them out…”

Qiao Wei said, “We must find this person, make them explain why they spread this rumor. If we can’t find them, and the rumor spreads further, you’ll have to explain yourself. And by then, you might not be able to explain it clearly.”

Sister Yang nodded vigorously and said, “Yes, yes!”

She said, “Leave it to me! I won’t rest until I catch that foul-mouthed person.”

Qiao Wei said, “Catch them, make them explain to everyone, make them apologize to you, these are all necessary. But what impact does this have in the army? Do we need to do something about it?”

She said, looking at Yan Lei.

Because she had been speaking logically all along, Yan Lei hadn’t interrupted. Now, she looked at him with anticipation.

What was she expecting?

“It can’t just be left alone. With such a backstabbing comrade nearby, who can feel at ease?” Yan Lei said. “First, we need to find the person, and then, we bring them to Captain Pan.”

After Yan Lei finished speaking, he and Qiao Wei made eye contact again, seeing the smile in her eyes.

One who knew the future, thinking this matter must be dealt with thoroughly to avoid future troubles in a special era.

One who always had the mindset of “you don’t offend me, I don’t offend you, but if you do, I’ll make you regret it.”

The couple unexpectedly understood each other’s intentions.

It was Zhao and Sister Yang who hesitated a bit: “Do we need to make it a big deal in front of Captain Pan?”

Qiao Wei made eye contact with Yan Lei again.

Yan Lei signaled her with his eyes.

You can speak, say more.

Qiao Wei said, “Ruining someone’s future is like killing their own father.”

“And, as a grown man, you must be angry hearing this. Captain Pan’s daughter is a grown woman, and the whole army is full of men. She just arrived and is already being subjected to such rumors. You shouldn’t tell her father. Why should someone else’s good daughter be slandered?”

Sister Yang, also being a woman with daughters of her own, immediately agreed, “Exactly, she’s someone’s daughter!”

This time, Zhao no longer hesitated, “Alright, that’s settled. If he’s unkind, don’t blame me for being unjust.”

He looked at his wife, and Sister Yang, who had missed the clue in the morning, now promised confidently, “Leave it to me.”

She said, “Qiao Wei, you’ll come with me to catch the person tomorrow!”

With no television, internet, or even many books to read, entertainment activities were scarce.

Suddenly, excitement descended upon them, immersive and exhilarating. Qiao Wei’s spirits lifted, “Great!”

…

…

“Sister-in-law, sister-in-law…” Qiao Wei whispered, “My legs are numb…”

Sister Yang whispered back, “Hang in there, we’ll definitely catch them.”

Qiao Wei regretted it.

She never imagined that Sister Yang’s confident promise to catch the person would involve this method.

She never imagined that Sister Yang would have her take off her pants and squat bare-bottomed in the courtyard’s public restroom to wait for the culprit.

In an era without electronic entertainment, where there weren’t many homebodies, people were very focused on socializing.

The three main socializing venues were the market, the bathhouse, and the public restroom.

Although the new military compounds were all made of red brick and tiles, they had a drawback—unlike the old military districts where each family had its own well and a small dry toilet.

Here, everything was unified.

Although there was tap water, it wasn’t piped into the houses but was instead located outdoors in several large double-sided water tanks.

And the toilets were also communal. Regardless of whether it was dark or raining, anyone who needed to relieve themselves had to come to the public restroom.

This made it an important gathering place for gossip.

Sister Yang and Qiao Wei squatted together.

Qiao Wei wasn’t afraid of squatting side by side with others, bare-bottomed in the pit. But after squatting for a long time, her legs really felt numb.

She grimaced in discomfort.

She was shifting her weight left and right, she couldn’t sit still.

She also worried about the children, “Are the kids outside okay?”

“They’re fine. Xixi is watching them. There’s a slide and a merry-go-round here, so they’re having fun,” Sister Yang said.

The advantage of military compounds was that they were closed-off, and outsiders couldn’t enter. Although Qiao Wei and the others didn’t live here, they had entry passes, so they could come and go as they pleased.

“I think you should let the kids play more on their own. They’re almost four years old. You shouldn’t be holding onto them so tightly,” Sister Yang said.

Qiao Wei fell silent.

Although she hadn’t raised children herself, she knew that in modern times, no one would let go of a four-year-old child. In big cities, unless they lived near the school, parents had to pick up and drop off their elementary school children.

But in this era…five-year-olds were practically left to run wild like nobody’s business.

Yan Xiang always stuck with Qiao Wei every day and never left the courtyard on his own.

“What’s there to be afraid of? They know their way home, and they won’t get lost,” Sister Yang said.

Indeed, they had to have an introduction letter to go out. Even Lin Xixi had to have an introduction letter from the commune to buy a long-distance bus ticket to come and live with her uncle.

Population movement was strictly controlled, and there was no basis for human trafficking.

The biggest dangers here were the power lines and the river. Those who had accidents either got electrocuted or drowned.

“We still need to let Xiangxiang play more with other kids. I’ve noticed that he’s not very talkative… Shh…” Sister Yang hushed.

Two people came in and glanced at the people inside.

Sister Yang squatted in the innermost pit, with her face turned away to prevent others from seeing who she was.

Qiao Wei squatted outside, blocking her.

The two people didn’t pay much attention to Qiao Wei since they weren’t very familiar with her. They just ignored her, unzipped their pants, and started chatting after squatting down.

Qiao Wei listened intently.

Believe it or not, this public restroom, the gathering place for gossip, really served as a form of entertainment.

But squatting for too long made her legs numb.

With perseverance, Qiao Wei and Sister Yang finally heard Zhao’s name.

“Which Zhao?!”

“Zhao Dongsheng, the one who lives in the old district, you know, his wife’s surname is Yang, they have five kids.”

“Oh, that Zhao. What about him?”

“He, heard he was getting cozy with the new female soldier who just arrived…”

Sister Yang’s legs also went numb.

Originally, when Qiao Wei heard Zhao Dongsheng’s name, she was energized and ready to pull up her pants to catch the person. But then her body tilted, almost falling into the pit. Fortunately, Qiao Wei gave her a hand.

Qiao Wei mouthed, “Do you know her?”

Sister Yang nodded.

Qiao Wei gently shook her head, signaling, “No rush then.”

Sister Yang nodded.

After the two people left, Sister Yang and Qiao Wei painfully stood up and pulled up their pants, almost dragging their legs out of the restroom.

Qiao Wei headed straight for the water tank, and Sister Yang didn’t know what she was up to but followed her despite the numbness in her legs.

As it turned out, Qiao Wei had targeted a few relatives washing clothes and found one with clean, fair skin to borrow soap to wash her hands.

Sister Yang thought to herself, “I thought she was here to catch someone.”

The two of them grimaced as they moved around for a while, their legs numb and sore, taking some time to restore blood circulation.

“Let’s go!”

“Let’s go!”

Sister Yang, with Qiao Wei in tow, went to confront the person, heading straight to the woman who had spread gossip in the restroom.

Upon seeing her, Sister Yang accused her directly, “I heard you spreading rumors about our Zhao in the restroom!”

Of course, no one was willing to take the blame. The woman said, “I heard it from Old Yu.”

So they went together to Old Yu’s house. Old Yu’s husband also denied it, saying he heard it from Old Ding.

Finally, Sister Yang and Qiao Wei, along with four or five relatives, traced the rumor back to its source.

“It was you! I knew it had to be someone so foul-mouthed and malicious! It’s you, the shameless liar who spreads nonsense and is disliked by everyone!” Sister Yang scolded, hands on hips and glaring.

It turned out to be an old enemy.

Surprisingly, Qiao Wei recognized the person too, as she occupied a place in the original host’s memories.

Her husband’s surname was Fan, and like Zhao Dongsheng and Yan Lei, he was also a level of commander. Her surname was Xia, and she was called Xia Hehua.

This Xia Hehua had once been a teacher at the kindergarten in the compound.

At that time, Sister Yang was pregnant with her fifth child and had to take care of her military son. She had to manage the family’s meals, hygiene, and household chores. When Zhao Dongsheng saw that everyone else was sending their children to the nursery, he suggested sending the military son there too.

Country kids were used to being raised freely, but having someone look after them here was better. Sister Yang agreed, to reduce her burden.

But at that time, Xia Hehua was a teacher at the kindergarten, and her own child was also in the kindergarten.

One day, when Sister Yang came to pick up her military son from the compound, she saw that half of his face was swollen. It was obviously not something caused by another child, as children could bite and scratch, but they wouldn’t have the strength to swell another child’s face like that.

The child could roam freely, but they couldn’t be bullied. Sister Yang refused to stand for it.

Upon further questioning, her son said, “Teacher Xia slapped my face.”

When they questioned other teachers, they found out that it was a toy-snatching incident between her son and Xia Hehua’s child. When Xia Hehua’s child couldn’t win the toy and started crying, Xia Hehua came over and slapped her son’s face.

This wasn’t the first time she had done something like this. Because she was protective of her child, her child behaved arrogantly in the kindergarten, and there had been complaints from others for a while. People had gone over to argue and even fought, pulling each other’s hair and scratching each other’s faces.

But this time, it escalated because Xia Hehua was unreasonable and even pushed Sister Yang, almost causing her to miscarry.

Wu Nier was almost lost.

This incident became significant, and the head teacher had long been troubled by Xia Hehua. Seizing the opportunity, Xia Hehua was laid off and sent home to take care of her child.

At that time, Qiao Wei happened to come to the kindergarten to check on the situation. She not only saw teachers chewing food and feeding children mouth-to-mouth, but she also saw children soiling themselves in their pants without the teachers promptly cleaning them. She even witnessed Xia Hehua protecting her child and hitting another child from another family.

She remembered Xia Hehua.

Feeling guilty, Xia Hehua, upon seeing Sister Yang and the others coming to find her, realized she was outnumbered and couldn’t argue. She cursed while forcefully pushing Sister Yang out and slammed the door shut.

Sister Yang was furious, about to curse again, but Qiao Wei grabbed her and gestured to the group of people gossiping and those attracted by the commotion to stop.

Xia Hehua couldn’t escape. Even if she did, her husband couldn’t escape either.

It was better to let these people who spread rumors know the truth first.