Chapter 16: Catching Snakes

After breakfast, Meng Yufei held her daughter’s hand in one hand and carried a military bag in the other, walking over to Mrs. Zhang’s house next door and explaining the situation.

“Sister, I’m sorry to trouble you. I’ll come pick her up at noon.”

“Go ahead with what you need to do. The child can stay with me.”

After Meng Yufei left, Xia Qinqin quickly started playing with Fangfang. The two happily dressed up the doll, and Fangfang, who had never seen this toy before, curiously touched the doll’s hair and asked, “Shall we braid her hair?”

Xia Qinqin shook her head and said, “I don’t know how to braid, only Mommy and Grandma can.”

Fangfang smiled and said, “I can do it!”

Xia Qinqin praised, “Really? Fangfang, you’re amazing! Then, can you braid it nicely?”

The two little girls were excitedly braiding the doll’s hair on the sofa. Seeing that they were having so much fun, Mrs. Zhang went to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

Her family was large, with four children and two adults, totaling six people. It took quite a while to wash all the dishes every day.

Fangfang, small but quick-handed, finished braiding the doll’s hair in no time. Xia Qinqin clapped and said, “It looks great! Just like how Mommy does it! Fangfang, you’re really awesome!”

Fangfang, a little shy, said, “I learned it from my second sister. She does it even better than I do.” Looking at the doll, she tilted her head and said, “My second sister likes to add flowers to the braids, which makes it look even prettier.”

Xia Qinqin looked at the doll’s braids and asked, “Fangfang, do you have any flowers at your house? Let’s put one in the braid.”

Fangfang shook her head. “I don’t have any at home, but I know where to find some.”

Xia Qinqin eagerly asked, “Where?”

Fangfang said, “At the intersection on the road in front of our house. There are lots of them there.”

Xia Qinqin suggested, “Let’s hurry and go there.”

The two little friends happily ran out of the yard, holding hands as they reached the intersection. As expected, they saw a lot of wildflowers growing in the roadside grass.

While the two girls were crouched down happily picking flowers, a figure quietly hid in the shadows, watching them.

After sending her daughter off, Meng Yufei happened to meet Wang Cuilan, who had come to visit her. The two of them went together to the logistics department.

Wang Cuilan directly led her to the office of the director.

The Director of the Logistics Department for Family Housing, Fu Wenbing, was in his early forties. He had been injured on the battlefield and had since moved to a desk job as a civilian employee.

He had received a call from the brigade commander early in the morning and knew that the finance department would be receiving a new employee today, but he hadn’t expected Wang Cuilan to be with them as well.

He smiled and stood up to greet them at the door. “Director Wang, what a pleasant surprise! What brings you here to guide us today?”

Wang Cuilan replied, “Director Fu, I’m here on a mission to bring someone over.”

She pointed to Meng Yufei standing beside her and said, “This is Meng Yufei, the wife of Regiment Commander Xia. She’s a university graduate from Tongji University and has worked at Haishi People’s Bank. When the brigade commander heard about her background, he felt that someone like her should not be overlooked. So, when he heard that you were short on staff, he asked me to bring her here to help.”

She spoke very eloquently, first highlighting Meng Yufei’s background, as the wife of Regiment Commander Xia, which established her connection to the military. She also pointed out that her husband held a high rank, making it clear that she was not someone who could be easily pushed around.

She also pointed out her educational and work background, emphasizing her own abilities and indicating that she was fully capable of handling the work she was about to take on. She made it clear that she was a professional, and no one should try to take advantage of her.

The final sentence stressed that it was the brigade commander who personally recommended her, which meant that she had the brigade commander’s backing.

Director Fu naturally understood her implication and smiled, saying, “I received a call from the brigade commander early this morning. It’s really because we were lacking in staff that the brigade commander went to the trouble of introducing such a talented person to us. You’ve really come at the perfect time.”

He turned to Meng Yufei and said warmly, “Mrs. Xia, our finance department is indeed short-handed right now. You arrived just in time.”

Meng Yufei smiled and replied, “Director, you can just call me Xia Meng. Division Commander Li and Director Wang recommended me to come help because they heard I used to work at a bank. However, I don’t have much work experience, so I will need your guidance in the future.”

Since the leader’s surname was Fu, it was better not to add “deputy” when addressing him.

Although Wang Cuilan had a high rank and extensive experience and could be casually addressed however, Meng Yufei, as a newcomer, had to be more careful.

Director Fu was pleased after hearing this, feeling that she was someone who understood how things worked.

He nodded and said, “You’re being modest. If you ever have any questions in the future, feel free to come to me, and I will support you fully.”

At this point, Wang Cuilan chimed in, “Director Fu, since you’ve said that, perfect! Let’s hand over the finance duties to Xia Meng today.”

She spoke frankly, “Since there’s no one else coming to work in finance today, and the office is locked, you should quickly open the door and let Xia Meng review the account books.”

Director Fu, who had been smiling, now showed a slight hint of helplessness but still laughed, “Alright, I’ll have them open the door.”

He had someone from the General Affairs section open the door. The layout of the finance department office was similar to the Personnel Department next door, with three desks inside.

Zhao, the head of the General Affairs section, walked to the front desk, took out a key to unlock a locked cabinet, and pulled out three account books, placing them on the desk. “These are the account books Xiao Zhou handed over to me before he left. Everything is here. I have other matters to attend to, so Director Wang and Comrade Xia Meng, you can take your time looking through them. I’ll leave now.” With that, Zhao left the room.

Meng Yufei opened the account books and took a quick look. The two books at the bottom were from the previous five years, and the top one, which had only a few dozen pages, was the account book for this year.

She looked up at Wang Cuilan and said, “Sister Wang, I can’t finish reviewing this all at once. You can go ahead and handle your tasks, and I’ll come find you once I’m done.”

“Alright, take your time. I still have some matters to attend to with the Women’s Committee, but I’ll come back after I’m done.”

After sending Wang Cuilan off, the office was left with only Meng Yufei sitting at the desk, flipping through the account books. She was reading carefully, mentally calculating as she went, but her pace wasn’t slow.

To her, the account books seemed quite simple. The income mainly came from the brigade’s funding, while the expenses were mostly related to the various welfare benefits for the families and the wages of the personnel in the logistics department. The numbers weren’t large.

While Meng Yufei was reviewing the account books, on the other side, Xia Qinqin and Fangfang were happily picking flowers.

“Fangfang, is this flower pretty?”

“Mm, it’s pretty.”

“Then let’s put it in the braid.”

“Okay.”

Suddenly, a shadow loomed above them, blocking the sunlight.

“Go away!” a harsh female voice shouted.

Xia Qinqin and Fangfang looked up in confusion. Before they could see who it was, they were both pushed aside.

After finishing the dishes in the kitchen, Mrs. Zhang came into the living room and noticed the two children were missing. She called out a few times, “Fangfang, Qinqin, are you inside?”

When she didn’t hear a response, she went outside and searched the yard but couldn’t find them.

She hurried out of the yard and looked around, finally spotting the two children squatting by the grass at the corner on the left side of the road. She let out a sigh of relief and walked over to call them back.

Just as she took a couple of steps, a figure suddenly dashed over and pushed the two children down.

Her anger flared up immediately, and she shouted as she ran over, “Hey! What are you doing?!”

When she reached them, she didn’t care about the person, quickly bent down to pull the two children up, and examined them one by one. “What happened? Did you hurt yourselves?”

Fangfang shook her head, while Xia Qinqin raised her red palm and said, “Auntie, my hand hurts so much.”

Mrs. Zhang hurriedly took her hand and looked at it. The soft, tender palm was red, likely from being scraped by the ground. Fortunately, there was no broken skin.

To Mrs. Zhang, it didn’t seem like much—if it were her own children, she wouldn’t have made a fuss, letting them go back to playing. But since these were someone else’s children, she bent down and gently blew on the hand, saying, “Auntie will blow on it for you.”

Then, Mrs. Zhang remembered the “culprit” and looked up. When she saw the person’s face, she was shocked, “Jianhong, how come it’s you?”

Mrs. Zhang recognized her as the eldest daughter of Regiment Commander Han. The girl usually didn’t speak much and seemed quite well-behaved. To her surprise, today she was bullying the children when no one was looking!

Han Jianhong explained, “Auntie, I just saw a snake, so I pushed them aside.”

“A snake?!” Mrs. Zhang quickly jumped up and looked around, urgently asking, “Where is it?”

“Right here.” Han Jianhong raised her hand, and to their surprise, a long black snake appeared in her grasp. “I caught it.”

Mrs. Zhang was startled when she saw the snake. She immediately pulled the two children farther away and shielded them, pointing at the snake. “You girl, you have such courage! Aren’t you afraid of getting bitten?”

Han Jianhong glanced at the snake in her hand and calmly replied, “Don’t worry, Auntie. I already killed it.” She then raised her other hand, holding a stone covered in red blood.

Xia Qinqin, peeking from behind Mrs. Zhang, saw Han Jianhong holding the long snake with a calm expression and was amazed. She couldn’t help but whisper, “Sis, you’re so amazing!”

Han Jianhong looked at her and saw the girl’s admiring gaze. Xia Qinqin instinctively covered her mouth, only revealing her big, round eyes that darted around.

Han Jianhong grinned at Xia Qinqin.

Mrs. Zhang watched the young girl in front of her, and as her stiff face suddenly smiled, the sharp teeth visible at the corner of her mouth made Mrs. Zhang feel an uneasy chill.

“Why are you all crowding at the entrance? How’s anyone supposed to pass?”

A voice of impatience came from behind, and Han Jianhong’s smile quickly disappeared. It was, of course, Qi Huiying.

“To be honest, don’t you have eyes? This road is narrow enough, and now you’re all blocking it. Can’t you just go home to talk? Consider other people for once! How selfish!”

Qi Huiying continued to complain, but when she saw the snake in Han Jianhong’s hand, she screamed, “Ahhh! A snake!”

She quickly took several steps back, distancing herself from them. Trembling, she pointed at Han Jianhong and shouted, “You actually caught a snake! Are you crazy? You… Hey! Hey! Don’t come near me!”

Han Jianhong took two steps toward her, shook the snake in her hand, and said, “It’s already dead, it can’t bite anyone now.” She then took two more steps forward and coldly added, “If you don’t believe me, feel for yourself.”

“You… are you crazy?!” Qi Huiying’s face turned pale with anger, glaring at her fiercely. “You’re insane! I… I won’t stoop to your level.” With that, she turned and walked away.

Looking at her somewhat flustered figure, Han Jianhong’s expression darkened, and memories of her past life came flooding back.

It was also on this day, when she arrived home at noon, she heard that the daughter of Regiment Commander Xia had been bitten by a snake and sent to the hospital. Fortunately, the snake wasn’t venomous, the child had just been scared.

When the adults later asked, Fangfang, who had been playing with Xia Qinqin, said they had been picking flowers when Xia Qinqin was suddenly bitten by a snake that appeared from who-knows-where.

At the time, Fangfang had been so frightened that she was in a daze. She had seen Qi Huiying passing by and immediately called her over to help Xia Qinqin, but Qi Huiying had only glanced at Xia Qinqin, who was lying on the ground, and walked away without looking back.

Qi Huiying naturally denied this, insisting that she had never seen the two children. She claimed the children’s statements were unreliable and that they were just rambling because they were scared.

Since there were no other witnesses and the child was unharmed, the matter eventually faded away.

Han Jianhong still remembered that Xia Qinqin’s parents had been so worried they had taken their daughter off the island to the city hospital for a check-up to make sure everything was fine before returning home. For the next few days, they stayed home to take care of their daughter, and as a result, Meng Yufei missed the opportunity to choose a primary school teacher.

Later, it was said that because of this incident, Meng Yufei kept thinking about returning to Haishi and had several conflicts with Regiment Commander Xia.

As for Qi Huiying, although she continued to deny seeing the two children, many people remained suspicious of her, especially given her usual behavior and attitude.

When it came to choosing a primary school teacher, many parents opposed Qi Huiying taking the position, and in the end, she didn’t become a teacher.

Han Jianhong snapped back to reality, looking at the black snake in her hand. She thought to herself: It seems that Fangfang didn’t lie. The one who lied was Qi Huiying!

She had clearly passed by here, saw Xia Qinqin bitten by the snake, but chose to ignore it and walk away. Given that, it was no wonder the parents didn’t let her become a teacher—it wasn’t an injustice!

But the question remained: was this snake really just a coincidence that it appeared here?