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Chapter 45.1
Lu Yu said, “I asked about Zhu Jun’s situation for you. He doesn’t have a girlfriend. I didn’t tell him about Zhang Xiao’s matter. I’ll wait for you to confirm things on your end before I talk to him.”
Jiang Nian smiled and said, “Alright.”
So, the few people in the embroidery shop watched Jiang Nian holding the phone and laughing foolishly.
After hanging up the phone, Ge Mei asked, “What were you chatting about that made you so happy?”
Lu Xiaoqing and Zhai Peipei also looked at her, both with smiles on their faces. Jiang Nian pursed her lips and smiled, “Just discussing something good.”
She didn’t specify what it was, planning to wait until she was alone with Zhang Xiao to avoid any complications. Ge Mei observed the way Jiang Nian looked at Zhang Xiao, guessed something in her heart, and said, “Take all the food to the dormitory, and go to the cafeteria to get food quickly, otherwise there will be no food in the cafeteria if it’s too late.”
In the dormitory, Zhai Peipei had gone to get lunch earlier, leaving Jiang Nian and Zhang Xiao alone. They sat face to face, Jiang Nian took a bite of the corn pancake that was a bit tough, swallowed some porridge, and said, “Zhang Xiao, do you remember the last time I mentioned finding a match for you in the army?”
Zhang Xiao paused briefly, “Of course I remember.”
Jiang Nian smiled, “Well, now there’s someone.”
Seeing Zhang Xiao somewhat bashfully biting her chopsticks, Jiang Nian smiled, “He’s in Lu Yu’s unit, seems like he was promoted to a sergeant a couple of years ago. He looks decent and has a good character. If you’re interested, Lu Yu will bring him along by the end of the month. Would you like to meet him?”
Zhang Xiao lowered her head and nodded softly, “Yes.”
Jiang Nian suppressed a smile, finding Zhang Xiao incredibly adorable.
After finishing their meal and returning to the dormitory, Jiang Nian and Zhang Xiao distributed the food given by the director of the cotton mill to everyone. They took extra care of Qu Hua, giving her a few extra pieces of candy and brown sugar to make some sugar water for her to drink and replenish her strength.
It had been six days since the incident with Qu Hua and Chen Peng. Early the next morning, Zhai Peipei told Jiang Nian that she planned to accompany her to the police station at noon to inquire about the child’s situation. However, before noon arrived, officials from the police station came, saying the child had been found.
Jiang Nian and Zhai Peipei took Qu Hua to the police station to claim the child.
Upon arrival, Jiang Nian noticed many couples there. Even before entering, they heard crying. They hurried inside, and Qu Hua immediately found her two daughters, holding them tightly and crying loudly.
Qu Hua’s eldest daughter was only two years old, and the younger one was just one and not yet able to walk well. Both children were held tightly by Qu Hua, crying and calling her “mom.” Inside, there were about a dozen children, both boys and girls, with the youngest still in swaddling clothes.
A police officer said, “Based on the information provided by Chen Peng’s mother about the seller, we traced several cities and found a child trafficking den. All the children are here. Please identify your own child.”
The parents who came to the police station had all previously reported missing children, and almost all of them recognized their own children. However, two couples did not find their children. The police officer said, “You can go back for now. We will continue to investigate the cases and will not let any child traffickers go free.”
Watching the two couples supporting each other and leaving in tears, Jiang Nian felt uneasy.
No matter the era, despicable child traffickers always existed.
Upon returning to the embroidery shop at lunchtime, Zhai Peipei and Qu Hua stayed in the dormitory with the two children. Jiang Nian and Zhang Xiao, along with Lu Xiaoqing, brought them lunch. After returning to the dormitory, Ge Mei also came over and gave Qu Hua’s two children each a red envelope, asking Zhai Peipei, “What’s the plan for Qu Hua and the two children next?”
The trial of Chen Peng and his mother had already been concluded. Zhai Peipei said, “I’ll handle Qu Hua and Chen Peng’s divorce, then I’ll send them back to the countryside. My husband is at home, and my son and daughter-in-law are all there, so they’ll have someone to look after them.”
Qu Hua’s family knew about her situation, but they were too far away to come, especially since it was spring, a busy time for the brigade’s work, so they couldn’t afford to take time off. Her husband asked a teacher in the village to write a letter, saying their son and daughter-in-law also accepted Qu Hua bringing the children home. They would reconsider after some time whether to find a suitable and honest person for Qu Hua to marry. If Qu Hua didn’t want to remarry, they could still support her.
Qu Hua and the children temporarily stayed in the dormitory, waiting for Zhai Peipei to finalize the divorce in the next few days before sending them back.
At night, Jiang Nian and Zhang Xiao shared one bed, Zhai Peipei and Qu Hua shared another bed, leaving one bed for the two children. Now Jiang Nian and Zhang Xiao both had bad sleeping posture and were afraid of bumping into the children, so they exchanged beds with Lu Xiaoqing and the two children.
After playing with the children for a while, each person gave them two pieces of candy. Zhang Xiao peeled oranges and fed them to the two children, while Jiang Nian also took one and watched the youngest daughter munch on her orange. She thought of their father, worse than a beast, and lovingly touched the child’s head.
The elder girl looked at Jiang Nian and Zhang Xiao and said happily, “Delicious.”
The younger one nodded too, though she couldn’t speak well yet, making cooing sounds. Zhai Peipei and Qu Hua both had tears in their eyes. If Jiang Nian hadn’t taken them to the police station in time, they didn’t know when they would have seen the child again.
After playing for a while, the two children fell asleep. The atmosphere in the dormitory tonight was particularly good. Even Zhai Peipei wasn’t as cold as usual and talked a lot with them. Lu Xiaoqing also reconciled with Zhai Peipei.
They chatted until midnight before finally going to sleep.
In the past month, Lu Xiaoqing had never paid attention to Jiang Nian and Zhang Xiao’s sleeping habits. Now, in the middle of the night, the two of them slept like they were fighting, either pressed against the wall tightly or squeezing her so tight she nearly fell off the bed.
What was even more outrageous was that Jiang Nian slept sideways with one leg resting on her and Zhang Xiao’s stomach. Zhang Xiao was not much better, with one arm resting on her neck, almost squeezing her to death.
Lu Xiaoqing was so angry she climbed out of bed and slept on the children’s bed. Seeing the elder girl open her eyes a bit confused, she whispered softly to her, “Auntie will sleep with you.”
She suspected that if she slept with Jiang Nian and Zhang Xiao again, she might not see the sun tomorrow.
The next morning, Jiang Nian and Zhang Xiao woke up to find themselves sharing a bed each, while Lu Xiaoqing and the two children were crowded together. When she noticed Jiang Nian and Zhang Xiao were awake, Lu Xiaoqing opened her eyes and stared at them with dark circles under her eyes, “Were you two fighting dogs last night? Tossing and turning.”
Jiang Nian: …
Zhang Xiao: …
The two smiled embarrassedly, and several people got up to wash up in the bathroom. Qu Hua and the children stayed in the dormitory. They all went to the state-run embroidery shop. Lu Xiaoqing embroidered quietly, and still asked Jiang Nian and Zhai Peipei for advice on some needlework techniques.
By noon, after Lu Xiaoqing and Zhai Peipei left, Jiang Nian called Lu Yu to inform him that Zhang Xiao agreed to meet with Zhu Jun. Lu Yu promised to bring Zhu Jun when he visited at the end of the month.
A few days passed in a blink of an eye. Qu Hua and Chen Peng finalized their divorce. Jiang Nian completed her embroidery ahead of schedule, as she worked fast and finished ten days early. Zhai Peipei took leave to escort Qu Hua and the children back to their hometown. Jiang Nian and Lu Xiaoqing saw them off at the train station.
With Zhai Peipei away and her own embroidery deadline looming, Jiang Nian imitated Sister Zhai’s stitching technique for the embroidery. Ge Mei visited daily to help with smaller embroidery pieces, spending most of her time outside, either looking at silk threads and embroidery cloth, or meeting clients to discuss embroidery patterns.
A person came to the state-owned embroidery shop that day. The man was wearing a uniform white shirt with a military green jacket on the outside. He was tall, with short, neat hair, and was very handsome, especially his upright physique, which made him look a bit like a soldier.
The man entered and asked upon seeing Zhang Xiao, “Excuse me, is Jiang Nian here?”
Zhang Xiao nodded quickly, “Yes.”
Jiang Nian heard the commotion from her cubicle and found the voice familiar. When Zhang Xiao called her, she stood up and walked out, opening the cubicle door to see Song Bai standing there, momentarily stunned, “Deputy Commander Song, what brings you here?”
“He’s also a deputy commander?!” Zhang Xiao was shocked.
She thought it was impressive enough that Jiang Nian’s brother-in-law had become a deputy commander, but now there was another one who looked about the same age as Deputy Commander Lu.
Lu Xiaoqing also heard the commotion and leaned against the cubicle door, lifting the curtain to glance at Song Bai, a hint of admiration flashing in her eyes.
Then she glanced at Jiang Nian’s back and couldn’t help but say “tsk tsk” in her heart. It’s really frustrating to compare yourself with others.
“My sister-in-law asked me to bring you something,”
Song Bai stepped forward and handed her a small cloth bag. Seeing Jiang Nian’s fair and beautiful face, he couldn’t help but think how lucky Xu Cheng was to marry such a beautiful woman who also knew how to embroider.
“Thank you.” Jiang Nian took the cloth bag, somewhat surprised it was from Feng Mei.
She looked up at Song Bai. He was as tall as Lu Yu. Every time she looked up at Lu Yu, she felt like she needed to take a few steps back, or else strain her neck uncomfortably.
“Why are you in the city?”
Song Bai said, “It’s about the last batch of the gang. I’m here to finalize the report, and I won’t have to come again in the future.”
“Oh.” Jiang Nian held the small cloth bag and said, “Would you like to sit down and have some water?”
Although the weather wasn’t as cold anymore, it wasn’t warm enough to sweat, yet there was a thin layer of sweat on Song Bai’s forehead, and the collar of his white shirt was open, revealing a prominent adam’s apple and collarbones.
She suddenly remembered the second day of the new year when she went ice skating with Feng Mei and saw Song Bai’s abs.
Awkwardly, she looked away. They really were quite impressive.
Song Bai wiped the sweat off his forehead, “Sure, I’m thirsty too. I’ll have some water and then I’ll leave, catching the afternoon bus back.”
Zhang Xiao went to fetch a thermos from the table and poured him a glass of water before sitting back at the counter. Song Bai had his back to Lu Xiaoqing and couldn’t see her gesturing at Jiang Nian.
Jiang Nian: …
She said to Song Bai, “You have your water first. I’ll go get something from the cubicle.”
The water in the thermos was hot, and Song Bai couldn’t drink it right away, “Alright.”
After Jiang Nian went to the cubicle, he asked Zhang Xiao, “Is there any cold water?”
Zhang Xiao was stunned, “Yes.”
There was a tap at the state-run embroidery shop, in that corner by the wall, under which there was a brick-made sink. Zhang Xiao pointed, “Over there.”
Song Bai walked over, turned on the tap, bent over, and drank the cold water, feeling refreshed after quenching his thirst. It was much quicker than waiting for hot water. Zhang Xiao stared blankly, too astonished to speak.
Jiang Nian came out of the cubicle and also saw this scene, blinked, and asked, “Aren’t you cold?”
Song Bai smiled, “Not at all.”
Jiang Nian: …
Well, if he thought it was cold, would he swim in winter?
“Sister-in-law, you seem to have lost some weight,” Song Bai remembered seeing Jiang Nian around the New Year, and she hadn’t been this thin then, so he said, “No wonder Lu Yu takes frequent leave to come see you. You should buy more good food to supplement.”
Jiang Nian: ???
What does that mean?
Didn’t Lu Yu come to the city twice for business?
The time was almost up, Song Bai said, “Sister-in-law, I’ll go back first.”
“Okay.”
Jiang Nian sent Song Bai to the door of the embroidery shop and looked at the tall figure of the man: “Go slowly on the road.”
Song Bai turned around and waved his hand, then glanced at Jiang Nian who was holding the door handle with both hands and watching him leave, and said with a smile, “Go back, sister-in-law.”
After that, he turned and ran away.
Zhang Xiao curiously asked, “Sister Jiang, who was that?”
Jiang Nian said: “Lu Yu’s comrade-in-arms and the brother-in-law of my next door neighbor.”
Lu Xiaoqing walked to the counter and nudged Jiang Nian’s arm with her elbow: “You didn’t say it just now, what do you think of this Song Bai?”
Jiang Nian: …
Just now, Lu Xiaoqing asked her to go into the cubicle, and she thought something was going on. Unexpectedly, she was asking her if she had any feelings for Song Bai. After that, she asked her if she had any feelings for Lu Yu. Jiang Nian was confused by the questions, and she came out without saying a word.
Lu Xiaoqing was still talking about the matter. With a sigh Jiang Nian said, “No, no, no. Lu Yu and Song Bai were both comrades of my deceased husband.”
Lu Xiaoqing: …
She raised her hand and poked Jiang Nian’s forehead, saying to Zhang Xiao, “Look at her, surrounded by so many outstanding men, yet she doesn’t know how to cherish them.”
Jiang Nian: …
Not wanting to dwell on this topic anymore, she opened her small cloth bag to see what Feng Mei had given her.
Lu Xiaoqing and Zhang Xiao also leaned over to look. Inside the bag were a jar of pickles, chili sauce, and a small pouch of chocolates.
Jiang Nian: ???
In her impression, Feng Mei wasn’t the type to spend on expensive chocolates.
Zhang Xiao chuckled, “Sister Jiang, your next door neighbor really cares about you.”
Lu Xiaoqing nodded in agreement, “I think her kindness might have a purpose? Like wanting to introduce you to her younger brother?”
Jiang Nian: …
Heh.
Maybe Lu Xiaoqing had guessed right.
Zhai Peipei returned five days later, looking like a different person, radiant and walking with a spring in her step, indicating she had resolved her daughter’s issue, relieving a burden from her heart.
She looked at the embroidery Jiang Nian had helped her with and exclaimed, “Truly, you are something. If I hadn’t looked closely, I would have thought I had embroidered it myself.”
Jiang Nian smiled quietly.
With Zhai Peipei’s return, Jiang Nian had little to do. These days, she waited at the embroidery shop for Lu Yu to come at the end of the month, also teaching Lu Xiaoqing a few stitching techniques. The afternoon light shone on Jiang Nian’s face as she sat by the window, her skin so fair that the short fuzz on it was visible.
Lu Xiaoqing whispered, “Jiang Nian, thank you for not holding a grudge against me. Thank you.”
Jiang Nian smiled, “You haven’t done anything outrageous. Why would I hold a grudge?”
Hearing her say this, Lu Xiaoqing knew she had let go of the past. She pursed her lips and hesitated for a moment in her heart before telling Jiang Nian about the day Lu Yu had come to the embroidery shop and caught her trying to sabotage Jiang Nian’s embroidery.
Jiang Nian’s hand holding the needle paused. She turned to look at Lu Xiaoqing, who smiled guiltily, expecting Jiang Nian to blame her. Unexpectedly, Jiang Nian asked something else, “Lu Yu came? “
Lu Xiaoqing hesitated, “Yes.”
Jiang Nian thought about the incident when Lu Yu had timely arrived at the cafeteria. He had never told her about Lu Xiaoqing’s intention to ruin her embroidery. Did Lu Yu also think that Lu Xiaoqing wasn’t truly bad, hence felt no need to tell her?
When everyone left after work that evening, Ge Mei stayed behind with Jiang Nian.
They sat on a bench near the window, and Ge Mei took out a paper envelope from her bag and pushed it towards the table, saying with a smile, “This is the reward for this embroidery, a hundred yuan.”
Jiang Nian was surprised, “So much?”
Ge Mei smiled, “The boss from Gangcheng will come tomorrow. He will bring a new embroidery pattern this time. The fabrics in the shop are almost finished. I have to go to the textile factory the day after tomorrow to finalize the batch of fabrics and silk threads. Once that’s done, you can take them back.”
Jiang Nian nodded: “Then I’ll wait for news from Sister Ge.”
“It’s getting late. You should go to the cafeteria to get some food.”
Ge Mei stood up and glanced at Jiang Nian, “I’ll say a few more words. You’re still young. You can’t stay single forever. Have you thought about finding someone else?”
Jiang Nian immediately shook her head, “I’m not thinking about that right now. I just want to do well in embroidering.”
Ge Mei: …
Fine, this is probably Deputy Commander Lu’s wishful thinking.
Since Jiang Nian wasn’t interested, Ge Mei didn’t want to be annoying and make matchmaking efforts. She said as she left, “If you ever have thoughts of marrying, first look at the people around you.”
Jiang Nian was stunned for a moment after hearing Ge Mei’s words.
She didn’t understand why Ge Mei brought up this so casually. She locked the door of the embroidery shop and was still thinking about Ge Mei’s words on the way to the cafeteria of the cotton mill with her aluminum lunch box. Somehow she thought of the day when Ge Mei also kept her and asked her some questions about Lu Yu and said those inexplicable words again.
— Lu Yu is not your biological brother-in-law. You two have no relationship either in terms of family or legal relationship.
— If you want to get married, look at the people around you first.
These two sentences kept lingering in Jiang Nian’s mind. It wasn’t until she reached the cafeteria that Jiang Nian figured it out. Could Ge Mei be trying to matchmake her with Lu Yu???
Absurd!
She purely regarded Lu Yu as Xu Cheng’s younger brother, as a brother-in-law
Leaving aside what Ge Mei was thinking, just considering Lu Yu himself, he was the male lead of this story, possessing all the highlights. Young and already a deputy commander, he would continue to rise step by step, with looks, strategy, and status.
He would have to be crazy to be interested in a widow.
Moreover, she was the wife of his elder brother and comrade-in-arms.
Jiang Nian didn’t understand why Ge Mei would think of this, so she put these thoughts aside, got her meal and went back to the dormitory. The next morning, when she went to the embroidery shop, she saw that Ge Mei was dressed more formally today and asked Zhang Xiao to clean the state-run embroidery shop well, as some leaders would come to inspect it.
Around noon, leaders from the city came to inspect. Jiang Nian, Zhai Peipei, and Lu Xiaoqing were embroidering in the cubicle. The leaders asked Ge Mei about the situation at the embroidery shop, discussed some other matters, and also mentioned the monthly financial statements that needed to be submitted.
After the leaders left, the boss from Gangcheng arrived.
Ge Mei was busy all day until evening. The next morning, she went to the textile factory again to look at the fabrics for the new embroidery pattern. This time, the fabrics were the same as those used by Jiang Nian previously. Ge Mei measured the dimensions at the textile factory, took notes, and asked Jiang Nian which fabric would be more suitable. Once the embroidery fabric was confirmed, she went to the department store to look at silk threads.
This time, Ge Mei took Jiang Nian along. Jiang Nian witnessed firsthand how Ge Mei negotiated prices with her eloquence and finalized the orders.
Jiang Nian felt that if Ge Mei was born in the new century, she would definitely be an independent business woman capable of starting her own company. She was too formidable.
It was already nine o’clock in the evening when they finished their work, and the cafeteria of the cotton mill was closed.
They went to the state-run restaurant, each ate a bowl of noodles. On the way back, Ge Mei asked Jiang Nian: “What are your plans for the future?”
Jiang Nian looked at the crescent moon in the night sky. “I haven’t thought about it in detail yet, but for now, I want to do well in embroidery.”
As for other plans, there weren’t many. Most plans were for after the reforms, but that was still nine years away.
No one knew these things, not even Ge Mei. Nine years later, the first group of people who ventured into business would mostly become millionaires of the 1980s. But that was a long way off.
For now, she would focus on herself.
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Ayalee[Translator]
。˚🐈⬛.𖥔 ݁ ˖
Ge Mei pleaseeeee spell it out for her! She’s dense as a brick and Lu Yu is in an awkward position. D: