Chapter 12

Jiang Lian hadn’t been able to convince Jiang Ling even by the time they parted.

This girl was being downright stubborn now. No matter how much she talked and persuaded, Jiang Ling just wouldn’t listen.

Having received Jiang Ling’s repeated instructions, she didn’t dare mention anything to her husband’s family.

Thankfully, she didn’t get along well with them, and her relationship with her husband was only so-so, so she hadn’t developed the habit of sharing her troubles with him.

After eating in the canteen, Jiang Ling parted ways with her eldest sister.

The food these days was truly awful. When she returned to the dormitory, she was still thinking about whether there was any way she could eat meat every day.

After she changed out of her outerwear, a few of the girls who shared the dorm with her gradually returned after dinner.

Unlike Jiang Ling, they didn’t eat at the canteen but went home to the nearby staff housing compound for their meals.

The canteen’s dinner had no meat, so paying to eat there wasn’t worth it. It was better to eat at home.

Jiang Ling was lying on her bed reading a leisure book. When her roommates came back, she put the book down.

“Jiang Ling, do you think the dormitory application you followed up on today will get approved by the Logistics Section?”

Jiang Ling gave a dry laugh. “I didn’t have time to go to the Logistics Section.”

The woman who asked immediately said, “It’s fine even if you didn’t go. The Logistics Section will definitely approve it. There are still four or five vacant rooms in the women’s dormitory. They won’t hold yours up. I applied for mine before the New Year. The Logistics Section was busy with other matters at the time, and it still took only half a month for my application to be approved.”

The girl who lived in the bed across from Jiang Ling said, “Mine was fast. Less than a week.”

Jiang Ling felt more at ease now. With fewer things going on after the New Year, it probably wouldn’t take too long.

If it really dragged on, she could always buy two packs of cigarettes and send them to the head of the Logistics Section.

As the girls in the dorm chatted about how long it had taken for their housing applications to get approved, a knock suddenly sounded at the door.

“I heard Jiang Ling is living in your dorm.” Someone knocked twice, then opened the door themselves.

It was a girl with phoenix eyes, wearing a red cotton-padded jacket and sporting straight bangs. “Is Jiang Ling here?”

They were all employees of the Daily Chemicals Factory, living in dorms on the same floor. Even if they hadn’t interacted before, they still knew each other’s names and which department they worked in.

The girl who had moved into the dorm earliest, Bai Guo, the dormitory leader, spoke up, “Liu Xiaojie, do you need something?”

The girl called Liu Xiaojie swept her gaze across the faces of everyone in the room, finally settling on Jiang Ling. She let out a cold laugh. “Back when you moved out of the dorm two years ago, you said only girls without families would live in the work unit’s dormitory. And now? It hasn’t even been two years, and you’ve already forgotten what you said?”

Clicking her tongue, she added, “You’ve already moved all your things in. Don’t tell me you’re planning to stay here long-term.”

“Comrade Liu Xiaojie, you suddenly barging into our dorm and insulting one of our roommates is extremely rude behavior. I hope you will apologize to Comrade Jiang Ling.”

Jiang Ling didn’t recall who Liu Xiaojie was, but judging by her words, it seemed they had some kind of conflict back when they shared a dorm.

“Comrades, I used to be Jiang Ling’s roommate. You’re probably still young and haven’t been at the factory for long, so you might not have heard about certain things. I don’t like to speak ill of others, but you can ask your relatives, friends, coworkers, or supervisors. Ask them about your new roommate Jiang Ling. Ask them what happened the last time she lived in the dorm, and you’ll understand how I’m feeling now.”

The girls exchanged glances, all feeling uneasy.

From what they usually saw, Liu Xiaojie wasn’t someone who spoke without reason. And now she was speaking with such righteousness—could it be that there really was something wrong with their new roommate?

Jiang Ling had no memory of this incident. She couldn’t defend herself, so she simply said:

“Our leaders have taught us to look at problems with a developmental mindset. Comrade Liu Xiaojie, I hope you can look at me with that same developmental perspective. No one is perfect. What matters most is correcting one’s mistakes.”

Liu Xiaojie had entered the dorm fully prepared for an argument with Jiang Ling. She hadn’t expected such a calm and reasonable response from her.

Surprised, she even felt a faint sense of relief, like seeing a pretty girl turning over a new leaf.

“No matter what, I want to apologize to you and hope you can forgive me.”

She was a straightforward girl. Even though things had once gotten extremely unpleasant—so much so that people all over the factory had heard about it—Liu Xiaojie had held a grudge against Jiang Ling for nearly two years, speaking ill of her behind her back countless times.

But when Jiang Ling looked at her with sincere eyes and offered an apology, Liu Xiaojie’s cheeks actually turned slightly red. “It… it’s fine.”

Jiang Ling smiled. “Thank you for forgiving me. You really are a wonderful person.”

She was usually quick with her words, but now she stumbled over them in an uncharacteristic way. “I’m… I’m too magnanimous to stoop to your level.”

Jiang Ling gave her a thumbs-up. “I knew it. You’re a good comrade.”

Liu Xiaojie had charged in aggressively but ended up leaving with a hint of flustered retreat.

Just like that, Liu Xiaojie forgave Jiang Ling easily, but because of what she had said, the other women in the dorm no longer treated Jiang Ling as warmly as before.

This was only human nature. After all, who wouldn’t want a roommate who was understanding and easy to get along with, instead of someone who stirred up drama and turned the dorm upside down?

Jiang Ling hadn’t expected things to take such a turn, but who could she blame for it?

None of the girls were particularly enthusiastic about Jiang Ling joining their dorm. After Liu Xiaojie left, an awkward silence settled over the room.

The women didn’t know how to talk to her anymore. They couldn’t very well ask her directly what kind of chaos she had caused with her previous roommates. Each of them made up their mind to ask around at work the next day.

The following morning, while washing up, one of the dorm girls ran into Liu Xiaojie in the washroom. She pulled her aside and whispered, “Back when you and Jiang Ling were living in the same dorm, what kind of outrageous things did she do? Tell me.”

Liu Xiaojie had just woken up, her hair a complete mess. Yawning with her head looking like a bird’s nest, she said, “Nothing much. Comrade Jiang Ling has changed now, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Liu Xiaojie patted the other woman on the shoulder, flung her towel over her own shoulder in a carefree manner, rolled up her sleeves, and went to wash her face under the faucet.

She left the other factory girl standing there so angry she nearly cursed aloud. Of course it was easy for Liu Xiaojie to say it was nothing now—she didn’t have to be roommates with that troublemaker anymore. If it truly had been nothing, how could the dorm incident have become something the entire factory knew about?

Jiang Ling climbed out of bed and, looking dazed, went to the washroom to wash her face.

The winter tap water was icy cold, and after washing her face with it, she was instantly wide awake.

She jogged into the office building, only to see a few uniformed public security officers standing in the lobby. Among them, Xie Lang was dressed in plain clothes, blending in with the group.

When he saw Jiang Ling, he instinctively walked over to greet her. Jiang Ling gave a slight nod, pointed toward the Accounting Section to indicate that she was about to be late, and signaled that they could talk another time.

Jiang Ling was quite curious about what had happened at the factory to warrant the involvement of the public security bureau.

But this likely fell under confidentiality regulations in public security work and couldn’t be disclosed casually.

Since he couldn’t talk about it, Jiang Ling saw no reason to make things difficult for him.

Besides, she had already made up her mind to keep her distance from Xie Lang—starting today.

Back in the Accounting Section, she couldn’t wait to ask the older women in the office, “What happened at the factory? Why are the public security officers here?”

None of them were particularly well-informed, and they shook their heads, indicating they didn’t know.

“Deputy Section Chief Wei probably knows. Once he comes in, we’ll find out what happened.”

To everyone’s anticipation, Wei Ming showed up more than half an hour late. The moment he stepped into the office, the group couldn’t wait to ask, “Deputy Section Chief Wei, do you know why the public security officers are here?”

Wei Ming thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention. He closed the office door tightly and lowered his voice to speak in a hush, “I’m only telling you all—don’t let it spread outside. Our factory was robbed. A group of thieves hit the Storage Section last night. Most of the chemical materials we just bought a few days ago were stolen.”

At that point, he glanced at Jiang Ling. “It’s that batch of materials you just entered into the books.”

Jiang Ling remembered it clearly—it had just been recorded. That batch of raw materials cost nearly five thousand yuan. Losing most of it meant a loss of two or three thousand yuan. No wonder the factory was panicking.

“Old Chen, who was closing up shop, got up around three or four in the morning to use the bathroom. He saw the warehouse door wide open and immediately called the public security officer.” Wei Ming cursed in frustration. “Those bastards didn’t just steal—whatever they couldn’t carry, they ruined. Either poured it out right there or mixed it all together. Thousands of yuan, all down the drain.”

If they couldn’t take it, they ruined it—these thieves were truly vile.

“It’s not just the property loss. This kind of behavior is downright malicious. The factory director said no matter the cost, those thieves must be caught.”

In this era, workers treated the factory like their own home. Having it targeted by thieves felt like being robbed personally. Everyone was furious, wishing they could catch the culprits themselves.

Jiang Ling had gotten up late and didn’t have time to eat breakfast at the canteen. She fetched a thermos of hot water, planning to make herself some malted milk.

But it didn’t feel right to keep it all to herself. She held the tin and offered a spoonful to each of her coworkers.

Cashier Yu Jiafeng teased her with a smile, “Did Xiao Song give this to you?”

Romance always looked sweeter when it belonged to someone else. The older women, all married for years, were grinning from ear to ear with the look of doting aunts.

Wei Ming had been in a good mood—he had brought gossip to the section and enjoyed a wave of admiration from his team.

Hearing that annoying name out of nowhere ruined Wei Ming’s good mood for the whole day.

He curled his lip. “You women really have shallow standards. A few tins of malted milk and a handful of White Rabbit candies, and that’s enough to win you over? That’s way too cheap.”

Li Chunjiao shot back, “Still better than some men who are stingier than a steel rooster and won’t part with a single piece of money.”

She looked at Jiang Ling and said, “You don’t know this, but my partner is so stingy it’s unbearable. When we were dating, he came to my house during the New Year to greet my parents and came empty-handed—not even a single cookie. While we were seeing each other, he never bought me a single piece of candy.”

Wei Ming jumped in, eager to speak ill of Song Guanshu. “Well, isn’t that a good thing? It proves your fiancé is a practical man. When it comes to picking a partner, you need someone honest and grounded.”

Li Chunjiao cursed in frustration. “Practical, my foot. Just before the New Year, I used my own salary to buy a new outfit, and he couldn’t stand it—kept nagging me to return it. I haven’t bought new clothes in three years. Listen to me, Xiao Jiang, if a man won’t spend money on you before marriage, you can be sure he won’t spend it after marriage either.”